Every February seems to try my patience. In spite of the beautiful blues these photos depict, the shortest month always feels like the longest to me.
Speaking of patience, I’ve always loved this poet’s pen name, as well as her positive sentiment here:
While it is February, one can taste the full joys of anticipation. Spring stands at the gate with her finger on the latch. ~ Patience Strong (Winifred Emma May)
To my friends and followers in the northern climes—do you find this month as long and bleak as I do? And we’re only ten days in. Brrrr!
Last week, Paul and I took a work trip to Grand Bank and Marystown on our province’s Burin Peninsula. As coincidence would have it, we had taken a trip there ten years ago in October! With that photo shoot from 2014 at the ready, I thought I’d share it with you today. . .
It seems the older I get, the more I treasure the chance to travel around this province. Even when I visit a Newfoundland community I’ve been in before, it’s as if I see it with new and more appreciative eyes.
Earlier this week, I accompanied Paul on one of his little road trips for work, this time on the Burin Peninsula Heritage Run. Our destination was the vibrant town of Grand Bank. I hadn’t been there in over a decade.
It was a rainy trip. But good fortune smiled down, the sun came out as soon as we got there, and so did my trusty camera.
The authentic old buildings and heritage architecture I found especially charming. I’ll let the pictures tell the story of what I loved about historic Grand Bank.
The Inn by the Sea Bed and Breakfast:
The Thorndyke – Registered Heritage B & B. Notice the Widow’s Walk, a popular feature of long ago fishing communities:
🎶🎶“Doot, doot, do, lookin’ out my back front door” 🎶🎶
💕💕💕
“All my life has been a series of doors in my face And then suddenly I bumped into you… With you, I found my place With you, I see your face And it’s nothing like l’ve ever known before Love is an open door.”*
Happy first day of summer, friends! We are experiencing an early heat wave here in Newfoundland, so our longed-for season received an early start.
Last week, while the weather was cooler and we were having our morning coffee out on the deck, we saw a cloud that was nothing short of spectacular. It started with a low bank of fog stretching across the entire horizon, but soon morphed into a tall white marvel.
And just before it dispersed, it grew even bigger:
“A cloudless plain blue sky is like a flowerless garden.” – Terri Guillemets
On the eve of our heat wave, the sky and clouds were an artist’s tableau:
“I’ve looked at clouds from both sides now. From up and down, and still somehow, it’s cloud illusions I recall. I really don’t know clouds at all.” – Joni Mitchell
Last month, our daughter Denise surprised us with this lovely sun-catcher she found online. Does it remind you of anyone?
Is it a coincidence that she found a cat replica that looks like our Vivian, who passed away in November? I think not. Now we have a visual reminder that she is still peering out over Perry’s Point, which she knew like the back of her paw. 🐾
It’s also the perfectly fitting remembrance of her many guest posts on this blog—“Vivian’s View From Here”.
We still miss her terribly, yes.
But I like to think we have our own little guardian angel
watching over us. 💙
“What we have once enjoyed and deeply loved we can never lose, for all that we love deeply becomes a part of us.” – Helen Keller
Here is the second (and final) instalment of dramatic photo highlights from my blogging archives. I’ll start with two “vivid skies” left over from Part 1:
I wasn’t long running for my camera when this giant funnel cloud appeared by our house a few years ago. At first I thought it was a tornado!
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Cotton candy clouds at sunset are always a summery treat:
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A perennial favourite—my clothespins encased in a glaze of ice:
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A spider and her web I discovered on my kitchen window one misty summer night. I was amazed by the detail:
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This ghostly tree caught my eye one November, outside a Grand Falls-Windsor inn:
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Berg watching in Greenspond was a delight that day in June 2015.
Admiring Nature’s sculptures in Iceberg Alley. Check out the entire blog post here.
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“Study Nature, love Nature, stay close to Nature. It will never fail you.”