Newfoundland Day 8

The day began with the Brigadoon like appearance of Bell Island popping out from the fog...

but it soon became clear that on this day my topic would be food; good food, sourced locally and expertly cooked at home with a delicious result.

The MOTH (man of the house) was delegated the task of procuring the freshly caught lobster and he came home with these four.

We went eyeball to eyeball here...

but the end result was always going to be the same; a swim in the boiling water.

Bring it back to the boil then put the lid on and watch the pot.

And voila! we have cooked lobster.

The task continues as the meat is harvested...

and delivered to the table. There now, doesn't that look delicious!

Don't overfill the plate because it is always satisfying to be able to have seconds. While all the action with the lobsters was going on outside on the driveway which I was busy photographing, DF (dear friend) was quietly busy inside making her traditional family recipe potato salad which went down a treat with the lobster.

However the real reason not to fill up too much on the lobster ?- a delicious homemade rhubarb custard pie. Alas, no action shots of the making here either.

But I can show you that the rhubarb was fresh picked from the garden.

Oh my, it was good pie!

For my closeout photo I give you another shot of the lupins in the garden. They grow as wildflowers but you can surely see why local gardeners are quite happy to welcome these volunteers.

Newfoundland Day 4

Yep, I'm hopping around in seemingly random order. It all depends on how much sitting still time I have each day to work on photographs and laptop.

 On day four we visited Cape Spear, the eastern most land in Canada/North America. This is the "new" lighthouse (light station) in that location. Look out there in the distance - can you see Ireland?

 And this is the oldest surviving lighthouse in Newfoundland built in 1836. At that time the lighthouse keeper and his family lived right here in the lighthouse. It has now been restored to that time.

 Look carefully - can you see a whale? Well no, not in this photo. But after I had taken the photo of the old lighthouse we were leaning on the fence and looking out to sea when suddenly I caught a movement and for a few seconds I saw a whale back come to the surface and then dive under again.

No whales in this later shot of the lighthouse either but we watched with keen eyes for quite a while. This is the beginning of the time of year when you can spot whales in this location. Mostly they are humpbacks but there are also minke and fluke.

 By now we were getting hungry for lunch so we got in the car and went a few kilometers down the road and turned into Petty Harbor. Still a working fishing village (mostly known of the cod and snow crab fishing) this is also famous for having the first hydro-electric generating station in NL. Built in 1900 it supplied power for the streetcars, homes and businesses in St Johns and today is still generating supplying 4% of the power produced by Newfoundland Power. Of course maybe you would be more interested to know that it is the home village of John Doyle of Great Big Sea fame. Petty Harbour also has the claim of being the most photographed town in Newfoundland.

Lunch was eaten at Chafe's Landing in Petty Harbour; another glorious plate of lightly battered cod and chips with an accompaniment of live music from a local artist performing traditional Newfoundland music.

 As a working fishing village boats like this are coming and going - but quite quickly and I didn't have time to avoid the top of the safety barrier.

 The marker buoys make spots of color in the harbour environs.

 Crabbing season seems to be over and the gear is set aside. How much rope might there be coiled in here do you think?

 The entrance to the St John's harbour is very narrow and was fiercely defended during wartime (when Newfoundland was still a British territory). You can see here just how narrow as both sides are in this photo. Also note the current restoration of the old military defenses just below the lighthouse.

This is Cabot Tower on Signal Hill above the St John's harbour entrance. Construction of the tower began in 1898 to mark the 400th anniversary of John Cabot's discover of Newfoundland and also to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Queen Victoria's reign. This makes me wonder what has been planned to be built to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's milestones. Speaking of wondering we could not figure out why the flagpole were bare. And those men in the dark suits? There was a wedding party there having their photo shoot; likely highly delighted that the weather made it possible.

From Signal Hill we could look back over to Cape Spear where we had begun the day.

A beautiful ending to a lovely day here in eastern Newfoundland.

Newfoundland Day 7

Today the weather has been gloriously sunny and warm. We took a ride to a couple of garden centers in the late morning then decided to stay home for the balance of the day so the new plants could be planted.

 So on this bright sunny day I invite you to take a seat and enjoy a stroll through the garden.

 Even the humble dandelion  can make a pleasant image; of course adding a butterfly helps.

 Right now is prime time for the rhododendrons. Isn't this lemon colored one lovely.

 More dandelions? They are huge here. But this also serves to show the forget-me-nots that have finally decided they are in a comfortable spot in the garden.

 There are many rhododendrons scattered through the garden for the bees and the people to enjoy.

 The site of the pretty garden.

 The lupins grow wild all over but they still look lovely in the garden with a background of rhododendrons.

 A beautiful darker purple specimen.

 Take a minute and smell the flowers.

Cranesbill geraniums are scattered throughout the landscape.

 This delightful wildflower is growing on the floor of the woods. Called crackerberry you may notice that it looks similar to the dogwood and indeed it is in the same corpus canadensis family.

Finally, it is also lilac time and I keep trying to take a good photo of the lilacs (particularly because my own plants this year were not very good at giving me blooms). The wind keeps blowing them out of focus. In a compromise move I decided to line it up so you could see another house in the street. They are all built to capture a good view of Conception Bay.

Now you should feel all relaxed after a trip around the garden and taking time to smell the flowers without getting caught in the wind.

Newfoundland Day 6

Yes, I know it seems as though I have been awol. Interesting things continue to present themselves as potential blog posts but somehow they never make it on screen. But right now I am on day 6 of a vacation in Newfoundland, Canada and I really cannot let this potential slip by.

Maybe later I can backtrack and show you days 1 through 5 but for now let's start with day 6. I am staying with a dear friend in St Phillips NL but yesterday we drove out to Whiteway and went to Alice's Tea Party (but that's a whole other story) and then stayed overnight.
Last night we watched the sun slowly slip away, coloring the sky behind the Shag Rocks in Trinity Bay looking out from  the village of Whiteway.

This morning we set out to explore the peninsula between Trinity Bay and Conception Bay.

In the morning light the rocks looked a little different.

The fishermen were already busy. I watched as this fellow motored from lobster pot to pot, pulling them aboard to check his catch. The gulls were as interested as I was.

We had stayed overnight in the Blueberry Cottage, part of the four cottages named Oceans Delight in Whiteway.

Driving on we came to the village of Hearts Content. I was really quite taken by the flowers growing wild everywhere. These seemed to be cornflowers and I noticed them in several places.

More wildflowers. Lupins and yarrow in the foreground of a view of the lighthouse at Hearts Content.

The fishing village at New Perlican.

Our destination was Grates Cove which is located at the very tip of the peninsula. An old village clinging to the side of a very rocky exposed location.

Grates Cove from a higher elevation.

You can see that the landscape has a lot of rock. In years past villages used the rocks to wall off individual garden plots or, as here, one of the several cemeteries in the village.

Once we finished our exploration of Grates Cove we needed to turn around and head home. But I spied an iceberg so we took another brief stop to see this view. The weather changes often - a light fog was rolling in here.

So there you see it, day 6 of my visit to Newfoundland. Perhaps by tomorrow my words and photos will go where I want them to rather than all over the page as above!