After Harry repaired the speaker unit in his helmet and after Amelia went down for a nap, the four of us (Melanie, Rob, Harry and I) headed up the road for a walk to the lighthouse...and for the opportunity for Harry to dip his toes into the Atlantic. Along the way we passed a shed called the "House of Commons". It was a place the local men would gather and share tall tales...when a neighbor saw us looking at the plaque in front of the shed he came out from his home to tell us to be sure to go inside and look around...what a wonderful repository of local history we found.
And here we have two of the "oldtimers" giving us a recreation of what it was like "back then" ...
On our walk back we saw the site of the area's first forge...
And Harry dipped his toes in the Atlantic ...
And we saw the remnants of the place the first successful Transatlantic Cable was laid to England in 1866...amazing to think about the ingenuity that was required for this feat!
An hour and a half later, after what was to have been a fifteen minute walk, we returned to the house.
Took our hosts to the local restaurant for lunch and then it was back to the house for a bit.
Ralph then took Melanie, Harry and I on a driving tour of the area...around the towns in the Trinity Bay area of New Perlican, Turks Cove, Winterton, Hants Harbour, New Chelsea, New Melbourne, Brownsdale, Sibleys Cove, Lead Cove, Old Perlican (where we stopped to see the fish plant and fishing boats...the crab fishing is just done and the shrimp will continue until September)....then back up the north shore of Conception Bay.
We stopped at Flanbro Head where the steepest cliffs we saw were located. This is also one of the best spots in the area for whale watching in July. Apparently this year there hundreds of whales in the bay here....was so disappointed we missed it, but would love to return to see it...can only imagine how amazing it would be to see such a sight.
We continued our drive through the villages of Caplin Cove, Lower Island Cove, Jobs Cove, Burnt Point, Gull Island, Northern Bay, Ochrepit Cove, Western Bay, Blackhead, Broad Cove, Smallpoint, Kingston, Salmon Cove, Victoria and then across and back to Heart's Content. Burnt Point is the town Ralph grew up in and he still has the original family home there where they spend lots of time in the summer. In two hours we learned more about the area than we would have in a week here on our own...what a special treat!
Back to the house for a traditional Jig's Dinner...cabbage, carrots, potatoes, turnip, peas pudding, and Figgy pudding all cooked together in one pot and then separated out for serving. This is the part that most fascinated me...how Nellie could cook all this together and yet divide it up after in such a way that no one could ever tell they hadn't been cooked separately. Add to this roast chicken and gravy and savory dressing, followed by carrot cake and lemon cheesecake and it's a wonder any of us could move from the table when it was done.
I ended my evening by writing this blog posting and taking a photo of another beautiful sunset from the front window...
Tomorrow we leave to begin our homeward trek...
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