Mayne Island Calm

 

by Maryanna Gabriel

Dawn from my room on Mayne Island. 

Each island has it's own personality and Mayne Island, smack dab in the middle of the Southern Gulf Islands has revealed a calming aspect. The quiet

Old Arbutus - wide as outspread arms. 

 walks and just being, as I think about things, while the world has been going a little crazy, has been vastly appreciated. Compared to Salt Spring Island, it feels very quiet with a population of under 1,500.

This photo of an Arbutus tree was an unexpected friend that I made. The base was as wide as both my arms outstretched so I can't imagine how old it must be.
  

Japaneses Gardens, Dinner Bay, Mayne Island. 

The Japanese Gardens were very beautiful but still I felt so much sadness that radiated off the grass as I walked the land where the Japanese used to farm in Dinner Bay befored the war. No matter how nicely one phrases the plaque, and how many azaleas one plants, it still does not capture the profound injustice and sense of loss that is one's home and business built from scratch that has been forcibly impounded without compensation.  

I also walked to the lighthouse that protects the ships in Active Pass and was impressed by a brave apple tree that had survived a lightening strike. The trunk was split. It barely had an interior yet still it thrived and blossomed with bursting life although much of the base was burned out.

Hmm. Seemed to be a metaphor,
if only I could be more eloquent
as to what that might be. 

In blossom. Split and hollowed by lightening.

Last night I watched a movie where every scene was a rich tableau and was so visually rich it felt like a painting in motion. Then there were the silences that were equally as mesmerizing as one took in the set and mood of the set. Juliette Binoche was featured. She was courted with courses by a French chef in "The Taste of Things". 

It was a perfect and peaceful night, after a perfect and peaceful day, the energy of which I hope to carry forward as I travel.