salmonier line

as i was sitting down to write this, all my snaps in bridge all two thousand of them, were magically renamed pouch cove dock.

i told everyone i was going to st shott’s as it was the most notable remote outport along the irish loop but i wasn’t convinced. dropped off some samosas at beth and ray’s saying i would meet back later, then remembering my loathing for the southern shore highway headed for the tch and salmonier line.

much better choice as the road was empty but really don’t know why as it isn’t the machines that slow me down it is the highway. stop for the ponds, stop for the river, stop at a convenience that was open only two years ago, stop at a gravel pit park as big as the one in witless bay but don’t enter it as i do want t get to st shott’s and i know if i enter, i’ll be lost with the photographs made and the people talked to. but this was a project back in 2007 when peter telling me their locations.

at the colinet turnoff i decided to do st mary’s bay instead so turned off at st catherine’s looking to head to mitchell’s brook and admiral’s beach. turned off at route 91 trusting my map of the province. when the road to mt carmel was taking inordinately long to appear, i knew something
went wrong which when i have no time to be any place is a good thing it stops me from fixating and has me wandering again. route 93 showed up which took me through a upland bog and the village of harricott.

i was guessing that my “singularity” was manifesting itself - albeit privately - again as making it to the end of the road in harricott - village of eight houses - one of which had a house with a car with virginia plates on it. along an inlet of st mary’s bay, i found a house that would be suitable for me.

as soon as i saw it, i could hear others wondering what has come over me. it was the last house on the road before the water well separate from the rest. here i am hearing from people who would hate being in the middle of town - which comprised of a cross roads with three picnic tables - and i am finding that too crowded and wanting the house a mile down a cul de sac.

finding this i couldn’t wait to see mitchell’s brook which was more exposed and even further off the road. but while i was surprised that there was industry - ship repair - along the road, and more people with whom i chatted - even a couple of conveniences, i prefered harricott. here heading through mt carmel to mitchell’s brook


and over in o’donnnell’s and admiral’s beach, i was in an area that i was looking for photographically. people were out and about, people did continue to live in the area, along salmonier arm, i had less fear of the nostalgic old building cliché and didn’t have to justify the snap by thinking it was being used when i came across one.

chatted with buddy and his family when i stopped to photograph the open door of his shed.
which led to him allowing me on the property to photograph his laundry line and the root cellar.

joked with buddies when photographing a new shed.
-with this being a have province now am wondering if i should buy it as an investment property as i am sure in a few years time it will be worth half a million.
-i’ll take $250 000.

stopped to photograph a house which was balancing between use and someone moving, when agnes comes out the front door

she was wondering why i was photographing her place.

the satellite dish, the two bowls of water, the inordinate amount of milk crates, the hoe and the exercise machine. it proves someone lives here.
-jd pratt painted this side of the house.

it was here that language - written and spoken - was falling apart. i wanted to make sure i placed the correct emphasis on the phrase ‘why do you live here’ i wanted it on the you and without any horror in my voice. she understood, said she didn’t want to move she had been to toronto and came back but her health was forcing it as she needed to be near a clinic.

she was a font of information. she spoke of the new resettlements, it seems that she as in the placentia carbonear district - none really close to her at all. her family was from the area - as i must have put the emphasis on the correct part of the question - liked what i was doing. promising to send old images of the area to me.

personally she told of the house sinking for at high tide and big seas water can come into the basement - as is happening with a few houses along the road - but the government cannot afford a break water.

her chat had me now concentrating on the water finding a few old foundations as i made my way up to st catherine’s.

photographing pauline welch’s front garden, willie stops to chat as she is away and would be pleased that someone took an interest in it. she lived alone and he who lived next door helped her out when he could.

it was pissing rain off and on which - with the mauze - made harricott even more appealing/depressing depending personal make-up. stopped in new bridge and o’donnell’s before heading to admiral’s beach but the nicest snap on this side were the two balloons swinging from a tree on a rise.

admiral’s beach i guess could be classified as what is happening in the area, passing people playing basketball, down by the wharf there are rooms but also newly constructed nicely finished houses that look out on nothing. in fact they are boxed in by the sheds and an old boat building yard. this mixture of building led to me trying to reconcile it formally.

tried to stop on the way back in the towns that i passed thinking that since i would have to come back on the same road i would look going down make snaps coming back. didn’t account for the rain.