Being told that there’s a lot of rain in Newfoundland is one thing but the reality of fog and clouds that blow in off the ocean filling a clear sky within minutes even when the day began with a cloudless clear sky and showers that blow in with the same alacrity is quite something else. Such is the Newfoundland experience; weather here is not a malevolent force, it just is, but needing to turn on a light to read by at noon is something else. The fact that the clouds parted momentarily half an hour later to let the sun in briefly is all part of the experience. I’ve been amused on several occasions to see snow shovels and bags of rock salt still prominently in place at the entries to motels and chuches even though I hear it hasn’t snowed here appreciably since February.
Again a plea for news from my friends, in the last 2 weeks I’ve posted 40 E-mail and I’ve had 2 replies.
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Friday, June 25
Walked across Nagle Pl to visit the Fluvarium. A set of windows set into the side of a building built beside a stream, yes it’s new to me as well, this stream is teaming with introduced brown trout. Although it affords a unique look at stream ecology without the accompanying displays it would be rather a dry experience. Being present for feeding time added some excitement and watching the resident eel housed in his own aquarium slurp 6 inch worms was fun.
Saturday, June 26
I am continually confronted with the lack of street signs in Saint John’s, the lack of maps for its extensive walking trails and in particular the lack of proper scale or any indication of gain in elevation in those that do exist. Thus I blithely set out on foot for the MUN Botanical Gardens not realizing I was in for a 2-mile hike involving a 1000-ft gain in altitude. Puff, puff, puff. The gardens, when I did reach them and regained by breath, were beautiful. Once again I am surprised to see what the ameliorative effect of Gulf Stream does for the climate of Saint Johns--besides the constant fog and rain that is. The gardens have an extensive collection of Rhododendrons which even the RBG in Southern Ontario find a challenge to keep healthy. Mid-week the streets of Saint John’s were bright with flowering liburnums.
When Sunday dawned to the drumming of rain on my roof I decided to stay in not relishing a 3-mile walk to church in the rain and the 3-mile climb back uphill after. When the sun put in a brief appearance on Monday spent some time refilling my fresh water tank and pumping out my holding tanks. The highlight of my day was the cooking of bay scallops in butter, pepper, and rosemary. I was well-satisfied with the delicate result.
Tuesday, June 29
Drove over to Portugal Cove and caught the ferry to Bell Island. It’s always interesting to see one’s GPS record that one is travelling 14 mph when one has the parking brake set and one is not seated in the driver’s seat. Having had a peak population of 13,000 post WW#2 until newer smelters required a different ore than the Iron Mines produced and were closed permanently in 1966 the island is now a bedroom community of 3000. The mine tour at Mine#2 is given by a woman who would have been banned from the manually operated mine when it was in operation as bad luck. This mine with its 17-ft ceilings was worked by horses and men who loaded 3000 pounds of iron ore by hand into ore carts that were pulled by cables up the 10º slope. Five other mines operated with mechanical loaders after this mine closed in 1949 extending up to three miles under the sea as they followed the ore vein and two as open pit mines. Only this one is accessible today for 650 ft to the point where it became flooded by fresh water when the pumps were turned off but the entire town of Wabana is held up by the pillars that supported the 6 interlocking mines. One hundred and ten men died in these mines where hard hats were not the norm until the 60ies and no one wore respirators.
The oxide-based ore turned everything above ground bright red as it was hauled first by ore carts and latererly by continuous conveyor belt 3 miles across the width of the island to the deep-water port on the other side where the ferry now carries islanders every morning to their jobs on the ‘mainland’. I learned later that having fish and chips at the local diner while one waits for the ferry is considered a treat. The cairn marking the loss of 23 passengers when two ferrys collided in Conception Bay did not inspire confidence. Since the mine sold ore to Germany right up to the start of WW#2 U-Boat Captains who had intimate knowledge of the bay sank several ore carriers and a stray torpedo even damaged the docks.
Wednesday, June 30
Walked the three miles to downtown Saint John’s for another Organ Concert at the Cathedral. After walked up to tour The Rooms, home of the Provincial Archives and Museum. This 4-storey glass-fronted building built on a hill-top affords a stunning veiw of the harbour and Signal Hill. Among the many highlights was the art gallery exhibit of photos by Ed Burtynsky of Oil. A large screen displaying a continuous movie of denizens of the deep showed everything from feeding lobsters, undulating jelly fish, crayfish, great whales, crabs, and giant squid. The place excels, however, in displaying the unique cultural heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador. There are hundreds of types of boats world-wide, but unique to Newfoundland is the Rodney; a round-bottomed keelless boat with pointed bow and square stern rowed with pegged oar-locks like a dory. I was not aware that a skiff can be up to 20 tons. Obviously not a boat that one would portage but bark and skin covered native craft were also on display. Also unique to Newfoundland is the one-horse open sleigh with upholstered side-facing seat.
Canada Day in Newfoundland is a day of mourning marking the destruction of the Newfoundland Regiment on this day at Beaumount Hamel in 1916. In keeping with that anniversary the day dawned wet, foggy and cold. The fireworks later in the evening were obscured by fog.
Saturday, July 3rd
Braved the narrow, crowded, steep hills of Saint John’s to drive out to the Eastern-Most Point in Canada at Cape Spear. Once free of the city one enters winding hilly roads with black spruce encroaching on the highway on either side for miles on end. Seven generations of the Cantwell Family manned this light from 1849 until the last light-keeper was permanently retired in 1997. For most of that time access was by boat unless one walked 2 trackless miles to the nearest community. The light was turned by a clockwork mechanism worked by weights that had to be reset every 2 hours and 38 minutes 24-hours a day. When needed the fog horn was driven by coal-fired steam. Despite their salary of $80,000 a year in present-day dollars paid by the British Government I doubt the Cantwells had much competition for the task. The guns in the battery there were the largest I’ve seen reminding me of the movie, the Guns of Navaronne.
Drove south through Petty Harbour to Bay Bulls and at that point decided that one outport looked pretty much like every other with their narrow curving steep roads and lack of places to park. Found the interior Highway 10 and drove back to Saint John’s. As I was exiting the grocery store later the sun came out briefly to stick its tongue at me, as my pictures show it got shy while I was out at the point. The mackerel sky that appears here brought the expected rain on Sunday. There are clouds and rain in the forecast for every day this week.
Again a plea for news from my friends, in the last 2 weeks I’ve posted 40 E-mail and I’ve had 2 replies.
????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Friday, June 25
Walked across Nagle Pl to visit the Fluvarium. A set of windows set into the side of a building built beside a stream, yes it’s new to me as well, this stream is teaming with introduced brown trout. Although it affords a unique look at stream ecology without the accompanying displays it would be rather a dry experience. Being present for feeding time added some excitement and watching the resident eel housed in his own aquarium slurp 6 inch worms was fun.
Saturday, June 26
I am continually confronted with the lack of street signs in Saint John’s, the lack of maps for its extensive walking trails and in particular the lack of proper scale or any indication of gain in elevation in those that do exist. Thus I blithely set out on foot for the MUN Botanical Gardens not realizing I was in for a 2-mile hike involving a 1000-ft gain in altitude. Puff, puff, puff. The gardens, when I did reach them and regained by breath, were beautiful. Once again I am surprised to see what the ameliorative effect of Gulf Stream does for the climate of Saint Johns--besides the constant fog and rain that is. The gardens have an extensive collection of Rhododendrons which even the RBG in Southern Ontario find a challenge to keep healthy. Mid-week the streets of Saint John’s were bright with flowering liburnums.
When Sunday dawned to the drumming of rain on my roof I decided to stay in not relishing a 3-mile walk to church in the rain and the 3-mile climb back uphill after. When the sun put in a brief appearance on Monday spent some time refilling my fresh water tank and pumping out my holding tanks. The highlight of my day was the cooking of bay scallops in butter, pepper, and rosemary. I was well-satisfied with the delicate result.
Tuesday, June 29
Drove over to Portugal Cove and caught the ferry to Bell Island. It’s always interesting to see one’s GPS record that one is travelling 14 mph when one has the parking brake set and one is not seated in the driver’s seat. Having had a peak population of 13,000 post WW#2 until newer smelters required a different ore than the Iron Mines produced and were closed permanently in 1966 the island is now a bedroom community of 3000. The mine tour at Mine#2 is given by a woman who would have been banned from the manually operated mine when it was in operation as bad luck. This mine with its 17-ft ceilings was worked by horses and men who loaded 3000 pounds of iron ore by hand into ore carts that were pulled by cables up the 10º slope. Five other mines operated with mechanical loaders after this mine closed in 1949 extending up to three miles under the sea as they followed the ore vein and two as open pit mines. Only this one is accessible today for 650 ft to the point where it became flooded by fresh water when the pumps were turned off but the entire town of Wabana is held up by the pillars that supported the 6 interlocking mines. One hundred and ten men died in these mines where hard hats were not the norm until the 60ies and no one wore respirators.
The oxide-based ore turned everything above ground bright red as it was hauled first by ore carts and latererly by continuous conveyor belt 3 miles across the width of the island to the deep-water port on the other side where the ferry now carries islanders every morning to their jobs on the ‘mainland’. I learned later that having fish and chips at the local diner while one waits for the ferry is considered a treat. The cairn marking the loss of 23 passengers when two ferrys collided in Conception Bay did not inspire confidence. Since the mine sold ore to Germany right up to the start of WW#2 U-Boat Captains who had intimate knowledge of the bay sank several ore carriers and a stray torpedo even damaged the docks.
Wednesday, June 30
Walked the three miles to downtown Saint John’s for another Organ Concert at the Cathedral. After walked up to tour The Rooms, home of the Provincial Archives and Museum. This 4-storey glass-fronted building built on a hill-top affords a stunning veiw of the harbour and Signal Hill. Among the many highlights was the art gallery exhibit of photos by Ed Burtynsky of Oil. A large screen displaying a continuous movie of denizens of the deep showed everything from feeding lobsters, undulating jelly fish, crayfish, great whales, crabs, and giant squid. The place excels, however, in displaying the unique cultural heritage of Newfoundland and Labrador. There are hundreds of types of boats world-wide, but unique to Newfoundland is the Rodney; a round-bottomed keelless boat with pointed bow and square stern rowed with pegged oar-locks like a dory. I was not aware that a skiff can be up to 20 tons. Obviously not a boat that one would portage but bark and skin covered native craft were also on display. Also unique to Newfoundland is the one-horse open sleigh with upholstered side-facing seat.
Canada Day in Newfoundland is a day of mourning marking the destruction of the Newfoundland Regiment on this day at Beaumount Hamel in 1916. In keeping with that anniversary the day dawned wet, foggy and cold. The fireworks later in the evening were obscured by fog.
Saturday, July 3rd
Braved the narrow, crowded, steep hills of Saint John’s to drive out to the Eastern-Most Point in Canada at Cape Spear. Once free of the city one enters winding hilly roads with black spruce encroaching on the highway on either side for miles on end. Seven generations of the Cantwell Family manned this light from 1849 until the last light-keeper was permanently retired in 1997. For most of that time access was by boat unless one walked 2 trackless miles to the nearest community. The light was turned by a clockwork mechanism worked by weights that had to be reset every 2 hours and 38 minutes 24-hours a day. When needed the fog horn was driven by coal-fired steam. Despite their salary of $80,000 a year in present-day dollars paid by the British Government I doubt the Cantwells had much competition for the task. The guns in the battery there were the largest I’ve seen reminding me of the movie, the Guns of Navaronne.
Drove south through Petty Harbour to Bay Bulls and at that point decided that one outport looked pretty much like every other with their narrow curving steep roads and lack of places to park. Found the interior Highway 10 and drove back to Saint John’s. As I was exiting the grocery store later the sun came out briefly to stick its tongue at me, as my pictures show it got shy while I was out at the point. The mackerel sky that appears here brought the expected rain on Sunday. There are clouds and rain in the forecast for every day this week.
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