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Little pink houses, and blue, and green . . .
By JANET SINGLETON
Quebec's Isles-de-la-Madeleine, as they are called by their predominantly French-speaking population, are a string of 12 islands off the coast of northeastern Canada. They are miles removed from the quotidian pace of the mainland. But still, what would inspire a homeowner to skirt the muted colors that scream stability in favor of the bigmouth colors that merely scream? Sabastien Cummings, 26, owns a traffic-light-yellow Volkswagen van. It echoes the trim of his electric-blue house. When you ask him why he painted his house and car this way -- not to mention the matching dog house passed on to the dogless Cummings by the previous owner -- you half expect him to say, "Like, because it's groovy." But the explanation he offers is "tradition." In the 19th century, before the advent of modern navigation equipment, local fishermen used landmarks to keep track of submerged lobster traps, Cummings says. It was easy to remember the location of a trap that was positioned between a red house and a green house. The Global Positioning Satellite System now allows fishermen to see their underwater traps as they appear on small screens in onboard control panels. Still, the custom of painting houses hot colors rages on. Island architecture is New England style, so living quarters are mainly amalgamations of box-shaped divisions and triangular gables. Most buildings have a small enclosed porch as the entrance that keeps out the cold weather. Carved designs decorate the corners of roofs, and exteriors are made of painted or stained wooden shingles. Little city planning exists; homes are scattered about the land like random trees. "I have the most colorful house on the Islands, and I'm really proud of it," Cummings said. "It's an Acadian tradition."
Acadians came to the "Maggies," as the locals call the islands, after the British purged the French-speaking settlers from Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick in 1755. So the islands' culture has taken on meaning. The exiles who came here, unlike those who headed for mainland Quebec or the United States, found both isolation and community. Isles-de-la-Madeleine is as much lost in the Gulf of St. Lawrence as it is located there. From the air, the islands look as if someone tossed a necklace in the sea and thought no more of it. Brief gravel roads constructed across sand spits connect six of the seven inhabited islands. Cap-aux-Meules serves as the town square of the archipelago and point for the ferry terminal. It is also where the area's red sandstone cliffs, arches and tunnels are most spectacular and numerous. Brick-colored ledges and smooth green landscapes characterize the adjacent Havre-aux-Maisons or Haven of Houses, where typical Acadian homes generously dot the countryside. The Anglophone Grosse-Ile, at the far end of the archipelago, has many remote patches suitable for peaceful seclusion. Adjacent Grande-Entrie is called lobster capital of Quebec because 100 fishing boats unload their cargo of lobsters at its harbor. Havre-Aubert is framed by sloped hills and garnished by thick forests. It's distinguished by La Grave, a historic fishing village now lined with cafes and artisan shops. Iles aux Loups, with its luxuriant sand dunes and lazy-forevermore beaches, is the most likely of the group to foster a happily marooned feeling. The islands, mile after mile, work as a visual tranquilizer with the candy-colored houses thrown in as antidepressants. Even the slatboard tourist information center on Cap-aux-Meules is tropical-lagoon aqua. Michael Bonato, who works there as the assistant manager, goes home to something bolder. Though he's surrounded by muted blue-green during the day, at night he eats his dinner in a dwelling that is raving red with a crazy green roof. An aspirin-white picket fence contains it. He lives with his wife, a physical therapist, and their 3-year-old son, Axel. The Bonatos were driving by the Grosse-Ile house seven years ago and stopped to knock on the door. "We thought it was charming," said Bonato, who moved to the islands from France. "We asked if we could rent it." The family went from renters to owners after two years. "The man who built it in 1940 handed it down to his adopted son," Bonato says. "When that son died, he left it to his second wife, who willed it to one of her daughters. From her, we bought it. "I hope one day we can leave it to Axel." In another neighborhood in another place, a red, red house might stick out like a sore, sore thumb. A family's neighbors might give them dirty looks. On the Maggies, drenching a house in scarlet is a neighborly thing to do. Artist Real Arsenault can see Bonato's place from his window and happily approves. Just as the flowers at Giverny sent Monet to his easel, a wild blue lily inspired the color of Arsenault's house: The lily "was growing in a nearby pond, and it was exactly the color that I wanted." His house is 200 feet off the road, atop a modest hill. At high season, tourists snap pictures of it about 20 times a day, he said. "It starts in the morning and goes on until night." That doesn't distract Arsenault from his work painting abstract pictures of island vistas. "Where we live, every painter is inspired by the scenery," he said. He works most in reds and browns. As he lives and paints in his wild blue lily retreat, Arsenault looks toward the wide open field in back, beyond which is the midnight blue St. Lawrence. Occasionally, he notices a rust fox running across the yellow-green grass and thinks he is a lucky man. On the Magdalen Islands, it is not only the colors that are rich. Janet Singleton is a freelance writer living in Denver. IF YOU GO
GETTING THERE: There are no direct flights from the Tampa Bay area to the Magdalen Islands, but there is service to Montreal, and from that airport there are early morning flights to the islands. The airport is at the north end of Ile du Havre-aux-Maisons. STAYING THERE: B&Bs, inns and motels are the staple. Book well in advance of your planned arrival. FOR MORE INFORMATION: Contact the Association Touristique des Iles de la Madeleine, at (418) 986-2245; e-mail to info@tourismeilesdelamadeleine.com; the Web site has an English translation button at the top of the page, which is at www.ilesdelamadeleine.com.
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