Phil’s Sabbatical Blogs

The Hike Robert Frost’s poem “The Road Less Travelled” challenged us to think about where we are going in life, and how we want to get there.  Sometimes the best road isn’t the straightest, or easiest, or most popular.  Sometimes it is when we dare to step of the well...

Flying the Flag Years ago, I was leading a service at the Roberta Place Retirement home in Barrie.  I asked those who were there to raise their hands if they were from a country other than Canada.  About 10 hands went in their air.  There was a small...

A Viking Village I don’t know much about Vikings.  Based on what I’ve seen or heard, they are blond, wear helmets with horns on them, travel in really big canoes with multiple paddles, have last names with a “k” or two in them, and they come from a place roughly...

The Coastal Drive “And on the eighth day, after a good rest, God created Newfoundland” It is hard to find the adjectives to describe just how beautiful this place is. It’s like nowhere I have ever been before. Words like spectacular, breathtaking, jaw-dropping,...

I shouldn’t listen to what people have to say.  In the days leading up to my trip to Newfoundland I heard the following things about the ferry ride from Sydney to Newfoundland: “I’d never get on that boat” “You don’t get seasick, do you?” “Why wouldn’t you fly?”...

Day 3 has been, you guessed it, another day of driving!!  I left Fredericton NB at 8am and drove through to Sydney NS arriving mid-afternoon.  It rained most of the time through Nova Scotia, but it didn’t stop me from noticing that I was in a special part of...