PELEE ISLAND: DAY 3

Last day of our holiday. I just want to remind you to click on the photos to make them bigger.

SAT 15 OCT 2011 10:42am  We've been home a couple of days now so I need to relate our last day on Pelee. We got up late so didn't have time to see all the things we had planned on. Had showers and a quick last run on the beach for glass. Then we went down a road near us that led to a cemetery and an old winery. The headstones in the cemetery were quite worn so hard to read. The oldest I found was 1868. The founding settlers the McCormicks, (he leased the island in 1823), were there. Looking back we don't think we found the old winery but another large building was in ruins and there appears to be something being done to it.

A very busy man. His wife outlived him by 50 years though.

And there he lay.

Old winery?

Nice ruin, whatever it is.

Good advice.

Then we returned to the cottage, had  lunch, and packed everything into the car. We stopped at the museum which is just across from the ferry, to show Ron the picture of the frog. OK so it is actually a toad and probably not rare, but I'm sending him the picture and he knows people who can easily identify it.

Some of Zane's handy work.

A pensive last view of the bay.

"Til we come again.

Sitting at  the back of the ferry watching the big wake rolling like a road out behind us, the gulls dipping and gliding, the lake freighters, and the island itself very gradually getting smaller until it fades from view, disappearing like our holiday.

Adieu

PELEE HOLIDAY: DAY 2

More on our get-away last week.

WED 12 OCT 2011 11:47am   In a word – rain. All night and so far all day.  We're just kicking back and reading all the fine magazines left here. I used to subscribe to The Walrus and may again, lot's of good reading there. It was a comfortable sleep and I feel rested. J is still dragging a bit, but after a shower we'll head out to the museum, a rainy day seems like a good time to do that.

10:20pm  We went to the museum and it was wonderful. A real old-fashioned museum. A little bit of everything from Indian artifacts, many and varied, to stories of the rum runners to the history of the vineyards. And a whole bunch in between. I was in heaven. And the curator, Ron Tiessen, literally wrote the book on island culture and history. A brilliant guy who loves to tell all about the island. It was a treat to talk to him. And we bought the book he wrote. There was also a great exhibit of kites.

Pelee Island Heritage Centre

Go Fly a Kite

Winery history

Heavily armed ship

Then we continued on down the road and made a stop at the Pelee Island Winery. It was closed for the season to tourists but there was much to look at outside, including vines representing each of their varieties with a sign describing each one. And roses everywhere, dying down a bit but this is October for heaven's sake. Maybe that's normal for roses; I don't know.

Pelee Island Winery

Examples of each kind of grape they use.

One kind of wine.

Autumn rose

Then on to Fish Lake Conservation Area, where the most amazing thing happened. We walked the trail, which was excellent in itself. But, on the path I spotted the leaves moving and it was a frog. Being very patient, it allowed me to take many shots at all different angles until I got a good one. Then we read a sign that said this particular frog, the Blanchard's Cricket Frog was all but eradicated. So we spent time with an almost extinct creature. That really makes you think. How lucky can you be? How sad is his story? [More on this later. But, we enjoy the feeling for now.]

Cool fungi

Ground stars

Where the trail ends. The black streak are Cormorants, hundreds of them.

Earlier I went to pay Zane and found he only took cheques or cash, of which we had neither. So, we went to the west dock and tried the bar. The ATM was unplugged and the waitress said she could only give me what was in the till which was about $40, but if I came later this evening after they had some business they could probably give me the $200 we needed. Then we tried the LCBO and she was able to help us. We bought a couple of bottles of wine (Pelee Island, of course) and then went to the museum.

Back at the cottage.

After the walk in the woods, where I got some good fungi pics, besides finding a rare frog [We thought...], we came home and had great meal of sausage and stirred vegetables, helped down by the wine.

Then after a lay down we went to the bar to see what was happening. There were a couple of guys smoking the good stuff outside and about 12 or so patrons around the bar watching the baseball game. It was a large area with one pool table and a karaoke set-up. It would be a good place for an open mike, but it wasn't happening tonight. I had one beer and we left. 

We really do like it here. The thought of leaving the outside world to it's own devices is appealing.  There's something about a finite world. You can drive all day and end up at the same place. 

It's all a dream right now, but I do feel at home here, like nowhere else. I could move here tomorrow. I like how there's very little traffic and everyone drives slowly. What reason is there for going fast?

Off the side of the side road.

There are things that probably aren't pleasant like the month of pheasant shooting and the ATV week. But, maybe we could be off-island for those glorious events. But, boy, is it nice here. It's like discovering the world that resides in my head. It really exists!

WE GO ON A HOLIDAY: DAY ONE

I'm going to take you back in time because it took me a while to get this holiday stuff together. So, here we go to Tuesday of last week when we went on our first real holiday for many moons.  It was great fun but it already seems like a distant memory. I guess holidays are like that.
I'll start with the first day in this post, and continue later. It's only three days - don't worry.

TUES 10 OCT 2011 2:50pm Well, here we are on Pelee Island, the southern most bit of inhabited land in Canada, on the level of northern California (approx. 500km. north of San Francisco), full of rare and endangered species, and some fine beach glass. We've already hit the beach and collected a couple of pocket-fulls of the stuff.

We got to the ferry nice and early driving through the night under a brilliant full moon. A lot of Hydro workers were crossing. They are going to cut up brush and so forth. Also on this trip were tractors and wagons. They go and collect the harvest, mostly soy beans, and take it back to the mainland.

Pelee Island ferry terminal

The Jiimaan

Staging area for vehicles.

In the harbour was a disgusting layer of scum. I asked the guy in the cafeteria how long the trip was and he said an hour and a half if they didn't get slowed down by the scum. Then he went on about how it could be mutating into some kind of sea monster. It's that bad. And all the way over you could see yellow and green film on the water.

Colourful water.

But, other than that, it was a good trip; we both enjoy a ferry ride.  Watched part of a film about the island, then the lady beside me said, after waking up, “I've never been here before!” And we said neither have we. She grew up in Washington State and has remarried to a man in the Ottawa Valley.

Jiimaan's twin stacks.

Promenade deck.

The first thing you see off the boat is the little Town Hall and museum, which is supposed to be good. Maybe on a rainy day we can go see that.

Then we drove about 9 km. along the shoreline to our little cottage at Bayview Cottages owned by Zane Hooper a former ferry boat operator. When the gov't tried to make him hire a First Mate, after many years without one, he sold the boat. It's in the Bahamas now.

The cottage itself is charming. Just what you would expect from a little cottage on an island. You bring your own food and bedding but everything else is supplied.  Former tenants have left little souvenirs around like painted stones, fossils and shells. There are two big rooms and a bathroom. Lot's of nice old cottage furniture. There's a double bed, a strongly built bunk-bed, and a fold-out cot. Lot's of good old magazines including a 1994 Canadian Geographic not even out of it's plastic wrap. It becomes almost a superstitious thing not to be the first to open it. Also a supply of board games like Sorry, Monopoly and Risk, all well played over many years.

Home away from home.

Hoosier cupboard & propane stove.

It's a short walk to the cliff and down the steps to the beach. It's very pebbly so the little pieces of glass are harder to see than on our sandy beach. Didn't stop us from spotting a goodly number, though.

Our first days catch.

9:00pm We drove around the whole island, stopping at a few places to take photos and look for glass. Our beach by the cottage seems to be the best by far for glass. Unless someone else is in the same game, which is very possible. There is quite a big area of sanctuary and the roads are all thin and tree lined, often not paved or lined with hydro poles. There is very little traffic and everyone drives slowly since there's nowhere to rush to.

The Stoneman - named by the Pelee public school students.

Log house built around 1835 and being restored by present owners.

Lake Henry- one of two wetland areas left on the island.

Lake Henry

Abandoned community. Showing the typical roads.

Abandoned marina.

Sun goes slowly down over our first day.

 We came home when it got too dark to see, watched the sun go down for a long time. Had a really tasty turkey and vegetable dinner. Both of us are dragging from the early start. Tomorrow we will go explores again. Unfortunately the bakery which everyone raves about and is within walking distance is closed for the season. There are a couple of restaurants open and an LCBO, which is always good.

JUST A COUPLE OF PICS

 

My little 'shrooms from a couple of posts ago matured over night.

 

Calli being photogenic.

SMALL FIELDS

 

Straw bales

 I mentioned in another entry about the small fields around here. I think that's relatively rare, since most farms now have giant equipment that needs a half acre just to turn around. There will be 5 or 6 of these fields side by side separated by a row of trees. I hope they stay on this human scale for a while yet.

Tobacco plants

WHEN IT'S FUNGI TIME IN NORFOLK

SUN 02 OCT 2011 6:36pm October already, and it feels it with this cold and rain. I swear I saw a little snow fall today, but that could be my over-active imagination.

Jackie's busy roasting a big bunch of peppers for the freezer. They come compliments of our kind neighbour,  Evo , an octogenarian who likes to keep us all supplied with summer vegetables. Some of the roasted peppers will go back to him along with a bottle of wine. Economy on a human scale – I like it.

We had planned on venturing out today to hunt the elusive fungi, but I'm not into tramping through the woods in a down-pour. Hate to be such a wimp, but there you go. This is supposed to be the best time of year to find them so I'd like to get out soon – get some more for my photo collection. Maybe tomorrow. I did find a nice one right outside our door. Here it is in all it's glory.

Fly Agaric of the highly poisonous Amanits family

Went to see my brother, George, in the hospital. He had a serious operation that he was lucky to make it through according to the doctor. He's getting better by the day so that's a relief to everyone, especially him. He's had incredible support from his family so that counts for a lot.

Had breakfast in a real old fashioned restaurant. So much food we could hardly eat it. One guy came in for a takeout coffee and seemed to know everyone. The waitress talking after said he was a 5 & 6 grade teacher retired and everyone liked his class. Every Friday was candy day. He always gave out Jolly Rancher candy. She said he's responsible for a whole generation being hooked on Jolly Rancher candy. I've never heard of that brand myself but it's a great name.