Rob-n-Hild, Eastward Ho!

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The stranger things we've seen on this trip.

* Walking around in Port Hope Simpson, Labrador, we saw these wooden boxes at the end of people's driveways. Many had fun colours and fun shapes. the most common shape was octagonal or hexagon. Later we learnt that they are garbage bins and are a common sight in all the Atlantic provinces. However, the most fun were the first ones we saw.

* A bird condo in Mary's Harbour, Labrador. We're not sure that birds are willing to live in such close proximity to each other...
* We've seen more than one inukshuk before, but this is the first one with a dog on a leash! Along the road to Saint Lewis, Labrador.
* In Quebec we saw not one bus but one BusBusBus...

* While a bit strange to see flowers in full bloom in May, we loved how this pot brightened up the day of anyone walking by - in the snow.
* In the middle of a forest in Mary's Harbour, Labrador, we came upon this little gnome house. Very cute.

* In Red Bay, Labrador, we found many many inspirational notes as we were climbing the 689 stairs to the top of Tracey Hill Trail.

* In Red Bay, Labrador, we spotted several old whale bones on the Boney Shore Trail - left there by Basque whalers in the 16th century.

* The Minions enjoying the view together with vikings at L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland
* A gnome house along Birchy Nuddick trail - with many cute details including a little troll, L'Anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland

* A longboat filled with soil with a boy and a dog sitting in a flowerpot... at Norstead, Newfoundland

* A collection of rather fake-looking runestones at Norstead, Newfoundland

* While these stuffed animals were particularly well made, they are still a bit creepy. Skipper Hot's Pub N Grub, near Noddy Bay, Newfoundland (food was so yummy, though).

* A petrol pump with a coat to keep it warm (?) near Noddy Bay, Newfoundland
* A no-hunting sign with bullet holes in it... say no more. Spillars Cover, Newfoundland.

From the clever people at Discovery Centre, Woody Point, Newfoundland:
* Explorer James Cook: Sailing coastlines unchartered / so that others might follow / He named, plotted and measured / maps of the shallows
* Archaeologist: Digging carefully through time / to know peoples long past / Archaeologist always leave / the first to last

From the clever people at Discovery Centre, Woody Point, Newfoundland:
* Geologist: The geologist's dream / is modest in girth, / It is merely the wish to / understand the Earth.
* Botanist: For plants undiscovered / they hunt cliff, pond and hill / Secure in the knowledge / that their prey will stand still

From the clever people at Discovery Centre, Woody Point, Newfoundland:
* Geomorphologist: Finding clues in a landscape of / boulders and gravels, / These erosion detectives trace / glaciers' long travels.
* Marine Biologist: Underwater explorers wrapped / tightly in rubber, / Understand thoroughly why sea / mammals decided on blubber.
* Wildlife Biologist: Though some may concentrate / on charismatic megafauna, / Others specialize in marten, / mink and fauna smalla.

* Some unidentified machine parts painted in red and yellow and scattered around a Sea Breeze Park in Twillingate. A quick search online says that people disagree what the red and yellow machine parts are from: iron mine, fish factory, and copper mine.

* There was no doubt where the trail was as we crossed a parking lot in Terra Nova National Park. No compass needed to navigate.
* The Minions are always hoping that we bring bananas - alas no luck so far.

* Around the Top of Twillingate the birds had a wide choice of accommodation. They could choose between red and yellow. There were some with all walls, some with partial walls, some were more like a bird lean-to, and some did not even have a floor. We hope their monthly rents were adjusted accordingly.

* A man in his boat - advertising tours near Twillingate
* The Minions exploring a geocache in Twillingate, toy car, girl guides badge, Swedish flag, notebooks - still no bananas!

* Staying at an Oasis cabin in Terra Nova National Park. Fantastic view also for star gazing, cozy living, propane heater, solar panel for recharging gadgets. So much fun!

* We drove 68 km away from our planned route to enjoy Fisherman's Brewis (cod, hard bread, and scrunchions/salted-pork) and bakeapple-cheesecake. Bakeapple is the local word for cloudberry (molte in Norwegian). Brown's Restaurant in Whiteway (Web Link) We pondered how they came to name this delicious arctic berry "bakeapple". Hild suggested - in jest - that someone probably mis-spoke while someone else mis-heard. And that is pretty much what happened:
"The common lore holds that a French explorer arrived to a patch of odd-looking berries and asked what they were called. The English language took the French for 'berry' (baie) and 'to call' (appeler), bastardized it, and the bakeapple was born."

* In Brigus we found a tunnel made by a Cornish miner, John Hoskins, in 1860. He built a 20-metre-long tunnel with lots of hard work and quite a bit of gunpowder. It took him four months and then the village had their shortcut through the mountain to the harbour.

* In a Foodland store in Newfoundland they had provided a bell for you to ring when you wanted to pay for your groceries. Very handy.
* In St. John's we find this unsettling and inexplicable Medieval knight statue in the hallway outside our hotel room. Not sure what to make of that.

* We've been amused by the different naming and logo-use for the grocery store we know as Loblaws in Ontario. When we cross the bridge into Quebec - we are looking for Provigo. Suddenly we're in Newfoundland & Labrador and they call it Dominion - and sometimes they flip the logo from L to D!
* Hild finds that there is only so much you can do by buying expensive microphones for recording sound. If your neighbours aren't using their indoor voices, you need to use your blue blanket to muffle the noise. The cap is a new addition to keep the blanket from falling in front of your face. And sometimes the background noise is so bad that you have to move your recording studio into the bathoom...

* Along Outer Battery Road in St. John's we came across these suggestions for yummy things to drink. Rob is already searching for a pub where he can try the Cloudberry Gin. Note: In the end he had to buy a bottle from the Liquor store - but it was worth it!

* Rob found these colourful pub table and chairs in a park in St. John's. Makes a nice change from all the Muskoka chairs.
* On our way to Cape Spear we came across a garden with some rather strange lawn ornaments - a scrawny moose and a robot made from a barrel and a sea mine?

* Maybe not so strange to others, but some of these Newfoundland dishes were a first for us:

- Cod, Brewis w/Scrunchions
- Cod Tongues w/Scrunchions
- Toutons w/sausage
- Cheesecake w/bakeapple
- Fishcakes + cod chowder
- Pan fried cod w/potato
- Jiggs Dinner

* Rob found this T-Shirt in a shop in St. Johns. So funny. Well done www.jailbirddesigns.com!
* Our hotel door in Gander, Newfoundland, has two peepholes. One is for children or shorter people, and one is for adults or taller people. We have not seen this before.

* During our search for puffins we learnt that Elliston, Newfoundland, does not only host puffins. They are also the self-declared Root Cellar capital of the world. These are cellars built into the ground for cooling, insulating and humidity control courtesy of mother earth - IF she cooperates.

* At Gander International Airport we learnt about many strangly shaped aeroplanes. These include: BUFF - Big Ugly Fat Fella, Super Guppy, and Winged Whale.
* Outside the aiport we saw parking spaces reserved for NAV, which is funny only to a Norwegian where NAV is the abbreviation for The Norwegian Labor and Welfare Administration - who typically do not get reserved parking spaces at the airport.

* A rock looked very sad for being unable to see the view of Corner Brook Gorge, Newfoundland.
* Rob points to where our Gros Morne campsite was (Green Point) on Captain James Cook's map. Cook's maps were so sophisticated that they were used for several hundred years.

* Henry the Hoover greeted us in the hotel corridor one morning. Makes us smile every time!
* Perhaps not strange to others, but we are still intrigued by these French bread ovens. Hopefully we'll come upon one that is baking one day. We LOVE bread.

* It was fun but a bit odd to run a 5-minute ferry across a 150 metre stretch of water. Anywhere else we would have expected a bridge or a causeway. We still love the Little Narrows Ferry.

At Fortress Louisbourg we visited the chapel and found a perfectly lovely statue presumably of Mary and baby Jesus. On the other side of the room there was a slightly more puzzling statue. First we through it would be Jesus, but then there was the flashing of the leg, the thigh wound, the dog with a loaf of bread in its mouth?..

It took quite a bit of searching online to find that this is actually Saint Roch. He was known for treating people and animals with the plague, and he was saved from dying from the plague when a dog kept bringing him bread. He is often pictured with the plague sore on his thigh. So, it makes sense that he is the patron saint of dogs and invalids. We are not sure how the parallel goes but he is also the patron saint of falsely accused people and bachelors - presumably these are equally horrible things to be?!

We love to learn new things (new things to us, at least).

Hild likes the picnic tables in Victoria Park, Truro. The shape is different, but best of all you can swing yourself onto the seats without climbing over them. She is getting old when this is what she values!

Rob liked the child-sized picnic table we found at Hopewell Rocks, New Brunswick.

We did not buy any sandwiches from this establishment in Dorchester, New Brunswick, but we do like their sign: "Try our delicious sandwiches. Nobody likes a coward.".

At Hopewell Rocks they provide a bench, a bucket of water, and brushes to clean your shoes after you have explored the beach at low tide.

In Moncton, New Brunswick, we visited 179 (Saint) George Street to see if it looks anything like our home in Ottawa.... No it doesn't!

On Pointe-du-Ch�ne wharf in Shediac, New Brunswick, we learnt that these two dog statues - with hairy tails blowing in the wind - do an excellent job at keeping seagulls off the wharf. That does not say much about the intelligence of the seagulls now, does it?

Rob was very excited to see how lovely our Bunkie is at Cavendish Campground in Prince Edward Island National Park. Hild was more excited to find the same Ikea gateleg table as we have at home - albeit painted white.

We had our choice of a classic design put on each our T-shirts at COWS creamery in Charlottetown, PEI.

Rob, of course, got an homage to his namesake: "Dairy Potter and the Half Melted Ice Cream".

Hild, given her history with cows, got an homage to Jaws the movie. Can't you just hear the scary music?
duunnn dunnn� duuuunnnn duun� duuunnnnnnnn dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnn dunnnn

We saw these fun painted mooring bollards on the Halifax waterfront.

Also on the Halifax waterfront - comfy hammocks.

Rob sitting on a mackerel bench wandering why there is a boat on a boat in the Halifax harbour.

In the Split Crow Pub we saw this electric guitar used to advertise Fireball Whiskey with the phrase: "Tastes like Heaven, Burns like Hell".

In Halifax we spotted this fun T-shirt: "It's a KILT! If I wore underwear then it would be a SKIRT!". Historic Properties Shopping Mall in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

In Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, we found these cute-as-a-bug ornaments made out of tools and scrap metal.

We spent some time looking at ships in the Halifax harbour. One of them was called GPO Sapphire and was listed as "Heavy Lift Vessel". Looking around on marinetraffic.com we found that the ship looks so different when it is loaded with cargo and when it is empty. Strange indeed!

At Alderney ferry terminal we saw that they were trying to use fake owls to scare pigeons away. It has worked for several neighbours at EM3 in Ottawa so we were not surprised to see them here too. However, it seems to not work so well.... a pigeon was sitting right next to the fake owl - until it spotted Hild taking photos and then it flew away.

In Dartmouth we saw these buckets of orange flags posted on each side of pedestrian crossings up and down on Windmill Road were we are staying. We were amused to see that they are left there with instructions on how to pick one up, wave it while you cross the road and drop it in the bucket on the other side. I don't know what to say about that...

Rob relaxing on a bench made out of lobster pots. Very fancy - with drinks holders and all! On a beautiful sunny day on Cape Forchu, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

We haven't seen many fun lawn ornaments this year - compared to last year's trip. However, this one is worth a photo: looks like a cormorant decorated with Christmas lights. Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

During our hike in the salt marshes in Tkipok, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, we found all these cute cuddly toys stuck in unexpected places. They were under trees, halfway up trees, behind rocks, stuck in fences, sitting on benches, hiding in sheds, chained to trees... it was quite a sight. We asked locals what it was all about, but they had no other explanation than that it was entertaining.

We were wondering if it was somewhat like the tradition in Norway and Denmark where children are made to hang their dummies in a central tree in the community to help them say "goodbye" to the habit. However, these cuddly toys were in such good condition that they cannot have been loved by a child before it was put in the forest. We don't mind that it remains a mystery because it is a lot of fun and very colourful.

It is fun to walk around and enjoy people's gardens and - as in Grand Falls, New Brunswick - their community gardens. They have put much thought and effort into the ones we saw during our walk.

One family had statue of a mexican person, a mule, and a dog. Hmmmm...

And another place we saw this structure for sale - we are not sure what it is for (bird condo?) but it is for sale so maybe it wasn't as advertised?

Maybe not so strange but quite gross to watch a centipede kill a worm. It was a silent death but quite a lot of wriggling. Ugh. Talk about biting off more than you can chew. This centipede is going to get really full, or he will have to find his friends and share.

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