Snapshots of Prince Edward Island

The eight mile long Confederation Bridge was opened in 1997.  The idea of a bridge was heatedly debated before a referendum passed by 59.4%.  It transformed life on the island and eventually gained widespread approval.  We arrived at the bridge on a windy, rainy morning.  New visitors frequently stop at the viewpoint on Cape Jourimain as these young people did.  The ride across the bridge is smooth, but we'd have liked to have had a clearer view.

Once on the island, one soon sees hallmarks of this small province with only about 150,000 residents.  The sea is always nearby, so a great variety of lighthouses are seen.   This is Cape Bear Lighthouse where the first radio message was received from the stricken Titanic.

Largely, the lighthouses are wooden.  The island lacks hard stone that is so often used elsewhere.

Two more constants are flowering lupines and small fishing harbors.  The lupines are widespread.

There is abundant seafood to feast upon.  This lunch featured a fresh haddock sandwich and bay scallop tacos, both with PEI potato salad and cabbage slaw.  You can't drive more than 5 kilometers without passing a field of potatoes. 

Another certainty is friendly people.  Pam and I agree that the residents are another hallmark.

Our first three days were marked by cloudy and breezy days - not ideal for photography but fine to explore.  On several occasions, we visited locations marked by seaside tragedies.  This is Covehead Lighthouse.

 

The Yankee Gale of  October 3, 1851 claimed 74 ships and 150 lives.  The fishing fleet was calmed in the evening and unable to return to harbor.  In the night, the gale drove the fleet onshore with no mercy.

 

For most of our days on PEI, I searched for that perfect display of lupines.  There was this small bouquet framing a grave marker next to a rural church.  Not many are colored pink so I liked these.

My luck changed when we visited an abandoned shipyard at Murray Head across the bay from Georgetown.  Wow, three lupine colors in one place.

 

While researching places to visit, I discovered a number of "Pioneer Cemetery" listings.   There was one near Cavendish called "Yankee Hill Pioneer Cemetery".  It also had a lighthouse nearby.  Walking in on the private road, we were greeted by the owner who was in the process of clearing the trail to the side.   Bruce highlighted the history and paused mowing while we explored.

These are the stones for Mary Pickering (1792-1878) and Thomas Pickering (1790-1878).  They had eleven children.  He was a farmer, mariner and shipbuilder. 

Another was a marker for George McKay, a native of Durness, Scotland.  (1763-1816)

Bruce is building a home on Yankee Hill with a ocean view that includes a view of this lighthouse on London Bay.

It may seem unusual to include cemeteries in an itinerary, but in Atlantic Canada, they are  a continuing link to people's pasts. We stopped at the Brackley Beach Cemetery on the north shore where two ladies were unloading trays of flowers for placing on markers of family members.   In Cavendish Cemetery, this marker honoring mariners lost in earlier mentioned Yankee Gail of 1851.  At a cemetery in Georgetown, this marker remembers a boy lost at age four.  Note the childhood ornaments for those who died young.  I've seen this elsewhere.

At our last hotel in Montague, I woke for the very early sunrise.  The highway bridge was lined with planters full of petunias.

The sunrise was framed with three large cast sculptures of cormorants.

It was now time to head home.  Again, we stopped at the Confederation Bridge for one last look.

We paid our $50.25 toll and returned home..

One last comment is for golfers.  The island has many lush courses that could be imagined to be in Scotland- rolling hills, sandy bunkers and picture perfect greens.  We met several people touring across the island for a new course each day. Sadly, I was terrible at golf.

Paul Schmitt

Sauntering in the Shenandoahs

Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently, not 'hike' through them.       

                                                John Muir

Here are a few photographs which appealed to my eye at various places along the Skyline Drive, Virginia.  True to Muir's idea, I tried to keep my pace slower.  First are two falls found in Dark Hollow near Big Meadows.   The upper falls has several drops on it's way to the viewer:

I chose to include the lower three.  What most appealed to me was the mossy covered rocks framing the milky white water.   Just below this was another smaller scene that I labored to frame while simultaneously keeping my boots dry.

Why use such a slow exposure?   The slow, steady movement down Dark Hollow stream was peaceful. So, the silky water matched my feelings.  There is no one right shutter speed, but there can be one that conveys how I perceive the motion.

On Limberlost trail, I hoped for some wildflowers.   This fascinating flower seems related to Columbine, but the color seems unusual.  The small spider makes it special.   It appears in only one of the seven images in the stack necessary to capture sharp focus on the entire flower.

Also on the Limberlost trail there was a Pink Lady's Slipper, Cypripedium acaule.  These are truly a wild orchid since there has never been a success raising them from seed.  So, every one I see is exciting.

This was a big surprise given the large population of whitetail deer in the national park.  There was sign of some browsing on some plants.  There has been no deer hunting in the national park since it inception in the 1930s, and in my personal opinion the forest under story is greatly diminished in its diversity.

There were also some "critters" in the park that were of interest.  I value a singing Indigo Bunting as always a treat.  There were dozens at several overlooks, and a few that perched in an uncluttered place  to perform.

As I drove the Skyline Drive,  giant yellow swallowtail butterflies soared past, and sometimes found suitable blooming flowers to feed upon.  On one occasion, one of them found a spot at an overlook where one could safely park.  Hesitate, and they are soaring off to a distant place.

 

At another stop, an Eastern Towhee jumped into song (as the males are so oft to do.)  They really throw everything into the song.  Again, the trick is to wait for an uncluttered perch.

There was a heavy fog one morning, or perhaps the mountain ridges were just in the clouds?  There is a softness to the light and a quietness that mutes any traffic.   Only a little yellow color was revealed.  This took me back to foggy morning scenes around 1953 at my uncle's farm in southern Indiana.  These were the same -Moth mullein- yellow flowers. 

Finally, the distant hilltops and ridges in the Shenandoah are best seen in monochrome. 

 

Life is old there, or so the saying suggests. Ninety years with no logging produces some massive trees.  But I saw few sapling trees to replace them.  I wonder what the future will bring?

Paul Schmitt