It's All In The Details

Yesterday, Boo and I covered the same route again - it's right out the back door with the snowshoes on, and I can let her Ladyship offleash in there. Does it get boring?, Sure, if you let it, but the trick is to have an eye to the details - and a camera, of course...

Speaking of details - the lens on the PowerShot SX30 is impressing me more and more - Canon's always did have good glass - and the anti-shake compensation is light-years ahead of anything else I've used.The first shot below is my favourite view on this track - yes, you've already seen it - and the second a zoom from the same time and location. Basically handheld, arms resting on a  fencerail - not too shabby for an old pro who's more old than pro these days. Would have needed a tripod to get this sharp a handheld image with that magnification back in my 35mm heyday.

While Winter Lasts...

Another wonderful winter day, so Boo and I took advantage to retrace our steps from the last snowshoe run - again, beautiful sun and snow, with Conception Bay as a stunning backdrop. Nippy enough when exposed to the wind in off the water, but absolutely perfect in amongst the trees.

Gotta Get Out On a Day Like This

Another stunner, cold and sunny, with lovely rich light, perfect for a little scuff on the snowshoes. Did a small trail thru the woods back of house, then along another path that skirts the shoreline just back in the trees. Here's a pic from one of my favourite vantage points, looking across Conception Bay towards Kelly's Island and Bell Island, with the Portugal Cove shore in the background. About 15 minutes from the house...

Booah today - hanging in very nicely at 16...will hit 17 in dog years in May...that's 119 in human years!!! - lot of miles on the ol' clock, but like a solid old beater of a truck, she just goes and goes and goes...she can run the legs off me anytime at all...

...but she does enjoy her LazyBoy at the end of the day...

Misty Day on The Bay

BOO!

Been a while - lots has changed, but all's OK. Been spending time at the cabin, mostly feeding the woodstove and taking things easy. Weather's been nice. Here's a a few pix to hopefully get things rolling again at the Point.

Visitors Centre, Saltons Brook TNNP

The Narrows, Saltons Brook

Malady Head, TNNP

Malady Head again, this time from the water

Been A While...

Three years, to be exact - and there's been a lot of changes since then.

Firstly, finally, and most importantly Chris is gone, after 35 years of wonderful togetherness and a mercifully brief battle with breast cancer. Miss her every minute of every day...

Since then, my friends, and most especially our two daughters and their husbands, have carried me forward with their concern, companionship and love, for which I am deeply, deeply grateful. That's all I want to say on this, because there is really nothing more to be said, except that we should cherish those we love every minute we have with them...

I wanted to start Ballyhack Point again now because life goes on, and there are still many, many things in life that remain beautiful, fascinating and to be celebrated. In the months ahead, I'm hoping to post  occasionally about things that matter to me, be they major or minor, and to add a few more thoughts and pix about the incredible island where I'm blessed to live. We'll see how it goes...

The Winter What Wasn't

Been a mild one this year - very little snow, no real cold snaps. Lots of rain, freezing rain, drizzle, freezing drizzle, fog, freezing fog, flurries, wet flurries with hail and freezing fog or rain,  and the odd capful of wind...but nothing that would pass for a  good old-fashioned, half-decent winter...

Notice the lack of white stuff - there's only been snow enough in the woods to use the snowshoes twice this winter, and we didn't really need them either time. Haven't even bothered to wax the XC skis...

 

This is the view from our daughter and son-in-law's deck, taken Boxing Day - really, Boxing Day - not enough snow to make a  snowball...

 

We did have a few dirty days, which was great - got to do at least one short snowshoe run when the wind was driving a few flakes across the Bay...

The one big storm we had dumped about 30 cms., which was enough to make it worth getting the new-to-us snowblower out and running. It ain't no Honda, but it does the job - and just as well it does...

 

Booah seems to have the best approach to this sort of weather...

when it's fit to be out...

Get dressed and get out...

  

 ...And enjoy while it lasts,

'cause there's a  time coming when it won't be fit...

 

To put a dog out....

Look Who Dropped By

A few seeds, a sharp-eyed friend drinking tea, a Christmas camera with lotsa zoom and a lady who knows how to use it - voila, you've got yourself a very nice pic of a very rare bird.

This Chipping Sparrow isn't supposed to be here in the Gullies. Both The Birds of Canada and Birds of Atlantic Canada show its range no further east on the island than the Codroy Valley area, which is about 900 kms. west of here as the sparrow flies; Birds of Newfoundland doesn't even list it.  Thanks to Rod for the initial I.D., and to Tony for confirmation.

(Photo: C. Mousseau)

How Nice Was That???

We get our mail at an outdoor postal box setup - something new for this area, and not a terribly popular change from the boxes in the Needs store. This afternoon, I stopped  to check the mail one last time before Christmas. The postal workers were just sorting the mail and putting it in the boxes. "It'll be 10 minutes or so before we get to yours", the lady told me. So I sat in the car, and waited.

When they'd filled the section of the block ours is in, I checked again; nothing. "Just hoping there'd be a  notice in the mail, so I could go to the post office to get a parcel my wife's brother had sent from Ontario", I said to her. "No big deal - it'll be in next week,  I guess." And I added, as I started to walk away, "Thanks, and Merry Christmas..."

Back home,  Chris and Angelina were decorating the tree, when the dog let loose with a volley of "Come quick, there's people here" barks. Went to the door, and a woman said "I'm looking for a house number - what's this one?" "Number 32", I said. "Then this is yours", she said, handing me a small parcel, just as I recognized the now-out-of-uniform lady from Canada Post. After they'd finished loading the boxes, the package showed, and she and her co-worker had taken the trouble, on their own time, at 5:30p.m. on Christmas Eve, to deliver our Christmas parcel to our door.

Wow - just wow! How good are people, at all -  and a Very, Very  Merry Christmas to everyone....

How Good Does It Get?

Anyone who knows me can tell you I have four great loves - my wife, our two daughters, and boats . While paddlecraft are my special affliction, there's always a place in my heart for others - trim and tidy sailboats, and even the big power cruisers like Demissanne.

The past few weeks, I've been helping a friend who's made his living for the past 30 years  tending to various craft with haulout at at a local marina. The big boys come ashore via the travel lift, an amazing machine that can trundle a 10 tonner around like I handle my kayak. Grab the pressure washer, blast the slub off the bottom, get her cradled, climb aboard, coil up the lines and power cords at her berth,  clean out perishables,  tidy up the lines and fenders on deck, winterize the water systems and engines, chase the odd leak - lots and lots to do, all of it good and straightforward and useful.work.

Weather's been fallish - temps in the low single digits, winds 80-100 kms/hr. NE to NW in off the bay most days - brisk and bracing, you might say. (I'm thoroughly enjoying it - dress right (lots of layers, poly and merino, with a good windblocking outer shell) and keep dry, and you'll stay warm as toast. Us North Atlantic kayakers know a thing or two about warm and dry...)

All in all, it's a good... no, make that a great - life - down by the water, with a multitude of boats to keep one amused and learning, and no shortage of 'air conditioning'. The folks around - owners, or others working on the boats - are , as you'd expect, the best kind - boats just naturally seem to attract people who can laugh, joke and help each other. There's worse things a man could be at, like trying to explain to an irate customer that the three-year warranty doesn't apply to the drill he bought last week;  having it crushed when he backed his pickup over it isn't really considered a defect in materials...

Here's a final view of the 'office'.

Codroy Valley

Located on the island's west coast, just a few kilometers from the Port aux Basques ferry, the Codroy Valley is one of the most spectacular and interesting places in Newfoundland.

The river runs between tall hills, wending it's way thru the range of mountains that form, amongst other things, the notorious Wreckhouse section the TCH, where tractor trailers are regularly blown over on their sides by the fierce wind gusts that barrel thru the gaps between the hills.

When we visited in early July, however, the weather cooperated, and our visitors - Michael, Gaetan and Helene - enjoyed civil breezes when they joined Chris and I for a  paddle on one of the most beautiful river estuaries Newfoundland has to offer.

The area isn't always so friendly, though. We took advantage of a  wait to get a table for an incredible  halibut dinner one evening to drive the few miles to Cape Anguille, where a  lighthouse overlooks the mouth of the Codroy.

With the wind in off the Gulf, it's a rough looking spot, where we had to lean into the wind to stay on our feet.

Definitely NOT the place a kayaker, or at least this kayaker, wants to be!!!

We're Back, Yet Again

Procrastination is a wonderful thing.

It's been over a year since I lasted posted to Ballyhack Point, and the longer it is, the harder it seems to get to do it. So here's a first attempt at rejuvenating something that I've enjoyed doing in the past.

The year has been a great one, blessed with lots of family and friends and things to do. The summer was, to put it mildly, a blast, with lashings of visitors and new experiences, especially on the paddling scene. In the next few posts, I'll hit a few of the highlights, but for Chris and I, our first on-water visit to Dildo Run - yes, there is such a place - was surely a "Gotta go there again" sort of thing.

The Run, located in Notre Dame Bay, snakes its way thru islands, runs, reaches, and tickles, offering some of the most protected and diverse paddling waters you'll find around Newfoundland's coastline. You could spend a week exploring all the nooks and crannies, never be more than a few hundred yards offshore, and still not see it all.

Besides a wonderful provincial campground, there are endless places where you can pitch a tent amd enjoy an evening of solitude and beauty, in a place that's quiet and largely undisturbed. Of all the spots where we've wet a paddle, this is the #1 destination that, God willing, we'll be headed there for a much longer visit next summer.

Yo, We're Back!!!

Just spent the summer in Eastport - that's my excuse for not visiting Ballyhack Point since late June, and I'm sticking to it. Had a phone line that was truly unbelievable in the 21st century and dialup on top of that, since the Community Access Point (CAP) site at the school in Glovertown was closed for summer while the building was being rewired. So a slow connection, lots of dropped sessions, and besides, we were having far too much fun to spend time writing and editing pix...

Did some paddling, a little hiking, a bit of camping, cut the grass, ate really well, polybonded the rusting 4Runner winter beater, read books, got to know a really good mechanic at the local service station, walked the beach with the dogs almost daily, had lots of great visitors - all in all, a fine time was had by all.

We also finished Chris' GLADWIND, which is a somewhat modified VOLKSKAYAK that she's taken to like...well, like a VK to water. Nipped the beam in about 1.5", hacked the same off the forward bulkhead peak, and 2" off the rear bulkhead peak for good measure - the result has a slightly deeper "V" to the hull, and lower decks than the VK Standard. A little less displacement, and a fair bit less windage - was kinda hoping she'd hate it, 'cause I really, really like it - no such luck! Been told, point-blank, that I'm gonna have to build myself one, if that's what I want - the GLADWIND is hers...

Mother and Child

That grouse wasn't about to move - no sir, no way! Standing at the near end of the boardwalk in Minchin's Cove, it seemed unconcerned as I got a few quick pix from maybe 15 feet, then started slowly moving closer and closer...



Then we saw them - three chicks, each egg-sized, making their separate ways across the boardwalk, one at a time. Momma wasn't budging - no big fuss, just staying right there while the kiddies toddled across. Kinda like a school crossing guard, having an eye to the traffic and stopping anything that might cause harm...


With the last one safely accounted for , she strolls off into the tall foliage herself, still very relaxed about it all. Then she stands there, side on, and has one final look at this creature with the camera...