Is It Winter Yet?

When I woke up this morning, the windows were all frosted up, so I grabbed my laptop and checked the forecast.  The forecast this week calls for flurries.  Well I discovered today that what is called flurries in Gros Morne would be called a "major snow event" where I come from - in southeastern Pennsylvania.  Mike has shoveled three or four times today.  The plow has been by at least a half a dozen times.  And it still snowing.... sorry I mean flurrying.

In Pennsylvania, schools would have been cancelled today.  Businesses would have closed early.  Supermarkets would have been crammed with shoppers buying bread, milk, and eggs.  But here in Woody Point... we had flurries.  Nothing extraordinary, nothing unusual for this time of year.  Just business as usual.

Since October, I have been waiting for my first Newfoundland winter to start.  Instead I experienced a glorious fall - sunny days, leaves of many colors, crisp nights, fishing boats in the Bay.  November had started much the same way.  We were only here nine days before we headed off to Ontario and the States.  While we were gone, there was some snow in Gros Morne  and when we arrived back in early December there was some new snow falling.  But even I could tell it was not winter, yet.  We were still able to do our daily walk on the Community Trail.

The bit of snow we did get was all washed away on Christmas.  But yesterday we had some flurries.  Today we had more flurries on top of yesterday's flurries.   People have been telling me that I am lucky that last winter was not my first Newfoundland winter.  Last year it started snowing in October and did not stop until March.

So they tell me that winter has now started here.  It will continue to snow and accumulate until March or April.  Now that I am seeing a bit of winter weather, I agree, I am lucky it is not last year.

The Dream is Happening!!!

The Dream:   Live Simply in a place that I like to vacation in, because then everyday will be a bit like a vacation

I had been toying with this dream, with this fantasy for years.  We had a good life.  We lived in a nice house in a beautiful area of Pennsylvania.  We had good friends.  My family was near.  We had our health.   I had a good job with a major corporation.  Mike was earning a living doing what he loved - entertaining.  He entertained at senior residences, local festivals, private parties and in the summer up in Newfoundland with his band the Sharecroppers.

We already had a vacation home in Woody Point, Newfoundland.  And most important of all we had each other.   Even so, I had a yearning to live a simpler life with enough free time to explore my creative side.  Mike had a yearning to go back to Newfoundland to live.  That is where our vacation home was located.  We spent our last three summers there and really liked it there.   And voila..... Mike turned 60 and started to receive his teachers pension.  It was time to put our Pennsylvania house for sale.  It was time for me  to "retire".  It was time to live the dream.

The house sold in two weeks. Yikes!  We were then faced with unloading 26 years of possessions.  We both are the kind of people who do not need a lot.  I am the kind of person who doesn't buy frivolously.  I decide what I want and look and look until I find it.  I totally appreciate quality.   I am not materialistic but it was gut wrenching.  We had to fit everything we were taking with us into our Ford Van and Subaru Imprezza. 

We gave away our special "things" to family and friends.  We sold as much as we could through classifieds at my work and on Craigs List.  Then it was time for the big moving sale. 

Even though the sale was quite successful, we probably made 100 trips to Goodwill before and after.  We always cheered when anything we put out at the curb was picked up by someone driving by.  The irony is that we furnished our vacation home by shopping at Goodwill and picking up items that someone else had put out at their curb.

Retiring from work was much easier.  My manager was aware that this was a dream of mine and I had promised to give her a lot of notice.  She was not surprised when I told her the time had come.  Working for a large company, we had a benefits center.  I was assured my current health insurance would cover me in Canada. 

It was time to say good-bye to my family, our friends, and our favorite places. 

We packaged up four large cartons to ship via UPS.  And then filled the van and car and were on our way....

The Cherries are Ripe!!!

I was pre-occupied when Scout and I were walking today. I had promised to bring for desert for supper tomorrow night. I had bragged that pies are my specialty. I had just made one yesterday - the blueberry, strawberry and rhubarb. This finished off the fruit, I had in the house. My dilemna was what to fill the pie with and without driving the hour to Deer Lake to the food store. It just didn't make sense to spend two hours in the car.

As we walked along the trail above the beach, I noticed the cherries were ripe!!! That solved my problem. I can make a cherry pie. While Scout was nosing about the beach and swimming, I climbed on the rocks picking cherries. Luckily I had some unused poo bags in the my pocket. All in all I picked seven cups worth.

The toughest part was pitting the cherries. I had to slit every one open to make sure there were no worms. By the time I was finished pitting them, I knew how to tell if a worm was inside without closing inspecting each cherry.

I overnighted the pitted cherries in the refrig with a little lemon juice and sugar sprinkled across them. Since the cherries are tart, I sprinkled sugar lightly across the bottom of my pie shell. For the filling, I mixed six cups of cherries, 1 cup of sugar, 1/4 cup of corn starch, and 1 tsp of vanilla. I put a lattice lid on top and again sprinkled a little bit of sugar on it. What a beauitful pie!!!

       It was the hit for supper and was talked about for days afterwards.

Unlocked Doors

Downtown Woody Point

Since we feel so safe in this little town, we do not bother to lock our doors. There is not much crime here. The crime of the summer has been the large flower pots in front of a business downtown were stolen. The flowers were dumped out. It happened in the middle of the night. Someone heard two or three men talking outside their window, but didn't think of investigating. Because of the location and because no one heard a car, it is suspected they had a boat. The general consensus around town is that it was not someone from here, but possibly someone who was staying across the Bay. Regardless it was not the kind of "surprise" you want first thing in the morning.

We have experienced a few "surprises", ourselves. The custom here is to just walk into someone's house and not bother knocking. I have literally jumped and let out a scream of fright when someone walked right in talking to me. I cannot bring myself to do that. I tend to knock and then open the door and yell hello. I usually get a response along the lines of "what are you standing outside for"?

One day when walking through town after hiking the community trail, Ken stopped us to tell us there will be a surprise when we get home. He said he had a large screen television he was giving away. Larry and Una told him we do not have a television and took it for us. He said it was at our house. It was a bit unnerving knowing that someone had been in the house when we were gone and left a television.

Another time after being away all day, we came home to find a bottle of Grand Marnier sitting on the table. Neither Mike or I had left it there. It was quite a guessing game figuring out who left that for us.

One morning I woke up and went downstairs to put on the coffee, I was surprised to find a wrapped paper plate on the counter. It held two slices of birthday cake. We still do not know whose birthday it was. Again, I felt a bit uneasy knowing someone had been in the house while we were sleeping.

Yesterday, I came home from walking the dog and found a note inside on the hall floor. It was from two tourists we had met the day before. They were just saying good-bye before they moved on and wanted to give us their email address. This time I was not phased that someone had been in the house while I was out. I was just sorry that I missed them.

Despite my feelings of occasional unease, we will continue to not lock our door. How can we? I mean people seem to be putting things into our house, not taking away. And isn't that how it should always be in life? To give more than you receive?

Hiking the Community Trail



Woody Point's Community Trail



My husband once asked me how long it took to walk the community trail.  I responded:  It depends on who you meet along the way. 

Here in Woody Point we have a community trail.  It is my favorite place to walk with my dog.  You can pick up the trail behind the school.  It goes uphill rather steeply in places to two small lookouts - one looks over the town and the other looks out over the Tablelands.  It then is a gentle downhill across a boggy area with pitcher plants down to Cemetery Road.  Down and across Bonne Bay Road, leading to a steep downhill with steps to the bay and then through town.  I love the wildflowers that line the path and the differences in surroundings.  The upper part of the trail is through a stunted forest and a boardwalk over the bog.  The lower part of the trail is through tall grasses on the uphill side while looking down at the bay.  Depending on the season there are various berries to nibble on and cherries to pick. 

Scout and I usually detour down to the beach.

She swims in the bay and I comb the beach for sea glass and other interesting what-nots.  

Trail Along the Bay

The trail can take as little as 45 - 60 minutes to walk.  Yesterday it took us over three hours.  On the upper trail,

we met Munja sneaking up on us while we looked down at our town.  After a few minutes of chit chat, we finished the upper trail and hoofed it down to the bay.  Scout swam, Mike collected mussels, and I collected sea glass.  The tide was extremely low.  We spent about an hour in our and each others various pursuits.

During the town portion of the trail, we met our mayor, Ken Thomas, who pointed out that CBC was here doing a story on fracking.  Since we have strong feelings over the prospect of fracking near the park, Mike, Scout, & I headed over to the camera man who was wearing a Siemens (my employer) tee-shirt.

Upon finding out I was from Pennsylvania, he introduced me to the reporter who thought I was an excellent interview candidate.  He asked me to share my perspective of Pennsylvanians' experiences.  Of course my first thought was that I needed a shower, had on sloppy clothes and no make-up. It amazes me how superficial things like that matter to me at the most inopportune time.  It was a comfortable interview.  I talked about how the anticipated jobs were not forthcoming and that there is flammable drinking water coming out of people's faucets. He also asked what I thought would be the impact to Woody Point.  Of course if I had to do it all over again, I would have said additional things.  I wish I had remembered to say that with the drilling company gone, the people were turning to the government for help and the government was not responsive.  Also I wish I had talked about my concern for the bay, since the drilling here will go from ground to water.  My husband said I did a good job and that he was proud of me.  I am sure most, if not all of that interview, will be on the cutting room floor. All in all it was a good experience and I feel good about speaking out so people can know what is happening here.

Lastly as we headed up the hill past the lighthouse, we noticed it was finally

 being painted.  The town had scraped it, but was prohibited from painting it since it is federally owned.  Well the painters were there working at 7:30 at night.  Scout & I headed home, but Mike stopped.  I will share his story and the pictures in another post.  For now I will just say he got to the top of the Woody Point lighthouse!

All in all, yesterday it took us three hours to walk the community trail.

So how long does it take to walk our community trail?  It depends on who you meet along the way.

My Dream

Falling in love is never forgettable whether it be with a person, a pet, a flower, a book, a food, or a place.  I fell in love in June of 2002.  I fell in love with a place.  I fell in love with Newfoundland, Canada within 24 hours of arrival!  I had traveled to many fabulous locations across the world.  Many I wanted to return to "one day".  But I had a self-imposed rule that I never return to a "place" I had been until I had visited all the "places" I wanted to see.

As what usually happens when one falls in love, many of our self-imposed rules fall by the wayside.  After traveling through the west coast of Newfoundland and Labrador Straits in 2002, I toured the east coast in 2003.  In 2004, I drove across the Island, visiting many nooks and crannies. By this time my dream started developing.  I loved the small outports and the older homes in them.  Wouldn't it be wonderful to one day own one and somehow spend my summers on the Island.  A more practical version of my dream was to live within an hour of one of the cities and rent out the house to tourists and visit for a week or two in the summer. 

I returned to Newfoundland in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009 and in 2010 my dream came true when we purchased a small 85 year old house in Woody Point.

In this blog, I will share what I love about Newfoundland, what it is like for an American to buy an old house in a small village in Canada, what it is like to live in a small village, and how we are making our cottage our home. I may even throw in another love story as  I met the love of my life here in Newfoundland.  We are building our life together both in Newfoundland and in the States.