Dreaming Out Loud - Canada Calling Me Home

Image from here

A few months ago I got a text from my friend Christine that read something to the effect of:

Do you have a passport?

Yes ...

And a few texts later:

Do you want to go on a cruise?

Depends on when and where ....

And still later:

To Canada?

I had to call her back after that one ... because I was shaking. A lot.

NB & Nat'l flag image from here

Back at the beginning of the year, when I started jotting down the preliminary notes for what would be the seeds for these future Dreaming Out Loud installments, I made the following entry: 

NOT a cruise, but a smaller boat trip – maybe to:

Prince Edward Island – for my Anne of Green Gables addiction, and to find the port of entry where my ancestors came in from England

Or

Alaska

I don't think I had ever articulated this dream to Christine. There are more times than I care to count, however, when Christine and I have been on some weird karmic connection when it comes to calls, cards, e-mails, jokes, observations and other odd things. 

Carnival Glory: Photo credit

After talking to her I got the details of this proposed cruise, and while it may not be the EXACT dream, it's pretty darn close. I've learned to start taking advantage of opportunities like this when they come up. Call it a prompting. An opening. What have you.

So I'm getting on a boat. A big boat. A ship even. This Carnival Glory cruise liner, actually. With over 5,000 other people and spending a week doing something I never envisioned at the beginning of this year when I started to dream. Cruising. Me. The introvert. Who would have thought? It will be an adventure to say the least. I hope poor Christine realizes what she's in for. (And, hopefully, The Shushing Librarian is coming with us, so who knows what will happen.)

Nova Scotia flag image from here

 

While it turns out this cruise won't be heading to Prince Edward Island, we will be getting close enough ... this time ... and spending a day exploring Saint John, New Brunswick and Halifax, Nova Scotia. While Saint John is also a port city, Halifax was a major port of call, especially back when my ancestors were migrating to North America and I feel there's this mysterious connection calling to me.

I just can't tell you where and what and when that connection is ... but it's there. In the seas. In the land. In the songs. In the breeze. And, in the genes.

 This trip is just whetting my appetite for the Canadian Maritimes.

Image from here

With a day in port in both cities, there is not time for major island hopping or genealogical explorations, so the plan includes touristy things, like:

 

Pier 21, Halifax: Photo credit

Citadel, Halifax: Photo credit

Public Gardens, Halifax: Photo Credit

Saint John, NB City Market: Credit

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As more of our family history has been explored, more and more of the "pull" back to PEI can be explained due to family connections. I thought it was just my love for that "Anne Girl," but turns out my father's ancestors ended up settling in, and being buried, in the same mid-Island area that are close to the roads and lanes of L.M. Montgomery's beloved books. 

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About two weeks after I agreed to go on the cruise, I got an e-mail from Cousin Frank, (the aforementioned author of the book about a paternal grandfather), outlining plans for the first Annual International Reunion scheduled for Prince Edward Island from July 25-29, reconnecting some of our family lines which have long been severed ("slightly") since the family left the island in 1850. 40 odd "cousins" were planning to visit family sites on the island, including homesteads, the port from whence the family sailed from PEI to the USA, the graveyard where a great+ grand-father and mother are buries, AND, (this is what got to me):

• "All of the Anne of Green Gables "stuff" ... Mongomery gravesite, schoolhouse, etc."

People who don't believe in mysterious heavenly influences having a tug on our heart strings and collective consciousnesses ... I don't get them. 

*MY* ancestors are definitely up there trying to get us all headed in the right direction --back up north -- but as usual, my timing is all off and I was overcommitted.

I still dream of PEI, but for the next week or so, I'll just be out to sea, coming close to "home" port, but not quite. I have a feeling I'll still be having sweet dreams.

Wish me luck and ... Bon Voyage  

until my return to the Attic and blogging in general.

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O Canada!
Our home and native land!
True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise,
The True North strong and free!

From far and wide,
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free!
O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

"Sea" you soon ... or later.

Anne-girl, you're looking good for your age

It can be surprising to no one that I'm a voracious reader. As a kid, I was notorious for preferring to read rather than play outside, clean, practice the piano (sometimes I did both), or watch t.v. In school I won those awards for reading the most books, and was one of those kids who was so far ahead of my reading level that I had to have "special classes." Yes, I was one of those kids. I remember skipping over the books recommended for my age group and reading Greek, Roman, and Norse myths. I know I skipped many of the "classics" of girlhood, like the Narnia books, the L'Engle books, and thankfully ALL of the Sweet Valley High crap, before I jumped into Sci-Fi/fantasy with Pern and Valdemar.*

One of the series that I very glad I didn't miss was the L.M. Montgomery classics, especially the Anne books ("Ann with an E," thank you very much). Part of the appeal had to be the release of the K. Sullivan television adaptations with Megan Follows and Jonathan Crombie (who will always be Anne Shirley and Gilbert Blythe to me.) The rest of the appeal is that they were good books. A whole shelf in my personal library is now dedicated to just my L.M. Montgomery collection.

Can you believe that Anne of Green Gables was written 100 years ago? There are huge celebrations this year on Prince Edward Island. I am totally annoyed at myself that I didn't make it there in time for the festivities. One day I will cross the visit to PEI off my "bucket list" and I can say that I visited the home of that Anne-girl.

Nova Scotia, watch out.

* One notable teenlit exception that I'm glad I didn't skip were some of the books by E.E.White, aka Ellen Emerson White, particularly the books about Meg, the daughter of the first female President. I was FRAKKING ecstatic when the long overdue sequel, Long May She Reign, was released last year. Not only was it worth the decades!-long wait, I was delighted that the writing style and 600+ pages more than satisfies my now-adult tastes. Plus, Ms. White is a Battlestar Galactica fan. How totally excellent! (Am I gushing too much like a fangirl or what!?)