MaryAlice Musings and More

  We had a few things still on our "we want to do" list before leaving Twillingate Island and heading to St. Johns.  So off we went taking a leisurely drive through Toogood Arm, meandering up and down necks, arms, cove and harbours. Taking in the landscapes, seascapes, buildings and more.  There were very few cars and made it easy to slow down and take a little longer look at whatever caught our eyes.   We were on our way to Auk Island Winery, now called Great Auk Winery , in Durrell, where we had earlier taken a tour of their sweet little museum.    We arrived at the winery a little after two big tour buses had dropped people off for lunch.  The host told us it would be a little wait, and we decided to take the winery tour before we had lunch,  it was another exchange of L'il Darling and sweet endearments and big big smiles before we headed through the gift shop and over to the wine bar where one signed up for the winery tour.    The tour was fun, and informative and we

It is raining in Patten, Maine while I sit on my porch and think about the rainy view  from the dining room table in Twillingate.  As I write about Newfoundland I am also finding myself firmly planted along the Appalachian Range in Northern Maine just one-half hour away from the Canadian Border.  It was three weeks ago day that we arrived back home. Down time was essential for us, neither Marcia or I are spring chickens and I would at times marvel at the idea that the two of us were actually traveling in Newfoundland somewhere between awesome and OMG.  These days, not spending hours on the road, had their own kind of expansiveness where I could just wander with my mind and my eyes. Replaying what I had seen, the steps that I took, the people that I noticed.  Hearing the sounds and the accents and my own internal humming and buzzing and more.    I filled pulled today to just share moments, ideas, my internal wanderings.  Pride flags, who knew after 50 years that the place (outside of a

  The days on Twillingate Island seemed, as I sit on my own front porch, expansive. There was a feeling of everything slowing down  Neither of us had the urge to try to "do it all". When the rain came we spent time exploring inside and out.  There were artists shops, bakeries, museums and a farmers market that was inside a historical community building.  Since my first days in Madison, WI many decades I have a loving relationship with farmer's market, if there is one I have to go and so we did.  The Twillingate Island Farmer's Market held in the Masonic Building was bustling, there were a number of artisans, soap makers, woodworkers, bakers, textile artists and one consolidated stand of vegetables.  I had already bought smoked fish, a lovely chunk of cheese and I found beautiful lettuce, spring radishes, and a good cup of coffee at the market.  Even though it was late June, the growing season was early - the vegetables that we had been eating were mostly root vegetabl

    It seems so long ago, taking off from my sweet little home in Patten, Maine and heading to a great big island in the North Atlantic.  I donb't know exactly when Newfoundland captured my soul -I think it was when my friend Kathy  and I were sitting in a theater on Broadway just days after reopening from the "pandemic". I was so moved by the story and music of Come From Away , I felt so hopefu.l I also felt curious. I started thinking about Newfoundland. I wondered could this eastern most province in Canada (actually Newfoundland Labrador) be as friendly and welcoming as the 9/11 story I had just heard?  What is it like to be on rock in the North Atlantic?  The "rock" gets lots of icebergs, it even has an iceberg alley. I was hooked.  Icebergs, thousands of years old, surviving while splitting and breaking and melting, icebergs.  A place that continues to be in process of reconciliation between the First Nation Indigenous Peoples and white immigrant settlers. 

The short drive to Crow's Head and the stops along the way, both coming and going, were filled with awe and a bubbling happiness.  Spending much less time in a car and more more time outside was so very good.  All of the months of planning, all the hours and needing to remake plans, and all the moments of imagining and dreaming and action melted away with the absolute vast beauty all around.  The huge WOWS that had occurred when seeing the vistas along the western coast, the expansiveness of earth, and mountains, and ribbons of horizon feel different than what happens as I stand on the craggy, rocky islands edge.  I notice the difference - those land vista's open my heart my own being allowed to safely expand, and when looking out at the vast horizons that share the ocean's waters it feels more, well I don't have good words, enclosed.  I feel the balancing earth and water and air.  As I am sitting, walking, standing with it all, these words are not there it is just the

Although it had only been a few days since we began our car ride to Cape Breton and our ferry ride to Newfoundland, it seemed much longer.  There had been a lot more driving than originally planned and there was a now a new set of arrangements to be made because we were not going to sail from Argentia, we were not going to be on the new vessel, Ala'suinu .  I once again was moving into travel planner mode, the good news - I was in Twillingate .  There is a part of me that wants to share every phone call, conversation, every time I disregarded someone at Marine Atlantic saying to call back later, but I will spare myself and you.  Obviously it all worked out, I am home, sitting in a comfortable chair, it is grey outside and any moment the skies will open with what might be one heck of a lot of rain.  It was a drizzly afternoon, looking out over the water, watching the water birds and tapping away on this very same laptop, sorting out the changes we would need to make on our return h