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New
HOME and Cabin
section inside! p. 98
$4.99 April 2020
Vol 32 • No 11
Spring planting guide
Rocky Harbour’s Twitter star
5 money saving apps
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life is better Published monthly in St. John’s by Downhome Publishing Inc. 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3 Tel: 709-726-5113 • Fax: 709-726-2135 • Toll Free: 1-888-588-6353 E-mail: mail@downhomelife.com Website: www.downhomelife.com Editorial Editor-in-Chief Janice Stuckless Assistant Editor Katherine Saunders Art and Production Art Director Vince Marsh Graphic and Web Designer Cory Way Illustrator Mel D’Souza Illustrator Snowden Walters Advertising Sales Senior Account Manager Robert Saunders Account Manager Barbara Young Marketing Director Tiffany Brett Finance and Administration Junior Accountant Marlena Grant Accounting Assistant Sandra Gosse Operations Manager, Twillingate Nicole Mehaney
Warehouse Operations Warehouse / Inventory Manger Carol Howell Warehouse Operator Josephine Collins Distribution Sales & Marketing Amanda Ricks Sr. Customer Service Associate Sharon Muise Inventory Control Clerk Darlene Whiteway Retail Operations Retail Floor Manager, St. John’s Jackie Rice Retail Floor Manager, Twillingate Donna Keefe Retail Sales Associates Crystal Rose, Emma Goodyear, Jonathon Organ, Nicole French, Elizabeth Gleason, Rebecca Ford, Erin McCarthy, Mackenzie Stockley, Marlene Burt, Marissa Little, Hayley Fitzgerald, Elizabeth Gauci, Beth Colbert, Kim Tucker, Heather Stuckless, Katrina Hynes, Tammy Keating
Subscriptions Customer Service Associate Kathleen Murphy Customer Service Associate Nicola Ryan
Founding Editor Ron Young
President & Associate Publisher Todd Goodyear
Chief Executive Officer/Publisher Grant Young
General Manager/Assistant Publisher Tina Bromley
To subscribe, renew or change address use the contact information above. Subscriptions total inc. taxes, postage and handling: for residents in NL $39.99; AB, BC, MB, NU, NT, QC, SK, YT $41.99; ON $45.19; NB, NS, PE $45.99. US and International mailing price for a 1-year term is $49.99.
Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement #40062919 The advertiser agrees that the publisher shall not be liable for damages arising out of errors in advertisements beyond the amount paid for the space actually occupied by the portion of the advertisement in which the error occurred, whether such error is due to the negligence of the servants or otherwise, and there shall be no liability beyond the amount of such advertisement. The Letters to the Editor section is open to all letter writers providing the letters are in good taste, not libelous, and can be verified as true, correct and written by the person signing the letter. Pen names and anonymous letters will not be published. The publisher reserves the right to edit, revise, classify, or reject any advertisement or letter. © Downhome Publishing Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.
Printed in Canada
Official onboard magazine of
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100 dreamy space
Contents
APRIL 2020
36 Seals are Back in Season From chic restaurants to holistic health suppliers, more and more people are acquiring a taste for quality seal products. Kim Ploughman
50 NLers in the NHL These hometown heroes have shot, blocked and skated with the best of ’em. How many of their names do you know?
78 Geeking Out
78
geeks gather www.downhomelife.com
Fans eagerly await the return of SciFi on the Rock to St. John’s, NL, for its 14th year. Katherine Saunders
100 A Change of Mood How designer Sara Kirby took her master bedroom from drama to dreamy April 2020
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Contents
APRIL 2020
homefront 10 I Dare Say A note from the editor 11 Contributors Meet the people behind the magazine
12 Letters From Our Readers A Heart’s Desire realized, memories of a river washout, and a tiny church with enormous sentimental value
20 Downhome Tours Downhome readers explore Southeast Asia 22 Why is That? Why do we say “break a leg” for good luck, and who was the first to “let the cat out of the bag”? Linda Browne
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barnyard babies
24 Life’s Funny Honesty in Business Berdina Ford
25 Say What A contest that puts words in someone else’s mouth
26 Lil Charmers Kids in the Kitchen 28 Pets of the Month Home on the Ranch
30 Blast from the Past Remember Golden Eagle?
32 Reviewed Denise Flint interviews Leslie Vryenhoek and reviews her book, We Will All be Received.
34 What Odds Paul Warford takes a shot at laser tag. 4
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30 fill-up flashback 1-888-588-6353
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44
a secret painter
features 44 Dad the Painter A father’s legacy created one brush stroke at a time. Tobias Romaniuk
58 tApp into Savings 5 cellphone apps to save you money
70 Sure Shots Featuring photographer Stan Collins
explore 86 Travel Diary Newfoundland by Kayak Tina McDonald 96 Stuff About What do Claire
86
adventures at sea www.downhomelife.com
Danes, the Newfoundland pony, and Doritos have in common?
home and cabin 98 Stuff We Love Smart home technology April 2020
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Contents
APRIL 2020
124 brunch is served
106 Need to Lighten Up? Creative ways to brighten a room with no natural light Holly Costello
110 DIY Grid Wall Cheap and easy way to style a wall
114 Roped into Business Trent Hardy repurposes old fishing rope with Waste Knot, Want Knot Katherine Saunders 120 The Everyday Gourmet Gnocchi Goodness Andrea Maunder
124 Everyday Recipes Brunch for the whole family
134 Down to Earth Determining the best time to plant veggies Kim Thistle 6
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114 a woven tale
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146 memory lane
reminiscing 140 Flashbacks Classic photos of people and places
141 This Month in History The first woman lawyer in NL
142 Visions and Vignettes Gnat, do you mind…Willows? Harold N. Walters
146 Journey Back by Streetcar About the cover This Gravlax and Herbed Cream Cheese dish is one of eight mouthwatering brunch recipes prepared for this issue by Chef Bernie-Ann Ezekiel and her Academy Canada cooking class. Recipes begin on page 124.
Cover Index New Home and Cabin Section • 98 Hometown Heroes of the NHL • 50 Get Your Geek On • 78 Brunch is Served • 124 Spring Planting Guide • 134 Rocky Harbour’s Twitter Star • 70 5 Money Saving Apps • 58
www.downhomelife.com
Kenneth G. Pieroway’s latest book explores the history of streetcars in St. John’s. Dennis Flynn
152 The Gamblin’ Cloth A rare glimpse at a WWI pastime Lester Green
156 Newfoundlandia A story of Newfoundland bread Chad Bennett 162 Mail Order 164 Puzzles 176 Photo Finish April 2020
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Check out our new Home and Cabin section! Recipes and gardening PLUS home décor and renovation inspiration. Starts on p. 98.
Download these 5 apps to your cellphone and start saving money today. p. 58
Win This Book! Visit DownhomeContests.com April 6-17, and enter to win a copy of Streetcars of St. John’s (see related story on p. 146).
Downhome Expo! Don’t forget to print your coupon to save $3 at the door of the 2020 Downhome Expo, April 24-26 at the Mount Pearl Glacier. Details at DownhomeExpo.com.
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Submission Guidelines and Prize Rules
You could WIN $100! Every reader whose PHOTO, STORY, JOKE or POEM appears next to this yellow “from our readers” stamp in a current issue receives $10 and a chance at being drawn for the monthly prize: $100 for one photo submission and $100 for one written submission. Prizes are awarded in Downhome Dollars certificates, which can be spent like cash in our retail stores and online at shopDownhome.com.*
Submit Today! Send your photo, story, joke or poem to
Downhome 43 James Lane St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3 or submit online at:
www.downhomelife.com *Only 1 prize per submitter per month. To receive their prize, submitters must provide with their submission COMPLETE contact information: full name, mailing address, phone number and email address (if you have one). Mailed submissions will only be returned to those who include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Downhome Inc. reserves the right to publish submissions in future print and/or electronic media campaigns. Downhome Inc. is not responsible for unsolicited material. www.downhomelife.com
April 2020
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i dare say
Home ownership is daunting, and I’m not talking about the mortgage. I’m talking about making a house your home, especially after years of renting other people’s property. I was home sick from work for the third day and bored out of my mind (also feverish, so maybe a little delirious), when I started picking at the cartoon border in the former kids’ room, now office, in the house I’d bought a few months before. By the next weekend, I had repainted the entire room. That it had new paint on it was the best I could say. I’d used cheap paint, and even cheaper rollers and brushes that left flecks of debris on the walls. I hated the mini blinds on all the windows, but to be honest, it took me longer to pick out new window coverings than it did to decide on which house to buy. And I had to call a friend for support when I finally, after months looking at bare walls, decided it was time to hang pictures. That’s what I loved about our Home and Cabin magazine. It offered style advice and photos of gorgeous spaces to inform and inspire. The magazine was struggling lately to make it on its own, but we weren’t ready to let it go. And we didn’t think readers were either. So we decided to move it into Downhome. Figuring out how to match the finer style of Home and Cabin with the broken-in comfort of Downhome took some design planning. We looked at all our departments – Homefront, Features, Explore, Food and Leisure, Reminiscing and Puzzles – and found one that was move-in ready. Food and Leisure, with its cooking and gardening, provided an easy entryway into broader Home and Cabin content. It’s the same as what you loved in Downhome, with more of what you loved in Home and Cabin. Turn to p. 98 and have a look around. Let us know if you like what we’ve done with the place. Thanks for reading,
Janice Stuckless, Editor-in-chief janice@downhomelife.com 10
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Contributors
Meet the people behind the magazine
Tobias Romaniuk
Holly Costello
Tobias Romaniuk is the former Special Publications Editor for Downhome and now works as a freelance writer. Luckily for us, he’s still happy to write the occasional story for us. In this issue, he reveals the rarely seen work of a talented, but humble painter (see pg. 44) who left a legacy of art after his passing. Tobias is an adopted Newfoundlander. He was born in Toronto and raised in Algoma Mills, Ontario. He spent time in British Columbia and Alberta before making a home in Holyrood, NL, the hometown of his wife, Meghan. He enjoys the freedom that comes with freelancing and takes the challenges in stride. His research and writing interests include design, making, music, food, cars and tech, but he also loves a good human interest story. He writes, “There’s a story in everything and everyone… I find stories by observing the world around me, being curious, asking questions and talking to people. And sometimes people say, ‘I have a story for you.’”
Holly Costello was born and raised in Corner Brook, NL, where she started a business in 2008. She is an interior designer and owner of Holly Costello Interiors, Inc. She earned a diploma in Interior Decorating and Design from Lawrence College in 2004, and now works full-time on small- to largescale commercial and residential projects. In this issue, Holly teaches ways to brighten up a room. Her howto article can be found on page 106 as part of the new Home and Cabin section of Downhome. When asked why she chose a career in interior design, Holly explains, “I’ve always been interested in creative things and working with people.” Her love of design never sleeps: when she’s not working, she loves planning projects for her own home. She lives with her husband, Kevin; her two young boys, Rudy and Felix; and their cats, Max and Joey. As a family, they love to cook and eat together, and explore the great outdoors.
www.downhomelife.com
April 2020
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Her Heart’s Desire
In 2018, Sandra (Lahey) Mitchell came to Newfoundland with two friends. Sandra is living in the United States. She always wanted to visit the Island and Heart’s Desire, Trinity Bay, where her father came from. She loved it and is returning again in August. Sandra met many relations (Laheys). Everyone loved Sandra and her friends. She loved the Downhome magazine. We also had a welcome party for the three of them and had a Screech-in. They loved the Newfoundland music and dancing. They were beautiful people, and I am so happy that they finally saw the island of Newfoundland and that her dream came true. While in Newfoundland, they visited surrounding communities and St. John’s, with the hopes of seeing more when she returns. Helen Clarke Heart’s Desire, NL
Thanks for sharing this fun moment, Helen. It looks like Sandra and her friends got the full experience, and probably a taste for more. 12
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Enjoying Downhome As a December 31 baby, a mainlander friend gifted me with an issue of Downhome. The recipe for Pineapple Light Fruitcake was a perfect way to use up the last of the candied fruit with a sunny twist. It was fun solving “The Beaten Path� puzzle over a morning coffee. To celebrate our heritage, my daughter and grandgirls took part in the tradition of mummering at our house during the holidays. My daughter also made a Christmas village and a set of mummers on parade. It will be an expanding village in the coming years with more mummers and painted houses. All in all, Downhome is a fun read. Perpetua Quigley Via email
Thanks, Perpetua, and welcome to the Downhome family of readers. The cake looks delicious!
See our story on page 92
www.downhomelife.com
April 2020
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find corky sly conner Hidden somewhere in this issue is Corky Sly Conner.
Can you find him? Look carefully at all the photographs and in the text of the stories. If you spot Corky, send us your name, address and phone number, along with a note telling us where he’s located. Your name will be entered in a draw and the winner will receive a coupon worth 25 Downhome Dollars redeemable at our store, or through our website.
Send your replies to: Corky Contest
Congratulations to Maisie Mullins of Milltown, NL, who found Corky on page 52 of the February issue.
Bonding Over Hockey This was the very day that Canada won gold at the World Juniors hockey tournament in Ostrava, Czech Republic. I offered these Czech lads a little taste of my home in St. John’s, NL. They were working as security for the hospitality tent provided for all of us travelling with Canada’s Destiny Tours to this fantastic event. June Stone St. John’s, NL
43 James Lane St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3
mail@downhomelife.com www.downhomelife.com *No Phone Calls Please One entry per person
Deadline for replies is the end of each month.
Poet Laureate Thank you for publishing the article by Helena MacLean about my mother, Ena Constance Barrett, the “Poet Laureate” [January 2020 issue]. Thanks to your magazine and my niece Helena, Mom has now received long overdue recognition for her contributions to her adopted island home. David Barrett Welland, ON
You’re welcome, David. Your mother was a gifted writer and must have been a very interesting person, and now all our readers know it, too.
Middle Brook Mistake Thanks for sharing Downhome with new friends halfway around the world, June, and for sending in this photo. 14
April 2020
I feel obligated to correct Mr. Sam Barnes regarding his write-up in January’s Downhome magazine, “The Montreal Move,” page 136. I quote, “We didn’t go very far before we Continued p. 16 1-888-588-6353
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stopped, just before Port Blandford, where a trestle over Middle Brook had washed out.” It should have been the trestle over South West River. I remember that washout vividly. My uncle, Edison Adams, who worked in the sawmill industry, had an operation nearby. His father, Uriah Adams (Uncle Hughie), and his sons made wooden biscuit boxes for Purity Factories Ltd. in St. John’s. It was Edison who, just after the river “riftered” – taking the trestle with it, transported himself across the South West River and walked toward Clarenville (Thorburn Lake area) to stop any rail traffic going west; there were no cellphones in April 1949! Anyone who had a punt or dory was employed transporting passengers, luggage and freight across the South West River for an extended period of time. My cousin Joyce found the enclosed picture showing people departing the train coming from the west. They would be transported across the river by punt or dory to the train going east
to Clarenville and then St. John’s. Other passengers were going in the opposite direction, from the Clarenville area west to Port aux Basques. Please note the old steam engine to the left in the picture. Austin Greening Clarenville, NL
Thanks for that clarification, Austin. Sam was only a boy during that trip, so he should be forgiven for any fuzzy details from so long ago. And thankyou to your cousin Joyce for digging up this photo from the event. Amazing!
Update on the Bake Shop Photo
We heard from a couple of people since publishing a flashback photo on page 130 of the February issue, titled “The Bake Shop.” We heard from Isabel Crawley in Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, who said her aunt was misidentified in the photo. The woman the submitter had identified as Winnie Hynes (the fourth woman from the left) was actually the late Winnie Barry (née Walbourne). She would have been about 28 years old in this photo. We heard from another caller that the second lady from the left is Jessie Thompson. We’re still looking to identify the lady on the far right, and we’ll share any information from readers in future issues. 16
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The Little Church on the Hill For over 50 years my mother-in-law, Loretta Curtis, played the organ for both the Anglican and United churches in Hatchet Cove, a small community nestled between Hillview and St. Jones Within, on the east coast of Newfoundland. Many years ago there were two separate churches, one for the Anglican congregation and one for the United Church congregation. As these were old, outdated buildings, it was decided to build a modern church that would serve both the United and Anglican congregations. Years later, Loretta asked David Curtis, her brother-in-law, who was a very skilled carpenter, to build her a replica of the old United Church that she grew up with and played the organ in. After many months, he presented her with this almost identical match, complete with pews, altar, lanterns and potbelly stove. She and her husband Freeman displayed the replica, with pride, on their front lawn. Sadly, she passed away in 2008, and Freeman died in 2011. After their passing, we brought the little church home to Nova Scotia and proudly
displayed it in memory of them. In 2019, we did some painting and repair to the church, but it was Dave, who sadly passed away last October, who did an awesome job in the first place, right down to the potbelly stove. Doris Curtis Bridgetown, NS
Here is the photo Doris sent of the little church that Dave built, to remember the old church beloved by its organist, Loretta.
Corrections On page 63 of the January 2020 issue, we incorrectly stated that there is a Come Home Year planned for this year in Twillingate; it’s actually being considered for 2021. We regret the error. On page 56 of the November 2019 issue, credit was accidentally omitted from this photo of a great black-backed gull. It was taken by Blair Drover and was used with permission.
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Newfoundland
Pony News
Spring in the air, so what better time to bring you some news about our beloved Newfoundland Pony? Here's a round up of events and news!
Downhome Expo
We will be showing off gorgeous Newfoundland Ponies at the Downhome Expo from April 24-26, 2020 at the Glacier Arena in Mount Pearl. Come see what all the fuss is about and why these gentle giants are worth preserving for future generations to enjoy. We'll have giveaways, swag to sell and most importantly, opportunities for you to pet the ponies and interact with them. The ponies are excited; we hope you are too!
The Newfoundland Pony Heritage Park
NPS recently secured a 50-year agricultural lease on 10 hectares of Crown land near Hopeall, Trinity Bay. We plan to restore the pasture and create a dedicated showcase area called The Newfoundland Pony Heritage Park. The project will provide free grazing pasture and breeding space for Newfoundland Pony owners in the area, in addition to a proposed visitor centre for school groups, individuals and tourists. If you would like to donate to this project, you can learn more about it by visiting our website.
Free DNA Testing Extended
The NPS is extending free DNA testing as part of our ongoing effort to identify and add more Newfoundland Ponies to the official registry. We encourage anyone who owns a Newfoundland Pony (or suspected Newfoundland Pony) to apply. If the ID committee finds that there is reason to believe that the pony in question is a Newfoundland pony, the owner will be notified and the $50 DNA testing fee will be waived. Application forms are available on the NPS website.
Top: "Gwen," owned by Kevin Dawson (Reg #811), one of the stars from last year's Expo! Below: A student volunteer helping out.
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homefront Downhome tours...
Southeast Asia
Vietnam
Catherine Roberts of Deer Lake, NL, writes about her 2019 trip: “Trekking the hills in and around Sapa, Vietnam, with beautiful rice terraces and paddies was quite the adventurous experience.” Sa Pa, or Sapa, is a township in northwest Vietnam, near the Chinese border. The Hoàng Liên Son mountain range and National Park at the southeastern extremity of the Himalayas takes up most of the region. It’s a peaceful market town, home to a variety of ethnic minorities. The economy is mostly based on small-scale agriculture, with rice and corn being common crops, and the terrace-style farms allow crops to thrive in the mountainous terrain. 20
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Philippines
Greg Clowe from Renews, NL, took his Downhome with him on a December 2019 trip to Maasin City, Philippines. The Philippines is an archipelago comprising more than 7,000 islands and 81 provinces. Maasin City, in the province of Southern Leyte on Leyte Island, is named for a misunderstanding between Spanish explorers and locals. The explorers were looking for drinking water. Gesturing to the Canturing River, they asked, “Que pueblo es este?” (“What town is this?”) The locals thought the Spaniards were asking about the flavour of the water and replied in Cebuano, their native language, “Maasin,” meaning “salty.”
Singapore
Gerald Snook and Adam Stanley of St. John’s, NL, have their picture taken at the 2011 Singtel Formula One Singapore Grand Prix. Singapore is a sovereign island citystate, meaning it is both a city and a country. It consists of the main island and 58 smaller islands. Singapore is highly developed, boasting one of the world’s longest life expectancies, and top-notch healthcare, education and housing. The annual Singapore Grand Prix, a signature event of the Formula One World Championship, has been held at the Marina Bay Street Circuit since its inauguration in 2008. www.downhomelife.com
April 2020
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Expert answers to common life questions. By Linda Browne
Why do we tell actors to “break a leg” for good luck? Have you ever whispered to your child to “break a leg” at the start of their school Christmas concert? Or maybe you shared the same sentiment with a friend or your significant other before they headed out on stage to perform in a musical or theatrical production. You certainly wouldn’t wish ill will upon your beloved, so why on earth would you tell them to go out and break one of their limbs in front of an audience? And why a “leg” specifically? Actors are a superstitious bunch and there are a number of strange rules that have taken hold over the centuries to help keep bad fortune at bay (a few big no-no’s: gifting flowers before a performance, whistling in a theatre and mentioning Shakespeare’s “Macbeth” inside a theatre). One theory of the “break a leg” encouragement is that the saying is connected to horse racing, and that it’s an inverted call for good luck (in other words, wishing someone bad luck will actually bring about good luck). In her 1938 autobiography, A Peculiar Treasure, American novelist, short story writer and playwright Edna Ferber gives a glimpse of where this saying may have originated. “And when that grisly night of the dress rehearsal finally comes round, and the strange figures enter the dim 22
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auditorium and grope for seats… and all the understudies sitting in the back row politely wishing the various principals would break a leg…” she writes. However, “there is no one answer, as theatrical superstition is surrounded by even less credible lore,” writes theatre, film and television historian, Mark Robinson, in an email to Downhome. Robinson points to a piece of his that was published on Playbill Online, where he digs deeper into a few of the more popular theories, one of which is that the “leg” in question doesn’t refer to the body part at all, “but rather the curtain that hangs in the wings, masking the backstage.” “Breaking a leg means you have broken past this barrier and made it successfully onstage! Some evidence suggests this phrase was born with early vaudeville, when performers 1-888-588-6353
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waited backstage and it was decided in the moment if their act would go on that performance. If they were sent on, they had broken the leg. (Then they just had to watch out for the hook),” he writes. Other theories suggest the phrase goes back to Elizabethan England,
“where audiences threw money when they enjoyed a performance (fruits and vegetables for a bad one),” Robinson writes. “Actors would have to bend over to collect their rewards, thus breaking the line of their leg. Money = Breaking legs = Success.”
Where did the saying “let the cat out of the bag” come from? Have you ever confided a secret to a friend, only to have them accidentally (or perhaps deliberately) blurt it out prematurely to another? You might’ve accused your friend of “letting the cat out of the bag,” but did you ever wonder where this funny little phrase comes from? The phrase’s first mention in print was in a 1760 issue of The London Magazine, in which a book reviewer wrote, “We could have wished that the stage genius, author of this piece, had not let the cat out of the bag…,” seemingly upset that the author had spoiled a surprise. There are a couple of oft-repeated theories of this phrase’s origin. One is that it refers to the cat o’ nine tails (named for the cat-like scratches it left on a victim’s body) that was used by the British Royal Navy as a form of punishment. It is said that the leather whip was kept in a sack to keep it from drying out – hence, letting the “cat” out of the “bag.” In her book, Cool Cats, Top Dogs and Other Beastly Expressions, Christine Ammer takes a look at another popular theory: that the saying comes from trickery practised at farmers’ markets from days gone by, where a “suckling pig” was a costly and coveted good.
“Sellers in olden times were not always above skullduggery… and occasionally a farmer would put a worthless cat instead of the expected pig into the purchaser’s bag, which was called a poke. The two animals weighed about the same, and unless buyers were cautious enough to check the contents, the substitution might not be discovered until they got home and let the cat out of the bag,” she writes. “And hence making a worthless purchase is described as buying a pig in a poke.” However, popular myth-busting website Snopes.com casts some serious doubt on this theory, as well as the former – their main point being the implausibility of mistaking a cat for a pig (due to their difference in weight, size and sound). Wherever the phrase comes from, it’s always a good practice to keep secrets closely guarded, as once the cat’s out of the bag, there’s very little chance of getting it back in.
Do you have a burning life question for Linda to investigate? Turn to page 9 for ways to contact us. www.downhomelife.com
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homefront life’s funny
Honesty is Definitely Their Policy Berdina Ford of Bonavista, NL, couldn’t help but admire this business’s honest approach to customer service. She also couldn’t resist taking a photo and submitting it to Downhome, so we could all have a chuckle at it.
Do you have any funny or embarrassing true stories? Share them with us. If your story is selected, you’ll win a prize! See page 9 for details. 24
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ink we h t u o y o “D for could passd dogs...” lan NewfounGlodria Bailey –
Say WHAT? Downhome recently posted this photo (sent in by Stephanie Legace) on our website, Facebook page and Instagram, and asked our members to imagine what the pug might be saying. Gloria Bailey’s response made us chuckle the most, so we’re awarding her 20 Downhome Dollars!
Here are the runners-up: “Screech? I can’t even bark right now!” – Sheila Rose “You are supposed to kiss the cod, not bite it!” – Elizabeth Reid “Buddy, it’s going to be a ruff night!” – Brenda Hicks-Vatcher
Want to get in on the action? Go to www.downhomelife.com/saywhat
www.downhomelife.com
“Like” us on Facebook www.facebook.com/downhomelife April 2020
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homefront lil charmers
Kids in
the Kitchen Lil Dough Boy Lewis Kearley is just eight months old here, but he’s already hands-on with the bread dough. Kristen Slaney Fortune, NL
A Grand(ma) Time Nanny Hefford shows Fletcher, 3, and Pearl, 2, a thing or two about baking. Dinah Goodyear Dunville, NL
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Stirring Things Up Olivia had fun baking cookies with her Nanny in Norris Point, NL. Stephanie Major Grand Falls-Windsor, NL
Whipping Up Breakfast Emma, 5, makes pancakes at the cabin in Lethbridge, NL. Melanie Squires NL www.downhomelife.com
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homefront pets of the month
Pretty Girl Spirit, the Newfoundland Pony cross, loves to pose for the camera. Margo Young Lethbridge, NL
Home on the Ranch Feathered Friend Chloe came from Ontario to visit family and loved meeting the chickens in the coop. Dana Blackmore Pound Cove, NL 28
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Porch Pals Spencer the goat and Bud the chocolate Lab are best friends. Amanda Plowman Eddies Cove West, NL
East Coast Goats Buck and Bella stroll the yard at their home in Maddox Cove. Sue Warford Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove, NL www.downhomelife.com
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homefront
Remember Golden Eagle? Did you know
that Newfoundland and Labrador was the starting point for what became the Ultramar chain of gas stations? In 1961, the British Ultramar plc company chose this province on the eastern edge of North America to launch a retail arm of their petroleum operation. They called it Golden Eagle. A decade later, they opened an oil refinery in Saint-Romuald, Quebec (today it’s still the largest oil refinery in eastern Canada). Golden Eagle grew by purchasing competing operations, such as Texaco and Gulf, and in the 1980s changed its name to Ultramar – but kept the golden eagle logo. At its height, Ultramar ran almost 1,000 service stations in Atlantic Canada, Quebec and Ontario. In recent years, the refinery operation has been taken over by Valero Energy Inc., and the gas stations and heating oil divisions have been sold off to different companies, some operating now under different brands, including Irving. Ultramar is owned by Parkland Fuel of Calgary, AB, since 2016, but the familiar Ultramar brand is still around – golden eagle and all.
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Send us your 500-800 word story about your most memorable day trip or the dream vacation you took in Newfoundland and Labrador. And be sure to include a photo or two, so we can see what you’re raving about.
How to Submit Online: www.downhomelife.com/submit By email: editorial@downhomelife.com Mail: Downhome, 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3
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homefront
reviewed by Denise Flint
We All Will Be Received Leslie Vryenhoek Breakwater Books $21.95
The plot of Leslie Vryenhoek’s new novel, We All Will Be Received, sounds like something out of the golden age of crime fiction: a collection of people stranded at an out-of-the-way motel during a raging blizzard with all communication cut off to the outside world. But in this case, even though there’s more than one crime committed, the point is more about how the characters got there in the first place. The main character, Dawn, is the owner of the motel, and it is her story we most closely follow as the novel wanders from past to present and back again. She doesn’t appear to have a lot of gumption. With the exception of buying the motel, she seems to just drift along doing as she’s told, whether it be abandoning her family to follow her boyfriend into a life of crime or moving into an apartment someone else has designated as her new living quarters. She might occasionally resent the way other people arrange her life, but she doesn’t do anything about it. That makes her a hard character to root for. Paradoxically, you root for her nonetheless. Vryenhoek writes with assurance as she explores the underlying concept of personal space and privacy, and whether we can have either in an increasingly digitalized world. She also addresses goodness and villainy. Characters swing back and forth, from saviour to destroyer and back again, making the reader wonder whether such concepts have any real meaning. Although the ending feels abrupt, Vryenhoek has written a compelling novel that will keep one engaged throughout.
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Q&A with the Author Denise Flint: This novel mostly takes place on the Northern Peninsula of Newfoundland. Your last one was set in Winnipeg. How important is place to you? Leslie Vryenhoek: I think place is
vital. The creative world of the novel and the place you choose to set it is important; for me, the Northern Pen. was about the need to have a remote place where people could be really removed from technology. There are probably other places I could have chosen, but not places I’ve been to and have some connection to.
DF: Are you a plotter, or do you let the story just run its course? LV: A little of both. Primarily, I let the
characters take it where they’re going, and in this book I had no idea where it was going in the end. If I’d plotted it out, I would have been too bored to finish writing it. I let the characters take the journey, but I knew they were all heading to the inn, and I knew the big strokes. But some were surprising.
DF: How did you come up with this particular set of characters? LV: I’m not sure I have a carefully
thought out answer. I just started writing the first few pages and she [Dawn] started to take shape. I knew I wanted a woman who was struggling to redefine herself and take on a new identity, and as she struggled to break through she started to take shape. I knew that the past would catch up to Dawn, but when I started I just thought ‘I’m gonna have a bad guy.’
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But I got jammed, and then I realized I really wanted to talk about redemption and the new paradigm of not being able to leave the past and everything you’ve said or done.
DF: How much research do you do? Are you obsessed with getting things absolutely right or do you just read and create? LV: I’m pretty obsessed. I know that
not everything is going to be completely right. I’m always looking at the map and making sure the road’s right and it’s taking the right amount of time. I went up to the Northern Pen. three times, and I didn’t put a plant where it didn’t belong. When you’re researching you come across interesting things that are quite serendipitous. It’s funny; I go on the Internet to research leaving it.
DF: What book or books have had the greatest influence on your life, personally and as a writer? LV: Would it be a shock if I said the
Bible? That’s not really the answer. As a writer, Carol Shield’s Swann. I read it in my early 20s and for some reason it really had an impact on me. She’s the reason I became a writer. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about why I liked the books I did and hated the books I did; why did I like The Great Gatsby and hate Moby Dick? All the books I loved had women driving the plot who were not extraneous. It was rare and so important to a young woman who was interested in books and writings.
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homefront what odds
soldiers of fortune By Paul Warford
I grip my Rowan is two and she asks her mother, to play YouTube on her cellphone; she weapon tighter Sarah, feels like dancing. to my chest, “You don’t need YouTube, my love. I’ll sing for I say, and immediately break into “I Would hold my breath you,” Do Anything for Love” by Meatloaf. Sarah and wait, observes for a second or two and then joins in, resting my back singing at Rowan along with me, emphatically, before the toddler side-eyes us and walks away against the wall to ask her father instead. behind me. Six years later...
My shadow appears against the plywood wall in front of me, then disappears. The silhouette of my curly hair and my small frame projects itself in sync with the strobe light flickering just above me. I glance up and the red winking light puts dots in my eyes, so I shut them and wait for the dots to fade. I breathe heavily, but I have to do so quietly to ensure they don’t hear me. They’re coming now; their clomping footfalls are getting closer. I grip my weapon tighter to my chest, hold my breath and wait, resting my back against the wall behind me. The red light keeps blinking. Finally, they’re in front of me, Ellis and his friend, who I think is named Toby. Neither of them notice me. “Ah ha!” I exclaim as I open fire. Their plastic guns start booping, which means I’ve hit them. “Ah, man!” they utter in protest. They’re out and they have to go back to their start room and begin again because I’ve shot them. I laugh heartily and scuttle past, looking for the other members of their team – especially their captain – while ignoring the burn of my thigh muscles. Ellis and his twin brother had their seventh birthday during Newfoundland’s 2020 storm of the century, in the midst of St. John’s week-long state of emergency that I don’t think any of us will be forgetting anytime soon. Once the roads had
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been cleared and everyone had gotten somewhat back to normal, their father, Peter, booked the boys and their friends for an hour of laser tag. I was the red team’s adult participant and Peter was the blue team’s. At first, the twins said “No girls!” but they eventually allowed their sister Rowan and her friend to join. If you’re new to laser tag, the concept is simple enough. Everyone gets a fake gun with a sensor on it. If your aim is true enough, you can shoot your fake gun at your opponent’s sensor and cause it to blink, meaning you’ve secured a “kill.” This might sound a tad barbaric to play with children, but trust me, it’s a laugh. The facility itself is impressive, a two-storey playground segmented into rooms with thin windows like balistraria that look down onto wooden cutouts of jeeps and tanks, all connected by narrow stairwells lit with urgent greens and dull blues. I navigate the dim hallways quickly, but deftly; I don’t want to be the adult who accidently topples a child in the dark, ruining the fun. I’ve never been great with kids. See, I’m the youngest in my family, and I was the youngest cousin, too. I didn’t start meeting and speaking with children until I became a substitute teacher, and I wasn’t good at it then, either. I struggled with conversation, with what to say. I still do. Until kids reach Grade 8 or 9 and they’ve developed a bit of cynicism, I find them www.downhomelife.com
intimidating. I’m being serious here. My best friend, Sarah, was incredible with kids, like no one I’ve ever seen. She could respect and entertain them at any age, and she always knew what to say to make a child feel validated. I bought each of the boys camouflage face paint from a hunting store as gifts, thinking they could smear their cheeks with browns and blacks in the laser tag bathroom; I could, too, and we’d look great in pictures, brandishing our rifles like a pack of Rambos. But after opening the gifts, they just studied the packages for a quiet moment, embarrassed. They laid them to one side and sprung to their feet to horseplay with their buddies instead, the military makeup already forgotten. I missed Sarah then, and wished she was there to tell me what I’d done wrong. I shook off this feeling, however, because we only had the lasers for an hour, and time can seem so short when you’re having fun. I thought instead about what I was doing right, and the answer to that was simple: I was there. Still, I can’t wait until the boys are old enough to play paintball. Paul Warford began writing for Downhome to impress his mom and her friends. He writes and performs comedy in Eastern Canada. Follow him on Twitter @paulwarford April 2020
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features
SeaDNA Seal Meat Ribs Canada Smartest Kitchens photo
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The traditional
seal industry, which shaped our province’s culture over time, is one of the most controversial food industries on earth. Newfoundland and Labrador, and indeed the country, have faced ongoing backlash from all over the globe since the 1970s from anti-sealing activists, including many celebrities, who oppose this centuries-old practice. The industry has become beleaguered with massive trade bans, declining interest in fur products, and negative attitudes and campaigns. All the while, grey and harp seal populations have exploded over the past 40 years, threatening vulnerable fish stocks and the commercial fishery.
The spirit to continue sealing, however, has never waned. Indeed, pockets of fishers here – as well as in Quebec and the High Arctic – still seasonally harvest a fraction of the federally allocated seal quota, notwithstanding the heat swirling around this warm-blooded sea animal. And, remarkably, there is an increasingly celebratory mood – especially on the food, crafts and health fronts – across much of the country about all things seal.
Making the most of seal meat A fairly new Canadian seafood company in Quebec has gone all in to defend, grow and celebrate what has www.downhomelife.com
been called “the most bullied industry in the world.” Launched in 2015 and headquartered in Montreal, SeaDNA has processing sites in Newfoundland and Labrador, and the Magdalen Islands (Îles-de-laMadeleine), which supply flippers and various cuts of seal meat. SeaDNA’s seal is on menus in more than 20 eateries across the country, with several offering it year-round. The company also sells Omega-3 seal oil and capsules, promoting them on their website as “an innovative, unique, natural and truly Canadian product.” And they’ve developed a line of pet foods and oils. “People are more inclined to buy April 2020
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SeaDNA touts seal meat as a tasty superfood and it is showing up in restaurants across the country. Gil Theriault photo/chasseursdephoques.com seal products for the health of their pets, which may help with the positivity around the industry,” says SeaDNA co-owner Romy Vaugeois, adding, “We are hoping to enlarge our products, especially in areas other than meats.” SeaDNA’s sealbased goods are now in more than 150 stores across the country. SeaDNA’s mantra extols that seals are an abundant and renewable Canadian resource. Through careful harvesting and processing practices, its company offers world-best quality seal oil and seal meat products. Their sealers are required to undertake rigorous training to ensure a humane 38
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and ethical harvest, and to only take what is needed. This harvest is closely monitored by both the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) and the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA). Its products, including seal oil, are certified by the CFIA, Health Canada or the Quebec government, and are tested for purity by an external lab. Furthermore, all parts of the harvested seal are fully utilized. According to the SeaDNA website, “Meat and oil are well below the most stringent industry requirements for heavy metals like mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic, and the World 1-888-588-6353
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Health Organization’s limits for PCBs, dioxins and furans.” In fact, the harp and grey seals are part of the “Smarter Seafood” list certified by Exploramer, a program dedicated to sharing the culinary flavours of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, while protecting marine biodiversity and sustainable development. This program encourages restaurants and fish markets to integrate new marine species into their menu. SeaDNA also credits its seal meat processing expertise and best practices to its president, Réjean Vigneau, from the Magdalen Islands. A respected sealer and butcher (owner of Boucherie Spécialisée Côte à Côte), Réjean has spent a decade developing harvesting, conservation and processing protocols to ensure superior seal products, with government approval. Réjean is joined in this venture by Quebec entrepreneur, Marc Vaugeois, and his daughter, Romy Vaugeois, who
studied international business and returned home in 2014 after a fiveyear stint in China. Ingrid Vaugeois works alongside her sister and father as SeaDNA manager.
Superfoods & Seal Fests
Bold and proud in its efforts to place seal meat on the minds, plates and palates of restaurants across the nation, SeaDNA has engaged in a campaign to boost seal meat consumption. SeaDNA touts seal meat as a tasty “Canadian superfood,” adding that “it is also among the healthiest proteins on earth and one Canada should celebrate.” Romy tells Downhome in a recent phone call that she believes the desire by many people to eat healthier will have more and more Canadians adding wild game, including seal, to their food choices. SeaDNA’s seal meat is indeed showing up at food celebrations across the country. One is Seal Fest (“Phoque Fest” in French), sponsored by
SeaDNA’s Omega-3 seal oil is tested for purity by external labs and scores well below healthy limits for heavy metals and toxins. www.downhomelife.com
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restaurants in the city, she said, SeaDNA and the Seals and Sealing including Mallard Cottage, Adelaide Network (SSN). (Romy was recently and Chinched Bistro. appointed national coordinator for Designated as chef liaison for the SSN, a national non-profit organiza10-day event, Lori sourced seal meat tion in Ottawa that promotes the sustainable use of seals.) The inaugural fest was held in 2018 in both Montreal and Quebec City, featuring harp seals harvested from Newfoundland and Labrador (one of SeaDNA’s suppliers of seal meat is Carino in South Dildo, Trinity Bay). The aim was to change the perception of seals by providing an opportunity for folks to discover the taste and value of this unique Canadian resource. “This is really good initiative for the industry, creating positive media attention,” Romy says. By 2019, more than 20 restaurants in Quebec joined in this 10-day culinary festival, which was supported by federal and Quebec governments. For Events such as Seal Fest create this unique gastronomic awareness for seal meat products experience, each restaurant and positive media attention. featured its own seal from a local distributor to supply recipes prepared by talented chefs. participating cooks. She expected The festival has since expanded to people would enjoy sampling such Sherbrooke, the Magdalen Islands, seal meal varieties as burgers, tacos Toronto and St. John’s. and tataki. Lori McCarthy of Cod Sounds – a “People are adventure eaters, plus traditional wild food excursion comthey care about the economics and pany in Avondale, NL – helped environmental effect of their food,” organize the first St. John’s Seal Fest, Lori said. held last month. When interviewed She felt there’s been ample negativfor this story in February, she was ity paid to the seal industry, and now busy preparing for “a big uptake” it’s time to put it in a better light. event involving six “best of the best” 40
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It’s not just people that can enjoy seal products – SeaDNA also carries a line of animal products, demonstrating the versatility of material harvested from seals. “This is a cultural food that has changed our food landscape; and it tells a story of where we came from,” she said. Lori viewed events like Seal Fest as a way to open the conversation about this exceptional protein. While she noted not much seal meat is served throughout the year at local eateries due to accessibility barriers, Lori offers seal (in season) on her outdoor excursions on a platter with red wine sauce. “Everyone is surprised how good it tastes,” she enthused. Wild seal meat is also promoted through National Seal Products Day. Enacted in 2017 through a federal Private Members’ Bill (sponsored by NL MP Scott Simms), this event is hosted in Ottawa on Parliament Hill. It is also now held in St. John’s, organized by the local Craft Council. The special day, typically celebrated on May 20, toasts the economic, cultural and environmental importance www.downhomelife.com
of a sustainable seal hunt. It also promotes sealskin fashions and seal meat tasting. (The Fur Institute of Canada and the Canadian Sealers Association also team up to promote Fur Day on The Hill in Ottawa.) Back at SeaDNA, their quest to expand the seal business also has them partnering with Off the Hook – a fish and seafood market located on Yonge street in Toronto. The market offers up SeaDNA seal cuts (including loins and charcuterie) to its customers.
Changing Narrative and Markets
Romy is confident the Canadian seal industry has evolved, with the narrative slowly returning to reality rather than being coloured by the propaganda that has dominated the sealing landscape for decades. “Minds are changing – but there is still a great need to convince and April 2020
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educate to make a difference,” she says. Romy acknowledges the seal mission is ever “a work in progress,” given there remains a “lot of pressure” from anti-sealing groups. Her new role with the SSN, she emphasizes, will assist the whole industry in promoting the positive seal narrative. She plans and implements programs “focused on traceability, marketing and communication, branding and market development for seal products including seal oil, seal meat, and fur and leather.” So, what about those contentious markets for seal products, namely the
Seals
are rising superstars, slowly emerging as one of Canada’s greatest traditional, lean and nutritious gastronomical delights. US and the EU? According to Romy, the SSN and SeaDNA have been focused solely on Canada, building “legitimacy” first on the home front; but they work with others in the industry to seek out and build markets in China, Japan and North Korea. An international importer-exporter in the seafood business, Newfoundlander Doug Power is also working hard to develop various markets, like lobster and oysters, in the Middle East. “Potentially, there is an appetite for health and seal products, 42
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particularly oils – and it has to start with relationship building, which I am in the process of doing, especially in Qatar,” he says. Bernie Halloran of Always in Vogue knows all about nurturing the international seal market. A well-known seal leather and fur retailer in St. John’s, NL, Bernie has been eyeing the huge Chinese markets since 2012 and currently has a factory there (as well as one in Fleur de Lys, NL). He figures that China could consume, in one morning, the total federal quota of 400,000 seals, and points out that with the shutdown in food production due to the coronavirus this year, China is hungry for meats. “The Chinese people love the products, but I always liken it to trying sell ketchup when everyone’s used to eating mustard,” he says. A passionate defender of the industry, Bernie says international markets are sparse, but contends there could and should be more support nationally for this industry. “The people here get it – they understand it, and we need the rest of the country to rally behind this industry, as we are right!” Seals are rising superstars, slowly emerging as one of Canada’s greatest traditional, lean and nutritious gastronomical delights; and to boot, they are wild (thus hormone-free), locally sourced, abundant, and sustainably and ethically harvested. For companies like SeaDNA and the SSN, those facts carry the day; and hopefully, this message will persuade the markets and the world that this heritage food should be reimagined, embraced and reconnected back to our food pathways, clothing, crafts and our health. 1-888-588-6353
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Advertisement
Tell us,
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when shall these things be, and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and the end of the age Matthew 24:3
This question was put to Jesus a few days before his crucifixion. The following are some of the answers to that question as given by Jesus. 1. Nation shall rise against nations, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines and pestilences, (plagues) and earthquakes, in diverse places. Matthew 24:7, Mark 13:8, Luke 21:10-11 2. And this gospel (good news) of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come. Matthew 24:14, Mark 13:10 3. When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place (whoso readeth, let him understand). Matthew 24:15, Mark 13:14, Luke 21:20 (Also Daniel 12:1-4, 2nd Thessalonians 2:3-11, Revelations 13:5-8) 4. For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days be shortened, there should no flesh be saved. Matthew 24:21-22, Mark 13:19, Luke 21:22, 1st Thessalonians 5:1-3 5. Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light. Matthew 24:29-30, Mark 13:24, Luke 21:25-27 6. And then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. Matthew 24:30, Mark 13:26, Luke 21:27 7. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Revelations 21:4, 1st Timothy 6:13-16 This page is sponsored by an anonymous reader
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features
A father’s legacy created one brush stroke at a time By Tobias Romaniuk
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Inside Rosemill Antiques in downtown St. John’s, NL, surrounded by the past, shop owner Rick Clarke stands amongst the memories, recalling his own. A few hours later, told between customer visits and antique item description sidetracks, the story comes to an end. Rick pauses, then says, “It’s the story of a man who never really wanted to be somebody, but was somebody.” The man, who died November 12, 2019, was Rick’s father, Abner. Rick describes him as frugal, creative, modest, honest, kind, not quick with a smile, and more likely to make something he wants rather than buy it. Born in 1921, “He grew up in the Depression and never came out of it,” says Rick, the second youngest of eightchildren raised in Corner Brook and Humbermouth, NL. www.downhomelife.com
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To provide for their growing family, Abner worked in the Corner Brook Pulp and Paper Mill, while Mildred, his wife, worked as a seamstress. Their home, remembers Rick, was the first in the neighbourhood to get a colour TV. By the time Confederation rolled around, Abner had sailed the Eastern seaboard and across the Atlantic to England on ships transporting newsprint from the mill during the War, travelling in convoys for protection from the enemy. Having seen large cities and distant shores, he preferred the woods of his rugged island, where he hunted, fished, walked, gathered wood and sometimes simply stood, admiring nature’s beauty. At home, he expressed his creativity through woodworking and paint. As a 46
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small child, Rick remembers his dad making large, painted wooden Santa Claus lawn ornaments. “His Santa Clauses were beautiful,” says Rick. “I kinda wish I had one. They were real traditional, like Coca Cola [Santa], with the fur coat and red velvet mitts.” The basement workshop, filled with a full complement of woodworking tools, was neatly organized and tidy. “Growing up, as a kid,” says Rick, “Dad always dabbled down in the basement.” In 1957, the year Rick was born, somebody gave his older brother a paint-by-number set. “And Dad actually took it and painted it,” says Rick. “Then he did his own copy of it afterward, which he never ever really put out on display, and I found it in the basement wrapped up for 1-888-588-6353
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like 50 years.” Abner would, over the course of a lifetime, make hundreds of paintings, Rick estimates. The early paintings show the work of an artist getting acquainted with perspective and proportion. In an effort to better himself, through the years Abner would take classes from local painters and he used to watch Bob Ross on TV. “Some of his early work is naive, like houses weren’t quite right, almost like folk art, I guess,” says Rick, “but there was something com48
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pelling about it all. And you could see as time progressed, his depth and perception and angles got better until he just nailed it in the end.” Trees, though, were always painted well, which Rick figures comes from his dad spending so much time in the woods. Many of his favourite scenes – a preferred fishing hole, a falls on the river, a meadow in the woods, or the mill as seen through the trees – were recreated on canvas over the years, with Abner sometimes revisiting a painting several times until he got it just the way he wanted it. By the 1980s, Abner was painting often, continually working to improve his skills. Rick, who studied at the Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver for a year, encouraged his father’s hobby by gifting him paints and art supplies, and offering suggestions of what to paint. One day, he showed his father a picture of the Queen Mary, which 1-888-588-6353
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Abner painted, along with images he would see in calendars. Many of these paintings were never displayed, instead wrapped in brown paper and tucked away in the workshop or behind a couch, like the paint-by-numbers painting from 1957. The paintings deemed good enough for display were hung on walls throughout the house, where they were seen by visitors who occasionally left with them, too. Abner never sold a painting, never had a public showing of his work, and didn’t often talk about his art, but if somebody showed interest in a painting he would give it to them. “But he wouldn’t say, ‘Oh I painted something for you, here you go.’ He was shy about that,” says Rick. “Later in life, when he got really good, everybody wanted one.” He was a mill worker, an outdoors-
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man, a woodworker – all things Abner would readily agree to. But artist? Never, says Rick, would his father describe himself as an artist and he would likely be embarrassed if someone referred to him as such. “He was just someone who liked to paint, liked to create,” says Rick. Part of that creation process involved making frames for each finished painting in his workshop, from trees he selected on his many woodland walks. Abner painted purely for himself, for his own enjoyment, and although he never thought of his paintings as having any sort of importance beyond personal passion, the work has value. “It’s not any one piece that is important,” says Rick, “but the whole collection that’s important, the life’s work.”
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n ” fa a d a r Can ou hea n i t y igh inute rian in N y ke the m brado Maple c o “H k up or La the he a e ’r ely per lander p. From gs to tm u o y st lik ound reca d Win e fro r e eth, you mof a Newfa sports, the ResomeonL team h W r not me o y or ucks een n NH How o e na an 62. ? as b n a -pla th ay-by the C ere h ing o ce 19 know y n o h l i t a p eafs ngs, t ce pla son s o you L in Ki sd ea LA s prov very s name thi ost e these alm ny of ma
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Alex Faulkner
Position: Centre Team: Detroit Red Wings (1962-64)
Trophy: NL Senior Men’s Herder Cup (1955, 1956, 1957, 1960, 1965)
NHL games played: 101 NHL career goals: 15 NHL career assists: 17
The first person from Newfoundland and Labrador to ever play in the National Hockey League was Alex Faulkner from Bishop’s Falls. Born in 1936, Faulkner learned to skate and play hockey on the frozen Exploits River. A star in local senior hockey, Faulkner was recommended to the Toronto Maple Leafs organization by former Leafs player Howie Meeker, who saw Faulkner play in an exhibition game in St. John’s. Faulkner was signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs’ AHL team, the Rochester Americans, before being drafted into the NHL by the Detroit Red Wings in 1962. He played for the Red Wings in ’62-63, but his ’63-64 season was limited due to a broken hand and injured ankle. After a few seasons in the minors, Faulkner returned to his home province and had a successful career with the senior league. He retired in 1972 with the St. John’s Capitals. He was inducted into the NL Hockey Hall of Fame in 1994.
Michael Ryder
Position: Right Wing Teams: Montreal Canadiens (2003-04, 2005-08), Boston Bruins (2008-11), Dallas Stars (2011-13), New Jersey Devils (2013-15)
Trophy: Stanley Cup (2011) NHL games played: 806 NHL career goals: 237 NHL career assists: 247 52
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Born in Bonavista in 1980, Michael Ryder would play in five different leagues in his career, beginning in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with the Hull Olympiques in the 1997-98 season. He was drafted by the Montreal Canadiens in 1998, and spent several seasons in the EHL and AHL before putting on the Canadiens jersey in 2003-04. During the NHL lockout in 2004-05, Ryder played in Sweden. He returned to Canada and played for the Canadiens until 2008, when he signed with the Boston Bruins. He was on the Bruins team that won the Stanley Cup in 2011. The next season he signed a two-year deal with the Dallas Stars and had his best goal-scoring year (36 goals) with them. He closed out his NHL career with the New Jersey Devils. 1-888-588-6353
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More NLers in the NHL Luke Adam Born: 1990, St. John’s Position: Centre Teams: Buffalo Sabres,
Daniel Cleary
Columbus Blue Jackets
Daniel Cleary, the first Newfoundlander to bring home the Stanley Cup, was born in Carbonear in 1978 and grew up in Harbour Grace. His pro career started in 1993-94 with the Metro Junior Hockey League. He also played in the Ontario Hockey League and International Hockey League before being drafted by the NHL’s Chicago Blackhawks in 1997. He spent the 2004-05 NHL lockout playing in Sweden. He’d play seasons with the Edmonton Oilers and Phoenix Coyotes (and a scattered season in the minors), before his long run with the Detroit Red Wings (2005-2015). In 2008, he became a Stanley Cup champion. In 2009, he launched the Danny Cleary Hockey School in his home province. Now retired from play, Cleary is the assistant director of player development with the Detroit Red Wings.
Keith Brown
Position: Right Wing Teams: Chicago Blackhawks (1997-
Toronto Maple Leafs
1999), Edmonton Oilers (19992003), Phoenix Coyotes (2003-04), Detroit Red Wings (2005-2015)
Trophy: Stanley Cup (2008) NHL games played: 938 NHL career goals: 165
NHL career assists: 222 www.downhomelife.com
Born: 1960, Corner Brook Position: Defence Teams: Chicago Blackhawks, Florida Panthers
Bob Gladney Born: 1957, Come By Chance Position: Defence Teams: Los Angeles Kings, Pittsburgh Penguins
Doug Grant Born: 1948, Corner Brook Position: Goalie Teams: Detroit Red Wings, St. Louis Blues
Colin Greening Born: 1986, St. John’s Position: Centre Teams: Ottawa Senators,
Don Howse Born: 1952, Grand FallsWindsor Position: Left Wing Teams: Los Angeles Kings Continued on p. 55 April 2020
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Ryane Clowe
Position: Left Wing Teams: San Jose Sharks (2005-2013), New York Rangers (2013), New Jersey Devils (2013-15)
NHL games played: 491 NHL career goals: 112 NHL career assists: 197
Born in St. John’s in 1982 and raised in Fermeuse, Ryane Clowe started his pro career with the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 2000. He played for the Cleveland Barons of the AHL before being drafted into the NHL by the San Jose Sharks in 2005. He played eight seasons with the Sharks before being traded to the New York Rangers in April 2013. He was a free agent when he signed a five-year contract with the New Jersey Devils that July. A hard-hitter known for rough plays, Clowe also took his share of hard knocks. A severe concussion suffered during a 2014 game ultimately led to the end of his on-ice career. He served as assistant coach with the New Jersey Devils for two seasons before coming home in 2018 to coach the Newfoundland Growlers, the St. John’s-based team of the East Coast Hockey League. Unfortunately, he had to resign due to ongoing health issues.
Adam Pardy
Position: Defence Teams: Calgary Flames (2008-2011), Dallas Stars (2011-12), Buffalo Sabres (2012-13), Winnipeg Jets (2013-16), Edmonton Oilers (2015-16), Nashville Predators (2016-17)
Trophy: ECHL Kelly Cup NHL games played: 342 NHL career goals: 4 NHL career assists: 48 54
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A native of Bonavista born in 1984, Adam Pardy’s pro hockey career launched in 2002, with the Maritime Junior A Hockey League. He then played several seasons in the QMJHL and AHL before getting called up to the Calgary Flames in 2008. He played three seasons with the Flames before signing a two-year contract with the Dallas Stars (2011-2013). He was traded to the Buffalo Sabres in 2012, and later signed on with the Winnipeg Jets in 2013. The Jets sent him to play in his home province for a season with the St. John’s Ice Caps before recalling him to the big leagues in 2014. He spent the 2015-16 season with the Edmonton Oilers and 2016-17 with the Nashville Predators. He returned to the ECHL for the 2018-19 season, to play for the newly formed Newfoundland Growlers and helped them win the province’s first ever Kelly Cup. He retired from hockey on that high note. 1-888-588-6353
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Brad Brown Born: 1975, Baie Verte Position: Defence Teams: Montreal Canadiens, Chicago Blackhawks, New York Rangers, Minnesota Wild, Buffalo Sabres
Darren Langdon Born in Deer Lake in 1971, Darren Langdon rose to national hockey fame with the New York Rangers and built a resume as an enforcer (earning 1,251 penalty minutes in his NHL career). His pro career started in the AHL and ECHL. He signed on (undrafted) with the Rangers in 1994, and except for a dip down to the farm team for a season, he played with them until the 1999-2000 season. A popular teammate, he was twice voted the Rangers’ Players’ Player (1996 and ’97). Langdon was picked up by the Carolina Hurricanes in 2000-2001. He closed out his career after playing a season each with the Vancouver Canucks, the Montreal Canadiens and the New Jersey Devils. After the NHL, Langdon returned to Deer Lake to coach minor and senior hockey, and opened a sports bar called Langer’s.
Position: Left Wing Teams: New York Rangers Carolina Hurricanes Vancouver Canucks Montreal Canadiens New Jersey Devils
NHL games played: 521 NHL career goals: 16 NHL career assists: 23
Daniel Lacosta Born: 1986, Labrador City Position: Goalie Teams: Columbus Blue Jackets
Joe Lundrigan Born: 1948, Corner Brook Position: Defence Teams: Toronto Maple Leafs, Washington Capitals
Darryl Williams Born: 1968, Labrador City Position: Right Wing Teams: Los Angeles Kings
Doug O’Brien Born: 1984, St. John’s Position: Defence Teams: Tampa Bay Lightning
Terry Ryan Born: 1977, St. John’s Position: Left Wing Teams: Montreal Canadiens
Jason King Born: 1981, Corner Brook Position: Right Wing Teams: Vancouver Canucks, Anaheim Ducks Continued on p. 57
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John Slaney Position: Defence Teams: Washington Capitals (1993-95), Colorado Avalanche (1995-96), Los Angeles Kings (1995-97), Phoenix Coyotes (1997-98), Nashville Predators (199899), Pittsburgh Penguins (1999-2000), Philadelphia Flyers (2001-02, 2003-04)
Trophy: AHL Calder Cup (2005)
NHL games played: 268 NHL career goals: 22 NHL career assists: 69
This St. John’s native, born in 1972, first became a household name back home by scoring the winning goal for Canada in the gold medal game against USSR at the 1991 World Junior Championship in Saskatchewan. After a stint in the minors, Slaney first skated with the NHL for the Washington Capitals (199394). Between seasons in the AHL (where he held the scoring record for defencemen from 2005-2011), Slaney would play in the NHL for the Colorado Avalanche, Los Angeles Kings, Phoenix Coyotes, Nashville Predators, Pittsburgh Penguins and Philadelphia Flyers. Currently Slaney is in his ninth season behind the bench as assistant coach – first with the AHL’s Portland Pirates, then the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes, and now, since 2017, the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners.
Harold Druken
Position: Centre Teams: Vancouver Canucks, Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs
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Following a successful career start with the AHL, and a silver medal performance at the 1999 World Juniors Championship in Winnipeg, Harold Druken of St. John’s (b. 1979) was drafted into the NHL in the late 1990s by the Vancouver Canucks. He scored seven goals in 33 games with the Canucks in his first season (1999-2000), which was split with the farm team, the Syracuse Crunch, and he scored 45 points in 47 games playing for them. He spent a total of four seasons with the Canucks franchise, and went on to play with the Carolina Hurricanes and Toronto Maple Leafs. 1-888-588-6353
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Chad Penney Born: 1973, Labrador City Position: Left Wing Teams: Ottawa Senators
Jason Morgan Born: 1976, St. John’s Position: Centre Teams: Los Angeles Kings, Calgary Flames, Nashville Predators, Chicago Blackhawks, Minnesota Wild
Pascal Pelletier Dwayne Norris In 1990, Dwayne Norris of St. John’s (b. 1970) played for Canada in the World Junior Hockey Championships and scored the deciding goal in Canada’s gold-medal win over Czechoslovakia at Helsinki. Then in 1994, he earned a silver medal with Team Canada at the Winter Olympics in Lillehammer. Norris spent a career with various farm teams, and only three seasons in the NHL playing for the Quebec Nordiques and The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. The last years of his on-ice career were spent playing professionally in Germany. He retired from hockey in 2007.
Position: Right Wing Teams: Quebec Nordiques (199395), The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (1995-96)
Trophy: Olympic Silver Medal (1994)
NHL games played: 20 NHL career goals: 2 NHL career assists: 4 www.downhomelife.com
Born: 1983, Labrador City Position: Left Wing Teams: Boston Bruins, Chicago Blackhawks, Vancouver Canucks
Dave Pichette Born: 1960, Grand FallsWindsor Position: Defence Teams: Quebec Nordiques, St. Louis Blues, New Jersey Devils, New York Rangers
Teddy Purcell Born: 1985, St. John’s Position: Left Wing Teams: Los Angeles Kings, Tampa Bay Lightning, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers
Tony White Born: 1954, Grand FallsWindsor
Position: Left Wing Teams: Washington Capitals, Minnesota North Stars April 2020
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features
No matter what your financial circumstances are, every-
one loves to save a bit of money. It’s something we can all use in the current economic climate. For decades, the best way to save money was to flip through newspapers and flyers, clipping coupons. Many people still favour this technique, a timeless classic. But in this era, there are new ways to save money, with phone apps that provide penny-pinching opportunities for all aspects of everyday life. These are updated in real-time and are with you everywhere you go. Here are a few of our favourite money-saving apps.
Drop works like a loyalty program for multiple retailers, but without the complication of having to dig for a different loyalty card at each checkout. In this app, you choose the retailers you shop at regularly, add your debit or credit information, and automatically accumulate Drop points when you shop at your selected retailers 58
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using the cards you’ve added to the app. It also shows special offers for rewards at other retailers. Once you accumulate enough points, you can redeem them for gift cards to your favourite stores. There are a couple of drawbacks to this app – not all the retailers offered are in Newfoundland and Labrador, and some of the special offers are for online shopping only. You also have to think carefully when 1-888-588-6353
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choosing stores where you want to automatically earn points because once you select them, they cannot be changed, and there is a limit to how many stores you can add.
This grocery shopping app allows you to find deals at your local participating supermarkets (in NL it’s Dominion) on products that are approaching their best before dates. Each store has different products available every day, such as yogurt, bakery products, deli meats, boxes of assorted fruits and vegetables, and much more. The prices are slashed for quick sale. And the best part is, you can reserve items to pick up in store. Just open the app, select your nearest store, browse the deals, add items to your cart, pay in the app with a credit card, and then drop by the shop on your way home from work to collect your groceries.
This app is especially good if you want to save money while also reducing paper waste. You can digitally flip through the flyers from stores in your area, whether it be grocery stores, Costco, hardware stores, department stores etc. It shows you flyers based on your location so you can find the sales closest to you. And, you can keep a shopping list in the app to keep track of what you need. www.downhomelife.com
This app helps you find the best price on fuel near you. The information is user-submitted, so it may not always be up-to-date, and not every gas station will be included. On the flip side, as a user, you are rewarded for sharing information on fuel prices from your local gas station. Rewards are delivered as points, which you can redeem for chances to enter to win free gas. As a bonus, you can receive information about recalls on the vehicles you drive. And with your consent, the app can monitor your driving activity and inform you if you have expensive driving habits, such as sudden acceleration, hard braking and excessive speeding.
This app allows you to earn cash back on grocery products. When you sign up for the app, you enter your location, and the number of adults and children living in your house. Based on that information, it shows you reward offers for products available near you, sorted by categories like “Snacks and Sweets” or “Produce.” An example of an offer available could be $1 cash back on a pack of granola bars. You add the offer to your account, purchase the bars from any store, upload a picture of your receipt to the app, and it adds $1 to your account. Once you have accumulated $20 in cash back, you get a cheque in the mail. April 2020
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life is better Taking in the view on the East Coast Trail Jordan Coady, St. John’s, NL
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Advertorial
Blue Buoy Foods,
the company that makes those Chalker’s cured meat products loved by Newfoundlanders and Labradorians at home and across Canada, turns 50 this year. Stanley Lewis Bursey started Blue Buoy Foods in 1970, when he became aware of a market for high quality local meat and fish. He began by acquiring the Chalker’s family brand. He built a 22,000-square-foot state-of-the-art processing facility in St. John’s, NL, that is still in use today. In the late ’70s, Stanley passed the company on to his son, Stanley James (Jim) Bursey. Jim managed the company for more than three decades, overseeing a wonderful group of employees, many of whom are still with the company. In fact, most employees at Blue Buoy Foods today have been with the company for at least four decades.
www.downhomelife.com
Stanley Lewis Bursey
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President and CEO Ken Bursey has more than 40 years in the family business. He credits Blue Buoy’s commitment to quality and customer service for its longevity.
In the ’90s, with depleting groundfish stocks, Blue Buoy Foods moved away from fish products to focus on expanding its line of cured meat products. Jim’s son Ken took over Blue Buoy Foods in 2012 as president and CEO, and remains at the helm to lead the company into
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the new decade. As a grandchild of Stanley Bursey, Ken has more than 40 years experience working for the family business. In that time, Ken has seen the ups and downs in the industry, and the company’s longevity bears witness to his grandfather’s commit-
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ment to providing a quality product and a higher level of customer satisfaction. It is that same integrity that gives Ken great resolve in continuing to grow the business his grandfather started. Blue Buoy Foods was instrumental in shaping Ken’s career for many decades. Stanley would be very proud of the efforts being made today to make Chalker’s cured meat products a recognizable name around the world. In addition to their famous salt beef, pork, fat back and other cured meat products, Chalker’s has stepped it up for the 2020s with two new items to savour: delicious, meaty button bone pork riblets; and lean beef blade, which is lower in fat with a mouthwatering texture and flavour.
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Recognizable favourites will be joined by some new products, including lean beef blade.
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Workers processing Chalker’s meat products at the plant in St. John’s. Some employees at Blue Buoy Foods have been with the company for 40 years.
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The key to the success of this iconic Newfoundland and Labrador brand is their commitment to the quality of their product. There is a reason they call it “the meat you can’t beat.” They have spent half a century perfecting their process, which comes down to using fresh, clean water. Marketing manger Darrell Noseworthy says, “We use non-chlorinated water in our brining process, which improves the taste and smell of the meat, and brings out a much richer colour in the meat.” They are proud to have HACCP Certification from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, NSF Certification through the Safety Quality Food Institute for Quality Food Standards World-Wide as well as SQF Certification. Chalker’s has grown from a small, local company to a national brand
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“We use non-chlorinated water in our brining process, which improves the taste…”
Quality Control Manager Jennifer Crocker has been employed with Blue Buoy for over a decade.
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Blue Buoy foods gives back to the community by supporting various charities, including Team Broken Earth (above) and the MS Walk (below).
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that brings the taste of Newfoundland and Labrador to people all over Canada. Through nationwide shipping, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians living away can have a little piece of home at the dinner table, and can share the flavours of our province with their friends and family from elsewhere. Soon, their products will be available internationally, so that even more people can discover Newfoundland and Labrador traditional food. As a successful family-owned company, Blue Buoy Foods recognizes the importance of giving back to the community that has supported them. That is why they have been sponsoring the MS Walk for a number of years. The MS Walk connects and empowers members of the multiple sclerosis community and fundraises for medical research. Blue Buoy Foods also contributes regularly to Team Broken Earth, a Newfoundland and Labrador-founded group
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CEO Ken Bursey (left) and Marketing Manager Darrell Noseworthy
of health care professionals who go abroad to provide medical relief in countries where it is most needed. At home, Blue Buoy Foods have donated their products to food banks and church hamper drives,
www.downhomelife.com
and sponsored young athletes. Blue Buoy Foods is grateful to their customers for their business over the last 50 years, and they are looking forward to what will come in the next 50.
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features
sureSHOTS Featuring photographer Stan Collins
When most of us think of social media influencers, we picture sexy young people posting to Instagram from whatever exotic locale they’ve travelled to this week. We envy their charmed lives, and aspire to live as freely and fully as they do. Stan Collins is an influencer – but he’s not what you might imagine. Stan is a retired business executive who lives a simple life with his wife Marlene and their two small dogs in Rocky Harbour, NL. They have one grown daughter, who’s been living and teaching in Seoul, South Korea, for the last 25 years. In the past seven and a half years, Stan has slowly and steadily gained Twitter followers just by posting 10 photos a day of whatever is happening at home. It’s wholesome content, and 26,000 people (and counting) are here for it. The topics run the gamut, from stacking firewood and clearing snow, to the dogs resting by the wood stove, Marlene’s now internet-famous bread rolls and handmade quilts, views of Gros Morne and glorious sunsets over Rocky Harbour. 70
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When he first launched his Twitter account in October 2012, at the suggestion of his sister, Stan says he thought he might get about 100 family members and friends as followers, many of the same people who’d enjoyed receiving his photos by email. “I just never expected that it would ever get this big,” Stan says. “I often feel the responsibility of my account now. A man came to visit me last summer. He just wanted to tell me that his wife recently passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer and the best part of her day in palliative care was to see my pictures. Wow! Many teachers have also advised that they use my account as a teaching aid. A Grade 11 art teacher in 1-888-588-6353
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Toronto recently challenged all her students to paint one of my photographs as an assignment. These things make me think of how these photographs have somehow touched so many people.” There are hints in Stan’s Twitter account that there is an interesting fellow behind these everyday photos: his motorcycle, for one. Stan takes a motorcycle trip every summer. One of those trips led to his profile photo of him in an aviator cap and goggles. “Five years ago I met my friend in upstate New York for the 45th anniversary of Woodstock. He has a friend who flies antique airplanes, and I had the opportunity of flying this 1925 American Standard biplane down the Hudson River. I took this selfie while I was flying. I never thought I would ever actually fly an airplane that was older than me.” Stan is a certified pilot who served for 25 years in the Royal Canadian Air Force Reserve, and he was a flying instructor in the air cadets program. Flying runs in the family: Stan’s father was an aeronautical engineer and a test pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force. Stan also inherited his love of the environment and animals from his father, who he says was “an avid outdoorsman and sports fisherman.” Stan says his father would not have been surprised to see him retired to a small community in the middle of a national park. Though you wouldn’t guess it from his posts, which intentionally promote the best things about Newfoundland and Labrador, Stan is not from this province. He was born in Ottawa, ON, and raised south of the border in Colorado Springs, CO. He 72
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studied business and hotel administration, and worked for Holiday Inns of America. He returned to Canada to help establish Holiday Inns here, and that’s how he was introduced to Newfoundland and Labrador. “My first trip to Newfoundland was in 1966, when the four Holiday Inns – St. John’s, Clarenville, Gander and Corner Brook – were being built for Come Home Year,” Stan says. “Then I lived at the Battery in St. John’s, and I thought it was a very cold and damp place and wondered what I was doing here.” Nonetheless, he would move here permanently in 1972, when he took a job with the Lundrigan Group in Corner Brook, overseeing their shopping centres and office buildings all over Atlantic Canada. And when that company was sold to Fortis Properties in St. John’s, Stan was appointed vice president of Fortis and served as such until his retirement to Rocky Harbour 16 years ago. “I eventually fell in love with Newfoundland after I realized what an uncrowded, safe, quiet, pollutionfree place that it was. In those days, the two police forces did not even wear guns. Unlike most cities I had lived in, I actually quickly got to know who my neighbours were and realized that everybody helped everybody here. I was also attracted to the vast expanses of wilderness and the wildlife that abounded then,” Stan says. And he had met his wife Marlene, who is from Corner Brook. Photography is something he picked up just before moving to Corner Brook. In 1970, he bought his first 35 mm camera. And just before 1-888-588-6353
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he retired, he took a photography course at Memorial University. Stan says these days he foregoes bulky DSLR cameras for “micro 4/3 cameras with image stabilized lenses that are small and easy to carry around.” He carries two with him everywhere – one with a close-up lens and one with a telephoto lens. He estimates he spends four hours a day uploading photos and responding to his followers on Twitter. As for the darker side of social media, Stan says he chooses not to go there. His online account reflects his
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attitude in real life. “Very early in life I came to the conclusion that everyone has two choices. You can either sit around and complain, or you can do something about circumstances that don’t suit you. I chose the latter. I always try and find the positive result for everything and don’t spend any time allowing negative people to try and bring me down to their level.” Anyone looking for a safe space online, a positive place on Twitter, will find it @stan_sdcollins. You might also get the recipe for Marlene’s famous rolls.
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explore
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Wizards, Jedi,
captains, superheroes, princesses, witches, warriors, and all varieties of geek, nerd or gamer: get your costumes ready. Sci-Fi on the Rock 14 is coming up April 17-19, at the Sheraton Hotel in St. John’s. The annual convention is back with panels, costume contests, vendors, photographers and, as always, special guests to share their stories of working in the world of all things fantastic. “We have Star Trek, Star Wars, Harry Potter, Dr. Who, every type of video game you could think of, writers who deal in fantasy, everything from Space 1999 back to the old shows from the ’70s, the anime is big… there’s an interest there for everybody and everything,” says event founder Darren Hann. LEFT: Participants await the results of the adult costume contest at Sci-Fi on the Rock 11. ABOVE: A young Princess Leia meets R2D2 at Sci-Fi on the Rock 10. www.downhomelife.com
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These Ghost Busters are proof that cosplay is for all ages. Each year, special guests share their experiences working in the world of fiction – actors, writers, special effects producers, and other creative people who have lent their talents to the genre. This year’s guests are Catherine Sutherland, the Australian actress best known for portraying Kat Hilliard, the second generation Pink Ranger in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers; Trevor Butterfield, an actor and special effects producer who has worked on the Indiana Jones and Star Wars series; Newton Pittman, a voice actor who has appeared in several animes; and Sheldon Mercer, also known as Dark Dimension Cosplay, a local costumer best known for his portrayal of Dr. Strange. Guests host Q&A panels where they talk about their work, and take photos and sign autographs for fans. In addition to the professionals, 80
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people in the community who love sci-fi and fantasy can hold panels. There are all kinds of topics that vary from year to year: costume making, drawing, fanfiction, horror, game rooms, discussions of every fandom imaginable – there is something for everyone. There is also a vendors room where local makers can sell their nerd merchandise, much of which is handmade. One of the most popular aspects of the convention is cosplay, or dressing up as a fictional character. Cosplayers go all out to bring characters to life, and Darren is consistently impressed with the talent he sees every year. “Some of the costumes are – my goodness – mind blowing… It’s impossible for me to pick out what the best [cosplays] are that I’ve seen over the years because we’ve got so many great cosplayers in the 1-888-588-6353
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Yoshino from the anime “Date A province,” he says. “It’s crazy.” Live.” So much work goes into these At first, she was apprehensive designs that many cosplayers begin about wearing her costume at the working on their costume for the convention. “I walked in thinking, next convention as soon as one wraps ‘Oh my God, what am I doing? And, I up. When asked why people love kid you not, I was not 10 feet in cosplay so much, Darren explains, through the door and a girl noticed “People relate to characters. They see me. She just gasped and said, a character in a book, or in a movie or ‘Professor McGonagall, can I take on TV… they want to become that your picture?’ It was just instant character.” acceptance.” Darren wants people to know that Heather has made many friends at Sci-Fi is for everybody. The convenSci-Fi, and she goes back every year tion is family friendly and brings because she loves getting to dress up together people of all ages who dress as different characters and seeing up as their favourite characters from other people do the same. every era. He noted that the oldest “There are so many talented people person he has ever seen at Sci-Fi was here… I have friends who have 14 or a man in his 70s or 80s who was dressed head to toe in a Jedi costume of his own making. “We could have doctors, students, university professors, police officers – everybody comes to the convention. When everybody’s there, everybody’s a geek and a nerd and we loves it,” he declares. Age certainly didn’t stop Heather Lane from attending her first Sci-Fi in 2015, at the age of 44. An enthusiastic costumer since her teen years, Heather had wanted to attend the convention since the beginning, but most of her friends weren’t interested. Once her daughter was old enough, she had a convention buddy and they went together – Heather in her Professor McGonagall cosHeather Lane (aka Prof. McGonagall) has tume that she had made in been making her own costumes since she was a teenager. 2004, and her daughter as www.downhomelife.com
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The vendors room at Sci-Fi is always packed as people shop for local geek ware. 15 different costumes that they wear over the whole weekend,” she laughs. “I don’t know how they do it.” Darren loves seeing families come to Sci-Fi. “It’s really communityoriented,” he says. “We’re all for families coming in… We want Mom and Dad coming in with the kids for the weekend… There’s stuff for all ages, for kids, for teenagers [and] an adult dance. We try to get the whole family to come.”
SCI-FI
LEVELS UP
The first Sci-Fi on the Rock was held in 2007 at Hotel Mount Pearl as a one-day event. Darren had been travelling to conventions for many years, and thought the time was ripe to start one at home. He enlisted the help of his friend and fellow sci-fi enthusiast Melanie Collins. The first convention consisted of a small vendors room and a couple of panels. He 82
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anticipated about 200 people, but just over 400 turned up. The hotel was “busting at the seams,” according to Darren, so the following year, they booked a salon at the Holiday Inn on Portugal Cove Road in St. John’s. They extended the convention through the whole weekend and invited their first celebrity guests: Brian Downey from St. John’s, who starred in the television show “Lexx: The Dark Zone Stories” and Jeremy Bulloch, who played Boba Fett in Star Wars. The larger venue and celebrity guests drew twice the attendees from the inaugural convention. Sci-Fi has only gotten bigger since then, taking up more and more rooms until it once again outgrew its venue. The convention moved to the Sheraton Hotel in 2016 and has been there ever since. The celebrity guests continue to be a huge draw, and have 1-888-588-6353
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included actors from “Star Trek,” “Dr. Who,” “Battlestar Gallactica” and “Game of Thrones.” With great power comes great responsibility, and as such, the growth of the convention required a larger management committee. “We’ve got an excellent team,” Darren boasts. Sci-Fi on the Rock is a not-for-profit group with a committee of 25 people, divided into subcommittees that manage various aspects of the festival: panels, media and advertising, vendors, guests and so on. There is a security team to ensure the safety of all participants, and there are stringent rules in place to prevent injury, including policies on cosplay that prohibit certain weapons. Posters throughout the venue stress that “cosplay is not consent”; in other words, all attendees
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must ask permission before taking photos of any cosplayer and refrain from nonconsensual touching. To keep the convention running smoothly, there is a large group of volunteers who help out every year. They do it for the love of all things nerdy, but they are also rewarded with incentives such as free convention passes and merch. And volunteering with Sci-Fi has gone beyond the annual convention: the Sci-Fi on the Rock Cosplay Outreach is a group of cosplayers who dress up throughout the year to attend community events. Heather Lane is a part of this group, and she often dons her Hogwarts robes or other costumes for events at the MUN Botanical Gardens, the Geo Centre, Mile One, libraries, bookstores, restaurants and other venues in and around the
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Sci-Fi attracts enthusiastic nerds and geeks of all ages. capital city. These events often have a particular fandom theme, such as Harry Potter, or are more general, like princesses and heroes. Children dress up as well, and their faces light up when they get to meet their favourite characters. “The most rewarding part [of volunteering] is the kids,” says Heather. The love of sci-fi and fantasy is spreading beyond just the next generation. While years ago, geeks and nerds were somewhat on the fringes of society, Darren acknowledges a huge growth in popularity over the past 20 years as “geek culture” has become more mainstream. He attributes this partially to popular shows like “The Big Bang Theory,” the Marvel movies and TV shows, and reboots of classic sci-fi series such as Star Wars and Star Trek. “It’s almost like a new culture is discovering what it’s like to be a 84
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geeky person,” he muses. He has seen this in St. John’s with the popularity of Sci-Fi on the Rock – “The convention is going crazy every year,” he says – and the increase in similar festivals across the island; namely, Atlantic Con in Corner Brook, Avalon Expo in St. John’s, Gander Geek Fest, and NL Horror Con (moving from St. John’s to Carbonear this year). “It’s almost like a little circuit we have now in the province,” Darren says. “Every couple of months there’s something else to go to.” Darren encourages anyone who does not know what science fiction and fantasy are all about to come out to Sci-Fi and see for themselves. “There’s stuff there for everybody to do… Come see the actors, listen to their talks; come see the local folks, hear about their work… just come in and enjoy the whole weekend.” 1-888-588-6353
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explore
Her first paddle could have been her last, but instead it spawned a love affair with sea kayaking.
BY TINA MCDONALD
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There’s something quite
mesmerizing about the ocean – the way the sun’s rays sparkle on the water, like a million small diamonds reflecting its light. Rarely does anyone quickly glance at the ocean; we stare at it for long moments, and it makes us feel calm. Try to imagine for a moment that it is a beautiful, calm day and you are out on the ocean in a sea kayak. Your kayak is long and sturdy, and you feel comfortable. The little bit of adrenaline that began to flow when you first started paddling away from the shore has mildly heightened your senses. You feel the slow, gentle sway of the ocean. A sense of tranquility washes over you as you begin to commune with nature. You feel totally carefree. I remember the first time I ever kayaked. I was in my mid-20s when an acquaintance asked me if I’d be interested in going sea kayaking. I jumped at the opportunity. The following weekend we drove to Mobile, on the Southern Shore of Newfoundland’s Avalon Peninsula. We were young, adventurous and overconfident. We sat in our kayaks, hooked in our spray skirts and paddled straight out into open water. My new friends told me that if we kept paddling for an hour or so, we would eventually see Bird Island. It was a calm day, I thought, so what could go wrong?
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Last year, Scott and I paddled After paddling for well over an around Conception Bay North, where hour, we could see Bird Island. Howwe have a summer home and where ever, our excitement was quickly there is no shortage of beautiful dampened by the strong wind that scenery. North River is a great place suddenly began to blow. The swelling for beginners or anyone wanting a ocean soon produced waves higher safe, easy paddle. Although each side than we were. My borrowed kayak of the river is lined with houses and would tip with the force of the wind cottages, it’s much quieter than I had and waves, but with a quick flick of expected it to be. There is a forested my hips, I somehow managed to keep it upright every time. “Keep your nose straight It’s been 25 years since that into the waves!” I could first paddle and I still love hear my friend shout. I was very grateful for that lifekayaking. However, experisaving advice. The waves ence has been a great were too high to turn our kayaks around, so we kept teacher, and I have learned paddling towards the island not to rush blindly into danin hopes that we’d find shelger. My husband, Scott, also ter from the wind and waves on the eastern side of loves sea kayaking, and he it. Did I mention this was accompanies me now. my first time sea kayaking? We eventually made our area on the south side, where we way back to Mobile safe and sound, were treated to a view of two bald with adrenaline coursing through eagles perched high on the treetops. our veins. Because it was my first Near North River is the town of Bay time kayaking, I thought that rush on Roberts. Scott and I have paddled the water was a normal part of sea around Bay Roberts a few times. You kayaking. My naivety had kept me can launch a kayak from the town’s safe. As I didn’t realize how dangermarina, but we prefer the miniscule ous the situation was, I didn’t panic. beach across from the fire station on It wasn’t until we arrived back on Water Street. From there we can land that my companions told me paddle east towards the mouth of the how concerned they’d been for our harbour. We can see Port de Grave to safety (they’d hid it well, and that our right and a cliff to our left. The had kept me calm, too). waves often crash hard against the It’s been 25 years since that first rocks there, so we are careful to keep paddle and I still love kayaking. our distance from the shore and stay However, experience has been a out where the water is smoother. We great teacher, and I have learned not paddle approximately a kilometre to rush blindly into danger. My husband, Scott, also loves sea kayaking, Continued on p.91 and he accompanies me now. 88
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before the cliff slopes away and the land comes closer to sea level. We stay to the left and continue paddling along the coastline of Bay Roberts, past a wharf with a couple of small boats tied to it and, just beyond that, a fishing stage. An island teeming with seabirds is ahead. We keep to the left of it and paddle past a small, rocky beach. We continue on past the island and turn into a small cove on the mainland with a lovely beach. I could stay there for hours enjoying all the tranquility it has to offer. We’ve also paddled around nearby Harbour Grace and gotten up close to the Kyle, a steamship that ran aground in the harbour in 1967. The Kyle was built for power and speed in 1913. The hull was made strong enough to cut through sea ice, while its powerful engines enabled the ship to travel at speeds up to 19 knots (or www.downhomelife.com
just over 35 km/h). The Kyle made its maiden voyage in April 1913 and was retired in February 1967. If that old ship could talk, what amazing stories she would tell. I remember once reading a Reader’s Digest article that rated the east coast of Newfoundland as No. 2 out of the 10 best destinations in Canada to sea kayak. I recently googled the best places in Canada to sea kayak and no surprise, the east coast of Newfoundland is high on every list that I read. Though I can personally attest to some breathtaking kayaking on the west coast, where my husband and I once set off from Norris Point and paddled around Bonne Bay. The scenery, with the mountains as a backdrop, makes for a very memorable kayaking experience. From coast to coast, Newfoundland is a sea kayaker’s paradise. April 2020
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“There’s off the beaten path, and then there’s this place.” That’s how the Battle Harbour Historic Trust describes this heritage district on the remote Labrador island. This year, the Historic Trust is marking their 30th anniversary by inviting people who were involved in the restoration of the community to come together on the island for a special celebration. Gordon Slade was the first chair of the Battle Harbour Historic Trust. He visited the community by helicopter in 1988 and saw something special that needed to be conserved. “To me, it was really important,” he stresses. He and Dr. Leslie Harris, historian and former
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Advertorial
Memorial University president, teamed up to lobby for the conservation of the community. They established the Battle Harbour Historic Trust as a registered charity and began fundraising through numerous sources to restore the original buildings that still stood in the community. The buildings were in various states of disrepair, but the Historic Trust saw an opportunity. In the early 1990s, the cod industry was in steep decline, and many Labradorians were struggling with unemployment. People in the nearby communities of Mary’s Harbour, St. Lewis and Lodge Bay, many of whom were former Battle Harbour residents, were given the opportunity to train with experts in heritage restoration and then work on restoring the 20 heritage buildings in Battle Harbour. They started with St. James the Apostle Church, the oldest
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Anglican church in Labrador and second oldest in the province, followed by the home of Isaac Smith, a fisherman. His home was one of the oldest in Southern Labrador and one of the first in the area not to belong to a merchant. The whole restoration process took about two years, and included extensive research about life in the community over the centuries. “We needed to learn about that fishery and what happened over that period of time,� explains Gordon Slade. Battle Harbour is home to the last original mercantile premises in Newfoundland and Labrador. If the walls of these historic buildings could talk, they would tell stories of centuries of fishing families, and of historic figures that have set foot in the community throughout their careers. Bishop Edward Feild wrote in his diary in
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1848 that Battle Harbour was “the most important fishing station on the Labrador coast.” In 1893, Dr. Wilfred Grenfell established his first hospital in Battle Harbour, also the first built in Newfoundland and Labrador outside of St. John’s. In 1909, Robert Peary, who explored the North Pole alongside Bob Bartlett of Brigus, held a press conference in a fishing store in Battle Harbour that was attended by journalists from around the world and shared by Morse code via the Marconi Station. These historic events are certainly
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significant, but they are not what make Battle Harbour truly special. This comes from the ordinary people who grew up in the community and return there every summer to share their stories. Peter Bull, executive director of the Battle Harbour Historic Trust, says, “Visitors who stay here get to hear stories from the staff about growing up in Battle Harbour. It’s about keeping these stories alive. And guests share their own stories with us.” These stories begin from the moment tourists step aboard the boat in Mary’s Harbour to make the cross-
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ing to the island. As they arrive at Battle Harbour, settle into their rooms, tour the heritage structures, learn to make dinner rolls from the ladies and sit around the dinner table together, visitors get to share in the lived experience of the people of Battle Harbour as it was before resettlement. Peter explains, “People who come
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here really get to disconnect. There is no cellphone service. You can really feel what it was like to live here and stand in the old buildings.” Reflecting on the upcoming anniversary, Gordon adds that it is equally special for the former residents who have been able to share their oral traditions and keep their heritage alive through the decades. “It was their home, and their parents’ home, and their grandparents’ home, so it [has] a lot of personal interest and significance for the people in Mary’s Harbour and St. Lewis and Lodge Bay. It’s saving their history.” See our ad on page 13 to begin your journey to Battle Harbour.
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explore stuff about
Land Did you know that “Land & Sea” is CBC’s longest running regional program? (It’s so old it first aired in black and white!) It’s currently airing season 45 with host Pauline Thornhill and video journalist Jane Adey.
Claire Danes, star of the spy-thriller TV drama “Homeland,” has been banned from the Philippines since 1998 for making insulting remarks about the country’s capital city, Manila, after filming there. The country has also banned all her movies.
The Highland Pony, one of three breeds native to the Scottish Highlands and Islands, is among the 11 foundation breeds that define today’s Newfoundland Pony. The first cross-country freight delivery made by a self-driving truck was carrying 20 tons of Land O’Lakes butter from California to Pennsylvania in December 2019. 96
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Landscape photographer Ansel Adams could have died from a virus before ever making his mark on the arts world. He survived the Spanish flu in 1918, during the pandemic that killed an estimated 50 million people worldwide. His first photos were published a couple of years later, in 1922.
You can thank Disneyland for Doritos. The commonly told story is that the chips were first made from leftover tortillas at the Casa de Fritos Mexican eatery in the new Disneyland theme park in California. Named Doritos (Spanish for “little golden things”), they became so popular in the park that the Frito-Lay company (which owned the restaurant) launched them across the US in 1966.
Everyone remembers the first man to land on the moon, American Neil Armstrong, but it was the Russians who first landed a craft there 10 years earlier. In 1959, the Soviet Union crashlanded the Luna 2 spacecraft on the moon’s surface, becoming the first human-made object from Earth to make contact with another celestial body.
While it’s generally accepted as historical fact that explorer John Cabot first set foot in North America when he made landfall at Bonavista, NL, on June 24, 1497, there has been a strong case made for Cape Breton, NS, as the landing site. In fact, there is a National Historic Site cairn memorializing the explorer’s arrival at Cabot’s Landing Provincial Park on the shores of Aspy Bay. www.downhomelife.com
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HOME and Cabin
stuff we love
Smart Home Tech AMAZON ECHO The central hub for all your smart home devices. Use it to turn on your lights, set alarms, play music, phone your mother‌ the list goes on and on.
GEENI PRISMA SMART BULB Control the lights from your phone or with your voice. Adjust brightness or change colours to suit the mood. Geeni bulbs are more cost-efficient than some of the alternatives.
MYSA SMART THERMOSTAT Adjust the temperature in your home from anywhere over wifi. Boost your energy efficiency and see the rewards when the heat bill comes. Bonus: It’s a Newfoundland and Labrador product!
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GOOGLE NEST SMART DOORBELL Receive motion-activated mobile alerts when someone comes to your door. You can see who is there on video and interact with them via speaker, even if you are not home. Deliver a prerecorded message or a live voice clip to the person at the door; you can even set personalized greetings for friends and family.
SAMSUNG FAMILY HUB REFRIGERATOR Send digital notes from your phone to the fridge’s touch screen for your family members to read. Cameras let you check the contents of your fridge from your phone, without opening the door. Access the web to pull up your favourite recipe on the digital screen and to stream music while you cook.
NEST X YALE LOCK Never have to dig for your keys in the freezing cold or pouring rain again! This smart lock secures your home with a passcode, and operates via wifi. Using the mobile app, you can lock and unlock your door from anywhere in the world. If you are expecting guests, you can give them the code instead of a spare key. You’ll receive a mobile alert if anyone attempts to tamper with the lock, and you can set it up to notify you when your door is locked and unlocked.
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HOME and Cabin
a
Change Mood of
How designer Sara Kirby took her master bedroom from drama to dreamy
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I’m not afraid to take design risks.
I’m also not afraid to admit when that risk has run its course. In 2009, I was adamant that our master bedroom needed to be cloaked, wall-to-wall, in damask wallpaper. I did the installation myself, my first foray into wallpaper hanging. I was proud of my handiwork and lived for the look. Then one day, the pattern wasn’t thrilling me anymore. It was overwhelming in an area where I wanted to feel anything but. So in a fraction of the time it took to put up, I tore it all down. It was super satisfying, and the room (and I) breathed a sigh of relief. A significant change was afoot. The new mood I hoped to conjure in my bedroom was one of relaxed refinement; casual, like a favourite pair of jeans, but not lazy, like joggers. Pulled together, but comfortable. I am a subscriber to “the bedroom is a sanctuary of peace” school of thought, and this go-round I was going to lean into it – hard. Periodically taking an inventory of the things in your home is always a smart move. I started my quest for a serene sleep space by considering each piece. Criteria to stay were that I had to love it absolutely, it had to serve a purpose and it had to be beautiful. After review, I decided two large furniture pieces needed to stay: the upholstered bed and a sizeable dresser. www.downhomelife.com
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My main grumble with the dresser were the dated and boring handles, so I sourced new ones that were black leather and brass perfection. Armed with a drill, some great tunes, and a bit of downtime one Saturday afternoon, I installed them. I was immediately wowed by how a simple project can completely transform a tired piece.
On the list of new items to bring into my bedroom: practical and pretty nightstands, fun lamps, an attractive rug, a few cherished family photos, and a handful of useful décor items and greenery. With furniture in place, I turned my attention to the walls. I knew I wanted a dark paint colour and millwork. After a lot of deliberation, I landed on #teamshiplap. Installing shiplap vertically felt more modern and helped to visually stretch the wall height. The bedroom windows look out over the cliffs of Middle Cove and Torbay, and the vistas and light are ever-shifting. Years ago, I fell deeply in love with a painting that pays homage to those views. It’s been in the space since it was built, but relocating it above the dresser made it feel new again. It’s moody blue hues and the landscape outside informed the paint colour choice for the shiplap wall. I sampled three deep blue-greys and landed on Gravel Grey by Benjamin Moore. 102
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Merging pieces from different eras helps a space to feel more curated and personal. The lamps were chosen because of their great mid-century modern vibe, convenient USB plug-in and pull-cord (no more stretching for the off switch when you’re ready for shut-eye). The nightstands I selected were a better fit for the height of the bed. They had drawers for storage, but felt airy thanks to their open bottom shelf. None of the large furniture pieces in the room were identical in style or finish, but they complemented each other. Clear acrylic photo frames, dÊcor accessories in neutrals and brass, and a few touches of greenery kept things fresh.
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The final elements left to consider were textiles, soft finishing touches that make a room feel cozy and collected. I have an enduring adoration for beautiful linen bedding; nothing imparts a relaxed elegance quite like it. A linen duvet cover in pure white and a quilted linen coverlet in natural were all I needed. I referred back to the focal artwork to inform the choice of the throw pillows and rug. Desaturated, watery blue-greens provided subtle pops of colour and cultivated calm. The broken black-and-natural stripe lumbar pillow acted as the exclamation mark on an otherwise understated bed. Now, when I open my bedroom door, I feel completely at ease. I love to linger here and enjoy a slow, Sunday coffee or a quiet weeknight reading in bed. In the homes I design, I strive to create ever-evolving spaces. Rooms are really a kind of invitation to create an open-ended oeuvre that is continually responding to the needs of its occupants, in ways subtle and substantial. How my bedroom will shift over the years will be interesting to see. For now, it feels like a warm hug, and that makes me very happy. 104
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HOME and Cabin
Need to
Interior designer Holly Costello offers creative ways to brighten a room with no natural light.
Lighten Up?
Samantha Hoyles photo
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Decorating a room with no natural light can be a challenge, and living in a province with long dark seasons is no help – we need all the light we can get to brighten the mood. Here are some tips on how to brighten a dark space.
Wall colour
A dark, moody hue can be cozy and beautiful, but if it’s fresh and bright you’re after, switch your walls to a very light shade. White or off-white can be a great choice, but if that’s not your style, you can opt for something with a little colour – just keep it as light as possible. When working with whites, it’s important to choose the right shade of white or off-white. The brightest white may not work with your furnishings and other finishes, so a softer shade of ivory or cream may be the way to go. Another tip: If you’re set on using a dark wall colour, try breaking it up with white or off-white wainscoting on part of the wall, with the dark colour above it.
Paint out your wood
If you have wood on the ceilings, trims, walls, large pieces of furniture etc. – paint it out! Wood tends to absorb a lot of light, so if you have none to spare you can brighten your room by painting those surfaces a white, off-white or a very light shade of colour.
Rugs
An area rug is a quick and easy way to lighten a dark floor, while also adding softness and coziness to your room. www.downhomelife.com
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Lighting
This one seems pretty obvious, but people tend to forget how important the various types of lighting in a room can be; and when there’s no natural light, it’s more important than ever! • Replace pot lights with LED versions. This will not only brighten your space, but will also cut down on energy usage – something we can all use a little help with these days! • Install the highest wattage bulbs allowed in your fixtures. • When selecting new fixtures, opt for styles with no shade or clear glass shades, or with multiple light bulbs. • Clean dusty shades – another obvious, but often overlooked tip. That layer of light-stealing grime can really sneak up on you! • Install under cabinet lighting in your kitchen. There are easy ways to do that without having to hardwire anything. • Add lamps – floor lamps, table lamps or wall sconces (the kind that you can plug in are great if you don’t have the table or floor space to add a lamp).
Reflective surfaces
French doors
Mirrors; polished tile for backsplash or accent walls or floors; and shimmery, metallic finishes for furniture, accessories and artwork all help to reflect and bounce artificial light around the room, making the space appear brighter.
If your room has a door, make it a French door with as much glass as possible to let in any natural light you have in the adjoining rooms.
The bathroom on the opening page is in a new build with no natural light. The original design plan was to keep the large planks of pine on the walls and ceiling natural, as they are throughout the rest of the cabin. The pine was beautiful, but the space was very dark. We considered adding a window, sky light or light tunnel, but none of these were viable options for this space. In the end, we opted to paint the pine walls, ceilings and trims in a shade of white, resulting in a stunningly bright and fresh space. We turned a design problem into a wow factor! 108
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Celebrating
27
Years in Business!
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diy Grid Wall When working on this bathroom renovation, the team at Property Projects Limited felt it needed a feature wall. It was a simple concept that made such a statement in this space, and as they’re going to explain, it’s a relatively easy and cheap upgrade for any room. MATERIALS TOOLS • 3" MDF strips • Chop saw • Caulking • Measuring tape • 2200 grit sandpaper • Pencil • Brad nails • Caulking gun • Carpenter’s glue • Brad nailer • Spackling paste • Small plastering knife • Paint • Level 110
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Step 1 Start by determining how much MDF material you will need. Map out your wall by taking the width and the height, then divide the width and the height each by 24" (the area for your squares) and add one extra piece for the end. You will need to round up or down based on whatever size feels good for you. Our goal was to make the squares approximately 24" x 24". But it does not have to be perfectly square. For example, if your wall is 156", divided by 24" that equals 6.5; round it up to 7 and add 1 for a total of 8 pieces of material for your vertical strips. Do the same for the horizontal pieces, keeping in mind material usually comes in 8-foot lengths, so if your wall is 12' feet wide you will need 1.5 pieces of material per horizontal run.
Step 2 Purchase your materials at your local hardware store. We purchased sheets of ½" MDF at Kent Building Supplies. Don’t have a table saw? No problem! Most hardware stores will cut the material for you. We cut the MDF sheet into strips 3" wide by 8' long. (All other materials needed for this project can be purchased at your local hardware store as well.)
Step 3 Use your chop saw to cut the strips, then install them to frame out the wall. To apply each strip, place a small amount of carpenter’s glue on the back of it before installing it onto the wall. (Continue to do this throughout the project; this will ensure each piece stays put!) Use a brad nailer to secure each piece to the wall. Your first strip will be placed along the floor, just above the baseboard, from wall to wall. If your wall is more than 8' long you will need to butt-join two pieces together with carpenter’s glue, making sure your pieces are snug together. Your second strip will go along the ceiling, then finish off the frame by installing the side pieces. www.downhomelife.com
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Step 4 Cut and install the vertical strips. Find the middle mark of your wall; this will be the centre mark of your middle vertical strip. Once this strip is installed, you now have 3 vertical pieces on the wall. Then measure the left section and the right section; they should be the same measurement. Find the middle mark of each section, as this will be the centre mark of your next two vertical pieces. Continue to do this until you have the desired width of each box. Our goal was for each box to be equal in width and height, but the height and width does not have to be the same. You probably won’t get perfect squares, and that’s okay!
Step 6 Smooth everything out. A little spackle goes a long way! Use this on the joins with a painter’s knife to fill in any small gaps. When dry, use sandpaper to smooth over all joins and any sharp edges.
Step 5 Cut and install the horizontal strips. Repeat the same steps as above, only this time take your measurements up and down rather than side to side. Cut the horizontal pieces to fit nice and snug in between each vertical piece. The hard part is making sure all the horizontal pieces line up nice and straight. (A laser level comes in handy!) Be sure to check each piece with a level as you go.
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Step 7 Caulk and paint. Use your caulking to fill along the sides of each box to give you a seamless join to the wall. When it dries, grab your desired paint, brush and roller, and start painting! (Tip: If you paint your wall before installing the MDF strips it will make this last step easier.) Once everything is dry, you will have created an easy, inexpensive, beautiful feature wall!
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HOME and Cabin
Roped into
Business Katherine Saunders chats with the creator behind Waste Knot Want Knot.
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Trent Hardy, a Newfoundlander originally from Burnt Islands but now residing in Conception Bay South, knows a thing or two about upcycling. In fact, he’s made a successful business from it. He describes himself as “a bit of a wanderer.” His education and career took him away from his family’s fishing background, until his most recent venture brought him back almost full circle. Almost. Trent works with fishing gear, but not to catch fish – he turns old fishing rope into something that catches your eye. After high school, Trent earned a degree in Earth Sciences from Memorial University and worked in a couple of fields that gave him a unique perspective on the environmental impact of Newfoundland and Labrador industries on our oceans, and how we have managed industry regulation. He began his career as a mudlogger and well-site geologist on oil rigs before moving into the environmental field, assisting clients with asbestos and oil remediation. In 2015, he started his own environmental consulting business, and in 2016, he started Waste Knot Want Knot, a company that repurposes old fishing rope to make beautiful mats that add a nautical touch to the home. www.downhomelife.com
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The idea for making rope mats came from Trent’s mother-in-law. While travelling the Atlantic provinces, she came across a shop selling a similar product and immediately thought of Trent. “This is something you could do!” she told him gleefully. Trent comes from a fishing family. “Pretty much everyone on both sides of my family were involved in the fishery in one way or another. My father was a fisherman and my mother worked in the fish plant,” he says. So he decided to give it a shot and carry on his family’s connection to the fishery in his own way. Making mats out of fishing rope is a tradition that has been around for a long time, Trent explains. “A lot of it comes from New England or Britain – it comes from traditional designs; the rest is how I incorporate the colours and patterns.” He learned the craft by doing research on the subject, and figuring it out through trial and error. He has perfected three main designs. The first is his standard mat, based off a style known as a sword mat, which is rectangular with closely-knit rows of rope. His woven mats are also rectangular, but with rounded edges. The third style is the ocean plate, which is round and resembles a Celtic knot. Some of the mats are freehand, while others are made on jigs or looms. He can change the size, use different colours of rope and add designs or words to the mats using shorter pieces of rope. One design that has been particularly successful is his Labrador flag standard mat. He has also made a couple of Republic of Newfoundland flag mats, but he says these are less common because it is difficult to find pink rope. Continued on p.118 116
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Trent does not buy new materials. One of his goals with his work is to divert used rope from landfills and oceans. “Landfills have a lifespan,” he explains. “The more stuff you put into landfills, the more land that needs to be used for that stuff. I’m just trying to find ways to reduce the waste stream.” To date, Trent estimates he has repurposed at least 130 kilometres of rope, or about eight metric tonnes.
“We’re pulling as much rope away from the landfills as possible,” he says. Trent concedes that what he is doing for the environment is, in his words, “a drop in the pond.” But he is happy to be making even a small difference in the amount of plastic pollution in our oceans. “I’m doing the little bit that I can,” he says. In the future, he hopes to be able to branch out to repurposing netting, twine, larger rope and other fishing gear.
To date, Trent estimates he has repurposed at least 130 kilometres of rope, or about eight metric tonnes. He mostly sources it directly from fishermen, many of whom respond to callouts for used rope on his Facebook business page. While fishing rope is very durable, he explains, it does need to be replaced eventually. When that time comes, fishermen have three choices: store it, take it to a landfill (sometimes at a cost) or burn it. In Trent’s experience, many fishermen are enthusiastic about the opportunity to dispose of rope in a more environmentally friendly way. 118
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So far, Trent has enjoyed a fair bit of positive feedback from his customers who love his work. They are also, as Trent has heard from customers, loved by many a four-legged friend. Waste Knot Want Knot mats are available at select stores around the province, from St. John’s to Hare Bay, and Trent pops up at various trade shows. This month he’ll be at the Downhome Expo at the Mount Pearl Glacier. 1-888-588-6353
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the everyday gourmet
Gnocchi Goodness
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the everyday gourmet By Andrea Maunder
Andrea Maunder is the owner and creative force behind Saucy & Sweet – Homemade Specialty Foods & Catering.
www.downhomelife.com
I have wonderful
gnocchi memories. My favourite pasta, gnocchi (pronounced “nyock-eee) are potato and flour dumplings. Though I had made and enjoyed them before, I consider my first real gnocchi experience being a chance encounter in a tiny restaurant in an Ottawa northeast-end neighbourhood. My mom and late stepdad, Richard, were visiting, and we found the restaurant by happenstance. In the front two rooms of their home, a lovely senior Italian couple had created a simple dining space. That couple was pretty old then, him cooking and her serving, so I doubt they’d still be in business. But clearly their years of cooking resulted in pasta perfection. The gnocchi werepillowy, but with a slight chew, perfectly seasoned, and served with a simple brown butter sauce and freshly grated Parmesan. I recall Richard opted for rosé sauce, which was also delicious. Looking back now and knowing what I know about the industry, I am not even sure it was a licenced restaurant. But 20 years later, it will forever be my gnocchi renaissance. Like most simple foods with few ingredients, gnocchi can be a little tricky to get just right. But it’s worth the effort. They shouldn’t be too soft or watery, nor too tough or rubbery. They should have a little firmness to the bite, then give way to a luxuriously dumplingy interior. Since they are cut and shaped by hand, they can be any size you like, but I find making dumplings a little smaller than a quarter results in the nicest texture. Another debate is whether to use eggs. I’ve found that eggs can contribute to a rubbery texture, so now I make them without. And though it’s not traditional, I add a tiny pinch of baking powder for lightness. And a touch of lemon zest and pinch of garlic powder add a little more complexity to the flavour, though traditionally they are seasoned only with salt and pepper.
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The kind of potato and cooking method are also debated. I love Yukon gold or yellow potatoes for their slight waxiness, sweet flavour and beautiful colour. But I have made successful gnocchi with all sorts of potatoes by adjusting the flour ratio. I generally boil the potatoes, whole and skin-on (sometimes I’ve microwaved them, for speed). Other recipes call for baking them so as not to impart moisture. But without the egg, the bit of moisture in a boiled potato works perfectly. Another non-traditional ingredi-
ent I add are several bay leaves to the boiling water – I love it, but feel free to leave them out. And a potato ricer is handy, but you can use a fine grater or get busy with a fork and elbow grease. This recipe is vegan, except for the sauce you choose. So you can customize to suit the dietary needs of your family or guests. Shaping the gnocchi is also up to you. Once the dough comes together, it’s rolled into ropes about the thickness of a dime and cut into pieces a little smaller than a quarter. Then the dumpling is rolled down
Gnocchi (4 generous servings) 1 1/2 lb potatoes (about 5 mediumsized), washed, but skin left on 3-4 bay leaves, fresh if you can get them 1 tbsp salt 1/2 tsp finely grated lemon zest 1/2 tsp granulated garlic 1 tsp kosher salt 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper 1/4 tsp baking powder 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I prefer unbleached)
1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil Freshly shaved or grated Parmesan to garnish (1/2 cup or more to taste)
Brown Butter Sage Sauce 1/2 cup butter (not margarine) 2 small cloves garlic, minced 1/2 tsp chili flakes 1/4 cup sage leaves, sliced if large, otherwise leave whole Salt and black pepper to taste
In a medium-sized pot, place the potatoes, 1 tbsp salt and bay leaves. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil, reduce to medium-high and cook until potatoes are tender right through when poked. Remove from heat, drain and let cool while you get a 3-litre pot of salted water ready to boil the prepared gnocchi, and prep a large nonstick pan for the Brown Butter Sage sauce. Place the butter, garlic and chili flakes in the frypan and set aside. Back to the potatoes, which should be cool enough to handle now: With a teaspoon or paring knife, ease all the skin from the potato and cut out any eyes or brown spots. Press them through a ricer or grate through a medium-fine grater. Don’t mash with a masher, as it won’t be
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the tines of a fork to impart little ridges that hold the sauce. You can skip this step and simply boil them as they are. Because I love my kitchen gadgets, I have a wooden gnocchi paddle, which makes perfect ridges. How to serve gnocchi is up to you. Gnocchi are boiled and then tossed in the sauce. If you like a little crispness, fry them a little longer. Rosé is nice for a sauce, as is a light pesto. I wouldn’t serve them with a heavy Bolognese, but you go ahead enjoy your gnocchi your way! Browned butter, if you’ve never
made it, is pretty much self explanatory. Butter has milk solids that turn brown in the bottom of the pan and impart a toasty, nutty flavour. You’ll need to keep an eye and reduce heat if it gets too hot: it can go from browned to burnt fairly quickly. A tablespoon of vegetable oil in the pan will slow the browning process and give you a little more cook time as you boil the dumplings. And go ahead and make loads. You can freeze them, spread out, on a parchment-lined pan and transfer them to airtight bags or containers for longer storage.
fine enough. But you can use a large fork and mash finely. Don’t compress the potato, whatever method you choose. Keep it light and fluffy. Transfer to a mixing bowl, add the seasonings and baking powder, and begin working in the flour. Start with a cup and add as you need to. When it’s not so sticky, transfer to a lightly floured board and knead gently to get the dough to come together. You are not working it like bread, just enough to get a smooth, soft dough. Divide into manageable balls and roll out into dime-width ropes. Cut with a floured knife into pieces a little smaller than a quarter. Roll each gnocchi down the tines of a fork (or gnocchi board) to impress indentations. Set gnocchi aside on a lightly floured parchment-lined pan until ready to boil. Bring the large pot of water to a boil, reduce heat to med-high and drop in a couple handfuls gnocchi at a time. They take 3-4 minutes to cook and then they float. Test one by
cutting or biting into it. (Note: The first time you make them, test-boil a couple after shaping the first couple of dumplings, to see how your texture is. If they fall apart, you can add a little more flour to the dough.) Make the sauce: Heat the butter and seasonings over medium-high heat until it foams and subsides, drop in the sage and give it a toss. Butter will have browned by now. Reduce the heat to low, season with salt and pepper to taste, and toss the gnocchi in as you cook them. If your frypan is not very large, you may have to remove the already tossed gnocchi to keep them from sticking together, as you cook the rest of them. Transfer portions to warmed serving bowls, top with shaved or grated Parmesan and serve. Alternatively, prepare whatever sauce you like and transfer the cooked gnocchi to a bowl and toss with a little butter or olive oil; keep gnocchi warm until you portion and sauce them.
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HOME and Cabin
everyday recipes
brunch ideas Next time you plan a potluck or have the family over for a weekend meal, why not make it brunch? Any of these recipes can be enjoyed on their own, or served together for a delicious feed.
Breakfast Cups 4 tbsp butter 12 button mushrooms, small dice 12 tbsp onion, small dice
12 tbsp bacon bits 12 tbsp tomato, small dice 12 tbsp cheddar cheese, grated 9 eggs, whisked
Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt butter in a frying pan over medium-high heat, and sauté mushrooms until they are shrunken and soft. Add onion and turn heat to high; sauté until onion just starts to caramelize. Spray a 12cup muffin pan thoroughly with non-stick cooking spray. Divide the bacon bits, onion, mushrooms, tomatoes and cheese equally between the 12 cups. Pour in the whisked eggs, and fill each one to about ¼" from the top. Bake 15-20 minutes until done (they will start to puff a little and a toothpick inserted in the centre will come out clean). Remove from cups immediately. Yield: 12 cups
All of our recipes are brought to you by the fantastic foodies in Academy Canada’s Culinary Arts program, led by instructor Bernie-Ann Ezekiel.
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Gravlax with Herbed Cream Cheese Gravlax
Herbed cream cheese
2 fillets salmon, skin-on preferably 1 cup table salt 2 cups white sugar 2 tsp black pepper 4 bunches of fresh dill, roughly chopped 1/4 cup dill seed
1 cup cream cheese 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1 tbsp dried chives 1 tsp dried parsley 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 tsp black pepper
Important health safety note Salmon should be frozen at -18°F (typical temperature in a deep freeze) for at least 7 days to ensure harmful bacteria are killed. Then it should be thawed under refrigeration, rinsed and pat dry before beginning this recipe.
For the gravlax Mix the salt, sugar and pepper in a bowl; set aside. Lay out the salmon fillets on a large sheet of plastic wrap; coat them equally with dill seed and fresh dill. Divide the salt/sugar mixture evenly between the two fillets; use it all and pack it on there. Wrap the coated salmon tightly with the plastic wrap. Wrap again with a second piece of plastic in the opposite direction. Lay both fillets in a large pan, skin side up. Lay another pan on top of them and place about 10 lbs of weight on it; refrigerate for 2-3 days. Remove fish from fridge, rinse and pat dry.
For the cream cheese Blend all ingredients together until smooth, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours before serving. To serve, spread herbed cream cheese on a toasted bagel and top with thin slices of gravlax. Optional garnishes: shaved red onion, fresh dill, cucumber slices etc. Yield: 16-20 servings www.downhomelife.com
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O’Brien Potatoes 4 large (unpeeled) potatoes, washed and cut into 3/4" cubes 8 slices bacon, julienne 1/4 cup butter
1 cup onion, diced 1/2 cup green pepper, diced 1/2 cup red pepper, diced 1 cup chicken stock
Parboil the potatoes until they are nearly cooked. Set aside. Cook bacon in a large frying pan over medium-high heat until it starts to crisp. Add butter and once melted, add onion and reduce heat to medium. Cook onion until translucent. Add potatoes and stir to coat with fat. Continue cooking until potatoes are tender through. Add peppers and cook over high heat until pan starts to sizzle. Deglaze with chicken stock, and cook until stock is nearly evaporated. Serve immediately. Yield: 4-6 servings
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Moose Frittata 1/2 lb moose meat, julienne 1/2 tsp smoked paprika 1/4 tsp black pepper 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1/2 tsp dried chili flakes 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup leeks, sliced thin 2 tbsp fresh garlic, minced 5 eggs, whisked 1/2 cup red pepper, julienne 1/2 cup green pepper, julienne 3/4 cup feta cheese, crumbled
Preheat broiler. Mix first five ingredients together in a bowl and let marinate at room temperature for 20 minutes. Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan over high heat. When the oil is hot, add marinated moose and sautÊ quickly, moving it around the whole time. Once it’s seared all around, add leeks and garlic; continue cooking over high heat for another minute. Transfer to a bowl and set aside. Wipe the pan clean, spray with non-stick cooking spray, set the heat to low-medium and add the whisked eggs. Stir gently with a rubber spatula, pushing eggs to the middle of the pan to make a scrambled egg effect. Once eggs are nearly cooked on the bottom, place the pan under the broiler briefly, to cook the top. Once there is no more liquid egg on top, place the moose, peppers and feta on it and put it back under the broiler to melt the cheese a little. Serve immediately. Yield: 4 servings www.downhomelife.com
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Smoked Salmon in Phyllo 2 small salmon (or trout) fillets, skinned 1 pkg phyllo pastry 1 cup melted butter, salted Black pepper, to taste 12 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
Smoked Salmon Rub 1 tsp celery seed 1 tbsp kosher salt 1 tsp black pepper 1/3 cup maple syrup
Mix all smoked salmon rub ingredients together and spread evenly over both fillets. Allow to sit for about 20 minutes before smoking. Cook fillets in a smoker set to 180°F-200°F, following the manufacturer’s instructions until salmon reaches an internal temperature of 140°F. Remove salmon from the smoker, divide into 12 portions and begin rolling them in phyllo.
Assembly Preheat oven to 350°F. Lay one sheet of phyllo flat and brush it gently with melted butter. Sprinkle the right half of the pastry lightly with pepper and 1 tbsp of panko. Fold over and press to seal. Brush again with butter, lay 1 salmon portion on it, roll it up and tuck in the sides to seal in the salmon. Brush with butter again and sprinkle lightly with more pepper, if desired. Repeat steps 11 more times. Bake salmon phyllo on a sheet pan for about 20 minutes, until phyllo is deep golden and sizzling. Serve immediately. Yield: 12 portions
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Shirred Eggs 4 eggs 1 cup black forest ham, minced 1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper 4 tbsp red onion, minced 4 tbsp red pepper, minced 3-5 shakes of hot sauce
Grease four (4 oz) ramekins and preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix all ingredients, except eggs, together, and divide equally between the four ramekins. Crack one egg in each dish, being careful not to break the yolk. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the egg white is set and meat is heated through. Serve immediately. Yield: 4 servings
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Strata 8 eggs 1 cup whipping cream 1 cup milk 1/2 tsp kosher salt 1 tsp black pepper 2 tbsp fresh garlic, minced
2 1 4 2 1 1
tbsp whole grain mustard loaf thick cut bread, cubed cups button mushrooms, chopped cups black forest ham, cubed cup leeks, sliced 1/2 cups mozzarella cheese, grated
Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk eggs, cream, milk, salt, pepper, garlic and mustard together. Set aside. In a large, greased casserole dish, layer half of each of the bread, mushrooms, ham, leeks, cheese and egg mixture. Repeat with second half, then press the mixture down until the egg mixture squeezes up over the bread. Bake for 30-40 minutes, until the middle starts to puff up a little. Yield: 12 servings
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Cheese Grits 1 cup milk 1 cup whipping cream 2 1/2 cups water 1 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup butter 2 tbsp dried chives 1 cup cornmeal 3/4 cup old cheddar, grated
Place the first 7 ingredients in a large saucepan, and bring to a boil. Add cornmeal and stir well. Once it returns to a boil, reduce the heat to a very low simmer for the next 20 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking. Once the grits have been cooked through, remove from heat and add cheese. Stir well to incorporate and serve immediately. Yield: 4 servings
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down to earth
Time to
Plant by Kim Thistle
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One of the most confusing things for new veg-
etable gardeners is deciding when to plant. There’s all sorts of information available on the internet and in books and magazines on how to plant, and that advice holds true no matter where you live. The tricky thing is knowing when to plant. The long winters and cool springs of Newfoundland and Labrador leave many gardeners questioning planting dates. Some plants are tender and cannot withstand cold. Some can withstand cold, but not frost. Some will come through a frost and snowfall unscathed. What to do, what to do? First of all, it is important to keep a journal from year to year. Note things such as daily weather conditions, snowmelt and soil temperature. Log the date of seeding and transplanting your small plants. Make notes throughout the season on things such as how long it took the seeds to sprout, what disease and insects attacked, if water pooled in certain areas of the garden, dates that plants may have bolted and when you began harvesting each vegetable. By doing this, you will have an invaluable reference to carry you through your life as a gardener. We all know that in Newfoundland the snow may melt in early April, but it may persevere till mid-May. Every year is different. In this article, I’ll address the plants that can withstand the cold and thus may be planted once the ground can be worked. In our province, this can be anywhere from early May until about the third week of that month, depending on snowmelt and soil temperature. In Newfoundland and Labrador, most gardens have these staples: potato, carrot, onion, rutabaga (turnip), cabbage and beet. These are all hardy vegetables and can withstand the cold temperatures of spring.
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Basic Rules of Thumb for Planting When in doubt, stagger your planting times. Plant a few feet of seeds or plants each week for a month and compare the results in your log. Covering your soil with clear or black plastic sheeting, landscape fabric or a thin layer of black compost will warm the soil to help get a jump on the season. This can be done in the fall. Never underestimate the use of frost blankets. This lightweight, white fabric is designed for protecting plants early in the season and for extending the season at the other end of summer. Purchase a soil thermometer. Be sure to make a hole in the soil (a pencil is useful here), so you don’t break the thermometer when inserting it. Don’t listen to the old adage “Plant after the full moon.” Summer in Newfoundland and Labrador is short; make the best of it and extend your season where you can. Forsythia is a great indicator plant for knowing when to plant your small seed. As soon as you see the buds coming into bloom, get out in your garden and start planting. 136
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Potatoes Purchase certified seed potatoes every year to reduce the chance of carrying over diseases from year to year. Plant the whole tuber to reduce the incidence of rotting when planted in cold soil. Plant them approximately two weeks before the average last killing frost (see sidebar) or when your soil temperature is at about 6-7°C. Potatoes can tolerate some frost. Most Newfoundlanders plant on the 24th of May, but you can try planting a few seeds earlier and the bulk of your crop on the Victoria Day weekend. Watch the progress of both crops and note the difference in your log. You may find you can enjoy an early and a later crop.
Onions You have two choices for planting onions. Most people choose onion sets, but I prefer to grow them from seed as there is a better success rate, larger onions, less bolting and the onions tend to cure better for storage. Plant your seed under lights in late February or early March, making sure that your soil temperature is at least 10°C. Alternatively, you could purchase started plants from your local garden centre at the time of planting. Seedlings withstand light frost and can be planted quite early in the season around about the same time you plant your carrots and potatoes. If you suspect a heavy frost, use a frost blanket. I follow the same guidelines for leek, scallions and shallots. 1-888-588-6353
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Rutabaga Rutabaga seed will germinate in temperatures as low as 7°C but 12-15°C is ideal. It is another crop that you can seed again three weeks or so after your initial planting for an early and late harvest. Small seed of any type is difficult to manage and is best sprinkled thickly so that small plants can be thinned after sprouting, leaving just the healthiest plants behind to mature. Don’t throw away the thinnings, as the young plants make great salad or cooked greens.
Cabbage For the easiest and earliest crop, grow your seedlings or purchase them at your local garden centre. Plant them outside when the soil temperature reaches 7-10°C. Waiting until it is warmer may increase the chance of your cabbage flowering rather than forming a head. Choose small healthy plants; larger ones have been in the growing packs too long, which will cause the plant to bolt (flower and go to seed). The same instructions for planting are applicable to broccoli, cauliflower, kale, kohlrabi and Brussels sprouts.
Carrots Carrot seed is quite small and can be a nuisance. Pelleted seed or seed tapes are your best options. Start planting seed when the soil temperature is 6-7°C. Carrots can withstand frost. I like to plant every two weeks or so up until mid-July. This gives a long www.downhomelife.com
season for harvesting, and you can leave your late-seeded crop in the ground all winter for an early spring treat of sweet carrots. (Note: If you have a problem with carrot rust fly, avoid leaving any carrots in the ground as the maggots will overwinter and infect your crop the following year.)
Beet This favourite of mine can be planted from seed at the same time as carrots. Be aware that if planted when the soil is too cold, they will produce wonderful tops, but may not form into welldeveloped roots. For this reason, plant again at two-week intervals until midJune, ensuring that you have delicious beet greens and an extended season of juicy young beets to eat fresh, and larger ones for pickling. You can also seed beet in your greenhouse or buy started plants to get a jump on the season. Sow the seed with the intention to thin and leave the strongest seedlings. Again, these thinnings may be eaten raw in a salad or cooked and eaten as a side dish. I could write a book on start dates, planting methods and growing tips; but instead, I encourage you to start your log today and write your own. It beats spending the day doing taxes. Got a gardening question you would like to ask Kim? Send her an email at downtoearth@downhomelife.com. Kim Thistle owns a garden centre and landscaping business on the west coast of the island. She has also been a recurring guest gardener on CBC’s “Crosstalk” for almost three decades. April 2020
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A Happy Couple
Cathy Gale sent in this photo of her grandparents, John (Archie) and Annie (Murray) MacDonald of Saint Andrew’s, Codroy Valley, NL. She writes, “They were married November 28, 1928, at Precious Blood Church in Saint Andrew’s by Monsignor Andrew Sears.” Cathy Gale Codroy Valley, NL
Chafe’s Landing Memories
Submitter Gwen Williams writes, “I was born [in Petty Harbour], along with my three brothers and three sisters: George, Alex, Eugene, Margery, Valda and Olive.” Here Gwen is pictured with her older sisters, Valda and Margery. “This was taken in our backyard around 1943-44, right next door to Chafe’s Landing, or as we would say, Fanny and Edgar’s.” Gwen Williams Campbellton, ON 140
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Finding Home
Yuvadee Feltham sent us this photo of her first visit to Newfoundland in October 1994. She writes, “In 1994, I immigrated with my husband and son from Thailand to Ontario, Canada; and every year, afterwards, we visited many places throughout North America, especially my husband’s birth province [NL]. In 1998, we moved from Ontario to live permanently in Glovertown.” Yuvadee Feltham Glovertown, NL
This Month in History
On April 4, 1933, Louise Saunders (1893-1969) of Greenspond was called to the bar, becoming the first woman lawyer in Newfoundland and Labrador. Saunders became interested in law while working as a secretary for the law firm of Sir Richard Squires in the 1920s. She articled from 1928-1932. Memorial University archivist Bert Riggs suggests that most of her articling (apprenticeship) would have been self-directed, because Squires was prime minister at the time and was busy trying to keep Newfoundland from going bankrupt and fighting off allegations of Greenspond Historical Society Photo corruption. Saunders became a partner in Squires’ law firm, working mainly on civil law, probates, property law and estate administration. By 1942, the other partners in the firm had either left or died, and Saunders practised alone until 1951, when she took on a new partner, Stan F. Carew. In 1964, Saunders became the first woman in the province appointed to Queen’s Counsel, a title granted to lawyers for years of commitment to the practice of law. She continued to practise law until her death in St. John’s in 1969. 1-888-588-6353
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Gnat, do you mind…
Willows?
By Harold N. Walters
As if on two minds about it, the April sun lumbered up from behind the Crow Cliffs and squeezed out a few rays that quickly shattered like splinters on the rime of frost coating everything in Brookwater.
Frost twinkled on shingled and tarpapered roofs alike. Crystals of corroding snow clinging to the tail end of winter sparkled like rock salt. Fractured sunbeams glinted off windowpanes staring wide-eyed into the sun’s face. By the time Old Man Farley arrived at the church on this Sunday morning a week before Easter, the frost on the steel bell at the top of the belfry 142
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had thawed and rivulets of meltwater ran off its shoulders. When Old Man Farley pulled the bell rope and the clapper clanged inside the bell, the dripping water exploded like fluid diamonds. When the bell’s call to worship echoed across the cove, the stand of ornamental willows that Mr. Butt, the village merchant, had planted as a windbreak opposite his veranda trembled. Their budding 1-888-588-6353
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catkins blinked awake and, like week-old kittens, strained to open their eyes. Heedless of God’s glorious morning, Harry and Gnat trudged towards the church, their mothers herding them down the road, past the Big Rock, right to the church door. Inside the church, the mothers steered the boys to separate pews, making sure their darlings didn’t occupy end seats directly across from one another, a proximity that in the past had proven calamitous. Harry, pinned against the wall by Ma’s formidable shoulder, brooded. He dolefully watched a blue-arsed fly, resurrected by the warm sunshine, buzzing to life on the windowsill. While the congregation sang and prayed, and Reverend Bottle sermonized for a fortnight or so, Harry used a two-inch finishing nail he’d found in his pocket to prod the fly, forcing it to flip from its back to its feet and – Harry smirked at the thought – climb up the glass like Lazarus crawling from his tomb. As if sensing her firstborn’s sacrilegious thought, Ma elbowed Harry to knock off tormenting the fly and pay attention to Reverend Bottle’s sermon. Finally, knowing Sunday dinners needed attention in every home, Reverend Bottle ended the service. As part of his benediction, he suggested to his flock that come Easter Sunday, a decorated altar would be a way for their humble church to offer praise to God. Before scuffing from the pew behind Ma, Harry took a last look at the fly, whose wings now fluttered like gossamer in the sunlight. Exhibiting unexpected Christian restraint, he let them bide. 1-888-588-6353
The week passed. Most days the sun managed to scrub the overcast out of its eyes, and each day the catkins on Mr. Butt’s willows grew more wide-eyed, their fuzzy-wuzzies making them look like almost fully grown pussy willows. At the end of Good Friday’s solemn service, his spiritual side chafed to the bone, Harry scravelled from the church and caught up with Gnat in the churchyard. “Not many fancy decorations,” Gnat said. “I don’t think Reverend Bottle is pleased.” “A few coloured candles and green boughs lodged on the altar idden really singin’ God’s praise, eh?” said Harry. “P’raps the women will decorate a bit more tomorrow,” said Gnat. “P’raps,” said Harry. Knowing Good Friday’s religious restrictions lasted only till dinnertime, Harry and Gnat dashed for home. As planned, they glutched their grub and scurried off in search of a spot to build a bough whiffen. They ended up in a dandy spot behind Mr. Butt’s fence, in a tuck of woods directly opposite the line of willows beyond Mr. Butt’s veranda. An hour later, they were huddled inside their lopsided bough whiffen, a misshapen hut made of scavenged tree branches. Harry and Gnat peered out through the doorway down the length of Mr. Butt’s grass garden, past his house with the slateshingled roof to the windbreak of saplings that Mr. Butt hoped would eventually become a wall of willows. An easy breeze blew across the cove and caused the slender trees to quake like aspens. Their catkins shivered. A lingering, sacred thought from April 2020
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the morning’s church service prompted Gnat to say, “The church is some bare, idden it?” Harry moved and shifted a couple of boughs, nearly collapsing the side of their camp. “Huh?” he said. “The church needs to be spruced up a bit more,” said Gnat. Still struggling with the errant boughs, Harry nodded but said nothing until he was satisfied the crumbling wall would stand. Even then, he still said nothing because a single bird – A grey jay? An early robin? Surely not a dove – had caught his attention. The bird swooped down from the sky, skimmed the dead stalks in Mr. Butt’s grass garden, banked past the slate shingles and, after gliding on open wings, pitched among a willow’s catkins. Perhaps the wonder of the moment stirred a devout nerve in Harry’s noggin – or wherever devotion is stored – because, having witnessed the bird’s flight, he stilled, maybe like Noah did when the dove flid back to the ark. And then Harry spoke. “I got an idea,” he said. “I ’low,” said Gnat. “We’ll need some of the b’ys to give us a hand,” said Harry. Harry and Gnat sat in the hut sorting out the details of Harry’s plan until gravity pulled the poorly woven boughs down on their shoulders. Before the whiffen’s total collapse, me buck-oes scrambled from underneath, confident that they could make Brookwater’s modest church worthy of God’s blessing in time for Easter Sunday’s sunrise service. And so it came to pass, after the sun had a final glance at Mr. Butt’s willows – and a thousand catkins, purring like pussycats, had tucked 144
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in for the night – that a band of unlikely pilgrims met at the Big Rock. Under the cover of darkness, they trooped off through back lanes and sheep paths on a quest intended to glorify God. Although the moon jumped into the sky from the Crow Cliffs immediately after sunset, it refused to light a path for the host of youngsters marching like crusaders from the Big Rock. Sensing they were up to shenanigans not truly sanctified, the moon masked its chops with haystack bundles of clouds. Occasionally stumbling in the dark and muttering bad words when shins banged against sticks – and fence rails as they approached their target – Harry and Gnat coaxed their followers onward. “Sssssh, we’m here,” Harry said when all his cohorts had climbed over the final fence rail. “Be careful what yous is at,” said Gnat. “Try not to damage the tips.” Like harvesters, or misguided biblical reapers, the group dispersed in the moonless pitch darkness. The moon pulled thicker clouds across its face when it heard the snick of pocketknives opening, followed by almost inaudible sounds of blades chippling wood. Half an hour elapsed before Harry said, “We got enough.” The shadowy reapers, each one’s arms bearing a yaffle, traipsed to the church where Harry held the door ajar allowing them to enter. Feeling their way in the dark, except for a scattered lit match flaming briefly, God’s attendants went about their hallowed task. If Aunt Mary Ginn, or someone of a similar timorous nature, had walked past the church, surely the ethereal noises inside and 1-888-588-6353
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the occasional blink of ghostly light would have caused her to faint dead away and sprawl on the broad of her back in the roadside dirt. Easter eager, the morning sun flung its rays from atop the Crow Cliffs and illuminated the congregation stogging Brookwater’s church to the rafters. The faithful bellowed their holy anthems beyond the rafters, straight through the roof into the wondrous new day. And hallelujah, to every adult’s lasting – yet not wholly unfathomable – surprise, the pulpit, the altar rail, all windowsills and various flat surfaces were adorned with vases and Mason jars, jam bottles and tin cans stuffed with bouquets of pussywillows: catkins with their eyes wide 1-888-588-6353
open and radiant with sunlight. Across the cove, opposite Mr. Butt’s verandah, a line of ornamental willows with butchered topknots, stood pitifully, as stark naked as upended birch broomsticks. Mind that Easter, Gnat? Miraculously, Mr. Butt’s willows survived, sprouted anew the following spring and went on to serve their purpose for… well, for three score years and ten, so far.
Harold Walters lives in Dunville, Newfoundland, doing his damnedest to live Happily Ever After. Reach him at ghwalters663@gmail.com April 2020
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Railway station stop, 1943. Exporail, Fonds Raymond Corley
Given the relative remoteness of St. John’s on the eastern edge of North America, it may surprise some to learn that in the late 1800s this Newfoundland and Labrador city was on the cutting edge of transportation technology. At the same time that great cities such as San Francisco, New York, Toronto and Vancouver were investing in public transportation, so was St. John’s. In 1896, the government of Newfoundland passed the St. John’s Railway Bill to install a streetcar system to service the 30,000 residents, and visitors, in the rapidly growing capital. “In 1898, a contract in the amount of $140,000 was awarded to Robert G. Reid to build the street railway, pave Water Street with cobblestones and build a power plant to run it. The streetcar system went into operation on May 1, 1900, at 12:45 p.m.,” says Kenneth G. Pieroway, railway enthusiast and historian, and author of two volumes of Rails Around the Rock and his newest book, Streetcars of St. John’s. I met him following his presentation to the Photographic Historical Society of Newfoundland and Labrador in January of this year.
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Kenneth grew up in Colinet, St. Mary’s Bay, but he spent his early years in the mid-1960s in Corner Brook, where his dad would take him down to the station to watch the arrival and departure of the Caribou (the trans-island passenger train run by Canadian National Railway). “It was such an exciting sight to see the powerful diesels that I was immediately hooked. Spending summers at my grandparents’ in St. George’s through the 1970s, where the freight trains ran just behind their backyard four times a day, only served to cement my love,” he says. It was his mother who introduced him to streetcars. She regaled him
and his sister with stories of riding the red Birney streetcars when she was a Memorial University student in St. John’s. Kenneth dedicated Streetcars of St. John’s to her. A typical Birney streetcar was 28 feet long with seating for 32 plus many standing; Kenneth compares that to the Vicinity buses used by Metrobus, which are 30 feet long and can seat 24 with 18 standing. The streetcar system used in St. John’s was unique not only because it ran on the oldest, most easterly street in North America, says Kenneth, but also because it ran on a narrowgauge track (same as the Newfoundland Railway, but different from
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tracks elsewhere on the continent). “Secondly, the entrance and exit doors were on the same side of our streetcars, regardless of the direction they were travelling. You could literally get off in the middle of the street,” he says. It cost five cents a ride in 1900, and the price never increased in the 48 years of operation. The last St. John’s streetcar travelled Water Street on September 15, 1948. Kenneth says that pretty well anyone he’s spoken to who rode the streetcars recalled them fondly. “They were very exciting to ride and see, bells clanging and squealing while turning around sharp curves,” Kenneth says he was told. “In particular, the operators were said to be
very kind to the little children, allowing them to stay on for free after the route was completed. The people that helped me find images, from the late Larry Dohey of The Rooms, and Neachel Keeping and Alanna Wicks of the City of St. John’s Archives, I will forever be grateful to them all. My favourite quote about the streetcars comes from the late Omer Lavallée, one of Canada’s most eminent railway historians, regarding the closure of the line, who said, ‘Like many other communities, St. John’s had good reason to mourn the passing of the little red Birney cars.’” Says Kenneth, “If we ever brought back streetcars, it would be a major tourist draw for St. John’s, not to mention environmentally friendly
Conductor Pat Parrell by Streetcar No. 3. The Rooms
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[since they run on electricity].” So I reached out to Downtown St. John’s, to ask what streetcar service might mean to the city today. I got an email back from Gaylynne Gulliver, manager of marketing, special events and media relations. She wrote that while the original transportation is parked in the past, the lure of such a line still exists and the city has found a modern way to incorporate it. “The St. John’s Trolley Line, now called The Link, was established to accomplish similar goals, except using modern city buses rather than streetcars,” she wrote. “When first created, The Trolley Line followed a similar route as the old streetcars. Additionally, some of the rails from the streetcar system are still buried in the ground along sections of Water Street West. Although they are now paved over, the seasonal freeze and thaw cycle often wakes them from their slumber beneath the asphalt like ghosts from the past.” Visit Downhomelife.com to see archival videos and photos of the St. John’s streetcars.
Kenneth G. Pieroway, author of Streetcars of St. John’s Dennis Flynn Photo
Do you have any memories or family photos of St. John’s streetcars? Send us your stories and photos that we can publish in a future issue. Email us at editorial@downhomelife.com; submit online at Downhomelife.com/submit; or write to Downhome, 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3.
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In July 2016, a large package arrived for me at the Hodge’s Cove Post Office from Fred Shaw of Reading, Massachusetts. His father, Daniel Shaw, was a former resident of Little Heart’s Ease who had served with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment during the First World War. At home, I opened the package with the excitement of a child at Christmas, desperately fighting to control my emotions while peering at history from 100 years ago. I was researching and writing the stories of our boys from the Southwest Arm area who had served with the Royal Newfoundland Regiment. I contacted Fred when I began to work on his father’s story. He provided me with additional information and photographs, including a rare group photo of eight of our boys in uniform (see p. 155). Over the weeks that followed, his dad’s story was completed and published on June 23, 2016, in the local newspaper, the Packet. A copy was mailed to Fred and his family. A few weeks later, I received a phone call from Fred informing me he had mailed me a package as a means of thanking me for writing his dad’s story.
I was extremely excited to open this large package from Fred. While my wife stood watching, I carefully removed an item from among the protective pink Styrofoam peanuts. The black frame held a homemade Crown and Anchor cloth. It was affectionately referred to by Fred as “Father’s gamblin’ cloth.” He told me that the cup and dice were misplaced, but he would locate the items and send them along later. I sat captivated with this piece of history from the Great War, admiring it 100 years after it had been dragged through the fields of Europe. Crease lines were evident, similar to those that would be found on a folded military flag, indicating the game
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Lester Green (left) and Fred Shaw discuss the Gamblin’ Cloth. Courtesy of Fred Shaw
had been spread out and folded back up many times by its owner. All six symbols of the Crown and Anchor game drawn on the canvas were in excellent shape, and the anchor was outlined in great detail. This was fitting for this soldier who was born into a fishing family and had proudly sailed on his father’s schooner, the Seven Brothers. Clearly, this handmade game had provided many hours of entertainment for Daniel Shaw and his comrades as they gathered around waiting for their next round of orders. In his book, Now God be Thanked, John Masters describes the popular Crown and Anchor game, commonly played by members of the Navy and Army. It involved three dice and a piece of cloth marked with six symbols: a crown, an anchor, a club, a 154
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heart, a spade and a diamond. These were fondly referred to as the Major, the Mud-hook, the Shamrock, the Jam-tart, the Curse and the Kinkie. Each side of the dice had one of six symbols. The bet was placed on one of the symbols on the laid-out canvas. If the soldier’s bet came up when the dice were rolled from a leather cup, the banker paid out. If the three dice showed two anchors and one heart, those with bets placed on anchor and heart received a payout. The person with bets on the anchor received twice the wager than that of the heart. The odds, of course, were always stacked in favour of the owner of the game. The homemade gambling cloth would have provided hours of entertainment to the soldiers during their leisure time and an opportunity to 1-888-588-6353
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socialize with their comrades. For some, the game became addictive, eventually leading the British forces to ban the game. We can only assume that this was also true for the 1st and 2nd Battalions of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment under British command. This led to an underground secrecy of the game among the soldiers, as they would gather around the cloth answering the owner’s cry: “Whose for the old killick? Anyone for the Ole King Teddy’s hat? What about a bit the ladies crave for? Come on now, boys, place your bet.” This makes this “Gambling Cloth” a piece of unique Royal Newfoundland Regiment history, preserved by Pte Shaw and his family – an intriguing piece of our past. It is surely among the rarest items ever entrusted to me. Unfortunately, we’ll never know
the many stories that this cloth was a part of as it was secretly carried around by Pte Shaw as he and his unit travelled across France, Belgium and into Germany. But the Cup and Dice gambling game’s Courtesy of Lester Green existence serves as a reminder that even in harsh times, these young men sought a means of occasional escape from the brutality of war. Some of these cloths are preserved in museums in Britain, Australia and New Zealand. Now we can proudly display Private Daniel Shaw’s cloth in his hometown of Little Heart’s Ease and share it with the people of the Southwest Arm region.
Pte Daniel Shaw (back row with pipe) and soldiers from the Southwest Arm area of Trinity Bay. Courtesy of Fred Shaw and Audrey Drodge 1-888-588-6353
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A Story of Newfoundland Bread by Chad Bennett
There are few things in life
more satisfying than a thick slice of Newfoundland bread still warm from the oven and richly dressed in butter and molasses. But the history of Newfoundland bread is richer still. Found within each golden three-bun loaf and each ship’s hard tack is a story of innovation, lives gambled, fortunes made – and even industrial espionage. This is the story of two brothers from Glasgow, Scotland, and an American from New Jersey who all came to St. John’s, NL, to make their mark. The brothers arrived first. 156
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In 1832, Scottish brothers William and James Rennie first set foot on Newfoundland soil. They brought with them a plan and many crates of specialized equipment imported from Germany. German equipment in this era was the best you could get. The tension of the ropes lowering the machinery to shore could only be matched by the tension felt by the brothers as they watched all their hopes dangle from a few twisted threads of hemp. Success or ruin is so often determined by the finest of threads. The Rennie brothers secured their precious cargo and headed to the outskirts of town to land along the banks of a river. It would take three years and a small army of local skilled labourers, but in 1835, the 1-888-588-6353
first flour mill in Newfoundland and Labrador began operation. Wheat was being ground into flour locally for the first time – the Rennie brothers had pulled it off. That same year, the brothers opened the first mechanical bakery in North America. After years of preparation, of studying the mechanics and engineering in Edinburgh, of meticulously planning every detail of launching an industry, it was all coming off without a hitch – except for two unknown variables. Two simple givens so seemingly insignificant that the brothers hadn’t even given them a second thought: water and local culture. In Europe, at the time, everyone bought bread from large-scale bakeries, so they never dreamed that April 2020
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this wouldn’t be true in Newfoundland. Their bakery, which at first concentrated on soft breads, soon found that in Newfoundland nearly everyone already baked their own bread. The brothers were shocked: the local cultural ethos of self-sufficiency and the unbeatable golden three-bun loaves had sent their dreams into a tailspin. Shaken but rallying with true grit, they very quickly turned their attention to hard breads, a vastly bigger market. Unlike soft breads, hard breads could not be made at home as it required specialized equipment. Consequently every piece of hard tack was being imported, mostly from Hamburg, Germany. Every ship, every home in Newfoundland and every foreign vessel that stopped into St. John’s to reprovision bought hard bread. After many unsuccessful attempts, the brothers finally arrived at a recipe and techniques that would work, to a point. It was at this moment that the Rennies fully appreciated the second overlooked variable: water. Their product hit the market and although it experienced some initial success, the Hamburg bread was still greatly favoured. It was joked that Rennies’ hard bread came with a complimentary hammer in each box so that you could eat it. Hard bread was great if it were crunchy, but less desirable if it could stand in for bricks. The brothers discovered that the subtle difference in local water was creating extremely hard bread. The Rennies spent the 158
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next decade making adjustments to their recipe and techniques in an attempt to compensate, but were never able to push into the importdominated market the way that they had dreamed. Despite this, they did successfully run a flour mill for 13 years. The brothers added to the local cultural ethos of self-sufficiency by providing a source of locally produced flour as they became Newfoundlanders themselves, sounding a note which rings true to this day with modern food security coming to the forefront. The Rennies became leading citizens in their adopted St. John’s and left their mark on the town. The river upon which their mill was located is still named Rennie’s River. The Rennies sold the mill in 1848. They had laid the groundwork for the American to follow.
Bakery gathers steam Robert N. Vail, born in New Jersey, looked at St. John’s and saw a fortune. He arrived in town around 1853, and like the Rennies, he initially focused on soft breads when he opened his bakery on Water Street. He, too, would quickly see hard breads as the only market worth pursuing, but thanks to the Rennies, he had someone to learn from. He studied the Rennies’ equipment, techniques and results. He then did something extraordinary, something most people are completely incapable of doing – he bet on himself. He decided he 1-888-588-6353
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Robert Vail left his bakery on Water Street and travelled to the one place he was certain could produce a successful product: Hamburg, Germany. He bought all the German equipment and did whatever he had to, to find out what the Germans knew. would solve the problem the Rennies had left, even if that meant engaging in industrial espionage. Vail left his bakery on Water Street and travelled to the one place he was certain could produce a successful product: Hamburg, Germany. He bought all the German equipment and did whatever he had to, to find out what the Germans knew. Vail returned to St. John’s in 1857 under an air of mystery, claiming that he had the “secret.” He whisked his crates of mysterious equipment to the banks of the Waterford River, where he constructed a flour mill and opened a steam bakery in the west end of town. Would it work? Could Vail produce a local product that would outcompete Germany? Vail’s Steam Bakery launched. In the eyes, or perhaps the taste buds, of most, the Hamburg bread was still slightly better; but Vail’s hard bread was so close in taste and texture that it effectively made no difference. And 1-888-588-6353
crucially, Vail’s bread was cheaper – and that’s a winner in any century. Within five years of launching, Vail had, according to one historian, captured 75 per cent of the market previously held by Hamburg. Another historian places the figure at closer to 90 per cent. Either way, Vail was astoundingly successful, pushing German producers from a stranglehold position to complete insignificance. Other local producers would emerge to further gobble up the remaining market, ensuring a new local industry. In 1863, Vail sold his recipe, bakery and flour mill to St. John’s merchants. A few years later he retired to New York an extremely wealthy man. The millstone from Vail’s mill was unearthed during construction along the Waterford River in 1989. In a fitting convergence of history, the stone was placed on display along Rennies River, marking the site of the Rennie brothers’ flour mill, and forever linking these three champions of local industry. April 2020
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Toll Free: 1-855-545-2582 Tel: Cell:
709-545-2582 709-884-9880
clarenvillemover@eastlink.ca www.clarenvillemovers.com
www.downhomelife.com
709-834-0070 866-834-0070 fivestarmoving@outlook.com www.fivestarmoving.ca
SAMSON’S MOVING Let our Family Move Your Family Home
Local & Long Distance Service Over 30 years Experience
MOVING INC.
Over 25 Years Experience in the Moving Industry
Clarenville Movers Your Newfoundland & Alberta Connection
Voted CBS Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year
A Family Moving Families Professionally and economically Coast to Coast in Canada Fully Insured
Newfoundland, Ontario, Alberta and All Points In Between Newfoundland Owned & Operated Fully Insured, Free Estimates Sales Reps. in Ontario and Alberta
Newfoundland Owned & Operated
Contact: Gary or Sharon King
Toll Free: 1-866-586-2341 www.downhomemovers.com
Call Jim or Carolyn - Peterview, NL 709-257-4223 709-486-2249 - Cell samsonsmovers@yahoo.ca www.samsonsmovers.ca
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GREAT GIFT IDEAS!
Youth Windbreaker Newfoundland (6,8,10,12,14) Navy #78916 | Yellow #78922 | Berry #78910
$27.99 each
Newfoundland and Labrador Youth Hoodie - Est 1497 - 4 Icons (8,10,12) Navy #73915 | Burgundy #78954 | Pink #78959
$36.99 each
Youth T-Shirt Newfoundland Canada Established 1497 Light Blue (8,10,12)
#78950 | $15.99
Kids’ T-Shirt - Animals in canoe (2,4,6) Maroon #78813 Green #78817
$13.99 each
Someone Who Loves Me Very Much Someone Who Really Loves Me Got Me This Went to Newfoundland and Labrador and Shirt From Newfoundland - Kids’ T-Shirt Got Me This Shirt - Kids’ T-Shirt (2,4,6) Toddler (6m, 12m, 18m) #65348 Blue #45333 | Red #73490 Kids (2,4, 5/6) #78977
$13.99 each
$13.99 each
ORDER ONLINE: www.shopdownhome.com
2004 mail order2_Mail order.qxd 2/27/20 4:26 PM Page 163
MORE SELECTION ONLINE: www.shopdownhome.com
Landway Rain Jacket Newfoundland Labrador Ladies’ #55276 Men’s #59593
$74.99 each
Landway Performance Fleece Hoodie Newfoundland with Map Charcoal (S-L) #78933 | $44.99
Newfoundland and Labrador Hoodie - Est 1497 - 4 Icons (S-XXXL) Fuchsia #78151 | Navy #58878
Pink #78873 Denim #78867
$19.99 each
Newfoundland & Labrador T-Shirt with Whale, Puffin, etc. (S-XXXL) Burgundy #45200 | Navy #45193
$42.99 each
Newfoundland Dog T-Shirt Charcoal (S-XXXL) #76464 | $19.99
Newfoundland Lifestyle T-Shirt (S-XXL)
$19.99 each
Ladies’ T-Shirt Newfoundland and Labrador - The Rock
Ladies’ T-Shirt Newfoundland and Labrador with Moose
(S-XXL)
Heather (S-XXL)
#78746 | $19.99
#61373 | $19.99
TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353
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puzzles
The Beaten Path
Bernice Case photo
By Ron Young
Block out all the letters that are like other letters in every way, including shape and size. The letters that are left over will spell out the name of the above community in letters that get smaller in size.
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Last Month’s Community: Gambo 164
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Sudoku
from websudoku.com
Skill level: Medium Last month’s answers
?
Need Help
Visit DownhomeLife.com/puzzles for step-by-step logic for solving this puzzle
www.downhomelife.com
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Downhomer Detective Needs You After more than two decades on the Urban City Police Force, Downhomer Detective has come home to rid Newfoundland and Labrador of a new threat – cunning thief Ragged Rick. A real braggart, the slimy criminal sends DD a blurry photo of his surroundings plus clues to his whereabouts just to prove he’s always a step ahead. DD needs your help to identify where in Newfoundland and Labrador Ragged Rick is hiding out this month.
Use these 5 clues to identify where Ragged Rick is now: • Harbour was attacked by pirate Bartholomew Roberts in 1720 • Amelia Earhart took off from here in the Friendship • Popular destination for fishers and birders • Its name comes from the French verb for “pass away” • Namesake of one Splinter Fleet vessel that sailed to Antarctica
Last Month’s Answer: Marystown
Picturesque Place NameS of Newfoundland and Labrador
by Mel D’Souza Last Month’s Answer: Eastport 166
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In Other Words Guess the well-known expression written here in other words.
Last Month’s Clue: No male exists to be an atoll In Other Words: No man is an island This Month’s Clue: Finale of one epoch In Other Words: ___ __ __ ___
A Way With Words BABY BOARD
Last Month’s Answer: Baby on Board
This Month’s Clue
WORK SEAS ANS: ____ ________
Scrambled Sayings
Rhyme Time A rhyming word game by Ron Young
1. The strength of a lemon is ____ _____ 2. A desire to accelerate is a _____ for _____ 3. A classy grape drink is a ____ ____ Last Month’s Answers 1. bright light, 2.small ball, 3. word nerd by Ron Young
Place each of the letters in the rectangular box below into one of the white square boxes above them to discover a quotation. Incomplete words that begin on the right side of the diagram continue one line down on the left. The letters may or may not go in the box in the same order that they are in the column. Once a letter is used, cross it off and do not use it again.
’ L R H U T H T H W
A H I I E N A A E E N C C C L D E A H A D G E A E N O L N U E I F E G L E N G S C N D N H E O W T T O L V R I O O U U R C O N Y O U Y Y S R Y O U S T O Y
Last month’s answer: Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have. www.downhomelife.com
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Rhymes 5 Times Each answer rhymes with the other four
1. dwelling 2. rodent 3. partridge 4. soak 5. partner
____________ ____________ ____________ ____________ ____________
STUCK? Don’t get your knickers in a knot! Puzzle answers can be found online at DownhomeLife.com/puzzles
Last Month’s Answers: 1. snow, 2. crow, 3. blow, 4. show, 5. grow
Tangled Towns by Lolene Young Condon and Ron Young
Sound out the groups of words below to get a familiar expression. For best results sound the clue words out loud!
Pass Injures Eats _________ _____ Aim Hay Jerk Rice Hiss _ _____ ______ Last Month’s 1st Clue: Aid Heads Gun Kin Their Owed Answer: A dead skunk in the road Last Month’s 2nd Clue: Aid Ride Hyper Answer: A dry diaper
Unscramble each of the five groups of letters below to get 5 Newfoundland and Labrador place names.
1. HUBCNAS 2. EDBAGR 3. ILRONWTELM 4. OLYWEH 5. FGAF PILSAOT Last Month’s Answers: 1. Main Brook, 2. Grandois, 3. Croque, 4. Conche, 5. Roddickton
A nalogical A nagrams Unscramble the capitalized words to get one word that matches the subtle clue. 1. FLARE EPIC ~ Clue: where sparks fly 2. TEETH SIR ~ Clue: fit to be dyed 3. HALL FIGHTS ~ Clue: provides a ray of fake sunshine 4. A HYPE GROG ~ Clue: the lay of the land 5. RENT KIT ~ Clue: loves a good yarn Last Month’s Answers: 1. neighourhood, 2. snowblower, 3. excavator, 4. tournament, 5. hurricane 168
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Four-Way Crossword F o re Wo rd s • B a c k Wo rd s • U p Wo rd s • D o w n Wo rd s By Ron Young
Unlike regular crosswords, in Four-Way Crossword each letter is not necessarily related to the letter in the adjacent row or column, but is part of one or more words in some direction.
1-10: changed countries 1-91: named 2-32: create 3-5: Russian jet 4-44: Bombay country 5-9: rub 8-6: sailor 8-58: airstrip 11-14: drat! 11-41: scratch 19-14: pink fish 23-27: cow’s teat 24-21: John Wayne 26-28: make mistake 27-25: crimson 29-27: defenceman Bobby 28-30: decompose 30-50: cure hide 33-36: fog 35-38: ship front 36-66: announce 38-36: encountered 39-9: proboscis 44-94: violater 45-95: satisfy 45-42: ache 45-75: prayer 47-41: redecorate 47-50: shower 54-52: evil 56-36: allow 57-55: everyone 58-55: phone 58-88: metropolis 61-41: seizure 61-63: trend 62-82: fuss 63-65: payable www.downhomelife.com
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63-66: gunfight 63-93: moist 65-67: fairy 67-47: distant 67-69: tree 67-70: company 69-39: destruction 69-65: firearm 74-72: unhappy 86-88: lock’s counterpart 91-100: tranquilizer 93-96: iron 96-56: expertise 97-27: sailor 97-77: ocean 98-96: donkey 98-100: insect
99-69: closeby 100-10: ended 100-70: time period Last Month’s Answer 1
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EGY P TOL CANAE S A OMA I L E T NE P L L I H O MM B U T E MOO L B U R I S CARUD C T A N AMG A P S DW I T L I KE L I H
O V A N U D E O H O
April 2020
G A L O R E A R S O
Y L E T I N I F E D
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The Bayman’s
Crossword Puzzle 1
2
by Ron Young
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April 2020
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ACROSS 1. nourished 3. Atlantic Veterinary College (abbrev) 4. relatives 5. hallucinogenic drug in Morning Glory seeds 7. Bell Island’s musical son 14. shelter from the wind 15. “The sea _____ all upalong the shore” 16. Like a fart __ a wind storm 17. burlap (colloq) 18. locomotive power 21. avenue (abbrev) 22. parcel post (abbrev) 24. Pa’s mate 25. bushel (abbrev) 27. are (Fr.) 28. Eddie, Juno award winner from Terra Nova 31. figgy ____ – pudding 33. used for washing ore 34. sea urchin roe in Japan 35. false god 36. NL singer Morrissey 38. afternoon (abbrev) 39. Edward to his friends 40. armful (colloq) 41. amperes (abbrev) 44. yearn 46. shine 47. emmet 48. fishing industry DOWN 1. Songwriter of “Savage Cop From Savage Cove” (2 words) 2. His big hit was “Aunt Martha’s Sheep (2 words) 6. The Twillingate ___ – now defunct newspaper 7. NL singer Bishop 8. horoscope sign www.downhomelife.com
9. “Sonny’s Dream” writer Hynes 10. Robert’s Arm (abbrev) 11. year (abbrev) 12. honey maker 13. Bud Davidge and Sim Savory 17. Bide Arm (abbrev) 19. small child 20. “As fine _ ___ as ever broke a cake of the world’s bread” (2 words) 22. flower segment 23. Songwriter Roy from Trout River 25. _____ Wasisname and the Other Fellers 26. unidentified flying object (abbrev) 29. opposite of NW 30. janney 31. expire 32. comedian Jimmy from Marystown 36. President Kennedy’s initials 37. Bay __ Islands 38. ashen 42. “The devil to ___ and no pitch hot” 43. St. Mary’s (abbrev) 45. each (abbrev) 46. Green’s Harbour (abbrev)
1
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A N D ANSWERS N A TO LAST D M 3 4 MONTH’S B U N 5 R I O CROSSWORD O N 6 O U T 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 M H O R S E I S L A N D S 15 16 17 18 19 S H E A C C T M B R I 20 21 22 23 24 25 E S Q A R E A M OM E N 26 27 28 I Q U I D I R I D I N G 29 30 31 32 T R U E G O E N T M 33 34 35 36 37 S P I E D H R V D M 38 39 40 41 D R I F T WO O D B E 42 43 44 45 46 T O R E E A T M A N 47 48 49 50 A N I T WA S R E D A N D 51 52 53 R AWN Y S T M R O C K S April 2020
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DIAL-A-SMILE © 2020 Ron Young
Pick the right letters from the old style phone to match the numbers grouped below and uncover a quote which will bring a smile to your face.
_ 4
___ 438
____ 5878
__ 29
______ 366844
___ _____ 393 72473
__ _____ 78 74464
__ 69
____ 5825
Last Month’s Answer: My mother never saw the irony in calling me a son of a bitch
©2020 Ron Young
CRACK THE CODE
L
Each symbol represents a letter of the alphabet, for instance =T Try to guess the smaller, more obvious words to come up with the letters for the longer ones. The code changes each month.
_ _ _ T _ T _ _ _
C nC L Y LC Ox _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ T
;C xB\7 \ ; L _ _
OK
_ _
C;
T _ _
X L \
_ _ _ _
KO7 n
_ _ _ T T _ _ _
K 0 YL L\7 Z
Last Month’s Answer: Nothing needs reforming as much as other people’s habits 172
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© 2020 Ron Young
Food For Thought
Each food symbol represents a letter of the alphabet. Find the meanings to the words then match the letters with the food symbols below to get a little “food for thought.”
revenue =
crippled =
frighten =
_ _ _
hcK
_ _ _
killing =
hf v _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _
_ _
hy
hcK
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
` [nnK``
_ _ _ _
_ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
cq` hysx ]y[tm`
syfm
]fqI[sK
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
establishes =
`nfsK
ftm
c ylqnq mK
past =
IflK
_ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
_ _ _
fsK
Kv fnhIx
_ _
hy
syfm
_ _ _
hcK
_ _ _ _ _ _
fIly` h _ _ _ _
` flK
Last Month’s Answer: You never achieve success unless you like what you are doing www.downhomelife.com
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Different Strokes
Our artist’s pen made the two seemingly identical pictures below different in 12 places. See if you can find all 12.
ERN AND COAL BIN ON EASTER SUNDAY
Last Month’s Answers: 1. Caribou moved; 2. Antler: 3. Leg; 4. Fender; 5. Licence plate; 6. Head lamp; 7. Coal Bin; 8. Rear view mirror; 9. Hill; 10. Tree; 11. Snow bank; 12. Rear wheel “Differences by the Dozen”- A compilation of Different Strokes from 2002 to 2014 (autographed by Mel) can be ordered by sending $9.95 (postage incl.; $13.98 for U.S. mailing) to Mel D’Souza, 21 Brentwood Dr., Brampton, ON, L6T 1P8.
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HIDE & SEEK BEVERAGES
The words can be across, up, down, backward or at an angle, but always in a line.
BEER CHAI CIDER COCKTAIL COCOA COFFEE ESPRESSO JUICE LATTE LEMONADE MILK PUNCH RUM SANGRIA SMOOTHIE SODA Q F Q E J Y Q E F V N T I R D U J P
R E M X R B H D A O P J U Y Q V E O
Y E K S I H W A K D D H T F R T H Q
K G G A R J H N C K O J G E V F G F
A Z E U R G S O S A Z S A O W C Q D
VODKA WATER WHISKEY WINE
SPRITZER SYRUP TEA TEQUILA O S M G E N E A L O G Y T K H E B Y
Last Month’s Answers
H W M U T F T M Q B C S O K P O E S
Z N F N I P K E X S Y L H X J F I I
www.downhomelife.com
J U I C E E T L P L P M F N B F P I
O K L A H E U O R K H R O T Z E Q Q
K E R R Q C S W L O J N I L R E E X
X R J U Q S N I A C U F W T I J G R
C A K E B G B G O B G N U Z I I J H
C W I N E W M U X T P C U E Z Z X A
I A A U N G N D N C I N S W R L C P
G M L I C I C P B O O R I D J Q B A
L L R R I O Z Y P Q E I P T I E K S
H A K L T B U X P Q B E W H B W Q R
E I R N I Z B E S G R A A O S U V G
A I P J C D Z M Z R A R Y G A B R I
H C I D Z G L E E K T D K X I I Z O
A S G I L E T T A L O R J P H Z Y L
G A N L E D R O B C V I D I P K F T
P M E A E N C A H Q Z N B E N T W O
E I D P V V S Y Z F C T P X C R Q Q
L S D E D A I I P D D G Y O G G J H
G C N F C R N N G H Q T A B N A R P
H E R O S D D D V E O P M H S P E E
K N N H V G G B G L Y C V U I E S H
G I I B D F D Z F S F P V P T D H U
R L Z G R F G F N K C Q T P U I N S
A N S K H B D N N C K M J G L G J N
B Y M P N H E N E T L U V R O O Y M
G R Y N R Z I L A R L C V E I L C N
G N I B M O C H C A E B L G U F H X
Q B I Z X A W N N D T M Y W I Y X O
C I G A M B W M H P E A A F Q X B U
I M A G I R O D U B O S R O N L T L
H D O U G M S O G K G S T I M S X O
H X U O M W T M O O V T Q B V U V E
W A D U Y C Y Y Z O B R M M K Q O U
C O C K T A I L O C P L R O H V A T
H D S Z R G A O H K W O G B D T E P
R H A E T G G Q I M I G G I A Q L H
Y I I X T L B F Y I B N Q Q V V Y T
C S F N E N I I R N B O N S A I S H
G R M F M R S G K O Q R A H K J J I
April 2020
M E T E O R O L O G Y M E H R G U K
Y L I H P O T R A C T Y L Q F X I B
F B U H O K H J S J H B L P Z N R E 175
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photo finish
Angry
Bird
Bernice Goudie captured this photo in her backyard of a robin that appears to be impatiently waiting for spring. Bernice Goudie St. John’s, NL
Do you have an amazing or funny photo to share? Turn to page 9 to find out how to submit. 176
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