Before I continue my story, a little bit of history:
Anne of Green Gables was published in 1908 and quickly became a success. In the 1930s, an American missionary to Japan brought the book with her and gave it to a friend of hers, who was a Japanese translator. This translator translated the book and, after WWII, when the government was looking for western literature to read in the schools, "Akage no Anne" was chosen. Now it's not only required reading in the Japanese schools, but beloved by them... and PEI is a popular tourist spot. Everywhere, everything was written in three languages-- English, French, and Japanese. I really hadn't seen many Japanese at the other sights this day, but then,
Then, I arrived at Green Gables.
Here didn't really have the same weight... sense of place... as the other locations. The house, barn, and paths are the real places-- the property of LMM's cousins that had inspired the fictional locations. But instead of preserving the history of the interior, the rooms were remodeled to match the books, making me feel as if they just Disney-fied the whole place. There was no Maud here... perhaps on the nature walks preserved by Parks Canada. Sadly, though, while walking through "Lovers Lane", as she called it, you could see right into "Green Gables Golf Course" right through the trees. Parks Canada tried, the nature walk filled with plaques pointing out the various flora and fauna, but that doesn't stop you from hearing the golf cart whirr by.
Still, it WAS Green Gables and I had to see it. The Japanese tourists were fun and nice-- some helped me get a picture in front of the house, one actually saw me looking into Anne's room and said "I take picture for you?"-- so, I have a picture in the house, too. One lady was intent on getting a photo of her daughter in EVERY inch of the house, from every angle, and the tiny girl was very patient through it all. All in all, it was a fun experience.
And the brooks around the house were lovely. I love brooks.
Then, I paused in my sightseeing for dinner, a Lobster Supper in St Ann's church basement. This was a five-course seafood extravaganza, starting with a bowlful of chowder, followed by a giant plate of mussels, salad, a 1-lb lobster, and a strawberry-rhubarb crumble. By the end, I had only a few bites of the crumble and only half of the potato and veggies that came with the lobster. But, oh, so good.
Smelling of lobster and with a short amount of time left, I headed back to Cavendish and to the site of LMM's Cavendish home (told you that I really made this a LMM day!). Though all that is left of the site is now a foundation (old, unlived-in homes crumble-- that we know), the family did a very good job of taking what was there and giving us something to visit-- and they paired the entrance with the Green Gables site so that people who might not visit otherwise now may decide to make the short trek over. No house, barely anything to see, and yet this place had one of the greatest senses of the writer than anywhere else. Here was where she, walking up the path, would see the kitchen light shining. Here was the tree that she would look out upon and love while she was writing. Call me strange, but I loved this place. And afterwards, a walk to her gravesite, a little plot in the Cavendish cemetery. Odd.... one reads her journals about her moments of depression, her desire to bring light and joy into the world, and just wonders if she knows how much people love her books and characters.
Anyway... getting away from LMM and onto PEI! All of this running around ended around 6:30, so I headed back to the inn to ask if there was a Ceilidh nearby on the Island that night.
(A Ceilidh-- pronounced "Kay-Lee", is a house party where singing and dancing and storytelling are performed by the hosts and participants. The one that I went to was a more "organized" form, without the dancing and with the musicians acting as storytellers as well.)
A local hall near the inn was holding a celidh that night with Mike Pendergrast and I made my way there early-- people were already filling in a half-hour before!-- finding myself a cozy little spot on a side bench. The music moved between slow ballads and fast, funny tunes, both maritime canadian and irish/scottish traditional. We were encouraged to sing along, clap... the energy was infectious. They even had a break in the middle for a 50/50 raffle and ice cream with strawberry preserves-- all proceeds going to the Women's Institute of Stanley Bridge, who then gives the money to various charities on the island. Then it was back to another hour of stories and singing and overall fun. I left the place almost dancing... and "The Star of the County Down" is still stuck in my head!
Annnnnd, with that, I came back to the inn, decided that I was waay too tired for the bonfire, and went to bed.
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