A Bucket of Capelin

On our first visit to the west coast of Newfoundland in 2001, we went to a place on White Bay called Sop's Arm.  We were trying to get to a ferry to Harbour Deep - a town that was only accessible by boat, which intrigued us greatly.  Or maybe we were checking out a high school that was for sale as part of my big dream of making a museum about culture and tourism.  In any event, we missed the ferry and we just wandered around Jackson's Arm and Sop's Arm, two small communities on the bay.

In Sop's Arm, we met a young boy who was very friendly and who spoke to us at length about the "two buckets of capelin" he had caught the day before.  He had a heavy Newfoundland accent to the point of almost being unintelligible to us and there was just something otherworldly about him.  The whole experience seemed more like something out of a Flannery O'Connor story than anything else.  "Two buckets of capelin" said in a strong accent became a catch phrase for us - something we said in response to just about anything.  

"Whatcha doing?" 

"oh, I don't know...but I have two buckets of capelin.."

Yesterday, a friend delivered a little less than a bucket of capelin...

They are sweet little things, aren't they?

Later, we went to a birthday bonfire for our friend Katherine Knight.  She is the person who made the film about Colette, Pretend Not to See Me.  She is making a film now about the new hotel on Fogo Island.  She is a wonderful filmmaker and really, really good at asking questions.

See?

This is for all my New York friends....yes, we needed our winter hats on the beach last night.  T'was a wee bit chilly.