Gorgeous sunrise on the Atlantic

What a wonderful treat to be sweating away on my Nordic Trak while this beautiful scene explodes! 20 minutes went quickly. Life is good here at the Edge.

Ready for the Holiday Season

Our trip ended November 25th with our safe arrival back at Pool’s Island! Was the house ever big! After spending a major amount of time in the front seat of the Avalanche, the house seemed huge- and now we have settled in, enjoying the season.
Hugh and I went out and collected some alder branches to make stars and spruce bows to dress up the mantel. The candles are out, the fire lit and the mulled wine ready to pour. Come on over!

Summer work is done - Time for a holiday!

The dock, walkway and splitting table are all finished so Hugh went out cod fishing. With most of fall work done, (wood cut and stored, yard cleaned) we headed west to visit in our trusty truck, Ava the Avalanche emulating our mantra of “Load ‘er heavy, drive ‘er hard”

The colours were fantastic right through from New Wes Valley through Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, Vermont, Quebec, Ontario, Michigan, Minnesota, and North Dakota. In Saskatchewan the leaves were still green then quickly a snow storm blew through with freezing temperatures that turned green to brown.



From Saskatchewan we went west and enjoyed our first view of the mountains south of Calgary on Highway 7. The weather has been mostly very good!



We headed into Washington through the Columbia valley relishing the change of scenery and the vastness of the gorge. At 5000 miles we reached Bellingham, Washington and Vancouver, BC. Now we are reversing the trek and we head home having had a great holiday, and it’s not over yet!

Wood cutting and dock building at the Edge

Hugh is very pleased with his electric hydraulic Canadian Tire special woodsplitter with a 6 ton splitting force. He started out with 8 cords that we bought last fall and continues to whittle the pile into a supply that should last 2-3 years. The spruce splits easier than the birch, and he is close to finishing all of it. Ahh, warm and cozy this winter!! Come and visit for winter storm watching.

Meanwhile, Colin, Clare and Dennis work on the dock and walkway. No sea ice will be taking this dock away! The outdoor fireplace will be added to the rocks too. The yard is changing.

Joanne has closed the tea room for the summer. Now comes organizing and tidying up because family will be visiting the rest of the month. Life is very good at the Edge.

The Wild Blueberrries are Ready!

The blueberries are ripe. Hugh picked a lovely pailful this morning along with Colin and Sandra. They are a wonderful addition to the usual ingredients in the fruit salad that tops homemade waffles for a popular breakfast.

Want wine and cheese with your view?

What a fantastic day! We find this a perfect way to celebrate it too! Bill, Roselynn, Ellen and Olaf helped is make it a great time. Thanks for the visit, folks.

Come for breakfast

This breakfast was a hit! Sausage and pepper strata, cheese and savoury scones, and peach muffins. Add a hit of coffee. Can there be a better way to start the day? For recipes, check out our b&b website.

A visit to Lumsden Beach

Spent a fabulous time yesterdaywalking the beach with Roselynn, Bill, Olaf, Ellen and of course, Hugh. It was lovely, about 23 degrees Celsius while Hurricane Bill chugging towards us pumped in warm winds.

The beaches are pristine, and so very natural, and you can appreciate the artistry of the wind on the sand using a simple tool like a blade of grass.

Hurricane Bill stormed in about 8 pm dumping quite a bit of rain (3-4 inches) with winds about 40-50 miles an hour. This morning it was gorgeous and warm on the deck.

Fantastic summer evenings

A gorgeous evening. Can it get any more romantic? Hugh, where's the wine, and please turn up the jazz!

What to do on the weekend in an outport

People think life in the outports is dull- where can you drive 5 km, without any traffic, and attend art classes with fantastic instructors. Tara Bryon, brought up in Texas, presently a St. John's, NL resident, came to give us a weekend of relaxing, easygoing instruction in the company of 5 other great women. I was very happy with the result too!

Our first wedding

A beautiful day with a gorgeous wedding party. They were all so beautiful as they posed. The marriage ceremony was performed at the ocean's edge. The bride and groom spent the night, with the groom needing a late sleep in to recover.

Come for tea!

The plants are doing well, though if you lean towards them you could possibly hear "where's the sun?"






The netting, buoys, lobster box, and lobster trap along with the other pieces are donations from Ben Perry, Art Crocker, Andy King and Ken Roebotham. Thanks guys.










Turn left at the white cupboards, and I will turn on the kettle.








The tea room features the prints of Janet Davis, a local artist who is passionate about her heritage.














I'm serving "the world's best scones," a recipe from Jackie Gerr. And they just could be! Of the two jam choices, bakeapple wins over partrideberry.

Iceberg Ahead

We were so lucky to be given the opportunity to observe an iceberg from the water. Colin, Bob, Emma, Donna and I climbed aboard Colin's 21 ft. skiff and zoomed over the Atlantic about 3 miles.

We cautiously stayed about 300 feet away because icebergs can roll. Imagine the waves! As we circumnavigated this beauty, the various sides showed different features and we imagined how the markings were made.

Icebergs are estimated to be 3-5000 years old, and travel about 2-3 years to get into Newfoundland waters.

Hugh estimated it's height at over 80 feet based on the 26 ft. boat that he photographed near it. The colors of ice were gorgeous and we marveled at the gulls perched on the ice.

Breakfast on the deck

It's a gorgeous day, warm, with the winds breezing lightly from the west, rather than the colder northwest. Our guests, Cairie and Glen, are from the greater Toronto area for the weekend as they attend the wedding of a friend.

The Work's All Done!

Finally after 14 months of fairly intense work, we have come to the end of the beautifying projects. Hugh and Colin finished painting the rest of the house (2 sides left from last year where scaffolding and daring was needed).

The next day Hugh headed out for a relaxing day of fishing and driving through new country which always delights him.

While I enjoyed lovely guests in Katy's Tea Room.

Why aren't they fishing?

Hugh and Colin (on scaffold) are just about finished painting that was begun last year, but cold weather stopped us. The wood is quite thirsty, you can almost hear it say "Thank you."

Katy's Tea Room

.
.
Our new venture this summer is our tea room. It has been a hoot all winter visualizing this project into being, and now it's here and open. Hugh and I put up the new signs last week and we are in business. Virginia (a good friend) sent me the World's Best Scones recipe and along with Chocolate Molten Cake we are ready.

Our first guests are wonderfully supportive neighbours and friends. I'm gonna like this!

Living at/on the Edge

Ah, retirement, that time in your life when you get to do what you want to. Hugh and I first "retired" from our professions by developing new careers. Hugh, a psychologist who moved to a small retirement community, was amazed to encounter retirees who had serious difficulties getting used to this phase of life.

Hugh: "Before this, I saw retirement as that wonderful time of life that everyone looks forward to. Then my practice filled with retirees with depression, serious illnesses and marriage problems. I realized that retirement is a huge life change, especially for me, but it also impacts on the spouses too.

Often, men feel they have no purpose and serious illnesses crop up. Also there can be a strain on the marriage partner because she now may feel she must fulfill all her partners social needs.

Women tend to have less troubles adjusting. Hugh theorizes, "Women have many more changes, menstrual cycles, pregnancy, child rearing, then empty nesting. Women know they can survive change.

As a nurse practitioner, I saw those at retirement having very different attitudes. Some had a great time, involved in new learning situations, willing to risk new activities, sometimes careers. Others were shutting down viewing retirement as the time to "take it easy, after all, this is why you worked so hard, to enjoy it now." This attitude goes against one very strong edict of mine: Use it or lose it. My desire is to encourage everyone to the incredible possibilities and joy that they can create for themselves regardless of their circumstances.

So, enjoying change ourselves and seeing the needs that others had, we created a business of writing materials and giving seminars. We developed materials to fit these needs of retirement. Hugh wrote a dandy book called "Dancing with Change" which describes what each of us can do to make successful changes regardless of the circumstances.

Together we wrote workbooks. First came "Beyond Your Career: Reinventing Retirement", which stimulates the user to find their purpose/passion by uncovering interests and aptitudes, then encourages the reader to apply them as he/she develops an action plan.

The second workbook, "Second Time Around: Reinventing Your Retirement Marriage," fosters intimacy and understanding so that deeper sharing can occur. From this base, partners describe their needs and desires, thus establishing a richer, deeper relationship, really a new relationship.

We talked to thousands of retirees and soon-to-be retirees listening to their concerns, joys and pleasures. We traveled throughout the USA and Canada in a motor coach thrilling to the different scenarios and delightful people we encountered. Our own belief about retirement is that this continues to be a time to expand and grow, to live on the edge.

Our travels brought us to Newfoundland, Canada where to our surprise, we bought a bed and breakfast on the Atlantic Ocean! Now, physically, we live on the edge. Spectacular, fiercely beautiful, fantastic, awesome are some of the adjectives people use to describe our spot where granite rises out of the ocean.

In season, fishermen harvest lobster in front of the house and dock, fishing boats from 35-65 ft. set out for catches of crab, lumpfish, cod, capelin, mackerel, to name some, then motor back to the fish plant about 1 mile away from us. Icebergs in the distance march on as they continue south to be consumed by the warmer ocean currents.

Breakfast conversations sometimes last two hours as we learn about each other, always fun. Living here in this beauty reminds us how fortunate we are and we are delighted that we can share it with others. Life is good, very good here on the edge!

The Edge-- Transformation

Living on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean and living on the edge- always growing and expanding, taking this bed and breakfast to the next level, providing delicious meals to our wonderful guests. Growing and expanding personally too, as we learn new skills, meet interesting folks and continue to experience joy. Won't you join us?