End and Begin Again

Feels like I just arrived but, in fact, it is almost time to leave.  

My love affair with Newfoundland has had some rocky moments (is that why they call it The Rock?).

14 years and counting.

 I think of my time here in three parts: creating The House Museum, running The House Museum and recovering from The House Museum.  I think it is fair to say that I almost stopped loving Newfoundland because of THM.  It was so intense to live inside an art project - with two children! - and to deliberately immerse myself in the community in a way that was forced rather than developed organically.  I don't regret doing the project or how it played out.  On the contrary, I think it was very important for me as an artist and for the place where it happened.  But there was a price.  Or several.  

Eleanor the Cat's gift.

 One price, among the many, was that I stopped knowing why I came here, which is kind of funny since the whole theme of THM was "why are you here?".  By the end of it, I had no idea.  The project ended and I was a little embittered about some of the reception it received.  My friend Colette died and with her went our shared dream of a growing artist community on the North Shore.  I am not really a "vacation home" kind of person and it takes two and a half freaking days to get here.  So...why?

At Brake's Cove on a gusty day.

But then, this summer, I felt it again.  This place is the place I was meant to live in.  It is in my bones and every cell in my body.  The weather, the landscape, the people.  Mine.  I don't want to leave.  I have that feeling like I am being torn from my mother's breast.

Aaron's Arm hiking trail, Burgeo.

Mad new skillz.

You don't mess around when you feel that way.  You listen and follow.

Listen and follow.