Turnip carving

I have done this before. A looooong time ago. I was happy with the results; very rustic, quaint, old-worldy...but, oh boy, it's not easy work! Turnip, or should I say rutabaga, abound here on the Rock.

Spirited Away

Saw this in the front window of Broken Books the other day. Read a review here.

Go off the Beaten Path...

...or should you? As I've stated before people go missing in the woods here. I'm not sure if I've mentioned Cortney Lake; it is a tragic tale.  While true that disappearing people is not specific to where I live there have been a couple of recent disappearances to add to the province's list.

But if you are brave of heart and willing to experience some truly beautiful landscape here's a bit of info re: planning a Fall getaway to Newfoundland.

This place is also crazy mushroomy. Passed at least 5 different types on our walk this morning ....

Thar be pirates!

Walked down to Quidi Vidi with a friend on Sunday. We went cause it's a nice walk and we wanted to nose around The Plantation.

Lots of St. John's residents, as well as tourists, come down here for a taste of life "out around the bay." Even amongst the newer McMansions there are still many parts of Quidi Vidi reminiscent of the busy fishing village it was in the past.

You can even detect a trace of the pirates that once roamed these waters..!

Screams in the night...

We just got back from a weekend in and around Eastport, NL. We were staying with my hubby's Aunt who has lived there for the last couple of decades. She has a beautiful bit of property and the most amazing view!

We arrived late in the afternoon on Saturday. After a walk down the road and around a bit of coastline we returned to an amazing meal with my hubby's Aunt. After dinner she gave us a more extensive tour by car in and around some of the nearby communities and to witness a most spectacular sunset!

It wasn't long after arriving back at her place that we stumbled up the stairs to bed. It was a warm night and we had the windows wide open so we slept pretty well. The following morning, however, as we were headed out on another tour, a nearby neighbour stopped us to ask if had heard "the screaming in the night?" Whaaa! Apparently, at about 3:00 am, someone had started screaming for help from the nearby woods / shoreline. The RCMP were called and arrived to investigate but by then the screaming had stopped. Nothing has been found...yet.

There are bits of bog in the nearby woods and you can find yourself on solid rock with one step and in chest deep bog the next. I've written before about the stories people tell about being led astray and getting lost in the woods. In Newfoundland it used to be thought the fault of the fairies when people got turned around. Many of these stories and beliefs came with the people who moved here from southern Ireland.

"Most are not aware of the province’s fairy folklore. We’ve all heard a ghost story 
or two, but to most, stories of “the good folk” are seldom heard, especially 
amongst the younger generations. But our province has a past that was rich in 

fairy lore, particularly on the predominantly Irish settled , Avalon peninsula. 

Stories and beliefs from the homeland followed our ancestors to this rugged island, 

and there have been numerous self-proclaimed accounts of the Fae and 

their interactions with family members and friends of the community. 

 Most stories involving fairies have been collected through 

interviews throughout the 20th century. 

Barbara Reiti, folklore PhD and former professor at MUN, is the author 

of Strange Terrain: The fairy world in Newfoundland. Reiti gathered numerous 

accounts of Newfoundlanders experiencing encounters with fairies, from 

tales of horses’ manes being braided nightly, to fairies dancing 

in a circle and luring travellers through the forest with sweet music. 

Conception Bay seems to be a major hotspot, as well as several communities 

around the Avalon like Avondale, Ferryland, and Witless Bay. They’ve been described 

as everything from small children sporting red capes, to glowing balls of light." 

- excerpt from Fairy-Tales: Berry Picking and the Fairy Lore Connection

Bonfires

Tomorrow is Bonfire Night in the UK. It's a tradition that travelled here to Newfoundland with those livyers / settlers from the southern parts of England.

Bonfire Night was celebrated regularly in St. John's until some got just a little too big. It was subsequently banned within city limits.



They continued to set blasty boughs ablaze in communities 'out around the bay' for many, many years. Still do, in fact. I attended one in the backyard of the some folks living on Little Bay Islands a number of years ago. Exhilarating!

Click here for the locations of Bonfire Night interviews and photographs collected as part of Newfoundland's Intangible Heritage Inventory. And here for another article about the revival of what was a dying tradition.

Maybe you'd like to attend this year's Bonfire Night in Marystown? Or in Holyrood? I'm gonna try and get to this one in Conception Bay South!

Bad and Good Luck in Newfoundland

Umm, I feel that maybe I need to do a double post today. I did miss a few at the month's start so, yeah, that's it. Has nothing to do with being superstitious...nope.

Bad Luck
- coiling a rope against the sun
- buying a broom in May
- red-haired women (sigh...)
- black cats
- solitary crows (one for sorrow)
- whistling while floating on water

Death
- augured by banshees and broken clocks striking the hour
- heralded by a glaring cat that looks you in the eye (I guess my cat's are out to get me!)

Taboos 
- stepping over a child

And beware the terrible power of a widow's curse; ; little carts drawn by horses at a brisk pace; and trapped dead hares on sale in the streets.

Good Luck
 - horseshoes (often still found in the walls of older houses)
 - two black crows (two for joy)
 - clothes inside out (remember my post about fooling the fairies with bread in your pocket, well wearing clothes inside out is supposed to confuse anything wishing you ill)
 - finding a pin or a white button
 - a rooster sounding off on your doorstep
 - bees blundering into the room

Excerpt from My Newfoundland: The Sensations of Landing on the Island Long Ago Haunted a Writer's Final Memories by Paul Noden West (1930 - 2015). Newfoundland Quarterly;Volume 109, Number 4, 2017

Dogberries

Here in Newfoundland dogberry trees, also known as mountain ash / rowan, are everywhere. I love the vivid colour of their berries from September on into December/January. I often pick bunches of them and then use them to decorate the house from October to December. They dry quite well.

Last September I was really disappointed to discover there were very few dogberries anywhere!! Apparently that was because we had a cold July (I do remember wearing heavy sweaters and coats on some nights last summer).

There's a commonly held local belief that fewer berries means a mild winter. Well, last winter proved that to be wrong! Wasn't the worst winter but it certainly wasn't mild. We had lots of snow, several blizzards, and it came early and stayed late. This year there are lots of dogberries around, which is nice to see. We certainly did have a good July! Although my neighbour was telling me she's heard we'll be getting a bad winter this year..."like in the old days." Not sure where she got that info but I sure hope she's wrong!

Another bit of local folklore around these trees is that Irish and Scots immigrants planted them to keep witches out of their gardens. That's cool. I do remember reading that rowan used to be a wood revered by ancient Celts. Definitely gonna see about planting some in our back yard next year.

Dogberry or Rowan - read more about its ancient uses

RIP - All souls aboard the Harpooner

Today marks the 200th anniversary since the British transport ship, Harpooner, ran aground and sank near Cape Pine, Newfoundland.

Souls Saved - 177
Souls Lost - 208

Harrowing first hand account 
- December 1816

"On November 10, 1816, the British transport ship HMS Harpooner was wrecked near St. Shott's...The ship was carrying soldiers and their families home to England. More than two hundred men, women, and children died. According to local tradition, some marines who had managed to get ashore, were buried alive when a portion of cliff, weakened by the storm and seas, collapsed on them. The site has since been known as Marines's Cove. In terms of loss of life, the wreck of the Harpooner was one of the worst marine calamities in Newfoundland history. 

Many years after the disaster, some fishermen who were unfamiliar with the history of the area anchored their boat in Marines' Cove. During the night the man on watch saw one longboat towing another. Both were full of men, women and children. A big man was at the helm. As the longboat passed the fishing boat, the helmsman called up to the man on watch, "What's our course to clear Cape English?" The lookout answered, "Nor Nor-east." The watchman believed he had just seen the survivor of a shipwreck so he went below to tell the captain. The other crewmen came on deck in time to see the lantern of the longboat disappear toward the shore. 

The next morning, with a gale blowing, the fisherman searched the shore for signs of the wreck or other survivors. They found nothing. When they told local residents about the lifeboats full of people, they were told that they had seen the ghosts of the doomed Harpooner." - excerpt from Ghost Stories of Newfoundland and Labrador by Edward Butts

A foggy time

November can be an unpredictable month weather-wise here on the Rock. Usually, if it snows substantially it's an indication that the winter will be long and full of snow.

But there's another kind of November weather that sometimes happens - fog. And lots of it. That's how this month has started. It means milder temperatures, not to mention photo opps, so I am very much hoping it continues.

And I wasn't the only one out there trying to capture the ephemeral qualities of fog with a camera.

At least I think that's what that guy was doing....

Remind you of anything? 

Giant Squids

A couple of weekends ago a friend brought us down to Quidi Vidi to see the latest in culture offerings at The Plantation. A great new space in a great location.
We just missed the string quartet performance but I scored me a giant squid t-shirt by pinpoint ink! Giant squids are kind of a thing here because there was a centre of research at Memorial University during the 60s.

The Plantation at Quidi Vidi

My Giant Squid by Pinpoint Ink 

Spooky Movie Night!

I've been saying for years that 'someone' should film a good gothic horror on the Avalon in Newfoundland. I mean, come on, the place is FULL of fog at certain times of the year. And the capital, St. John's, is full of shadows. The town rises on a steep vertical from the harbour front with crazy little lanes connecting streets...some through people's back yards!

I remember walking through the streets and lanes of a seemingly deserted downtown St. John's late one July night through a hazy mist. It was perfect for a Hitchcock thriller or Hammer Horror. The fog seems to dampen sound so it was eerily quiet...except for the foghorn.

I mean seriously, it was a scene right out of The Fog!

And after recently watching both the original and remake I gotta say the original is much better. Sure the effects may not be as 'modern' but I still got a chill watching the original. Whereas the remake...well, I didn't even finish it.

11:55 pm - time for one more story...

I've made this post ahead of time because, well, I've been busy packing and stressing. You see at some point this weekend we all (me, husband, and cats) should be departing Doha and moving back to Canada.

Yes, we're happy to be returning home but what the future holds...well, no one knows that, do they?

Soon we'll be back in Newfoundland and on the Avalon; the home of rain, drizzle and fog.

Soon I'll be hearing the low tones of Fort Amhert's fog horn signalling that the fog is once again rolling in.



Soon I'll be back on that North Atlantic island surrounded by the frigid waters which depths hide the hulls of numerous ships.


Glad we're travelling by air...