My parents bought a cottage north of Toronto the year I was born, so my early life was comprised of weekends driving to the cottage, and entire summers spent there with my mother and younger sister, with Dad driving back-and-forth every week to work.

The highlight of those car rides of approximately 2-1/2 hours both ways was getting close to the cottage, turning that second-last curve where the road split into servicing the western and eastern cottages, past the entrance to the Nicholson cottage, to a gap in the trees, when my sister and I would vie to be first to shout out, “I see the lake!”

For the past two days, since early Wednesday morning, I have been travelling from Bequia, my winter home, back to our new house (since last September! See Half an hour later in Newfoundland) in St. Bride’s. This entailed a small plane flight from Bequia to Barbados, then a big plane flight later in the afternoon to Toronto (arriving there amidst so many people and far too much confusion – there’s a government workers’ strike going on in Canada) was like being shell-shocked, let me tell ya, after having spent the past 6 months sitting on my Bequia verandah!). I stayed in a hotel overnight and caught a mid-morning flight to St. John’s.

I had made arrangements with Wayne at Cape Shore Taxi to meet me at the airport, and we set out driving to St. Bride’s, two hours away. Wayne had some deliveries to make along the way, which was alright by me as I just took in all the lovely scenery (and COMPLETE LACK of any traffic on the Trans Canada Highway – a relief after having ridden in a shuttle bus to and from the hotel in Toronto!). There was a lot of snow still on the ground, and another snowstorm forecast for today in the St. John’s area of the peninsula, but Wayne and I both remarked at how little remaining snow there was the closer we got to St. Bride’s. And there’s none here at all. We took the Branch road into town, past the Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Reserve (closed for the season) and came towards St. Brides from the southeast. I sat up in my seat and began scanning the hills and roads in the near distance, and surprised Wayne when I shouted, “I see my house!”

And there it was, sure enough, like a beacon to me, just as the lake at our cottage had always been, heralding days and weeks and months to come of good times, relaxation, catching up with Newfoundland friends, as well as lots of reading and writing! I feel energized getting back here again!

Thanks to Dominique Hurley for creating this video set in and around St. Bride’s!

I still have yet to pick up my car (I was told the storage unit was snowed in, but I’m not so sure that’s the actual reason …) and the landline phone needs to be reconnected, although the internet was ready immediately once I’d plugged in the modem. After Wayne drove away, my first visitor was our neighbour Mike with the spare set of keys to the house. He had been looking after the place for us over the winter and had turned on the water for me this past week. On the way into town, we stopped at the Manning Convenience Store to get a few things to tide me over, so I got to say hello to Bride there. And I’ve heard from Sharon the librarian already who will come over today to say hello and bring me my mail.

I’ve had a quick look around the inside of the house already and it seems to have fared well over the winter. As everyone here has said, “You’ve got a good solid house there, so you won’t be worrying about anything happening to it with the weather.” It is, after all, over 100 years old and is still standing proud. I’ve only found a couple of dead flies on the floor and was just remarking to myself that there is not a speck of dust on anything (although perhaps I should put on my glasses and take a closer look.). Today will be a day of unpacking, putting things in their place, and taking stock of what I need to do and buy to really be able to settle in and start living here again. Dennis arrives in two weeks, so I can leave any of the heavy lifting and repairs to him – he is a property manager!

My happy place! At the kitchen table, with a full cup of coffee and computer, looking out windows to the east and west!

I had a great sleep last night after two anxious days of travel and little sleep at all (I did, however, manage to finish reading one book on my Kindle and completely read a print book during the flights) so I was wide awake by 4:30 a.m. here, listening to the wind and rain … and a sound I’d heard a few times the evening before that was like someone slamming a car door. While I was sitting in the kitchen last night, I thought someone had driven up to the back of the house and slammed their door, but there was never anyone there when I checked, so I put it down to sounds travelling over from the neighbours’ house, and I went to bed. When I heard it though at 4:30, and the sound was quite regular then, I began to think there was something in the attic (not sure if we even have one), or if it was a moose knocking up against the side of the house, because the entire house shook with every SLAM! Or … maybe, I began thinking, it was the evil fairies!!! But Patricia, who should know, tells me there’s no such thing, even though I’ve heard tell of them myself from various neighbours in St. Bride’s … So I got out of bed and very bravely came downstairs to check out what was going on, fairies or not! Besides, I had to use the facilities and they are on the main floor of the house. I quickly discovered that the slamming sound was coming from the green storm door I had forgotten to secure after opening it to get inside the house the evening before. Phew! Thank goodness, no evil fairies to contend with … yet.

By the way, lest you think I’m crazy listening to the locals and their talk of fairies, our house on Bequia is built close to what was locally know as “Jumbie Gutter” and we were told by reliable sources living on Bequia at the time, Jim and Sheena Johnston, that there was good reason for that name. They had a dog at the time named Jumbie, so they should have known, I thought. (Jumbie is the local word for ghost – “a spirit of a dead person, typically an evil one”.)

And, thanks to Calvin Manning for providing me with a new soundtrack for my life here in St. Bride’s! Have a listen to the new-to-me Newfoundland group, Rum Ragged. Just like in the video, the kettle is on for tea (or in my case coffee) and the door is always open. You’re welcome to come visit me in my happy place, even if it’s just via the internet. I’ll be here until November!