Unexpected Bonus: Highly Memorable

A different kind of baptism.

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This evening, Sean and I stood on a flat rock, polished smooth by the ocean, and stepped into the cold water together. 

   
 
We only got wet up to our ankles, but we did it! Neither of us had seen the Atlantic Ocean before last Friday. Now, we’ve had a little ritual of wetting our feet in it together. 

We weren’t born siblings, but we did this together to further cement our mutual adoption.  It’s safe to say that we have really bonded in the past five days. 

  
We’ve experienced many firsts together on our short vacation in the eastern provinces of Canada. It was the first time for both of us to visit Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. Sean had his first lobster. I fulfilled childhood dreams with Sean by my side. We have laughed and talked and taken photos and blogged and got rained on and visited many new places together. And the meals we’ve shared… Oh my. 

This trip out east has been sensational in so many ways. 

It’s going to be really hard to leave him tomorrow and go back to instant messaging. But we will. It’s so much better than nothing!

Lower Bedeque School, Prince Edward Island. 

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While sharing lunch with my friend in Summerside, PEI, sour server mentioned that we were not far from one of the schools where Lucy Maud Montgomery had taught in 1896-1897. 

We decided to go by and see the school house, which now serves as a museum. It wasn’t open, but we did peek in the windows as well as taking photographs of the building. 

   
  

  

How delightful to see another part of Montgomery’s own history on PEI. 

The story of her time here is quite poignant. While teaching at this school, Montgomery boarded with the Leard family. 

Lucy fell in love with the eldest son of the family, Herman, but he ended the relationship because he was less educated than her and believed she could do better. 

Montgomery’s grandfather died suddenly and she left Bedeque before the school year was finished to return to Cavendish and take care of her grandmother. 

When Herman Leard died of influenza in 1899, Montgomery was distraught, even though their relationship had long been over. 

Lucy Maud Montgomery.

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Lucy Maud Montgomery is famous as the author of “Anne of Green Gables” and many other books. She was also a poet – something I did not know until today! 

In addition to visiting Green Gables, I also visited he site of the home in which Montgomery lived with her grandparents at Cavendish and her birthplace at New London, on Prince Edward Island.

Both of these experiences were lovely. The home of Montgomery’s grandparents is no longer standing, but the site is commemorated by a rustic bookstore which specialises in book by, and about, Montgomery.   

  

  

 

Walking through the house in which Montgomery was born was both fascinating and quite moving.

   

To see letters handwritten by her, clothes and shoes that she wore, and to walk on the very same floorboards and stairs that she walked on as a child had a very profound effect on me.  I have always felt connected to her characters, but to feel a sense of connection to the author is another thing again.  

  

  

 

The rooms do not have the original furnishings owned by Montgomery’s family, as the house was sold when her mother died from tuberculosis at the age of 23, when Lucy Maud was only 21 months old. 

It was during her mother’s illness that Lucy went to live with her maternal grandparents at Cavendish. Here, she frequently visited relatives who lived in the house nearby that inspired her to write the story of Green Gables and the red-haired orphan girl, Anne Shirley, who went to live there. 

The house is furnished with authentic items from the time period, according to the way in which such a house would typically have been furnished. Close attention has been paid to every detail.  

  


  
 

I’m so glad we found these places and decided to visit. As well as fulfilling a life-long hope and dream of mine, I discovered some new places and learned new things about this wonderful writer whom I have admired for so long. I really have had an absolutely marvellous day.  

Trans-Canada Highway.

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Heading from Nova Scotia to New Brunswick, we found ourselves on the Trans-Canada Highway. For some reason which escapes me, I thought that ran much further  north. 

Then it dawned on me.

I am further north than I have ever been. And yesterday, I was further east than I have ever been. 

So, as we drove along, I started singing Gene Pitney’s “Trans-Canada Highway, take me home…” because my brain-pod had immediately started playing it as soon as I saw the sign. 

There was a moment of awkwardness when I realised Sean had not heard the song before, but then I kept singing it anyway. That’s how I roll. 

We crossed into New Brunswick, bypassed Moncton, and headed to Port Elgin. Once there, we headed over the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island. 

We headed for Charlottetown and found ourselves on the Trans-Canada, yet again. 

  
Three provinces in one day. Not bad for an Aussie maple leaf, adrift on the wind!

The Irish Harp.

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The Irish Harp is a wonderful Irish pub in Niagara-On-The-Lake, Ontario. 

 

The atmosphere is warm and friendly, and right from the start, the service is outstanding. 

  
 

The food is good: there is an extensive menu of traditional Irish pub fare and more standard pub-style food with a slightly Irish twist.  

The Magner’s cider is cold and delicious, and the house beer is pretty good, according to Sean.  It’s fair to say that he knows and appreciates beer a great deal more than I do, so I’m happy to go with his opinion.
 

We really enjoyed our visit to the Itish Harp. I’d definitely make this my regular pub if I lived nearby.  

 

Loaded fries. 

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Yesterday’s lunch was loaded fries: fries topped with chili con carne, cheese, sour cream, and shallots.

  
These were totally worth the $10 I paid for them. The fries were fresh and hot, the chili was just spicy enough, the cheese got all melty, and it was frickin’ delicious. I also didn’t need to eat for the rest of the day. 

 

Blue raspberry.

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Yesterday, I encountered yet another food item that I had never seen before. 

Of course, it’s entirely possible that I may lead something of a sheltered life when it comes to frozen drinks, but the blue raspberry slushie was entirely new to me.

It’s vivid blue. It tastes like raspberry cordial. It’s semi-frozen. As weird as it looks and sounds, it’s delicious and refreshing. I was so surprised, I forgot to take a picture for Instagram. 

I don’t know if I could drink a whole one, given that it’s ridiculously sweet, but another warm day could easily induce me to try.  

 
This is not my photograph. I borrowed it via Google from the wonderful folk at slush world.co.uk and have acknowledged it here in the sincere hope that they do not sue me. Thanks in advance!

In the wild.

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As we were driving to Toronto Zoo, we saw a deer in the wild, eating flowers on the side of the road. 

There were no antlers, so I assume it was a doe. She looked up from her feast, saw the car, and bolted into the grasslands further from the road. She moved with incredible speed, yet her movements were fluid and graceful.

There was no time to take a photo, but I was very excited to have seen this magnificent creature in her own environment. I like to think of her out there, in the wild, enjoying the delicious flowers that grow by country roadsides. 

What an extraordinary, unforgettable moment. 

“Meet the Aussie”.

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This afternoon a bunch of people came to Sean and Jenn’s for the “Meet the Aussie” pot luck supper.

It was a really great time. Everyone just chilled and chatted and ate – holy Toledo, did we eat. There was so much good food, and a number of things I hadn’t tried before. 

Pumpkin tarts. Oh. My. Goodness.  

 
Those are amazing. I only had one, mainly because I was minding my manners. I could have eaten ten without any trouble. 

Butter tarts: these would be more aptly named ‘Caramelised buttery fruity deliciousness tarts’. 

  
These are really good, but the pumpkin tarts were better. 

In return, I made two classic Australian desserts: a pavlova and a chocolate ripple cake. 

 
Both were a huge hit. I think I scored a million brownie points with the pavlova.  It was pretty darned spectacular, even if I do say so myself. 

And, in a ‘karma smiling on me’ kind of way, we had an extra guest visiting in the yard with us.  This little guy sat on the fence for some time, and kindly did not run away when I wanted to take his picture. 

 
 All the Canadians thought it was funny that I was so excited about a squirrel, until Sean explained that we don’t have them in Australia. 
The following conversation was all about Australian wildlife and all the dangerous critters we have. That’s more  fun than telling ghost stories around a camp fire because it’s all true. 

As the sun went down and the temperature dropped, people went home and we finished the day very well fed and very tired.