
How, when the summer has only just started, when just yesterday I stepped off the plane from Toronto and into the fresh Island air, it is possible that I find myself sitting in a Muskoka chair on the deck one last time, one final grilled cheese with guac and tomato on multi-grain in hand, looking out into the distance, admiring the harbour set against the backdrop of multi-chromatic verdure of Greenwich, and the open seas beyond?
The house being built next door has a roof on it now -- when I arrived “yesterday”, it was just a one-storey frame. The lupin have all gone to seed -- when I arrived, they were barely noticeable. There is a definite fall chill in the air… when I arrived, the promise of summer was still on the horizon.
I gobble down my sandwich and head out to the music cabin for one last kick at my drums; I get to play so rarely; must make the most of my headphone-and-iPad-driven 80s throwback!!
And now, the laundry is done… I toss everything into the closet, latch the last window, lock the doors, trudge unwillingly out to the car to make my way to the Charlottetown airport…
But this year, I’m coming back! I’m coming back at Christmas, to spend my first holiday on PEI. The landscape’ll look a little different then, true enough... nevertheless, it’s a little easier to say goodbye this year, knowing I’ll be back a little sooner!