Saturday, April 11, 2009

The Paend*

David and I spent one lovely month camping all over Newfoundland in the summer of 2002 (before we had a digital camera) and we landed back in St. John's just in time for the annual regatta. This event is held on the first Wednesday in August, and it shuts the town down. If the weather on the appointed date is not cooperative it gets postponed until the next day, and this happens indefinitely until they get some sun. Just one of many things to love about Newfoundland. The regatta (pronounced by Newfoundlanders as "the regitta") is held on Quidi Vidi Lake, alternately known as "the paend" because that's what Newfoundlanders call most bodies of water. Big puddle? A paend. Lake Superior? A paend.

In the original cast of characters I forgot to introduce Fishy, Fishy, Fishy, Fishy and Fishy. And Fishy and Fishy. In fact we have no clue how many fish live in our paend (behind all of the rocks and vegetation in the pictures above), but they seem to thrive under our regime of near-complete neglect. The paend itself, however, has not thrived under the canine regime of leaping in to cool off when the opportunity presents itself. I am quite sure that the liner is punctured in many places, and one task on our long spring/summer list is dredging the pond and probably replacing the soft plastic liner with a large stock tank -- maybe the 180 gallon ovular Tuff Stuff tub. Thank goodness for that backhoe!

*Paend is actually "pond" but misspelled as an attempt to convey the Newfoundland accent.


6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Poor Fishy, Fishy, Fishy and Fishy! And Fishy and Fishy! I bet they'll like their new home though!

ingro- maybe how the Newfoundland people would say "in ground" with their accent?

Carole said...

I think having a tractor like yours means that projects where it will be useful just come up again and again!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

The paend! hah! I can SO hear the accent, too. Lake Superior...a paend? Not so much. lol!

Can't wait to see you all working on your own paend! :)

~Lisa

Black Jack's Carol said...

I wonder if you know someone in Newfoundland, or if you just thought it would be a great place to visit. I laughed at your spelling variations - they were so perfect. Funny about the accent - it can vary so much even within a family. I was a bit disappointed that my mother's was virtually undetectable, but her brother more than made up for that lack.

To me, having a pond and Fishy's on one's property, is the best!

Sarah Henderson, BCCDC said...

BJC: I saw a picture from Gros Morne National Park in a magazine and told David that I wanted to go there. We had a blast -- I really like Newfoundland. A friend of ours was doing her medical residency in St. John's at the time so we visited with her as well, but the primary goal was to hike in Gros Morne.

allhorsestuff said...

What an awesome trip! I love to hike...sometimes I do it with my horse in hand.
I am sure the many Fishy friends will enjoy the new digs...fun project.

YOU are the winner of the observant test of my last post! I thought you would be the one. More full answer there*AHS*
Kac