Today is the day after—the day after Earl (the hurricane).
The sun is shining and everything is much more beautiful because the sun is shining at its best. We do have a strong wind but we can deal with that instead of rain like we had yesterday.
We left home at 9:30 am and drove to Stella Marus Catholic Church in North Rustico. The church was a fairly large white wood ship lap on the outside with no prominent entrance door. When we opened the small door to the church and stepped into the church we were very surprised. It had white walls and woodwork with decorative trim. The trim was simple but elegant in a mahogany stain. There were a few paintings on the side walls up near the top of the church and only two large statues with a Blessed Virgin statue on the left side grotto. It was a very large church with wooden seats along the main aisles and smaller seats along the side aisles. The main altar was elevated with a huge wooden cross above and to the back of the main altar. There were no side altars but they had niches for two statues.
They had a simple organ and one soloist. The parish was one of three churches in a cluster. The pastor was retired and lived in Florida in the winter months. He came to PEI in the summer and served at this parish. He was an elderly man but was as sharp as a tack. His sermon was filled with a good message and a large spoonful of humor. He even finished the mass with an amusing poem about the bible. You could feel the love the parishioners had for him by the way they interacted after man. The summer masses were at 6 pm on Saturday and 10 am on Sunday during the months of June thru Labor Day Weekend. It seems the entire island goes on slow or stopped mode during the rest of the year.
Our goal for today was to visit a dairy farmer who lives in Lower Bedeque. Walt had met him some years ago when he came to the National Farmers office in Ames, Iowa. So he gave him a call last evening and he planned to meet him this afternoon at his farm.
As we drove to southern PEI we noticed the rivers looked red today after the storm. The ground is so red on the island so when it rains the water has a red tint. We drove thru farm areas and saw the cows grazing in the fields and all was right with the world. I could not take pictures that would sufficiently document the scene.
We were near Summerside and not to far from the dairy farm so we searched for a restaurant to have a small lunch. Well, on Sunday this can be difficult task to fulfill. We finally found a restaurant in a hotel. When we walked in we felt a little out of our league, so when we spoke to the waitress she said they had a brunch on Sunday. Well, we decided to partake in the meal. It started with numerous salads and mussels. Then they had breakfast foods as omelets, bacon, sausage, and pancakes. They also had ham, roast beef, potatoes, corn, and lasagna followed by desserts. It was definitely a time to put on your blinders and make good choices.
After lunch we filled our truck with diesel at an Irving Station. Remember, when we were in Saint John, New Brunswick, I talked about the family who controlled the gas, lumber and oil in that part of New Brunswick. Well, they are also on the island. Walt talked to a man at the filling station and he said the crops were 2 weeks early this year and it was the hottest summer since 1942.
As we left Summerside on Route 1A we came to the intersection of Route 8 and found a Bargain Fabric Outlet on the corner, so we stopped for a look at the store. I was pleasantly surprised with the quality of the fabric and the hospitality of the clerks. They also had a large selection of drapery and upholstery fabric. The most interesting part was the rooms they had decorated with window coverings, upholstery and bedding. The fabric was totally different than what you would see in the states.
After leaving the fabric store we did a short drive to Lower Bedeque and the dairy farm we were going to visit. The farm was located on a paved road which ended at the lane and became a mud road. We certainly enjoyed our visit with the young farmer and his wife and their 2 young children. We talked about the life of a dairy farmer on the island. He was quite knowledgeable about agriculture on the island and in the states. Since they exported about 80% of the dairy products to the states it was important he knew about the relationship to the US. We learned many things about life and farming in PEI. Later in the afternoon his father came for a visit and he was very interesting to talk with about retirement, hobbies and his life. He was the 5th generation on the farm and he was interested in restoring old tractors which had been used on the farm. He was also a small plane pilot as was his wife and two sons. They had a building with 2 planes inside and another building with old machinery which he had collected over the years.
When we left the farm we followed the mud road to the point where there was a lighthouse and a beautiful view of the Bedeque Bay which emptied into the Northumberland Strait. We then traveled back to Cavendish where our home was parked. But, before we went home we revisited the Prince Edward Island National Park, at Cavendish. It was a few minutes before sunset when we parked near the red bluffs which we had seen the night before on our trip to the church we went to this morning. The sky was filled with fluffy white clouds with a few black clouds put in the mix. When the sun was setting we had a glow of red over the hills and bluffs. It made for the most beautiful pictures which I have taken since we have been on this trip. (I cannot add photos because our internet connection is not strong enough to download or receive large photos.)
We went home with a felling of fatigue, but also content with the people we met and the scenery we had seen during the day.
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