You wouldn’t believe how happy I was to have everything back to normal this weekend, having The Berry back at the cottages after she visited her family. I know everyone has to take vacations sometimes, and I know it was only a week – but in dog years, that’s a few months! And after a few boys’ nights with Jerry, boy was I ready to have a feminine touch back in the house. Especially when it’s this lady, who is the one responsible for bringing me to Ocean Delight in the first place and is always making me so happy. I think I can speak for Jerry when I say I really missed her!
Talkin ‘Bout 3 Generations
This post may not be expressly about daily life at the cottages, but close enough. Laurelyn is my brilliant and hard-working (you might say, overly hard-working) partner and if anyone ever deserved a vacation, it was her. Which is what she did last week, when she went to Ontario to visit with her lovely family. I love Ontario, and we get lots of guests from that great province. Laurelyn enjoyed her visit, and I had to share this beautiful shot of her with her mother and daughter – three generations in a row!
Sunset Sunday: Harcourt, Newfoundland
If you remember, I’ve set aside Sundays to share my favourite thing in the world, and my natural mood-enhancing drug: sunsets. This week’s was capture in Harcourt, Newfoundland, as the sun was setting over Smith Sound. It was sent to me by my good friend Bud Vincent, who has contributed his beautiful photos to this blog before. So thanks, Bud – it’s a stunning shot!
Clifford George Original
Without further comment, here is a poem that Clifford sent me, based on an evening you may remember from the blog, where a group of friends gathered in front of Ocean Delight for an evening of fire and friends ….
DINNER IN THE BEACH
Late summer evening light as the sun sets and settles beyond the Shag Rock
Darkening shadows cast itself upon the beach
Moonlight flickers and dances on the sea’s surface
Glimmering and flickering on a long row of wine glasses
On a long table that reaches down the beach
Whispering sea droplets nibble at the low water mark
Seashells serving the best of food soon dance back out to sea
Friendship finely tuned around a campfire of dreams
It is my finest summer moment, cherished forever
With friends caught in this special creation under the stars
End
And thanks, as always, to Clifford, for sharing his poem and so much more.
Explore Your Roots
Here’s Ed and Phyllis, married 65 years and staying with us for a week – more of a treat for us than for them, I think. They had Joe Friday and me down for a glass of wine, and it was great to get to know this couple.
Ed’s father was born in Heart’s Content, so it has been on their bucket list come to Newfoundland to explore his heritage. We are going to introduce them to Clifford who knows a lot about the region- and, get this, they’re related! And they have an artist in their family the same age as Clifford. Coincidence? I think not!
Speaking of coincidences, they’re from Massachusetts (as is my daughter’s boyfriend of 11 years), and they live in Virginia, as does another daughter.
Anyway, they are incredibly sweet people who epitomize why I love Americans. We had a great chat about life in Virginia, where I lived for 8 years. I talked about the generosity of the Americans I met there, and they talked about the generosity of Gander and St. John’s during the 9/11 crises. Truly a wonderful conversation to be had, and I hope they enjoy their time exploring their roots!
Golden Oldies (Happy Birthday, Bill!)
When my daughters were Brownies, they used to sing a song that went “make new friends, but keep the old – one is silver and the other gold.” What a beautiful – and true – sentiment, which helps explain why I try to remain touch with my old friends from university.
But of course at this age, ‘old’ friends takes on new meaning! My friend and former classmate, Bill, celebrated his birthday over the weekend, and I gave him a card congratulating him on turning 100. And I’m catching up quickly!
It was a great time spent with great people (and maybe you’ll recognize his son in the lower picture!). So, Happy Birthday, Bill, and cheers to old friends!
And please, if you enjoy this reading my posts, I’d love an early birthday gift myself – your vote at the Canadian Blog Awards. Voting is simple – you don’t have to register or log-in, you just have to visit this link, and at the bottom of the left-hand column, you’ll see a category called ‘Best Business or Professional Life Blog.’ Expand that, and you’ll find humble little Jerry by the Sea!
Stand on Guard
Eight more soldiers guarding the Wizard of Shag Rock! My father always called beer bottles soldiers. I never knew why – maybe something that came out of the war? If you have any idea or call them that yourself, please let me know in the comments!
Anyway, I was a Budweiser fan until Quidi Vidi Brewery (a Newfoundland company!) introduced their Iceberg beer, which is supposedly made from 25,000 year old water harvested from icebergs. I don’t know how they manage that, but it is the smoothest, gentlest, best tasting beer I’ve ever had. And no, I’m not getting paid to say this (but if anyone from Quidi Vidi is reading this, please direct your emails to info@oceandelightcottages.com, ha!)
I still go for my old regular from time to time, but the Iceberg is my current favourite. Thankfully, our local Drover’s Store started stocking it for me in the summer. Our guests love it, too, except for those who love Guinness and that other dark stuff. But I never could make it over to the dark side!
Tuesdays with Murphy: Murphy the Meteorologist
Well, despite the fact that Jerry took his lunch outdoors over the weekend, I know what’s really up here in the Wonderful World of Whiteway – summer has left us, and fall is setting in. Now, yes, I do have a luxurious, golden coat to keep me warm, but I like it really toasty. Thankfully, I have two humans to dote on me and keep me in blankets. My forecast for the next several months at Ocean Delight: cozy, which a chance of cuddles!
Soliciting Your Vote (Again!)
Don’t worry – I’m not running for office! But I’ve been nominated for the Canadian Blog Awards at TopBlogs.ca. If you enjoy reading my daily posts, I would really appreciate your vote!
Voting is simple – you don’t have to register or log-in, you just have to visit this link, and at the bottom of the left-hand column, you’ll see a category called ‘Best Business or Professional Life Blog.’ Expand that, and you’ll find humble little Jerry by the Sea!
Writing this blog has been a lot fun. When I started, I wasn’t sure what my general theme/content would be. But I always jump in with two feet, and now writing has become an entrenched (and favourite) part of my daily routine. I already wrote my girls an email every day, so blogging was a natural progression – now I just have a slightly bigger audience. And I have my own catchphrase now – I Blog Therefore I Am!
Sunset Sunday
Well, folks, I have a new plan for a ‘Sunday series.’ If you remember, I started my church blogging series to give myself a bit of an end-of-the-week break from daily blogging. But as I started running out of pictures of churches to highlight, that started to become more work than regular posts – kind of defeating the purpose! So, for the next little while, Sundays will be reserved for MY church – sunsets. Each night out here in the Wonderful World of Whiteway, I think the raging beauty could never be topped – until the next night, when I think the same thing again. I can’t capture the majesty in words, and while pictures barely do it just either, I just have to try to share them with you.
So, welcome to Sunset Sunday – pull up a chair!