Another day at the beach

We hadn’t been to Northport in a few years but it is a place we like to visit. On a beautiful autumn day, with a cooling breeze, we headed west to walk the beach and have a picnic.

Northport is in western Prince Edward Island on the north coast. It is predominantly a fishing area, but as is common on PEI, farming is part of life in the area as well. 

We walked on the beach and explored this part of west Prince County which didn’t experience the same fury of Fiona as did the east coast of the island. However, there was wind damage to some trees along the shoreline but this area, inside a sandbar, didn’t appear to have the storm surge like more exposed places.

There is always interesting driftwood along this shoreline, large trees which have come to rest on the beach where they are weathered by sun and sea.

Further along, another tree is determined to live in spite of its precarious position hanging across the beach. It continues to grow and the trunks are beginning to grow vertically from their horizontal positions.

The roots spread into the bank, providing enough nutrients to keep the tree alive.

From the point, you can see the oyster beds in the bay which the Double-crested Cormorants use as perches.

Meanwhile, in the opposite direction, near a cottage on the bay, gulls enjoyed lobster shells left for them to share. A Great Black-backed Gull, called out, while the darker young Iceland Gull picked the shells. Herring Gulls appeared to be enjoying the shells too. 

We stopped by the wharf where four men were fishing with a rod and reel, landing small fish for supper. 

There was a lot of activity in the boat basin as well. 

Off shore, on a sand bar stands the old lighthouse, now privately owned.

Since it was windy, we drove further along the coast to find a sheltered spot to have lunch. We decided on the yard in front of Christ Church, nestled among the trees. After a quinoa salad and hot tea, we explored the area, visiting the cemetery which has been in use since 1850.

Some of the evergreens surrounding the cemetery were covered in vines which were dressed in their autumn colour. A path through the trees led to the Kildare Capes, an area we will explore further another day.  

After lunch, we headed further up the coast, but that’s another story.

  

From the harbour to the cove

It was a great find. My husband discovered some old slides, long forgotten and misplaced over the years. From the 1980s, they were part of an assignment he did for cultural geography. Photos of my mother’s hometown of Maddox Cove and my grandmother’s hometown of Petty Harbour, Newfoundland worked well with the subject for the presentation. They were easy to digitize last week.

There are many old photos of Petty Harbour, a well protected fishing town tucked in an harbour in Motion Bay, just south of the capital, St. John’s. This area, a fishing station for the English in the 1600s was captured by the French in 1696, as the two countries fought over the fish from the waters and the land as a way station between the Old and New Worlds. The English eventually won.

Petty Harbour, like many areas of Newfoundland is rock, with a thin layer of soil in places. 

Houses are stacked over one another on the mountainside, the exposed rock visible all around. This is not a place with gardens and vegetable patches as every millimetre of soil is hard-won.

My grandmother’s family, Hearn, lived on the other side of the harbour, 

up the road and around the turn, tucked in under the mountain. Her father was a fisherman. 

A kilometre or so from Petty Harbour is Maddox Cove, down a road which is carved out of the side of the cliffs.

Here my great grandfather Edward O’Brien, an immigrant from Ireland, settled with his wife, Bridget Kieley and raised a family. The youngest son, Gus, was my mother’s father. He was a fisherman out of Petty Harbour and worked the farm in Maddox Cove.

There was more soil in the Cove and vegetable gardens were common, though my mother’s family worked hard to amend the soil with seaweed and manure. They raised chickens, sheep, cows and had horses to work the land.  

When I was young I spent summers with my grandparents in the Cove, in the days when there were only twelve houses there. Large families meant I had lots of playmates although Mary, Bernard and Margie were my best buddies. We had wonderful summer days, playing in the pool we dammed in the river, on the beach, in the woods, playing house and school and games with the other children after supper, in the old schoolhouse yard. Days weren’t long enough to do everything we planned. 

My grandparents were loving people who worked hard their entire lives. They would have been around my age now when I spent those summer days with them. I can understand their interest in my life and spending time with me. It is how I feel about my grandchildren.

These photos were wonderful reminders of family and friends in a place which helped shape my life.

Here fishy fishy

Like her paternal grandfather before her, our daughter enjoys recreational fishing. Every year she takes the kids fishing and my husband and I tag along at least once, though we are not fishers. The kids look forward to the adventure and the three year old had received a new fishing rod for his birthday. It was their first trip for the year.

The older two, girls nine and seven, have caught fish before so the anticipation of the capture this year was foremost in their minds. The three year old wasn’t sure what to except since he couldn’t remember anything from last year when he’d just turned two. However he was caught up in the excitement like his sisters.

The path to the area was lined with dandelion which the girls noticed because of the bees they attracted. There are lots of bees around early this year.

We arrived before noon and the kids, readied by their mother and maintained by the three adults, fished for an hour before they wanted lunch. 

We’d brought a picnic of course and the sunny day was perfect for a blanket on the grass while the seniors sat in their camp chairs.

The area is a Red-winged Blackbird paradise and we saw more males than females. This one is showing off his coloured epaulet. 

Song Sparrows also love the area and they, with the blackbirds and grackles, kept us entertained as we ate. This sparrow looks like it needs a feather trim like many of us need haircuts these days. 

I also spotted this Yellow Warbler, a first for me, 

flitting amongst the trees.

On our way back to the vehicle, one area of the pond was extremely noisy. We stopped and listened to what we believe are American Toads singing their courtship song. You can hear birds as well. The video is 30 seconds.

Small creatures can leave a big impression!

The kids didn’t catch any trout but the time by the pond was fun for everyone. There’s always next time!

P.S.

During the next fishing trip, each of the kids caught a fish. They declared the day the best ever!