To The Island & back, Part VIII

July 4th

We went to Charlottetown and walked around the downtown. First stop was fish and chips at the Gahan House.

View looking up Queen Street

Queen Street

We did a little shopping at Pilar Shepherd's gallery on Great George, and stopped for a picture and a laugh

Province House

Confederation Centre of the Arts

War Memorial

University Avenue

Over 30 years ago I became obsessed with the Island architect William Harris. He designed St. Paul's below in 1895. This was the first church he designed that I ever toured, summer of 1981. I have not been inside since, so we stopped and took a look around. Spectacular interior.

 

 

We then went to Home Depot and bought hoses and sprinklers for the yard, and out to Royalty Tile to pick out tiles for the foyer and basement bathroom.

Soon after returning to the house, Jim and Marcia arrived. They stayed at Highlyn View Chateau at the top of the hill. 

The next day, Dolly, David and I took a road trip along the north shore. We visited  Dalvay-by-the-Sea. I had never been there before. Beautiful house that is now a hotel.

Walked along Cavendish Beach

And did some shopping at The Dunes in Brackley. We go there every time we are on the Island. They have beautiful crafts and art.

On the way back we had dinner in a pub in Charlottetown. Another great day.

To The Island & Back, Part VII

July 3rd. Now it's just Mom, Dad, Dolly, David and me. I'm awakened at 7:30 by a noise. It's a Bobcat from MacKay's being unloaded.

Landscaping day

There are two large piles of earth behind the house, leftover from the foundation work. They needed to be spread out around the house to build up the yards and provide positive drainage for the site. One of the piles is mostly topsoil while the other is sand. The soil is very sandy here. The good thing is that it drains very quickly, even in a rain storm. 

Earth is being built up around the kitchen porch.  

The Bobcat moved several loads of sandstone to the north-west corner of the house so we could build a retaining wall out of it to raise the west yard, while the backhoe works on removing the stumps behind the house.

The big stump was pretty stubborn

 That was a big stump

The yard behind the house has cleaned up pretty well

When the Bobcat would bring a load of earth to the west yard, we would scramble through it to find and pull out the rocks to add to the retaining wall. The soils is very rocky.

Dad raking the topsoil by the trail

We also added 2 loads of topsoil

Last winter the front yard flooded a lot, because while the place was under construction, the west end of the culvert was inadvertently covered by debris and earth when the construction vehicles were driving in and out of the yard there. The water couldn't run through, and therefore ran over the bank and to the front door. Dad and I dug with shovels while the Bobcat scooped away until we found the culvert.

This pile of debris is from when Grammy had the foundation repaired in 1988. So we had MacKay's take this away too.

This truck was filled twice with debris

Finishing off the front yard

Rocks everywhere

SEE!! No pile of concrete behind the outhouse. Only took 24 years to get rid of that.

Then we had them build up and level out the driveway. The driveway still needs some earth and gravel before winter but it's much better than it was. MacKay's worked on the place for 8 straight hours but got all of the earth spread around, and now the yards are at the level they should be. This is the major accomplishment of the trip.

David and Dolly went on a road trip that afternoon, and when they got back, David gave me my birthday present. Two apple trees! I always wanted apple trees. I am very excited about these. One is  hybrid of four types of apples. Hmmm, where to put them.

It was a dirty and dusty day. That's not a tan on my legs, that's PEI dirt!

Dolly and David also went to the beach and dug clams for dinner. Dad steamed them on the barbeque and they had a feast, while I had hotdogs.

 Yum I guess

Better you than me

What a great day. We got so much done, and now we can plant some plants bushes and trees, and work on seeding the yard.

Pictures from Debby

My cousin Debby sent me some pictures from July 1st, that I want to share. 

I think I'm watching Dad eat lobster. Yuck

This is a great picture of the moment Mom realized we were celebrating her. Looking at this photo has made me realize that I need to step away from cake.

Very nice photos of the poor old garage. It's interesting to see what catches peoples eyes.

And this beautiful shot is of North Cape.

Thanks Debby for the great, if not entirely flattering pictures!

To The Island & Back, Part VI

July 2nd and everybody is moving slow. Tom and Jennifer, Elizabeth and Andrew, Mike and Angie and all the kids packed up ...

 and said good-bye

 miss you already

So, Mom, Dad, Dolly, David, Mike, Angie, Lauren, Leah and me went to Brehaut's for lunch. Waited a very long time for a table, but the fried chicken was worth it! Gotta have fried chicken from Brehaut's at least once a year...

We waited on the porch of the restaurant. Good for chatting

Then we headed through Murray Harbour on to the Cape Bear Lighthouse.

This lighthouse once had a Marconi station, and is where the first distress signal was received from the sinking Titanic in 1912. The lighthouse is in danger of falling over the eroding bank, but I understand that it has been purchased and will be saved.

 Dad and Mike

Watching seals and seagulls fight over something in the water

 We went to the top of the lighthouse

The bank is pretty close

Still can't quite figure out what we are watching out in the water...

...but it's fun to watch

 Then we drove down to the point to take in the spectacular view

Then Angie, Mike and the girls headed for home in Lakeburn. We went on to the end of the road at the point to take another look around. 

 

We lost David. I thought he fell off the cliff, but there he was on the beach.

 We went to Wood islands and watched the ferry Confederation come in.  

 

 

 That's it for July 2nd.