Long Point - Winter freeze and a cat for company

The last few days have been extreme all over the continent and here at the Point too. Minus 18 and winds of more than 70km an hour have me feeling like I am living in an icy, screaming, whirlpool of snow and sand. It has been drifting in long snakes and strange dunes but the good news is that the wind actually blew all the snow out of one side of the driveway. Made shovelling much easier.
Now we are back to sun and although it is still pretty crispy outside, its a beautiful white world.

Long morning shadows

Photographers are drawn to the strange landscape. I would love to see how much better their
pictures are with the equipment that they bring.

For the last 6 weeks or so I have borrowed Christine's cat, Two (named for the number of lives she has already used up as she was found as a very small stray kitten on a busy highway. Also she is Christine's second cat). It has been comforting to have her sleep on the bed, touch my nose with hers in the morning, cuddle and purr until she starts demanding that I get up by batting at me with her paws. Her morning ritual is to run like a mad thing all over the house and then demand breakfast. She does the crazy rushing about at about 11pm too (who knows what gets into their little heads). In between she gets into things she knows shes not supposed to (behind the computer, under the bed, in the closet, on the mantelpiece), sleeps on the back of the couch or the chair and generally demands attention.

Very curious about the grandfather clock pendulum.

Two believes that she is more important than any old book, even Dance with Dragons. In fact she's
 more important than a computer, phone, tablet, newspaper, rug hooking, just about anything that I
could be doing that is not stroking her!

I am taking her back to Toronto this week and will miss her company. I suspect I may end up fostering a cat. Its nice to have something in the house to blame the strange noises on and to talk to. Hopefully I wont become a "crazy cat lady", as Christine fears.

One year later

I started this blog in January 2013 with the intent of providing a place for family and friends to access what George and I were doing when we were travelling. The previous year we had spent two and a half months travelling in Europe and sent daily e-mails with pictures to share our adventures. My hope was that this would be a better way of communicating. To that goal, it has proved to be an improvement and also, in some ways, less effective. It has also resulted in unanticipated benefits.
The direct e-mail technique resulted in the anticipated audience receiving a message whether they were interested or not. The onus was then on them to open or delete. The blog technique leaves it up to the intended audience to choose whether or not to seek out the blog to read. Some of my friends have opted for the best of both worlds; they receive the blog directly to their e-mail. Some have it as one of their "bookmarks" and check it periodically.
One of the unanticipated benefits has been that total strangers have had access to my pictures and text. One individual contacted me re the trip to Merida, Mexico, as he were going there this year. Another wanted to share one of the pictures of the Interclub that I had posted. It is gratifying to think that others are reading my blog and find some benefit in it. Sometimes I find myself taking pictures specifically for the blog, trying to find ways to pinpoint something of interest or provide the most information in one picture. The other benefit has been a personal one: This blog has become an online diary for me and a repository for my pictures and memories of trips and day to day life at Long Point. Since using a digital camera I find that I print far fewer pictures and can be up to a year (maybe longer, in truth) behind in putting any in a photo album or framed and up on the wall. But I know that some of them, at least, are on the blog and hopefully will always be there. Sometimes when publishing a blog post, after checking that it looks OK (and there are not any glaring typos), I will visit some past posts and relive those trips again.
So I will continue to blog and it has evolved into something that is more for me than for anyone else though I do hope that others enjoy it too.
Christmas and New Years have passed, the first ones without George, so they were difficult, and the beach and Lake at Long Point have been changing as winter takes hold. The following pictures document some of those changes.

This was one of George's pictures. He was often up for the sunrise and would tell me
that I had missed a good one when I got up hours later. This was taken when Long
Point had it's first snow of the season, 3rd week in November. Unfortunately I seem
to be seeing more sunrises lately.

A foggy, snowy morning, later that week. Note that there is no ice buildup
yet at the edge of the lake.

In this shot the ice is beginning to build up along the lake edge. Early December.

Cold weather and high winds start the "ice mountain" formations.

There are ice caves.

There are collections of peaks.

Gradually, with each high wind day, they form into mountain ranges.
 This picture was taken after a mid December thaw. One of the ranges had been
broken away by the waves and the rest had shrunk a little.

Today, January 1, 2014, it is cold and still. There is one small range at the edge of where
the beach would end and a larger one further out. There is also ice forming out in the lake.

After Christmas, my sister made the comment that when she looks out the window she feels she should be able to see seals, it's that kind of landscape. It's beautiful and rugged, but makes you glad to be inside.

Happy New Year to all who read this.

Boston - coast to the north

After a night in Boston we awoke to a lovely sunny, crisp morning and decided, rather than driving straight home, to take an extra day and explore the coast north of Boston. It's one of the great things about being retired, flexibility!

Beach with lifeguard station on the left.

There are some lovely communities within an easy commute of Boston with rugged shorelines, fishing ports and sandy beaches.

The coastline is a little like the Canadian Maritimes but much more built up, houses that may have started as cottages, summer homes, most are four season homes now, small towns that are quite close to each other and wonderful undulating roads that hug the coast.

You can just see Boston in the distance but this beach feels worlds away from that metropolis.

Not many people to be seen on the beaches even though it was a Sunday.

There were fishing boats still coming and going from the harbours and there was also a dive boat out with four divers down. I am very curious as to what they were doing, in a fishing channel in mid November.

Marblehead Lighthouse. Not as picturesque as some but had a historical plaque and it has an ancient and essential pedigree.

There are some massive and beautiful homes along this stretch of coast.

We stayed overnight in Keene, about halfway back to Canada. As usual we asked at the motel desk for a local diner or family style restaurant and were directed to Lindy's. This was everything a diner should be. It was just a block from a beautiful and pricey downtown area. It had booths or counter seats. The counter was grey, metal trimmed, Formica and the booths had reddish vinyl seats. The menu was not huge nor too small (sounds like the three bears doesn't it). The walls were steel with lots of windows on the booth side. Metal refrigerators and glass showcases (for the homemade goodies) were easily accessed behind the counter by the waitresses. George had Chicken fried steak, with mashed potatoes and gravy (it just looked like a mountain of white gravy when it came) and I had liver and onions with mixed veg (you know the kind, in little cubes). He had a pop and I had a coffee and it was about $15.
We had breakfast there the next day and overheard the priceless question "Would prefer genuine maple syrup or authentic artificial syrup with that?" (no, I want that artificial syrup that is not genuine). Full breakfast, unlimited strong coffee for 2, for less than $10. We started to discuss what actually constituted "a diner". Everything described above plus it can't have a liquor license, closes by 8pm but is open at 6am, has to have local specialities on the menu (sweet tea here) but overall needs to be basic, pleasant, cheap and full of locals.

Cruising - Cozumel and creatures

I actually have no photographs from Cozumel. It rained much of the time that we were there and although we got off the boat and walked along the sea front, it was all tourist shops and not of much interest to us. After returning to the ship for lunch we went back onto shore and found a large supermarket where we bought some products that I haven't found at home and that we had grown to love when we were in Merida: salsa verde and mole sauce.
So, in order to have some pictures in this post I will put some of the various creatures we saw on our travels.

Hard to tell but this is a frigate bird. There were lots of them around both in the ports and soaring around
the ship when we were out at sea. I tried on numerous occasions to get close up shots  but no success.

Cute little guy. No idea what he is.

Another frigate bird, still not a great shot.

One of the things that I love about the ocean is the life around the edge, in the tidal pools.

Pelican on a "fly by".

One of the many pictures of Iguana from all the islands. This one from Aruba
where we walked through a huge colony of them. This one had the most
dramatic colouring.

Somehow they seem to look very wise and refined. Until they scamper and you can't
really scamper in a wise and refined manner.

In Aruba. I think he is some kind of Jay. He was making a real meal out
of that cactus fruit.

What I don't have pictures of is the flock of Boobies (yes there is a bird called a Booby) that soared and fished around the ship when we were way out to sea. They spend most of their lives at sea and I had never seen one before so a flock was quite thrilling.
Also I saw 3 dolphins jumping across the bow wave. I love dolphins and was disappointed that no-one was up at the bow to share that experience with me. (or to add validity to the story - does a dolphin jump in the ocean if there is only one person to see it?)

We had another day at sea and then docked in Tampa and flew back to Boston. We really enjoyed our first cruise. It was a good compromise as George loves to have lots of people around, activities to do and socialising and I like to be able to sit in the sun and read, eat nice meals and not to have to lift a finger. We saw islands that we would have otherwise not seen and said that we would like to spend more time on Barbados and Curacao.

Cruising - Aruba

Coming into Aruba we were struck by two things; the large hotel section and the large industrial section. There were more than 20 cargo ships waiting to come into the port (we had noticed about 8 at Curacao, none at the other islands)

Hotel area. We learnt later it is along the best beaches and all the hotels are 5 star.

Industrial area.

Getting off the boat we walked out of the terminal and into a tourist shopping area though it was obviously not exclusively for the cruise ships as there were hotels, casinos and excursion operators there. We walked around a nice, clean marina and along a path in front of some hotels to a beach and then back.

There were Iguana of all different sizes and colours in the landscaped areas of the hotels.

And on the rocks by the ocean. Those of you who may have read my posts from Merida',
Mexico, know I have a thing for Iguana.

On getting back to the boat for lunch we discussed how we didn't have a real feel for the island so decided to take one of the 2 hour van tours being offered just outside the terminal area. We had a tour with 8 other people and saw most of the North end of the island.

George always had a thing for cacti so I have lots of pictures of Aruba's huge specimens.

We were surprised but Aruba turned out to be a very dry environment with scrub trees and cacti. The opposite shore to the cruise terminal was very rocky and rough with hardly any vegetation.

We were taken to a bridge of rock beside the ocean and could really see the effects of the pounding surf. The driver emphasized the importance of tourism to Aruba's economy and also talked about the difficulties in maintaining housing in the constant salt air.

Next stop was the lighthouse at the far North end of the island.

On the way to the lighthouse we passed an extensive, lush development surrounding a golf course. All for sale to tourists.

A lovely view from the restaurant beside the lighthouse, down towards the hotel zone.

The drive back to the cruise terminal was through the hotel zone. Beautiful beaches. Palm trees. Catamarans at anchor ready to take scuba and snorkelling excursions. Restaurants and shops as few of the hotels are all inclusive. It was a dramatic change from the natural simplicity of the native Aruba.
The ship left port in time for us to watch the sun go down but no dramatic pictures this time. The next day we were at sea and that evening we had our most expensive meal yet, in the Cagney's Steakhouse. George had a fabulous steak and I opted for the lobster and shrimp.

Sorry, we dived right into the food and the picture wasn't taken until we had half finished.

The next day we were in Cozumel.

Cruising - Curacao

After a day at sea we arrived at the Dutch Antilles and the island of Curacao (pronounced Kurasow). As usual the cruise dock is close to downtown but Curacao had done a better job than most in creating a very pleasant walk, (past the shops of course), through an old fort, across a floating bridge to the pretty, pastel downtown area.

On all the islands we were greeted by a pilot boat. The pilot jumped on
board (they opened a hatch just above water line) and guided us in. The reverse
occurred when we left.

Our first "selfie", just to experiment with the timer on the camera.

The shops, bars and restaurants inside the old fort at the entrance to the harbour.

Our first view of the floating bridge and downtown Willemstad.

Willemstad is a World Heritage Site and a lot of money has been spent on sprucing it up in the last 10 years. The results were well worth it. It is very attractive while still being very livable. We walked across the bridge and explored the ocean front and government buildings first.

Part of the government complex.

The old fortified walls are now inhabited by restaurants and bars with views along the coast. After walking through this area we headed back towards the harbour, through the back streets and came across what, I learned later, was the "floating market".

Small boats were tied up along a wharf just off the main waterway.

On the wharf beside the boats

On talking to one of the vendors we found out that these boats leave Venezuela (less than 35 miles away) every morning with their loads of fresh produce and fresh fish and set up on the wharf for local shopping. The fish are sold right off the boats and people were buying whole fresh fish, none of this plastic wrapped fillets on a Styrofoam tray.
It was a warm day (and the sun was over the yardarm) so we stopped at one of the pretty harbour side bars for a beer and I sketched one of the buildings.

While sitting there a boat needed to enter the harbour so the floating bridge was opened. It disengages at one end, is hinged at the other end and a motor pushes the bridge, on pontoons, to the side of the waterway. While it is open small ferries take pedestrians back and forth.

Half way there

Nearly closed again. The motor is run from in the little building.
The people on the bridge at the time get to go for the ride.

We went back to the ship for lunch, sun and siesta, dinner and then returned to Willemstad in the evening. This was the only island that we stayed on into the evening. We returned to the harbour and had another drink in the same area; people watching as it was a Saturday night and the place was hopping.

Downtown from the floating bridge.

We left Willemstad at about 11pm for the short hop to Aruba.

 I wrote this post a week ago and never got around to uploading it. It seems a life time ago as George died suddenly on November 27. I need to try and keep to familiar routines so plan on continuing to write on the blog though not sure how much travelling I will do for a while. This blog will be a constant reminder to me of how many wonderful times we had and what a great friend, husband and partner he was.