The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
En route to catch the P.E.I. ferry, you will see a large and rather peculiar gathering, a colony of unmoving and mute figures who sprawl over an embankment in front of a roadside country farm. These are Andy MacDonald's 'people' put together from Javex bottles, discarded remnants and other oddments, and usually accompanied by a liquor or beer bottle. Arranged in a superb assortment of attitudes to resemble a pantomime in suspension, each figure has pinned to him a piece of cloth or plastic on which is written his most distinguishing thoughts. They also require a lot of care. After every rainstorm, the water must be emptied from their boots, their heads straightened after a high wind, and their bottles kept close at hand. Andy MacDonald is an easy going Cape Bretoner from Sydney Mines who first began his family using a Javex bottle and a worn red sweater of his own. Andy felt the first person was lonely, so he made another, then another until he had a community of 'people'. Visitors coming to the farm often find a friend amongst the vibrant collection. Andy says he can tell where the visitors come from by their reactions. Cape Bretoners and Newfoundlanders, get the biggest laugh, he says, and understands the 'family' with the greatest enthusiasm. Something to Ponder: You can't have everything....where would you put it?
