Thunder Cove

Thunder Cove
Near Brackley, Prince Edward Island

By Carrie Jacobson

Dunes and Cliff

Watercolor on Arches paper, 12x18

By Heather MacLeod

Whenever Heather and I have encountered people on this trip, we've asked them to tell us a beautiful spot to paint. So when two people at the desk of The Pines, in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, told us the same place, on separate days, we figured we should find it.

It’s called Thunder Cove, and we are pretty sure that this is the place they described.

It’s a fairly long stretch of beautiful white sand that runs into steep red cliffs, with houses atop them. The sea is vast there, and the day we visited, it was a white blue that blurred at the horizon so it was hard to tell where the ocean ended and the sky began.

I talked with three sisters, ranging in age from 30s to 40s, I’d say, who were there with their mother, who told me she was 78. One of the sisters said she’d always wanted to visit Connecticut, a desire I found odd and fascinating. I grew up in Connecticut and we live there now, and while it’s a fine place, it’s not the sort of place I’d ever imagine anyone wanting to visit.

They were sitting together on the beach, laughing and talking and enjoying each other, and I found myself suddenly, truly, missing my mother.