If you’re a little bit obsessed with the tourism industry in Newfoundland (like we are), or facing retirement and not sure what you’re going to do with yourself (like I was), then check out this great article by Jeff Green of Memorial University. It was my pleasure to chat with Jeff, and then later to read this wonderful piece. Please let me know what you think!
The Doctor’s Last Minute Club!
The Doctor’s House opens today, and we’ve got a fun way to kick off our season. We tend to book up quickly, but last minute cancellations can and do happen. And since we’re only an hour outside St. John’s, we know lots of locals would love to come out here to the Bacalieu Trail more often.
So, introducing The Doctor’s Last Minute Club! Anytime we have last-minute openings or specials, you’ll be the first to know. It’s a great way to squeeze in a few weekend getaways this summer at a great price. Sign up here!
Reflections
I am a sunset connoisseur, and here in Trinity Bay we have the best sunsets I have ever seen. And I have a secret – sometimes is it not about sun gazing or the incredible afterglows and afterimages. It is about the reflections and the flow-through.
Like I recently witnessed with this magical sunset and its magnetic afterglow. Look at how it lights up the orchid and its flowers. It takes them from beautiful to that higher level of pure radiance.
Sunsets like this are good for the eyes – and good for the soul. And given that our season at The Doctor’s House officially kicks off tomorrow, we need all the relaxing moments we can get – we’re not going to get many over the next few months!
A View that Won’t Quit
We get it. With that lingering brown snow, it’s hard to get a case of Spring Fever this year. But trust us – this view of Shag Rock is beautiful and relaxing any time of year. With The Doctor’s House opening this Friday (this Friday!) and our current Spring Specials, we’re doing our level best to pull our fellow Newfoundlanders out of this long-winter-funk. After the season we’ve had, don’t we deserve it???
Guest House Update
Things are quite busy here, since The Doctor’s House is opening this weekend (!). And we’re only a few weeks away from opening our newly renovated Guest House.
We’re picking up speed on our work, to make sure we’re ready for the May 1 open of the guest house. We’re started painting, and then down goes the new flooring, followed by the doors and trim. Then we’ll start on the wrap-around deck, install the hot tub, and start moving in furniture and equipment. And, ‘viola’ -our 4 bedroom house will be open and ready to delight. To celebrate, we’ve got a Ladies’ Retreat Weekend Special on offer. Don’t miss the chance to be one of the first to experience something totally new and totally unique!
Let’s Get Ready to Rumble
Our latest baby at The Doctor’s House isn’t what you might think, given our penchant for rescuing animals and the several pregnant females in our barn. We’re so excited to welcome this new tractor to the family!
This tractor comes with bucket and backhoe, a road grader, plow, fertilizer spreader, and some other gadgets – maintaining 100 acres takes a lot of work and needs a big machine!
It’s 30 Horse Power, meaning it can do the work of a herd of about 50 Newfoundland ponies (and ff you look closely at the picture above, you can see our Newfoundland ponies in the background). This tractor will be cheaper to feed (not that our ponies are ‘work ponies’ anyway), and require a lot less maintenance and room to store. It will need a mechanic instead of a doctor.
So you can see why these types of machines overtook animals. But they’ll never replace them. No matter how much we like it, this tractor will never come up to you and give you a hug, look you in the eye, maybe beg an apple or two. But Beauty, Shamrock and Month? Every time you visit!
Happy Easter, Happy Sunset
Nope – there’s no bunnies or baskets or chocolates or eggs in today’s post (though hopefully your day is filled with them!). Just the sun setting over Shag Rock, and sincere wishes that today is a relaxing one for you, that you’re enjoying the long weekend, and stopping to smell the roses – or tulips, daisies, or other more more seasonal flowers! The Berry and I are enjoying a few extra treats this morning, thinking back to when our children were young and the Easter Bunny used to visit, and, like always, planning ways to make the coming season great. Hope your day is equally enjoyable, and Happy Easter!
A Little Shag Rock for Your Saturday
A little Saturday cat blogging, with a view! Here’s Mimi, enjoying our back deck (um, you’re looking the wrong way, Mimi!). And yes, as you can see, we mean it when we say we’re right on the ocean! If you’re new to the blog, you’ll quickly find that I blog about Shag Rock a lot – but really, how could I not?
Clifford
What more needs to be said then, “Clifford.” We missed our friend and artist, Clifford George, while we were away this winter, and we have been really busy getting all things ready for the upcoming season. The sad result is that we’ve neglected all our friendship lately – which we hope to remedy soon.
We hope to see him and all our friends in the Wonderful World of Whiteway more regularly as the snow clears and colours appear magically – just like in his paintings, his stories, his poems, and his smiles.
We can’t wait for the Spring Hare, to see his new work and that of and Wayne, and Renee, and Rosemary, and all the other talented artists out here, ‘around the bay,’ who have become friends. Just listening to their stories and music is wonderful. Just as the grass turns green and the crocuses and tulips spring to life so will our fantastic artists, musicians, and story tellers. There is certainly no end of talented on this island of ours!
Spring has Sprung (Fresh Food for Fine Dining!)
Yes, there’s still snow, but there’s already signs of sprouting spring at The Doctor’s House. We’ve just announced our new menu for Fine Dining at The Doctor’s House (!), and in our quest to be a Farm-to-Table organization, we’ve recently begun planting our seeds in the greenhouse.
We have our gardening plan set out, and our goal is summer sustainability. Our salads, flowers, trees and bushes will be planted in sequence and transferred to the garden as the sun allows.
But unbeknownst to us, Barb George, our garden and greenhouse keeper, had a little surprise for us. She’d secretly bought a home growing system, and she’s gotten a head start on the the lettuce, kale and other early starters. She’ll be bringing them to the greenhouse soon.
That means, we should be having our organic lettuce is a couple of weeks (remember, we’re opening April 10). That’s almost three months ahead of last year! Pretty awesome.
We’d love to know in the comments – are you big gardeners? What do you do to make the best of our Newfoundland climate?
