Winter
“On Prince Edward Island we have long, cold, harsh, winters. The winters last maybe six months and they are cold. I don’t really mind the snow as much as I hate the wind and the cold. Scientists say that P.E.I. has about three hundred and sixty good kite flying days a year. That only leaves us with a few calm days.” ~Logan MacKay

Summer
“In the summer people are at the beach a lot of the time. There you will see sand, shells, rocks, and waves gently rolling onto the shore. You can also see the fishing boats floating by. In the summer everyone gets a chance to enjoy some seafood, especially lobster. As you drive along the roads you see the purple, pink, and white lupins that line the road and that are gently swaying in the warm summer breeze.” ~Myanna Adams

Candy In The Olden Days
From “An Interview With My Mom: Elaine Chessman” - “Well, junk food was a lot cheaper! Pop was 12 cents, chips were 5 cents, and there were chocolate bars that were 5 cents and 10 cents. ...My favorite place to go back then was the brick building [in Kensington] presently the Century 21 Real-Estate beside the Taylor’s Foodmaster. It was called the Lady Slipper Gift Shop. They sold candy and grab bags, which is why I liked it so much!” ~Holly Chessman

Ferry Boat Fun
“I have a lot of memories on the boats, most of them on the Abby [Abegweit]. Like one time when I was little my brother, John David, and my cousins, Ian and Emily, and I pretended that where the curved seats were in the Abby on the only spot that was wooden on the floor, was a dance floor and we jumped all over the place having lots of fun. I remember another time when the Abby got stuck in the ice for an hour or so, I thought this was great because there was more time to play the video games. Something I remember most was when I was with my Grandma in the Abby at the front of the boat. I was about 5 or 6 and we were watching the boat break through the ice. I miss doing that with her. Everything was fun about the boats, even waiting in line was fun because we could play on the playground and on the beach. We used to look out on the water to see what boat was coming. I’m sure of one thing though, I'm sure that they will run into problems; especially in the winter. For example: How can they plough the snow on the bridge? I wish the boats were still here, and I wish the bridge was not. I hate the bridge.” ~Alexander Howlett

The Self Sustaining Family Farm
“Walter farmed all his life on the family farm. It was a small farm, but he raised everything the family needed. He had a milk cow to supply milk. He kept pigs to supply pork for the winter. He kept geese in the old wagon shed. He raised hens and sold the eggs to the local store in exchange for flour, sugar, etc. My father remembers holding the lantern in the barn at night so Walter could milk the cow and feed the animals. He can remember riding in the horse and sleigh to the store and to school. Threshing time in the fall was the most exciting time for Dad. Walter had rituals that he performed everyday. For example, he kept a diary of the daily weather and did this for years. In the summer, Walter loved to sit under a Snowball tree in his front yard on an old car seat smoking his pipe, which he always seemed to be doing.” ~Martina Cole

Content on Prince Edward Island
“I find the Island special to me because I was born and raised here all my life and I consider the Island my own. ...I have never lived anywhere but the Island, but I have travelled to Florida, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick and some other places also. A lot of people my age say that they can’t wait to move to the big cities where all the big shopping centers are, and that sort of thing, but not me. I am quite content where I am. ...my mom always said, “Once an Islander, Always an Islander,” meaning if you lived on the Island once, you always feel like you belong. I love Prince Edward Island.” ~Erin Coffin

Fishing With Grandfather Reuben Wall 1929–1994
“We would always get up really early and have eggs and toast. Then we would walk down the driveway towards the wharf with a can of tomato juice to drink that afternoon. It was so calm and peaceful in the morning. When I looked to my right I could see the leaves of the potato plants blow in the breeze as the butterflies fluttered above. I loved these sounds and sights. My grandfather’s boat was called, “The Hazel W #1” named after my grandmother Hazel Wall of course!

When I got to the wharf I would wait for my grandfather and his mate Allison to load the boat up, with boxes to put all the fish in that we would catch that day. As I waited I would throw the occasional stone in the water; trying to hit “jelly fish.” Then we set off. I loved going underneath the bridge! When we were finally out to sea, and the land had slipped away into the air; I felt suddenly so alone, but then the boat stopped and my grandfather and I stood at the edge of the boat overlooking the sun and we watched for awhile. Then we started to fish! Hooray! My grandfather and Allison got out the fishing lines and gave one to me. My grandfather always showed me how to reel in the fish and how to cast it into the water, but when it came time for me to take the fish off the hook, I always chickened out!

Then, for lunch we had my grandmother’s biscuits and really strong tea, which I always drank gladly; even if it did burn my mouth. I loved the tea because it was made by my grandfather. When it was time to head in, I always got to steer the boat. I remember how scared I was the first time, and how I almost ran into a sandbar, but my grandfather, standing behind me proudly, and ready to catch me if I fell, just smiled and said, “That’s it, just a little to the left ”soas’ we don’t crash the boat!. Then as we went under the bridge, towards the wharf, my grandfather took over.” ~Katherine Wall

Ice Fishin’ (complete essay)
“The ice was covered with snow; the sun was shining brightly. My Dad, my brother, Doug, and I were going ice fishing in my Dad’s fishing shack. There were a lot of fishing shacks on the ice. I had my head down to keep the sun out of my eyes; I just followed the two sets of footprints to our shack.

Once we were inside it, it was kind of dark except that there was light coming from the large hole in the ice. The three of us sat down and selected our spears. There were two different kinds of spears. One had a big point in the middle with two curved points on either side to hold the fish in place [Diagram A]. The other had three equal length points [Diagram B]. After we had all gotten a spear, we began to throw some food into the water. The fish ate a wide variety of things including mackeral, corn, oatmeal, and potatoes. The food sank to the bottom while some floated around in the middle somewhere. The water wasn’t very deep because we could see the bottom.

Now we were ready to put our jigs into the water. The jigs were just long strings with big patches of fluorescent thread at the bottom. The object of the jigs was to jiggle them around near the bottom of the water and try to attract the fish’s attention when they came to eat the food. We would then slowly bring the jig up closer to the surface while we were jiggling it. Most of the time a fish would follow it to the surface. We continued this until a fish was close enough to the surface to catch with our spears.

We were having a really good day because we had caught a few fish each right off the start. I had went ice fishing a couple of times before, but this was the first time I had ever caught a fish. After awhile, the pace eventually slowed down so we decided to try something different to attract the fish. My Dad lowered a can that didn’t have a top on it into the water. The can was full of mackerel and the mackerel would float around in the water when we shook the can. Within a couple of minutes, the fish were back and there were more of them than ever. When we were trying to bring the fish to the surface with the jigs, three or four fish would follow the same jig! This would sometimes have my Dad calling for Doug and I to help.

When we were too busy with all the on-coming fish, the fish would go right up to the can and eat out of it. Finally, after we had caught as many fish as we could possibly handle, we packed up our stuff and headed home. All in all, it ended up as a pretty good way to spend a cold winter day on Prince Edward Island.” ~Curtis Picketts