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Photography by Phil Kenyon, Mitchell, ON (2026)

05/27/2026

Lessons in the buds

There something beautiful about how you can travel or not and regardless, if you stop and appreciate it, you will see beautiful thing's all around you in God's creation. Sometimes we think we have to get on a plane and travel to a distant place to see beautiful things, but we forget that God's creative hand is on display right in our own backyards.

This picture may have come about after I got on a plane and drove to a distant place on the Bonavista peninsula of Newfoundland, yet I could have captured this same photograph amidst the new spring growth in my own backyard and no one would have known the difference.

We forget in our day to day life at home to stop and appreciate the good and beautiful graces and reminders God has placed in our lives each day. This photograph of the raindrops on the new budding branch remind me that God shows his faithfulness in new growth each year, and that he created these living things in nature to work together so beautifully.

In Job 38, God reminded Job in His terrible situation of His greatness and control over this world. This picture of drops of water reminded me of vs 28 "Has the rain a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?" Don't forget who God is, and be amazed that in His greatness He still comes to us and wants to know us individually in love.

05/25/2026

Many steps to a great conclusion

Well, here is a final post for our trip before we hop on our flight from St John's back to Pearson. Historically the last day we usually feel pretty tired and usually don't have much drive to sight see to much. However, this day proved to not disappoint.

When we flew into St. John's we faced freezing cold wind and rain as we headed out to our rental car. We did a quick walk in the rain around jelly bean row in St John's and remember that we couldn't see across the harbor due to the foggy rainy mess. We had hopes that our final day would be clearer weather so we could drive into St. John's and enjoy some sightseeing there. We awoke to clear sunny skies, and it quickly warmed up to around 15-16 Celsius.

We were able to hike at Cape Spear Lighthouse, Signal hill and the Battery and spend time walking around the historical section of St John's and the harbor front (All included many stairways, steps, and steep paths). It was cool to see several big ships come and go through the narrows. Up on Signal Hill we were able look down and see an beautiful iceberg planted near the shoreline.

The picture below shows the trail route we took, which led to a walk through these old, colorful houses along the base of Signal Hill. It proved a beautiful sight up close, and afar later with a picture from across the harbor.

Looking back at the trip, it's hard to say what part was best. My brother had told me when recommending places in Newfoundland "Oh but anywhere in Newfoundland is great" and this proved true. We look forward to heading back home, getting planting our big garden (Ashley is especially excited), and continuing to plug away at day to day life.

05/24/2026

Reflections by the Sea

As we nearly wind our trip to a close, I am pretty happy with myself for keeping up on posting something about the trip every day. It has been enjoyable to share some of the highlight moments. We fly out of St John's tomorrow evening, so I am sure there will be one more post while we wait at the airport.

Today being a day of rest we took a slower pace hiking some easy coastal trails, checking out a beautiful lighthouse and even seeing some harbor seals (you can see a row of 6 of them along the rock in the water picture if you look close). We took time of enjoying the beauty of God's creation, appreciating starting his day in the word, and singing some praise songs in the car. One song, hit me harder as we drove Draw Me Close to You by Michael W. Smith:

Never let me go
I lay it all down again
To hear you say that I'm your friend
You are my desire
No one else will do
'Cause nothing else can take your place
To feel the warmth of your embrace
Help me find the way
Bring me back to you

You're all I want
You're all I've ever needed
You're all I want
Help me know you are near

I have wanted to be a dad and have a family with my loving wife Ashley for what feels like so long. We believe God has a plan for us and is working through us, including us in His family. These trips can be times we can refresh and refocus together, however, sometimes it can be hard to go back into our day to day... into seeing so many families around us.

A song like the one above, reminds me that God wants me to know, he is always there for me, always there to embrace me, and show me He is all I need.

"Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:25-26

05/24/2026

A new home and hope

This morning, I finished up reading through 1&2 Peter. There are truly many rich words within. Closing 2 books that have dwelt so richly on walking with Christ with the final verse is beautiful. "But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him, be the glory both now and forever. Amen" 2 Peter 3:18. Christ has all grace and beauty that we can possibly imagine, and He invites us into it.

The final few chapters of 2 Peter (especially ch.2) talk of the reality of wickedness in this world encroaching around, calling God's word false, and trying to pull us into the dark brokenness of sin. I like this photograph of a dilapidated old house I took last week and how it is so visually appealing to the eye. Sometimes, I want to go and explore these abandoned structures as they seem exciting and interesting. Sin can be like that too, it can draw us in, invite us to see what's inside, promising better, but ultimately it can swallow us up, we can fall through the proverbial broken floorboards, the false promises of sin, and fall to our demise.

Now imagine you drive just up the road past this beat up home, you find a shiny new cottage, brilliant red color, a mighty fishing boat sits at its dock. This fisherman one day realized he couldn't keep living in his run down shack, He needed a place of hope and confidence, so he found himself a new home.

We get caught up in ourselves which naturally are broken like this run down shack. We forget the promises of God towards us in Christ. He offers hope as we are reminded in 2 Peter 3:9 "The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance" Christ went the distance at the cross, in His perfection he has cleaned up our broken house of our hearts, so we can have a new beautiful home and future with Him.

Look forward, to your loving God. See the Father's arms of love open because of what Christ has done, He wants to make a home in your heart, by His Spirit.

Have a blessed Sunday.

05/24/2026

Out on the plains

What I thought would be just a long driving day when we got up this morning, certainly proved to be much more. We hit the road out of Twillingate this morning amidst misty, rainy weather. It was nice to know we got to spend the prior day in much nicer weather while visiting the area. We were off at 8 am with plans to drive over to the southeastern most point of Newfoundland, our next and final Airbnb in Portugal Bay South.

We stopped at in Terra Nova National Park just off the highway, the Ochre Point viewpoint proved to reveal some stunning scenes looking down on the park. I was able to climb 3/4 up an observatory tower staircase, before there was a gate preventing further access. Man, this was a cold, windy climb up the staircase, but was exhilarating. Ashley decided to remain at the bottom, a bit to windy

We carried on down the highway and stopped in at a trail at Chance Cove that Ashley found for us to hike. It proved to be some pleasant views of the rugged coast and some beautiful purple stones on the beaches and shorelines mixing well with the light blue tint to the water. We met a couple visiting from Revelstoke BC.

As we worked our way into the Avalon Peninsula, we ended up in what felt like the middle of nowhere on some gravel roads through tundra like lands. Hitting the coast again around St Vincent, some spectacular blue ocean colors met our eyes, what a sight! However, exiting St Vincent we climbed onto what was a fairly level, treeless, tundra like, flat plain stretching on into the distance. Reddish hues from the moss captivated the eyes. We read a sign that said caribou packs sometimes wander the plains, we jokingly commented to each other wouldn't that be a sight.

What really became exciting was when we were up on the plains we then spotted 5 caribou feeding alongside a rough gravel path. A local had stopped and through his thick accent I learned that he hadn't seen caribou in several years, so this was not a common sight here for him. We watched for awhile and I was able to capture some photographs although I must say I had to crop them a bit to captivate the eye a bit more.

Around suppertime we arrived at our oceanside cottage and were privileged to witness an incredibly red sunset to end the day. God put on a show in His creation around us today and for that, I am thankful See less

05/22/2026

Iceberg hunting

This morning we awoke early, and hit the road for a 4 hour drive northeast to Twillingate, a coastal island laden area known as being the "iceberg capital of the world". We first stopped and hiked to a viewpoint looking off in the waters around the area and quickly were able to point out 4 icebergs in distance.

We hit the Island running hiking just over 13km today on a variety of trails, spotting icebergs along the way, probably 5-7 throughout the day. We hiked several coastal trails, amidst sunshine, strong winds, and cool air!

After leaving the lighthouse viewpoint, we visualized a larger iceberg peaking through the hills as we drove down the hill - the picture surrounded by trees captures this moment. We ended up finding another viewpoint of it off in the distance, still a bit offshore.

We returned to see if the iceberg had moved after our supper and much to our surprise it appeared the iceberg tipped/rotated somewhat as now it had a flat top and stood much higher in the water as reflected in the other two photographs below. I figure looking at the surrounding rocks, it must be hitting the ocean bottom here and with all the waves, been twisted around.

Albeit cold and windy, the clouds were cool, so we decided to do a little coastal trail here. Ashley was hyped up on too much sugar from a coke at suppertime, so we ended up half running the trail which was fun, turns out the trail took us much much closer to the iceberg making the closest picture possible. There were seagulls thronging about at the shore so I tried to get one in focus with the iceberg in the background.

All in all even with the crazy winds, it was a pretty incredible, beautiful day Newfoundlandesque day in Twillingate, now ready for bed!

05/21/2026

Tales of wind, shipwreck, and more

This morning after a breakfast consisting omelet and toast and a makeshift pour over coffee (as the coffee machine doesn't make coffee to my liking here haha), we started off in the direction of Corner Brook. When planning our trip we had planned for three days in Gros Morne, but after two we found we covered much of what we had hoped to, so we decided to explore the coastal section on the southwest side of Corner Brook area.

The drive along the coast out of Corner Brooke proved a slow meandering drive past many small coastal homes and a few fishing ports. The picture of the factory below is of a pulp and paper mill we passed by on the edge of Corner Brook. We had to pass two log trucks full loaded who were slowly meandering their way away from the mill (I'm not sure why full loads were heading off away from civilization, maybe low grade logs for firewood?).

Anyways, we reached our first hike to Cedar Cove. This hike proved interesting as we did some last minute research the night before, as we learned that in February 2025 a container ship the MSC Baltic 3 on its way from Montreal to Corner Brook, lost power and ran aground in a severe storm in small Capelin Cove. The 20 crewmembers were all rescued by the coast guard successfully. Gradually since workers have been in the process of removing the containers from the ship, cleaning up oil and fuels with plans to eventually take the ship apart piece by piece.

Back to the point, we hiked over to this cove and were able to witness this massive ship beached alongside a mountain. It proved to be an incredibly windy day, standing on a cliff looking off at the ship was a interesting endeavor, trying not to get blown away by the wind. It became quite obvious in these intense winds how a ship with total power loss could get blown ashore. We met up with a gentleman from Germany who had visited this cove before a few years back on a much calmer day before the shipwreck. It was enjoyable talking about places visited in Newfoundland with him (as we tried not to get blown away).

After this hike, we stopped in for a hike by bottle cove, which albeit windy was a beautiful hike with stunning views of the frothy sea amidst some rough shorelines. We then worked our way back up the coast stopping for brief hikes to view some waterfalls in the mountainsides. I like the picture below from our last hike of Ashley making her way across a more open plain area with the mountains and ocean scene off in the distance.

We arrived back to Deer Lake late afternoon and tried some new Timbit flavors while we planned our day heading to Twillingate tomorrow!

Seeing such a mighty boat washed ashore is a reminder to me that our lives and our endeavors may fail as this boat did in the hands of the mighty sea. We may design and fashion our lives to do mighty things, but all lie in God's hands, the great Creator and overseer of His world. Be humbled before the power of the mighty winds and waves of the see, but know that He is the creator of these mighty acts. He has power over even the wind and the waves as on display in the gospels.

"Then He (that is Jesus) arose and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace be still!" And the wind ceased and there was a great calm" Mark 4:39

05/20/2026

Moody views

Today was another testament that cloudy days make for awesome photography. Sun is nice, but there is something about moody clouds, misty mountains that helps capture one's imagination.

We started off the day of hiking in Gros Morne National Park, steering off in the Trout River direction. First stop, the lookout trail. Hiking 6.8 km, the start was a steep switchback ascent up to vistas off into the distance. The first photograph is a hazy scene looking north towards Gros Morne Mountain. The hike to the top involved walking through a number of snowy areas, as the spring thaw still takes place. Along the side of the trail were many pitcher plants peaking out (thanks to my plant app for identifying), and a frequent throbbing noise that turned out to be a Wilson's Snipe's wings beating in the bushes (according to my bird app). Views across in the southern direction provided stunning views of the Tablelands, stop #2.

Our second hike was 5km at the Tablelands, a unique vista where the unique rock that is likely from upheaval of the earth's mantle (I would imagine taking place in the flood times). This results in a rocky, barren area of mountains which the second picture captures. Little plant life grows here as the rocks composition and little soil makes most plant life failing to thrive. This hike was very windy at points, we bundled up with toques, gloves, layers, and all. The road in the picture leading off on the right hand side, leads us to destination #3.

We drove on down the twisting highway towards the coastal town of Trout River. Along the tablelands it was interesting to note long sticks every 50 feet or so on both sides of the road. We deduced that these sticks must help the snowplows stay on track with heavy snowfall in the winter.

The third hike was on the 2.6km Eastern Point Trail on the edge of Trout River, outside of the Gros Morne limits. This trail went along the top of the cliffside, mostly grass covered. Shortly into the trail, we spotted sheep grazing only a few feet from the cliffs edge. The last picture looks back towards the town of trout River and it's surrounding craggy shorelines. The wind in some sections on this hike was insanely strong, once I turned around and it pushed me forwards with great strength. We met up with a nice couple from Montreal, and chatted for awhile about places in Newfoundland and excursions in times past. When we got to our car, I left my business card with this pages link on their truck window which I noted had a paramedic symbol on it which I found intriguing.

After the last hike, we ate at the Seaside restaurant. Ashley has had fish at the two restaurants we've stopped at, and enjoyed it apparently (much to my surprise haha). Some dark clouds continued to set in and rain started as we drove back down the highway to our Airbnb where I now sit in warmth writing this post. It really was a lovely day.

05/19/2026

Majestic moments

Day 5 of our trip in Newfoundland proved to be a good one! We started with a hearty breakfast of eggs, sausage, and toast (On our trips away I do the majority of the cooking which is quite nice actually haha). We hit the road and made our way into the mountainous Gros Morne National Park.

The road was stunning, and I was once again in awe when there are towering cliffs and hills surrounding a twisty road. The 1.3 liter turbocharged motor carried itself well in our luxury Buick SUV. We stopped several times for some photographs along the road, a trail to some waterfalls, and a lighthouse. It was exciting to see a moose meander across the road, and two elk feeding in the shrubs along the side of the highway (Ashley got a picture of the moose which was very exciting for her haha).

The real highlight came when we started off on a boat tour through the Western Brook Pond, an incredible pond (aka lake in Ontario) that cuts its way through towering cliffs and rock faces above. The anticipation for the trek, only heightened as we hiked closer and closer to where the boat would depart. It is hard to describe the beauty in the cliffs above as we traveled down the waterway. There was snow in the craigs, and numerous waterfalls with lofty cascades of water dropping down the mountain sides. The way out was fresh, cool air, the return proved to be a stiff breeze in which we bundled up, hoods up, gloves, toques and all, a good Canadian dynamic weather experience.

After the tour and some refueling with snacks, we hit the road and headed for a hike at Cow head lighthouse trail, definitely the coastal section at the end was a highlight. Turning back after we made our way back through the park highway to return to our Airbnb for the night.

Beauty and awe in creation for me, is always a reminder of the Creator, the hands behind the intricacies of nature. I am always filled with thanksgiving for God who has placed us in such a beautiful world, and allowed health and strength to view some wonders.

"The heaven's declare the glory of God, the firmament shows His handiwork, day unto day utters speech, and night unto night reveals knowledge." Psalm 19:1-2

05/18/2026

Free as a bird

Today wasn't quite as eventful as the last couple in our travels of Newfoundland. It was mostly a driving day, as we departed from Brooklyn, NL, and drove 5 hours to Deer Lake. This will allow us to begin to tackle Gros Morne in the morning.

We visited a few viewpoints of Terra Nova National Park along the way. Stopping in to Gorge Park along the Exploits River and Good Year Cove proved to short, yet refreshingly beautiful stops along the drive. I enjoyed walking through a variety of forest and tundra like paths, viewing the different tree types and forest spring growth. Now sitting on the couch at our next place, it is a slower pace evening.

I was able to get a look at and edit a few photographs from yesterday. I especially like this shot in Elliston along the cost where you could see many puffins off on the rocks. We wandered off the main path and discovered this lone puffin, away from the crowd of people, he was just hanging out on the edge of the cliff about 20 feet away.

I like how the picture captures him in his element, free as a bird at the oceanside. He looks free, content, yet I bet you he is also focused, dialed in on the next best spot to snag a fish for supper, or an eye for a craig in the rock to settle for the night. That moment I may have been enjoying holiday views, but he was focused, dialed on his day to day life.

This morning, on the drive, Ashley read out loud Revelations 3. In this chapter, there is a section on the lukewarm church. It sounded like the church referenced here was living it's Christian walk in a manor or complacency, following along in some ways of God, but with no zeal, no fire/drive to succeed and be "on fire for God" I think we often can be complacent, lukewarm in our day to day. Christ calls us to be active, alive, even like this puffin is in the photograph, focused on moving forward, succeeding in the day God has given us.

Embrace the freedom we have in Christ from sin and brokenness. Realize He has put new life in our broken wings, so we can be "free as a bird" to take off in a flight path of alive, focused life for God.

Photography by Phil Kenyon

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