It had been a warm night in Sackville, NB, and this was the second morning that we woke up not in Newfoundland. Marshlands Inn had been a wonderful stop but after a cup of coffee on their beautiful wrap around porch we decided to head for home and would find a place to eat along the way. We were less than five hours to Patten. The pull to get home had increased and we were ready to go. This would be the last day that bags and oxygen would be put in the car. We would have one day in Patten, my friend Margaret, who was visiting in Brewer, was arriving the next day with lobster rolls to welcome us back to Maine, and to take Marcia to the airport.
The drive was uneventful, and we almost laughed out loud, not quite, when we once again found ourselves hungry and needed to use a restroom, and no continue exits for either one. Marcia for the last time on this trip tried to locate some place to eat that wasn't a fast food chain. We got off just south of Fredrickton, having thought we had found just the right place, we drove through this little place, the name I cannot remember, no restaurant. I was hangry, we needed to be out of the car, and I turned around the car, headed for a tiny strip of businesses I had seen when we had gotten off the highway. Amazingly, it was what we had been looking for all along. Simon's Kitchen and Bakery in unit 101, can't really see if from the street. Oh it smelled so good.
Everyone was so friendly the food was great and the smells coming out from the ovens just turned our edgy little selves right around. They too were a business that had pride flags shown widely, and I thanked them for their recognition and support. Simon must have heard me at the counter because he came out, showing me a soon to baked "rainbow loaf" he was just doing his test run of his rainbow bread for the Fredrickton Pride Celebration that weekend. I asked if I could buy a loaf and he said, "of course" will be about a half-hour. I am linking Simon's Facebook page here, and on the July 17th post he has a video of (it is great please watch) of their mass production of the rainbow loaves. We took our time eating and enjoying the art, the smells and the not being in the car. Soon, Brian came out with a paper bag, he was very excited as he shared with us all completely natural foods he had used to make the bread, no food coloring. I took a picture of the loaf and ingredients I took home, it was beautiful and wow was it good tasting.
It was mid-afternoon when we arrived, a beautiful day. It felt almost surreal to be back. We hauled everything into the house. Marcia had to repack her things into her big suitcase, we took care of little details, and we were both absorbed in our shared and individual thoughts. I was home, Marcia was almost home. She had one very long day, leaving the next afternoon for Chicago then the connecting flight to LaCrosse Wisconsin. I sat on the porch, Marcia puttered in the house. The bee balm had grown much taller, flowers were in bloom and as I sat listening to the breeze the hummingbirds and bumblebees came for a sweet treat along side the porch. What a welcome home.
The sunsets, the big big sky, the mountains, and fjords and food and people of Newfoundland all dancing around in my head as the hummingbirds flitted back and forth and the bumblebees landed for big long drinks. I knew I was home, but all of me had not quite gotten there yet. I was in no hurry to rush it along.
As I write this blog about the day we arrived back at my house in Patten, I am once again sitting on the porch. It is drizzling, and a light gray sky, and the drops of rain are making sounds. The squirrels have been leaping back and forth. Across the street a bulldozer is doing some major work in the back of the house, it is loud! It is my birthday and texts of good wishes keep coming in. I will need to get off the porch soon and get ready for the day. First another cup of coffee, I am just finishing my first cup and looking forward to sipping another. Looking forward to savoring this day, remembering so many trips that I have been so amazingly able to take this past year. Remembering Newfoundland and that last day when we headed home, home to my porch and to my little home.
I think there are lots of other musings still inside me, lots to muse about, to discover and to share. I am so grateful for these journeys. I have some ideas and hopes about this next year, I am going to Provincetown next month. Maybe a trip to Connecticut shore in October. Time to see family. The Midwest has been calling. So have the northern lights. Who knows, for today I have enjoyed traveling far and wide in my head and my heart and so very happy to be bringing you along.
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