On our recent trip to the Îles de la Madeleine, and on a grey Father’s Day afternoon, Jessica and visited a little town called Fatima and from there took a walk on the local beach (Plage du Nord). As we arrived in the parking lot, however, we were presented with as out-of-place a vision as I could have imagined: a giant mound of garbage … or at least, what looked like garbage as we approached from a distance. Who on earth would put a garbage dump on a beach, I thought? Well, as we got closer, it became clear that this wasn’t so much a garbage “dump” as it was a pile of wood: branches, trees, furniture, and pallets … lots and lots of pallets. But mixed in this were also what looked like old Christmas trees, a fact reinforced by a discarded wooden Santa Claus propped against the pile. I immediately recalled the photo challenge (“Off Season” pictures) of the week before and thought this had to be my perfect submission … but one which would have to wait until I returned. Voila.
What was the purpose of the pile? I never did find out officially, but my best guess is that this was the making of an enormous bonfire being set for Jean-Baptiste Day (June 24) which would arrive three days hence. You’ll see on the far right of the picture a set of “bleachers” which circled part of the pile. Granted I can’t imagine anyone sitting within a hundred feet of this pile once it was lit, but perhaps that’s just me.
All text and images © Dale Schierbeck
See more of others’ submissions to the Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge on “Off-Season.”
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