Newfoundland - Day 7 - Peace

Our last full day in Newfoundland has probably been the busiest of any day since we've been here. I can't believe how much activity we crammed into the last 12 hours.

Up at the usual time and out for breakfast around 10:30. There's a little cafe down the road that sits right on the ocean...like RIGHT on the ocean...on a concrete pier, with a deck and dock out over the water. I had what was one of the most non-Newfie meals I've had all week (not counting the one I made yesterday), except that instead of bacon or sausage, I had Newfie steak for my meat (fried bologna).

After that, back to the house to use the facilities and grab sweaters and then we went out for a ride in Larry's speedboat. I think we went about halfway out towards the open ocean along the bay...up one side and back the other. We were keeping our eyes peeled for whales, but we didn't see any. I thought I saw one...and it might have been one...but all I saw was what I thought was the blowhole just sticking up a little bit from the surface. It was probably just a loon just going down, as I guess I would have heard and seen the result if a whale had come up for air. I've experienced it before...it's unmistakable.

Coming back along the west side of the bay, we saw lots of bald eagles and gulls, and even a few other seabirds, which I think were terns. There were red cliffs in the shoreline, some with deep caves in them, which Larry says you can walk right into. He figures the ancient Indians probably lived in there during low tide seasons to fish. I also learned that most of Newfoundland is made of volcanic rock, with some sedimentary rock here and there (where you find the sedimentary rock is where you find the oil). Newfoundland's mountains are much older than BC's mountains, which is why they're all rounded and not quite as big as the ones in BC. I had the perfect tour guide to ask such questions, as Larry is a geologist.

I also learned that moose...so common here...are actually an introduced species, and not even all that long ago. Within the last hundred years or so, I think...during early 1900s. I guess they brought them here because their habitat is easier to reach, and therefore to hunt, than the native caribou of the island...which are still here too, though we didn't see any of those.

Susan and Barb were a bit nervous in the boat, so we had to go slow. But when we got back to the wharf, we dropped them off and Daddy and Larry and I went out for a fast toot around, just cuz it was fun.

After the boat ride we went back to the house again and changed our shoes and dropped off our sweaters and then walked over to Judy and Harold's house, which is right next door save one house (whose backyard we cut through!). Judy served tea. Let me tell you what "tea" means to Judy: Tea, coffee, soft drinks, and a host of homemade delights including freshly baked bread, partridgeberry muffins, cookies, chocolate cake, a pie, coconut balls, cheese and crackers, triangle sandwiches, and several other wonderful and delicious delicacies which were almost impossible to choose between. So I tried almost everything ;-)

Back to the house after that for a little lie-down. During our nap, Dwayne (Hilda and Harold's daughter's boyfriend) barged into the house and started yelling "Hello! Where y'at? Hello!!" at the top of his lungs. Happily I was still reading and didn't get woken up, but for sure my dad did. In his defence, why would Dwayne have expected a houseful of people to be asleep in the middle of the afternoon!

After naptime, we headed off for Larry's cabin in the woods. Susan and Barb and I in Susan's Camry, and Larry and Daddy in Larry's big pickup truck. On the way, Susan was worried about her son, Chris, so we made a couple of back and forths along the waterfront in town to see if we could find him, and there he was, with four friends, out in the power boat, zipping around like no-one's business, setting off a stream of "My Glories" and clucks and tuts from Susan like I've never heard in my life. But once she saw them safely ashore, she was satisfied, and off we went up the King's Point road towards the cutoff to the cabins, where Larry and Daddy waited with the pickup truck.

Larry and Barb and I rode in comfort in the cab, while Daddy and Barb sat in lawn chairs in the truck bed, as we bumped and tossed along the dirt road into the "pond" where the cabins are...about a kilometre or so from the main road. Some of the puddles in the old dirt road were so big and deep I was afraid we wouldn't make it through them, but we did...with no trouble at all. That road is actually a popular snowmobile trail in the wintertime, and they have these cute little roadsigns out in the middle of the woods, like mini highway signs, along the way. One even mentioned Tim Hortons, 15K. LOL


The blackflies and mosquitos up at the cabin were ferocious and attacked from all sides every moment we were outdoors. But once inside Larry and Susans cute little cabin, a feeling of profound peace and contentment came over me and all I wanted to do was sit quietly and soak it in. What a beautiful place. Looking out over the small lake (they call in the pond), I could imagine myself there, alone, for a week or so, working on my novel. I think Larry read my mind, because he said wouldn't this be a perfect place for me to come and get away on my own for a few days, and so I told him what I'd been fantasizing about and all of a sudden, it has become a completely realistic goal for me to plan ahead for. Sometime in the fall, when the bugs are gone...maybe not this year, it's too soon, but maybe next year...I'll come back and spend a week working on my book up at Larry and Susan's cabin. So that's now two trips I want to plan back to The Rock.

So we had some pizza at the cabin and then drove around the pond to Wayne and Hilda's cabin, which was just as nice. Wayne had caught half a dozen or so beautiful trout, which I think he plans to eat for breakfast tomorrow.

So that was it. A busy, busy day, and completely wonderful, fun, fulfilling and amazing. It'll be a long time before I have another day I can say was as good. I feel really sad to be leaving tomorrow. In some ways I wish I could stay here forever. While we were out in the boat this afternoon, I told Larry I thought I might have been a mariner in a past life, because I always feel so happy when I'm out on the water. And then that deep, deep feeling of contentment and peace that came over me when we were at the pond. In some ways I feel like I belong here. But then, I do love my home, and especially the people that are there, and I'm looking forward to getting back to them, and back to work. I've actually missed working this week, and that's the first time I've ever been able to say that - it means I've finally found the right job...working for myself.

It's going to take me a few days to formulate a post that will adequately explain what this week in Newfoundland has meant to me. But I will. And no doubt I'll be writing it in tears, because that's how moved I am by this place and these people.