“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness.” – John Steinbeck
“Summer afternoon—summer afternoon; to me those have always been the two most beautiful words in the English language.” – Henry James
“Summer’s lease hath all too short a date.” ― William Shakespeare
There is something about the town of Greenspond in Bonavista North that consistently captures my imagination. Yes, it is known for its wonderful walking trail and its majestic icebergs in spring, but it is magical to me because of much more than that.
No matter how many times I visit, take pictures, or blog about it, this historic community with its many mansard roofs, saltbox homes, and idyllic scenery harkens me back to imaginings of yesteryear when English settlers first came here from Dorset, Devon, Somerset and Hampshire centuries ago.
These first inhabitants grew Greenspond into a major economic enterprise through fishing and trading, yet today it stands preserved in an “olden day” atmosphere, giving this visitor storybook inspiration of how Newfoundlanders lived before life became modern and fast-paced.
Take a little tour with me through the following photos. The first one is from Facebook but the rest are from our visit there in May.
Hello, y’all! Vivian K. Perry here,
back on Jennifer’s Journal today to tell you how much I love this post.
No, no, no, not this blog post (shakes furry head).
This fence post!
Now that summer is here,
I take time out of every one of my days to prowl around Perry’s Point.
This is my favourite perch – a bird’s-eye view, if you will –
where I can keep a sharp lookout for little creatures in the grass like voles and shrews.
Now that sister Maisie and I will soon be turning nine,
we’ve finally come to terms with our limitations
and admit the birds around here are too smart and swift for us to actually hunt.
Jennifer says that’s a good thing, but we disagree.
I’ve been known to sit and wait here patiently for hours. I kid you not.
Hmm. Unfortunately, not much stirring here this afternoon.
I’ll check back again after sunset.
In the meantime, I think I’ll run out to the end of the point…
…to check on the mink burrows!
Chat soon!
***
Do you have a cat like me that likes to prowl?
What do you do with your summer days?
My Book Signing Event was a success!
The Launch included an introduction and bio, a short author reading of an excerpt from Calmer Girls, question period, and sale and signing of books.
I wish to bestow a huge thank-you to everyone who took time out of their Saturday to attend. It meant the world to me. Several of you even drove from out of town to be there, and for that I am forever grateful. ❤
I also wish to thank Jewel S. Cousens, B.A., M.L.S., NL Librarian with the A.C. Hunter Public Library, Arts & Culture Centre, for all of her valuable assistance, as well as her insight and suggestions for future promotions. Ms. Cousens was happy to tell us that interest in Newfoundland and Labrador books has grown in recent years and continues to grow.
Special appreciation to my husband and family for everything you did to make this past weekend one I will never forget.
I hope you enjoy the photos and the slide show I’ve shared below.
This past Victoria Day long weekend turned out to be a beautiful and sunny one here on the island of Newfoundland.
We headed out on Saturday hoping to find icebergs, but unlike last year’s bumper crop, they kept their distance for the most part, hugging the horizon.
Undaunted, Paul and I took a hike around the trail in Greenspond and still managed to capture these pretty nature scenes.
Icebergs big and small can be seen dotting most of the horizon.
I zoomed in for these two. Notice the wide band of blue, which is called looming.
The atmospheric phenomenon of looming made this iceberg seem to stretch -or refract – vertically into a shape that made me think of a water bomber…sort of.
These little shelters house picnic tables along the Greenspond trail.
Now for the funny and unexpected part of our hike:
I decided to snap a photo of this helmet someone had picked up and placed here, thinking I would show it on Facebook to help unite it with its owner. But…
This is where I stepped back to get a shot from the other side, and my “accident-prone” foot got caught in a crevice. Down I went. Luckily I missed the big rocks and my camera was also unharmed. At home, I discovered I’d taken the above photo by accident!
I got the other shot, no harm done. Hubs got a little fright (and a laugh), though. 😉
What did you do for fun this weekend?
(and did you lose a helmet?)
Author updates:
I’m running a Goodreads Book Giveaway! Enter here or on the sidebar for a chance to win a signed, first edition paperback of Calmer Girls. Though the winning entry is randomly chosen by Goodreads, I will mail the book directly to the winner.
And…I’m attending my Book Launch this Saturday in St. John’s:
Here is the link for the Library announcement:
NL Book Launch – Jennifer Kelland Perry
A.C. Hunter Adult Library
***
Have a safe and inspiring week, everyone. ❤
(and watch out for those crevices!)
“I could make you happy, make your dreams come true
There’s nothing that I would not do
Go to the ends of the Earth for you
To make you feel my love.”
Bob Dylan wrote it. Billy Joel, Garth Brooks, Adele, Neil Diamond, and many others recorded it. These talented singers knew a great song when they heard it.
Make You Feel My Love has been one of my favourite love songs ever since Dylan released it on his 1997 album, Time Out of Mind. As it happened, that was the same year he came to perform two shows at St. John’s Memorial Stadium here in Newfoundland, one of which Paul and I attended.
A little side note here about that concert: My daughter Denise was in class during her last year of high school when she heard through the student grapevine that Dylan was coming to our fair province. Knowing full well how big a fan her mother’s fiancé was, she phoned Paul from school on her lunch break to be the first to blurt the good news. Needless to say, we were elated and scored our tickets right away for the show. But as excellent as the concert turned out to be, Paul remembers that phone call with a special fondness. It showed him how much his stepdaughter cared.
Nowadays I like to tease him about the song and how I identify with the lyrics in the last verse shared above. I am reminded of how I followed him to Newtown five years ago. Now tell me, what could be more proof of my love and loyalty – to make him feel my love – than to go to “the ends of the earth” that is Perry’s Point, a wild piece of land that juts out into the cold North Atlantic?
Mushy? Sentimental? I don’t care.
*Photos taken from Perry’s Point on April 19, 2016.
Spring is a long, drawn-out affair here on the island of Newfoundland.
No matter what the calendar says, we still have to endure the odd snowstorm and it seems to take forever to warm up.
Sleet storms are common. But the next day I take in the results with my camera…
…because when the sun comes out, everything shimmers and glows with a crust of rime.
Tufts of grass lay frozen and still.
Silence reigns today because the spring ice is in and the air is calm.
Our “flippery” friend lolls about, basking in the peace and quiet.
(And I do believe I made up a word. 😉 )
You are free, little seal. Nothing to hurt you here.
Just another quiet day on Perry’s Point.
“Daily Post Prompt: Never Again – Have you ever gone to a new place or tried a new experience and thought to yourself, “I’m never doing that again!” Tell us about it.”
On Saturday, I saw this photo on Facebook that brought back a memory for me. Also on that day, I read the above prompt from the Daily Post. So I couldn’t resist sharing said event from my childhood.
My friend Nancy, my younger sister Lynn and I were walking home from school one late afternoon in St. John’s, when we noticed from the Boulevard the many ice pans on the surface of Quidi Vidi Lake. I think it might have been spring thaw.
Quicker than you can say “last one in is a rotten egg,” the three of us ran down to the lake’s edge, dropped our book-bags on the shore, and proceeded to jump from ice pan to ice pan across the surface of the deep water. Not once did either of us think anything could go wrong. I guess we were so young and naive, we had no fear of the risk we were taking.
Luckily, Nancy’s father happened to drive along the Boulevard while we were playing there. Before we knew it, we were swiftly ordered into his car and driven home. At the time, we didn’t feel so lucky, but I shudder at the thought of what could have gone down if he hadn’t. Perhaps all of us!
Of course, our parents were outraged and we all received our punishment. The next time I saw my friend Nancy, she told me that her father gave her a good spanking.
“And that was it?” I asked, incredulous. My parents didn’t give spankings as discipline. They knew what really hurt: grounding my sister and me for a full week. No outdoors for seven days except to go to school.
I remember thinking at the time that Nancy had gotten off easy compared to us. Yes, she’d endured a spanking, but at least her suffering was “behind” her. 😉
Now I realize Mom and Dad had wanted us to appreciate how dangerous our activity was, by giving us a whole week to think about it. Never again did we dare to risk drowning by “copying pans.”
*copy: To jump from one floating pan of ice to another in a children’s game of following or copying a leader when the ice is breaking up in spring in a cove or harbour. A game of follow-my-leader over the broken ice, every cake of which, it may be, sinks under the weight of a lad. It is a training for the perilous work of seal hunting, which came later in the life of Newfoundlanders. You will see the merry young lads ‘copying’ as they call it—jumping from pan to pan till far out in the Cove in fearless rivalry. ~ Dictionary of Newfoundland English
Did you ever jump on ice pans when you were a kid?
Have you ever done something new and regretted it?
Hey, everyone, I’m back!! 
Vivian K. Perry here, to tell you all about the
snowstorm forecast for most of the island of Newfoundland tonight and tomorrow.
We’re well acquainted with winter storms in this neck of the woods, but I think we are in for a mother of a blizzard this time, with 30 to 50 centimeters and high winds promised for central, and for us, before it’s all over!
Here are Maisie and I, first this morning, and second, how we will weather the storm:
Besides all of this, there is still work to be done. Please watch this little video clip below of me in Paul’s office. He puts me in a bed on top of his printer when I get lonely for his company. Be sure to turn up your volume so you can hear me purr.
Stay warm and see you all next time after we dig out!
Jennifer's Journal 