BUZZon.com - Ancestry PEI

Artwork by JoDee Samuelson Having recently traveled to Sweden in search of ancestral roots, I return to this my chosen island and ask: what is it about Prince Edward Island that makes it unique? It is an island, yes, surrounded by water with all the distinction this implies. But there are lots of islands in the world, 30,000 islands in the Stockholm Archipelago alone.

Is it our potatoes? I think they taste better than most, but the potatoes in Sweden were delicious too. Is it our white churches dotting the countryside? Sweden has hundreds of white churches, some of them a thousand years old. What about our wildflowers, wild strawberries, lupins and clover? Guess what: other places have flowers too. The Swedish roads were lined with lilacs in full bloom. (And the roads don’t have potholes!)

Is it our love of history here on PEI that appeals to me? Maybe we’re doing the best we can; but Stockholm has eighty museums, and the island of Gotland, which is smaller than PEI, has more museums and heritage sites than you can shake a stick at.

We pride ourselves on our hospitality, imagining ourselves to be friendlier than people elsewhere. True, Swedish people are rather formal and reserved, but we met a woman at the ferry terminal who smiled at us and ended up inviting us to spend the night at her place.

So, back in the swing of things here in the Cove I keep looking around to see what it is that makes me feel such affection for this place. Maybe it’s the red soil, so generous and easy to work, that appeals to the gardener in me. Or, being an artist, I am attracted by the complimentary colors of our landscape, especially now when our fields have been worked and new growth is pushing through. The reds and greens, blues and whites make a palette that is almost impossible to replicate.

And I do love our people. It warms my heart to hear my friends say, “I’ve missed you!” Down at the church folks are planting flowers in the cemetery on graves not of my ancestors, but of my friends’ families. It feels like the same thing. The church is all painted up and stands proudly facing the sea, as it has done ever since 1872. If the people of the Cove keep taking care of it, some day it too will be a thousand years old.

Meanwhile, our garden is almost in and everything is doing well. We’re eating our own lettuce and radishes and have high hopes for a successful tomato crop this year. Everyone is trading plants back and forth, and in fact we still have some extra cucumbers in case anyone wants them. I’ve been over at the old school where the carpenters (the nicest men I’ve ever met) are doing renovations to the porch and laying new flooring throughout. The old school is going to look fabulous for our Strawberry Social in July.

It’s good to be back.

Student Project ←		Home Again 2012 →

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The Cove Journalby JoDee Samuelson

Some of What's Going On

Some of What's New

The Cove Journal
by JoDee Samuelson