Change

In early December I decided to walk to the Women’s Institute potluck up the hill—such a dark night but I felt the need to stretch my legs—and there in the southern sky was the sliver of a crescent moon, with Jupiter floating above it in solitary splendour, bright as a streetlight.

Inevitably my thoughts turned to the unfathomable immensity of the universe, the meaning of time, and the reason behind my own brief sojourn on this planet—with no apparent answer to any of these.

On the theme of time, we recently walked down to the Cove and there at the end of the capes, sticking boldly out of the vertical cliff, was, unmistakeably, a fossil. (See illustration.) The size of a child’s fist, it was imbedded firmly in the lichen-encrusted sandstone, golden red and hard as a rock. I took a photo and sent it to my geologist friend John Calder, author of Island at the Centre of the World, who pronounced it the stem of a 300 million year-old tree, similar in appearance to a Norfolk pine.

More fossils lay scattered on the beach, each one a fragment of life more ancient than the dinosaurs… thus putting my own small daily challenges into perspective. 

Our crumbling coastline continues to reveal secrets of the past. Recently the 5000-year old jawbone of an indigenous woman was found on a North Shore beach. A bone!—testimony to prehistoric human presence on this island—so different in energy and symbolism from the fossil of a tree, yet both branch and bone are cherished because of their connections to ancient life.

Wind-battered trees sway, tilt, teeter… and topple over the capes, accompanied by clumps of grass and topsoil. Bricks are washed ashore from unknown sources to lie carelessly on the beach, until one good storm buries them in sand for another century. Fossils reveal themselves briefly, shyly, before breaking off and being ground into grains of sand by the relentless waves. 

I love being part of Cove life. Everything changes from moment to moment here at the edge of the sea, just as it has for 300 million years. I love the clear night sky when Jupiter hovers briefly above a crescent moon. I love walking in the dark through the crisp cold air up to a home nestled in the woods for a Christmas potluck with my friends in the Cove.

So in honour of this festive season, of things that change and things that don’t change, of friendship, love, and life on-going, let’s raise our voices in song to the beautiful old English carol, “To Drive the Cold Winter Away.”

This time of the year is spent in good cheer
And neighbours together do meet
To sit by the fire, with friendly desire
Each other in love to greet
Old grudges forgot are put in the pot
All sorrows aside they lay
The old and the young doth carol this song
To drive the cold winter away

Happy New Year from the Cove!