Author: oceandelight

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Back to the Roots

This past Canada Day weekend we had the pleasure of taking two guests out for a spin, and learned a bit about roots in the process.

Meet Gary Haines (of Bell Island), and his wife Wendy (of Cambridge, ON), who celebrated 32 years of marriage and 38 years together with a week at the Osprey. Gary like so many of us is a transplanted Newfoundlander – at 12, his family relocated to Cambridge after the mine closed down. Over the years so many on this island had to leave to find work – we hope that is changing!

We took Gary and Wendy out for a spin to Shag Rock to cap off their stay. They loved their time staying with us on the Atlantic coast, their last words to me being, “we’ll be back.” And we look forward to having this wonderful blend of Newfoundland and Ontario back. It was nice to see how 38 years melts the mainland and the Rock together as one, how we are similar and how we are unique, and how important our roots are.

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Special Guests

June 30th marked the 45th anniversary of my big sister, Eileen, and her wonderful husband, Bob. Her daughter Lisa (and a guy couldn’t ask for a better niece!) helped us arrange a special getaway weekend at our 4 and 1/2 star Heart’s Delight cottages. They took time out of their relaxing ocean-front to join us for a barbecue and we got the shot you see above, with Joe Friday, Eileen, me and Lisa. It’s always great when family comes for a visit.

And what a place this is for anniversaries, birthdays, weddings, or to just get away. We had a mother last week who just needed a bit of peace and quiet. Then we had a lawyer who had to write a factum and needed solitude to think and write. We’ve had a couple come back for their fourth time and they wanted “their” cottage – and that makes sense, as all our spots are very personal and let people put their signature on them.

We had a German couple here last week who had been camping all over the island and wanted to celebrate the last two nights of their trip somewhere special. We were honoured that they chose us, even more so that they loved the place and left all their camping gear (too much to take home) for future guests.

I guess wonderful places bring wonderful people and you can get no better place than the Wonderful World of Whiteway!

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Tuesdays with Murphy: Lots to Love

I’m starting to see why Jerry and The Berry are so happy out here in their Wonderful World of Whiteway. There is lots to love. Especially for a water dog, who was born to be the in the water – living right on the Atlantic Ocean helps out with that.

Then there are all the nice visitors who seem to come in a steady succession. They all love to pet me (and I don’t stop them). People from St. John’s, Buchans, Toronto, Vancouver, Ireland, Germany, America, Cambridge …….. they never seem to stop coming, and I never want it to end! All the attention puts a spring in my step, which I think makes the humans want to pet me even more.

But best of all is little Devon, a gorgeous golden retriever who lives up the road. Her owner is Albert Legge, and since he is a dog trainer I might have to start acting up a bit so that Jerry and The Berry have to take me there for lessons. I’d like the female company.

And by the way, there’s also an older golden Lab who lives next door – but don’t tell my humans, please, I don’t think they know she is there!

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Canada Day in Whiteway

The Spirit of Canada Day is alive and well in our adopted hometown, with everyone coming out for the annual parade. And the most beautiful part was that I knew just about everyone in it. Everywhere there were big smiles for Canada and our community. Awesome!

The we spent the a lot of time on the bay yesterday, skipping back and forth to Shag Rock as we counted our blessings to live in this great country.I hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend.

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Sunday Church Blogging: St. Matthew’s

 

Of course ‘St. Matthew’s’ could refer to any number of countless churches – there’s at least two on the Baccalieu Trail – but today I’m highlighting the beautiful one in Green’s Harbour. Beautiful, and old. The Anglican community has records from the region dating to the early 1800s, and this church was built in 1880. Over 130 years old and still going strong!

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Project Manager Murphy

Here’s Murphy, fully enjoying himself while we watches over the construction of new beachfront that we are developing in his honor. We think he’ll enjoy himself even more once it’s ready!

Yesterday was the two-week anniversary of welcoming Murphy into our homes and introducing him to this oceanfront lifestyle. He is an amazing dog – patient, kind, and very lovable and gentle. I’ve never met a dog quite like him. He is great at meal times (his own and ours), he doesn’t run away (except when he sees the ocean), and he loves our guests to death. He’s the perfect cottage dog!

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Murphy’s Beach

Murphy is so sweet and loves the water so much we’ve decided to build him a beach of his own! Part of the beach in front of our house and Whiteway cabin-rentals was not navigable with rocks and boulders everywhere. And we also needed a lot of rocks to make Murphy’s Wharf (another work in progress). When the steam shovel removed the rock, puff, there was a beach – and it will be a nice one when it’s finished, and great wharf, too.

And we have four guests showing up today and the Farmer’s Market opens tomorrow in Heart’s Content and it’s Canada Day weekend. Thanks to the rain over the last few days they have lifted the fire and fireworks ban.

So it’s going to be a great weekend!

Thanks in part to the postings of Margaret Ayad, the region’s resident web guru, here are some local events to check out this weekend:
Outdoor party complete with fireworks and The Masterless Men in Carbonear
Family Day at the Community Gardens in Bay Roberts
Well-known band The Navigators playing at Bryants Club in Heart’s Delight Islington, June 30
Canada Day celebrations at The Lookout in Cavendish
Enjoy The Once: UnPlugged in Cupids, July 30

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Hello St. John’s!

I’ve had to be in town the past few days for board meetings so this seems like a good time to introduce the newest member of our Ocean Delight family – our new Downtown Hideaway, a fully furnished one bedroom apartment in the heart of old St. John’s.

We’ve maintained a apartment in St. John’s since moving to Whiteway, but we’ve barely used it. And we know that many of our guests either arrive to the island through St. John’s (and maybe have to stay the night), or they plan on spending a few days in the city regardless. And with occupancy rates at an all-time high, good accommodations will be hard to find over the summer.

So, here comes the ‘duh’ moment; in a moment of clarity we realized, now that we’re in the hospitality business and know the ropes a little better, lets offer up the apartment, too! It’s fully furnished, in great shape and a great spot (I would know – I lived there for a few years!) and we think people will really enjoy the flexibility it offers (or, if they just want the city experience, they can rent it without coming to our cabin rentals, too). So, here’s to St. John’s!

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Poor Murphy

It seems we’ll have to be a little more careful with Murphy – so far we’ve let him have too good a time (if you don’t believe us, read his blog post!). He loves the salt water (lucky for him our cottages are right on the beach!), and he runs in every chance he gets. We always wash him after, but his paws still got infected – he seemed to be in pain, so we brought him to the fabulous Baccalieu Trail Animal Hospital. What a spot – I wish we had people hospitals like it.

Turns out all the play put a strain on Murphy’s elbows, which are inflamed – nothing that a little nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medicine shouldn’t cure. The more serious problem is a sore on his paw that caused the limping. We got some anti-bacterial cream to put on it a couple of times a day.

The good news – let him swim to his Heart’s Delight, as long as we rinse and dry him properly afterwards.

But poor paws not withstanding, we think he’s having a great time here at our cabins and we have more than fallen in love. He’s cute even if he is a little groggy!

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Tuesdays with Murphy

For those of you who don’t know me, my name is Murphy. I see my humans writing away on this computer every day so I thought I’d give them a break and try my paw at this blogging thing. Maybe if they like it, I’ll keep writing blogs from time to time.

I’m getting the hang of this place the humans call WWW. I love the water and there is lots of it around here. The humans keep talking about how great it is to be ‘ocean-front.’

And speaking of the humans, they’re coming along nicely. The Berry and Byrne are quite indulgent, throwing my stick into the water for hours on end. They think they are training me as I am training them – typical humans.

And there’s lots of sunshine to warm me after my forays into Trinity Bay – ah! Sweet panting!. But I pity The Berry and Byrne. They work like dogs while I play like humans.

I miss my former home with my former humans, who were so sweet and easy to train and love. I’m sorry they had to move but I am grateful they found this new home for me.

Well, I hope you enjoyed my first blog. Leave me some pets and scratches in the comments if you’d like me to come back next week!