Actual Beginnings

Four years ago, in the month of April, two inquisitive students set themselves a challenge: "For every day this month," it was said, "let's try a NEW THING we've never done before!

Kate & I spent that month keeping kosher, hosting an elegant dinner party, and being vegan. It was a crazy month and such a blast that we resolved to make New Things Month an annual event. This year, 2013, we started off New Things Month in a new way: living half a continent apart, we had to be creative in some of our new things, checking in every few days about our progress.

During the month of September, we will be posting about each of our new things from five months ago. Today is September 1st: New Things Month Revisited begins now. Welcome to the ride!



We began New Things Month 2013 with the dictate to "Visit a new place via Google Maps!"

I used the opportunity to take a virtual trip to a place about which I'd been curious for a while: Newfoundland.


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Newfoundland is a large island off the east coast of North America, part and parcel of the Canadian province Newfoundland and Labrador.

I spent some good time exploring the byways of Newfoundland via Street View. Here are a few highlights:

Cutting through the northern part of the island is Highway 1, shown in the above map with a yellow line.

Highway 1:

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Much of what I saw on my virtual visit to Newfoundland reminded me of structures I'm familiar with in my own corner of North America:

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Looking down over the city of St. John's on the island's east coast:

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So at the end of my virtual travels I wondered, what did I learn about Newfoundland? To be honest, not much. Maybe if I had done more systematic searching or looked at important landmarks I might have. It raises the question, how much can just a glance about any place really teach us? I'm not certain.

Kate, for her April 1st adventure, visited Brazil. She had an awesome trip.

Google Earth is yours for the exploring. Give it a go! Maybe you'll find something in Newfoundland I missed!

Be sure to check in tomorrow when Kate and I "Read a New Poet's Work!"

love, Kate & Jimmy