Two small events

I have a lot of posts to catch up on. I’m not finished with the Scandinavia trip yet and now I have a whole bunch more that I wrote while we were in Greenland, Labrador, and Newfoundland so stay tuned. In the meantime I just wanted to note two small events that happened lately. 

We were in a grocery store in St. John’s picking up some lunch. When we got to the checkout we noticed that if you bought Sober Carpenter beer you got a free glass. While I’m not a fan of the beer I love their cider. I exclaimed that I really liked Sober Carpenter and said to Richard, “Too bad we’re not in the market for it right now.” The woman at the till said, “You really like it?” I said it was my favourite cider. She told us to wait, left the till and came back with a glass. I get very excited over such things and I asked her if it was really ok. She told me not to worry, just to enjoy it, so we left the store with our lunch fixings and a Sober Carpenter beer glass.

While we were driving around it wasn’t hard to leave the glass in its cardboard sleeve in the back of the Bronco. When it came time to pack to fly home it was another matter. I took it out of the sleeve and stuffed one of my favourite wool socks inside it. Then I put the other sock over top of it. Next I put it on top of my padded jacket and laid some more clothing on top. It was in the middle of the duffle so it wouldn’t get damaged if the ends got whacked. I also thought about what a mess it would be to clean up if it did break in transit. It didn’t and I’m now happily drinking my cider out of the St. John's glass.

The second cool thing happened this afternoon when Richard and I went for a walk in the neighbourhood. It was coolish and there was a bit of a wind. As we walked through a park  Richard noticed a dog with something in its mouth among the trees. He said the owner was up the hill on the gravel alley. The dog, a border collie, spotted us and made a beeline.

The object he had in his mouth was a deflated soccer ball which he dropped at Richard’s feet. Then he looked up at Richard expectantly so Richard kicked the ball. The dog caught it, brought it back, and dropped it at my feet. I got lucky and kicked it into the air at which point the dog launched himself off the ground, caught the ball in mid air and brought it back to us again. After a couple more kicks and mid air catches we decided that, although we could stay and play for hours, we had a hungry bird at home and we’d better carry on. We told the dog to go back to his human and we let the soccer ball lie in the grass as we walked past. As we did, we heard the man whistle for his dog.

Sometimes I need to remind myself to enjoy the little things.

St. John's October 11, 12, 13, 2024

Thursday October 10

was a sea day as we outran a storm heading for the safe harbour of St. John’s. The ship was rockin’ and rollin’ and I took a Gravol because I spent too much time looking down while I was packing. I felt just a little off and thought I’d better play it safe. There was the usual variety of talks to keep us entertained during the day and there was a final kitchen party that night. I didn’t go. I really wanted to but I was tired and didn’t have the energy to enjoy it so I went to bed a bit early.

Salmonier Conservation Area 

Because we landed in St. John’s a day early, the Adventure Canada team  arranged for us to visit the Salmonier Conservation Area and then to have lunch in Brigus, a very picturesque town that is  popular as a backdrop for movies. Denis Minty,  the host on our trip, was instrumental in getting the nature area set up and told us stories of its beginnings. As we made our way around the park it rained and some of the boardwalks were a bit slippery. I was pretty excited to see a gyrfalcon and got some decent photos, albeit through the mesh of its enclosure. I also saw two bald eagles, one mature and the other immature. 

Gyrfalcon

Bald eagles

After the wildlife park the buses took us to Brigus where we had lunch in a community hall. There was a variety of crafts and I picked up a toque for Richard and a pair of mitts for myself. I also got a couple of patches to add to my vest. After lunch we had a chance to wander about the town and admire the brightly coloured houses.

Warm colours of Brigus

Cool colours of Brigus

A duck and fall colours

We followed directions to a tunnel through the rock paid for by Abram Bartlett, part of the Labrador fishery. He often had trouble finding a berth for his ship and when he purchased a bigger ship, he needed a new way to get his catch to market. He discovered  a good anchorage was just on the other side of a granite ridge. He purchased a chunk of land that included part of the ridge and hired John Hoskins, a Cornish miner, to build a tunnel through the ridge high and wide enough that he could easily transport his catch using wheelbarrows and wagons. Some people say that the tunnel was built by a pirate but  https://www.hiddennewfoundland.ca/brigus-tunnel debunks that myth.

Brigus tunnel

Barbara at the end of the tunnel

The rain we had earlier in the day petered out as we made our way back to the ship and we were treated to several rainbows.

Barbara under a rainbow

The rainbow's full arch

In the evening there was a group called “Kitchen Parti” playing at the Wooden Walls Distillery which was only a short walk from the ship. I went and, while I enjoyed the music, I found it too loud even when I took out my hearing aids. You know you're old when...

St. John's harbour at night

Looking back at the ship

Kitchen Parti

I stayed for one set and then went back to the ship to make sure everything was ready for the morning. Our bags had to be outside our cabin at 7:00 a.m. so they could be offloaded and we could put them onto the buses.

Saturday October 12

We were on the first bus of the day and as we pulled out and drove along the street parallel with the Ocean Endeavour we noticed  deck hands painting over “Adventure Canada” in preparation for the ship’s season in the Antarctic. 

Painting over 'Adventure Canada'

We very much appreciated that our room was ready when we got to the hotel and we settled in right away. I went in search of a NL flag patch for my vest and a sticker for my uke case. When I got back Barbara and I went to Janet’s room to say goodbye. We then headed to The Rooms which is a museum and an art gallery.

Lunch at The Rooms

They also have a very nice restaurant where we had lunch. Barbara spent the afternoon in the museum and I wandered the docks enjoying all the different ships.

Odd place to register an east coast ship

There were some pretty strong winds but we didn’t hear anything about flights being cancelled.

Back at the hotel I repacked my duffle then Barbara and I went for dinner in the hotel dining room. We had Caesar salad, fish and chips, and carrot cake. Dinner was unhurried and the restaurant was wonderfully quiet!

Sunday October 13, Thanksgiving Day

We had a nice slow morning. Barbara wrote a letter about the trip while I fussed about packing. I wonder if I’ll ever take a trip where I don’t repack my luggage at least three times before getting it to the airport. This time after I zipped up my duffle, I looked down at my feet in my hiking boots, remembered I'd rather  travel in the crocs, unpacked the crocs, then packed the boots which, of course, needed to go at the bottom of the bag.

We checked out of the room at 11:30, and planned to have lunch before I had to leave for the airport. Turns out that lunch service didn’t start until noon so we had breakfast instead. After breakfast we said our goodbyes and I began the journey home. It was a lovely trip and, on the one hand, I was sorry to see it; on the other I couldn’t wait to get home.

Double rainbow from the tarmac

More of Canada's beauty on the way home

When I came through the security doors in Calgary there was Richard sporting a huge smile. I was home and I'm sure my smile was just as big!

As I finish blogging about the trip months later, I realize how special it was. While travelling with Richard is always my first choice, Barbara and I fell into an easy companionship with enough shared time to keep from being lonely and enough individual time to ensure that we could each follow our own interests.  I came away feeling more confident in my ability to navigate airports, travel, and hike on my own. When you’ve been married for almost 40 years it’s sometimes easy to blur the line between me and us. I’m very grateful for the ‘us’ and, it doesn’t hurt to know that I’m also pretty capable as ‘me.’ Thank you Barbara, for helping to make the trip as good as it could possibly be. May you stand under many more rainbows.

Landing in a Calgary sunset