Lovely Day in Flatrock, Ellen!

Thursday past we had our first snow storm of the season. We even had a snow day at work! I'm always amazed at the patterns that snow storms make on the house windows and always take pictures of it so I can remember how it looked. Of course, with snow storms comes snowblowing and shovelling. We did our share of that the other day (after we bought new shovels because we can't find the old one). We've had a melting day (my term for above freezing in winter) since Thursday, so some of the snow is gone now. We waited a couple of days after the snow fall before taking Ellen out. This is her first winter in Newfoundland and we didn't want to scare her by taking her out in a snow storm (even though it wasn't that stormy - just slippery on the roads).

Today was pretty nice. Around 0 degrees C and not much wind - a great Ellen day! I had another cowl finished for a Christmas present so off we went to Flatrock. The dandy red tractor you'll see below was in someone's yard on the way to Flatrock. Couldn't resist getting a snap. The Catholic Church at Flatrock is home to Our Lady of Lourdes Grotto. This is a famous place that sees lots of tourists every year, so much so that the Pope came to visit here in 1984. I think they have some outdoor services there in summer.

After taking some photos of the Grotto to show you, we went across the road so that Ellen could do her modelling near the ocean. The cowl Ellen is modelling is made from Moda Dea Dream yarn (from the stash) mixed with Berlini Ladder Ribbon Glitter (new this year!). This cowl was knit in the round with the ribbon glitter used every fourth round in a YO K2tog round to make the holes. It's really soft and not itchy.

When Ellen finished modelling, we moved through the town and took a bunch of pictures near the ocean. Lots of sea birds that flew away when I tried to take their picture. They all moved over a couple of cliffs! Pretty nippy on the fingers there today while I was waiting for the right size waves. You have to be a bit careful when taking pictures of waves. Sometimes I get lost in thought and then when I look down and the waves are right at my feet. If the tide is coming in, the waves sneak up on you! Today, I was standing waiting for a big wave but could hear water running. When I looked down I was standing in the middle of a river that was flowing under the beach. Walking along the beach I didn't even notice it. 

Today at Flatrock I got that "Christmas feeling".  It happens every year sometime during Fall. It's a nice quiet feeling and I can almost smell Christmas in the air. Ellen is not accustomed to all this "feeling" stuff but she's getting in the groove for Christmas just the same. Good thing. We still have lots of knitting and modelling to do!

Small sea snails stick to the rocks