Monday, August 13th
My voice coming through the radio woke me up today - what a start! My voice is the ID for the IRLP repeater at our house. And Vic made sure to catch me before I left the Jim's. He needn't have worried as I didn't really go anyhwere till the afternoon. Newfoundland berry tarts for breakfast and coffee did the trick till lunch. I went in search of a certain kind of hotdag that Jim likes and brought home Schneider's All Meat Weiners. Jim cooked them up with spaghetti for lunch. An unlikely combination, but very tasty, actually.
Power failures left us without internet on and off all morning and for a goodly portion of the day. Turns out Skype had a major problem and everything was sketchy. But outdoors was calling me and I heeded the call by driving over to Southside Ave. to take in the harbour on the small boat side. Construction prevented me from going where I wanted to go today so I hightailed it over to Harbourside Drive and miraculously founnd a parking space right near the park bench! Boston and St. John's comes on the radio as I pull into the spot, an omen I am sure.
As I got out of the car, I breathed in the sea air discovered it smelled like the harbour in Philly! I sat on the bench and drank in the sounds and sights of the day. Two lovers occupied the bench next to mine and enjoyed the sunny interlude. A mother and her son rode bikes along the harbour, pleasantly chatting to each other. The cargo dock was busy as trailers got unloaded from the boat docked there. Men in suits wandered along the waterside smiling. The sound of jackhammers floated down to the water from Water Street. Accordion music wafts from a boat already docked. Where are all the seagulls from previous years? They are strangely absent from the scene. A solitary gull wings its way over to the Southside. An Irving tanker ship pulls into its slip on the other side. The Northern Princess is being painted and renamed. I guess it's leaving for the West Indies because her name is now the Caribbean Rose. Who'da thunk?
I sat on the bench, ruminating on my lack of wanderlust so far this trip. For the third day, I am close to home and not wishing to go anywhere else. I looked over the harbour and wondered ,would I take up painting if I could retire here? It seems to me, I could paint a different harbour portrait each time I come. Why, this time, am I not inclined to wander far? Is it the 100 km a day limit on the car? No, I don't think so. I'd love to spend time observing the comings and goings of the fishing boats, the ever-changing shadows and light on Signal Hill and the Battery, the activity on the freight dock. |
