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| Just minutes from the ferry (Wreckhouse) |
Have I awakened from a dream or did I just fall asleep? It feels like one or the other as it seems like I never left this beautiful place. Yet, it's been a good, long while as evidenced by the amount of effort it has taken to get the house up and running again. We are almost re-connected with the world (phone is still out) but, given what is going on out there in the world, being out of reach and out of touch might have its merits.
For the past several days, the most important thing has been getting running water again and taking care of the wood that resulted from cutting down the apple tree in the front yard. As far as the split pipes were concerned, our generous (and skilled) neighbor did some excellent plumbing work - for the price of a lemon meringue pie. The apple tree is taking more time to manage as it was "very branchy" or so said another neighbor. Lots of valuable firewood to be had but it is no small task.
This year, I was coming up alone for the first time ever. In an act of brave spontaneity, my mother accepted my invitation to join me when I stopped by her place on the first leg of the journey. I had an extra bunk on the ferry and she needed to get out of her senior housing while some complicated drainage projects were worked on. A match made in heaven! Pretty sure she was regretting her decision when we discovered the cracked pressure valves and such. But things are quite civilized now, as I write this and drink my tea while looking out at the sparkling bay and deep green mountains, a pleasant breeze passing by. My mother will return next week and then I will be alone. It is exciting and a little scary. But mostly exciting.
** Chase the Hace is a fundraiser that the next town over, McIver's is hosting. It is really called Chase the Ace but in local parlance, it is pronounced Chase the Hace.
4 comments:
So glad to know you are there. I wish on our mammoth trip to Nova Scotia and Ontario we could stop by and see you but alas - it is not the way we go - even though it is prettier and funner. Nope - we have to go across Labrador to Lab City - then down a hellish road to Manic 5 (my favorite name of a place ever) and on to Baie Comeau then a ferry to Matane and my favorite part of the 2 thousand kilometers - the drive from Amqui to Campbelltown - which I think is called the Matapedia Valley but not sure. So pretty. That's about two days and then another most of a day to get to Halifax. Enough of this conversation - suffice it to say that the fella says it is longer to go the south coast, ferry to St. Barbe and wander down the left coast to catch that other ferry. We don't like that other ferry - though I realize you must have taken it. Why are they out of food as soon as one gets on? We've been in the parking lot by then for six hours - can't someone rustle up some food when they look out the porthole to see us there? I like thinking of you and your mum having tea and looking out that gorgeous bay. I know you'll grab all the goodness from those moments.
For sure there is plenty to find fault with regarding the ferry to/from North Sydney. I personally find the price of it the most obnoxious part! It is essentially the highway for residents of NF but the cost is pretty outrageous.
I am sorry, too, that you are taking the overland route. The Trans-Lab highway! Wow! You are brave! I have heard so many stories about flat tires and worse.....good luck!!
I never want to leave this place.....
Oh the trans-lab isn't bad anymore - it is all paved and lovely. The first time I went on it about 8 or 9 years ago it was only a bit paved and we had two (!) flat tires. Gah! And we only saw one other person - a German guy dressed all in black riding a bicycle. When I asked him if he was okay - he got all miffed and huffed at me in German. It is the Quebec part as soon as you leave Lab City that is hell. 14 crossings of the railroad! The road builders must have been paid by the inch.
the fella and I were talking about the recent cuts and the boondoggle over Muskrat Falls which will be Muskrat no Falls if stupid NALCOR gets its way and he had been reading this blog by this smart fella called Sir John or something about the whole mess. He said that Puerto Rico is bankrupt and will have to be bailed out by the states AND that NL was in worse shape. So if you are going to stay, get your staples stocked up.
Oh! I didn't realize the Trans-Lab was paved now. Wow, now that is progress. But yeah, the NL boom years (is that an oxymoron?) are over. Meanwhile, there are two (count'em!) yoga studios in Corner Brook. Being a "have" province changed things, however briefly, but I don't know how it works for them to go backwards. I don't think there can be backwards. Just a different kind of forwards....a not especially pleasant one.
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