Eddie's Cove II

Eddie's Cove II / 10x10

THE AMAZING PAINTING DAY continues. I drive a few miles down the coastal road and come upon this building, perched near the water. It calls out to me, the way so many of these landscapes do - the solitary house, or the two or three homes close together, at the edge of the Strait of Belle Isle.                                                                                                                      There's Eddie's Cove East, where I believe I am when I am painting this, and Eddie's Cove West, which I will hit tomorrow. Eddie's Cove East was settled by Philip Coates and his wife Sarah Duncan, says Wikipedia. The first census - 10 people - was in 1869. 


These days, Eddie's Cove East has a population of 80, down from its record high of 128 in the late 1980s. It is a tough place to live, with severe weather, heavy wind, persistent ice. Fishing, logging and saw mill work keep this little place going, like so many others in Newfoundland. 

It is a lonely place, quiet except for the noise of the wind and the water and the wheeling cry of the gulls. Hardly a car goes by. 

When I leave, I get close enough to the building to see that it is a place where someone stores wood. 

***
Two Items

How has this home not tipped over? 



ALL OVER NEWFOUNDLAND, and especially on the west coastline, I see big piles of wood. They are mostly just at the side of the road, though I do see one way on top of a rock shelf, 10 or 15 feet high. 
Turns out that each family is allowed to cut six cords for their own personal use. They cut it in the winter, mostly, an innkeeper tells me, and haul it with snowmobiles close to the road, then stack it and let it sit over the summer to dry. 

I ask if there is any wood thievery, and he looks at me like I'm crazy, like no one would ever think of doing that. 

Another thing you see all over the place is fenced gardens by the road. They're about 10x20, maybe, not gigantic but not small, and they're doing pretty well. Corn and tomatoes, squash and who knows what else. 

When the bulldozers came in to make the good roads, people tell me, folks just used the good soil dug up by the construction equipment, and made their gardens there. 

***
Dog of the Day

IT'S TWO-FACE, the cat who hangs out at the Round Da Bay Inn. She is a nice girl, 
and soft, and so much a cat - happy to be on my lap as long as it is her idea. 


***
A Final Thought

"A good traveler has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.."


    - Lao Tzu






    Comments

    Post a Comment

    Popular posts from this blog

    The Final Post

    Image
      Above, Port-Aux-Basques Overlook, 10x10 I'M HOME, in Wachapreague, safe and sound, and glad to be with Peter and our menagerie. It was an amazing, inspiring and challenging trip, the fulfillment of a long-held dream, and I am delighted to have gone and seen and experienced. I drove more than 2,500 miles, made 26 paintings and took more photos than I can count. I saw more than my share of clouds and less than my share of rain and sun, too. I was lucky to have a good friend to travel with for part of the trip, and lucky, too, to have another stretch of time to pass in solitary contemplation and deep work.  I met kind and generous and lovely people. I felt welcomed by Canada and Canadians. I was impressed with the general good cheer and impressively good health of the people I met. The Newfoundlanders I encountered love Newfoundland, and by and large, want never to leave, never to live anywhere else. They are a tough breed, to live in such a difficult climate,
    Read more

    On the River in Truro

    Image
    On the River in Truro / 16x16 THERE SEEMS TO BE a lot of geographical bragging about the Bay of Fundy tides and tidal bores. The tides are highest in Burntcoat Head in Nova Scotia, according to several people, and one page on the Internet.  These guys were behind us on the road and could tell we were looking for something According to a sign we see, the tides are highest in the town of Hants.  No, the tidal bore is best in Truro, on the Salmon River, says Kathy at the Truro information station, and this is echoed by two nice guys who think we are lost and stop to help.  But no, says a woman at the information center in South Maitland, the bore is best in South Maitland, where the railroad bridge used to be.    “Bore” is an old Norse word for “wave.” When the water from the rising tide in the Bay of Fundy is funneled into the Shubenacadie River,  the narrowed channel, huge amount of water and topography of the river floor combine to make a tidal wave o
    Read more

    L'Anse Aux Meadows

    Image
    L'Anse Aux Meadows / 16x16 IT IS HARD for me to describe the feelings I have while I am walking around this most historic of historic sites. I don't cry, but I almost do, and I am astounded at the emotion that overtakes me.  Here, in these fields, in this place at the edge of the sea, Europeans set foot on North America for the very first time. The Vikings - with Leif Erikson probably among them - left Greenland and sailed into the wilderness, crossing the ocean in small, small boats and landed at L'Anse Aux Meadows.  To them, it was the new world. They built a village there, housing anywhere from 30-160 people. There were trees on the land at that time, and they used the wood to build boats, their homes, furniture. Their houses were sod huts - the earthen roofs are gone but the foundations remain, and that's what you see when your tour the area.  In 1960, explorer Helge Ingstad and his wife, archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad, spoke with Georg
    Read more