Derry New Hampshire-August 31

On our way to Enfield Saturday we made a stop at Derry,the home of Robert Frost. Remember in the last posting I commented about New England homes seeming to have no end? The Frost home was such a place,and I have a picture of it here. Connected to the house is a woodshed and a barn. The barn has a lower level,where once the animals were kept. Frost and his family lived in this place for nine years and during this time wrote about 40 of his poems. Four of his six children were born here. We enjoyed our tour of this home very much,and that was probably due to the fact that our tour guide was very knowledgeable about Frost. It also helped that Lesley Frost,daughter of the Frosts,had returned to this home 1964-1975 and restored the home to the way she remembered it. Carpets and wallpaper were duplicated as she remembered them. She also brought in many Frost's family treasures as her mom's china and the blessing cup made by her grandfather for the family. The current manager of this historic house was also interesting to know. He said that he accepted this job because it allowed him to write his poetry and play his guitar! He also informed us that this morning,during Senator Kennedy's funeral mass,one of Kennedy's sons had misquoted Frost. I wished the weather had been better for us to walk the trails around the Frost home(hurricane Danny was creating heavy rain and a fierce wind). It was in his strolls around this area that Frost had written such poems as "Good fences make good neighbors" and "The road not taken". A children's garden is located outside the home to show Frost's love for botany and his desire that his children learn that science. The other picture here is of the longest covered bridge in the United States,located in Windsor Vermont.

Massachusetts- August 28

We had an absolutely delightful drive through Maine today. Drove along routes three and one which took us along the coast of Maine. Again we saw big beautiful New England style homes. I call them houses that seem to have no end. I assume that, because of the cold winters,it is important to have sheds,barns,and garages attached to the main house. And it is not all that unusual to see them connected at odd corner angles to the main house. Also,in the northeast as Canada,the gardens are huge and boast a variety of colorful flowers. I think this also is result of the long winters in which there is no color at all- I am sure people here want to make the most of the short summer. I was also fascinated today at the interesting way most business places creatively used the name of their state. We saw a candy place called the "Maine Gathering",a used car lot was called "Mainely Used Cars", and a pottery shop was"Mainely Pottery". The pottery shop claimed to have only the work of Maine artists. I will not be writing on this site for a couple of days because we will be taking our little Honda Fit to visit our niece in Enfield,New Hampshire. We will be leaving the computer and the cat behind with our home here in Salisbury Mass.

Abbe Museum- August 27

We spent our afternoon at this museum in Bar Harbor. It was one of the best I have seen on Native American art and culture. It covered information only on those Indians of the Wabanaki Confederacy, of which there are four tribes here in Maine. In this museum are artifacts of these Native Indians found in archeological digs since the beginning of the 20th century. Those artifacts have shone a light on the life and culture of the Native Indians since the 16OOs. That section of the museum was called “Layers of Time”. The other part of the museum was called “Twisted Path: Contemporary Native American Artists Walking in Two Worlds”. In this area there are beautiful paintings and photographs, quilts, jewelry, sculptures and baskets created by the Wabanaki Indians. Their work in these different mediums has a combination of the old as well as the new in their artistry. George Longfish explains his artwork with these words: “my art revolves around issues that affect Native Americans as we pursue Truth…who, due to advancement of civilization, have been left with many unresolved issues”. I enjoyed this particular room very much; the artistry shown was quite impressive and gave messages of hope and joy as well as deep sadness. There also was another room in this museum which was quite interesting. It was a high ceiling round room with only a couple items in it. It was entitled: “ Circle of Four Directions”. In the Wabanaki culture the circle represents wholeness. Life is constantly moving in cycles of birth ,growth, decay and death. Swinging from the ceiling in this room was a several layered white framed net. It was hanging above the sculptured form of an eagle in flight. Such a simple room, an architectural tribute to the Wabanaki Indian and his society. After touring the museum we took one last look at Acadia Park. I have posted a picture here of the shoreline at Thunder Hole. It was a bit more peaceful today.

Somes Sound Fjord-August 25

We had been here several days before we decided to take a hike around the campground. We had forgotten that this place had advertised that they had an ocean view here,so we were pleasantly surprised to find that view at the end of the road we are parked on. We also discovered that there is low bush wild blueberries all over the campground,free for the picking. I ran into a man this morning,while I was walking, who had a bowl full of them. He said he was picking them for the pancakes he was making. After that I found it difficult to continue my walk,as I constantly stopped to pick the berries. So much for my power walk! This afternoon we drove along the shore of Somes Sound to look at the fjord. It is the only fjord on the east coast. A fjord is a long and narrow valley carved by glaciers and flooded by the sea. They are located between two mountains. The picture with the two hills was taken in this area. After seeing that, we drove to the town of Northeast Harbor. The other pictures are of the harbor and beach there. As we found in Bar Harbor,the homes in this area are huge and gorgeous,with colorful gardens. I an sure a few of them are quite old,however still well maintained. I forgot one other thing that was interesting today. One the beach I ran into a young boy who was holding what looked like a colorful rock in his hand. It was a sea cucumber. The boy had been swimming and caught it with a net. It was alive and just beautiful. He did return it to the sea.

Eagle Lake-August 23

On Saturday we also stopped at Acadia Wild Gardens. I will post here a couple of pictures from those gardens. One picture is of the white swamp candle flower,the other is the red cardinal flower. Not many wildflowers were around in that garden. Hard to believe that fall is coming for this area,some leaves are turning color and coming down. Last night,Saturday night,the heavens opened up and it literally poured! However,by the time we were ready to leave for church it was starting to clear. We attended Saint Savior Episcopal.It was confirmation day for the adults so Bishop Lane was there from the diocese of Maine. Consequently there was special music provided by a flutist and choir. It was a very inspirational service,and I discovered that the Episcopal church is not all that different from our faith. After church we checked out the sand bar for which Bar Harbor is named. It connects the city with Bar Island. Unfortunately the tide was in-fairly high waves could be seen crashing around the rocks of the island because of the storm last night. We did return later to view the sand bar after the tide was going out. Our afternoon was spent biking around Eagle Lake at Acadia Park. We took the Carriage Road,a road developed by John D.Rockefeller in 1913 for carriages as a refuge from the horseless carriage(the automobile). So now only walkers,bikers and carriages enjoy this road. It was a challenge for John and I to bike around the lake for part of it was an up hill climb- but the view over the lake with mountains in the background was well worth the effort!

Acadia National Park-August 22

Today had bursts of sunshine and clouds. Hurricane Bill was coming into this area. Turned out that event was beneficial for us. We had taken the loop road around the park and made a stop at Thunder Hole. It is a narrow channel of rocks along the ocean shore through which the waves splash up. Today the hurricane had made the waves higher and more forceful when coming through this channel. We were able to hear the famous "boom",which gives this place the name of Thunder Hole(not always heard when the ocean is calm). We realized,after standing there awhile,that the sound would occur before we saw the huge wave splashing through the rocks. Lots of people were gathered with us. It was like the Fourth of July when fireworks go off- people shouted and clapped their hands every time when the boom and splash of waves happened. Children tried to get a close as possible so they could get hit with the resulting mist. We then took a mountain path to view Bubble Rock. It is a huge rock balancing on the side of a mountain cliff. It reminded us of Elephant Rocks in Missouri. We were not sure about driving to the highest point on the east coast,Cadillac Mountain. We were afraid that the low-lying clouds would limit what we could see up there. On first arriving at the top we could not see too far off into the distance. But again that day we lucked out,and soon a burst of sunshine came through the clouds! After everything we had seen in Canada we thought we would be disappointed with Acadia Park. Our fears were unfounded,it has its own particular beauty,even with the threat of stormy weather! I have posted here a picture of Thunder Hole,Bubble Rock,and a view of Bar Harbor from the top of Cadillac Mountain.

Bar Harbor Maine- August 21

Once we got out of Canada and into Maine today,we had some pretty rough roads to go over. Fog plagued us also a lot. We drove on highway state route one along the coast of Maine. It seemed to be a scenic drive and it had signs pointing to scenic overlooks, but the fog prevented us from seeing anything. I have a few pictures yet from Canada. One is of John standing next to a miner. I also want to tell you something interesting about our tour guide at the mine. He said that his grandfather worked in the mine and had a bad accident which mangled one side of his body. He recovered,however, and continued to work in the mine. Fortunately they gave him lighter work. At the time of the big mine collapse in 1958 he was in the mine but was able to get out quickly as his job placed him near the entrance. Our guide said that after that incident his mom would not let him near the mine, not even when his school had class trips there! It is interesting that he is now working there as a tour guide. Another picture which I have posted here is of migratory birds bulking up before their trip to the northern tip of South America. We were told that it takes them only two days of straight flying to get there. Most of the birds have already left, so we were surprised to see a few still around. The ones we saw were mainly sandpipers, plovers, and dowitchers. Hope you can make them out in the seashore picture here. And this is for the “old man” Mike. Yes,God has given us a wonderful world to enjoy. I often think of what my mother use to say when she saw a pretty flower:"who can say there is no God?" Canada claims that 20% of its land is undeveloped. We saw a lot of wilderness in our travels there, and it looked like more than 20%! What a beautiful country!

Hopewell Rocks-August 20

John avers that since he has now seen the Hopewell Rocks his bucket list is completed. It is hard to believe that one month in Canada has completed all of his wishes. Looks like he needs to fill that bucket up again! The location of the Hopewell Rocks,in Fundy Bay,is where some of the bay's highest tides occur. We did not make the tidal bore,but was there a couple hours after,and then returned when the tide was out(several hours later). It is fascinating to walk on the ocean floor once the tide is out. And it can get quite muddy if one does not traverse on the rocks. I saw both young and old having a wonderful time sloshing through the mud! Shore birds,as terns,sandpipers and gulls were feeding in this area- what a yummy meal for them when the tide is out! Many periwinkle snails were also seen sliding through the mud. And there was one young eagle sitting on top of a tree on one of the rocks taking it all in. Ever so often he would swoop down into the ocean to catch a fish. We have a picture of him sitting on his lofty perch. The Hopewell Rocks(I have a picture of them here when they were surrounded by water and then later when the tide was out)are shaped like flower pots and over millions of years have been carved by melting glaciers,and then sculpted by the highest tides in the world. They are composed of sandstone and conglomerate rock. The sandstone is friable and constantly breaking off,but the conglomerate rock will be around for thousands of years yet. The rocks get cracked by the acid rain in the soil,and the roots of the trees. Also ice and snow;freezing and thawing affect the rocks. It was awesome to walk around them and see them up close. Also fascinating to see was the different kinds of seaweed draped over the smaller rocks. I have learned that seaweed is harvested and used in foods,cosmetics,and fertilizers. Tomorrow we are headed out of Canada. It has been a beautiful place to visit for us.

Springhill Nova Scotia-August 19

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Anne Murray's music is still ringing in my head. There was a lot of her music played through out the Murray Centre in her hometown of Springhill. For those of you a bit younger than John or I, she was the first female Canadian artist to earn an American Gold Record. She has sold close to fifty million albums and has won countless awards. Her song "Snowbird" was her first song which catapulted her to fame. We were informed that she spends May through September in Springhill. Her hometown was the site of a major coal mining industry until about 1970. Over its 85 year history the mine had a couple of explosions and one bump(miniature earthquake). All total, some 442 men were killed since the 19th century. One of the explosions occurred in 1956,the bump happened in 1958, and in 1957 the town itself had a major fire! On a lighter note,the town has a couple of benches dubbed the"Liars Bench" in memory of the miners who congregated at those benches to tell their fishing stories. From Springhill we drove to Williamsdale Winery. We had a shock there because, as we drove up the path to the winery,we found it over grown in weeds. It took some heavy knocking and a dog inside ferociously barking to get the owner to come to the door. He said that he was closing the business. On the average he use to have 3-4thousand people a summer come to his winery-this summer so far John and I were his 14th and 15th customers. He especially noticed a sharp decrease of people from the USA. He did have some blueberry wine to sell to us and also gave us free samples of maple syrup. Our last stop was Oxford-the blueberry capital of Canada,second only to Maine in blueberry production. Fortunately for us,this is the time when blueberries are ripe.

Tidal Bore- August 18

This morning we left Dartmouth and headed for Amherst, Nova Scotia. We are now a few miles from the New Brunswick border. We got a fairly early start so we could watch the tidal bore in the upper arm of the Bay of Fundy. We got to the spot at the Salmon River early so could see the before and after effect. The river at first was at a low level and meandering slowly to the west. A bore is when tide meets the river. This creates a dramatic effect because the ocean tide pushes the river in the opposite direction it is flowing. The level of the river rises rapidly and the flow of the river reverses. There are narrower areas in the Bay of Fundy where the tidal bore creates waves as high as several feet. Never having seen one before,we enjoyed watching this less dramatic tidal bore. Other people had joined us at the river banks so it was fun also people watching; hearing their comments and reactions to this phenomena of nature which happens twice daily. The picture I have here is of the stirred up muddy water of the river meeting the tide. In the afternoon we visited a world heritage site located at Joggins, Nova Scotia. In the middle 1800s scientists here discovered a treasure trove of fossils dating from 300 million years ago. To be more precise, it was the "Coal Age Galapagos" of the Carboniferous prehistoric era. Giant insects, towering trees and the first known reptiles lived and died here. Over the years they were preserved in the stone which make up the cliffs in Joggins. New fossils are continuously being exposed by erosion of the cliffs. These cliffs are along the coast of the Bay of Fundy and are being eroded by the high tides. We walked along the shore there and tried to find our own fossils (but you are not allowed to keep what you find). We found a variety of many kinds of rock, of differing colors and shapes. One thing we saw interesting was a fossilized seed pod. We also saw pieces of fossilized trees in the cliffs. In the museum located at Joggins it was easier to view the fossils. This also used to be a coal mining area-I have posted here a seam of coal which we found among a pile of rocks.

Halifax Nova Scotia,Day 2- August 17

I have one more picture from yesterday. It is of several wharf musicians. Yesterday was a buskers festival, so we heard a fair amount of music while walking around. Nova Scotia(the name of this province means New Scotland) is very Scottish ,so we heard the bagpipes played a couple of times. And it was not a bad sound when played with drums! Our first stop today was St.Paul’s Church. It is the oldest Protestant church in Canada,founded by proclamation of King George II in 1749. It was quite beautiful inside. It had 22 stained glass windows depicting Jesus’life,death and ministry. Also,most unusual,in the chancel are wooden plaques on which are inscribed the Lord’s Prayer,the Ten Commandments,and the Apostle’s Creed. They date from a time when few could afford the Common Book of Prayers. We went from there back to the harbor to take a sail boat ride. And that is a picture of John hoisting the sails. Our afternoon was spent touring a brewery, Alexander Keiths. This brewery dates back to the early 1800s,so it was interesting just touring the old building. On the tour we were treated to some tavern songs and games dating back to that time period. It was an unusual brewery tour. The ale was quite good.

Halifax Nova Scotia- August 16

We are parked in Dartmouth Nova Scotia. It is across the harbor from Halifax. We had some difficulty finding this place yesterday. A missed turn proved to be helpful,however. Missing a turn is a bit disturbing when one is driving a 37 foot rig through city streets. John did find a street to turn into. And while he was debating where next to turn the rig around, I saw a Lutheran church. I quickly ran out of the rig to check church times for today. All is well that ends well. We did find the campground and we were able to attend church today. We now know that the Lutheran Church in Canada is connected with the Missouri Synod. The few Lutheran churches in Canada are struggling to survive. The church we attended today had only about twenty worshippers. They also do not have a regular pastor The one serving today had been helping the church for the past two weeks and was now heading back to his home church in Ontario. After church we took the ferry across the harbor to Halifax. I have posted here a picture of the harbor as we were crossing it. We toured the Halifax Citadel- an old fort which was the last of four built to defend the city. Halifax was the principal British naval station in North America. We also walked the older part of Halifax. There are a few older buildings left- I have here a picture of the old courthouse. In our walking tour we were able to walk through the Public Garden of Halifax. It is a rare example of a formal Victorian garden,intact since 1815. The floral abundance in this park was awesome. I have posted here a picture of the bandstand located in the park.

Random Thoughts- August 15

The picture I have here is another one taken in the bog on the Cabot Trail. It a photo of white orchids which we saw there. The other picture is just of some wild flowers we found when hiking. Another loose end which I would like to pick up is in regard to Alexander G.Bell. I forgot to mention that he was one of the founders of the National Geographic magazine. Actually it would be difficult to think of anything he did not tinker with or invent. When he heard of something newly invented he usually obtained that object,used it and/or added his own improvements. He did that with the x-ray machine when it came out,trying it out on his farm animals.From what I learned about him,it seemed that he was a true renaissance man! With all of his projects he kept the towns people employed, and he also mentored some men who had engineering degrees. Today we headed for Halifax,Nova Scotia. And it was the first day of summer for me. I wore shorts for the first time all day! Also,John and I had our first McLobster sandwich at McDonalds. It was quite good,made as well as the ones which I have had in the local restaurants. I have not seen many unusually named roads for awhile, but I saw a few recently. On Prince Edward Island I saw Panting Beach Road(I figured it was a code name for Lover’s Lane). Also there I saw Seaweed Road- you can’t get it plainer than that.Maybe there was a Mr.Seaweed.. Today we noticed Short Cut Loop Road- short cut to where,and how can one take a short cut on a country road when all that can be seen is farm fields? We should have gone down that road! Another road which we saw today: Mushaboom. That made me think of the baby boomers,only it happened instead with mushrooms and they had to commemorate the event. And we came through a town today with the name Ecum Secum. That reminded me of the phrase “come si,come sa” . Maybe I am dabbling in foreign languages here and should leave that one alone!

Uisge Ban Falls-August 14

Before I write about what we did today,I want to cover one more detail from the Cabot Trail. One the Cabot Trail we had the opportunity to hike through a bog(fortunately there was a boardwalk provided to walk on). This bog has several insect eating plants,and we were able to see two of them. One is the bladderwort,the other is the pitcher plant. I was pleased how the pitcher plant photo turned out and hope you can see the little pitchers at the bottom of the plant. Those pitchers are what catch the insects for the plant to feed on. Today we took a hike along the North Branch Baddeck River to the Usige Ban Falls. Usige Ban is Gaelic for clear waters. And it is a clear mountain stream. The path to the falls is a bit rocky and steep. We saw one area along the way which had a lot of tall white birch and spruce trees with their roots wrapped around big boulders.I have here a picture of one of those trees. Surprisingly,the trees were very healthy in appearance otherwise. I guess all that matters are that the roots find their way down to the soil. Hmmm..seems like like there is some philosophical message I could make out of that thought. Suffice it enough to only say that it was a beautiful forest walk. The water falls tumble down fifty feet to a rocky canyon below. After that hike,our afternoon was spent at the Alexander Graham Bell museum. He came to visit Baddeck after his success with the invention of the telephone. He and his wife loved this area so well they stayed thirty-seven years,until their deaths. They had a big gray castle-type building which can be seen from the museum. Their descendants still live there today. I did not know that Bell is considered the father of aviation for the British empire- he designed and flew a plane two years after the Wright Brothers,called the Silver Dart. Actually,there were quite a few different projects he was involved in during his lifetime,including man-carrying kites and animal husbandry. Just before he died he was working on the hydrofoil. With an associate of his,he produced the fastest boat in the world. Unfortunately at the time(1919)there was not a big need for it.

Cabot Trail,Day 2-August 13

Since we had not completed our drive on the first day(we really had not expected to),we decided to stop for the night in the town of Cheticamp. As we drove through the town all we could see was "no vacancy" signs until we came to the Nestle Inn. What a lovely home;it was a bed and breakfast type place. We got a room in an apartment which we shared with two other couples. They were from the states(Maine and Virginia)and very friendly. You certainly have to be willing to talk to strangers if you are sharing a bathroom! Our brief stay there was very enjoyable. From there the next morning,today,we went to les Trois Pignons.This was an Acadian culture center with a large display of decorative hook rugs made by the ladies of the area.It was a very worthwhile stop. As we were leaving town we stopped at an historic site. There I saw cows standing in the ocean at the next small island over from us. I was confused,surely they were not there to drink ocean water? Maybe waiting for their ship to come in? I asked Germaine at the information center there. She said that the cows were there either to keep cool,or perhaps it was one place for them where there were no flies. I am not sure how it happened,but Germaine then proceeded to give me her life story. Her parents initially had a farm in what is now the national park,but just before she was born they had to leave and live in the town as their land had become government property. Her family only spoke French when she was young so it was difficult for her and her sister to enter an English speaking school. She said she was picking up the English with some difficulty until the ninth grade when they started studying Shakespeare. She said:"I was already having problems learning English,but boy the English of Shakespeare was too much for me-I dropped out of school at that point!" One other stop today was to see a scarecrow display. In the early 1980s a seventy year old man put up several scarecrows to keep animals out of his garden. Tourists started stopping to look at them and the rest is history. It really became a thing of art for him. I will post a couple of those pictures here. In the first he has scarecrow children playing ring around the rosy. The laughing guy has the title "laugh and the world laughs with you.." We ended our day back at the town of Baddeck,the town near where our home is parked. The town has a ceilidh music concert every evening during the summer months. This concert was different than others we had attended. We heard a Gaelic vocalist and participated in square dancing to a Celtic jig!

Cabot Trail,Nova Scotia- August 12

We are actually on Cape Breton Island,the northern most part of Nova Scotia. A large part of that island is Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The Cabot Trail runs through most of that park. We had just started on our drive when we stopped at the park office. A ranger pointed out several walking trails and described them as level and easy walks. We only did a couple as the first one was fairly strenuous for us! It was very much an uphill climb out on a peninsula called Middle Head. At the top we had a panoramic view of the Atlantic ocean and the cliffs surrounding us. One rock out on the ocean had a lot of cormorants and two puffins. It was worth the walk! A good part of our day was spent just driving through forested areas. We started wondering where the great scenery was which everyone had told us about. However,once we got to the eastern part of the island,we started seeing steep cliffs and deep river canyons. We discovered that the Cabot Trail was every bit as beautiful as we been told. And just before we left the park we saw a mother bear with her two cubs shuffling along the side of the road. Actually the cubs were more into playing with each other,not foraging for food which their mom seemed to be doing! The sight of those bears made our day complete. More on the Cabot Trail in my next posting.

Leaving Prince Edward Island- August 11

We are now on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia. Lobster must also be very plentiful here for eating- even McDonalds advertises that it has a McLobster sandwich! However, I still want to go back to P.E.I.and share some more of those pictures with you. One can only enter and leave on the Confederate Trail Bridge. There was a heft toll for our big rig-$56.00. Fortunately we only had to pay it once,as we were leaving the island today. I have a picture of it posted here. Another island scene I have is a bucolic one,as diary farming is big on the island. In that picture note the gulf in the background. The last picture is a pretty typical scene on the island; pasture and hills with a village on the lake in the background. Wildflowers are plentiful on the roadsides; yellow goldenrod and cinquefoils,white yarrow and daisys,purple thistle and American vetch,to name the more common ones seen. Some of those wildflowers can be seen in the foreground of that last picture. Tomorrow we are driving on the Cabot Trail- supposedly one of the most scenic drives in north America. Will get back to you on that in a couple of days.

Preserve Gardens- August 9

I think this posting will be the last for Prince Edward Island. We will be leaving the island Tuesday. I want to mention a couple other things which we did Sunday. We ended our touring with a stop at the Prince Edward Island Preserve company. This company is famous for the preserves which they make, a 12 acre botanical garden, and restaurant. The garden had paths which overlook the Clyde River, they also wound through flower beds and woodland. The owners do not charge admission fees to this garden, but rather request that donations be given toward a hospice building which they hope to build on the grounds. We dined at the restaurant for supper-both of us had lobster quiche which was quite delicious. That evening we attended our final concert of island music. We saw the Sky family whose performance was entitled “Fiery Faith And Fiddles”. They mostly did Celtic dance as well as one Russian Cossack dance. The family was very talented and several of them played more than one instrument. One of the men switched between playing a fiddle and sax in one song. They also played a couple of religious praise songs which were quite beautiful to hear. I think for the pictures which I want to post here I will just have the theme of flowers. One of them (it has a wooden post in the foreground) was taken at the Preserve Gardens. The other two were taken at a L.M.Montgomery heritage site. Maybe in my next posting I will have more pictures taken from around the island. I still have many more to show!

Cavendish- August 9

After three weeks of missing church due to being in areas that were French and Catholic,it was a thrill to walk into the United Church of Canada in Bedeque. I did not realize how much I really missed attending church. The United Church of Canada came about with the combining of the Methodist,United Church of Christ and Presbyterian churches in 1925. The church we attended today is over 100 years old,and was originally Methodist. During the fellowship hour we enjoyed talking to several members who were very obliging in talking to us about their lives here on the island. We also met an elderly woman who was proudly showing off her adorable two great-grandchildren. They were adopted Cree Indian babies from northern Canada. Apparently there is a big need for people to adopt these children from that part of Canada. After church we headed for Cavendish to finish our tour of the L.M.Montgomery sites. We first toured the Campbell home in Silver Bush where she married Reverend Ewan Macdonald. Mongomery referred to this place as “the wonder castle of my childhood”. Here I have posted a picture of the pond on the premises which was the inspiration for Anne’s” Lake of Shining Waters”. After that we went to her paternal grandparent’s home in Park Corners. There we were given a tour by a man who said that his father was a first cousin to L.M.Mongomery. His mother had lived in that house until about ten years ago,after which it was turned into a museum. So fortunately it had a lot of the original furnishings in it. Our final stop was the site of the home where the author grew up. All that is left is the well and the cellar foundation of the house. I have here a picture of the wooded path which the author spoke of in her writings. It was the path she took to her church where she was the organist while she was still living at home with her grandmother. We had a chance at this place to speak with the lady whose husband is the great-grandson of the author. She and her husband decided to restore whatever was left of the author’s home and grounds. I am thankful they did- it was interesting to see the areas which Mongomery so lovingly incorporated into her stories,as the old well and the forest path. What was also great about the day,actually this can be said about every day on this island, are the flowers that are present everywhere. They are seen outside homes,in gardens and by the roadsides. Wherever there is a patch of ground there is some type of flower. I have taken so many pictures of them I will have to start posting them wherever I can fit them in!