Gros Morne

Gros Morne

ALL ALONG, one of our aims has been to see a moose, and people tell us, again and again, go to Gros Morne, that's where the moose are. 

So we go. It is beautiful. Breath-taking. Grand. Spectacular, even. But in all honesty, Carol and I suspect we are missing most of it, even missing the best of it, because we are not hiking, climbing, foraging along the trails. It is not that kind of trip, this trip, and we have to be OK with that. And we are. 

All that being said, there's a big part of me that admires Canada for leaving this park - and UNESCO World Heritage site - relatively unmarked by roads. If you really want to see most of the great stuff, you have to get out and hike. It is not instantly, easily available by car as many American parks are. 

So we drive, we walk a little, we see some amazing sights, and I paint. 

While I'm working, a couple drives up. Carl and his daughter Abbie. In one of those amazing twists of fate, it turns out that Carl grew up in Colchester, CT, 12 miles or so from where I grew up. Now he and his family live in Labrador, and he invites me to visit if I get up there.                                                                                                                                                            As I am finishing the painting, another car drives up, and two svelte Italian women get out. They are about halfway through their trip, they tell us, and having a great time. They look at my painting, and the one woman - Frederika - falls in love with it. 

Forgive me, sponsors, but she asks if she can buy it and I sell it to her. It is just too fun, too great an experience for all of us, for me to refuse. She is delighted, and they are laughing, and we are laughing. The money end of it, as you might imagine, is ridiculously complicated, with none of us truly understanding what we are doing, but it all works out. They drive away with a wet painting, and we all drive away with an absurdly fun memory - but no moose. 


ps., I will be repainting this when I get home, so if one of you wants it, it will be available. 

***
Weather Watch


IT IS DEFINITELY SWEATSHIRT weather, and long pants, too. The temperature is in the upper 50s and low 60s, with no sun and a chilly breeze. It rains on and off all day - nothing dramatic, but rain nonetheless. Honestly, it's good painting weather. Sometimes clouds are better than sun - the colors come out deep and rich.

***
Mud Rafting


BACK UP FOR a moment to the tidal bore (click here if you missed it)... When we arrive, there's a group of people in the parking lot. They're dressed in bathing suits and are doing something at the back of two Jeep Wranglers. 

“Do you swim here?” I ask, as we get out of the van. 

“No! We go mud rafting!” one of them says, and they laugh at my puzzlement. 

“When the river is low, we slide down the banks, in the mud,” another one says. “We’ve been doing this for years!” 

She lives in Ontario now, and has come back for a visit with her boyfriend, and she always makes sure to go mud rafting, whenever she comes home. 

They tell us all about it, how the receding river leaves the mudbanks soft and slippery, and how they all walk down to the banks and then make trails on the steep sides of the receding river, and slide down until they’re in the water, until they’re completely covered in mud. 

They're pouring water all over themselves to wash off most of the mud  - they're old hands at this - but they're still far from clean when they get in the car to drive off. 

Later, we see others sliding down the bank, mud-rafting. It does look like fun! 


Thanks to one of the mud rafters for sharing her photos with us! 

***
Dog of the Day


HERE'S SCARLET, who is traveling with her humans from their home in Newfoundland.

***
A Final Thought

"I dislike feeling at home when I am abroad."

- George Bernard Shaw





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