WEDNESDAY, APRIL 10TH - GREAT TREES OF THE ISLAND

It's -1' this morning with a chance of some flurries but we should reach 6' later with a mix of sun and cloud, The snow is slowly disappearing although there is still a considerable amount along the tree line. A few days of rain and wind are needed to clear those away, and I'm sure it will come. Of course, with it will be more mud, but if that's what we must do...

On the weekend Brenda and I took a short drive down the road from my house to look at, and take a photo of an old tree. It's not just any old tree - it has some very special significance to her family.

There is a very talented story teller on the island named David Weale and he publishes a  large magazine type of book simply called  'Red'.  It contains all kinds of stories about current as well as past events here on the island. In a recent issue there is a large picture of an old tree and underneath is this story:

"Almost twenty years ago a student, Laura Ann Downey, told me an amazing story about a tree that is of great significance in her family.  Her great, great, great grandfather, Owen Coyle, emigrated to PEI from County Monaghan, Ireland in 1842.  He and his family spent the first winter in Tracadie but moved to Dromore the next spring, and on May 12th of that year slept under the sheltering branches of a large tree. Apparently, these many years later, the children of Own's decendents, in a powerful rite of passage, are still taken to see the tree, and told the story of their intrepid ancestors - of what was left behind, and what was yet to come. When I visited the tree this past summer with Laura Ann, her two daughters, and mother, I met Liz Statts, and a cranky donkey, who presently reside on the property where the tree is located. She informed me that the last Coyle to live there was buried with a photograph of himself standing beside the 'family tree'. DW."

And what,  exactly, is so very interesting about this story? Owen Coyle also happens to be the great, great, great grandfather of my good friend Brenda. Having moved around a lot during my life time, and really not knowing very many of my relatives, I find it fascinating that she can trace her ancestry that far back to this very spot.

The tree is looking a little poorly now, but of course, at this time of year all trees do. It will be interesting to see what it looks like once the leaves come out, and imagine those people sleeping under it, beside what would soon become their new family home for generations.

And we also met the cranky donkey, but he really wasn't very cranky at all. As a matter of fact he was quite friendly and immediately walked over to investigate who was at his fence when we arrived. Other than trying to chew the front of my sweatshirt, he was very amiable and let me pet him and scratch his head. Perhaps he's mellowing.