P.E.I. couple crafts lasting bond through favourite pastime

Raymond Gallant grabs another scrap from the woodpile in the garage and saws it into small blocks for his wife, Christine.

"I just cut out the stuff and take it into her," Gallant said. "She glues it all on and paints it."

Christine then transforms the plain blocks of wood into quaint Christmas fishing shanties. "It's very fulfilling," Christine said. "It gives you a purpose whereas if you're just at home and don't have anything to get up for in the morning."

The couple, from Foxley River, about 50 kilometres northwest of Summerside, first started making summer seascapes about 15 years ago, but the ornaments didn't sell so they shelved the idea — until last spring.

Raymond, 67, had just retired as a heavy machine operator where he worked 10 hours a day. "My body just wouldn't take it." Christine was between jobs and was looking for something to do. 

'Something really special'

That's when their adult daughter, Amanda Rae Gallant, who lives about 90 km away in Charlottetown, suggested her parents get back into woodworking. 

"I did a little research about what types of jobs and businesses tend to be profitable in rural areas and woodworking was one that came up quite frequently," Amanda said.

"They're surrounded by forest so I thought, 'Hey, we have wood and dad has every tool known to man,' and so I thought with mom's creativity and dad's knack for woodworking, they could have something really special."

As the holiday season approached, Amanda had another idea for her parents — rather than just the plain seaside shanties, why not add a bit of fake snow and paint the fishing shacks red and green. 

Sometimes stays up all night 

Christine said the Christmas-themed ornaments are a lot easier to make than the summertime seaside villages.

"The beach scenes took a lot more thought and effort," she said. "Because everybody has an idea of what Christmas is like so if you got the colours and the trees and some snow, it's easier."

Christine spends about two or three hours painting each ornament. She enjoys it so much, she sometimes stays up all night painting and gluing. 

"It's the beauty of your soul coming out and that's what it feels like," Christine said. "It makes me feel good when I do them and I look at it and I think, 'Well, that's kind of pretty, I like that.'"

And working at home suits Raymond just fine. "If I get tired in the middle of the day, I can go in and rest for a couple of hours and then come back."

'Helps bring us closer' 

The couple seems to enjoy working together, creating Christmas magic. "When you work with someone, it's bonding," Christine said. "It helps bring us closer which is great."

Amanda agrees her parents have a good thing going. "They have this shared project that's giving them an outlet for their creativity," she said.

"It's also giving them a sense of purpose that can sometimes be hard to come by, particularly in the winter in rural Prince Edward Island. You can only watch so much Netflix."

The little wooden fishing houses have a very rustic look and that's on purpose. "Our daughter said that's the way people buy them," Raymond said.

"They want them a little bit scraped up. Christine had them all painted up and then she went over them with the sandpaper and scraped them down a little bit."

'It's all very P.E.I.'

Amanda said it warms her heart to see her parents doing something they love, with materials they gather themselves.

"They're making it from scraps of wood out of the woodpile or rocks they found on the beach and old bent nails that come from my grandfather's old blacksmithing shop. So it's all very P.E.I.," she said.

"Very much from the heart and very much by hand and so every single piece is absolutely infused with all of the love that my parents have for our province."

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