2022 in pictures, one second every day

 

What I'm Reading 2023: A Gentleman In Moscow

 

This was a fascinating read. Clever, clever, clever writing! 

Towles is a master of words and character and plot development. I was left with a great respect and compassion for this very believable, realistic man named Count Alexander Ilyich Rostov. He was a member of a prominent Russian family, firmly embedded in the aristocracy of the old pre-revolution Russia. The Count strikes me as similar to the TV series' Inspector Hercule Poirot, if only in appearance and demeanor.

We are fully instructed in the nuances of the child's family through numerous remembrances and reflections of stories from his past.

As far as the plot goes, the story begins when in 1917 The Count is arrested on a return from living as a young man in Paris. He is identified as a Significant Person. He could have been executed, but having a anti-Tsarist poem attributed (incorrectly) to him, he was placed under house arrest. And so the Count spends the next forty years of his life living in The Hotel Metropol, working as a waiter, and working with the same staff members for years, learning to win them as friends and win their trust. 

The Count's adventures explore and illustrate what it means for a man of privilege who is now faced with upheavals of his beloved country and its government. How can he reconsider his existence? How can he continue to live with dignity and to care for people in his orbit? The Count's upbringing as an upper-class gentleman has imbued him with a sense of generosity, good faith, politeness and the necessity of giving attention to the utmost detail pertaining to human behavior and preference. 

His work as a waiter in the Hotel Metropol's top dining room provides the anchor point for an ongoing adventure through the rapidly changing political and cultural life during Russia in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. An immensely satisfying ending, with several laugh-out-loud moments along the way.

Newfoundland Holiday 2023

 Brenda and I took a vacation in Newfoundland during the first week of July 2023. 

We flew out of Hamilton direct to Deer Lake on Sunday July 2nd, rented a car (Ford Explorer) and stayed in an Air BnB house which was really nice.

Sunday July 2

Elinor dropped us at the Hamilton Airport. It was busier than I expected but once a couple of other flights to Abbottsford and elsewhere boarded things thinned out quite a bit. It's always cool to walk out onto the tarmac and look at the plane from the outside. The flight got a bit bumpy half way through but all was good. 

We drove into Gros Morne National Park for the afternoon. It's about an hour to Rocky Harbour. The weather was lovely. These are big rocks! 800m tall. That's a cliff 2400 feet high - half a mile almost. Calgary's elevation is 1,047 metres, but to get up that high you need to drive a thousand miles from the Pacific. 

We visited the Treasure Box gift shop. Glen bought a series of four whodunnit novels written by a Newfoundland author. Brenda bought a couple of T-shirts. We stayed for a delicious, hot cup of tea before heading down to the rocky beach. It was low tide and we always enjoy finding cool rocks. 

In Newfoundland the high point is straight up from sea level so you can appreciate the height. At the late afternoon as we drove by it for the second time, Gros Morne Mountain had clouds shrouding the top. We grabbed some dinner at a local restaurant in Deer Lake.

Monday July 3

This was a nice road trip to the Baie Verte Peninsula which is northeast of Deer Lake. An hour on the TCH followed by another hour straight north on the secondary highway. Again, we were surprised at the vast extent of the foothill-like mountains, and the unspoiled forests and lakes. Some areas are scrubby like around Sudbury, but in general the forests are thick and mixed. 

In the historic mining town of Baie Verte we discovered an open pit asbestos mine, now closed for decades. This was something we had not expected. Vast tailings heaps created mountains of their own. Our destination was a little seaport called Fleur de Lys at the northern tip of Baie Verte Peninsula. It is the location of a historic soapstone mine. The rain was coming down lightly and we enjoyed a nice visit with the staffer in the gift shop. It was her first day at work and she was a bit nervous. 

The soapstone was used hundreds of years ago by the Dorset aboriginal people. The carved a round pot shape directly out of the rock, and then chipped under it to pop it out. The mining face shows partially shaped pots in various states of completion. I was surprised to learn that this wasn't soapstone used for artistic work; it was soapstone carved for practical uses such as cooking pots and lamps.

Panoramic view south of Gros Morne Mountain area

Click for full-size image

It's raw soapstone. Feels slippery/oily, looks like sandstone
but is a mixture of several minerals including mica.

The archeological dig removed tons of mining scraps to reveal
pots and shards and personal artifacts and tools
going back hundreds of years.

Sections of future soapstone pots and already removed pots.

I guess it's easier to carve most of the shape of the pot
before removing the chunk from the cliff face.

Brenda bought some sea glass and a pair of seal skin earrings at the gift shop. Then we picked up a couple of bug bites in the rain. We visited the Historic Mining Museum in Baie Verte on the way back. A nice little gift shop and museum which described the copper and gold mining history of Newfoundland. 

We inquired about possible icebergs and were happy to learn that an iceberg had been spotted at Coachmen's Cove, so we headed down the gravelly, worn-out road into Coachmans' Cove and there it was. The fog soon hid it from photo view, but we drove around for a bit.

Next stop for icebergs was Seal Cove, then Wild Cove. The first one was a biggie! A chunk of an ancient ice shelf somewhere along Greenland(?) that was flat on top and rose above the water taller than a fishing boat out. Maybe as big as a football field?

Hard to imagine that we're only seeing a tenth of the bulk of this iceberg.

Amazing

In Wild Cove three cabin-sized ice chunks, and a few cooler-sized bits floating
near the beach. This one was the middle one. It reminded me of a dolphin.

Tuesday July 4

Today we took a drive down to Corner Brook and beyond. Corner Brook is probably about five times as big as Deer Lake (20,00 vs 4,800). 

The Humber Arm is a fjord, with Corner Brook at the southeast end. The hills surrounding the city are about 1000 ft high which makes for a pretty spectacular entry as you rise up out of the Humber River Valley, over a high hill and then down into the city with the Humber Arm in the background.

We took the south shore road which turns into the Captain Cook Trail. It winds its way along through towns like Mount Moriah, Halfway Point, Benoit's Cove, John's Beach, Frenchman's Cove, York Cove. The main town near the end of the road is Lark Harbour, with Bottle Cove nearby.

We stopped at a very friendly gift shop in York Cove called The Roost. The owner was a retired teacher from Ontario who was in love with Newfoundland. He and his wife moved to the area years ago and are proud members of the local community. He joyfully explained that he hasn't had to buy any seafood since coming to Newfoundland because the local fishermen just give it freely. He says he's got a freezer full of lobster. He told us about the little side trip to Bottle Cove.

In Lark Harbour we stopped for lunch at Myrtle's On The Bay. 

View from The Roost gift shop in York Cove, looking north

Lunch at Myrtle's On The Bay

The Decor at Myrtle's on the Bay

This is a pretty common sight along the beach. Rock Crab? I guess
the crab shells get washed up with the tide and waves.

There is only one Blow Me Down Public Library in the world,
and it's in Lark Harbour.

A spectacular cliff beside Bottle Cove. There is a sea cave on the right side behind
the hillside.

In this small boat launching area we could see that the local fishermen
had filleted their cod, tossing the heads and bones into the stream
alongside the beach. The seagulls were happy.

Local wildflowers

Brenda on her quest. Bottle Cove.
We were glad the rain held off.

Bottle Cove is fascinatingly symmetrical.

This shows the south shoreline along Humber Arm. It's a nice drive and
strange to imagine that literally everything for all the towns along the shore
comes in through one small, winding road. I can't imagine having to commute
into Corner Brook during the winter.

When we sat at the beach in Bottle Cove (left) we looked up to 
see some hikers on a rocky top. This Sea Cave across the water is what they
were viewing. I cheated - this photos is from Google Images, posted by someone else.

Wednesday July 5

We booked a boat tour out of Norris Point Harbour with Bontours for 2 pm. The rain kept clouds covering the hill tops but the tour was interesting nonetheless. About half of the residents at Woody Cove are gone during the winter season. The transition to a Tourism economy continues across NL

We're having a coffee and muffin at the Cat Cafe in Norris Point.

The depth soundings taken by (would-be) Captain Cook are accurate and 
still useful for navigation.

Shag's Cliff across from Norris Point

The town of Woody Point was destroyed by fire decades ago and has been rebuilt
as a local arts and crafts hub for visitors to enjoy. The tour operator's home town  is Woody Point.
He knew the  family on the deck with yellow railing. As we drifted by he struck up a conversation,
"Hi, how are ya?"

They did a couple of tunes as we came into dock

The Marine Station in Norris Point takes water out of the bay, and then returns the fish
to the bay after they have been in the display tanks

A seal skeleton

The Insectarium at Deer Lake is well worth the visit

Leaf Cutter Ants - absolutely amazing. The Insectarium has a colony with a million? of them
in several sealed cases upstairs and downstairs. They haven't been able to find the Queen, she's too busy
laying tens of thousands of eggs a day.

Beetles looking like jewels

Thursday July 6

Today we didn't travel too far, which was okay because it was pretty rainy and foggy. We went into a MicMac gift and craft shop called the Trading Post in Deer Lake, then popped into the grocery store for a couple of things. We also went into another local craft shop where we bought a few gifts for family. The lady was very talkative and friendly. And.... that was it.

Friday July 

Today was our visit to West Brook Pond where we took the 2 hour boat tour by Bontours. The hike to the dock takes you through the marsh from the parking lot and up to lake level which is about 100 feet above sea level. The water is not officially a fjord because the opening to the sea was cut off by glacial action. But the fact remains that the deep valley has been carved by glacial action over the past few million years. They figure that ice has covered all or part of the valley about 40 times in all, with the last ice receding only 9000 years ago.  is about a half-hour hike, but the scenery was beautiful and the breeze cool. 

It's an easy hike to the dock, and very enjoyable for the bird songs and millions of wildflowers. 

The clouds were hiding the top half of the 700 metre cliffs on the north side of the pond.

The skipper nosed the boat right into the base of the waterfall.
The depth of the water this far from the cliff was anywhere from 150 to 450 feet deep.

The clouds were hiding the top half of the cliffs, but still impressive IMHO.

On the way back to dock, the clouds lifted and we could see the top of the north cliff.

The approach trail to the dock is a bog-grassland, typical habitat
for caribou.

The growing season is short but intense.

Weathered pine tree.

Wildflowers, wildflowers!

Delicate and beautiful

Wild Irises

The sun came out as we hiked back to the car, revealing the spectacular height of the
West Brook Pond cliffs.

The clouds lifted and we enjoyed a beautiful afternoon for the hike back
to the car.

Next we took a little drive further north up the Viking Trail Highway, towards the town of St. Paul's. It was just a tiny place with only a cafe and a few dozen houses. It's likely that old towns like these are almost deserted throughout the winter, and they come to life during the warm summer months when tourists arrive. 

Driving along the sea coast (the Gulf of the St. Lawrence) we saw how the trees were windswept and stunted in growth. It must be pretty dreary during a storm, not to mention terribly icy. Living here year round in one of these remote towns would require you to seriously stock up with a few months' groceries.

After driving into the town of St. Paul's and finding basically nothing, we headed back south and stopped along the highway beside a boulder beach and went down to the water. The variety of types of stone is incredible. Arriving back in Rocky Harbour we visited a shop called The Glass Station (damn expensive!!) then headed home catching a few photos of Gros Morne Mountain along the way. What a beautiful day in Newfoundland. We are happy and content!

Brenda checks out Gros Morne Mountain

Wildflowers everywhere

The colours are infinite in variety, pattern, and texture

This is the rocky beach near St. Paul's NL

I call this my Jupiter stone

Concentric circles

Tweed

Green glow

Strange curvy marks all over this one

Multi-toned, multi-coloured

Peak next to Gros Morne

Saturday July 8

Today was a pretty low-key, stay-close-to-home day. We took a drive out to a nearby town called Cormack to visit the Bee Factory, which is a farm dedicated to bees, honey, and creating pollinator habitat. Nice little gift shop in there.

We also stopped to dig up some lupine root stock and we'll see if we can get lucky planting some in our yard. The lupines are tall, sometimes three or even four feet tall. They have a strong, hollow stalk.

We grabbed lunch at Peter's Pizza. Highly recommended! It's a Newfoundland based pizza restaurant franchise. 

We highly recommend Peter's Pizza. 

We ended with our nightly binge watch of The Witcher, season 3 (first half). Interesting series, very well done in our humble opinion.

Sunday July 9

We went to the beach today after tidying up the place and jamming our clothes, plus various gifts and rocks, into our suitcases. We were at the airport by 4pm with lots of time to spare. A good flight home, with a little turbulence and a decisive "clunk" landing. Elinor came and picked us up and we were home by 11pm. What a great trip.

The finish trim is simple and effective. No fancy millwork or
beveled edges or angles; simple 1 by 3 painted white. The only thing we would change
is the grey in the bedrooms. A little colour imagination would be a lift, 
but in this case the renovator was working to some extremely neutral concept.