Tags
Art, Beach, Birds, botanical, Botony, Campfire, Canada, Fire, Flooded farms, flower, Flowers, Food, Friends, Harbor, Harbour, Holiday, Jiimaan Ferry, Lake Erie, Landscape, Leamington, Nikon D90, Oil painting, Ontario, Pelee Island, Pelee Island Winery, Photography, Plein Air, Portrait, Windsor & Essex County Plein Air Artists, Wine, Winery
It was my first trip to Pelee Island, Canada’s most southern Post. I am so blessed to have good friends. My Plein Air group the Windsor & Essex County Plein Air Artists is chock full of wonderful people. I could not be more grateful. One of our members and incredible artist Vera Graham, invited the group to spend the night at her cottage. Two of us, Kathy Hudak and I, were able to take advantage of her generous offer.
A large backhoe barely fits in the Jiimaan hold.
It was an early day Monday. We had to be at the Leamington dock by 9:00 to board the Jiimaan Ferry to the island. It’s amazing what this vessel holds! A huge backhoe on a trailer bed, large trucks, a garbage truck, a cherry picker lift, and many other smaller vehicles.
Life jackets … check
Life boat … check
It was a full and heavy load. The ferry listed on the Port side from the incredible weight of the trucks. I’m sure she was never in any danger of capsizing, but I was very grateful for calm seas. Just to be sure I made note of the life jackets and lifeboat locations!
Bon Voyage!
Once we’ve boarded we headed up to the deck to watch the boat leave the harbour.
The one and a half hour cruse was pleasant. The brisk breeze was refreshing. I could hardly contain my joyous anticipation of what the two days ahead would hold for us.
OOps! We got into a bit of trouble. We walked down a set of stairs into a restricted area. Well they didn’t have any signs, and the steps were not roped off! How were we supposed to know? The equipment was just so COOL!
OOps! Ship’s hand chased us out of here, but not before I got this great photo of a huge winch. They need better signage!
We reach the Island docks.
First order of business snacks! Chips, salsa and Pelee Island WINE!
Relaxing on the beach.
Then off to paint.
The rest of our 2 day painting holiday was filled with a great beach bonfire, nighttime thunder storms, hiking on the beach, hiking in the woods, sack lunch at the winery, snacks at the cottage, and good friends.
Chairs positioned to catch the last rays of the day.
Monday’s sunset is an incredible light show.
No trip to the cottage is complete without a good campfire. One on the beach is the best!
Tuesday’s tour of the island saw that Monday night’s storms flooded much of the farmland.
A walk through the forest at the south west end of the island.
The southern most tip of Canada, which is the south west tip of Pelee Island.
The harbour lights signal we are home again.
A beautiful end to a wonderful 2 days. Sunset on the north shore of Lake Erie.
Elizabeth Gaye MacDonald, Plein Air Artist 