Friday, July 4, 2008
First, we owe our apologies to Tillie and her performance in the wind. It turned out that it was a very WINDY day everywhere. Normally the ride in the big ferry to PEI is relatively smooth but that day… let’s just say rumor has it they ran out of sea sick bags early in the voyage.
PEI really is the land of gentle
rolling hills/farmland that goes down to the sea. Very beautiful and very unpopulated by US waterfront standards. The provincial parks where we’re camping are right on the ocean with red sand (due to iron oxide) beaches/shore land. They are beautiful parks lacking only internet service so these postings will be sporadic. PEI has its own style of lighthouse – the one in the photo happens to be the first one that received a distress signal from the Titanic so you know how far east we are.
We spent the first couple of days exploring the south and east end of island as that’s furthest from where we’ll be working. The slogan PEI uses is “the gentle island”. In fact, some villages
marked on the map are so “gentle” that we drove
right through them without knowing we’d been there (or perhaps PEI is just marking “villages to be”…). Cardigan proves no crossroads is too small to support a library. Actually Cardigan is a bit bigger than most and even had an internet café.
Farming on PEI doesn’t stop at the sea. Mussel farming is particular
ly big business. Those black dots on the water hold strings of mussels making
themselves plump enough to make it to our tables. Seemed like a good business to be in until you realized they harvest them all year (that includes winter) long. The video clip we watched showed men (women don’t want to be liberated that badly) with snow suits & icicles frozen to their beards using chain saws to cut through the ice. One of them dons a wet suit (guess who drew the short straw last night?) and hops in the hole to locate the ropes of mussels to be harvested. If any of you are interested in winter employment, I’m sure there are always openings…
John's choice stop of the day, being an Idaho boy, was PEI’s potato museum in O’Leary. PEI gives Idaho a big run for its money in terms of potato production – red iron oxide soil vs. volcanic soil, am not sure who wins. The museum was very interesting but after about half an hour even John’s “potato fun meter” ran out. (And, yes, that is a giant potato in the photo. Fortunately, they had none for sale!)
My choice stop of the day was the beautiful Bottle Houses on the North Cape Shore. What we learned - it’s VERY important to have a good foundation. Mr. Arsenault built them on railroad ties and they only lasted about 10 years because of the frost heaves in this cold part of the world (sounds a bit like the chimney for our sugar shack). 
They’ve now been rebuilt on firmer footings surrounded by beautiful gardens. Inspiration for when we get home… (Yes, that is a giant flower sculpture in the photo. Unfortunately, they had none for sale.)
