Rock the Kayak

One calm day about a month ago I took the kayak out for another spin.  I wanted to see what was on the other side of the Southeast Arm after our boat tour with his nephew and family.

It was only a 10 minute paddle from my house, and right after I stepped out of my kayak I saw a painted rock!

I don't know if this has caught on in the States, but rock painting was the big thing here in Newfoundland this summer. A few steps father along and I found another one!  These discoveries have spurred me on to participating in the craze.  As if I needed another hobby!  At least rock painting can be done in the winter.

No one lives over on that side, and no docks, so I can only imagine anyone stopping by to drop off rocks must have been paddling or rowing like me.

I was amazed to see pastures just behind the tree line on the shore.  They were pretty soggy, but pastures just the same.

I knew I would see some grass though, because one of the things we saw on our boat ride was a large black horse standing up in the meadow.  One of our neighbors pastures horses over there for the summer.  Horse has nowhere to go, hemmed in on all sides by dense trees and ponds.  Who needs fence?

Horse poop

Horse trails stretched through the small patches of woods separating the pastures.  Lots of poop and moisture leads to lots of mushrooms.  More on that another time, because you know I went back...

But first a pair of rubber boots was needed to get through all those soggy spots so I got back in my kayak to see what else I could find.

Some seaweed, some rocks...not another soul, not even the sound of birds.  Just the smell of salt water and a whisper of fog in the distance. Have I mentioned yet how much I love living here?

Tour for Tots

Wayne spent every day that he could in his new boat this summer, and he even played tour guide a few times.

When his nephew, Dennis, wanted his wife and little ones to have a spin around Southeast Arm Wayne was more than happy to oblige.

The kids were a bit shy and quiet at first, but it didn't take them long to get right into it.

I think their Dad was even more excited than they were to be honest!

We went into a few quiet nooks and crannies, and puttered past Pop's Place where Dennis shared some memories of days spent there with his Pop.

Dennis told me it should be easy to recover the path he used to use up that hill from the cabin with a pair of cutters and some determination.

You know me, I've been pestering Wayne to drop me off over there ever since! So far no luck, but I'll get there eventually.

 The kids wanted to go fast, so Uncle Wayne told them to hang on to their hats...

Marty and Tessa loved it, and soon wanted to go "faster" again!

After dropping them off at the sea wall in Placentia we had to go back to our mooring.

I got to help hook the boat!

But I let Wayne do the rowing.  I use my photography as a reason to get out of the work sometimes...

Retirement agrees with him, look how much Wayne has trimmed up since the move! Hubba-hubba!

Dildonut Delicious

Everybody knows that Jimmy Kimmel is the honorary mayor of Dildo, Newfoundland by now, right?

Yes, Dildo is a real town.  One of my Facebook friends thought it was a gag until I posted a few pictures. If you haven't seen any of the Kimmel videos here is one for you.

I visited Dildo and the Dildo Brewing Company last year, but I was curious to see how Dildo was faring with all the new publicity so I stopped in for a visit.

It hasn't taken them long to figure out how to profit from their newfound notoriety, they even serve dildonuts per Jimmy's suggestion now.  I paid $3.50 for one, and it was delicious, but donuts are half the price at Tim Horton's.  Dildo's donut tasted better, so at least not a total bust!

I was in need of a walk after that dildonut, so I strolled through town...

...up the hill, down the hill, and then another hilly detour.  Half an hour later I considered myself well exercised and headed back toward my car.

Pretty's fish shack - Andrew Pretty perhaps?

A few things are new since last year, and I just wondered how they even got the time to get things up and going with all the increased visitor traffic. I was shocked to learn that many Newfoundlanders never even heard of Dildo. Didn't they ever look at a map of Newfoundland in social studies class in grade school?

Speaking of half an hour later, everyone knows Newfoundland has its own time zone (NST) that is half an hour later than Eastern time, right? There are several time zones that are not hour lengths, if you want to know more check out this link to Time and Date's website.

Exploring Southeast

After moving to Southeast Placentia it didn't take me long to climb that hill I could see from our upstairs windows.

One of my new favorite spots

And after hiking up the hill a few times Wayne showed me how to operate the Quad and now I take that for a spin as well sometimes.

Stream easily crossed on the Quad!

It's built for two riders, but for some reason Wayne trusted me to take off on my own after a five minute lesson...

Not knowing how far the trail went I ended up going a little too far and having to turn around out on the bog. My heart was pounding when I got stuck for a few minutes and had to rev 'er up to get out of a sloppy spot.

Messy me, messy quad

After that I stuck to the gravel, lots to see, no need to get stuck in the muck an hour walk from home!

Hills to climb, and old roads to nowhere to explore...

Though road may not be the right word, more like rotted boardwalk over a bog.  Must have been a cabin near that spot once upon a time.

After going to the same spots a few times I struck out last week through the woods to try to find some new ones.

Following a moose path up the hill I was disappointed to not find any berry patches, but I did see a wide variety of fungi.

I didn't see any wildlife, but I wonder if they saw me?

 Eventually I returned to a trail someone had made to drag their wood down, noting that each cleared area seemed to have its own personality as different things grew in to fill the gap.

I saw more reindeer lichen than I've seen since the weather warmed up, and tucked away the memories of red berries against white lichen for winter days ahead.

Of course all roads end at bogs up here...so without rubber boots I had to turn around.

It's good to have a reason to turn around though, otherwise I might never go home for supper.

Though some days this month I had my supper straight off the bushes!  And to answer Linda's question about whether wild lowbush blueberries in Newfoundland and huckleberries might be the same, the answer is they are "cousins" but botanically there are some slight differences. If I ever get out to Oregon during huckleberry harvesting time I'll taste for myself and find out which one tastes better!

Baby spruce growing up through a blueberry patch-
Good time to use a rake instead of picking!

Southeast Sunsets

Remember those sunsets in Argentia we used to see at the RV Park?  Well, we get them here in Southeast Placentia too!

Out for a ride "in the country"

Just the other night I was picking partridgeberries and looked up to see how much longer I had before dark and saw this...

Dark was sooner than I thought, but a few minutes later down the trail I had to stop again to look some more.  Can you blame me?  Good thing all this splendor is only minutes from home.

View of Placentia from up high in Southeast

Going to play catch-up again, expect a post a day for awhile!

I Only Have Eyes for Blue

Anyone who has read my blog in previous years will know that I LOVE picking blueberries!

A likely spot, push aside those spruce branches to find the big ones!

So every time I was "out in the country" I was scoping out blueberry spots.  I discovered that "old woodcuts" (where residents had cut down trees in past years) were prime spots for blueberry growth so I was ready when they started ripening.  Now you know why I've been absent from the blog - too busy picking blueberries!

Spots are guarded around these parts, so you have to be choosy who you "share your spot" with.  I figured I could trust my sister-in-law at least, and we had a grand time filling up!

Blue here, blue there, blue everywhere

I must have gone out picking on at least six different days, and a few of those I even rode the Quad up to save my energy.  A couple of hours picking after a half hour walk up and then the extra weight of 2 gallons of berries on the walk back gets to be wearing!

I finally learned how to can!

Doing the math? I probaby picked 10 gallons total, but ate through some of those fresh before I got around to freezing 6 1/2 gallons and making a dozen jars of blueberry jam.

Jam by Pam

I even picked a gallon of raspberries and made cobbler twice...and then topped it off with blueberries of course!  When picking blueberries you have to watch out for the "black flies" but raspberry patches seemed to attract bees and large spiders set up their traps across the branches so a little more care was necessary.

My berry rake ended up being impractical for blueberries as it picked up leaves and other debris too easily, but partridgeberries were quicker to pick using a berry rake so I got about 4 gallons of those this week.  And I picked up a spare berry rake someone left out in a patch last year by the faded look of it!  Now if anyone wants to join me I even have an extra rake.

Partridgeberries and a blueberry!

Partridgeberries are the same as lingonberries, so if you've ever had lingonberry jam you know how delicious the tart berries can be with the right amount of sugar.  I've had no trouble finding the low growing red berries; they spread along the ground under blueberry bushes and especially seem to love old tree stumps and areas prone to reindeer lichen.

Picked clean - can you spot the lone blueberry?

Fall is upon us here in Newfoundland, and every day more of the plants are turning color.  Blueberry gathering is done, the ones left on the bush are mushy and bitter after some early frost.  So now my eyes turn to searching for the partridgeberry, the marshberry, and maybe even some cranberry if I can find them.  But I still have all those gallons of blue in the freezer -  just think of the jams, the pies, and the blueberry pancakes they will provide me until next September!