The Tablelands

Today I went on a guided walk of the Tablelands. It is so much better this way, what looked like glowing barren ochre mountains turn out to support Arctic flora. A pine forest no higher than my knee was dwalfed by climate and location and could be dated back to over 1000 years. This is a giant chunk of the earth's mantel that has come to rest here just one hill behind the house. When I drove down to see it, I felt awe in the real sense of "awesome".

This is the amazing thing about this residency: so much of what I encounter is different, challenging and refocusing. Here am I having gained my driving licence in Holland now climbing up and down huge hills in my little car. Everyday I am confronting my dimishing fear of heights. Plus where I draw may look attractive and safe, sometimes even with boardwalks but this belies the fact that this is still wild countryside.

There is a real moose problem here and because it is a National Park they cannot be culled. They eat young saplings so when the old pines die nothing grows in their place and there are bald patches in the forest with skeletal trees. On the otherhand the caribou are suffering. Coyotes arrived on Newfoundland recently- they walked over the ice from Nova Scotia. They are partial to caribou. The poor animals suffer from being potential dinner and from imported disease that has decreased their numbers radically.

This place is fascinating and I learn so much. Plus being in such a huge park is a strange experience of living in a protected environment that still functions as a living working place. Everything has to compete with my view and there are some mornings I don't want to move beyond the window.