The picture of a place

[vaneramos]

August 14: Peggy's Cove lighthouse, Nova Scotia





August 14: near Peggy's Cove


Thirty years ago as an 11-year-old travelling East I glanced up from books, catching the landscape in flashes. As an adult driver I saw its continuity. On August 11 we left the Ottawa Valley and drove 1,400 km to Whycocomagh (Why-COG-a-muh), Nova Scotia, 16 hours. The St. Lawrence lowlands flowed past Quebec’s Laurentian Mountains into the Appalachians.

My daughters overturn stones in search of crabs, catching details, while I’m enamoured of the big picture¹: textures of rocks and trees, the way clouds move and light falls. Together we assemble fuller stories.

Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, is one of the most photographed places on Earth, a fishing village turned tourist trap. But just outside it, we noticed a peculiar, unmarked landscape and stopped to explore. Low hillocks surrounded a distressed lagoon. The land was green with salt-tolerant shrubs and scattered with jagged boulders. I felt particularly drawn to one barren hill crowned with rocks like a circle of old, wise people. The place was sacred. I felt peaceful and awake.

If you’re connected to the earth, new territories seem variations on places you already know. It’s like meeting a distant cousin for the first time: the face is familiar and startling.

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¹ Interesting reflections on the big picture in susandennis's journal yesterday.





August 18: Aeolian dunes at Cavendish beach, Prince Edward Island





August 12: Marian and a garter snake at Cape Breton Highlands National Park, Nova Scotia





August 18: Summerside Harbour, Prince Edward Island