Sun. Oct. 10/2010-White Point-Liverpool

No travel worth reporting today folks other than to tell you we headed into Liverpool (eight minutes drive away), to go to church.  We scooted into the town and headed for the first church we saw.  It was the local Baptist Church.  We were welcomed warmly at the doors and ushered in.  Five of the six of us were originally Baptists back in Wales,  one was an Anglican.  Four  still are active church goers, and I joined the Anglican Church to worship with Cynthia.  This is now where my heart lies.  However, on this occasion, none of us cared where we went, as we all have the same Jewish carpenter boss, Jesus. The folks at the Baptist church made us feel part of their family.  The singing was robust and the Pastor, Steve, preached a good sermon.

 

Pastor Steve

 

It was a delight to be part of a group singing praises to the Lord and it reminded me of how I missed our own little church at Berwick in Comox.

Once the service was over and we’d said goodbye to the congregation, we headed to the local Tim Hortons for lunch.  As usual, the food was great and we just beat the rush.  The drive-in was soon packed and the seating room was limited.  We ate fairly quickly and made room for someone else.  As we checked our watches the men decided there probably wouldn’t be time for us to help with the shopping before we had to be at the golf course for our final game (well my final game), before leaving White Point for home.  I gave Cynthia the keys to our car and clambered aboard Dilwyn’s vehicle with him and Barrie.  We hit the road and got back to the cottage to change.

Soon, we were in the pro shop at White Point chatting to Dave the Pro and getting our green fees sorted out.  Dave was brilliant with us, once again.  I got on the course for my usual rate of $20.00 and this time Dil and Barrie did too, for Dave didn’t even charge them for the club rentals or the carts.  What a club professional this guy is.  He is obviously loved by all the course members and is such a vital person with energy to burn.  What an asset this guy must be to his club.

The game we had was just great.  We basically had the course to ourselves.  The wind howled, the sun shone and the light was clear as crystal.  This course setting is truly magnificent.  Wherever we looked, spectacular views blessed our eyes.

Eventually we finished and headed home.  We were then into helping with the dinner.  The three Amigos got cracking with the BBQ and got the meat done.  The veggies were done by the ladies so between us we had a cracking meal.

Now, we have a relaxing evening ahead of us.  The log fire is crackling away in the hearth, thanks to Barrie our resident pyro.  The wine is flowing on our last night here.  What a perfect way to spend your last few holiday hours together with people you love.

Tomorrow, we will pack our bags very quickly in the morning, stuff as much as we can into the golf bag and head for Halifax.  We have reserved an hotel room close to the airport.  From us to you, much love and God bless.

Thurs. Oct. 07/2010-White Point To Shelburne And Back

Guess what’s coming first folks?  Right again…the map of the day.  Today, under grey and overcast skies we hit the road to Shelburne and, after a period of time there, came home.  Though the weather was not the best, it was certainly far from being bad.  It was a typical Pooh blustery day.

The 60 Km drive took us about 50 minutes until we left the highway and entered this lovely town.  Folks, if you like beautiful old buildings and have an interest in the past, then you will love Shelburne and its people. As we rolled into town and hit the main street, we spotted a sign which told us we were about to enter Historic Dock St., one of the oldest parts of the town.

 

Entering Dock St, Shelburne

 

We parked the cars and set off on foot along this street which paralleled the ocean. First stop along the way was at the Beandeck cafe to get tea for the Taffs and coffee for us.

 

At the Beandeck cafe

 

The coffee was good and the people who served it even better. They made us feel so welcome. Outside the cafe was a giant Cape Cod chair. In front of the chair was an empty milk crate which was obviously placed there to enable fools like us to get up into the chair’s welcoming arms. The three amigos obliged. In fact there was a race to see which of the boyos could get into the chair first. Smugly, the ladies stood back, knowing full well that the next few minutes would prove to be hilarious, and they were so right. Dilwyn hit the crate at a sprint, (well, a basic trot) and vaulted up, into the seat of the chair from the crate. As a Taff, and not knowing the design of these chairs, he slowly slid to the back of the seat and ended up in a large puddle waiting for him there. I was next, and tried to position myself in the middle of the chair for the inevitable photos to follow. Sadly, I too ended up in the puddle. Barrie was third and tried to approach more carefully, only to find himself stuck, unable to turn around to get his smiling face into the camera.  I could go on, but I would prefer to let the little slide show at the end of the post speak for itself. The pics were snapped off in rapid fashion by Cynthia, who was laughing so hard that I am surprised any of the shots turned out OK.
Once the chair episode was over, we moved on to see Raymond the Cooper.

 

Raymond the Cooper

 

Cynthia stumbled into the darkness of the barrel factory. As her eyes adjusted to the relative darkness, she didn’t notice Raymond sitting in his chair, taking a break and sucking on a coffee from the local Timmy’s. Raymond welcomed her, frightening her half to death.  As we chatted to him, we realised what a tough situation he was in. He made spruce barrels for the fishing industry. As more and more kegs are being made of plastic, his craft is slowly dying. He told us that even were he to give the cooperage away to a young person, work alongside that person for free, the youngster would not survive in that occupation. Our hearts ached for him, especially as he was so good to take time out from his break to show us the various steps in his art.

 

Raymond shaping some staves

 

Below you can see some of his finished products

 

Raymond's finished spruce barrels

 

Next we tried to see the Dory Shop where beautiful east coast dories are built. Sadly, it was closed for the season.

 

The sign at the Dory Shop

 

 

The Dory Shop itself.

 

Across the road from the Dory Shop was the local museum, and we spent a short while browsing in there.

 

Dory Shop left, Museum right and other colourful buildings

 

The museum held much that was of interest and we enjoyed talking to the folks there. Cynthia bought some lovely pen and ink drawings of local buildings and we moved on. Around the back of the museum was a fascinating building. It had been built especially to fit into one of the scenes of The Scarlet Letter, a film made from a novel written by Nathaniel Hawthorne. The building has since been brought up to building code and is the home of the local guildhall.

 

The Guildhall

 

The town was full of other lovely buildings, some of which follow in pictures.

 

A grey beauty

 

 

One now a dental office

 

 

A classy restaurant, shown for our grand-daughter

 

Finally we headed out of town, and for home, but not before lunch at our favourite place …Tim Hortons.

 

Lunch at Tim's

 

What a morning/afternoon it had been. Take my word folks, if you are near Shelburne, make sure you stop and see the town and say hello to Raymond and the other lovely folk who live there. Goodnight to you and God bless you.  Don’t for get the slideshow!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Mon. Oct 04/2010-At White Point

Hello folks..this is a little update from Tuesday. Yesterday the internet server here at the White Point resort was down so I couldn’t get the usual post out to you. Phew you thought. What a nice break not to have the Davies blog invading our space again. However, here we go.

Once again, today was a non-travel day as we are now lodged firmly at this lovely place, White Point Resort. The boys were up relatively early this morning, fighting for prime positions n the couch in order to see the final day of the Ryder Cup. We also knew that our viewing time would be short as our 10.00 tee time at the resort’s golf course was drawing near. As the clocked ticked by the stress level increased, for not only were we concerned about the outcome of the international competition going on in Newport, but we also knew we’d have to go and see Dave The Pro very soon, and then there would be no turning back once he had our money.

The lads with Dave the Pro.

As the moments passed and the amount of Euro blue increased on the TV screen, we felt happier about leaving the cottage and heading to the pro shop. We endured about ten minutes of Dave’s favourite topic…American bashing, before we were all kitted out and on the first tee.  Dil and Barrie got off to good starts by keeping their golf balls on the fairway between the trees…the exact object of the game. My tee shot was ok too, but my second I put into the neighbour’s garden and the hole ended up in an 8 for me. OK …it’s just the first hole I told myself, keep calm and all will be well. The day was great, though there was a high wind coming in from the ocean. Out of bounds on the right welcomed my tee shot from the second tee and the blizzard of shots that resulted landed a 7 on the second hole.  The others weren’t doing too badly, but from that time on there was not a hint of score keeping to be seen.

I must admit, that as we went on, we all got better and better. On the par four fifth hole, a cemetery lined the out of bounds territory. Of course, that sparked witticisms from the group such as, “We’ll have to be quiet going past here boys…no coffin at all” “to hit a ball in there would be a grave error” “if my ball landed in there, would it be in the dead centre of the course?” “If I have to play my ball from close to one of these tombs can I take a practice swing? No, because you would be rehearsing” Comments came thick and fast for a while before we all paid our respects and moved on.

We made it round the front none in very good time. The back nine was the same but with slightly different tee placements as at Comox. Half way round the back nine, fatigue set in and we had a small committee meeting. We needed to decide what to do if one of us collapsed. Would we call for an ambulance? No cell phone. Would we rush to get help? The other two hadn’t enough energy to do that. In the end we decided that in the event of one of us collapsing, we wouldn’t allow that to spoil the round for the other two. We would simply hit our two shots and drag the third member, hit the shot, drag the lad and so on ‘til we finished the round.

By the time we reached #18, each of us was playing his ball as soon as he reached it, regardless of whose turn it actually was to play. We felt if we wasted any surplus energy waiting for our turns, we might not make it up the hill and back to the pro shop. We did make it though, surviving long enough to get back to Dave, and turn in the rented equipment. A quick beer in the clubhouse hit the spot, then we were home to see the girls and get something to eat. The day had been fabulous, the company excellent, and though the golf had been mediocre we’d had a marvellous time together. Goodbye for now and God bless