Halifax and Another Hard Promise

I Could Live Here

These days, after I tell my wife about a quaint little village I passed through on my motorcycle, about a house I saw somewhere with a nice-sized workshop out back and that 'I could live there', she just rolls her eyes. It's just one more place I could see myself feeling at home and setting up shop. One more place - though I really, really loved it, along with thousands of others - in which we will never reside. I've been saying the same sort of thing about seemingly-cozy locales since we first met 45 years ago.

Once off the Confederation Bridge from the New Brunswick side and onto lovely roads (atop my motorcycle) leading to Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, I said 'I could live here' about a dozen times in 30 minutes. And I was right, of course. I was captivated by the red fields, the lush green scenery, quaint harbour-towns, beautifully-painted churches, pleasant homes and cottages, some decent-sized workshops with working stoves situated inside picket-fenced backyards, multitudes of boats in snug coves, and hilly, winding roads that held more surprises for the eye and inquiring mind around every bend. Who wouldn't say PEI is gorgeous?

["My sister is one very happy beach comber!"]

["PEI is home to many creative communities"] 

For three days I enjoyed the island's world-famous warmth and hospitality, albeit under cloudy skies. Not once did I feel disappointed in any plans to show me around, fill my face, hear music or dance up a storm, even though the dance will be held next time I visit.

"I could live here," I said to my sister Lannie while wandering her new home and property and inspecting her three out-buildings.

I could live here, I thought while talking to a local fisherman and snooping inside wooden supply sheds.

I could live here, I said to myself while exploring two floors of an old barn just down the road from my sister's house.

["Yup, I sure liked this barn. What's behind the black door (right)?"]

["Behind the black door is my future shop : )"]

Of course, I will live there only when the course of my life is able to change on a whim, or at my command, and only if I get an iron-clad guarantee life will be as grand on PEI as it is now at my current address. In other words, I'm staying put in London, likely until the cows come home. And who can blame me? I have fine family and friends all around me and live in one of the official 'Top Ten Communities' in the world. And my current house is not only my castle but the royal workshop is less than 20 steps from my back door. A very grateful man, I am.

I am not only grateful for my situation but very happy my sister has landed on her feet in a fine spot that feels like home. She will enjoy many years of honourable pastimes and pursuits in a refurbished house - on a hospitable island - surrounded by good family and friends. Not only that, she told me she receives a bit of money from a farmer (who rents the fields next to her house), and can dig up all the potatoes her heart desires at harvest time.

What? Free potatoes? Why, I could live there for sure!

Link to Halifax and Another Hard Promise

Photos GH