| Bound Down for Newfoundland |
| Wednesday, August 30th D-Day for travel to NFLD! I am sooooo excited. But we have to wait till 3 PM. SO we go to my next favorite town in Cape Breton – Glace Bay – for MaryJoe’s Fish & Chips. We met MaryJoe and her hubby in 1997 on our first trip here and struck up a bond with the two of them. What wonderful people to chat with! And good food to boot! Remember - Glace Bay, Mary Joe's. I think I should be getting paid to advertise! |
| We spent the day wandering around the Glace Bay/Sydney/North Sydney area and arrived at the ferry terminal about 1:30. Check-in here is very methodical and much easier flowing than at Portland, Maine. The Scotia Prince needs to take some lessons here from Marine Atlantic. The Terminal in North Sydney is quite lovely. Nova Scotia does it right. Money is a little scarce and we packed bread and peanut butter for dinner and snack. If I remember correctly, the dinner choices on the Argentia ferry suck. |
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| We said our goodbyes to North Sydney in the daylight for the first time. The other trips, the ferry had left at night. Sydney Light beckoned us godspeed and bon voyage. Once again, the imaginary line marking the border between the harbour and the sea was well-delineated as was the smoothness of the ride and the strength of the wind. |
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| I finally caught the light shining! |
| We had dorm sleepers this time and Vic took advantage of them right away. I was too excited to sleep and prefer to spend my time out on deck with the wind in my hair. I like that! I sat on the stern deck working on my cross-stitch map of Newfoundland done in the NFLD tartan. It was coming along quite nicely and I wanted to finish it before we got to Newfoundland soil. I had just finished the last cross-stitch and was ready to start on the backstitch outline of my favorite province when this guy came over to watch me. He eyed my work from afar and then stepped up and asked if he could see the cross-stitch. I was surprised a guy would be interested in it but motioned for him to sit and look. He expressed knowledge that it was counted cross stitch and explained to me that he also does it ever since he was laid up for 4 months after an accident. His wife ambled over and made sure he wasn’t making an unwanted pest of himself. No worries – we had a great time talking needlework, Earl and I. Later on, his friend came over to make sure I wasn’t bothered by his embroidery fetish. LOL! |
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| I watched for quite a while and was chilled when I sought refuge in the cafeteria for a hot cup of coffee. No one else was there. I sat down at a table and tried to finish stitching. I was so close to the end I could taste it! A little later, in the cafeteria, I had a nice chat with one of the workers about the same cross stitch piece. It was a real conversation starter! She was in the middle of her 12-hour shift and was looking for something to relieve the boredom. I expressed concern that I was making a mess for her but she was happy for the diversion. We spoke of her business with her husband – sail charters out of Halifax/Dartmouth and how she got the job with the ferry company and moved to Cape Breton outside of Louisbourg. And how she had lived there happily for 15 years, the people being so friendly and willing to do anything for you. But how Cape Bretoners didn’t consider themselves to be Nova Scotians – she and hubby were still considered CFAs (Come From Aways) 15 years into their Cape Breton “citizenship!” |
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| His name was Earl Fawcett and he had made this trip back to Newfoundland many times. He and his wife met in the 60’s when he was stationed in Placentia. They met on a blind date and it was love at first sight! They married after six months and moved to “the Boston States.” Her relatives still live in Newfoundland and she comes back whenever she can. He is working on a counted cross stitch grizzly bear now and just kept expressing awe at this NFLD tartan map I was doing. I offered him the chart and directions since all I had to do was backstitich. He was so excited to get them It’s his next project. After Earl went back to his wife, it was getting too dark to stitch outside so I sat and watched a storm try to catch up to us across the sea. It followed after us for quite a while. It was fascinating watching the edge of the storm and seeing the rain falling many miles away. |
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| Sunset on the ferry |
| Storm-shimmer |
| All done! |
| Time flew by talking to her and before I knew it, the piece was finished and I was ready for bed! Another night of being rocked to sleep by the wind and waves. Mmmmmmmmmm. And I would wake up in Newfoundland! |