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Blue Heron Hideaways Feature Story |
Prince Edward Island RED, GREEN AND GOLD ARE THE COLORS OF CANADA'S GENTLEST PROVINCE Barbara McAndrew SPECIAL TO THE GAZETTE MEADOW BANK, PEI It's the time dreamed of all winter long, we climb up the centre of a giant, pink sand dune into the clear blue sky and soft pink beaches that sweep away for miles. We stand there as time seems to hold its breath in this private universe and a feeling of freedom envelopes our city-weary souls. We dash down the sand dune, sliding and whirling, toward the beach and ocean beyond. That heat of the day is forgotten as we flop face down in the waves. Every summer P.E.I. provides sanctuary for people in need of space, freedom and escape from hectic routine. Here is time and place to nuture life and return to basics, like eating lobsters on the beach. This shady outpost of a province in the Gulf of St. Lawrence has long beguiled visitors. The Mi'kmag arrived about 100 AD, as summer visitors at first, living on the shore and feasting on the abundance of shellfish. They stayed and called the island Abegweit, the "land cradled on the waves". The French came next. They built their first permanent settlement. Gradually, other nations discovered the island. English, Scottish and Irish settlers farmed the land as tenants of the absentee English landlords who had won the Island in a London lottery. |