A Day at the Beach

August has sped by and I cannot believe that it is Labour Day weekend already. I have been a little busy, so forgive the lack of posting please. The upside is that I have lots to write about.
Two weekends ago (Already!) I dragged the studyboy to Middle Cove Beach Provincial Park for the 7th Annual Clay Studio Beach Firing and Pottery Sale. This has been months in the planning, and we were incredibly lucky to schedule it on the only day that happened to be sunny and warm in a three week period. That Saturday was a glorious day, and the troops assembled early at the studio to load boxes of bisque fired pots, wood chips, firewood, food and tools into lots of trucks to make the trek out to the beach for the day.








The beach fire is a fund raiser for the studio, where we build a large wood bonfire over a pit full of pottery and fire pots in a very primitive way; then the resulting pots are sold to people as they are unloaded from the fire.
This was a sort of anniversary for studyboy and I as we went to the beach fire as onlookers last year on our first weekend in NL. This time we weren't onlooking though we were working. Digging, carrying, and wrapping up pots in seaweed and newsprint to create nifty effects on the pots. Once the fire was lit though, we had hours to sit and chat, eat and wade in the surf until the pots were cool enough to handle and polish for selling. The day was so nice that many families were there and they were very happy to buy our wares. The pottery was all donated by studio members, who also volunteered their time to be there that day.

Tea in the Crypt

Monday afternoon, after lunch, we again braved the fog and drizzle to explore the Anglican Cathedral of St. John the Baptist. That's right, both the Anglican and Catholic Cathedrals are named for St. John. Hardly surprising considering the city was named for him.
The Anglican Cathedral is a Gothic Revival building, and this is the second attempt at a stone church on this site; all but the walls and one window of the original burned in the 1898 fire. We spent some time going through with a tour guide and getting the details of the windows and architecture and history of the parish. It was more interesting than your average church tour because Don and Betty know a lot about the Church of England, and so those details were all the more appreciated. Our tour guide was most impressed.
Personally, I've always liked the Gothic style more than any other, so I was happily snapping photos of the amazing carvings and windows all the while. This is the carved Reredos behind the altar, it is St George standing on his dragon and St Andrew on the right.
More information and pictures of this Cathedral can be seen on their website here.
















You can also have Tea in the Crypt at the Anglican Cathedral. Served by the volunteer ladies of the parish. It was yummy. No dead bishops here.

At the Basilica - You can see a pin drop.

This morning we toured the Basilica of St. John the Baptist. It looks large from the outside (the only view I've ever bothered to get in the last 12 months) but it is positively huge on the inside. It just keeps going and going. It holds 600 people, has 2 organs with a total of over 4000 pipes, 8 double confessionals and a separate smaller chapel named the Marion chapel. We had a very good tour guide who even took us into the crypt under the alter to see the dead bishops.
The Basilica has 65 stained glass windows like this one. Made in France, England and Ireland. This one is from England.





















and a beautifully plastered and painted ceiling. The round bit projects down into the room and is called a Pin Drop. For more pictures and information about the basilica, you can see their virtual tour here.

Our guide also suggested we visit the Sisters of the Presentation convent next door to see this marble bust of the Veiled Virgin by Italian master Giovanni Strazza.This is believe it or not, is all carved in marble, although while standing only a few inches from the protective case it looked just like someone had draped a cloth veil over the bust.

Walk the Waterfront

The weather has not been co-operating with our holiday this week. On Thursday we attempted to visit Signal Hill, but it was rainy and foggy and the view was non-existent.
On Saturday we visited Lester's Farm Market and then continued on driving to Bay Bulls and Witless Bay for the scenery. But the day was a little drizzly. We had lunch at the Irish Loop cafe in Witless bay and came back to town.
Today though we did manage to get a break in the drizzle long enough to walk the waterfront and Water St. We also attempted to tour the Anglican Cathedral, but I guess Anglicans don't work on Sunday because it was closed.
Betty, Peter and Don, not looking at Signal Hill.

Regatta Day -Finally

The sun finally peaked through enough for the regatta to go ahead on Friday. Our visitors were suffering a little from jet lag and we managed to make it out of the house bright and early at noon. St. John's metrobus runs special shuttles to Quidi Vidi all day, so we parked at Memorial and caught a ride. The regatta takes a three hour lunch break, so we wandered around the concession stands eating all the wrong things until the races resumed at 3pm.
This is the one race we watched before catching the shuttle back again. Don't ask me which race or who won, as far as I'm concerned, the Regatta is about watching throngs of people and eating fattening food.

Regatta Day - Sort Of

The first Wednesday of August is the Annual Royal St. John's Regatta Day. Last year, it was our first full day here, because that Wednesday was the 1 st of August. The Regatta is a holiday in the St. John's area, everything is closed, including the nursery I work at in Portugal Cove. It is another pretend holiday where no-one goes to work but there isn't any holiday pay.
The regatta is a rowing regatta held at Quidi Vidi Lake (usually pronounced Kitty Viddie, but some posh people say Kwai-da Vy-da) Because the boats they use are tippy, the regatta is postponed if the weather is too windy 'on the pond' or if it is too cold and wet for the food vendors to make any money. The morning of the regatta, the PTB meet at the rowing club to determine if the races will go ahead or not, and then release their decision to the media. The whole city listens to the morning radio programmes to find out if they can sleep in or have to go to work as usual. Today the race was postponed (as it was last year) officially due to wind but really because it is cold, wet and rainy. In fact today was day 10 of RDF (rain drizzle fog).
This year is the 190th year for the Regatta, and about the 30th time it has been postponed in that history. There is some concern that it will be postponed again tomorrow morning because of weather and actually won't go ahead until Friday. The radio announcer this morning asked if it had ever run on a Friday, the Chair of the Organising committe didn't think so, but callers later remembered in 1969 and once in the 50's that it had run on a Friday. They remember being given dispensation from the priest to be able to go.
I was off today anyway, on my first day of holiday. Studyboy's parental units arrive late tonight for a visit, and I was glad of the non-holiday to be able to run errands and buy groceries before their arrival. Also, now we will be able to show them a true St John's tradition, "the oldest sporting event in North America."