Writing classes for the fall term at the Rockway Centre, Kitchener, Ontario, are open to registrations until the end of this week. Writing Class with Carolyn Do you want to write but don’t know how to start? Participants will … Continue reading →
Several weeks ago, my husband and I drove up to Midland to see some relatives on his mother’s side of the family. They had hoped to host a family reunion, but that didn’t quite come to pass. We had planned … Continue reading →
Today I posted over at Canadian Writers Who Are Christian with my title Through the eyes of a two-year-old . Go on over and read it and while you’re there read other authors who post there as well. You’ll … Continue reading →
Just because this is the last blog post at this time for my dear departed friend, Annie, does not mean I will cease to think of her. In fact just yesterday as I was preparing dinner at my home, I … Continue reading →
It’s been a busy summer, going places, and visiting friends. Here are a few highlights of those times. At Bellwood Lake, going for a walk, finding raspberries and picking a few wildflowers Latitudes Storytelling Festival in Kitchener, storyteller Adwoa Badoe … Continue reading →
“Some friend I am,” Annie said on the phone one day, then chuckled. “I never call you.” This was the way it went; I called and left messages, sometimes to hear later that she’d been ill or had just been … Continue reading →
Today I posted at Canadian Writers Who Are Christian and our care of our world, especially what we can do to help by composting and recycling. Go and read Stewards of the Earth. While you’re there, read the posts of … Continue reading →
How do you spend your life? Waiting for what’s to come? Or appreciating the wait?
Something to think about today… or any day
Having grown up an agricultural area, away from water, I am fascinated with the sea or lake, still having a healthy respect for the power of water and the sea in a storm. We had opportunity to go to the Port Dover Harbour Museum and I found myself thinking of the F isheries Museum in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, that we’ve toured several times and always enjoyed the tour. This museum is not as far away, and it was pretty interesting, from the displays to the stories.
The museum, at 44 Harbour Street in the little town of Port Dover, on Lake Erie, began with a small net shanty, with fishing lines, nets, buoys and weights. Our tour guide shared some history on the place and plenty from her knowledge about the fishing industry, including what kind of net would be used at what time. There was even a method of marking the nets, so that if another fisherman found the lines, that person would know who the nets belonged to. 
The MacDonald Net Shanty
A model of the fishing shanty as it first stood on Harbour Street
The museum has grown over time and has become more inclusive of the history of fishing and travel on the lake. The building was expanded to include the wheelhouse of the William P. Snyder Jr., a lake freighter launched in 1912. See the photo of the exterior here.
There are so many stories that we couldn’t have heard them all, let alone write more than a few here, but I did enjoy seeing the wheelhouse and the equipment, also the fancy china that came from a ship used to carry tourists. One retired captains on ships had kept a handwritten log, pages and pages of records. There were stories of shipwrecks, unfortunately, as well as models of ships, like the one shown below, and engines, and systems for sending messages to another boat or to someone else below deck.
As we walked away, I was thinking about a particular story that was told of the Four Brave Girls, and how W. E. Cantelon, a painter of their time, immortalized the story and the bravery of the girls. This one would make a good storytelling piece, and so I have begun to ask for direction from Andrea at the museum so that I can someday tell it myself.
Model of a schooner
We could have spent much more time there studying displays, and perhaps we’ll go back there again.
And did you know that the Maid of the Mist that navigates the Niagara River as a tour boat was built in Port Dover?
photos on this blog © C. R. Wilker
September 26, 1955–June 24, 2013 I met Annie and her family at our church when our youngest children—her son Matthew, and my daughter Sarah—were in Junior Choir together. Her daughter Rachel may have been in the choir at the time … Continue reading →
