Posts filed under ‘travel in Canada’
Saturday Snapshots
My Saturday Snapshot for At Home With Books
Dusk, taken in Baddeck, Cape Breton Island, from the motel where we stayed last summer.
Go and check out the other photos; this is a fun meme. Thanks, Alyce.
Canada– What better place to live?
Oh, Canada
Our home and native land…
On July 1, 1980, “O Canada” was proclaimed Canada’s national anthem, one hundred years after it was first performed on June 24, 1880. The anthem was composed by Calixa Lavallée, a well-known song writer. French lyrics were written by Sir Adolphe-Basile Routhier. It seems that the anthem grew steadily in popularity. Though Lavallée gets credit for the song, the official English lyrics were penned in 1908 by Mr. Justice Robert Stanley Weir, and while the English version underwent some changes recommended by a Special Joint Committee of Senate and the House of Commons in 1968, the French lyrics remain the same as when first written. For more information on O, Canada, read here.
To download or listen to an mp3 instrumental or sung version of our anthem in French or English, go here.
While Canada has not been immune to its own troubles, we do have much to celebrate. We can walk down the street without fear of mortar attack; we can go to our house of worship to celebrate our faith in peace; and we can elect government representatives in our municipalities, province and our country without fear or reprisal on election dates.
Today, on yet another Canada Day, Prince William and Princess Catherine, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, are present in our national capital to celebrate with our country, probably before masses. Their stop in Ottawa is part of a 10-day tour , the first trip abroad since their marriage in April. Oh, to have them here to celebrate too. Wish I could be there to get a glimpse. I`m sure the young royal couple will be well treated wherever they travel in Canada.
When the national anthem plays today, wherever you are, Canadians, stand and think on our freedom as it plays. Celebrate Canada!
Saturday’s Snapshots
On the Cabot Trail
My husband took this photo when we toured Cape Breton last summer. The mist was just lifting from the highlands as he caught this view.
Participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme. Link your photo of something you or a family member has taken (clean and appropriate for all eyes) to At Home With Books
Historical Storytelling Series at the Waterloo Region Museum
Ruth Stewart-Verger will present Train Tales: Negotiating a Canadian National Railway and more at the Waterloo Region Museum, Kitchener, ON, on Tuesday March 15. Her stories come from her family, some of whom have been involved with the railroad, and other stories local to this area. For more detailed information, read here.
Also on Wednesday the 16th at the museum, she will also be doing two string story workshops for 7 – 10 year olds. The children will be given a string and taught some stories to share after they go home.
Cavendish Beach and all those jellyfish
The red sand at Cavendish beach shifted under our feet on that hot summer day. Many people had come to enjoy the water. Youth played volleyball on a makeshift court in the sand.
The place was busy. We weren’t planning to swim that day, as we sandwiched the stop at the beach between a tour of Green Gables National Park and a visit with our neighbours and friends who had come to the Island to retire.
The first time we had been there, years before, there was no swimming because of the risk of undertow, but this day, the water presented no such danger. Life guards sat in tall chairs watching swimmers. Tall dunes, tufted with grass, bore signs warning visitors to stay off them. Still there was enough sand to play in or just walk the length of the beach, with the water lapping at our feet. We spend little time at the shore, so we were going to make this worthwhile.
I couldn’t resist taking off my sandals and getting my feet wet in the ocean. My husband and friend did the same. After all, the day had been very hot, so this was a way to cool off just a little.
The three of us walked barefoot in the sand along the edge of the water. Warm water, but cooler than the air above it, and sand that shifted under our feet. We hadn’t gone far when we saw jellyish blobs in the sand, blobs that floated out of the water and landed in the sand. Jellyfish. Others picked their way around them on the sand and coming out of the water, even as we did on our walk along the shoreline. Apparently there are not always so many of the creatures on the sand. Maybe the jellyfish needed warming up, I don’t know, but I didn’t think I’d want to try swimming on such a day.
Red sand for almost as far as one can see
Maryann and I cooling our feet
My husband rolled up his pantlegs and enjoyed the water’s coolness as well.
Close-up of a jelly fish. Don’t touch!
Aside from the jelly fish, it was a place to relax in the sand and play in the water. We bade our good-byes to the beach, dried our feet, and set out for our motel and a dinner with friends.
PEI — L. M. Montgomery
Being a fan of Lucy Maud Montgomery’s writing, and especially Anne of Green Gables, we couldn’t do the Island trip without stopping at Green Gables in Cavendish. My husband and I had been to the site once before, but my friend, Maryann, experienced the tour for the first time. I’m always eager to learn more about the author.
Being a storyteller, I appreciate Montogmery’s characters, and as a writer and reader, I enjoy her stories. What I find between her writing and her life journals is a huge disconnect in mood. Her character, Anne, though intense and outgoing, is also cheerful and doesn’t have to learn the same lessons twice. Other writing about Montgomery, and even her journals, portray a love for nature, loyalty to her family, as well as a keen desire to write, as well as some deep sadness and disappointments in her life.
Having read and reviewed Irene Gammel’s Looking for Anne in 2008, I learned more about the controversy over the source of Anne’s character as well as why this novel was so popular at that time. I won’t spoil it for you. Go ahead and read her books and those written about her. I have yet to finish reading the rest of Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Gift of Wings, by Mary Henley Rubio. According to Benjamin LeFebvre, a scholar of Montgomery studies, there’s new information that had previously not been shared.
For now, here are photos from our tour of that famous Cavendish setting, Green Gables.
One of a number of posters created on the 100th anniversary of publication of Anne of Green Gables.
Green Gables, Cavendish, PEI. My friend’s first visit there.
“Anne’s room”
In the parlour
A room for sewing and spinning.
The gardens around Green Gables are well kept with tiger lilies and other summer flowers in bloom.
We went for a walk in Lover’s Lane, where it was somewhat cooler on that hot July day, and saw many typical flowers and plants. Maude loved to wander in the woods nearby, a trait shown in Anne as well.
On Lover’s Lane path Signs such as this one address Maud’s love of nature
More on L M Montgomery later in our travels…
Beautiful Cape Breton– a few more places
Here’s a few more photos from our tour of the Cabot Trail in Cape Breton.
Black Brook Beach
I found out how cold that Atlantic water is when I walked along the water’s edge.
Green Cove
Green Cove, rocks and vegetation
Lots of these flowers out east and especially at Green Cove. They look like wild roses.
A pretty place in Cape Breton– Neil’s Harbour
Just some photos of a pretty place with sparkling water under the summer sun and boats sitting by the dock in the protected harbour.
Pleasant Bay, Cape Breton
Just before we entered the Cape Breton Highlands National Park, we stopped in Pleasant Bay for a break. We’d been on the road awhile and the driver needed a rest.
The wind blew over that place, ruffling our hair, as we stood looking out over Pleasant Bay’s small harbour and the church yard, the water and the waves that flowed toward shore, in no particular hurry. We pulled out our binoculars and watched a few whales surfacing and disappearing under the water again.
The place seemed very quiet and tranquil, and a bit isolated. Perhaps everyone was indoors having lunch. It was time for us to have a snack too.
St. Andrew’s United Church
Its steeple reaching to the sky, reminding us whose we are.
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