North to Newfoundland

A few seconds after I take this photo, we are in Canada!  AFTER A COUPLE DAYS  of driving, and a night at Wendilee's, we hit the border at St. Stephen's, New Brunswick. The border guard, Jordan, asks for our passports and we hand them over. He is a young man, clean-shaven, a little humorless. He asks the purpose of our trip, and we tell him tourism. He asks if we have anything in the van that we are planning to leave in Canada. Electronics, televisions, gifts? No. Our hotel in Truro. Love how her pants match the hanging flowers.  "Do you have any guns, mace or self-protective devices?" he asks. "Do you think we need some?" I ask. He doesn't find me funny. Doesn't crack a smile. Even so, he lets us into Canada and we are on our way. It is really exciting to be in another country. And it is really different, immediately. It feels different. It looks different. The streets are a different width. The highway signs are worded differ...

Me, setting out for Newfoundland I SAID GOODBYE to Peter and the dogs on Thursday and headed north. After a truly wonderful show in Mystic, CT, over the weekend, I rose early and got myself to the airport in Providence and picked up my friend Carol Baney, who is accompanying me on the first part of the trip, and we set off for Canada!  Woody had surgery before I left, to remove bladder stones.  He is out of the cone now and doing well, Peter says.  Bye-bye, doggies!  Here's Carol, arriving at the airport. Road Art!  The Big Blue Bug, a touchstone on I-95 in Providence.  It's been there as long as I can remember.  *** Wendilee's Place We stopped the first night in Winter Harbor, Maine, to stay with my friend Wendilee Heath O'Brien, a marvelous painter and fascinating person. She makes art in a variety of styles and uses a variety of media, and does it all with great verve, rich imagination...

Good morning, sponsors! In less than two weeks, I'll be heading to Newfoundland. My friend and co-conspirator Carol Baney will be coming with me for the first part of the trip, then I will be on my lonesome. Newfoundland - which is pronounced with the same stresses as "understand"  - is the smaller part of the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, which is the official name of the province.  Its first inhabitants were members of the Dorset culture, a pre-Inuit culture that lasted from about 500 BC to 1000-1500 AD, according to Wikipedia. Newfoundland was England's first colony, and Newfoundlanders speak English, though I've been warned that it can be an English that's a little different than what we speak down here. These days, the population of Newfoundland is about half a million. Here are some other cool facts: The most easterly point in North America is in Newfoundland, at Cape Spear.  L'Anse Aux Meadows is the only authenticated Vi...