Canada – Page 6 – Jennifer's Journal

Flower of the Day – July 25: Tiger Lily*

Published on July 25, 2021 by J. Kelland Perry18 Comments

During our time away this month, we took our annual trip to the small community of Lead Cove, Trinity Bay. My daughter and family have a second home there, and it’s always nice to visit, especially in the summer.

Their property has lots of beautiful trees, but for this post I’m sharing the tiger lilies.

“Flowers don’t worry about how they’re going to bloom.
They just open up, turn towards the light and that makes them beautiful.“
~ Jim Carrey

I first heard of this quote from writer friend Pamela Wight‘s Instagram page. Thanks for sharing it, Pam. 🙂

*Cee’s Flower of the Day Photo Challenge

Photo Challenge: Orange

Published on July 12, 2021 by J. Kelland Perry39 Comments

Happy Monday, everyone!

I’m away from home for a second week, part of our annual summer getaway to St. John’s and surrounding areas. I had planned to blog a few Sunday Snaps yesterday, but time got away from me while visiting family and friends, so here we are. Monday Snaps it is!

I couldn’t resist Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge from last week, even though it’s the last day today. Orange in the great outdoors is often a vibrant colour, as the following selection of my photos will attest.

**Carrots from my friend’s garden last fall. Thanks, Libby. They were sweet and delicious!**

**Colourful leaves in Corner Brook last fall** . . .

**. . . and in Marystown, mingling with shades of red and gold.**

**A “flutter-by” on our house. Is blue your favourite colour too, little one?**

**An orange-belted bumblebee rests on my bench**.

**This orange sunset warmed up a chilly winter eventide.**

**Vivian listens for voles in the sun-drenched sea oats.**
**You’ll be back there enjoying the golden evenings before you know it, kitty.** ❤

All Things Newtown

Published on June 6, 2021June 6, 2021 by J. Kelland Perry35 Comments

Aerial View of Perry's Point — **Aerial View of Perry’s Point** **– photo credit: Winston Perry**, **2018**

As Newfoundland and Labrador prepares to reopen to Canadian travellers under our province’s Together Again Plan, I thought it might be a good time to share the All Things Newtown links from my blog. With everything from our sandy beaches, a harp seal whitecoat, to our Heritage Fishing Village, and—yes of course, Perry’s Point!—there’s plenty to read about and tons of photos to enjoy.

Ten Years in This Old House

Found Art in Driftwood

Lots of Winter Ahead Yet, But…

First Snowfall (and Fun Neighbours)

Happy Thanksgiving, Fellow Canadians

Summer’s End

A New Perspective – Aerial View of Perry’s Point, Newtown

Where Once They Lived: The Beothuk of Perry’s Point

Butterflies and Daisies

Sunday Snap(s): Neighbours

Pages From The Past: Moving to Newtown

Sunday Snap: Old

Flippery Friend

Concerned: Part Two

Sunday Snapshot: Concerned

Sunday Snapshot: Whitecoat

Barbour Tickle

Daily Prompt: Impression

Spring and a Special Remembrance

Video: Out and About with Vivian

Vivian’s View From Here: Window Cats

Arrival of Winter & New Horizons

A Murder on Perry’s Point!

Fun, Sun, Sand and Smiles

Meanwhile, in Newfoundland…

My Buttercup Runneth Over

Vivian’s View From Here: On the Prowl

Photo Challenge: Calm

Early Rise

Vivian’s View From Here: Weekend Blizzard

My Backyard Part 2 – The Beach

Weekly Photo Challenge – Threes

Heritage Fishing Village

Autumn Walk on the East Coast

Canada Day Weekend

***

Like to see other local posts? Check out the link below to my blog’s Newfoundland and Labrador page, where I share my photos and articles from all around our beautiful province:

Newfoundland and Labrador

Here’s to seeing lots of (vaccinated) Canadian tourists this summer! ☀️

Orange Shirt Day

Published on May 31, 2021May 31, 2021 by J. Kelland Perry13 Comments

In light of the recent discovery of the buried remains of 215 indigenous children at a former B.C. residential school, I am re-blogging this post from September. #EveryChildMatters

Jennifer's Journal

September 30th is Orange Shirt Day in Canada, a day set aside to remember the experiences and loss of the thousands of children who were stolen from their families and placed in Indian Residential Schools. It is an opportunity to create meaningful discussion about the effects of Residential Schools and the legacy they have left behind.

Why orange shirts? Orange Shirt Day grew out of Phyllis Webstad’s story of having her new orange shirt taken away on her first day of school, and it has become an opportunity to keep the discussion on all aspects of residential schools happening annually. You can read Phyllis’ story at orangeshirtday.org

Why September 30th? The date was chosen because it is the time of year in which children were taken from their homes to residential schools, and because it is an opportunity to set the stage for anti-racism and anti-bullying policies for the coming…

View original post 399 more words

Jennifer Kelland Perry: Calmer Secrets

Published on May 25, 2021May 25, 2021 by J. Kelland Perry25 Comments

Canadian author, fellow blogger and e-friend Carol Balawyder recently read and reviewed my New Adult novel, Calmer Secrets, on her blog. I would love for you to check it out.

“Calmer Secrets is a novel about good people making bad choices. . . about an affectionate family sticking together through thick and thin. It’s a heartwarming book, filled with love and tenderness and suspense.”

Read the rest here: https://carolbalawyder.com/2021/05/24/jennifer-kelland-perry-calmer-secrets/

Thanks for this, Carol, and for your lovely review of Calmer Girls as well. All of my writer friends and book-blogging buddies rock!

I can hardly believe it’s been four years since my last book was released. Although I have a finished novel and an outline for its sequel, I’m still patiently waiting for follow-up from four publishers who have requested the full manuscript. Time will tell! Have a great week, everyone.

Road Trip 2: Beautiful Bonavista

Published on March 28, 2021 by J. Kelland Perry37 Comments

Last weekend, Paul and I took another work trip, this time to the town of Bonavista. Thankfully, it was a much shorter drive than the last one—3.5 hours to our destination, compared to nearly 8 hours to St. Barbe and Flower’s Cove on the Northern Peninsula‘s Viking Trail, and we only needed to stayed one night instead of two.

And Spring happened! The weather was much nicer on our trip to Discovery Trail, although there was still plenty of snow around. We arrived at our Airbnb accommodations early on Saturday so Paul could get a jump on his work at the school there. Check out the beach home where we stayed:

The house was exceptionally clean, warm, and charming. I loved its shiplap walls and beadboard ceilings. The ceilings were low, though. I’ve never felt so tall in my life!

The next morning while Paul worked, I took a stroll around the block to see some heritage saltbox and vacation homes. The day was crisp, cool and gorgeous, and it was hard not to take too many pics.

Of special note: a “Seaside Loafers” bench, a potential fixer-upper, a fence made of branches, a seawall, and a family of Labradors.
This was our second visit to Bonavista. I blogged about our fall trip here. If you liked what you saw above, you’ll love the photos in that post. Was it really eight years ago??

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” -Henry Miller

Road Trip to the Great Northern Peninsula

Published on March 14, 2021March 14, 2021 by J. Kelland Perry46 Comments

Mountains around the Western Brook fiord

Last weekend I accompanied my husband on a work trip to the Great Northern Peninsula. Also known as the Viking Peninsula, it is a large rural area in western Newfoundland, located north of Gros Morne National Park and extending to L’Anse aux Meadows National Historic Site, a former Viking settlement at its northern tip. The region is known for its Long Range Mountains, the most northern section of the Appalachians.

Both the park and the Viking settlement are UNESCO World Heritage sites.

Having visited the region several times in summer, I was excited to travel to the west coast for my first opportunity to see the mountains covered in snow. Lucky timing too, as it’s been an odd winter. Most areas off the Avalon Peninsula didn’t get any amount of snow until late February and early March. Marble Mountain skiers didn’t hit the slopes until March 4th, due to lack of snow and the new Covid-19 variant. Strange times indeed!

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Paul’s work will soon take us to the lovely town of Bonavista, another locale I look forward to seeing in the off-season for the first time. Stay tuned for more photos! Perhaps they’ll be more spring-like. 🙂

Sunday Snaps: Perspectives on Creativity

Published on February 7, 2021 by J. Kelland Perry43 Comments

Do you agree with this quote?

“To be creative means to be in love with life. You can be creative only if you love life enough that you want to enhance its beauty, you want to bring a little more music to it, a little more poetry to it, a little more dance to it.”
~ Osho

But then, what of the following quote? Can a person who is low in spirit also be in love with life and create anything worthwhile?

“Our sweetest songs are those that tell of saddest thought.”
~ Percy Bysshe Shelley

Many have theorized that there may be a correlation between sadness and creativity. Great talents such as Van Gogh and Virginia Woolf come to mind. The romantic poets described suffering as a precondition to writing anything of literary merit.

Angst has a creative upside! That said, I believe joy, heartache, or any strong emotion can stimulate creativity, just as one’s mindset can influence the mood of an artistic piece.

To look through the lens of a somber, troubled mind, one may imbue his or her own state of melancholy onto the subject. . .

Black and white image of Anglican church in Newtown, Newfoundland

. . . whereas, if the emotional perspective and attitude is lighthearted or happy, one might frame it in an entirely different light.

Anglican church in Newtown, Newfoundland framed by an outdoor bench in winter

Sadness and happiness are simply two sides of the creative coin.

January Blue*

Published on January 28, 2021 by J. Kelland Perry44 Comments

It’s a blue winter day on Perry’s Point.

It isn’t a sad and lonely day, but one painted with the hues of a brilliant blue sky and a blanket of sunshine, the kind of day where the sun and snow merge to design graceful shadows in the hollows of the landscape.

Sun on the newly fallen and drifted snow creates a tapestry of shadowy forms,
from the palest baby blue to the deepest of indigo.

The slanting afternoon rays of sunlight hold little heat,
but warm the heart of this nature-lover nonetheless.

The surface of the snow waves and crests,
while most of the bay lies still under a layer of slush and ice.

Dunes of scalloped white surround me…

…and the only hint of sound is the faint exhale of a frigid breeze.

Certain feathered creatures have already been here.

At the end of the Point I reach the icy blue coastline…

…where the water is still full of movement in spite of the sub-zero air.

Cold, but fluid…

…clear and beautiful.

Other shadows dapple a weather-worn barn…

…and sun-bleached fences.

Hidden in shade, a bird house waits for spring, and a new tenant…

…while our neighbour’s fishing boat awaits a new summer.

Ben Perry’s shed is called a “store” around these parts.

Still more shadows hide in furrows of snow and last summer’s grasses. I wade in.

My toes are like ice cubes inside my boots at this point. I hop over the fence to home.

Time to put the kettle on…

…and thaw myself out with a cup of tea.

And my world changes from blue to green.

How is your January going?
What is the colour of your winter?

*ThrowbackThursday – This is a reblog from January 2015.

Sunday Snaps: Ten Years in This Old House

Published on December 13, 2020 by J. Kelland Perry38 Comments

Last week on December 7th, Paul and I celebrated our tenth anniversary of living here on Perry’s Point in Newtown. We had left the city behind in 2010 for the rural life and a new adventure.

Our house, which was newly built for Paul’s grandfather Perry in 1923, was in dire need of restoration and renovation before we could move in. The work that went into these first stages is clearly illustrated in these photos.