Luxury getaways to the ocean's edge
This is a pleasant first in my Sunday Church Blogging series – Zion Pentecostal in New Harbour is the first Pentecostal church I’ve showcased. And it’s about time! As The Pentecostal Assemblies of Newfoundland and Labrador explain on their website, Alice Belle Garrigus (from Connecticut) brought Pentecostalism to St. John’s in 1911, and the movement has had a rich and important history since then. A very important part of our island’s faith community, indeed!
In St. John’s the other day, I couldn’t resist a stop into McDonalds for my favourite breakfast, an egg mcmuffin with some juice and coffee. It’s a rare treat these days, as there are only 3 McDonalds in Whiteway (or, was that, none?). They might want to rethink the above sign though – very misleading!
Fast food indulgences notwithstanding, I feel great, despite the copious amounts of red wine and good food – lots of physical work and little mental strain make for a health body. The doctors are amazed; they tell me I have the blood pressure of a teenager, the strength of a lion, and the mental capacity of a two year old.
So, when I am in St. John’s (as little as possible) it doesn’t hurt to splurge. At least, that’s what I tell the Berry!
After seeing my previous Foxy Friday post, my daughter decided to help my blog out by sending me these gorgeous shots she got of the gorgeous little fox who likes to visit revelers on the gorgeous Ferryland Lighthouse Picnics. I’m not sure how much of a regular this little guy (or girl?) is, but he visited my daughter on her visit, and I’ve seen him on a separate trip. And he’s not shy!
The Ferryland Lighthouse Picnic is about an hour outside St. John’s (where we have our newly introduced apartment now on offer), 2 from the cottages, and on a sunny day I couldn’t recommend it highly enough for a daytrip – the food is exquisite, the location divine. And you can see the archaeological dig of the 1621 Colony of Avalon while you’re at it.
Although of course if you’re are the cabins and you’d like to stay more local, just ask and we can recommend some good picnic spots nearby! (And P.S., we have a few spots left for our last-minute walk-in special this weekend – just FYI!)
It was The Berry who found Murphy – I didn’t think I wanted a dog. But Murphy is doing his best to change that. He is sweet, gentle, affectionate, playful, beautiful – every good thing a dog should be.
Did you know that Goldens come from a combination of Irish Setters, Tweed Water dogs, several other retrievers, and the now extinct (but similar to the Newfoundland) St. John’s water dog. Imagine – a mix of Newfoundland and Irish Setter – his previous owner, little 4 year old Lucas, picked out the perfect name for him.
And no wonder he has a personality to die for – he has Newfoundland genes!
My life as Happy Innkeeper around the bay is a big change for me, and, as last weekend made clear, a happy one. The Berry and I are so grateful for this new career that lets us meet and interact with guests on a personal level, helping to share our love for this province and often learning something ourselves in the process.
This was certainly the case last weekend, when we had the pleasure of welcoming Les and Gwen Nicolls to The Puffin. Les has Parkinson’s disease combined with CIDP (Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating Polyneuropathy), a rare disorder of the peripheral nerves characterized by gradually increasing weakness of the legs and, to a lesser extent, the arms – this rare combination is attacking his body. But Les is a super man, Gwen is a saint, and they are facing the disease as one – always with smiles, as they push their wheelchair up a mountain that no one wants to climb.
This was Les and Gwen’s third trip to Newfoundland, and we wanted to take them out to Shag Rock on our boat. But there was lots working against us – a forecast calling for high winds for the balance of their stay, Les in a wheelchair, and me still an amateur boater.
Then Alf Harnum, 45 year veteran of the high seas and my guardian angel, showed up. I told him what we were hoping to do, and he dropped what he was doing and volunteered to captain the A Wake at Last. Thank God for that.
We went to Shag Rock and around Whiteway Bay in the hands of an expert. Les tapped and clapped to the Newfoundland music with a smile on his face the whole time. He and Gwen were one; his happiness flowed through her as well. Alf captained in style and we hardly got a drop of water on us despite all the waves all around us.
CIDP and Parkinson’s is a terrible affliction, but Les and Gwen are champions. They have made our commitment to Ocean Delight one of gratitude to be able to meet such heroes. They truly love Newfoundland and we love them. We now have a connection that will not be broken.
Please say a prayer for Les and Gwen on their journey.
I’m starting to really like my humans here. They’re starting to get me. I don’t quite understand them yet, but I do most of their bidding. And I like to tease them. Yes, I love to retrieve sticks and balls from the ocean (I can’t help it, I’m wired that way), but I drop them just far enough from shore that they can’t get them. They beg (pleasant change)! I just smile!
And now they take me to Murphy’s Beach (imagine!) and I swim in the salt water in front of my cabin. And then, instead of hosing me down, they take me to Jimmie Rowe’s Walking Trail here in the Wonderful World of Whiteway, and I swim in the fresh water. Maybe I should start calling myself a ‘Newfoundland’ dog – I certainly am glad I live here!
What a difference Nature – and a bit of elbow grease – can make in a month! This drain used to be just that – a drain, a ditch, a neglected area that gets forgotten. Now, although far from finished, it’s becoming a thing of DIY beauty (if I do say so myself).
It’s my labour of love – which with our busy summer season has meant it is usually usurped by labour of necessity – but I still get to dabble here and there. And by the end of the summer, we’ll have a fabulous foundation for a great showing next year. (And check out below if you’d like to see the ‘before’!).
Here is a neighbour checking his lobster pots just in front of Murphy’s Wharf. And as the season winds down, we have had more than our share of lobster, lobster bisque, crab, scallops and the likes from our neighbours, most of it caught right in front of our house. It pays to be right on the ocean – no question we live in the horn of plenty!
You have to take pleasure to the small things, and you have to take them whenever they come. Like a sunny day to be outside working shoulder to shoulder with someone you love. Which The Berry and I got to enjoy while painting the deck of the The Partridgeberry. I think it came out pretty good!
Joe Friday was fooling around this weekend (you know, acting his age and all!) and got a splinter. Luckily for him, our niece Lisa, who happens to be a triage nurse, was spending some time with us at the cottages. So she got the needles out and went to work.
Not given to drama or exaggeration, Joe warned us that the splinter might be a good one. And he was brave right up to the bitter end, when Lisa got close to pulling the splinter out and he started to scream. 
Big baby, he called THAT a splinter. What a sook! (To any non-Newfoundlanders, a ‘sook’ is a cry baby!) But he was grateful to Lisa to get it out. That’s what family’s for!