Tag: travel

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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!

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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!

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Working Boat

Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I’ll let this beautiful and peacefully Newfoundland scene speak for itself. Well, almost – just this for a comment: one of the many things I’ve enjoyed about running this blog is exploring the art of taking a good photo – there’s so much more to learn than I realized! Thank you to anyone who has stuck with me through all the blurry shots (and I’m sure there will be more!). I really appreciate everyone who reads my blog – I feel blessed to have this new routine of writing and taking photos and sharing life in rural Newfoundland. It’s definitely an added bonus to life out here.

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Reel Fun

It only ended in September, but already I’m nostalgic for the food fishery. It’s always fun to take families out on the A Wake at Last, but throwing in some fishing poles really creates a magical experience.

So we were really happy to take out Fonda, her son, Henry, and her mom, Lynn. Fonda is a talented graphic designer and friend – she has done work with The Berry, and she did our new branding. We were so happy that they enjoyed their stay in The Partridgeberry, loving their weekend and their view and, especially, the fishing. Lynn caught the biggest fish of the day, and Henry helped reel it in. And I’m sure all helped to eat it!

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Tuesdays with Murphy: First Mate Murphy

I don’t know what Jerry and The Berry did before I came to Ocean Delight Cottages. Who took them for walks, who kept their feet warm at night, who kept Jerry company while he writes on his computer early in the morning? And, most importantly, who was the First Mate of the A Wake at Last?

Regardless, I’m happy to assume all these duties, even if I haven’t quite mastered my sea legs yet. I certainly enjoyed the food fishery, when Jerry was out fishing and needed someone to clean and lick all the fish that came aboard. Maybe by the time it rolls around next year, I’ll be promoted from First Mate to Captain!

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Age Before Beauty

Here’s my beautiful, ugly sculpin, caught last weekend (thanks to LeighAnne for the great shots!). We used to catch these for fun when we were kids playing on the cliffs of Torbay. I used to consider them ugly but now think they are quite gorgeous. One of the benefits of aging!

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Tuesdays with Murphy: Latest Heart Throb

What can I say? Yes I’m a gentleman, but I’m also a lady’s man. As you know I never smell and tell, but I can say that I have had the pleasure of having Maggie stay with us in the Wonderful World of Whiteway more than once. Her humans must like it out here – they keep coming back. And no complaints on this end – Maggie can bring them here as much as she likes. I like to stay close by, waiting for a wink or a nod, an enticing wag of the tail. Unfortunately, she’s kept a too short a leash for my pleasure – she can’t get away with much!

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Sunday Church Blogging: Name that Church!

I’ve been neglecting my Sunday Church Blogging duties – mostly because I have so many other duties around here and have depleted my stash of photos. So this might be the last church for awhile, and hopefully you can do me the favour of naming it! All I know about this one is that it’s right outside Corner Brook, and it has the most stunning location of any church I’ve seen – especially on a sunny day. So come on – I hope someone out there from the west coast will be able to tell me what it is!

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Thanks for the Thumbs-Up!

We were thrilled to discover that our wonderful guests enjoyed themselves this summer as much as enjoyed having them, giving us great reviews and making us the Number-One ranked hotel in Newfoundland and Labrador on Trip Advisor. This was our first season in this industry so we hit a few bumps along the way, and now we’re so pumped to learn that we ultimately did what we sent out to do – give our guests a unique, memorable and purely ‘Newfoundland’ getaway right on the edge of the Atlantic. And we’re so grateful to everyone that gave us reviews – if you’re reading this, a BIG thank you!

In the meantime, we’ve gotten a bunch of lovely guest-book signings, have scanned a couple and are thinking of making them a feature on our site. What do you think?

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Joe Friday Friday

Chances are, if you’ve been to Ocean Delight, you’ve met my brother and fellow Whiteway newbie-turned-devotee, Joe, aka Joe Friday. When we bought these cottages, we were quite ‘green’ to the industry and didn’t know how much work was entailed – and knowing what we know now, there’s no way we could have gotten through this summer without his help.

Like me, Joe left Torbay as a young man looking for something new, and found it as a bartender in Nova Scotia. Also like me, 40 years later, he found himself in Whiteway and knew his life was about to change.  He came out to help me paint a cottage and I couldn’t get him to leave. He fell in love with the community and the people and the lifestyle, as everyone is wont to do when they discover the magic of the place (or when the Wizard of Shag Rock casts his spell over them).

He stayed with us in empty cottages until more guests started arriving with the warmer weather, and we needed a better solution. He found the perfect one – a cottage just up the road which we call Joe Friday’s Cottage on Joe Friday’s Beach. Then after performing his first screech-in, our guest Geoff gave him the jacket you see above. It’s so cool, you have to call him ‘Joe Merlot.’

And ‘Joe Merlot’ is particularly fitting, as he now makes wine in the winery we set up in the basement of The Gannet.  Joe Merlot intends to expand the winery to make beer. Do I see a Joe Labatt coming? I don’t know how many Joe’s there will be here in the future, but there’s one thing for sure – Ocean Delight sure has one Joe Cool.

We love having him around. Whether he’s Joe Byrne, Joe Friday, Joe Merlot, Joe Labatt, or Joe Cool, we love all of them and don’t care which one it is – as long as we still get plain, ol’ Joe! And thanks, Joe, for all that you do – you’ve made life out here even better, and that’s hard to do!