Sunday, June 12 - We went to the kitchen party last night instead of Friday, as it was raining and blowing something fierce our first night here. Gail got 'screeched in' last night, and loved it. She was in the mood, and it was with a pretty good group at the Anchor Pub, so she now has her certificate proudly displayed in the r.v. My turn will come. She and a dozen others had to sing a little line of a song, read the pledge, dance a jig, kiss the cod, and read another pledge at the end. They do it up proud at the Anchor Pub.

 Lots of good music, some dancing, and stories from the host musician. Everyone there was from west of the Maritimes, plus one Irish couple. The audience was a little shy at first, but once the host handed out noisemakers (ugly sticks, maraccas, spoons, etc.) everyone got into it. A good time, so if you're ever in Rocky Harbour, it's a good evening to be takin' in.

Yesterday was a typical Newfoundland day, weather-wise. We were surprised to awaken to a clear blue sky, and moderate temps. We were soon off to do the 10 km hike into Bakers Brook Falls, and had a fine walk. No moose, but just a lovely area through a lot of boggy ground, so neat little flowers to study, and a lot of boardwalk to negotiate. The end result is a beautiful water fall, two tiered, roaring along in a very full river being fed by snowmelt. We lunched, then headed back, doing the Little Pond loop to add another couple of kms to the walk.

By then, the clouds had rolled in, and the temp started to drop, this being around 1:00 pm. We got back to the van to noticeably cooled air, so instead of hiking up a rather steep Berry Hill, which we'd done last time we were here, we went to the Lobster Cove Head lighthouse. It's a delightful area, as in addition to the interesting displays inside the lighthouse, there's good wanderin' to be had around the cliffside grounds, through the tuckamore growth. Inside, the two lovely young park hostesses decided a Newfie woman from up north and I should do some Mummer stuff. So they dressed us up, me in a dress, a gauzy hood over me head, and a pink bra, she in like costume, and we danced while the girls sang a Newfoundland song or two. Gail took photos, not really believing old Stoney would submit to such an event. Good for some laughs.

By evening the skies had cleared somewhat, the wind came up, and the temperature shot back up to about 18C. The air was warm and moist as we hiked down to the Kitchen Party. And still was as we hiked back up (our r.v. park is about a km from downtown, up a fairly steep street). This morning, the sky is blueblueblue, and the temp is 11C, which is about the best it'll get. Windy, which may prevent our scheduled boat trip into the fjord at Western Brook Pond. Hope not, as it's a beautiful area we'd love to see. We'll let you know. More later. Stay tuned.