st. johns coffee

Ahhh... I never realised that a town with good coffee suddenly becomes a wonderful town. 

Elsie and I spent a lot of chilly morning and afternoons in the various hip coffee joints in St. Johns, Newfoundland. I only became a coffee drinker this year and already I'm a fussy one, I guess that comes from starting your coffee life in Melbourne. 

Our favourites were: 

Rocket - a cool organic food, handmades and coffee place on water st.

Fixed - great blueberry muffins and hot cider and coffee (of course) on duckworth st. (where these photos were taken)

It was lovely after a long walk in the cold and wind or a boring day of planning to just cozy up in amongst the groovy cafe dwellers and sweet music and fill our bellies with milky goodness. Ah, we did spend a LOT of time in cafes, and why not?

(sending thoughts to all those in Sandy's path)

knit

absent

sorry for my absence, I've been at the Celtic Colours International Festival on Cape Breton Island. What an amazing week, but oh dear i am tired. There was lots of merriment, food and much music, and a lot of knitting. The Autumn hillsides are breathtaking, feral apple trees are laden, we had every kind of weather - hail, gales, sun and snow! And we found home, i feel we will always be welcome here. So lovely to have made many new friends and connections, they are a lovely bunch, those Cape Bretoners! 

Off to Newfoundland now...

Finding Common Ground

Oh, Common Ground Fair.
We had a ball. Barefoot contra dancing, hot apple cider on frosty mornings, fried wholewheat dough with real maple syrup and so, so much friendliness and good food! We were volunteering in the childrens' tent, making pasta necklaces and felt zombie vegetables all day, then knitting on the grass watching bands and drinking root beer. I had a lovely chat with my dear blogging inspiration Soulemama and chatted to the other Taproot folk.
It was cold, though. i could hardly move for the layers i had on! first frost of the autumn.
And somehow, i managed to not buy any wool from the fibre tent, go figure!

back soon

Portlandia

We stayed on a boat in Portland, Maine, we did. It was lovely to meet new people, eat homemade icecream and knit in good cafes waiting for the rain to pass.
Lunch at Duckfat, yum... so much good food in Portland, ME. We mucked about with the word magnets as we waited, and then some. Dinner at Flatbread Pizza Co. we had an absolute darling of a waiter, and a delicious dinner. There seems to be a big emphasis on locally grown, ethically produced and handmade in Portland. And good coffee.
KnitWit yarn store was beautiful, i bought enough Cascade Ecological wool to make a jumper in a warm brown. Shopping at fresh food co-ops, Standard Baking Co is the best bakery i've ever been to, and i worked in two! Root beer is my new addiction!
We also met the dear Carrie from Quince and Co, what a lovely friend, she showed us around the airy Quince office, chatted for a while about wool and travelling and other things.
On our last night we had dinner at Local Sprouts cafe and then grabbed our fiddles and joined an old-timey session for a few hours.
Portland, thank you. you were a hoot!