fellow baltimoreans in aquaforte on the way back via mobile.

it is midnight thirty. over the ocean to-night while i write this are the perseid meteor showers.
the first people i met on the rock were mike and avril. it seemed that they were always heading back to toronto when i was arriving, but our paths would cross at the pipe house.

they would be up for christmas – mike has skied cape st. francis – i would arrive after the new year. last year i was here first ensconced at martin and gabrielle’s, he was the pioneer at the school staying in the kindergarten arriving a week later. he moved into the pipe house after i left.

so it seemed strange to be here and not run into them. when i left last year mike and av bought a house in kingman’s cove just outside fermeuse. it had belonged to ken reddy and they were about to pull it down for another shed when mike coughed up the $5000 for it. it is the last house in kingman’s before the east coast trail – again small world as peter gard who was at the get together at ruth and peter’s is instrumental in the development of the trail.

to-day was the day i went down to see the new digs.

of course i couldn’t do simply one thing per day. i headed – as it was on the way – to see if i could find my sunglasses at mun. no dice. headed over to the bookstore to get another mun sweatshirt.

stopped by the clerk the second time in i had been in before and saw what i wanted was going to wait until the last day – paul kennedy whelp here. decided that there was no time like the present went back to buy when she told me to check my bag.

-got $2000 worth of cameras in here.
-i’ll watch it
-why don’t you get the sweat shirt besides it is not a book bag it is a handbag – consider me gay.
-finally gave up raced ten feet from her got the sweat shirt and paid for it.

leaving i said
-congratulations in the six years i have been coming to the province it is you who have created my first unpleasant experience.
a minor gasp an attempt at an apology and finally said that she couldn’t explain.

on a roll i headed over to the office of the newfoundland quarterly, i parked in a place that is free for an hour and i was making the most of it. knocked on the door. no one answered when the floor receptionist came over and asked if she could help. i mentioned that i was trying to get in touch with the editor to get some copies of the quarterly as i had a snap in it.
-how many as she went for the keys
-five please.
-just let me get your name if she asks. i don’t know if i am supposed to do this but…
five issues later and time left i headed out to fermeuse.

the plan was to go via petty harbour to see where peter gard and julia live. it is nice when people’s address is the orange house after the convenience. i had also left for mike and av’s place knowing only that it was in kingman’s cove. reckoned that i would look for the tj’s place front number plate on a volvo or ask someone.

first mistake is one that i usually make. i need to get to the cape spear highway not the old transcanada. the cape spear highway is off water street, the old transcanada is gower street. i was on gower to avoid the mess that is always water street and kept going.

technically it is not a mistake as route 10 goes to the old t.c.h. but one has to endure kilbride and the goulds. everyone heads to the southern shore this way, and to make matters worse i was behind a constuction vehicle which barely went 30k/h.

i was saved by the goulds ball park which i felt compelled to photograph allowing the bottleneck to get someway ahead.

nevertheless the goulds is deadly. heading south along route 10 i remember the debate mike and av had when they were looking. – the same debate that i have wandering away from the ocean. pond or ocean.

mike wanted a pond as he could then swim - a bit hard in the north atlantic – boat and do other things in the water. av wanted the ocean.

on the west side of the road one could see why the choice could be hard. there was the st. john’s water supply – one of them – which seem larger than the city itself – funny there is a water shortage in the city at present people are asked to conserve water. funny because i am passing a series of ponds big enough to have a nice sunset on, where i cannot see all the shores. where people have bought and placed houses.
it is so tranquil compared to the ocean –un populated too. bay bulls and witless bay were metropolis when compared to the rare house or cabin on the ponds outside of town.

things became markedly better after witless bay. sped through mobile, thought about heading down to st. michaels and bauline south but thought that i would leave all this for the return trip, that and the vacant conveniences. thought that i was in maryland for a bit as after calvert , i sped through ferryland – the first baltimore. aquaforte always confuses me as i see the long inlet as going north south when it is east west. all along route 10 here there are these long inlets in which the road has to go around. mostly the road is on tops of hills, at some places there are look outs in aquaforte there is this peninsula of houses – about six in the middle of the cove.

stopped in at the convenience in fermeuse as the road to kingman’s cove was dirt on the tourist map. asked – she must have thought i was stupid as not 500 metres from the convenience was a giant sign.

one road in i was guessing what house it would be. i was looking for clues, volvo, a little rehab, overlooking the cove. was getting worried when i was running out of houses. at the last house before the east coast trail, there was a ratty volvo – which is newer than my saab – stopped walked around front and saw the tj’s plate. it was parked in front of a house with a new deck. found it.

typical newfoundland box but nice and compact, two bedrooms, and a bath on the upper floor,kitchen – the important area, study and dining area on the main floor – it directly above the cove.

knocked – something you don’t do in outport newfoundland you walk in unless there is a mop by the door – mike came invited me in. his sister and niece were finishing their moose burgers. said that i would walk a bit and come back.

they thought that i was going to do the trail i walked back to fermeuse saw two potential carl english homages and quite a bit of laundry.

after pouch the cove was like a big river there was an opposite shore – the water was calm i couldn’t see the harbour in fermeuse nor the one in port kirwen – ancestral land of the infamous ray fennelly – see last year’s blog – nor the open sea. it reminded me of the humber in corner brook but i think that the humber was wider.

again some newfoundland formalism. worked a bit with the sheds again shed that were half the size of martin and gabrielle.

a woman was sunbathing on her deck, half the houses were renovated the others left as they were. some major renovations were going on at the first house after the hill – which i found out was owned by two people from mississippi.

found out as the fatal – lovely day – were spoken by a man who was on his new deck in front of his new house having a canadian with his woman friend. made his photograph between the gratings on the deck she looked over the top. as i was bidding good bye he said that he’d like to see it if i came out. i said it you want to see it i have to make a better picture and came up on the deck. his friend went in the house and came out with a cold canadian for me.

so i came to meet barry tibbo of st. john’s and fermeuse. he was the one who told me about the mississippians, it was he who told me who had owned mike and av’s place and its history. a friend came up on an atv and i photographed him also.
barry is putting in a slip so that he won’t have to go into fermeuse to get his boat, they have a picnic table across the road on their property. they love it down here an hour out of st. john’s they escape summer and winter to this place.

chatted until my beer was finished and wished them good luck as i headed back to to mike and av’s who were probably looking for me.

not really av had headed up the trail to trix cove with mike’s sister and niece. he showed me the house and became jealous – am that way with anyone with property up here.

he had put $10000 in renovations in it. the new deck was one thing new doors and windows another.

we sat out on it and gossiped, talked about his radio programme, the goings on in pouch, the art world and his work. this i wasn’t used to an artist that not only is constantly producing but anxious to get back and make more.

what a pity i thought, few years at the ‘tute and he could be an artist without any of the mess of actually producing, he could talk about technology or constantly read second hand interpretations of theories about artwork. he gave me a cd of a piece he recorded and edited last year in pouch. showed me eight paintings that are part of the show at jim’s in november and the video he was working on. poor guy if he simply announced what he is plans and went into the difficulty of achieving them he wouldn’t have to produce as much.

i said that i was going to head out on the trail a bit to find av and the group also since he was mentioning all sorts of things that were around them – a ship wreck was one – i decided to see for myself.

walking i translated what i had been doing in pouch - except that the blueberries were already ripe and thus easier to pick and i had a choice of blueberry of raspberry, blueberries out raspberries back – no rasp out blue back – no whatever bush was next. found the usual ikons of habitation - wood piles but the best was a collapsed tent just before the path to trix cove.

ran into everyone there as they were heading back, av mentioned a better cove further on. this one went down to the water where there was a small beach. i could just see the open sea but it still looked tame. a good hike to the next cove passing a pretty nice cabin – mike and av’s neighbours the key was there i could have gone in mike said nice – wood stove well kept up.

the nice thing about east coast trail is that it doesn’t pander. no wood chips no markers every 100 yards, one slides down one side and clambers up the over. it is worth it. this time i couldn’t get down to the water but there was open sea to the right and the cove the left. i could just barely see port kirwan. found a perfect walking stick for the trek back.

stood and chatted a bit more with them telling me all these places that i should see. they were heading off to st. shotts and st. vincents to-morrow . i mentioned cape st mary’s bird sanctuary . they mentions this salmon run just outside aquaforte, the house of a painter in brigus south and that david alexander’s – one of the first artists to come to the rock – place was falling into disrepair much to the disgust of the neighbours.


headed north first stop port kirwan. where there as a church with a giant bolder on its property and two nice homages to carl. in the distance i heard – he’s taking pictures.

forgot exactly what av told me to look for next until i passed the bed and breakfast in aquaforte. turned around to the mini carpark and the salmon run.

walking down i went for my tom ridge but apparently left it the saab. met leroy and his friends – first baltimoreans up from ferryland - who were swimming and downing canadians in the pool. the spot was nice, falls on one side if it had rained there would be this high cascade i was told by all his friends, but now it was dry.

spoke about senior hockey to replace the baby leafs they play for the sourthern shore team.

leroy found dead salmon down the run further and all of them between heading in the water some have seen salmon leaping up stream – atlantic salmon are fierce jumpers b’y. went through quite a bit of film here and promised to send some images to leroy if they came out. was offered a canadian. declined and headed back to the car where i found the tom ridge hanging from a branch.

a walk along another part of the east coast trail, because i saw a wood pile and laundry both so so .

i also noticed that my supply was running low. i had three rolls left. i wanted to have one in case i got back to petty harbour and found peter and julia.

the ride back was a series of screeching stops and heading in reverse. the first was at the overlook in calvert where i thought that i saw a potential snap, but turned out to be not much of anything after all – how many pine clad cliffs can one see after all.

there was another car laden down with a bike and a canoe with nova scotia plates. there were on the edge looking down and out at the open sea. their dog – a mini something or other – the size of a small cat – raced over to me.

they were going to spend the night in trepassey told them about the salmon run. they thanked me and i was extra careful not to run over the dog when i headed to the other shore in calvert - two carl’s and a ball park.

the best potential snap didn’t turn out due to the light and position of the objects. it was a new construction – a big generic north american type – too big in comparison of what was around it - with a copy of the house as a doll’s house.

also stopped at the fisheries. fully aware of the film situation , i made a few more snaps of closed conveniences and a forlorn kiddie park between calvert and cape broyle. a unsupervised swimming pool – which was a dammed portion of the river. the edges were painted blue. the water was red with minerals and the bottom was rocky.

along it were two pair of abandoned toilets – talk about inconvenienced – complete with a fishing boat.

film is diminishing. one roll left as i enter brigus south. there is a house there owned by a painter that avril said that i should see as it is so compact and nice. also i wanted to see what david alexander’s place looked like. he almost bought a print of mine until he wised up.

brigus was compact few people – new rich houses on the hill, others dotting the slopes down to the harbour. the harbour completely protected no view of the ocean as there is a concourse out to a rock where there the ocean can be seen. very quiet the fishermen were in and organising their catch. people were walking their dogs or running. one man was feeding the ducks and geese. some sounded like they had asthma. quite a few baby ducks and geese that started to beg off me who every time i got close to the water’s edge.

place smelled constantly of fish. again the address of this person – moira? – was the colour of her house. found it with no problem but didn’t knock simply walked by twice stalking, looking in the front room was her studio everything was open as it always is up here. out to the ocean film ran out, light was running out.

the trip through bay bulls, witless bay and part of the goulds was worse now as i had not film only this endless part of the road when no one seems to make it to the speed limit. bay bulls seemed too big after the outports . nice sunset over bay bulls pond though.

wanted to head down witless bay line to butter pot park where mike said people camp on the boulders with nothing about them. wondered when/if there would be time to do the irish loop wanted to get to the barrens spend time between trepassey bay and st. mary’s bay. don’t see where there is time for that.

paul kennedy whelp

one day - yeah right this is another mantra – i would like to stop by the ponds and the wetlands just at the st. john’s municipal boundary. to night too dark and filmless.
irony here as saw peter going into his house in petty harbour.

thought about heading to cape spear to find the spot where they filmed rare birds but thought better of it – my stomach thought better of it. wanted a pint at the duke but hunger won out over thirst. passed through st. john’s. in pouch hoped to find the skateboarders as again time is running out.