Good Day:

I know, I have used Hi Everyone since the start, but around here we almost always get greeted with “Good Day.” It is not “g’ day” like the Ausies say. But when we get way out in the province we are finding that we have to listen real keen-like to understand the Newfoundland dialect. They speak quickly and they put just a little different twist on their sentence structure. They use their own metaphors. One example we were shown a couple nights ago was ‘tin like an ‘erring. The translation was thin like a herring, meaning rather slender. Judy and I were at a museum today and asked the tour guide the cost of the tour. The answer came back as a fairly long response in a quiet Newfoundland accent. Judy and I looked at each other and shrugged. Neither one of us had understood a word of it. We eventually worked it out with her and were directed to the gift shop to purchase our tickets. Our tour would start as soon as we did that. I still don’t know exactly what she said the first time.

This tour was about a small population of aboriginal peoples that lived in Newfoundland at the time of the European colonization around 1750. They called themselves the Beothuks. Their encounter with the white people was very tragic, and they became extinct a few decades later. A major archeological dig was done on one of their villages, and they know a lot about their tools and diet. The neatest feature of the site, for me, was that one of the staff places small plastic marker tags on metal stakes and names the plants alongside the 1.5 kilometer long trail to the archeological site. We learned to identify wildflowers like Bunch Berries, Squash Berries, Heals All, Bright Eyes, Bottle Brush, Indian Pipe and two varieties of wild blueberry.

One of my favorite sayings about some of the remote locations that we have visited is, “It is not the end of the Earth, but you can see it from here!” Well today we were there and we saw it. This is according to the 2005 Visitors Guide to the Kittiwake Coast, published by the Kittiwake Coast Tourism Association. I am reading from the section about Fogo Island. I am quoting, “This significant landmark is considered to be one of the ‘Four Corners of the Earth’ by the Flat Earth Society.” Now we were just up at the Long Point Lighthouse on Twillingate Island. While we were there trying to spot some whales or icebergs one of the local residents pointed out Fogo Island about ten miles away. So there you have it. We was there and we seed it.

Tonight we are camped in the tiny village of Crow Head. We have reservations to a dinner theater. After the show we will stay right here in the Community Center parking lot overnight. What a treat, “Dinner out of roast Atlantic salmon, local theatre attraction and then walk 30 feet home.” I will tag on a few lines after we get home and give you the roving critic’s review of the performance.

It is several hours later and Judy’s comment after the show was, “What a hoot.” We started out with a nice salmon dinner served by the cast and a couple extra helpers. After supper there was a rip roaring show that alternated between music and comedy skits. The music was often of Irish origin. The lead player and singer, Reg Stucky, played accordion, guitar, banjo and what he called the ‘Ugly Stick.’ This Ugly Stick was a four foot broom handle with a boot on the bottom, side arms made of bottle caps arranged like tambourine castanets and a doll’s torso and head mounted on the top.

The skits were hilarious take-offs on Newfi life. One skit was a staged Newfi wedding. The characters were all sawed off and short. That is they were really on their knees and were using their hands to portray their feet. After the bride and groom prepared to leave to their wedded bliss the preacher instructed them. “The first year the man does all the talking and the woman listens. The second year the woman does all the talking and the man listens. The third year you both talk and the neighbors all listen.”

We were also instructed in some typical Newfoundland sayings. If something is “underside before” it is inside out.

In closing, if you are in the neighborhood, make it a point to stop in for the Crow Head “All Around the Circle Dinner Theater.”

Now we once again say bye for now and lots of love from Gary and Judy.