Busy Times, Ellen!

Ever get a bunch of things done, but nothing really finished? That's the situation I find myself in lately.

I'm knitting children's sweaters to sell for Christmas and have a few done, but some are being blocked (not quite dry), others are waiting on buttons and another is half finished.  I have another pattern almost finished for a pocket scarf and brim hat, but haven't had the chance to finish writing and editing it. 

I do have some pictures to show you though. When Ange and Blair were here, of course we had to go to the Ferryland Picnic! Alana, Ange, Blair and I went. It was foggy and windy but we ate outside anyway just for the fun of it!

Then when Ange and Blair left, Cooper came to stay for a week. So, needless to say, I've had a constant helper with everything that I do when he's around. :-) Ellen is not even afraid of him anymore. He just ignores her now.

I'm just doing a quick post today so you won't think I fell off the face of the earth. Will be back again as soon as I get a few projects completed.

Alana in our picnic spot out of the wind.

Seagulls hanging out in the fog.

Inukshuk

Salty splash!

Kelp flower under water in a tidal pool.

Blair and Ange

Field of high grass on the walk back to the car.

Cooper keeping an eye on the street! :-)
I took his attention for a brief moment.

Another Iceberg, Ellen!

As soon as we arrived home last week, a friend of ours called from Ferryland to say that there was a big iceberg grounded up there and that he had thought about me and figured I would want to know so we could go take some pictures. How thoughtful is that!

It's been raining on and off here all week, but Wednesday afternoon the weather cleared so we headed to Ferryland around 4:30. We did strike a few fog patches on our way, but it was a beautiful day there when we arrived.

We got a few snaps of the berg from different locations in the town. My love for old fences is evident here.  :-)

Looks like they are replacing the breakwater

Let's Go Iceberg Hunting, Ellen!

John suggested it, I readily agreed and Ellen was delighted. She had never seen an iceberg until Friday. We'd heard through the grapevine that there were icebergs on the move so we decided to go on a hunt up the Southern Shore Highway as far as Ferryland. We did find two small icebergs: one in Witless Bay on the way to Ferryland and another in Tors Cove when on the way home, so Ellen did finally get to see icebergs. Yay!

The summer sweater that Ellen is modelling is being hand knit with Knit Picks Shine Worsted. It's 60% pima cotton, 40% modal. It was so windy out on the cliff near the iceberg that I had to use a knitting needle as a shawl pin just to keep the sweater on Ellen. John to the rescue again! He kept Ellen upright while I grabbed a few quick shots. We thought about doing the photo shoot in a sheltered area, but Ellen wanted the iceberg in the background. We thought that would make for a better story so we went along with it.  :-)

We also got a few Doggie Paparazzi shots, came across a section of the East Coast Trail, got a few good deep breaths of Atlantic Ocean air in our lungs and let the wind blow through our hair (and through the sweater that Ellen modelled!) Successful day for sure!

Happy Easter everyone!

Iceberg at Witless Bay

Ferryland

Section of the East Coast Trail at Ferryland

Ferryland (off the main road - looking left)

Ferryland (off the main road - looking right)

Ferryland Lighthouse in the distance

This dog looked like he had been for a swim. He's doing 'the shake' here.

Rolling in the grass to dry off

I got fairly close to him and he completely ignored me and went about drying himself.

You can see the Lighthouse to the right. The road going up the hill leads to the Lighthouse.
We go there for picnics in summertime.

Tors Cove iceberg

This photo reminds me of the Newfoundland & Labrador Tourism ads where
they show people having fun near the sea.

The only reason for including this picture is because I love old fences and pathways.

Ellen's first iceberg experience

The zoom lens helps us get a little closer

Looking toward the land on the way back to the truck with Ellen

Too Cold For a Picnic, Ellen!

We've been threatening to take a run to Ferryland (about 71 kms from our house) for a few weeks and today finally presented the opportunity. It was kind of cloudy when we started out, but the bright parts of the sky seemed to be in the general direction of Ferryland.  It was -3C (wind chill made it a lot colder) and the windsheild wipers would only wipe the top and bottom parts of the windsheild. With a little heat and John's help, we got that straightened out and off we went.

Ellen was pretty excited about going to Ferryland because in the summer that's the home of the Lighthouse Picnics. She's heard me speak of Ferryland and the picnic a few times and was anxious to see for herself. Lighthouse Picnics is closed for the season now, but you can still drive to the parking lot. There is a fifteen minute walk from the parking lot to the lighthouse.  In summer, when you arrive at the lighthouse, you can place your order for a picnic. The staff will give you a flag and a picnic-blanket. You can choose a place to sit anywhere near the lighthouse and the staff will bring your picnic to you. It's always fresh and always homemade, right down to the lemonade! I've included a few summer shots from the last time we went to Lighthouse Picnics so you can see how beautiful it is in summer.

We decided not to do that walk to the lighthouse today because there would not be a yummy picnic at the other end and the tops of my fingers were stinging just taking a couple of shots of Ellen. Again today, Ellen was thankful for John's assistance to keep her out of the cold Atlantic.

Ellen is modelling the beginning of a vest for me. It's machine knit from Blue Sky Alpacas Alpaca Silk and the trim will be completed with Artyarns Beaded Beaded Silk. It was intended to be a round neck undershirt, but seeing I was going to run out of yarn, I had to make some last minute changes! So, it's a vest now.  :-)

At Ferryland there are a few breakwaters erected around the town. Even though the ocean was calm today, by the look of a section of the road on the way to the lighthouse and how it was washed out, it looks like the breakwater is indeed necessary. After doing the quick windy photo shoot with Ellen I decided that the rest of the photos would have to be taken on lower ground, so we hung out around the beaches for the rest of the day.

The second beach we visited today was so quiet and peaceful (and a lot warmer!).  I stayed there a long time taking pictures of seabirds, rocks, rusty things on the beach, waves, kelp and the lighthouse from a distance. Good for the soul.

On our excursions, we always wish we'd see a moose. We never see moose, despite the fact that there are reports of them being all over the place! Today we saw sheep. I said hello and asked if one of them would like to come home with us. They said Naaaaa. Ha ha!