We were in the vicinity of St. John's, and woke to another lovely, sunny day, so decided to go visit Cape Spear, the most eastern point in North America. But the fog was so thick there that we couldn't even make out either of the two lighthouses, so decided it wasn't worth the effort to climb the hundreds of steps up into the fog. So we went to St. John's harbour. It's always interesting to see all the fishing boats at the east end of the harbour, across from Signal Hill, which was hidden in the fog that morning.. Cookie and Ringo went out on the docks to check out the boats... With the decline of the cod fishery, attention has been focussed on lobsters and crabs. There were stacks of crab pots everywhere. The traps are designed so that crabs can get in the top to go for the bait inside, but the plastic 'funnel' shape opening prevents them from getting back out... "Look over there. It looks like they are unloading their catch..." So they went over to watch... The bottom of the boat was filled with ice, and hundreds, if not thousands, of live crabs. One of the fishermen was down in the hold hand-picking the crabs and putting them into bins... "Look, they gave us some lobsters they weren't interested in.."
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We had checked the forecast for the next few days, then had to alter out travel plans again, so headed up the peninsula between Trinity and Conception Bays. There, beyond New Melbourne, we spotted another small iceberg.... Much of Newfoundland has a rocky shoreline, but every once in a while there's actually a sand beach, and there was just such a beach at Brownsdale, and we stopped there to get a better look at the iceberg. So, out came Rex and Bianca for a walk on the beach with their horses.... Meanwhile, Jan took a photo of the iceberg with his camera (which has much better zoom capability than mine) On a personal note; It's starting to feel like I've been working on my trip photos forever. It's been almost two weeks now, and I'm not even halfway through yet. I've posted photos from the first doll photo opportunities, and counted 25 sessions. Then being curious, I counted what was still left.....36 more individual photo sessions, some of which had an entire story taken on that spot. And one of those spots was The Fortress of Louisbourg, where the dolls were taken out and set up another 14 times. So I'm just one third of the way through! I didn't realize at the time that I was taking so many doll photos. So, still a LOT more to come. And here I was berating myself for 'being lazy' and not taking advantage of every opportunity!
The two of them got down off their horses... Meanwhile, there were other, REAL, horses grazing all around.... They came over to see what we were doing, and this one brown horse was constantly rubbing his head on the door, wanting to get into the RV. He finally stuck his head in through the window, probably to see if we had any treats for him. "No, sorry, we only allow toy horses into our RV!"
Back at Cape Bonavista, hazy clouds had moved in, to create the perfect lighting for some photos of Rex and Bianca. These were some of my favourite photos of the entire trip.....
We woke to another nice day, but desperately needed to do some laundry. We couldn't find a laundromat, so had to ask. Seems the only public laundry facility was in the Harbour Authority building in Bonavista harbour. Apparently the government provides low income households with a free washer and dryer, so the only people who need a laundromat are boaters coming into the harbour, and other visitors, like campers.
Anyways, it gave David and Olivia a chance to look around at the boats... Jan with dolls and props after a photo shoot, just enjoying the scenery, before heading back to our vehicle. Behind him are several RVs parked for the night. We ended up at another parking spot just over the hill beyond those RVs.
Then Rex and Bianca went out to watch the sun set.... Yesterday's Senior Discount finds at Value Village included another brown horse. It didn't have any of the accessories anymore, and it needs a bit of work, but it's a different pose than all my other big horses...... and he was just a few bucks, so I had to take him home... I also found some nice pale gray fabric and two men's shirts - a nice heavy light blue shirt (not as bright as in the photo) and a brown and blue plaid shirt - all destined to become 'Outlander' wedding clothes. Eventually. Some day.
We arrived at Cape Bonavista around dinner time, and the kids chose to eat their's at the picnic table overlooking the famous lighthouse..... "That pizza looks really good..." "I'll take slice of the pepperoni, please.." While having dessert, Cookie noticed something..... "What's that over there?" Ringo and Olivia went to look.... "It's an inukshuk" "There's several of them over there on the rocks..." So they went on over for a closer look... "This one is bigger than me!" "I wonder who made them?"
Just another quick photography tip. Whenever you are taking photos out in the wilderness and there's bugs, it's important to take several shots, because you never know if a bug or two were getting too nosey, and and accidentally got in the way. Well, the northern wilderness is Black Fly Country, and I'm a bug magnet. I'm sure many of you have seen documentaries about wildlife in the Arctic, and noticed those clouds of bugs - mosquitos and black flies - swarming around every person and animal. Well, some areas of Newfoundland and Labrador are just like that. Even bug spray doesn't help that much. It does keep them off my head some, but they still circle not far, just waiting for the spray to wear off. And that means they get in front of the camera when taking photos, and end up as big dark spots in the photo.... like this..... ..and those are not exactly something that can be removed in Photoshop. So, it was a good thing I took lots of photos, so I'd at least have some good ones.
It was always a treat on windy days when there were no bugs. Wind was also a constant pain to deal with, but at least I wasn't being eaten alive. Rex had to spend some time at the fort in Trinity.... ...and each day, Bianca would make him a lunch, and deliver it....
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AuthorMartha Boers is an award-winning Canadian doll maker and costumer specializing in fantasy and historical-style costumes. Archives
December 2023
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