Donna (and Quincy) was Right....She does have a Dild0............................................Newfoundland! Another Person Checked off My Poop Bag List!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

When I first got Fudge and then Vern, I thought I was just getting two dogs.  I had no idea that these two Doodles would open up a whole new world to us and help us make friends from all around the world.  I seriously think I have a Doodle friend in almost every state in the US and I know I have a wonderful friend from Ireland.  Well, I am now here to tell you that I have two wonderful friends in Newfoundland, Canada, and there is a dog there that I dearly love.   

 

A pretty long while ago and it very well could have taken shape at the New Jersey Doodle Romp, a small group of us decided to make it a reality and go to visit Donna and Quincy.  We more or less invited ourselves up there, but it was really Donna’s own fault for posting shot after shot of the beautiful place where she lives.  I am thinking that might teach her not to taunt a competitive group of photographers with “my place is prettier than yours” photos in the future.  We wanted to keep the group small because it is one thing to visit Mexico or take a cruise, but it is another thing to descend on one person and expect to be entertained for one week. Thankfully we did that because we took several trips that week in one car and one van and poor Quincy had to share a seat with F and one more person in the car would have found F strapped to the top of the van.  F kept saying they could pull a “Mitt Romney” and have Quincy ride on top, but I can guarantee you if it came down to the wire with Donna or her husband, Gord, Quincy would have been the LAST one elected to take the spot on the roof.  I am also pretty sure, although I did not take a group vote, if F tried to corner us again for a second lecture on bird eyelids we would have all gladly held her in place on the top of the van as Gord adjusted the bungee cords and tarp around her for a safe and wind free ride. See, we aren’t monsters…we all would have wanted her to be safe.

 

Most of us flew together on a plane from Newark and when we landed and went through customs, the customs officer asked John and me who we were visiting in Canada.  Luckily he asked me, because John would have answered some crazy Doodle lady and her dog and I was little better prepared when I responded, “Donna and Quincy.”  I know Donna’s last name, but for the life of me I couldn’t remember it, and I felt it might draw too much attention to myself if I shouted over to the others “what the heck is Donna’s full name?” By the time I got through explaining to the customs officer the whole story about DoodleKisses, our Doodles, online friendships, and that we were in the country to meet a total stranger and her dog, all he asked was if I had my Doodles with me. Maybe he was testing me to see how crazy I really was and to see if I thought my Doodles were beside me in line, but when I answered, “no way, Fudge and Vern were too big to fit in my luggage and I already over packed for this trip,” he smiled and let us move on.  John said he let us through before I, aka Chatty Cathy, could talk his ear off!  And then just like that, we were standing in front of Donna who was holding a big, welcome sign and hugging like old friends.

My first thought when meeting Donna was how tiny she was….well, if I am being totally honest, I did say to myself, “damn it, I was hoping she would be obese, so I would photograph smaller next to her,” but I already knew I liked her!  The next surprise was Quincy was at the airport and the third surprise was her husband, Gord.  In all the years I have known Donna on line I don’t think she has mentioned Gord but a couple of times and so we knew nothing about him.  I knew he looked serious in all his photos and little else. 

Well, we all know now why she never mentioned him, because A) no one would have believed her and B) Gord is like the Grand Canyon…you have to experience it in person to get the full effect.

 

Very smartly when we decided on this trip we all decided to rent a house and not impose on our hosts anymore than we already had when we invited ourselves up to their neck of the woods.  The house was perfect and the number of adults in it was just the right amount.  Donna, Gord, and Quincy took us out from day one to experience the beautiful places they have to go in Newfoundland.  What you fail to realize from Donna’s photos are there is almost no place to step out of a car and take a great photograph.  Most of her great shots involve a death-defying hike up the side of a mountain, a perilous ride through some back lane road, or the ability to look down a cliff and see eagles and not your life passing before your eyes. I honestly think Donna is part mountain goat only because of her sure footedness over rocks and rough terrain. When we went to look at the eagle’s nest, I felt like I was on the show Running Wild with Bear Grylls and at any moment Donna was going to whip out rock climbing gear and say, “now we need to rappel down the side of this cliff straight into the eagle’s nest.”  I am also pretty sure most of my fellow travelers would have willingly grabbed the rope line, continued to take photos on the way down, and might have even swapped lenses to boot.  DJ would have been shouting, “can’t we go any faster?” God help us if Gord was in charge of our food for the Climbing Wild with Donna show because he would have only let us have two cooked worms and a bowl of berries and said we had all eaten enough.  Once when we were out looking for whales, as Donna stood near the edge of the cliff overlooking the water, I asked Gord if anyone had ever fallen in and he said something like, “all the time, honey, and they won’t be getting back out.”  Statements like that always make me want to stand back and holler from way back, “if anyone gets a good shot of something, please give me a copy.” Donna is also the only person I know who can drive faster backwards than forward. With my own eyes, I saw her stand up in the front seat and gun it as she made her way back down a little country road in reverse.

 

We also quickly found out, although he would tell you we weren’t that quick, that we couldn’t believe a word Gord said.  He had us believing that they drilled holes in coffins to keep them from floating to the top of the grave and that puffins blinked.  Janie will never live it down that she asked him if icebergs moved and the day he drove us from his house to the rented house, DJ made the mistake of asking how far it was between the two houses and he gave her a look of total disbelief, the same look you might give a shopper in the dollar store who gets up to the cash register and asks the price of an item, and said, “we just drove it.”  Of course, DJ claimed all week that she wanted an answer in kilometers, but I was in the car and was glad Gord jumped in before I could say, “duh.”  Most of our questions brought forth responses like, “Donna said her American friends were half intelligent, but I don’t believe it,” and the night she left us alone with him in a restaurant and we started asking questions about the menu, he blurted out, “I can’t believe Donna left me alone with her seven American friends and a Newfoundland menu.” We repeated that statement many times over the course of a week and laughed every time we did.  He told us later Donna told him he had to watch what he said to us, but something tells me he didn’t listen.

 

Probably the most fun for all of us was watching him tease F.  No topic was off limits for Gord…not her age or her photography.  He was constantly asking her how she got to be the head of the Photography group and if she tried to show him any photo that she had taken, he would say, “honey, I’ve already seen it and I’m not all that impressed.” He helped her into the van one day and made sure to let her know he always helped the elderly and then added, “we are all going to get old sooner or later…some sooner, than later.”  He also liked to add that it was not an insult if he was telling the truth.  F got a kick out of Gord and I bet if he said he used apple cider vinegar as a health supplement she might not have yelled, “HOKUM” until the third time he said those dreaded words.

 

Newfoundland was beautiful.  The scenery made me quickly forget that they did not have a TJ Maxx and Target had come and gone in their community.  When Donna told me there was no TJ Maxx or Target, I asked if we were in a third world country, but it was only after I found out that pounds of butter came whole and not in sticks that I was sure of it.  I made my famous family cookie recipe, Sand Tarts, one day and not only did I have to deal with an electric mixer with beaters that went all wonky when turned on, but I had to guesstimate my butter. Also, somewhere in Newfoundland is a pound of butter I bought and misplaced and if anyone finds it, it belongs to me.  The only identifying factor is it is a big yellow brick of uncut butter purchased at some store next to a liquor store. I probably put it down somewhere on the way to customer service to complain, “I can’t believe I have to cut the butter.” Anyways, Donna had a brand new mixer that she let me borrow and someone was able to cut the butter correctly and the cookies were a success. I was only glad I did not have to yell out, “could someone cut the cheese, please?”  Of course, even my delicious Sand Tarts did not escape Gord’s teasing and he took great delight in calling them every name but Sand Tarts.  I think they will forever now be known as Sand Rocks and he mentioned more than once that one of them had chipped his tooth. No wonder Donna likes to take solitary hikes with just Quincy.

 

I can’t say enough about what wonderful hosts Donna and Gord were and if I had to rate them on a scale of 1-10 with 10 being the best, Donna would get a 20.  I have to deduct several points from Gord’s score because we were never sure if the history of Newfoundland he was telling us was fact or fiction.  They cooked us two superb meals. Donna was asked to share almost all of her recipes with us from her mango salsa to her lemon potatoes.  Gord cooked salmon for all but made a concession for me because I don’t like salmon and made me the best cod I have ever tasted. The last night we were there Donna spent all day cooking us a Newfoundland Jiggs dinner, which consisted of turkey, potatoes, gravy, dressing, cabbage, turnips, blueberry bread pudding, carrots, and pea pudding.  Of course as we sat down to eat Gord said the pea pudding would go straight to your colon, which has never been a ringing endorsement for me to try a food. He also kept pushing the pea pudding on John, who had at least two helpings; despite the fact that I kept saying we had no window in our bedroom.  Donna also made a game for all of us to play about Newfoundland and it came down to the wire, but John beat F and won an adorable stuffed puffin for Archer. I still don't know how he won because he answered, "who cares?" on a couple of questions, but he knew some funny expression meant someone was pregnant and won the tie breaker. They made us all honorary Newfoundlanders with a good old-fashioned Screeching. This is a ceremony that had most of us drinking rum, kissing the bottom of the prize John won since we didn’t have a cod, and repeating, “long may your big jib draw.” I still don’t know what a big jib draws, but John told me not to worry because in his book I was already queen of the screechers.  He also thinks the big jib has something to do with all of us jibber jabbing the week away.

 

I really need to wrap this blog up, but I can’t without mentioning more about food.  If you ever go to Newfoundland to see Donna and Gord, take snacks and be prepared to sneak them whenever you can.  I don’t know if it is all Newfoundlanders, but Gord and Donna eat next to nothing and if Gord catches you eating, you will never hear the end of it.  I swear I could have had nothing all day and the minute I went to pop something in my mouth there Gord would be, like Jillian Michaels on Biggest Loser, mentioning how much Americans eat. One day he took Janie, Tom, John, and me, shopping and we almost shopped till we dropped until he said I stopped dead in my tracks and said, “GORD, I HAVE TO EAT NOW!!” That part is true, but by the time we got home he had me scaring the homeless by stealing sandwiches right out of their hands on the way to find a place to eat.  That part is not true, but it could have happened if all the restaurants had been closed or one of them had been holding a cod sandwich. While shopping, if there was a picture of food he would comment that now we were going to want to eat and at almost all the restaurants we were at he would either tell the servers how much we ate or try to book our table for a couple of hours later telling them we would be hungry again shortly.

 

Despite all that, Donna and Gord went out of their way to see that we had the most wonderful time.  They took us on beautiful hikes and picnics, adapted several hikes for those of us who wanted to survive, had a wonderful basket of homemade jams and breads waiting for us when we arrived, chauffeured us all around the place, waited while we went out on a boat to whale and puffin watch, drove us almost four hours one way to see puffins (blinking poofins from now on for all of us) because we didn’t see any on our boat ride, took us shopping more than once, fed us, liquored up some of us  (mostly John and Tom), entertained us, and spent lots and lots of time with us.  We all fell in love with Quincy and wanted to take him home with us, but I think there would have been a fight to the death with Gord and Donna to get him out of Canada.  He really was the most laid back Doodle and we all said he helped us not miss our own Doodles so much because we got our Doodle fix in every day. 

 

Finally, for seven people that had never gone on vacation together and were now sharing one house with two bathrooms for an entire week, we all did remarkably well.  We did quickly figure out that DJ (and Chance) did not like to hear the song, “Here She Comes, Miss America,” every time she descended from the loft via the winding staircase.  She was a good sport about it for five or six times, but then she cried out from the top of the loft, “I feel like a trapped mouse up here,” so we stopped.  Here are the other things I now know about my fellow travelers and hosts….Donna is the best cook in Newfoundland and in great shape. Gord is the funniest man in Newfoundland and maybe the orneriest.  F (Calla and Luca) thinks if you line a pair of Crocs with faux shearling they can be classified as dress shoes and she can give you a haircut with kitchen scissors. DJ should probably vacation with my sister because the two of them would have hiked from one end of Newfoundland to the other on the first day and then want to know what was next on the agenda.  She also should leave the coffee making to Tom (married to Jane) because it took two of us to clean up the mess she made on the day she made coffee and all she said was, “did I do that?”  Janie (Jack and Jilly) likes puzzles, Donna’s jam, Moo Moo’s ice cream, and was a great shopping buddy. She is the only person I know who puts four types of jam in equal quarters on one slice of toast.  Laurie should lose weight so she is not always hot and/or complaining about how hot she is and making others cold. Other than that, she is perfect. Tom likes to wear the Dild0 shirt even after you tell him it was only for a photo shoot. 

Did I forget to mention there were Dild0 shirts? Some people did not want to be identified wearing them! Others wore them proudly! Obviously, Quincy is embarrassed by his mum and dad!

He also seemed to be Quincy’s favorite resting point when he was seated and he and Janie were the only ones who hiked over a pass that involved holding onto a rope or chain.

John owes either DJ and/or me an apology after saying we both are similar in the way we want help with a computer problem.  Both of us tend to be impatient and DJ seemed to know instantly when he said she reminded him of me that it was not a compliment, except he did add that at least DJ takes her hands off the keyboard and stops pushing buttons while he is trying to figure out what is wrong with the computer.   John also kept making me use his short lens when I preferred his long lens. Cheryl (and Finnegan) never learned to get out of the van without hitting her head and fell for the old Donna switcheroo trick of switching lenses with her so she got stuck carrying the very big and heavy lens back up the hill.  I can only hope Gord didn’t see all that, or he would have mentioned again how smart Americans were and had Cheryl in stitches.

 

I also know that I wouldn’t have traded any one of these people on this trip. It was perfect and just like Arnold Schwarzenegger is fond of saying, “I’ll be back!” I am sure I speak for everyone and even though Gord threatened to slam his head in the door if we ever returned, we know this won’t be our last trip to Newfoundland. 

The Best Doodle in all of Newfoundland!  For more photos, head on over to the Photography group discussion!

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

Of course there were shirts....LOL!  Great blog, Laurie.

[F, Calla & Luca]

The most conclusive and absolutely true and funny blog ever! Except for the mistake about who really might have been put on the roof. I am glad you posted a picture of me in my dress crocs so people can see for themselves how glamorous they look. As for Gord, I know that teasing is the sincerest form of flattery or something like that. Donna, Gord and Quincy were the best indeed. I take full credit for all the fun since the PG was the place we all got to know each other :-)