At the beach house

The beach house is on an inlet near the mouth of the Hillsborough River, with the capital city, Charlottetown, visible in the distance. A salt marsh and beach separate the house from the brackish water of the estuary.

Our daughter’s family rented the house recently and my husband and I visited. It is a lovely house in a beautiful setting and we spent much of the time with the family on the beach. 

The path to the beach goes through a meadow with wildflowers 

and Queen Anne had her lace spread about with abandon.

It was low tide 

and the Northumberland Strait having already receded, began to rise as we walked with the children and explored the beach. Plenty of shelled animals live below the high tide mark here. 

The kids enjoyed playing at the water’s edge and soon discovered they could cover themselves and each other in muddy sand. 

Why pay for a mud treatment when you can have this much fun for free?

Nearby a farm extends to the shoreline, reminding us of the connection of land and sea on our island home.

We had a wonderful day with the family and although it was overcast, it didn’t rain. We were lucky to have such a day in a week of miserable weather. If only we could share the rain this summer with western Canada!

Farm country

We cycled four times last week, with our latest outing on Saturday. It was a beautiful autumn day, with a breeze cool enough to be comfortable. We rode eastward in the centre of the island along the Confederation Trail, in an area we hadn’t explored previously. We enjoyed the countryside and everything it revealed.

The area is farm country and old barns were a common sight as we rode along. 

Fields of crops such as potato almost ready for harvest or field corn, 

are common sights on the island. 

However, we also passed a huge field of carrots, some harvested, 

some still in the earth. We had never seen such a field.

Old barns were a common sight but one newer barn held cows.

Outside that barn, a vine had taken over the usual vegetation, covering it completely.

Asters and goldenrod are growing along the sides of the trail but daisies were prominent along the edge of the trail and fields over a two kilometre stretch. They were a pleasant addition.

Near another old barn, four horses were feeding on hay. There wasn’t enough rain this year for grass to grow much. 

One house near the trail is obviously the home of a fisherman. An old boat lies in repose out back 

and nets are drying nearby.

People are preparing for the cold weather, getting wood ready while the temperatures continue in the comfortable range.

It is interesting to have a glimpse into the lives of farmers and fishers on the island as we ride the trail which connects all of us.

The farm

The old farm is in the rolling countryside of Prince Edward Island, away from the cities and the shoreline, deep in farm country.

 

There, on this bitterly cold March afternoon, it feels cold enough to freeze time itself. And in a way, it is. My friend, Lucy, has purchased the old farm and is renovating the house for her future, with all the necessities on the ground level. During renovations, the house provides a glimpse of the past and stirs up some great memories.

The original house was built in the 1880s and just beneath the surface, it is a time capsule. Underneath the plaster covering the walls are the laths used in house construction in Canada until the 1950s. 

 

A closer look at the beams in the ceiling is interesting as well. Who knew that nails were square at one time?

 

And who nailed them there so long ago? Their identities are in the genetic code and records of other families, pictures faded in old boxes, stories passed on through the generations.

The wood on the exterior of the house, under the siding, is varied in size and not finely milled as one would see today. Those old wood forests are gone from the island now, cut for construction of railway, homes, barns and buildings more than a century ago. The individual boards, some quite wide, stood the test of time. 

 

A wood stove heated the home against the wind which could bite through the walls. In more recent times, the owners had insulation blown into the walls, so the old house was warmer than it had been a century ago.

The stairs are narrow, leading to an upper floor with sloped ceilings.

 

Walking up those stairs takes me back to my childhood in Newfoundland to my great grandmother's house. There, similar stairs led to an attic where I loved to play. It was magical to me with its sloped ceilings, giving it a cozy feel, the beds tucked under the roof line. 

The old tub was like the one in my grandfather's house where I spent the first few years of my life. As a teenager, a bath in that tub felt luxurious!

Up those stairs, time turned back sixty years with memories of places and people I loved!

Like many of the farm houses in Prince Edward Island, this home is a combination of two houses. As the family grew, the owner purchased another house, moved it to the site and attached it to his original home. The newer house is the kitchen of this home and an attic extension upstairs. It is a huge home, for a farming family who worked dawn to dusk, on the fields, caring for animals, working hard. If those wall could talk...

 

Outside, the old trees include pine and poplar which are dead, their skeletons making interesting designs again the sky. 

 

Nature has begun to reclaim them already and Lucy will do the rest. She plans to sit on her patio in the morning sun and look out over the countryside, which includes a little stream that runs through the valley. Knowing Lucy, she will have a spectacular garden like she does at her present home.

One old barn is fire wood now 

 

while another building may house some animals. 

 

Lucy's son will use the old tractor which still operates. Some of the thirty-three acres will grow crops. Nearby, some of the neighbours look on.

 

The old farm is moving into the twenty-first century but I wonder when the next renovation will be? Will those people in the future ponder its construction, builders, and owners like we did on this cold day? Only time will tell.