A Farewell to The Rock

     There are so many things to say about "The Rock" (Newfoundland), it is difficult to put it all down in words.

We will miss:

Bev with 5 of the foster kittens.

     The friendly people and their varying degrees of Newfoundland accents. Many people use the words, dear, honey, love, etc. in their sentences while speaking to you no matter the situation. It is endearing but also strange to hear. One of our neighbours was so kind. He helped us with the snow clearing because he had a heavy duty snowblower and during our last week he baked us a cod casserole to eat. It was delicious. All the friends from my Newfoundland congregation who accepted me into their family and supported us when needed.

     Working with the SPCA, Newfoundland. From previous posts you will know that we were foster parents for two litters of kittens. It was a real treat to watch these kittens grow to the time when they could be adopted. I also assisted Tina, the Coordinator for the foster program with developing her orientation presentation. After 45 years with the Canadian Red Cross it was nice to work with another organization. I will continue to work with them on various projects after moving to PEI.


     The colourful houses that bring a spark of life to the communities.

The most colourful houses

     The weather. Yes, I did enjoy the weather. Many locals think that I am crazy but the weather changed so often you had no chance to lament on it. As one friend says, "if you don't like the weather, wait 15 minutes and it will change." The summers were cool and sunny. Not like the humid and hot weather that Ontario experiences. The winter was not too cold, but very windy with lots of snow. We even had a short-lived snowfall in May. Now, admittedly we were away (in the hot weather of Australia, ugh!) during the time Newfoundland experienced a wicked wind storm and heaps of snow. I will even miss the fog.

A & P enjoying the snow.

Ooops! Landed too hard

     Workouts. Over the past year I have worked with Ashley, a personal trainer at GoodLife, 3-4 times a week. Ashley has been an excellent trainer. She is so encouraging. positive and patient. I am so much stronger and toned. I still have to work on getting rid of the gut but as we all know that is the hardest and the last to get rid of. I wish Ashley the best as she is now waiting for her first child to be born. Since last year, both Al and I have lost weight however neither one of us have reached our weight goals yet. Hopefully, this year we will be successful.

Bev working out at Good Life.
You go girl!

     The various community activities that we participated in such as visiting The Rooms (the provincial museum) on a weekly basis, taking Newfoundland cookery classes, taking French Lessons (preparing for our time in Quebec which will be in 3 years), taking art lessons from a local artist, playing tennis and table tennis, attending expos and local fairs, playing cards on Friday night.

Al cooking at the Newfoundland Cookery Class

     The spectacular scenery such as the rugged coastlines, crashing waves, humpback whales, the little puffin with its colourful beak and other seabirds, lakes (called ponds in Newfoundland) that are close to St. John's which are not ringed with cabins (cottages), the lush green
landscape of Gros Morne National Park and the many, many icebergs.

One of many icebergs we saw over the past year.

     This year's Gathering in Burlington, We had a great time last summer at this music and food festival.

Bev and Al with Shaun Majumder, the host, at The Gathering in Burlington, NL

One of the many groups singing at The Gathering.
Beautiful songs

     The baseball diamond which was adjacent to our back yard/ It was an open space during the day but after school into the evening that diamond was used to the fullest. The crack of the bat hitting the ball had a nice ring to it and the joyful shouts from the participants was positive and was encouraging to see and hear that the youth and adults in the neighbourhood were active.

The baseball diamond and play park as seen from our back deck.

Things that we will not miss

     The cost of gas and food especially fruit and vegetables. The cost is quite high due to the fact that most of the fresh produce is imported into the province. The growing season is very short and the soil is very shallow in most places. Many locals know where to pick the wild berries -- partridgeberry, bakeapple berries and blueberries.

     All the snow shoveling especially the windrow that the snow plow leaves at the end of the driveway.

What?! Shovel again!

     The poor roads with their pot holes and broken pavements.

A & P could have taken a lesson from this guy but they were concentrating on
being safe while on the road. See below.

      Sharing a house (separate units) with a smoking tenant whose dog, although quiet, left a mess on the lawns which was not picked up for months at a time. We could always tell when our neighbour was home by the smell in our unit (not well ventilated). Many times the smell was stronger than just cigarettes. Yuck!! Say no more. It was only for a year.

We will remember "The Rock"  with its people, sounds and language

     On our way out of the province, we picked up a book called The Newfoundland Tongue by Nellie P. Strowbridge. In her book introduction she relays while in Ontario:

               "A neighbour who had heard about Newfoundlanders' penchant for peculiar

          names asked if it wasn't dangerous living in a province with place names such 

          as Pick Eyes and Blow Me Down.

               "You don't know half," I assured him. "how would you like to live in Calves

           Nose, Snake Bight, Dildo, or Joe Batt's Arm. We've even go a place called 

           Paradise. You can go there and you don't have to die first."

     The past year that we have spent in Paradise as well as the whole province of Newfoundland has been wonderful. We cannot say enough about the genuine hospitality of the people in this province. The bar has now been set and while we travel across Canada it will be difficult for the other provinces to reach that bar.

     On to the next province.....Prince Edward Island.