evening in peggy's cove

"So Soon?" you ask. Well, this Peggy's Cove trip was a rare treat for us so of course I took scads of photographs. If I don't post them soon, they'll fall into the abyss of Never Was. So here we are again.

My last post watched the sun go down at the famous lighthouse. My friend, Connie, and I walked the short road down alongside the sheltered inlet.

We passed the same lobster shack seen at the beginning of my last post,

here with a boat decked out in netting and buoys. 

Coming round the front of this same building, lobster traps in a row,

we can see the tide is a bit lower than when we arrived about an hour earlier,

the natural breakwater at the front of the cove dark-rimmed to show the water line.

On the other side of the street are a few commercial spots now closed.

This one, with its rolled up awning and areas for sitting, seems to be a café of sorts.

This newer style of building seems to be a semi-detached,

perched on rock with a mat of grass that looks like a bad toupée. 

 

the right side of that same building with the wild rose hips adorning the front view

looking back from whence we came as the road rises

a little further along we rise to an uninhabited stretch

its rocky barrens still beautiful in the evening light

another otherworldly stretch of rock covered in what may be low laying blueberry bushes

Not much of a biologist, I do know that these fern-like plants that turn this lovely orangey gold

are bracken.

Well, maybe this thick matting of scrub are not blueberries after all.

(After posting this earlier today, I received a message from my dear Saskatchewan friend, formerly a P.E.I girl, who advised me that this is most likely the Northern Bayberry.  Deer and salt resistant, growing in poor but well-drained soils- even sand- they provide their own nitrogen/fertilizer. The leaves provide a pleasant scent, often used in candles, though repellent to insects. Thanks Jane!)

Turning once again from this new vantage to catch the waning light over Peggy's Cove.

The lights are on at the Sou'Wester Gift shop and restaurant.

Is that the peak of the light house I see at the left end of the gift shop roof?

The sky is doing its best baroque/William Turner homage.

I think it was Oscar Wilde who said that we relate more to an image that is pre-identified for us by an artist. I think this must be true for most concepts in life, that we hinge on something that we once heard in the past. If only we could, as a species, build on that.

Across the road is the once home, now gallery of William de Garthe, a Finnish born artist who, as a young man in 1930, left his job and art training in Montreal on a quest for "the most beautiful place on earth". Taking the train to Halifax to catch a boat for Brazil where an aunt lived, he was struck by the rugged beauty of the Atlantic coast, reminding him of the island home he grew up in on the Swedish border.

Painting commercially, then resuming fine art,

it wasn't until the early 1960's that de Garthe learned to sculpt.

In the late 1970's de Garthe decided to carve  "a lasting monument to Nova Scotia fishermen".

On a 100 foot granite outcropping behind his home, the 10 year project was about 80% completed when he died in 1983.

At the far left end, St. Elmo, shelters the fishermen, women and children of the sea.

By way of interest, St. Elmo was originally Saint Erasmus, who may have become the patron of sailors because he is said to have continued preaching even after a thunderbolt struck the ground beside him. This prompted sailors, who were in danger from sudden storms and lightning, to claim his prayers. The electrical discharges at the mastheads of ships were read as a sign of his protection and came to be called "St. Elmo's Fire."

Another point of interest: besides being the guardian of all mariners, St. Elmo is the patron saint of children with colic,

abdominal pain,

intestinal ailments and diseases,

cramps and the pain of women in labour,

as well as cattle pests. 

More people of the sea memorialized by William de Garthe.

Here is a plaque erected by his widow. It reads:

FISHERMEN'S MONUMENT

by William E. DeGarthe, artist and sculptor

This work of art is a lasting memorial to the gallant men of

Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia, whoharvest our oceas. The monument

depicts from left to right: fisherman's family; Peggy of the Cove;

Fishermen at work.

This monument was donated to the province of Nova Scotia by

Mrs.P. Agnes deGarthe in 1984 in accordance with the wishes of

her late husband, William E. DeGarthe.

We finally leave lovely Peggy's Cove but not without one more stop to capture the sun's fading glow over a group of fishing piers in another inlet on St. Margaret's Bay.

Another quintessential fishing dock scene

And so, good night.

We were quite buzzed from this mini holiday and touched down at home long enough to feed the cats before heading out to a Mediterranean supper in Wolfville to polish off our Saturday night. 

We haven't had so much fun for a long time. Did I mention we had a 1940's soundtrack on the last evening of our use of a brand new car, leased for our day out, with Sirius radio.

What a hoot to travel in style.

hope you got a sense of the magic

I hope, too, that you are finding it in your own life.

peace and lovingkindness

something always happens

This must be the fastest flying month ever and yet it seemed to start out so slow. Those of you who check in here may already realize how I struggle with time, "the elastic band" as I call it.

I was sure I had nothing to show you today besides my growing portfolio of drawings, but somehow I managed to pull together a few pictures.

I peered down into the composter, filling with clematis,

creeping Charlie, an Echinacea Coneflower and even a weedy little tree.

I wandered out back of Forget-Me-Not Cabin and had another gander at the old wood shed we've been slowly dismantling, with no need for firewood anymore.

Our home and outbuildings are filled with handmade bits like this wooden spinner

this metal one

another rusting metal bit with washer

Looking from the other end you can see the makeshift bracing for shelving from a post and plywood and sticks

A homemade plywood bracket with its partner...

nailed to the wooden shake wall

Then there are the grapes, still intact

and a few apples hanging on

a nice little cucumber under the bean trellis

and tomatoes filling in amongst the dill

The wide angle lens dwarfs the far end of the vegetable garden with chard at the top, two rows of lettuces, and some tiny kale at the bottom

I pop the last perfect raspberry in my mouth

There are Cherry leaves in the lawn

another

and another

The garage garden has completely filled in with the hostas and the "prehistoric" plant.

As you will know from past posts, I am fascinated by the way the flowers seem to grow in a pod, a most unusual flowering. I finally had enough wherewithal to look up the name of this wonder.

It is called Ligularia Dentata, also known as Leopard Plant or Summer Ragwort.

Dentata refers to the jagged leaf edges. Collected and introduced to Europe by Carl Peter von Thunberg (1743-1828), student of Linnaeus at Uppsala University in Sweden. He made three trips to the Cape of Good Hope 1772-1775 where he collected about 1000 new species, Java and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1777 and 15 months in Japan (1775-1777) where he befriended local doctors who gave him hundreds of plants new to Western horticulture.  He succeeded Linnaeus as professor of medicine and botany at Uppsala.  Knighted by Swedish King Gustav.(thanks to heritageflowerfarm.com)

bursting forth, blooming in succession

They seem so gently coddled in their basket of leaves that I call a pod

though of course it isn't.

The bumblebees like them, face buried and rather camouflaged

I was startled to learn that bumblebees only live for 28 days.

I've grown very fond of them and their gentle ways.

Still playing catch-up with some week old pictures, I was inspired to do this piece after watching Jean Arthur play Calamity Jane in the old western, The Plainsman.

This section of my sketchbook is made of cheap quality kraft paper, the kind used for wrapping packages. The black is actually my Derwent watercolour pencil in Iron Blue, the flowers are outlined with an extra fine Pitt pen in India ink and coloured in with white is gel pen with pink pencil crayon over top.

The rest is done in Jane Davenport "Magic Wand Pencils" .

On another day I felt the call to draw a swan after seeing this mosaic online that comes from the Basilica in Soli, Cyprus. The patina of something old, its faded colours and random damage is a distinct part of its charm, its "wabi sabi".

My swan is fussed over with white paint pen and gel pen, the rest of the colours a mix of coloured pencils, the flowers outline in extra fine Pitt pen, an India ink.

I'm not sure how this will affect the world at large but there will be a partial to a total solar eclipse depending where you are in North America on Monday. Ours will be partial with a forecast of full sun, or maybe I should say no clouds.

Whatever you do DON'T LOOK AT THE SUN without proper protection!

And to see you off today here is one of my favourite performers Gracie Fields singing

Looking on the Bright Side (1932)