Signal Hill, St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador

Lori and I went out for breakfast downtown on Sunday and took a drive up Signal Hill.

Panoramas always look better if you click to enlarge them

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

And now for something completely different...

Lori contemplating supper. Amanda contemplating evil.

Photo Credit: Tim Rast

Last Day Find

There is a tradition in archaeology of finding something good, but complicating, on the final day of digging.  Lori found a point with a drilled hole in the last tent ring on the last site on the last day of excavating.  It looks like a lance or arrow head and is made from a dense organic material, most likely ivory or bone.

The point came out of the ground where she is working and the day before she collected a good charcoal sample from the hearth box in front of her.  Hopefully in a few months, we'll know exactly how old the point, tent ring and site are from a radiocarbon date on that charcoal.

 

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Popping out of the ground

Hey, Lori!

Look, a biface fragment made from the same slate as all those flakes we've been finding...

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year - we'll see you all in 2013!

Photo Credit: Tim Rast

Happy Ten Years Lori!

Sometimes we can even work together, which I hear is rare.  This photo was taken last summer in Nunavut.

Photo Credit: Eric John Penny

Craft Council AGM Weekend

A going away vest!

This past weekend was the Craft Council of Newfoundland and Labrador's Annual General Meeting and get together weekend in St. John's.  There were studio tours on Friday, a day long board meeting and presentations on Saturday and the members Annual General Meeting on Sunday.  This was my last AGM for a while as I stepped off of all of the committees that I was on.  Its a great organization, but I need a bit of a break to focus on other areas for a couple years.

'Robot Contemplates Flight' Mug from Blue Dragon Clay

Maaike at the Clay Studio Fundraiser

We paused Saturday's board meeting to attend a Graduation Exhibit at the Anna Templeton Centre and a Clay Studio fundraiser at the A1C Gallery.  At the fundraiser, I picked up a Robot mug from Maaike Charron from Blue Dragon Clay.   I especially like how big and light the mug is.  For Lori, I picked up a ceramic chimp.  The traditional gift for 9 years is pottery and since she was on the road during our anniversary last week it seemed like I should bring something home.  Unfortunately, I didn't get the name of the maker - but hopefully someone who sees this can fill us in.

Ceramic chimp on the wall

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Shoal Harbour Holidays

Shoal Harbour Manor

We're back from Christmas and New Years at the cabin.  The Cabin this year was Shoal Harbour Manor in Shoal Harbour, about 2 hours outside of St. John's.    Our cabins seem to get bigger every year.

Festive!

It was a good trip, with lots of reading, feasting and playing games.  The boys were in charge of purchasing the food and planning the meals this year, so that went very smoothly.  We had traditional Christmas Eve Nachos, Christmas Lasagna, and New Year's Tacos.  Of course the New Year's Tacos were accompanied by two pitchers of Lori's New Year's Margaritas and followed by Elaine getting out the clippers and shearing John and I with festive 2011 mohawks.

The sitting room

After the mohawk came the neck tattoo

Nuts were popular with everyone

Shoal Harbour Crow

A walk in the woods

I'd hoped for snow, but we got spring instead.

The crows would escort every other bird off the property.

Breakfast in the kitchen/sun room

Shoal Harbour manor entrance

A very mild holiday for this time of year

Strategizing over Agricola in the dining room

Fireworks over the harbour

Happy New Year!

Where is the snow?

Photo Credits:
1, 5-16: Tim Rast
2-3: Lori White
4: Elaine Anton

You're welcome! We had fun, too!

These are some of the thank you cards that Lori and I got from our neice's Grade Four class after we visited them earlier this fall.  What a great bunch of kids!

Photo Credits: Tim Rast

Irish Loop in the Fog

Where are you caribou? (hat by Spindrift)

Lori and I went for a drive south of St. John's around the Irish Loop yesterday.  It was very drizzly and foggy.  I need some caribou bones and antlers, but I've also got it in my head that I want to see some live caribou.  Woodland Caribou are found throughout Newfoundland and Labrador, although the numbers of animals in all the herds has been declining sharply lately.  We know historically that caribou herds shrink and contract on a 60-100 year cycle, but its still a little disconcerting to witness the crash in numbers.  Caribou in Newfoundland have had the added pressure of a parasitic roundworm, that came to the Island when Sir Wilfred Grenfell attempted to introduce European reindeer a century ago.

We found caribou lichen and fog

I've had good luck in the past seeing caribou around Trepassey and St. Shott's on the southern tip of the Avalon Peninsula, but we didn't see any this time.  At this time of year, they may be farther inland in the Avalon Wilderness Reserve.  It was also a very foggy day and with the dip in numbers in the herd, I guess the odds were against us.  If they were more than 100 feet from the road, they would have been invisible in the fog.  When we asked at a restaurant in Trepassey about caribou, we were told that they hadn't been seen in the area lately. 

Harbour seal hanging out in Trepassey

Still, we did see some birds, including lots of big fat Rock Ptarmigan (partridge) and a harbour seal basking on a rock in the harbour at Trepassey.  The seal made the trip worthwhile - I haven't seen a harbour seal in years.  It also makes me want to take a trip into the Avalon Wilderness Reserve. 

The biggest group of Rock Ptarmigan that we saw.

Rock Ptarmigan are also known as Partridge in Newfoundland

When a bit of snow comes these guys will be pretty much invisible.

I guess the heather doesn't know its December

The Cape Pine Lighthouse - built in 1851 and originally powered by 16 whale oil lamps.

After fruitlessly searching for caribou all morning, Lori was psyched about what the afternoon would bring!

My Favourite!

Harbour seal.  There's something odd about that dark spot on his back.  Maybe its a scar?

I can't believe those rocks are comfortable, but he seemed pretty content.

You can see why they're called harbour seals.  He was hanging out deep in the harbour, at the mouth of a river flowing through Trepassey.  We parked on the bridge to photograph him.

This is the view from the other side of the bridge in Trepassey where we saw the seal.  Its the old bridge.

Photo Credits:
1-9, 11, 12, 14: Tim Rast
10, 13: Lori White