Thursday, August 6, 2009

Where Am I

I think we're in Springdale and tomorrow will leave for Windsor-Grand Island, I believe. It's not very far away.

Two days ago we were deparkers, meaning we checked the departing rigs for safety checks. While on duty, we had a conversation with the campground owner, Girard, who told us he had a house near where we'd be going and to come on by for a fish fry that evening. We, Jamie and Susan King (who'd pretty much orchestrated the whole thing) and Beth and Ed Jones decided we'd take him up on his offer.

At 5:00, we set forth to go visit Girard. We probably gave the poor man a heart attack when we showed up. One should not dangle the promise of food in front of an Airstreamer and expect him to forget about it later. He had three other couples as guests and they were boiling lobster. We'd brought our own drinks and a bag of pretzel chips, so we didn't starve, but after a couple of hours of delightful conversation, we made our excuses and headed for a nearby restaurant. The food was delicious and we all loved the crepes for dessert. They were stuffed with ricotta cheese and topped with Partridgeberry jam and whipped cream. Yummy!

Things to see and do in the area include a wonderful pottery store. We can never resist pottery and got some lovely pieces. I also visited a quilt shop downtown and met some charming ladies there and at the Womens' Institute where they do hand weaving and longarm machine quilting.
We bought a set of woven placemats.

Near the pottery studio is a general store run by Dulcie (widowed 5 years ago, but she has 2 sons and runs the vegetable farm and store by herself. Words to describe the place escape me.
She has a little bit of everything and no prices on anything; she just knows. Or, maybe she just guesses because Maggie got a very good price on a Boyds Bear.

The accents are heavier in this area and we've all been called M'Dear and M'Darling or M'Love many many times. And, they mean it.

Last night we had a mussel boil (they steamed pots of mussels for us at the campground) and then a singer-guitarist played for us. Shirley and Marcia swatted mosquitos in time to the music with an occasional loud slap that was thrown in for good measure. They were vicious!
The mosquitos, not Marcia and Shirley - although they swatted with a vengeance, that's for sure.

Yesterday we also hiked up to Rattling Brook Falls - many many steps worth of a climb. Today a weaving demonstration down at the Womens' Institute is planned at 1:00 and we have a cookout tonight - I believe it's baked potatoes and chili because I've had meatballs and bell peppers stored in my refrigerator all week. Some caravaners have empty refrigerators at all times, but I'm not one of them; I had to squeeze them in.

In talking to Girard's guests, we found that they are native Newfoundlanders, but have not done a lot of traveling around this province. Two stops from now we'll be at Twillingate and they said they've never been there, since they never stray from TCH 1. Many of them do travel to the states and quite a few of the retired residents winter in Florida. This is a homecoming year, so many natives are returning home to see relatives and friends this summer.

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