Codroy NL

The owners of the campground in Codroy Newfoundland are some awesome Newfoundlanders. They stayed up late last night to get us all settled into the campground. Then the wife was up early to be a tour guide around this southwestern part of the Newfoundland island. It was a very down home, quaint tour which included where her mother used to live, her nephew walking down the road and where they buy their groceries.

What strikes me is that all the houses are very plain, small and there are never any trees around any of them. I suppose it’s cool enough that you don’t need the shade in the summer. Plus the salt spray makes it hard for much of anything to grow here.

We stopped at the Precious Blood R.C. Church at St. Andrews. The inside looked a lot like a ship because it’s what they do in these parts.

Then we stopped at the My Dear Minnie Museum. The family decided to make a museum out of the house that Minnie lived it. It was a very small house and had old items donated by people around the area.

It was named “My Dear Minnie” museum because of the love letters between her and her husband when they were courting always started with “My Dear Minnie”.

Minnie was a popular musician around the area.

This was the post office, most of the time housed in someone’s house.

Okay, I remember my mother having one of these washing machines. So did most of the other people in our group.

There were many areas here where it was just rocks and heather.

Much of the landscape was rocks, heather, water and stunted trees.

Our final stop was the Rose Blanche Lighthouse. This lighthouse was a little different than the typical white towers seen in most every town.

This was one of the bedrooms in the lighthouse.

I climbed the few steps to the top, but the last part was only a ladder.

Time for a tourist shot, with the Rose Blanche lighthouse far in the distance.

Tonight was our Screeching ceremony where we were to perform the necessary actions to be sworn in as an honorary Newfoundlander of the Order of Screech.

Local musicians warming up and getting in tune.

They warmed us up with a local band who played mostly Irish type songs and a few written by Newfoundlanders. There was a female vocalist, her husband who played acoustic guitar and sang, and an older gentleman who played the accordion. This music allowed us to dance with the Ugly Stick, something peculiar to NL.

The first part of the ceremony had us putting on a sou’wester rain hat. You had to repeat NL particulr phrases such as “Who knit ya?” and “Yes, by.” Then we had to eat a piece of Newfoundland steak (bologna). We danced a jig, downed a jigger of Screech, and kissed a real (slimy) cod fish. Screech is a Newfoundlander Jamaican Rum.