Scraps of Joy

Hello Friend,

Come in, come in! Bring your wind-blown self in. Whew! It’s a bit breezy out there.

The Cowboy tried to do his work out on the patio today but the wind chased him back inside. Now that spring is actually here, everyone wants to be outside. We took our first bike ride this week. It was lovely to get out, breathe deeply, feel the wind in our faces.

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Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.

There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”

Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

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I hope you don’t mind sitting at this end of the table today. I’m not quite finished the puzzle on the other end. See? It’s Anne of Green Gables. I don’t usually build a puzzle from the bottom up but that’s how it worked out this time. Anne’s hat and red braids were the easiest pieces to pick out from the rest, and from then on it was bottom up.

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Working on it has brought back so many memories of our family holiday on Prince Edward Island nine years ago. There was not one bad day in that whole two-week vacation. How I’d love to go back.

Let me pour our tea, and then we’ll take a gander through the PEI photo book that Sweetie put together for us after the holiday.

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I must be in a reminiscent mood because the cookies I chose to bake for our teatime bring back childhood memories. Snickerdoodles! In my memory it was either chocolate chip cookies or snickerdoodles in our lunches and snacks. Do you have a special snack from childhood that makes you sentimental for the “olden days”?

Snickerdoodles require only the most basic of ingredients, which most people have in their pantries. In the right combination, they make the most delectable sugary cinnamon treat. Will you have two? (Smile)

Now, let’s get to that photo book. Isn’t it beautiful? I’m so so thankful for Sweetie’s thoughtfulness in putting it all together.

When I was looking for a place big enough for all of us to stay, I was adamant that it had to be on the North Shore. Lucy Maud Montgomery (author of Anne of Green Gables) often spoke of the beauty of the North Shore. The vacation home I found did not disappoint.

If you look near the beginning of the photo book, you’ll find it. Let’s see … here it is, a big red barn-shaped home called The Three Mermaids. Those magnificent windows looked out across a vast green lawn to the ocean beyond. And, that smaller red building to the side was a sweet little bunkhouse that slept two more people.

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Just for fun, I looked to see if the home was available anytime this summer, on the off-chance people will be traveling again by then. I couldn’t find any mention of it after 2018, but there are several others on the North Shore that were not available nine years ago. All very beautiful and cozy, with fine views of the ocean.

I suppose if The Cowboy or one of the sons-in-law were to describe our holiday, they’d talk about the lobster feasts and fantastic golfing, but for me it was about taking it all in. The ocean, the scenery, the history. The essence of Prince Edward Island, and what it meant to Lucy Maud Montgomery.

One early morning before anyone was up, I took my camera out to the shore. These are some of the photos from that memorable morning walk.

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It was overcast. The only sounds, the waves washing onto the shore, the long grasses rustling in the breeze. Almost no one else around, a little mist in my face, the taste of salt in the air, and the remarkable red sand on the beach. That walk will long live in my memory as one of the best mornings ever.

Almost every day we would travel to a different part of the island. Most of our destinations were L.M. Montgomery related in some way. I’d read all her journals over the years, and before our vacation I did even more research on her life, and the places important to her. Crazy though it may seem, by the time of our vacation, I knew more about many of the places we visited than the tour guides did. Is that a little over the top, do you think?

Oh! Your cup is empty. Forgive me for getting so carried away, I didn’t notice. Another cookie?

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Now, where were we? Here we are …

Near our vacation house was the historic Campbell home, in Park Corner. It is now a museum. L.M.Montgomery’s Campbell relatives lived there and she visited them often. In fact, the “Lake of Shining Waters” that enchanted Anne Shirley was inspired by the little lake on the Campbell farm. Just around the house and past the barn, you can see the lake itself.

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Another memorable day, we visited the Macneill homestead. This was where Montgomery grew up, in the care of her maternal grandparents. I snapped a photo of the girls standing with one of L.M. Montgomery’s living Macneill relatives – a petite white-haired woman with dancing blue eyes.

From this homestead we followed an enchanted woodsy path, past fields of ripening grain, the sun sprinkling through leaves overhead. By and by, upon crossing a little wooden bridge, the woods opened up and there before us stood Green Gables. The inspiration for the home of Matthew and Marilla and Anne. What a thrill that moment was.

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Like I said, there was not one bad day on that whole vacation. It is such a picturesque island. On our drives, every time we came around a bend or over a hill we would be delighted again by the beauty of the view before us. I remember my eyes being tired from all the looking. From drinking it all in. How special to share it with our girls and their hubbies.

A dream vacation all around.

Thank you so much for traveling down memory lane with me today. It was a pleasure to have your company. See you next time, and take care out there.

Joy

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~~ Feel free to comment below. I try to answer every one, usually within the week. ~~

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Featured image of pitcher and tea cups by Jill Wellington from Pixabay