Bays with Bulls and No Wits

 Hullo! Today we are moving back in the direction of St. John's. Our trip to Newfoundland is almost over. And we are in another weirdly named place... Witless Bay!

It is the Home of the North Atlantic Puffin! Um... have we not all seen enough puffins??

But you are in luck... because the puffins nest over on that big island in the background. We could get a boat tour to go there but... some tummies would not handle that all that well. There are actually 4 islands out there and they are named... Gull, Great, Green and Pee Pee... uh-huh... sigh. This is the biggest puffin colony in North America!

Whew... but let's see what else is here.

There are puffin chairs!!! Seriously... between the lupines and the puffins... the photography of this expedition has had a field day.

There wasn't much else to see in Witless Bay although we did learn why it has such a weird name. One of the earliest European settlers in the area was Captain Whittles. He then died and his wife and kids moved back to England... so it became known as "Whittles-less" which eventually morphed into Witless...

We drove up the coast a bit more and came to Bay Bulls. I'm not sure if this is related to the Running of the Bulls in Spain or... nope... Apparently, the name could come from the French Baie de Bois, meaning "wooded bay", or it might be a reference to the Dovekie, a common seabird known locally as a "bull bird".

It had an interested garbage can. I gather that Carnation Milk was a staple in Newfoundland kitchens before fresh milk deliveries took off. Which makes sense. Some of these places are seriously remote!

Bay Bulls had an interesting crosswalk...

And a war memorial with one soldier on it from the First World War (Private John Frampton who died 1 July 1916), and two from the Second World War.

We stopped here for lunch... at a restaurant!!!! No more hummus for us!

If you've been following along, you know that our picnics relied heavily on hummus and veggie sticks!

But today is salad...

And pasta!

Yum!!!!

And... a dessert... a chocolate dessert! Yum!!

One thing we finally got a picture of was... invasive Japanese Knotweed. It is EVERYWHERE in Newfoundland and a very nasty weed.

 It crowds out native plants and its roots can go very deep and crack house foundations.

We have tiny patches of it here but in Newfoundland, there were huge swaths of it everywhere. Scary stuff. Right... onwards!! We are almost done our trip...

Bus Bingo Prize Mail!

 Hullo, we received some mail today!!

Except... um... uh-oh...

Um... Houston... we have a problem. A BIG problem!!

"Cocoa? Do you see what I see??"
Yes, I do Navy... yes I DO.""

Seriously Beanie Mouse... what were you thinking???

Now, now, let's not get our noses out of joint... it could be a simple innocent mistake?

Innocent mistake, my tail!!! 

Look at this!! Look at it!!!

Who is the SOLE addressee??? It is Sandy Bear! Not a mention of a Mouse!!

From our COUSIN no less! What are we?? Minced cheese curds? Hmph!!!!

"If that's the way Beanie wants to be... then FINE!!!"

Oh dear... Maybe it's just a sekrebeary typo (write-o) on the front...

Let's open it up and see...

But first let me get a pair of scissors to get into this Fort Knox of an envelope...

There's a lot of stuff in there! But I think I have it all!

Right, let's take a look...

It's a card... Resistance is ...utile... Eh?

I know my Star Trek: TNG and I'm pretty sure it's supposed to be "Futile"! Good image of a Borg by the way!

Oh, it's a lovely card and it is addressed to...

Moi...

And only moi... hmmmm....

There's a nice pin badge from The National Gallery...

And another one that adds a line to the Beatitudes... "Blessed are the cracked for they let the light in"...

That seems like a good addition!

And a post card of an astronomical clock at Hampton Court Palace - cool!

And a magnetic book mark! Those are much better than turning over a couple of page corners!

Oh, and a little corner note... hmmmm... it's supposed to missing an F... "Resistance is Utile"?? Apparently "utile" means "useful"... and it was used before "useful" came on the scene! Cool... That'll be a good one to keep in your backpocket for Scrabble... Somebody puts "tile" down and you can score big with that "u"!

Thanks Beanie Mouse!!!

"Yeah... Thannnnkkkkkssss for nothing Beanie Mouse!"

Ooops.. we have a peanut gallery!

Who you calling peanuts???? We are NOT peanuts, even if we are small... we may be be small but we are mighty!!  I think we should make up our VERY OWN bus bingo cards... so we can get our VERY OWN prizes. Hmph (x2).

Ummm... so yeah... Beanie... any thoughts??