Our time down on the shore was HOT. We were completely shocked at the temperatures - but also seriously pleased. Although this past week has taught us that we might want to outwardly voice our pleasures more than our displeasures. It seems that the Universe heard the little bit of whining we did about the heat that day we took the unexpectedly long hike to the iceberg crash.
The response has been a pretty solid week of RDF (Rain, Drizzle, Fog) and some unbelievably cold days hovering in the near or definitely freezing range.
In that time we've had a few days where we just drove and looked around, attempted to work on our cold weather endurance by getting out for as long as we can tolerate or spent some time at the World of Wally relaxing and catching up with the 'real world'.
In the interest of catching up, here are some scenic shots and short tales we'd like to share.
You did not seriously think you had seen the last of the iceberg shots, did you?!
Loved these 'twins' we spotted one day. These people must really dislike their view!
Enjoyed seeing the icebergs just on the horizon in this one.
This sort of reminded us of a Slab City art installation.
Story interlude...
Although we haven't had any long encounters with really strongly accented Newfies, we have had a few short ones and some fun with translations. In the first few days we would just look at each other and comment that we were grasping about every fourth word or so and drew our conclusions from context. As time went on, we have each done well and seem to trade off days of understanding what is being said to us.
On one such day we pulled into a gas station and the guy came out waving his hands at us and mouthing that he had no gas. We started to back up but he came up to talk to us. He confirmed that we had correctly read his lips and he did indeed have no gas but that the supplier was on route. He then started talking in a heavy accent and spoke something that caused Nicole to glaze over and Darlene to crack up.
Typically, Nicole is the one to understand and translate for Darlene. So, since Darlene was laughing, Nicole wasn't quite sure what to think.
As we drove off, Nicole asked Darlene what they guy was saying about "bears" and what they had to do with "gas". Darlene laughed and informed her that what he had actually said was, "It's embarrassing, right? (referring to his gas station not having any gas) It's like being a Pub without a Beer."
How cute is it that they put galoshes on him? So, cute!
So, we've told you that we sometimes have trouble picking up on the strong accent and local language. What we didn't expect is what happened when an older gentleman on an ATV stopped us to chat. We had driven down to a particular area where we heard there were good shorebird sightings. When Nicole told him that we were looking for shorebirds his response was, "Oh, you should have been here last month. You're a bit late. They've all started to melt." We never expected that we'd be misunderstood but I guess it does go both ways.
Since this encounter, we can honestly say that this mix-up is now a regular part of our conversations. Nicole will say "There's a black bird." Darlene will respond "That's impossible. There aren't black ones. I thought they were all white." Darlene will say "Look at that berg floating there just past the boat." Nicole will say "I have no idea what you are talking about there are no birds there at all."
No, we aren't mocking our conversation with this guy. It is really something that happens regularly now. For some reason, we do not correctly hear the two words anymore. Too funny.
Loved the little 'houses' on this house.
More to come as we get caught up and behind all at the same time...