We agreed to take the weekend off from our regular schedule in order to spend some more time getting to know our host families and counterparts. For me, this was a big success.
Saturday we had what my host family decided to call a "Chief" day, after their cat, who spends the large majority of his time lazing about, usually sprawled on the kitchen floor, an easy distance from his food bowl and in reach of any fingers that might give him a nice scratch. I am thankful for "Chief" days!
(Though no one scratched behind my ears...)
That evening we were introduced to Jennifer and her three little boys, Max, Charlie and Rudy, who came over for a supper of peanut soup and Thai rice. The boys, including Angus, nearly killed themselves laughing over a montage of funny cat videos on YouTube. We laughed too, but at the kids, not the cats! Little Rudy was just hilarious, he appeared to be having the time of his life... Watching and hearing children laugh must be one of the most enjoyable things in the world.
I am thankful for kids!
Sunday we had pancakes and maple syrup for breakfast. Ethel seemed to enjoy her pancake but thought the syrup was too sweet... I am still nursing hope that she will come to love it! At 10 Ethel and I trotted up to our usual haunt (the Sobey's Community Room) for a meeting for volunteers of the St.John's International Women's film festival, where we got our schedules for the film fest as well as free volunteer t-shirts and Tim Horton's!
I am thankful for maple syrup, downtown living, free T-shirts and Timmy's!
Back at the house we packed our overnight gear into the car and crammed in for the hour and twenty minute drive to Alison and Geoff's cabin in Whiteway. Here is a map showing where it is in relation to St.John's (Whiteway is on the left side of the map) :
View Cabin in a larger map
"The Cabin" is excactly what a cabin should be but so often is not; a tiny, somewhat run-down house in a quiet place. No running water (but they have a rain water system, which is awesome!), no electric lights, no TV, no computer. A perfect little patio with hand-laid paving stones picked up from the beach (Geoff finished laying the stones this weekend). Driftwood decor. Campfire and barbeque. Bunk beds, hide-a-bed. Mossy woods behind, rocky beach in front... complete with friendly newfie neighbours!
We got to the cabin in the afternoon; unpacking the food, water and supplies, sweeping, starting the wood stove and making up beds. Soon enough we heard jingling bells and Geoff called us outside to meet the neigbours, Cliff George (epic name!) and Renee, who were out for a ride with Renee's beautiful Friesian mare, Zirena. Ethel tried to stroke the horse's nose but jumped back and laughed nervously when she tossed head at her. This picture was a feat to capture as the mare kept moving towards Ethel, making her squeal and jump back each time!
We took a short ride down the road, the bells on Zirena's harness jingling as we plodded along.The neighbours said farewell and all but Geoff strolled down to Drover's Store (selling a bit of everything from fireworks to fabric and cereal to Christmas decorations!) to look for some lamp oil, then wandered back along the beach. We combed through the kelp and fish bones, driftwood and stones for interesting objects. As soon as I consented to let Angus use my camera he was snapping away at about a hundred shots a minute, having a grand ol' time and setting me up for a good, hearty photo-sorting sesh later.
Back in the cabin I taught Ethel and Angus to play the card game Cheat. A little later we gathered out on the patio for a delicious meal of lamb and veggie kebabs, rice, nugget potatoes (with butter and onions) and broccoli, all cooked on the barbeque (minus the rice). We had peanut butter cake with chocolate icing and tea after supper. We also taught Ethel how to roast marshmallows on the campfire... home-whittled roasting sticks and all! Angus had started to get clamour for fireworks to be set off, though it wasn't quite dark enough yet, so I got out my glow poi and put on a little demonstration before handing them over to Angus and Ethel to try. The poi proved to be distraction enough until we headed down to the beach to set off the fireworks. My favourite was the green burst which released golden tails little creatures which dashed around madly for the joy of having escaped the firework before disappearing into the night. Poi playtime on the beach, then back to the cabin, where the warm wood stove welcomed us. I taught everyone Dutch Blitz by the light of an oil lamp and several flashlights. Alison professed herself addicted (and also kicked all our butts!) and assured me that we would be playing frequently from now on. By the time we were done it was definitely time to hit the hide-a-bed hay!I am thankful for the beauty of light in all it's different forms; a headlamp to brush teeth by, a lamp to play cards by, fireworks, campfire sparks, poi. I am thankful for good food to eat, traditions to teach and oceans to admire. I am thankful for enthusiastic Dutch Blitz players and my Nikon D40!
This morning's breakfast was bacon, toasted cheese bread and scrambled eggs with peppers. What's that I said about good food to eat? We spent the morning playing games of Crazy 8's, Go Fish and Oware (a game which Ethel taught us that I knew as Mancala http://www.macpri.com/macpri/oware/ ) and drawing pictures with crayons.
 |
| My magic garden scene |
 |
| Geoff and Angus' robot |
Later Geoff continued his patio project while Angus and Alison took Ethel and I for a walk down the road. We stopped at a wharf to check out the shore down the hill from us and found two near-perfect sea urchin shells...
On our way back to the cabin Alison introduced herself to some neighbours called Doug and Irma Miller and we were invited into the garage to see Doug's prize possession, a tiny, red, 1950's car made by Vespa. Cutest car I have ever seen!
 |
| Ethel, Angus and I in Doug's tiny car. |
Sometime after turkey BLT's for lunch. more drawing and games and checking out the forest behind the house it was time to clean everything up and pack ourselves back into the car to return to St. John's. But we had to make a quick stop before truly being on our way...
 |
| "Greetings from Dildo, Newfoundland!" |
I am thankful for hilarious and too-good-to-pass-up, though slightly inappropriate, photo-ops!
I don't have anything to say that can compete with that photo, so I will leave it at that for tonight.
Sweet dreams, all!
Julia
No comments:
Post a Comment