We didn’t know what to expect, really.
Although we have wanted to travel in Canada for a while, we hadn’t been able to do so with COVID and other complications.
Now, here we are!
Cruising down the St. Lawrence Seaway on the way to Quebec on an overcast day, with sprinkles of sun shining in intervals, the blue grey water stretched out to the paler blue-white sky. Peaceful, but I keep hoping to see a whale.
We went offshore at Bar Harbor, Maine, and learned that millionaires had built mansions on the island as a summer retreat, and there were, of course, locals. The people who come to the island or move there are called “people from away.” Let’s say you move there, have children, they have children and then there are great-grandchildren. They are still considered “from away” since they didn’t originate there. Interesting place. Lovely colors of homes, fresh seafood, lobster rolls and accents not too strange to my ears. ‘Ooot” instead of our “owt” was one noticeable difference.
Halifax and Peggy’s Cove were amazing. Peggy’s Cove was a community of about 45 to 50 people who lived on top of huge rocks that bulged from the earth. I don’t know how the houses kept from blowing off! A lovely lighthouse stood vigil to keep ships away from the boulders. People were friendly even though we were tourists, and we enjoyed the bright blue sky, sunshine and the odd- looking landscape.
Sydney was like a lot of American towns where an industry has closed — in their case, a huge steel mill. Homes were well kept, but some showed peeling paint and weathering after going through the rough winters. We went to a kind of homemade museum featuring things donated from the actual families who immigrated there for fresh starts. Baby carriages, old sewing machines, military uniforms, old tools, washing machines from long ago, and wash tubs were displayed along with donated picture albums.
Africans, Eastern Europeans, Polish, Ukrainian, Irish, and on and on came there to improve their lives, and they all came with a deep, strong work ethic. They didn’t blend, and they maintained their own religions, building churches and halls to have activities and dances. They might not have spoken the same language, but they worked side by side. At the museum, volunteer ladies and gentlemen answered questions and after our tour we were served free coffee, tea, fruit drinks and “oat cookies” from the area, along with being given the recipe!
It felt like home. The ladies looked, acted and sounded like my old aunts who made such sweet impressions on me. It felt like church. Like a reception, where I was welcome and made to feel wanted and looked after. It felt good to be there in the basement with the strangers who seemed like family from the bus tour and cruise who had shared the experiences in their little town so far from my Mississippi home. It felt uniquely, quietly human.
We are different; and we are so much the same.
We are all recipients of grace and give grace to others on our journey.
We all have to accept the grace and forgiveness through faith God offers us through His only Son, Jesus Christ, and his sacrifice which paid the price for our sins on our own.
Luke 6:31: “and as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.”
Travel in peace.
You will meet brothers and sisters along the way.
We did.
