The last few days

It has finally stopped raining and my husband and I have begun our picnic excursions again with the fine weather and diminishing number of tourists around the island. We had two weeks of high temperatures and humidity this summer. Then we had rain every second or third day. It has been a wet summer.

I’ve had camera problems and finally purchased another camera though I was reluctant to buy one  which was heavier than my Nikon P900. I bought a Nikon P1000 and I am enjoying it immensely. Today I am sharing photos I’ve taken with the new camera the last several days when the weather has been lovely.

We’ve continued to walk the Summerside boardwalk daily and I took this shot of the lighthouse at low tide. 

The shorebirds continue to stop along the bay as they journey south for the winter. The Solitary Sandpiper hung out near the Lesser Yellowlegs in the salt marsh.

This young squirrel was eating seeds at the base of a feeder. 

The wall of wildflowers looked particularly lovely against the blue sea.

We took a picnic lunch one day which meant we could take our time along the French shore where we stopped at the church of Notre Dame du Mont Carmel, built in 1898. The church was open so we went inside. 

The marble pillars were particularly beautiful, standing the test of time. You could almost hear the prayers rising upward with them.

We continued along the shore to the beach nearby where some Ruddy Turnstones were feeding along the shoreline. 

Nearby, Ring-billed Gulls stood into the breeze. 

In the distance, you can see the Cape Egmont sea stack. We walked the beach and enjoyed the sun and the breeze.

There is a Lost and Found stand in the parking lot by the beach.

This was a unique find… so to speak!

Cape Egmont was the busiest we’d ever seen it with tourists from the United States and around Canada. However, the sea arch looks to have weakened to near collapse.

The Cormorants are oblivious and enjoy their perch high above their feeding grounds. 

Notre Dame du Mont Carmel stands out in the distance.

We had lunch at a nearby park and enjoyed a stroll around the area. Cabbage Whites are numerous and everywhere this year. 

They flit around the wildflowers, and stop briefly on a bloom.

I am enjoying the new camera and it is good to be having picnics around the island again.

Along the Acadian coast

The Evangeline region of Prince Edward Island is an area we haven’t fully explored, so my husband and I recently drove along part of that coast. This area is west of Summerside and predominately Acadian, descendants of the original French settlers on the island. French is the first language of the majority of people in this region, representing about 3% of the island’s population. 

We passed the Eglise Notre Dame du Mont Carmel along the way, a large church which dominates the countryside. We stopped at Cape Egmont to see the lighthouse and noticed Notre Dame in the distance, 

certainly visible to the boats at sea. It was a good landmark for fishers in the days prior to satellite navigation systems aboard fishing vessels.

Parking near the lighthouse and looking out, 

we could see the land falls off into the sea, without any fencing to prevent tragedy. Carefully approaching the edge, we discovered a sea stack below with cormorants enjoying the sun. It is interesting the birds frequent one part of the sea stack and not the whole surface.

The cliffs consist of mudstone and sandstone layered from sea level up but red soil makes up a huge portion of the cliff, kept in place by the grass.  

Notice the two young people in the photo above. They are standing in the area below, near the outer edge. Needless to say, we did not venture there.

The sea stack with the cormorants in residence is actually a double sea arch. The smaller arch on the left is newer, having developed over the last year. A walk along the cliffs is necessary to see both of them as the smaller one isn’t visible at every angle. 

In the water below, cormorants land and take off, looking like they are enjoying a dip in the sea on this hot day. One looks to be drying its wings on the water, a behaviour I hadn’t seen before. 

Usually we see spread wings on land.

Further off-shore, the fishing boats are going to and from the Fishing Cove west of the Cape in Egmont Bay. 

It is a windy day and the water is choppy. We were happy to be where we were rather than on that boat. However, we will visit this lighthouse again to watch the progress of the sea stack over time.

 

Notre Dame du Mont Carmel

There has been a church in this spot since 1812 on Prince Edward Island. This is the third building, here since 1898. Known as Notre Dame du Mont Carmel, this church is an islander, made of red brick from the island.

The catholic church sits in the Evangeline region of Prince county, home to many Acadians. It was designed by Rene Lemay, an architect and son of Pamphile Lemay who translated the epic poem, “Evangeline,” by H. W. Longfellow into French, in 1865, almost twenty years after it was written. 

The church is on the coast in Mont Carmel, behind a stone archway. The Northumberland Strait in the background was frozen when we visited.

There are two bell towers at the front of the Victorian era building and the traceried windows are inspired by Gothic design.

The statue of Mother Mary and Child Jesus is prominent inside the archway. 

The cemetery alongside the church is behind archways as well, one separating the cemetery from the church 

and one from the roadway. Inside the cemetery is a stone mausoleum. 

The archways amaze me, not only for their grand design and craftsmanship, use of natural elements and positioning. Rocks such as these are a rare commodity on the island. It is common for garden centers to sell rocks. For the construction of breakwaters and causeways, rocks are brought in from other provinces. We have never seen rocks such as those in the archways. 

The exterior beauty of this church makes us want to see the inside again. 

Next time.