CANEAST AUG 22-25 2019

AUG 22

It was fairly quite around here. We did go to the Post Office the neatest looking gov’t building I’ve ever seen. We mailed a post card to ourselves to get the special Anne of Green Gables postmark.

AUG 23

Off to Charlottetown for laundry, sightseeing and the Gilbert and Anne play.

So back about 25 years ago, I booked a week-long cycling trip in Cuba with MacQueens Bicycles out of Charlottetown PEI. Sitting in the laundry, I Google mapped them and they were 650 meters from where we were!

I walked over to buy a water bottle holder (we had one break) and see if there was anyone there that had something to do with the original trip. Well…Dan was there. He was the (then young 20-year-old) son/tour leader on the trip. We chatted a few minutes and reminisced.

Dan entertained the cyclists and local children by cycling on his unicycle. He tried a stunt and was injured on our first or second day and went to the hospital for stitches and had a mild concussion. (He didn’t wear a helmet duh.) He remembers I sent him a picture of the incident.

We were the first or second group to go to Cuba with MacQueens. Their tour company is still offering this trip and two others in different parts of Cuba. Cuba by bike was my first “paid for” organized bike tour. Since then E and

I have been on many more with other companies. We’re not done yet. (Hoping to ride about 30km tomorrow on paved cycle paths here.)

Then we went over to COWS Creamery for the “best ice-cream in Canada” (according to Readers Digest). They have strongly branded themselves and have a line of clothing notably t-shirts that are a play on cows like “Dr. Moo” (no longer in stock) or Proudly Cownadianne! (a play on I am Canadian & “Anne” of Green Gables), Game of Cones, Moo the North, Cowlifford, the Big Red Cow etc. They have a self-guided tour of the factory where they make cheese, ice-cream and silk screen the t’s.

While we were eating our sundaes, we received a phone call that the play was cancelled that night with no explanation. We rebooked for Monday evening. We decided it would have been better to have just had a cone or a dish of ice cream. There was so much stuff on the sundaes we couldn’t tell if the actual ice cream was the best. There is another COWS in Cavendish, we’ll have to try again, I think.

Lloyd Kerry was a local artist working in the co-op artist store in the same plaza. I had to buy this Pizza Peel board he made for, you know, moving pizza in, out and off the oven rack. Something everyone should have. (Right Bry. Bri and Garieees?)

AUG 24

Saturday was rainy and windy so, we decided not to cycle and spent the afternoon at the National Heritage Site, Green Gables. But first we took a stroll along the Cavendish Beach. Note how many people are swimming.

Lucy Maude Montgomery was born nearby in what is now called New London. When she was 21 months old, her mother died and she was sent to her grandparents in Cavendish. Green Gables was the home of her grandfather’s cousins. Their home was a short distance away through the woods. Lucy spent a great deal of time at her cousin’s farm and many of the places described in “Anne of Green Gables” are found in and around the farmhouse. Parks Canada acquired the house and surrounding farmland in 1937 and Lucy commented that the park even included the one-room school house she attended as a child. Today, the home’s interior has been decorated as described in her book, with a few original pieces and others original to the timeframe.

Puffed Sleeves

The book was published in 1908 and has been continuously in print to the present. It was so popular, it was reprinted 10 times in the first year. Lucy actually spent most of her life after the book was published in Ontario with her minister husband. In all she wrote 23 novels and published over 500 short stories and poems. All she wanted to do was write. She would get up early to write and then go to her work as a school teacher. Much of the Cavendish area is represented in her books. She often returned to the area, she described as idyllic.

We walked the grounds, through the Haunted Forest and down Lovers lane. There are many Parks Canada staff dressed in period costumes. We met Anne Shirley, Diana Barry, Josie Pye and Gilbert and watched while they played games with all the children visiting Green Gables.

Kindred Spirits

Kindred Spirits Too!

Lovers Lane

The visitors center, new this year, has an excellent visual presentation of L.M.’s life.

The visitor center themes are taken from the Anne books-
Freedom, Imagination, Self, Nature, Belonging and Friendship.

She died at age 67 and is buried in the Cavendish cemetery – next to the Post Office.

Elizabeth here: The PEI National Park is a long narrow strip of land along the shoreline protecting the sand dunes. It also includes the Green Gables house, land and a golf course. I am glad that Parks Canada has been able to preserve the house and some of the places important to Montgomery. I do wonder; however, what Lucy would think of her beloved Cavendish today. The Green Gables site is surrounded by a golf course, several amusement parks, glow in the dark mini golf, countless restaurants, motels, rental cottages and gift shops. When I visited PEI with my parents in the 60s, none of these things were here. In fact, when I saw a small sign stating Green Gables with an arrow pointing down a narrow dirt road, absolutely certain it was Anne’s house, my Dad just drove on because it looked like someone’s driveway. There was no hullabaloo about the place then. We did read though that as early as 1909, people were making their way to Cavendish in search of the wonderful places described in “Anne of Green Gables.”

Jerry is back - We had a quick dinner and then off to a Ceilidh (kitchen party) at The Women’s Institute Hall in Stanley Bridge.

This was attended by approximately 150+ folks and the band was stupendous! The Richard Wood (fiddle) Trio, with Gordon Belsher (guitar) and Brad Fremlin (percussion, keyboard) play there every Saturday night in the summer. We were blown away is all I can say. Such amazing talent and professional performance.

I have attached another short YouTube clip to give you a sample. Please click here, it’s worth the view:

https://youtu.be/-5-XOx2pYvM

At intermission, a member of the institute gave a brief historical talk about Stanley Bridge. This lovely lady told us that Montgomery described Stanley Bridge as the “hub of the universe, well maybe it is the hub of my universe.” Stanley Bridge is about 6 KMs from Cavendish and it was where the Lucy’s grandparents would shop. The town was well known for ship building, there were two general stores, a large dairy, a doctor, a three-room schoolhouse, seamstresses and a millinery – everything you might need in the early 1900s.

We then went downstairs in the hall for ice cream and strawberries. The second half of the Ceilidh was just as good.

The evening ended with firecrackers.

AUG 25

Today we cycled to North Rustico along the gulf on approx. 30km of mostly paved two-way cycle path. Beautiful. In North Rustico, we had the best seafood lunch at The Blue Mussel Café…yum. Then some interesting shopping and we cycled home. We both zonked out in our hammocks and decided we would not go to another Ceilidh tonight LOL too pooped.