GHOSTS, CAVES AND BIRDS

BUSTER'S FRIENDS

Harper Lee, who wrote “To Kill a Mockingbird” once said that it is as hard to write a bad novel as a good novel. Well, I finally got, from a publisher, some editing advice about my novel. Apparently, it is too dark and too angry. So I’m working on it. I’m lightening it up and putting a smile on its face.

BIRD ISLANDS

A few weeks ago, a friend and I went to Cape Dauphin. We wanted to hike to the Glooscap Cave. It’s also called The Fairy Hole. It’s supposed to be a 2.5 K hike. Not for us it wasn’t.

The Glooscap Cave is connected to plenty of Mi’kmaq legends. The story is that the Great Spirit sent Glooscap, who was also a Mi’kmaq, to protect his people.

One day two Indigenous women started shouting and insulting Glooscap. He got angry and jumped into his canoe. His canoe broke into two pieces and they can be seen not too far from the cave. They are called the Bird Islands.

​The two poor Indigenous women are now stone pillars who are situated in front of the cave. They should have known not to tick off Glooscap.

TOUR BOAT NEAR BIRD ISLANDS

We never got to the caves. We got lost and were amazed at the number of red markers attached to the trees. We began to mistrust their directional advice. We also began to think we were in the Twilight Zone.

SCARY FACE NEAR CAVE

After we had hiked for quite a while, we stopped on top of a cliff to eat our lunch, enjoy the view, watch two immature eagles soaring through the air and chasing smaller birds and to discuss how to get back to the truck.

​After lunch, we decided to re-trace our steps. At one point we found the huge birch tree that we’d passed earlier. This marker showed us that we were on the path that got us lost in the first place, but we were now heading back to our starting point.

BIRCH TREE MARKER

Then, my hiking buddy says, about a half hour later, “There’s the place where we ate lunch”. We were right back where we’d started.

​We finally found our way out, but only after making some poor directional choices and luckily, some good directional trail choices.

CREEPY GROWTH ON TREE NEAR CAVE

We had been getting worried that we would become part of the legends that are told about the Glooscap Cave.

MOTHER OF SORROWS PIONEER SHRINE

Last Sunday I biked from Inverness to Mabou. I ate my lunch at the Mother of Sorrows Pioneer Shrine in Mabou.

ME AT SHRINE WITH MY BIKE PAL

On the way home I approached the Glendyer Station. I began to wonder why I always felt sad on this part of the trail. I found out why when I read a sign that had been put along the track.

COWS GRAZING NEAR MABOU

Apparently, there had been a train accident here and the train engineer had been killed. For some time before the accident, people would see a woman walking the tracks. She carried a lantern and when people approached her she’d disappear. She was not seen again after the accident.

​So, maybe that’s why I feel the melancholy.

SIGN EXPLAINING MY SADNESS

One day, I was sitting in the woodshed and a little bird landed by my feet.

THE LITTLE BIRD

Another day, I was in the process of putting wood into the wheelbarrow. The little bird landed by my feet and began to drink rain water that had collected on the ground.

​Another time, I was hiking down our lane and the little bird landed by my feet and began to eat seeds. I’m thinking that the little bird might have had a foot fetish.

I told the little bird to be careful of predators. The little bird obviously didn’t listen, and alas, I found him lying dead on the lane. The predator didn’t eat him, just beat him to death.

ANOTHER DISTANT VIEW OF BIRD ISLANDS

I hope the little chipmunk survives to see another day.