Downhome September 2021

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Vol 34 • No 04

$4.99

September 2021

How to grow a healing garden

Schoolhouse Museums

9/11 Remembered Murray Premises Turns 175

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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 Nicola Ryan Editor Lila Young Art and Production Art Director Vince Marsh Illustrator Mel D’Souza Illustrator Snowden Walters Advertising Sales Account Manager Barbara Young Marketing Director Tiffany Brett Finance and Administration Junior Accountant Marlena Grant Accounting Assistant Sandra Gosse

Warehouse Operations Warehouse / Inventory Manager Carol Howell Warehouse Operator Josephine Collins Retail Operations Retail Floor Manager, St. John’s Jackie Rice Retail Floor Manager, Twillingate Donna Keefe Retail Sales Associates Crystal Rose, Jonathon Organ, Elizabeth Gleason, Erin McCarthy, Marissa Little, Elizabeth Gauci, Kim Tucker, Heather Stuckless, Katrina Hynes, Lynette Ings, Stef Burt, Ashley Lane, Sarah Bishop

Subscriptions Customer Service Associate Cathy Blundon Founding Editor Ron Young Chief Executive Officer/Publisher Grant Young

Operations Manager, Twillingate Nicole Mehaney

President & Associate Publisher Todd Goodyear 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, NS, NB, PE $45.99; ON $45.19; QC, SK, MB, AB, BC, NU, NT, YT $41.99. 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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space to roam

Contents

SEPTEMBER 2021

58 Race Against the Tide Comedian Shaun Majumder hosts a new TV show that pits world-class sand sculptors against each other, and Mother Nature, in the Bay of Fundy.

Linda Browne

66 A Place to Roam The planned Newfoundland Pony Heritage Park will be a haven for our marvellous breed.

Nicola Ryan

78 Keeping It Old School

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back to school www.downhomelife.com

These museums teach visitors what formal learning looked like a century ago.

102 Down to Earth Healing Gardens: Plants to grow for home remedies. Kim Thistle September 2021

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Contents homefront 10 I Dare Say A note from the Editor 12 Letters From Our Readers

SEPTEMBER 2021

24 oh Canada

HCMS Halifax, a giant cod, and favourite reading spots

18 Pandemic Pictures Young people share their COVID-19 experiences

24 Downhome Tours Readers explore Canada with Downhome 26 Why is That? Why do we say someone is “worth their salt”?

Linda Browne

28 Life’s Funny Cleanup on Highway 1 Wanda Yetman 29 Say What? A contest that puts words in someone else’s mouth 30 Lil Charmers Kids Got Talent 32 Pets of the Month Game Night!

34 Reviewed Denise Flint reviews The Hanged Woman’s Daughter by Nellie P. Strowbridge

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roadside run-in

36 What Odds Paul Warford loses his cool at road construction

38 Fresh Tracks Wendy Rose chats with Rosemary Lawton about her new folk/pop album Canvas 42 Newfoundland: A Spiritual Journey Rev. Dr. Joseph Burke

30 talented tykes

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44 9/11 reflection

44 Poetic Licence From Grounded to Glorious: Gander’s 9/11 response Curt Budden

48 Unusual Libraries In recent years, the word library has found use in other ways that create accessibility in our communities.

features 52 Think Outside the Classroom Cloudberry Forest School is blazing a trail for outdoor education in Newfoundland and Labrador.

Nicola Ryan

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a St. John’s landmark www.downhomelife.com

explore 72 A Grand Hotel From fisheries supplies to fine dining and accommodations, the 175-year history of the iconic Murray Premises Janice Stuckless September 2021

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Contents

SEPTEMBER 2021

96 easy pasta

home and cabin 84 Stuff We Love Storage Solutions Nicola Ryan

86 Home Remedies Cures for common ailments that you might find in your cupboard.

88 Holding Onto Summer The art of pressing flowers Marie Bishop 92 Todd’s Table Stick to Your Ribs Beef Stew Todd Goodyear 96 Everyday Recipes Pasta meals for the whole family

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bring the outside in

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108 class is in

reminiscing 108 Flashbacks Classic photos of people and places 109 This Month in History Come From Away

110 Visions and Vignettes Adventures of two young scalawags in a fictional long-ago outport Harold N. Walters

114 The Newfoundland Airport About the cover This Newfoundland pony will join others grazing in a new park built just for them. The story begins on page 66.

Gander’s earliest days, through the eyes of a seven-year-old girl Heather Stemp

Helen Milley/Discovering Newfoundland photo

120 Whale of a Tale A surprise encounter with a humpback that nearly ended the lives of three brothers Kim Ploughman

Cover Index How to Grow a Healing Garden • 102 Forest School • 52 Capsized by a Whale • 120 For the Love of Ponies • 66 Schoolhouse Memories • 78 9/11 Remembered • 44 Murray Premises Turns 175 • 72 www.downhomelife.com

126 Puzzles 138 Classifieds 140 Mail Order 144 Photo Finish September 2021

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Find out who won our Pandemic Pictures contest and see more submissions from these talented kids. p. 18

Three brothers nearly died after a surprise encounter with a whale. p. 120

Do you enjoy seeing photos from NL and around the world?

Did you miss an issue of Downhome or Inside Labrador?

Browse thousands of reader submissions on our website or add your own! DownhomeLife.com

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Catch up at your convenience with a digital copy at Issuu.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.

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

43 James Lane St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3

to Karolyn Ayer of Lower Sackville, NS who found Corky on page 92 of the July issue.

mail@downhomelife.com www.downhomelife.com Deadline for replies is the end of each month. *No Phone Calls Please. One entry per person

www.downhomelife.com

September 2021

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i dare say

May wonders never cease.

I watch my two-year-old grandson explore our garden.

He smiles at the softness of the needles on a pine tree that he clutches gently as he walks past. He hunches down to watch a bumblebee collect pollen from a clover blossom, then jumps up to chase a butterfly. He leans in to the biggest apple growing on the lowest branch and takes a big sniff, followed by a loud “Ahhhhhh!” He touches petals on the flowers, telling me the colours of each one. Opening a tulip, he excitedly declares there are bananas inside! I look to see and, sure enough, the yellow stamen do look like tiny bananas!

He listens carefully as I explain how to choose the ripe raspberries and how to remove the pit before you eat a fresh cherry. From his swing in our giant birch tree, he studies the bark and counts the ants and other bugs climbing the trunk. He tilts his head and looks to see what bird is singing from the branches above.

There is so much his little mind processes during a day in the garden. He takes in all the sights, sounds, tastes and smells. He asks questions and logs the answers in his ever-expanding brain. He’s discovering the world around him and applying what he knows (colours, numbers, descriptive words) to what he’s experiencing. He’s learning, but it’s all just an adventure, just playing. This is the very concept behind a growing trend in early childhood education – forest schools (read about it on p. 52).

While my grandson learns new things in the garden, he also teaches me to appreciate the wonder in the world and the surprises found in little things.

Thanks for reading,

Janice Stuckless, Editor-in-chief janice@downhomelife.com

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What a Catch!

My dad, Ralph Paul, caught a beauty of a cod when he was out at the cucumbers! Now I know where I get my fishin’ skills from!

Maria Paul Burin, NL

Holy mackerel – er, cod! What a size of a fish! Thanks for sharing this amazing photo, Maria. We welcome fishing photos from all our readers. What’s the biggest fish you ever caught? Send us a picture and tell us how and where it happened. You can submit it online, as Maria did, at www.DownhomeLife.com; or email it to editorial@downhomelife.com; or write to us at Downhome, 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3.

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Forest Fires Photo I noted on the photo on page 62 of the July issue that Stephanie Pinksen was with teams from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia. The flags would suggest that teams from NL and PEI are present. The third flag I’m not familiar with.

Howard Kerwin Montague, PEI

You found an error in our caption, Howard. That photo is indeed of teams from Newfoundland and Labrador and Prince Edward Island. They are holding, from left to right, the Labrador flag, the Newfoundland and Labrador flag, and the PEI flag. Thanks for giving us this opportunity to correct that mistake.

Favourite Reading Spot This is a picture taken from our cabin just outside Burgeo in Big Barasway.

We go there every summer and it’s my favourite place to catch up on my reading of the Downhome magazine!

I love your magazine and I read it from cover to cover – after I do the puzzles, of course. Thank you for the great reading material.

Too Good To Throw Back It was an amazing morning on the ocean in Too Good Arm. Gorgeous sunrise and the cod fishing was excellent.

June Anderson Burgeo, NL

Gail Trites Grand Falls-Windsor, NL

Thank you for reading, June. It looks like a prime spot to relax doing anything – or nothing!

You need two good arms to hold up this haul! Thanks for sharing your photo, Gail.

www.downhomelife.com

September 2021

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Found on Facebook With pandemic restrictions easing and the province opening up to more travellers from outside, we asked folks on Facebook:

What is the first place you’ll visit, first thing you’ll do and first thing you’ll eat on your very next trip to NL? Here are some of your responses. We hope at least some of the wishes come true.

Renee Taylor “Carbonear, hug my mom, and whatever is on her table… come on Sept!”

Chrystal Jones “St. John’s, eating lots of salmon patties [and] cod, and seeing puffins!”

Janice Hill “I haven’t seen my family since October 2019. I work the frontlines and felt I was too big of a risk to them. I plan on going home in September… so the first place will be my parents’ home, but I’ll be eating ketchup chips on the way! I live in South Carolina.”

Judy Besharat “Portugal Cove... give my family the biggest hugs, and fish and brewis (lobster if in season lol).”

Lynnette Eddy Pafford “Hug my dad and his wife. Hike Signal Hill. Hang out with some family. Cod tongues. Moo-Moos ice cream.”

Una Rendell Small “Bishop’s Falls; trout, blueberries, fries with stuffing and gravy… drum roll please… COLD PLATE. Haven’t had it in decades.”

Fay Tucker “Heading to Twillingate (a part of heaven for me), just watch the waves and smell the air along a hike, and then off to the Cosy Tea Room for toutons and dark molasses!”

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Ellen Marsden-Hurlbert “I will be visiting Burgeo in a few weeks. The first thing I will do is hug my parents, and the first thing I will eat will likely be a meal of halibut and flat fried taddies.”

Debbie Power “First thing I’ll do is make my way to Carbonear. Hug my mom and have a Jiggs dinner with greens!”

D. Maria Paul “The ocean: sit on a large rock and allow the waves to wash away all the anxieties of the past few years. Then head to a pub for a fine feed of panfried, wild caught cod/tongues/chowder with all the fixings, and a Quidi Vidi Brewery pint. Followed by a big slice of lemon meringue pie and a cuppa tea.”

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Terri Osmond-Hutchings “My first stop will be Burgeo to hug my 95-year-old nan. I’m gonna eat lots of fresh fish and homemade bread with partridgeberry jam.”

Doreen Zicko Halfrey “Heading for Black Duck Brook and a feed of fish, any kind! And Jiggs dinner!”

Josephine Ralph-Casello “Probably will kiss the ground at the airport, then on to my hometown of Bellevue. For food, I’ll be hoping for a Jiggs dinner, a piece a moose with liquor for dipping the bread, and a feed of cod. Then I’ll be looking for chips, dressing ‘n’ gravy; a cold plate; homemade bread with bakeapple jam; a few snowballs, to mention a few! My belly will be stuffed to da gills! Oh, Carmel Log bars, Hickory Sticks and Roast Chicken chips, too!”

Marlene Ryan “Leave the airport and drive on the Irish Loop to my hometown of Fermeuse, stop at Riverside Restaurant in Cape Broyle for a feed of wings & chips with dressing & gravy along the way!”

Rhoda Leyte “We are driving, so we will boot it for Gander Bay, and stop at Deer Lake for some Mary Browns!”

Michele Marsden “The very first thing I’ll do is give my mom and dad the biggest hug ever. It’s been two years and I just can’t wait… the second thing is hug them again… then head back to Grand Falls – bring on the cod tongues!”

Patricia Whelan Healey “Arrive in Gander, meet my friends, and head to Rosie’s Restaurant for a delicious cold plate!”

Danielle Maynes-Bonnar “Hawke’s Bay, hug my Nan, and then grab some chicken from the take-out up the road.”

Vivian Watson “St. John’s, hug my daughter, and probably some good old-fashioned fish ‘n’ chips.”

Marilyn Hollett Blake “Twillingate… hug my daughter… bottled moose & onions!”

Did you finally get home this summer?

Tell us about your trip! Submit your story online at DownhomeLife.com or email editorial@downhomelife.com. www.downhomelife.com

September 2021

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Hello from HMCS Halifax

My name is LCdr Mark Fifield and I am the embarked Standing NATO Maritime Group One (SNMG1) Staff Public Affairs Officer (SPAO) aboard the Canadian Frigate HMCS Halifax. I am writing you from the North Atlantic Ocean near Greenland as we sail home to Halifax, Nova Scotia, after having just completed our deployment for Operation REASSURANCE ROTO 14.

We recently took a couple of group pictures of the Newfoundlanders and Labradorians aboard HMCS Halifax. They were taken on the ship’s flight deck during our last port visit to beautiful Reykjavik, Iceland, on July 11, 2021. I am the fellow holding the kisby ring in the front row.

Our good friends at the Corner Brook Satellite Office - Gander Military Family Resource Centre sent us Newfoundland care packages filled with goodies during the deployment, and in said care packages was a copy of the Downhome magazine. It was a very much appreciated and thoroughly enjoyed taste of home, providing a big morale boost for all of us.

LCdr Mark Fifield HMCS Halifax

To all those stationed aboard HMCS Halifax, thank you for your service. And thank you for the photo! The Newfoundlanders and Labradorians aboard HMCS Halifax are as follows: Back Row (left to right): Sailor 1st Class Mitchell Savoury, St. Jacques; Sailor 1st Class Robert Cox, Wesleyville; Sailor 2nd Class Jaxson Boyd, St. John’s; Petty Officer 2nd Class Phillip Hudson, St. John’s; Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Sherman Lillington, Isle aux Morts; Master Sailor Scott Hickman, Fortune; Lieutenant (Navy) Gerald Yates, Gander; Petty Officer 2nd Class Tim Jesso, Stephenville; Aviator Christopher Farley, St. John’s; Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class Barry Morrissey, Harbour Grace; and Master Warrant Officer Mike Linthorne, Clarke’s Beach. Front Row (left to right): Sergeant Bradley Pittman, Corner Brook; Lieutenant-Commander Mark Fifield, Harbour Grace/Carbonear; Petty Officer 1st Class Maurice Hodder, St. Bernard’s-Jacques Fontaine; Lieutenant (Navy) Jim Mills, St. John’s; and Petty Officer 1st Class Adam Edmunds, Burnt Islands. Missing from Photo: Master Corporal Kristofer Gavel, Labrador City; Sailor 2nd Class Kimberly O’Dell, Mary’s Harbour; Master Sailor Daren Gilbert, St. John’s; Sailor 3rd Class Nathaniel McLagan, Gander; Lieutenant-Commander Greg Hutchings, Stephenville; and Master Sailor Ryan Acreman, St. Anthony.

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Sponsored Editorial

The new fence!

Update on Newfoundland Pony Heritage Park

37 Combat Engineer Regiment with Jan Peters and Clifford George

The Newfoundland Pony remains critically endangered, even in its homeland. Once in the thousands, the breed is Number 2 on the Top Ten Rarest Horse Breeds in the World (Rarest.org).

The Newfoundland Pony Society (NPS) recently announced Perry Rideout, WO/Adj, 37 a large-scale campaign to create a permanent home and showCombat Engineer Regiment case area for the pony called the Newfoundland Pony Heritage Canadian Armed Forces Park in Hopeall, Trinity Bay. The seasonal Park will help restore the habitat for the Newfoundland Pony, with a grazing pasture and breeding program. Plans also include a small visitor centre, interactive experiences with the public, and an outreach program for school children. NPS also envisions having the Ponies demonstrating traditional activities such as hauling rocks, logs or kelp. The campaign kicked off in December 2020 with a fundraising goal of $250,000 over two years.

The Newfoundland Pony Society is pleased to report they have raised $55,000 to date and that fencing of the lower part of the pasture has been completed. A big thank you goes out to the Canadian Armed Forces who lent a helping hand during one of the warmest weeks in July.

The St. John’s 37 Combat Engineer Regiment spent 4 days on site during the hottest week in July clearing brush, driving stakes and hammering fencing into place for the pasture. We can not thank them enough for all their hard work!

If you want to get involved in helping with the Newfoundland Pony Heritage Park, please reach out via our website, Facebook or Twitter. Many thanks to all who have generously donated funds or labour. The Newfoundland Pony helped us survive; now it’s our turn to help them survive.

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Congratulations to our Grand Prize win-

ner, Madelyn West, 9, of Ottawa, ON. Her name was drawn from all the entries in our Pandemic Pictures callout for youth under 20. Here’s a photo of Madelyn (Maddie) and her winning entry. Madelyn has won a slew of cool prizes valued at about $300.

Thank you to everyone who entered this contest, for sharing how this pandemic has affected you in your everyday lives. You are all insightful, creative, resilient and talented.

Here are more of the entries we received, and we’ll continue publishing them until we’ve shared them all.

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Layla Fennell, 5, from Corner Brook, NL, drew a picture of all her family wearing masks, except her little brother, who’s only three, and their pet.

Peyton Newbury, 9, in Katy, Texas, displays a positive attitude.

www.downhomelife.com

September 2021

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My Quarantine Experience

By Aaliyah Thomson, 13, Nova Scotia

On January 13, 2020, I found out what COVID-19 was. My teacher told us not to worry about it and that we’ll be fine. Two months later I was still not concerned.

In between that short time span I wasn’t bothered; I had no idea the hidden dangers of the virus. I even went as far as making comments saying, “COVID is something happening far away from here, it would never happen in Nova Scotia or even Canada.” That didn’t age well.

Starting March 14, 2020, news cancelled schools at the start of “March Break” until April 1, which I knew wasn’t going to last. While the date to go back to school kept rearranging, the COVID cases had gone up and they never seemed to decrease. That very March Break I had nothing to do but look out my window and hope this virus would disappear.

Besides my grandparents, I don’t think anyone checked up on me. I felt very scared and paranoid. Nobody told me it was going to be okay because they didn’t know that themselves.

Before April 1, they extended the time off school until further notice, which translates to they have no idea when schools will reopen. Everyone was panicking. I remember my mom coming home with groceries and washing them. I couldn’t go anywhere so I got bored fast. We never did anything and I couldn’t understand why. I had no information besides “COVID is bad” and “don’t get it.”

In May 2020, everyone was wearing masks and I didn’t even know we had to. I was just so clueless. It felt like I missed 100 days of school, so there was so much more I had to learn. For a long period of time I could only just sit on my bed and scroll through Tik Tok. It was a very depressive few months of my life. This virus was ruining my life and draining my energy. I wasn’t the only one; my siblings felt the same.

It finally happened: masks became mandatory in indoor places as of July 31, 2020. My parents went mask searching at stores. It was sort of like back-toschool shopping except less fun. Speaking of school, I didn’t do any of the work.

I felt unmotivated and missed a lot of math, which would have helped me going into Grade 7.

The good thing is we could finally go places. I visited my grandparents, cousins, uncles and aunts. I really thought the virus was over for good, but I was wrong.

Going into 2021, the cases were “okay,” at least they weren’t too high. But around April 2021, the cases started going way up and it was like a repeat of last year. I hadn’t seen my grandparents in a year and we didn’t go anywhere again, but at least I could still see my friends at school. Even that went wrong by April 25, 2021, when schools were closed for two weeks. But they ended up being closed for all of May. We then returned to school by June 3. They have been lifting up restrictions and now I can see my family in Cape Breton again. Let’s hope it stays that way, too. The vaccines are helping with this, too. So remember to stay strong and stay safe! We can get back to normal soon.

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Reese Walsh, age 8

St. John’s, NL. Reese’s name was drawn from all the May entries to win a free 1-year membership to Downhome.

Damon Gosney, 9, of Clarenville, NL, encourages us to “Hold fast, world!”

www.downhomelife.com

September 2021

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Tyler Lockyer, 7, of St. John’s, NL, passes the lockdown watching YouTube.

Riley Coates, 5, of Cambridge, ON, worked on this picture placed in the window to encourage her neighbours to keep smiling.

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Theodore Hallett, 8 Charlottetown, PEI

Lauren Baldwin, 10 NL

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homefront Downhome tours...

Canada

Niagara Falls, Ontario

Bernetta Delaney of Harbour Breton, NL, and her sister pose with Downhome on the boat tour at Niagara Falls. “We realized the title on the cover said ‘Girls Who Fish,’” she writes. “That we both love to do, just not in the Falls!”

The 20-minute Voyage to the Falls boat tour on the Canadian side of the Niagara River offers stunning views of Niagara Gorge, American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls before coming face-to-face with the famous Horseshoe Falls. The ponchos issued to every guest are no match for the roaring water and soaking mist of this incredible natural wonder!

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Marten River, Ontario “This is by the fire at Marten River Provincial Park in Northern Ontario,” writes Paul Elzinga of North Bay, ON. “I always have a copy to read while we camp.”

Northeastern Ontario’s many provincial parks are home to pristine waterways and lakes, old growth boreal forests and abundant wildlife. Camping, fishing and bird-watching are popular activities, along with canoeing and hiking along 2,400 km of historic portage routes.

Jasper, Alberta Paddy Simms, formerly of Marysvale, NL, and Marg Pringle of Edmonton, AB, enjoyed the powerful Athabasca Falls and magnificent Rocky Mountains of Jasper National Park.

The Athabasca River thunders through Jasper, flowing from the glaciers of the Columbia Icefield. The Athabasca Falls trail and viewpoints along the way are usually packed with visitors eager to take in the stunning views and explore the surrounding woodland areas. www.downhomelife.com

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Expert answers to common life questions.

By Linda Browne

Why do we say someone is “worth their salt”?

Chances are, you have a bunch of it sitting in a box in your cupboard, or in a shaker on your kitchen table. Salt: it’s seemingly everywhere, and it’s not just for sprinkling on your french fries. Good old sodium chloride has served many important functions over the centuries, from seasoning and preserving our food, to helping make our roadways safer in the wintertime. We also can’t live without it. According to The Nutrition Source at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health, our bodies need a small amount of sodium, about 500 mg a day, “to conduct nerve impulses, contract and relax muscles, and maintain the proper balance of water and minerals.”

So plentiful is salt, the fact that it was once deemed so precious seems a bit hard to digest. But chew on this.

According to Mark Kurlansky’s 2002 book Salt: A World History, “Salt is so common, so easy to obtain, and so inexpensive that we have forgotten that from the beginning of civilization until about 100 years ago, salt was one of the most sought-after commodities in human history.”

Salt has earned its esteemed place for many different reasons, Kurlansky states, from its role in mummy-making in ancient Egypt and its presumed protective power against evil spirits, to its associations with longevity, 26

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permanence and fertility. (In some cultures, Kurlansky notes, bridal couples would carry salt in their pockets to guard against impotence.) Salt has also played an important role in the establishment of trade routes and represented wealth. “The Chinese, the Romans, the French, the Venetians, the Hapsburgs and numerous other governments taxed it to raise money for wars,” he writes.

In Chapter 4 of his book, Kurlansky mentions the Via Salaria (Salt Road) in Rome, which was used to transport this all-important mineral. While Rome wanted salt to be affordable for its citizens, he states, the army also 1-888-588-6353

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needed it for its soldiers, horses and livestock.

“At times soldiers were even paid in salt, which was the origin of the word salary and the expression ‘worth his salt’ or ‘earning his salt.’ In fact, the Latin word sal became the French word solde, meaning ‘pay,’ which is the origin of the word soldier,” he adds.

The origin of this particular saying, then, seems pretty cut and dried.

However, some people aren’t quite convinced. One of them is Peter Gainsford, a New Zealand-based scholar of Greek antiquity who writes the “Kiwi Hellenist” blog. While the word salary does come from the Latin salarium, which “does indeed appear to be linked to sal ‘salt,’ via the adjective salarius ‘pertaining to salt,’” he writes, there is no evidence that Roman soldiers were paid in salt. A widely used misquote from Roman author and philosopher Pliny the Elder partly contributes to the problem, he says. And while there are some examples around the world “where salt could act as a means of storing value and facilitating exchange,” he writes, “we have absolutely no reason to imagine salt currency in Rome.”

We followed the breadcrumbs (or rather, the salt trail) to Ottawa, where Jaclyn Neel, an assistant professor of Greek and Roman Studies at Carleton University, helped shed further light on the subject. While she’s not sure of

the origin of the phrase “worth their salt,” she writes via email to Downhome, “it isn’t found in Latin.”

During the Roman Republic, which is her period of specialization, she says, “soldiers were originally not paid at all. In the later Republic, they got paid a salary (in our sense of money and sometimes a bonus, called a donative), but they were expected to pay for food out of this salary – that is, they were not given salt or other food as part of their salary. This continued at least until the early empire (1st century of our era).”

She adds, “Salt was a hugely valuable commodity, though. I can think of at least two major wars that Rome fought at least in part over access to salt pans.”

So while there’s some doubt about the origin of this famous saying, there is no doubt that salt has, and continues to hold, an important place at the table.

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

Cleanup on Highway 1 A few years ago, my husband and I crossed the Gulf from Nova Scotia, arriving in Port aux Basques early on a beautiful sunny morning.

I was driving. My husband, who was recovering from surgery, was reclined in his seat, sleeping. Something appeared to jump out from the roadside bushes and I had to brake suddenly. It jolted him awake.

I didn’t feel anything hit the car, and he soon went back to sleep.

Going on two hours later, we were almost to Corner Brook when an RCMP cruiser drove towards us, then did a U-turn behind us and flicked on the lights. I woke up my husband and told him we were being pulled over. He assumed I’d been speeding.

The officer walked up to my window while pulling on a pair of gloves.

He greeted both of us and said, “Hold on a moment.” He then walked to the front of the car, took a RABBIT off the grill and threw it over the bank. He came back to say “Have a good day,” then got in his car, turned around and drove away. That poor rabbit cost us $2,300 in damages, but it was a funny encounter!

Wanda Yetman Grand Falls-Windsor, NL 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.

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d, if “Oh my gaw n calls so one more per m going my name, I’ ad!” to play de ambe L Fitzpatrick – Jennifer

Say WHAT? Downhome recently posted this photo (submitted by Julie Gidge) on our website and social media platforms and asked folks to imagine what this dog might be saying. Jennifer Fitzpatrick Lambe’s response made us chuckle the most, so we’re awarding her 20 Downhome Dollars!

Here are the runners-up: “Dear lord, I’m on the hitch... please call my number!” – Jeanette Riles “If they call numbers any slower I’ll be backing up.” – Patricia Masters “Molly, watch me cards. I can’t keep me eyes open any longer.” – Danette G. Rowsell

Play with us online! www.downhomelife.com/saywhat

www.downhomelife.com

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homefront lil charmers

kids got talent Top Chef Jean gets ready to bake at her Nan Holloway’s place in Bloomfield.

Addie Holloway Bloomfield, NL

Accordion Idol Leah loves to play accordion with her grandpa.

John Drakes Middle Sackville, NS

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Next Great Artist Roly sketches a portrait on the new easel his daddy made.

Carol & John Parsons Fort McMurray, AB

Design Stars Twin brothers Nicholas and Ryan helped paint the lobster buoys.

Nicole Bennett St. Paul’s, NL

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homefront pets of the month

Hockey Hero Move over Carey Price, Molly’s in the net.

Barbara Critch Mississauga, ON

game night!

Cuteness Monopoly Allie builds a hotel on Boardwalk.

Shelley Chaulk Nain, NL

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Game of Growl Madasyn and Roxy the American bulldog make their bids. Christine Mitchell photo Louise Grandy Mississauga, ON

Bingo Not His Name-O Riley hits the jackpot.

Gina Keeping via DownhomeLife.com

www.downhomelife.com

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homefront

reviewed by Denise Flint

The Hanged Woman’s Daughter Nellie P. Strowbridge Flanker Press $21.00

The story of Catherine Snow is at least vaguely familiar to most people in the province. In 1834, after a trial that lasted only a few hours and presented very little evidence, she was convicted, along with two others, of murdering her husband, who had mysteriously disappeared.

Pregnant at the time, she was sent to the gallows soon after the baby was born. In 2009, Nellie P. Strowbridge published the novel, Catherine Snow, about the doomed woman and now she has written a sequel, The Hanged Woman’s Daughter, about Bridget, the oldest of the Snows’ eight children.

Bridget is in her teens when her parents are taken from her. She tries to keep the family together, raising the younger ones as best she can, but forces – and the local merchant and magistrate – are against her. She loses not just the children, but also the home in which they were raised and the man she had expected to marry. One day she gets in her father’s boat and starts to row. She has no goal except to get away from the vestiges of the life that has been snatched away.

Strowbridge has written an entertaining book so steeped in the vernacular of the time that reading with a Dictionary of Newfoundland English at hand is almost a necessity. However, she never takes it so over the top it sounds like parody. Bridget’s story is gentle and redemptive, leaving the reader hoping her life really did turn out something like the way Strowbridge has envisioned it.

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Q&A with the Author Denise Flint: How much is known about what happened to Catherine Snow’s children?

Nellie Strowbridge: I do know that two children died in infancy. Johnny apparently went to live with the Breen sisters in Cupids, and Eliza went to live with a family member in Harbour Grace. One story was that Richard, the son born in prison, became a priest, but it didn’t last because they found out about his mother and they ostracized him. That’s why I wrote about Bridget because I didn’t know much about her, so I just vicariously started to live her life. I found out as much as I could. I had to give them an uplifting story. I think the children were resilient and found their place.

Some of them changed their names...

DF: Why was Bridget so afraid to tell people about her background?

NS: I guess she’d already experienced some sort of shunning in the community because the young boy she was supposed to marry had shunned her.

One of the children had thought about becoming a nun, but they said the bad blood would be offensive.

We’ve seen cases today where this had happened. We assume that because a person is convicted they’re guilty, and that’s what happened here. Racial and religious bigotry, and politics and power is a deadly combination – she [Catherine Snow] was Irish Catholic and he [John Snow] was English Protestant.

DF: When did you decide to write a sequel?

NS: I grew up living just down from www.downhomelife.com

Bareneed across from Salmon Cove, and when I was a child I heard that a woman had killed her husband; and then in the 1980s, a newspaper wrote it like pulp fiction, so I went and read the court transcripts. I went to Waterford [Ireland] to research the background. I found that reporters were getting things wrong. Even after the mock trial, the reporters got it wrong.

I guess the story stayed with me and I wanted to bring some redemption to the story. Bridget would find a way to be happy, to find love.

The Hanged Woman’s Daughter is a testament of triumph over tragedy.

There is hope beyond our present circumstances. We can never lose faith.

It’s part of our spirit and soul – it can be hidden but never lost. I wanted to bring some optimism to [Bridget’s] life. It was so farcical that they convicted [Catherine Snow]. It was a terrible thing to do to a person.

DF: How much research do you have to do to write historical fiction?

NS: I look for every bit of evidence I can find anywhere there’s a chance of finding something out. I love research.

DF: Now that pandemic restrictions are easing up, what are you looking forward to most?

NS: I’ve got a new great-granddaughter, 13 months old, and for the first three months we couldn’t see her. She came to my book launch last night and she was dancing around. Everyone last night talked about missing just getting out and talking to each other.

It’s good to get out and about.

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homefront what odds

a construction paper

By Paul Warford

Clatter and noise I was a plucky young comic when burp and belch at I met another called Pascal (not his real name) while sauntering along Rue Sainte-Catherine in me as I ease the Montreal. I was there for Just For Laughs, and I window down its was trying to make some new friends. Pascal was Edmonton comedian; I’d never heard his full length on the an name before. He looked like a bouncer at a dance driver’s side. club never frequented by ruffians. During our A guy holding a getting-to-know-you chatter, he casually told me he’s been charged, on three separate occasions, STOP sign gawks for “road rage.” He started giving me details then at me for a – hauling strangers through sunroofs and so – and I acted like I was hearing everyday conmoment before on versation. But I already knew I wasn’t going to averting his look. be longtime buddies with this guy. When he’d finished, I mused aloud, “Man, I can’t believe you’ve committed road rage three times.”

He responded with, “Oh, there were way more times than that. I was just charged three times.”

Weird dude. Just to be safe, I didn’t share any cab rides with him.

I scan through these memories while I scan radio stations, seated in the summer heat. The vehicle ahead of me inches forward by a whisper and I eagerly roll along behind them. Clatter and noise burp and belch at me as I ease the window down its full length on the driver’s side. A guy holding a STOP sign gawks at me for a moment before averting his look. He doesn’t wave.

Neither do I. I wish he’d turn his sign around to SLOW. This is the damnable curse of working a square job on Kenmount Road in St. John’s, NL: street construction. I drive past at a rate of 2 km/h in sheer bafflement at these workers, trying to figure out what in the hell they’re doing. I mean, Kenmount was already a road; it was a road through the entire two weeks of spring, it was a 36

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road of snow shoulders and sleet during the winter – in fact, Kenmount seemed like a pretty good road when I was four years old and being driven to the Aquarena for swimming lessons.

So, why do these four and five lanes have to be castrated down to two once again? Didn’t we do this last summer?

I feel like shouting over the noise to ask them what they’re fixing. Sections of massive concrete cylinders lounge fat and lazy in the lane I would otherwise be driving through, waiting to be lowered just below the road’s surface.

Last year, during a similar slog through roadwork, I lost patience with the driver of a silver Dodge Ram just ahead of me. From where I was sitting, it seemed as though the fellow behind the wheel wasn’t moving, despite the fact the line of traffic had started rolling away from him. Hot and angry, I shouted at him to hurry up and move it, and, if we’re being honest, I probably stirred in some profanity for good measure. In the end, the truck was waiting for someone to turn into the gas station beside us. What’s more, after realizing I was the jerk in the situation, I also noticed the guy’s window was rolled down. Had he heard me? I still think back to that day when I sit in traffic now. Maybe I was close to being road raged myself, getting hauled out of my Sunfire to be pummelled on the asphalt. Hard to have a good day if you start it with an experience like that. Perhaps I was asking www.downhomelife.com

for a bit of a beating at the time.

Driving through construction has never seen me at my best, I gotta be honest. But let’s face it: we’ve all been waiting for summer, we all know it’s fleeting, and we have cabins to get to, lakes to paddle on. The last thing we need are detours while towing the family boat (and the family that goes with it). Our sunshine is so brief and we savour it so much, delays and long lines feel like a punishment to endure while the sun tauntingly stews us in the stationary swelter.

So, I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize: first, to the road crews who are just doing their job and never asked for my muttered curses. They wouldn’t cripple a main artery of St. John’s without good reason, and it’s not their fault I don’t know what that reason is. I’m sure I could look it up if I really wanted to, but it’s easier to complain, and for that I am sorry.

Second, I would like to apologize to the driver of that Dodge Ram, wherever he may be. This sticky heat brings out the worst in me sometimes. I’m just glad it didn’t bring out the Pascal in you.

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

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fresh tracks

new music talk with Wendy Rose

Canvas

Rosemary Lawton

Lindsay Ralph photos

ROSEMARY LAWTON is painting a pretty picture with her latest album, Canvas, released June 2021.

For those familiar with Lawton’s traditional fiddle music, the new album is a bit of a departure from her norm, as the artist moves towards the folk/pop genre. This shift seems to be a trend, with local heavy hitters The Once and Fortunate Ones making similar moves on their last albums. Lawton officially launched Canvas at The Rockhouse in downtown St. John’s on June 18, accompanied by guitarist Brad Jefford, drummer Chuck Bucket and her own producer, Clare Follett, on keys.

Lawton penned the album during lockdown. By the time it was completed, lifted restrictions allowed the musician and producer to work closely together – an opportunity many artists had to forgo during the pandemic.

The album opens with the single 38

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“Little Fires,” released in April. With prominent heavy keyboard melodies, this track immediately shows that Lawton has evolved as an artist and is open to moving in new directions.

Regardless of genre, Lawton’s vocals are as incredible as ever. The song lifts up its listener, conveying a message of empowerment, reminding them to just let those little fires burn themselves out.

Lawton’s trademark fiddle returns in “Out of Our Hands,” a more relaxed pop song that explores themes of vulnerability, powerlessness, acceptance and motivation. “What has this come to? Where have you gone? Whatever will happen, it’s out of our hands,” Lawton sings, a sort of beautiful apathy that doesn’t admit defeat.

More of a traditional toe-tapping folk tune, “Sea Witch” personifies the ocean and surrounding shore.

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Lawton’s lyrics draw characteristics from the earthly elements to create an uplifting song to celebrate Mother Nature and the women who embody her unbreakable spirit.

A co-write with local folk duo Quote the Raven, “Bound to Fall” is a soft pop song with catchy guitar, telling a sad story of a seemingly doomed love that started to crumble the moment it began.

“Letters” is another love song, this time celebrating a long, successful and deep love. This intense relationship was cut short by death, but also reunited in death. Lawton shared that this song was written following the passing of her grandmother in late 2019, whose husband had passed a decade before. “Now the end has come, and I’ll see you again,” Lawton sings, poignantly.

The album’s sixth track, “Moments” seems ready to climb the pop charts, with its immediately memorable chorus lines. Its message, about living in the moment, is especially on point in this technological age, where it’s easy to watch life happen on a tiny screen.

“Living the best life every day, what they don’t see living in memory. Can’t see what’s in front of them – and it all comes back down, let it all come back down,” Lawton sings as she repeats the chorus line.

“Like it was Yesterday” opens with dreamy acoustic guitar, its affectionate lyrics conjuring that all too familiar emotion of feeling far away, whether it be by physical or emotional distance.

Near the end of the album, I found my favourite track. The overall mood of “Gasping” is unlike any other track, as we encounter frustration and anger, encapsulating Lawton’s emotional www.downhomelife.com

range and ability to communicate harsher feelings in beautiful ways.

The album wraps up with “Fool for You/Sailing in My Thoughts with You,” a pair of love songs written for her partner on Valentine’s Day – what an incredible, thoughtful gift.

Canvas is also a gift – from Rosemary Lawton to her listeners. With an impressive list of accomplishments, accolades and awards at a young age, there’s much more to come from this local artist. What genre will she branch into next?

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Q&A with the Artist Wendy Rose: How do you balance being a music educator and teaching tunes with writing, recording, releasing and promoting your own material?

Rosemary Lawton: To be honest, it is a huge challenge! Being a substitute teacher has been a really nice bridge to be able to juggle it all. I can take a day here and there to manage aspects of my self-employment, but if humans didn’t need so much sleep, it would be way easier!

Some days, passion drives all creativity and I get into a really great productive headspace where I can’t tear my eyes away from a project, but other days are much more challenging. I just went through a two-month stint where I felt like I had left my life behind and was working morning, noon and night on various artistic deadlines. I had no time to walk my dog or eat a meal with my family. I honestly don’t know what I would do if I didn’t have such a fantastic support system.

While deadlines are a great incentive for completing a project, multiple deadlines all around the same time stop being fun. The strive for finding a balance is always on my priority list, and saying no to things is something I really struggle with.

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WR: How did this album go from concept to reality amidst ever-changing pandemic restrictions and protocols?

RL: The pandemic actually helped bring life to Canvas. As a musician and educator, I live a very busy life, so when the first shutdown happened I was forced to slow down. When I slowed down, my brain had space for more creativity and I began to write more than I ever had before. Before the pandemic, life had gone into hyperdrive for me and I had experienced a lot of growth and change. I had moved in with my partner, seen a lot more of life on the road and had some close family loss. After the shutdown, in order to process some of my experiences, I turned to songwriting sort of like journalling; and in a very short span of time, I had the entirety of the album written.

I worked closely with my producer, Clare Follett, to bring the project to life, and we spent a lot of time in the beginning making demos of every song. We demoed every song in our individual studios, sending songs back and forth as they evolved. When we had finished creating our vision, restrictions had lifted enough to be able to record the project in Clare’s home studio. I think we were incredibly lucky here in Newfoundland to be safe enough to record in person, and I am very proud of the project we were able to create.

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WR: While this new album is completely original music, I’ve seen you described as a “song collector.” Can you explain what that means?

RL: With my previous albums, I have spent the bulk of my time in libraries and archives researching lesserknown traditional songs to feature in my projects. These songs were collected by field researchers who travelled across Newfoundland and Labrador to tiny communities. The field researchers would then record people singing the songs in their kitchens or living rooms and transcribe the recordings to books. I used these books to find the songs I ended up recording for my projects. I would consider these field researchers as the real song collectors. However, what I did might be considered “collecting,” where I categorized and compiled traditional songs to fit certain folklore genres – primarily female empowerment.

the songs I had found.

After speaking with community members and hearing how the theme resonated with so many people, I decided that a songbook featuring these songs would be a fantastic teaching resource for music educators across the province. Now, the two albums and book act as one unified project. The recorded songs are all performed in the same keys as written in the book, and the book features guitar chords, lyrics and melody. With permissions from various archives across the country, I have included photos of working women in the province, and I have written short blurbs telling the stories behind each song in the book.

WR: Tell me a little about your songbook, Resilience. What’s the overall theme that connects your albums and your songbook?

RL: Resilience is a songbook that features songs that tell stories of empowering women in Newfoundland and Labrador. There are stories of women who are kidnapped and either trick or fight their way out; women who are villains; and women who are heroes. I initially began this project with the idea of recording one album. When I challenged myself to find as many songs as I could that fit this theme, I found 23 songs. I couldn’t bring myself to exclude any of the songs that I had found, so I decided to record two albums so I could incorporate all of www.downhomelife.com

WR: What’s in store for yourself and Canvas in 2021?

RL: For the summer, we are currently working on putting together a music video, and I am doing some shows across the province. In the fall, I plan to keep teaching, and there is also some touring in the works, and hopefully some fun gigs for 2022 as well!

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homefront in your words

Newfoundland

A Spiritual Journey By the late Rev. Dr. Joseph Burke Ed. note: The following was sent to us by the widow of Rev. Joe Burke, Theresa, and their son, Todd, who wrote: “I am attaching an article written by my father, the Rev. Joe Burke, some years ago after returning from a summer sojourn in his home province. His name may be familiar to you, as he was the author of a number of books on Newfoundland humour published by Breakwater. For most of his professional life he was a United Church minister in Nova Scotia and Ontario. Sadly, he passed away in September 2019, and my mother, in going through his desk, came across this piece. Given that so many are unable to get ‘home,’ this might bring back to them the familiarity of another time and place.”

Because of its bold landscape and muted beauty, few ever think of Newfoundland as anything other than a formidable place of fog, storms, barrenness and bog. Those of us who grew up there have a difficult time seeing past the stereotype, written in all its gloominess and negativity, about Newfoundland as a hard, desperate, frugal place, where life was hard and in some ways still is.

It took a long time for some of us, living in the more prosperous parts of the world, to discover the richness and beauty of our homeland. It is not that we ignore our checkered history or the hardships of our forebears, but time and travel, human experience in different cultures and places, have given us a new appreciation of what we left behind and how rich and powerful it was. We may never come back to Newfoundland to live, to raise children, or to enjoy the things we once did. Many who have gone from there may not return to the island, but come back again and again, in treasured memories, and in the happy thoughts of bygone times when they frolicked and played in the open air, sang carols in the little white churches, and worked alongside their parents to keep

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body and soul together. Many of us who left that wonderful place do go back, not to stay, but rather to discover – or should I say rediscover – the place and know it in a different light. T.S. Eliot expressed it best when he wrote: “We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.”

Despite the many trips across the Gulf on the ferry and as many more by plane, I was never a tourist. I was going home. There’s something about going home that is different than any other trip one can make. You are the wanderer, seasick from your long years riding the swells and lurching into the whirlpools of the modern world. You are returning home, like someone from a long journey, to rest, to bask in the security of family and friends, and to connect to what, in an unconscious way, sustained you on your life’s journey. It’s nothing material, nothing that you can identify and say ‘this is why I came.’ It is a calling, a subtle, inaudible something that tugs on your heart strings, pricks the memory and keeps nudging you to come back. The geography that we want to explore now, in our more mature years, is spiritual rather than

physical. It has to do with our deeper longings. The old familiar places, the little villages and harbours, the special places where something significant happened in our lives, now become signposts to a larger reality. The trips back now take on a new dimension.

We are coming back to where we started, to where we first saw the light of day and, surprisingly, getting to know the place for the first time.

The stories here are about Newfoundland’s spiritual geography, how it shaped us and moulded us even when we were unaware of it. We are like adventurers who desired to climb a mountain, cross a desert or sail an ocean, and when we came to the end of our adventure discovered the mountain, the desert and the ocean changed us forever. Newfoundland changed us forever. Its spiritual topography affected us more than its physical geography. It shaped us and made us what we are. In all of this, Newfoundland became a shrine to which we come back again and again to find our bearings and to transcend our finiteness. To all who come to know the place again, who come to know its spiritual power, it is Holy Ground.

Zachary Hatcher photo

www.downhomelife.com

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homefront poetic licence

from grounded

glorious to

Rhyming prose on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 and the Gander connection

By Curt Budden The day started off prosperous with blue skies and sun. On the 11th day of September in 2001. There were school classes, day shifts and children at play. Nobody was ready for what would happen that day. The great state of New York would soon change forever. The whole world watched it unfold and they all cried together. The World Trade Centers fell from harsh evil attacks. New York’s finest responded with no time to relax. The events shook our souls and chilled the blood in our veins. For the people lost forever in those buildings and planes.

But along with those who had died, there was another great fear.

Regarding the still active aircraft which were up in the air. They had to leave airspace quickly, no matter the route they had planned. And that’s when a small town changed forever, known as Gander, Newfoundland.

For it had an old airport that was built years ago; many people had passed through and planes would come and then go. But on September 11, and with sparse information, this quaint little airport became a hub destination.

Melanie Francis photos

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Plane after plane Gander’s airport did bring. The taxiway got so crowded, planes nearly touched wing to wing. The adrenaline was spiking and all emotions had swirled, for there were aircraft and faces from all over the world. Even though stress was quite heavy, hearts were light as a feather.

Because all the people of Gander had to now come together. One fact of Newfoundland’s history, or any story or tale, it’s that when tragedy strikes Newfoundland will prevail. Once the planes had all landed there was much work to do. With passengers grounded for hours and stuck there like glue. There were many passengers frightened and full of aggression.

Nobody told them what happened or answered one single question.

When folks finally deplaned they could now stretch and stand. Then they learned of this place which was called “Newfoundland.” Volunteers scrambled and struggled as they sprinted and hurled. They drew arrows towards Newfoundland on a map of the world. For these new guests were so anxious the events came in a blur. They had to look at the map to see where they were. And to be sure it was blatant, and to make sure it was clear, they wrote three words by the arrows that read “You Are Here.”

There were great language barriers in both writing and speech. But all folks received help as far as Gander could reach.

Although the terror was strong, the Gander spirit was stronger. All passengers were frantic, but not for much longer. All who helped had to struggle, but their intentions were sound. Passengers had to learn that they were now on safe ground. No matter how much sleep they had missed, no matter how long they had stood, the people of Gander helped everyone in any way that they could. They prepared countless meals, and they reeled out miles of cables. They opened the doors to their homes, and they pulled out the chairs from their tables. Every counter had food, and every floor had a cot. Every kettle had water, and every burner a pot.

The workload pushed their efforts far beyond any ridge. Folks even turned the town’s ice rink into a large walk-in fridge. They would turn a frown into a smile, or at least get exhausted from trying. There was always someone to talk to. There was always a shoulder for crying.

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They hooked up phones to call loved ones, and they provided clean clothes. They made strangers their friends, for long gone were the foes.

They threw birthday parties for children, and took out tours for a glance.

They provided music and singing, to share laughter and dance. The whole town was united to do all that they could. They took the focus off evil and shined light on the good. How many tears did they shed? How many words came out stuttered? How much coffee did they perk? How much toast had they buttered? How much bedding had they laid out? How much tea did they steep? How many handshakes and hugs came when emotions ran deep?

In every nook there were gatherings, and every cranny was a perch. They used the school and the Legion, and even the church. Every resource was helpful with stealth employed as they used it. Local businesses gave what they could and nobody abused it. There was no time to argue or to be a debater. If something was needed, they would immediately cater.

Countless tasks took place with a wide range of criteria. Carried out by Gander’s fine people and those in the Lewisporte area. Many hearts may have sunk and many spirits did bend. But to those who had showed up as a stranger would soon leave as a friend.

The volunteers would stay busy well into the night. There was always someone to comfort and tell “You’ll be alright.” If there was unbearable stress, or if the horizon showed trouble? The town’s efforts would amplify and their output would double. The town’s motivation was far tougher than granite, to help thousands of people from all over the planet. They used countless methods and they used countless ways. And when it was all said and done, their story lasted five days.

Their help came without contracts. Their help came without price.

The help came from good people who were humble and nice. The whole town stuck together, with not one person alone. They literally took their community and turned it into a home. This tragic event may have happened on that day in September. And it’s one the people of Gander will surely remember. But not because of the terrorists or those buildings that fell, but because of the people they nurtured and their story they’d tell. They would always honour the fallen and monuments would be laid.

They’d also remember the strangers they helped, and the new friends they had made.

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So many stories were born, with countless memories to keep. And those who helped were so tired, they were too exhausted to sleep.

For life can change rather quickly, and on the turn of a dime. But good must always take precedent, as well as endure every time. Thousands of strangers had landed with the unknown to expect. Each one was shown hospitality, grace and respect. And if there was one thing they had learned besides the great gift of living, it’s that Newfoundlanders are heartfelt, good natured and giving. They brought about positivity and removed all the glooms. With their bodies so tired, they were running on fumes.

When it came time to leave, a part of them wanted to stay. And many relationships prosper to this very day. Gander had helped many people no matter where they did roam. But the day finally came when all the strangers went home. It was sad when they left, and no one could deny it. The Town of Gander seemed different, as well as eerily quiet. You could hear a pin drop in the distance. You could hear every last hush.

There was no more hustle and bustle, and long gone was the rush.

It was then that they realized the hearts they did touch. The act of helping out strangers had just meant so much. Between all of the tears shed and all of the work-driven sweat; it’s an event that the whole town will never forget. One point which was proven, and came right from the start, was that Gander’s a small town but it has a big heart. The town’s hospitality had come in great fashion. It was fuelled by emotions, empathy and strong passion. Because regardless of terror they still came out victorious. These strangers showed up as grounded, but they departed as glorious.

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homefront

Unusual Libraries Societies have always benefitted from having libraries. More than just row upon row of novels, dictionaries, encyclopedias, biographies, textbooks and the like, libraries level our playing fields. Regardless of station, income or education, all have equal access to higher learning, entertainment and even escape inside their local library.

In recent years, the word library has found use in other ways that create accessibility in our communities. Here are some of the more unconventional libraries you may find near you (and if not, maybe you’ll help start one!).

LITTLE FREE LIBRARY Pretty cabinets of gently loved books are popping up in neighbourhoods everywhere. They might be a purchased kit from the Little Free Library organization, or something lovingly refinished and repurposed.

These are created by true book lovers who place them in a public space, often their own curbside, where they’ll be seen and used, where anyone can borrow a book or leave one for someone else. There are more than 100,000 locations registered with Little Free Libraries in the world today. LittleFreeLibrary.org

AIRPORT LIBRARY Several European airports have dedicated space to a small library where travellers can check out a book to read while waiting for their flight; some require you to leave the book behind, others let you take it with you and return it when you return. And some accept drop-offs or trade-ins from passengers, similar to Little Free Libraries. In keeping with the times, some airports offer free e-book downloads to travellers’ iPads and e-readers. In 2018, Halifax Stanfield International Airport partnered with Halifax Public Libraries, allowing Nova Scotia passengers to use their library card to check out books from a kiosk in the airport. BooksNowBoarding.ca

TOOL LIBRARY Being a handy person can save you lots of money as a homeowner, but building up the necessary toolkit can be expensive. That’s where knowing someone who can loan you a tool can be the perfect fix to your problem. The St. John’s Tool Library in St. John’s, NL, is a nonprofit with an inventory of tools to loan out and volunteers with expertise in using them. They even offer DIY workshops where, for a modest fee, you can hone your handy skills. StJohnsToolLibrary.ca 48

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BABY CLOTHES LIBRARY Launched near the end of 2020, deep in pandemic times, the Baby Clothes Library non-profit group helps support families and lengthen the lifespan of baby products. Babies grow so fast that most of their clothes are hardly worn. It’s expensive to keep a baby in new clothes, and they’re too valuable to just toss out when outgrown. So the Baby Clothes Library packages gently used baby clothes, including outerwear and shoes, according to size and gender (and also gender neutral). For a very small membership fee ($10 per year), folks can borrow a bundle of clothes and return them when their baby outgrows them.

The Baby Clothes Library operates out of the St. John’s Tool Library space and on Facebook. Facebook.com/SJBabyClothesLibrary/

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT LIBRARY Armed with a Newfoundland and Labrador Public Libraries (NLPL) card, you can loan out a musical instrument. The Sun Life Financial Musical Instrument Lending Library operates out of the A.C. Hunter Library in St. John’s, which joins a growing list of Canadian libraries adding musical instruments to their offerings thanks to generous donations. There are more than a dozen instruments in the collection, from an accordion to bongo drums, a ukulele, a violin and several guitars, including one donated by local musician Alan Doyle.

NLPL.ca/programs/musiclibrary/about.html

HUMAN LIBRARY® Users of the Human Library® can have a conversation with a real person who’s offered themselves as an “open book.” Founded in Denmark in 2000, the Human Library® means to give users a chance to learn about and from volunteers who represent sectors of society that may be underrepresented, commonly misunderstood or often stereotyped. These libraries have spread to six continents to become a global movement that celebrates diversity. In 2019, the now-defunct Refugee Immigration and Advisory Council hosted a Human Library® event in St. John’s, NL, with five volunteer “titles” to check out. They were all newcomers to the province willing to share their varying backgrounds and experiences, and included a Thai restauranteur and a Mexican filmmaker. HumanLibrary.org

COMMUNITY SEED LIBRARY Created to preserve heirloom, rare and culturally significant plants, community seed libraries loan out seed packets to members. Those members have to agree to sow the seed and grow the plants to maturity, then harvest a portion of those seeds to return to the library. It’s a way of keeping the library’s stock of significant seeds fresh and viable.

Seeds.ca/sw8/web/diversity/community-seed-libraries

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Cloudberry Forest School is blazing a trail for outdoor education in Newfoundland and Labrador.

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Photos courtesy Cloudberry Forest School

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Remember that back-to-school feeling?

How hard it was to settle down after a sunburned, grass-stained summer and go back indoors? What if “school” meant we could still learn math and science and social skills, but with the great outdoors as our classroom?

Educators Laura Molyneux and Nora Trask have created exactly this at Cloudberry Forest School – a pre-school in St. John’s, NL, where kids play and learn in a natural woodsy environment. It’s the province’s first and foremost Forest School, and it’s flourishing.

The idea to create a Forest School evolved naturally as Laura and Nora furthered their careers in traditional education roles and began to recognize the benefits of incorporating outdoor time into their teaching plans. Time spent outside is essential to kids’ health, growth and development. “As a teacher I found children benefit so much from being outside, yet it was surprisingly challenging to get them out,” says Nora.

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Laura Molyneux

Nora Trask

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Laura worked for several years in family intervention and support at a nonprofit, family-centric childcare centre, and studied program development. “It became important to me to think critically about education and early learning systems, and how children and families learn and grow,” she says.

Laura dug into policy and politics surrounding early learning, and read up on Forest Schools in the UK, Denmark and Sweden, where outdoor classrooms are part of the pre-school curriculum. Nora, meanwhile, studied the design of outdoor play spaces and early childhood education.

“I learned about Forest Schools in Scandinavia, and I heard that one was opening in Ottawa,” Nora recalls. “I thought if they can do it, we should be able to as well!”

She and Laura then learned about the Child and Nature Alliance of Canada, which works to connect children and youth with nature through policy, research and practice. When they started offering training through Forest School Canada, the women signed up. Laura and Nora 54

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Rain or shine, the children at Cloudberry Forest School are shown a world of discovery on the O’Brien Farm in St. John’s.

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became Certified Forest and Nature School Practitioners and founded Cloudberry in 2014.

Child-Led Learning Cloudberry currently operates on the grounds of the O’Brien Farm on Mount Scio Road in St. John’s. Like regular pre-school, small groups of children aged three to five attend three-hour sessions three days a week. In the summer, Cloudberry also runs camps for school-aged kids.

Their classroom is a dedicated, out-

door, forested site complete with trees, rocks and bugs. Most importantly, children are outside rain or shine – or wind, snow, sleet or whatever else blows in around here. While facilitators supervise and offer guidance when necessary, the curriculum is child-led. Experiential activities are driven by the interests of the kids and focus on nature and exploration. www.downhomelife.com

Every day is different.

“I love learning new things alongside children as they look at nature with fresh new eyes and perspectives,” says Nora, adding that all the while, the kids are learning social skills and teamwork, and developing confidence, creativity and appreciation for the natural world.

At Forest School, children enjoy a wide variety of activities. “Shelter building, rope work and making nature art are some of my very favourite things to do [with the kids] year-round,” says Nora.

In addition, at Forest School, things that would ordinarily land kids in Big Trouble – climbing trees, working with knives and tools, lighting fires – are common and motivate children to grow confident in their skills and abilities.

“I love fire building with flint and steel,” says Laura. “When you get it, it feels so good! It’s really empowering to watch children and adults alike discovering flint and steel for the first time. Pure joy!”

Due to years of hard work, courage, patience and grit, along with the support of families and the community, these women have become leaders in outdoor education in Newfoundland and Labrador. Continuing to blaze that trail, Cloudberry was recently awarded $450,000 in funding from the Lawson Foundation – a Canadian family foundation that invests in and engages with ideas, people and organizations that contribute to the healthy development of children and youth. It’s part of the second phase of the Foundation’s Outdoor Play Strategy, which sees a $4.95-million investment in eight demonstration projects across the county dedicated September 2021

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to a greater understanding of what’s necessary to better support and encourage outdoor, play-based early learning and child care in Canada.

Cloudberry’s project focuses on the potential for Forest and Nature Schools to be licensed in Newfoundland and Labrador. Over the next three years, in partnership with the O’Brien Farm Foundation, Cloudberry will serve as a demonstration centre for observation, research and evaluation by government licensing inspectors. They’ll also inform potential capacity for early childhood educators to acquire Forest School training in the future. The project evaluation is being led by retired professor David Philpott of the Faculty of Education at Memorial University.

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“Our goal with Cloudberry is to prove the possibilities of outdoor education and Forest School in a unique setting such as Newfoundland and Labrador,” says Laura. She adds with a laugh, “I want educators and legislators all over Canada to say ‘If they can do it in Newfoundland, we have no excuse.’”

“I hope that with this funding we can inform policy changes and support the adoption of widespread outdoor education opportunities,” says Nora. “I would love to see children in all our schools getting lots of outside time, with outdoor education built into our curriculums at every age.

“It’s been so rewarding to break down misconceptions about outdoor learning and show that yes, it is possible here, and so very worthwhile.”

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MANY OF US CAN REMEMBER

building sand castles and sculptures as a child while spending a fun-filled day at the beach – crouching with the sun in your face and your toes in the wet sand as you constructed whales, dragons, castles and entire kingdoms from your imagination. But regardless of all your time and efforts, your world would always come crumbling down, literally, as the waves rushed in and swept your creations out to sea.

Now, imagine you’ve carried your interest and skill into adulthood and you’re at the top of your game, competing against not only some of the best sand sculptors around the globe, but the highest tides in the world. That’s the premise of CBC TV’s new reality/competition series, premiering this month. It’s a wild ride hosted by Newfoundland funnyman Shaun Majumder.

Photos courtesy of Marblemedia / Denis Duquette

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“Race Against the Tide” host Shaun Majumder

A Force of Nature

Growing up in rural Newfoundland, in Burlington on the Baie Verte Peninsula, there weren’t a lot of sandy beaches to practise his own sand sculpting skills, Shaun says.

Other than the nearby Flatwater Pond Park (“That was our Hawaii when I was growing up,” he recalls), there was an abundance of these “clay holes.”

“There was a clay hole out by the brook, and there was a clay hole down on this other rocky beach which we would dig in, get the clay, we would sculpt it, make little men out of it or women out of it, and then we would smear it all over our bodies. It was like going to the spa,” he says, laughing at the memory.

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a-lifetime opportunity to dig deeper into the art did arise later in life. And it couldn’t have come at a better time.

Shaun was living in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Shelby Fenner, and their baby daughter Mattis last summer when the COVID-19 pandemic had practically shut down the film/TV industry. So with the cancellation of his comedy tour and no new job prospects on the horizon, along with the United States’ alarming coronavirus rates, the family decided to pack up and head home to Newfoundland. That’s when Shaun received a call from his agent, offering him a hosting gig for a new show shooting that August in New Brunswick.

“I was like, well that’s funny because I’m driving to Newfoundland. It’s kind of on the way,” Shaun laughs. “So all the stars aligned. And 1-888-588-6353

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I didn’t even know what this show was about, and I was like, ‘Yeah, I’m gonna do it.’”

“Race Against the Tide,” is a halfhour competition series that features 10 teams of two world-class sand sculptors working together to create extraordinary art. But there’s a twist.

Filmed at New River Beach (which has hosted an annual sand sculpture competition since 1985) in the Bay of Fundy, home to the world’s highest tides, the teams are competing against not only each other, but also Mother Nature’s unstoppable clock.

According to the Bay of Fundy Tourism Partnership, 160 billion

tonnes of seawater flow in and out of the Bay of Fundy twice daily, which is “more than the combined flow of the world’s freshwater rivers.” Parks Canada says at the head of the bay, the tide can rise 16 metres – about the height of a four-storey building.

“Race Against the Tide” contestants have about six hours and 13 minutes to build their sculptures (the time it www.downhomelife.com

takes to change from low to high tide). Whereas under normal circumstances, Shaun says, it’d take them an entire weekend, or longer, to bring their creations to life. In the end, all the sculptures meet the same fate as they’re swallowed up by the tide that same day.

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Filming an episode of “Race Against the Tide”

world... growing up in school you hear, ‘Oh, the Bay of Fundy, the highest tides in the world.’ Until you’re there standing on the beach, and you see how quick the tide goes out and then how fast it rushes in, it truly is a heart pounder,” Shaun says.

“When you’re down to your last half-hour, your last 20 minutes, and the ocean is creeping up the beach so fast… and you’re trying to get your sculpture done, and you’re trying to get the details in – it was really, really intense.”

Smooth Sailing

For Shaun, who’s well-known for his years on “This Hour Has 22 Minutes,” his Burlington-based ‘OME not-for-profit social enterprise, and The Gathering fire, food and music festival, this latest gig is unlike anything he’s ever done before. But he 62

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dove right in.

“It was more fun than I could have ever imagined. It blew away all my expectations, and I loved every second of it... because I had no idea really of what I was getting into.

When I met the artists and saw what they do and the level of skill that they have, it was mind blowing,” he says.

Premiering September 9 on CBC TV and CBC Gem with two back-toback episodes, the show features sculptors from all over the world in pairs of various combinations, including a husband and wife, mother and daughter, and father and son.

Their work is judged by Karen Fralich and Bruce Phillips, multiple award-winning sand sculptors. Each episode, one team gets eliminated and, ultimately, one will be crowned “Race Against the Tide Champions.”

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unique. They travel around the world, attending these festivals, and they build and they do this for a living, essentially... you get a really good sense of the characters in the show, but it’s gonna leave you wanting more,” Shaun says.

The show was filmed in all sorts of weather, from hot and dry conditions to sideways rain, wind and fog (“I mean, it’s the Maritimes,” Shaun says), and thunder and lightning

during COVID, and the strict protocols put in place helped put everyone at ease.

“You would never know that there was a pandemic happening around the world when you watch the show, and that was their intention,” Shaun says. “Marblemedia in New Brunswick, they were amazing, because they were the on-the-ground production team and they kept everybody incredibly safe.”

Shaun checks in with one of the artists on “Race Against the Tide”

storms, which all makes for great television, he adds.

“All the danger and all that stuff that happened in terms of the risks to the sculptures was all real. We didn’t invent any of it... what you see is what you get.”

The pandemic, like everything these days, played a part in the production as well – though Shaun says you’d never tell. “Race Against the Tide,” he says, is the first production that CBC got back up and running www.downhomelife.com

Considering the pandemic’s allconsuming grip on the world, perhaps there’s no better time for a show like this. As the tide ebbs and flows, it’s also a gentle reminder for us, too, to go with the flow and take life as it comes.

“Honestly, it’s truly so much fun. I think that’s the key, is it’s fun... and it’s for everybody. And it’s a great Canadian background,” Shaun says.

“So I think the fall, people are gonna fall in love with this show.”

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life is better Valley Pond Reflections Cory Babstock, Clarenville, NL

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The planned Newfoundland Pony Heritage Park will be a haven for our marvellous breed.

BY NICOLA RYAN

Photos courtesy Helen Milley Discovering Newfoundland

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To celebrate its 40th anniversary, the Newfoundland Pony Society (NPS) has launched an ambitious fundraising project to create a Heritage Park for endangered Newfoundland ponies. This new seasonal park will provide grazing pasture, breeding space and a visitors’ area to highlight the cultural significance of this special animal.

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Actor and environmentalist Greg Malone is passionate about protecting the Newfoundand Pony and is honourary chair of the fundraising campaign.

Loss of habitat is a major threat to the survival of the Newfoundland pony, so the NPS is thrilled to have secured a 50-year lease on 25 hectares of land for them near Hopeall in Trinity Bay. Ponies owned by local folks will be able to run and graze freely in the summer and fall before returning home to their stables for the winter. The park is the largest initiative the NPS has undertaken in its history as a charitable organization, and work to fence the area and install a water source is already underway.

Greg Malone, award-winning actor, environmentalist and animallover, has come on board as honorary chair of the fundraising campaign.

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affection for the ponies and their special place in provincial culture and heritage shines through. “It’s a unique breed in all the world,” he says. “They evolved here over 400 years into a perfect horse for the Newfoundland and Labrador climate. They’re sturdy and affectionate, and they’re just lovely animals to be around.”

Ponies and horses helped shape settlements and ways of life on the island portion of the province. The ancestors of the Newfoundland pony arrived with early settlers from Britain in the 1600s. These were primarily Exmoor, Dartmoor, Welsh and Connemara ponies. As Greg explains, through isolation and intermingling over hundreds of years, these ponies eventually evolved into 1-888-588-6353

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a distinct landrace breed uniquely adapted to Newfoundland. These particular physical traits are the direct result of living in our climate: hooded eyes and low-set tails to protect them from the driving rain and snow; tough hooves and close-set front legs for agility and sure-footedness on rocky terrain; ears that are small and extra furry to help prevent frostbite. In the past, this sweet-tempered, hard-working animal played an important role in the survival of

“I remember I used to go to Carbonear a lot. I would see these kids on their ponies riding down Water Street – all these girls with their hair flying and smiles on their faces. What a sight! I loved that, and I wish I could see it again.”

He adds, “In the old days, of course, animals were free to roam.”

However, in the 1970s, new municipal by-laws decreed that ponies could no longer wander and fences had to be built to keep them in. This

“Really, all they need is a little bit of pasture, a little bit of land to graze on. I’m sure the people of Newfoundland will be more than happy to give them that.”

Greg Malone

rural Newfoundland. They ploughed fields and mowed meadows. They hauled wood for heating homes and kelp from the beaches to fertilize the gardens. Their natural intelligence, friendliness and willingness to work made them dependable companions for many, many years.

Greg recalls the beauty of wild ponies running freely on the hills, and the sweet familiarity of seeing them in gardens and meadows. www.downhomelife.com

was a major loss of natural habitat.

Building fences also raised the cost of keeping ponies, and economic times were hard in the late 1970s and ’80s.

Thousands of ponies ended up being sold to meat processing plants across Canada and Europe. From an estimated plentiful population of over 12,000, the number of Newfoundland ponies dropped to about 100.

“It’s a tragic story, what happened to the Newfoundland pony,” says Greg.

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There are now about 500 Newfoundland ponies living throughout Canada and the United States, thanks largely to the efforts of the Newfoundland Pony Society. These folks know that having a natural habitat where the ponies can graze, run and breed freely is essential to their health and survival as a species.

“Really, all they need is a little bit of pasture, a little bit of land to graze on,” says Greg warmly. “I’m sure the people of Newfoundland will be more than happy to give them that.”

The campaign for the creation of the Newfoundland Pony Heritage

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Park kicked off last year with a fundraising goal of $250,000 over two phases. Phase 1, the development of pasture, is in the works now. More than $55,000 has been raised to date and many volunteers have been hard at work fencing the land, rehabilitating the pasture and creating accessibility to the new park. Phase 2, set for next summer, imagines the development of a visitor centre and outdoor storyboards. The NPS hopes to welcome children and school groups to see and enjoy the ponies in their natural habitat, and maybe even have the ponies display traditional activities

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in a demonstration area.

In the future, the park could serve as a destination for tourists and ponies could be promoted in the province’s marketing campaigns. “I think it’s something we could work with – all those wonderful ads for tourists, those super-saturated colour ads we see. A few ponies in those ads would increase their value many percentages,” Greg laughs.

(Though the NPS has been dropping the hint to NL Tourism and making friendly suggestions on their social media channels all summer.)

“To have our own little pony here in Newfoundland, I think it’s just a

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great benefit and a great treat. I’d like to see ponies roaming wild in the hills. I’d like to see them in the parks – in Terra Nova and Gros Morne. It’d be nice, wouldn’t it?” says Greg. “But I think the first part is to get them their own pasture.

Let’s get the numbers back up to a respectable level where they’re not so critically endangered.”

To find out more about the Newfoundland Pony Heritage Park, go to NewfoundlandPony.com. There, you can learn about volunteering, donating, or getting involved in other ways to help protect and celebrate our remarkable ponies.

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Photos courtesy Murray Premises

There’s truly nothing else like it in downtown St. John’s. The Murray Premises Hotel on the Harbourfront is the last of the pre-1900 mercantile properties in the oldest city in North America. This year the building turns 175 years old, a well-deserved age for a landmark that survived the Great Fire, economic downturns, multiple ownerships and the spectre of demolition. For all it’s been through, the Murray Premises is grander today than it’s ever been.

Currently owned by Regal Realty Limited, the Murray Premises consists of a 69-room boutique hotel featuring original wooden beams and stonework, executive meeting space and two restaurants: Gypsy Tea Room and EVOO in the Courtyard. Getting the property to its current glorious state has been a labour of love for Regal Realty President and CEO Bill Mahoney.

“I’d always loved that building,” says Bill, a self-described history buff.

When he bought the property in 1996, from a vulture fund (debt investors) in Houston, TX, that had bought it packaged with other Canadian properties, the building was in disrepair. Due to the 1990s recession, downtown was gutted and the Murray Premises, which had been a booming retail operation in the 1980s, was 75 per cent empty.

There were signs of neglect and deferred maintenance – burnt-out light bulbs, leaky faucets, squeaky fans and the like. Bill had his beloved building, but now the question became what to do with it? www.downhomelife.com

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“Water Street was pretty desperate back then,” Bill recalls, so he had to get creative in drumming up business. “We had outdoor fairs in the courtyard, and we had all sorts of events to attract people. We had a flea market on the weekends… throughout the corridors and open areas.”

But more business was needed to sustain this huge property. The solution, Bill would discover, was in an emerging North American hospitality trend – boutique hotels. They were already established in major cities, but Murray Premises Hotel would be the first in St. John’s and in the province.

Renovating a heritage property is neither easy nor cheap. Contractors and designers had to work with 1846-era construction to create comfortable accommodations for modern-day travellers. Upgrades were needed to plumbing and electricity, heating, ventilation and technology.

At the same time, care was taken to preserve the most valuable historic components of the building.

“The whole building is really a tribute to those days gone by, but in particular is the shipbuilding and naval architecture associated and shipbuilding practices used – because they were used in the construction of the building. There’s a

The property went through a round of renovations in the 1970s.

“The heritage people talk about ‘adaptive reuse,’ so that’s the struggle with heritage properties. What the heck do you do with them? You can restore them, but they have to sustain themselves,” explains Bill. “That was key to the sustainability of the Murray Premises: finding that adaptive reuse.”

He adds, “The building just lent itself [to the boutique hotel style].

It was unique in its structure, it was historic in its nature, and would make a really interesting place to stay.”

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number of corners and beams in intersections where the wood comes together, and two things about it: one is those building practices were used exclusively in shipbuilding and they were transferred to this building; and two, as well, you can actually see the branches of trees. So they’d be large, large trees, so rather than cut and join two pieces of wood, the builders incorporated a branch,” Bill explains.

“There are good examples of that throughout the building… You can look up and you can see the handhewn wood beams and posts.”

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Much of the original building features such as the bricks and timbers can still be seen in the renovated rooms.

Visitors today will also see sections of the original masonry work.

Exposed brick and stone walls, coupled with those wooden beams, add unique character and charm to the guest rooms. And on display in the common areas are artifacts of a bygone era including a ship’s compass, a telegraph and a working time clock from when employees literally punched out for the day. And outside, if you look up to the upper floors from Harbour Drive or the courtyard, you’ll see extensions coming out from certain windows. That was the warehouse level, and the extensions held the block and tackle that would hoist fish or supplies from boats docked below. The Murray Premises, and all of downtown St. John’s, looked remarkably different in those days.

The Origin Story

The Murray Premises structures were built by an Irish merchant, Richard O’Dwyer. The current property is actually about nine buildings www.downhomelife.com

stitched together. The oldest one, at 5 Beck’s Cove, was built in 1846. The rest, reaching the corner of Beck’s Cove and Water Street and west to include the Thompson Building (Downhome Shoppe and Gallery today), were built by 1849 and altogether were known as O’Dwyer Block. Because he built out of brick and stone (just after the Great Fire of 1846), his properties survived the Great Fire of 1892 that levelled most of old St. John’s. He later sold off the eastern corner of his property to the Bank of Nova Scotia and, in the early 1900s, he sold the large block of buildings to a young man with great aspirations.

Andrew Hamilton Murray was the son of merchant James Murray. His father’s business, which he might have one day taken over, was destroyed by the Great Fire of 1892.

A.H. Murray went to work for Bowring Brothers, saving up enough money to get into the fisheries supply business at age 21. With his brother David, he founded A.H. Murray and September 2021

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Above: The Murray Premises was once located directly on the harbour, with boats having direct access to the buildings.

Today the property is separated from the water by Harbour Drive and the modern waterfront. Right: A. H. Murray acquired the property in 1910

Company in 1908. By 1910, he had acquired the O’Dwyer property from Beck’s Cove to Bishop’s Cove and was fully into the lucrative salt fish business.

In those days, there was no Harbour Drive. The Murray Premises was at the waterfront. Finger piers extended out from the backs of these Water Street businesses where boats could tie up and load and unload cargo. Fishermen docked at Murray Premises to trade in their catch for goods such as flour, sugar, salt and other staples. A blacksmith and a hooper operated on site, and barters were made for their services, 76

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too. The company expanded over the years into engines, building supplies and fish processing. It was a bustling enterprise, with boats coming and going on the water side, and horses and carriages and townsfolk filling the cobblestone street on the other side.

Things were different by the 1970s.

Murray had moved his enterprise to a new location and the original premises had fallen into such disrepair that it was slated for demolition.

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“Why the hotel has been successful Murray Premises – now only one is because it’s different. It’s different remained. Shannie Duff (before she in terms of it’s a real reflection of the was St. John’s mayor), architect history, culture and character of Philip Pratt and university professor Newfoundland, and St. John’s in parShane O’Dea were among the group ticular, as being a sea port, one that that fought for the National Historic relied almost exclusively, back then, Site designation and the funding to on the prosecution of the fishery,” restore the Murray Premises. If not Bill says. for them, all would have been lost.

Reopened under new management and with its new designation in 1979, the Murray Premises thrived for a time as a retail and corporate space with a restaurant and a museum on site.

But the company fell on hard times in the recession and defaulted on the mortgage. That’s when Bill Mahoney got his chance to save the site he’d had his eye on for some time.

The Murray Premises Hotel has gone through four phases of renovation to get where it is today. And then it had to weather a global pandemic that has hit the hospitality industry especially hard.

“It’s been a struggle, no question,” Bill admits. “But we’ve got a great property The courtyard of the Murray Premises and wonderful, wonderful is a popular summer destination people working with us for visitors to downtown St. John’s who’ve been there a long “If somebody wants to come to St. time. So we toughed it out. And that’s John’s or Newfoundland and get a really all you can do.” little taste and experience of what As vaccinations rates increase and Newfoundland history and culture is infection rates decrease, and as the all about, and character, the Murray province and the world reopen to Premises is a great place to stay and travel, and people return to enjoying will offer that. It will give you a good a great meal and a night out, Bill is sense and flavour of what St. John’s hopeful. And he knows that despite it is today and was 175 years ago!” all, he has a good thing going. www.downhomelife.com

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explore

Heritage Foundation of NL photo

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With each September,

back-to-school time rolls around again. Some of our readers recall school days before laptops and iPhones and online learning. Memories might harken back to a time of chalk slates, Treasury Readers and potbellied stoves. How times have changed!

Thanks to the dedication of mostly community volunteers, some of those one-room schoolhouses and their contents have been preserved. The following are a few schoolhouse museums in this province that are open for visitors and offer a glimpse of what school was like in the old days. So let’s go back to school, way back.

Mosquito School House Bristol’s Hope

One of the last of its kind in Newfoundland, Mosquito School House shows what one-room wooden schools in outport communities looked like in the 1800s. Inside, see the old cast-iron kerosene lantern chandelier, which can be raised or lowered to light or extinguish.

Heritage Foundation of NL photo

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One Room School and Church Museum

Heritage Foundation of NL photo

Blackhead

Also known as St. Joseph’s Chapel, this beautifully restored one-room school and church in the village of Blackhead near Cape Spear was originally built in 1879. A friendly guide will be happy to show off the original school bell used by the teacher to summon students to class.

Otterbury School House Harbour Grace

Otterbury School House was first opened in 1884 with 45 students in attendance. Originally located on Water Street West in the Otterbury district of Harbour Grace, the entire gableroofed building was moved to its current location in 2010. Inside, check out the names on the original attendance register from the 1950s.

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Heritage Foundation of NL photo

School House Museum Fogo

Fogo’s Roman Catholic parish held classes in this tidy building with its steeply pitched roof from 1888 to 1969. The porch has a wooden door on each side, purportedly so girls and boys could enter separately. Many artifacts decorate the interior, including the potbelly stove and wooden desks used during the school’s operation.

Sisters’ Dream Museum Mainland

Mainland Cultural & Heritage Centre photo

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French fishermen travelled from Red Island on the Port au Port Peninsula and built this one-room school in 1910.

At the time, it also contained a small altar used by travelling priests. When later slated for demolition, the historic school was saved thanks to the efforts of sisters Johanna Cornect and Maggie Benoit.

The interior has been transformed into a museum showcasing the area’s heritage.

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life is better Sunset in the Bonavista harbour.

Mark Gray, Bonavista, NL

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stuff we love by Nicola Ryan

Storage Solutions PATIO STORAGE BOX When it’s time to pack away seasonal items such as garden décor, cushions or planters, look for a patio storage box like this one from Uline. Made from weatherresistant plastic with a nice wicker pattern, it won’t fade, rot or rust outside in the weather. The lid opens easily and stays in place, and the two front doors open independently, providing easy access to everything inside. Uline.ca

KAYAK KEEPER This popular sling-style rack is designed to store two kayaks, suspending them from the ceiling or hanging them on a wall, out of the way in the boathouse or garage. Sturdy straps and webbing, along with quickrelease attachment hardware make it easy to use. This one from Malone comes with a one-year limited warranty. Maloneautoracks.com

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GARDEN TOOL ORGANIZER This rack is great for storing rakes, brooms, pruners, shovels and other garden tools in the greenhouse or shed. Solid, lightweight and easy to assemble, it fits perfectly in a corner to maximize space. No hunting for those misplaced gardening tools under rotting leaves or melting snow in the spring! Amazon.ca

STACKABLE AND STURDY We can’t get enough of these handy, heavy-duty Rubbermaid containers. Durable, stackable, with stay-tight lids and built-in handles, they’re perfect for the basement, garage or attic. Pack away camping supplies, sports equipment, lawncare tools and more. Stick a label on the outside and enjoy your tidy space. Walmart.ca

UP AND AWAY Create 16 square feet of additional storage space with a ceiling storage lift, perfect for storing bulky items that take up a lot of floor space – like outdoor furniture, boxes or Rubbermaid containers! This model from Racor has a pulley system that lets you securely load and lift up to 250 pounds.

Racorstoragesolutions.com

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Cures for common ailments that you might find in your cupboard From rubbing a gold ring on an eye stye to scaring someone to cure their hiccups, we all have heard of or have used homemade solutions to everyday ailments. Many are rooted in folklore and tradition, and some have been proven to have a scientific basis. We compiled some home remedies here offered by readers and several online health websites. Use any home cure with caution and don’t use it to replace a physician’s advice.

Sore Throat

Sinus Congestion

Raspberry Jam Gargle a mixture of 3-5 tablespoons of raspberry jam in a glass of water.

Saltwater Rinse Dissolve 1/2-3/4 teaspoon of table salt in a glass of warm water and gargle.

Place hot hard-boiled eggs in a towel and place them on either side of the nose, over the sinus cavities. The heat from the eggs will help ease the congestion.

Fever Add 2 cups of warm water to 5 cups of white vinegar. Use a cloth to wash the entire body with the solution at bedtime, then wrap in warm blankets.

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Toothache Soak a peppermint tea bag in hot water, then remove it and let it cool or chill it in the fridge/freezer.

(Drink your tea while you wait!)

Apply cold bag to the tooth that is hurting for relief.

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Chest Congestion

Heartburn

Onion Poultice Fry chopped onion in a bit of water until onion is soft.

Wrap onion and juices in a thick, clean cloth and apply to the chest.

Make sure it’s not hot enough to burn the skin. Cover the person in warm blankets and leave poultice on for 20 minutes or so.

Mustard Plaster Mix powdered mustard with warm water to make a paste and spread it on a thick cloth such as flannel. Use a strip of cloth to wrap around the person’s chest to hold the plaster cloth in place.

Before the skin gets too hot (turns red or develops blisters), remove the paste and clean the area with water, then rub with soothing oil.

Dissolve a teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of warm water and drink it slowly. The baking soda will neutralize the stomach acid causing the heartburn.

Ginger is well-known to ease heartburn and ginger tea is recommended. Ginger ale, however, could make it worse as carbonated beverages are a known heartburn trigger.

Hiccups There are several common methods to curing them: 1. Take a deep breath and hold it.

Count slowly to 10, then release air slowly through your mouth. Repeat 2-3 times until hiccups are gone.

2. Hold your breath and swallow three times.

3. Breathe calmly into a paper bag placed over your mouth and nose.

4. Bite a lemon.

5. Hug your knees to your chest for a few minutes.

6. Gently tug on your tongue (a pressure point on your tongue connects to the diaphragm).

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Headache Stir 1/3 cup ginger root into a cup of hot water. Strain and drink the tea.

Earache Garlic oil, with its antibacterial, antifungal and antiviral properties, has long been used to soothe an earache. Warm it and put two drops in the affected ear. Gently place a cotton ball at the ear opening (don’t stuff it in) to keep the oil from running out.

Warts Brew 1-2 teaspoons of powdered birch bark in a cup of boiling water, steeping it for 10 minutes. Let it cool and rub it directly onto the wart. (Or soak a small strip of birch bark in hot water, and when it cools apply the bark directly to the wart and secure it with a strip of cloth or bandage.)

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Holding

onto

Summer

Interior designer Marie Bishop has a creative way to admire summer flowers all year long.

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Those lazy, hazy, crazy days

of summer are getting shorter and shorter, cooler and cooler, and I, for one, am in complete denial that summer is coming to an end. As far as I can tell, we are all solar powered and the golden yellow warmth we glean from our shining star throughout the summer months recharges our batteries and refuels our souls. It fills us with the energy and optimism we need to face another long winter in hopes of an early (or any) spring.

So, while we continue to enjoy the greenery, the flowers and the warmth of September, why not capture it in a physical way to hold the memories and bring a smile during the not-so-warm days ahead?

The art of pressing and preserving flowers is not new, but like so many lost and forgotten crafts and hobbies, over the past year or two, it has experienced a revival. Here’s a project that will give you a chance to hold onto the colourful bounty of your garden as well as add to your home décor. It can be a family project involving your children or grandchildren, who can learn about the plants they’ve picked while getting creative. It can be as detailed and artistic, or plain and simple, as your creative juices allow.

Pressed plants and flowers make beautiful art, framed or unframed.

A collection of ferns can make a very botanical exhibit, while a collage of flowers and grasses recreate a scene from a summer meadow.

Once you have a vision in mind, it’s time to collect the flowers and plants that you’ll use. Fresh flowers are best, so if you’re picking them www.downhomelife.com

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in your garden, pick them when they are dry: mid- to late morning is usually the best time. If you are using flowers from a florist’s bouquet, make sure they haven’t started to wilt.

Some flowers give better results than others. For instance, if the petals are thick, such as those of a dahlia or lupin, they may hold more water and discolour before they properly dry in the press. But choose the ones you like, experiment with different types and be creative with how you use them once they’re pressed. Grasses and ferns have become my favourite; already fairly flat, once they’re dry they are easy to work with.

Traditional Wooden Flower Press

There are a number of ways to press flowers. It’s a completely different process from drying flowers, which helps preserve them in their threedimensional state. The oldest method for pressing flowers is with a wooden flower press.

Two pieces of 3/8" or 1/2" plywood cut to roughly 18" x 18" will serve as the top and bottom of the press. Drill a hole in each corner of each piece of plywood that will line up when you stack the pieces of plywood. The hole needs to be big enough to fit a carriage bolt. Using a wing nut that fits the carriage bolt allows you to tighten the press. You will also need pieces of flat cardboard (the corrugated kind may cause ripples in your plants), and craft paper or plain newsprint. The idea is to create a sandwich with your flowers/plants at the centre. Above and below your flowers, layer the paper, then cardboard, then wood.

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flatten your plants.

You can use the plywood without the holes, just be sure to have enough books or bricks to add weight to the top layer. Leave them in the press for a few days at the very least before checking them. If the newsprint seems damp, replace it with fresh newsprint. The longer they are in the press the better. The optimum time is usually two to three weeks.

Hot Iron Method

Using a clothes iron on low heat, press the flowers between paper or lightweight cardboard (flat, not corrugated kind). Move the iron slowly back and forth over the flowers for 10-15 seconds, let the paper cool for 10-15 seconds, then repeat the process. Keep doing this for up to 10-15 minutes, checking as you go.

This works pretty good for some plants, not so good for others. You’ll learn as you experiment.

Microwave Method

Place the flowers between paper towels, weigh them down with a microwave-safe plate or dish, place them in the microwave and use a low setting for a minute at a time until the moisture has gone. Again, it’s experimental: good for some flowers, not for others.

Creating Art with Pressed Flowers

Once you have a collection of wellpressed plants, the sky’s the limit on what you can make with them. All sorts of crafty projects await: note cards, coasters, posters, decoupage on dishes and boxes etc. My personal favourite is a framed display of ferns and leaves.

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I found a pad of art canvas at a local retailer, and frames at a dollar store that held the art between two pieces of glass.

Cut the canvas to fit the glass, then give the canvas a wash with sepia coloured ink and isopropyl alcohol. The effect is a weathered, aged background for the plants. The beauty of using this type of frame is that it doesn’t require the plants to be glued to the surface. The sandwich effect of the two pieces of glass will hold everything in place. By adding the names of the ferns and leaves to the canvas, you give it a more authentic, botanical look, very much like they were handpainted. This type of wonderful, inexpensive, artistic display can add interest to any wall in your home.

So, as summer winds down and garden blooms diminish, why not extend the joy of their colour and company with a creative family project? Pressed plants keep for a very long time, either in the press or a dry cupboard, so you could gather and press now, then create all kinds of wonderful botanical projects later. As the days grow shorter and the nights longer, these projects will help you keep the memories of summer alive and well.

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Todd’s Table

By Todd Goodyear

When he’s not dreaming up or cooking up great food, Todd Goodyear is president and associate publisher of Downhome. todd@downhomelife.com

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When the weather starts cooling

down in the evenings, as it often does in Newfoundland and Labrador in September, comfort food recipes seem to emerge once again. One of my personal favourite meals is beef stew.

There are so many recipes out there for beef stew, and after cooking many of them I have settled on this variation as a true winner, in my opinion. (To be honest, I am not a fan of parsnip and the idea of adding bottled pickled onions to stew was a bit weird, but trust me, it really adds great flavour.)

Growing up, the only stews we ate were made with either beef or moose meat and, regardless, it was just called “stew.” Nowadays we make chicken, pork, lamb or no meat stews, incorporating all sorts of flavours and ingredients.

In our house these days, we are being conscious of the almighty carb intake and we limit the amount of bread we eat. Feel free to continue with the stew tradition of having bread or rolls with yours. I stick with just the stew, but I do miss the bread.

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Stick to Your Ribs Beef Stew Yield 4-6 servings 2 lbs stewing beef 2 tbsp oil (olive, vegetable or avocado) 2 cups red wine 3-4 cups beef broth 3-4 carrots, peeled and chopped 3 stalks of celery, chopped 1 small turnip, peeled and chopped into cubes 2 parsnip, peeled and chopped

2 large onions, peeled and chopped 1 (28 oz) can whole tomatoes 3-4 bay leaves 3-4 sprigs of fresh rosemary 1 jar of pickled baby white onions (drained) Salt and pepper to taste 3-4 small potatoes (optional)

A good rule of thumb for cooking a meal like this is to use a large thickbottomed pot. Preheat that pot over medium high heat. While waiting, pat dry the beef with paper towels and cut it into cubes. Season the meat with salt and pepper.

This method takes a little more time and patience, but doing it this way will pay off in the end. Browning the meat properly will give you the great flavour needed for an awesome stew that your family and friends will enjoy.

Add the oil to the pot and add the meat in just a single layer. Do not overcrowd the pot. Brown the meat on all sides, remove and repeat until you’ve browned all the meat. Add more oil with every batch of meat.

Once all the meat is browned and set aside, discard any leftover oil in the pot, but keep the brown bits and what may be stuck onto the bottom of the pot. This is where the hearty beef flavour will come from.

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Add the wine and half the beef broth.

As that heats up, scrape the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon to deglaze and gather up all the brownbits goodness.

Add half the vegetables (if you are using potato, save it till later), browned beef, tomatoes (with juice), bay leaves and rosemary. Bring the pot to a simmer.

Cook until the vegetables are almost tender, then add the jar of pickled 1-888-588-6353

onions and remaining vegetables (including all the potato). The first lot of vegetables will dissolve into the stew and help thicken it, while the second lot will maintain their shape and add vibrant colour to your stew.

Simmer until beef and vegetables are tender. Add salt and pepper to taste.

I’m delighted to hear from readers who are trying these recipes. Keep the feedback coming and remember, cook with confidence. If I can do it, you can, too.

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everyday recipes

Pasta in a Pinch When you need something filling, something easy, something the whole family will eat (and maybe eat again as leftovers!), pasta never seems to disappoint. Here are six different pasta recipes you can try out on your crowd.

Make Ahead Pasta Casserole 1 1 1 2 1 1

lb Italian sausage, mild or hot large onion, chopped clove garlic, crushed cups fresh mushrooms, sliced cup red or green pepper, sliced (24 oz) can pasta sauce

1 pkg frozen spinach or broccoli (thawed) 1 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded 5 cups rotini or penne pasta, cooked 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Remove sausage from casings and crumble meat into a large frying pan; brown the sausage and drain off fat. Add onion, garlic, mushrooms and pepper. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes. Add pasta sauce; simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat and gently stir in thawed spinach, mozzarella, cooked pasta and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Spoon into a greased 3-quart casserole dish. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. At this point, casserole can be refrigerated, covered, for up to 24 hours. To cook and serve: Bake covered at 350°F for 25 minutes, and uncovered for another 10 minutes.

Serves 4-6.

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Spaghetti Casserole 1 3 1 1

large onion, diced stalks celery, diced medium green pepper, diced can sliced mushrooms (or 1 cup fresh, sliced) salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp vegetable oil 2 lbs lean ground beef 1 (500 g) pkg spaghetti noodles 1 (24 oz) can spaghetti sauce 1 (500 ml) can spicy stewed tomatoes Parmesan or cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat vegetable oil in frying pan over medium heat.

Add onion, celery, green pepper and mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper, and sauté until vegetables are soft. In a larger frying pan, brown ground beef and drain off fat. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add spaghetti and cook until noodles are almost done. In a large greased casserole dish, cover the bottom with the onion, celery, green pepper and mushroom mixture.

Layer the top with the ground beef. Pour spaghetti sauce over ground beef.

Drain spaghetti noodles and spread them evenly over top. Cover spaghetti with tomatoes. Top with grated cheese of choice. Bake at 350°F for 1/2 hour, or until cheese melts. Serves 6-8.

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Chicken Macaroni Casserole 1/4 cup butter 2 cups chicken, cubed 1/2 cup green pepper, chopped 1 onion, chopped Salt and pepper, to taste 2 cups macaroni

2 2 1 1 1

cups frozen broccoli cups milk can cream of chicken soup 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, grated can sliced mushrooms

In large frying pan, melt butter and add chicken, onion, green pepper, salt and pepper. Cook until chicken is no longer pink. In a separate pan, cook macaroni; just before macaroni is cooked, add frozen broccoli and bring to a boil. Cook 4-5 min. Meanwhile, add soup and milk to chicken mixture. Heat for 15 min. over medium heat. Add to that 1 cup cheese; stir until thick. Strain the macaroni and broccoli; transfer to a greased 9"x13" casserole dish. Stir in chicken mixture and mushrooms, and cover with remaining cheese. Cover and bake at 350°F for 30 min., or until cheese is melted. Serves 6-8.

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One Pot Chicken Alfredo 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced 2 tbsp olive oil 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 cup fresh mushrooms, sliced 1/4 cup flour 2 cups chicken broth 2 cups milk

1/2 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 2 cups bowtie pasta, uncooked 2 oz cream cheese 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, diced Cracked black pepper (opt)

Place 1 tbsp oil and chicken in a large fry pan over medium heat. Fry until chicken is fully cooked. Remove chicken from skillet and set aside. Add remaining oil to pan. Add garlic and mushrooms. Sauté about 3 minutes.

Whisk in flour to make a paste. Slowly add chicken broth while whisking.

Whisk until smooth. Add milk while continuously whisking. Add salt and pepper; let sauce thicken over medium-low heat. Stir in uncooked pasta, increase heat to high and bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat to mediumlow and cover. Cook for 13-16 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until pasta is cooked through. Stir in cream cheese, Parmesan cheese and sun-dried tomatoes. Add chicken and heat through. If desired, season servings with cracked black pepper. Serves 3-4.

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Classic Tuna Casserole 2 cups uncooked elbow macaroni 1/3 cup butter 2 cups onion, diced 1/2 cup flour 2 1/2 cups milk, hot

2 3 1 2

cups cheddar cheese, grated cans tuna, drained 1/4 cups frozen peas slices bread, grated to crumbs

Cook pasta according to package directions; drain and set aside. Melt butter over medium-high heat. Sauté onion in butter until translucent.

Add flour and cook for one minute. Remove pot from heat and add milk gradually, whisking the entire time. Once all the milk is incorporated, return pot to heat and cook until thickened. Gradually add cheese, stirring until it’s all melted. Add tuna, peas and drained pasta.

Pour the mixture into a greased glass casserole dish. Top with breadcrumbs. Bake at 350°F for 20-30 minutes. Serves 6-8.

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Slow Cooker Mac and Cheese 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 2 tbsp minced onion flakes 1/2 tsp paprika

3 cups milk 1 cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated 2 cups elbow macaroni (or other similar pasta), uncooked

Stir first 5 ingredients in large saucepan. Whisk in milk slowly until no lumps remain. Heat and stir until boiling and thickened. Add cheese and macaroni. Stir. Turn into 3 1/2-quart slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 2 to 2 1/2 hours, or on high for about an hour.

Serves 3-4.

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HOME and Cabin

down to earth

Healing Gardens Plants to grow for home remedies

by Kim Thistle

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There was a time, before pharmaceutical companies, that plants were the No. 1 cure for illness and injury.

We have come a long, long way from those days, and for that we are grateful. That having been said, it was not witchcraft. Traditional healing has a solid basis and is still used in many cultures. In Africa, the World Health Organization reports that traditional healers provide 80 per cent of care to rural populations (WHO, 2001).

At home, we tend to drink herbal teas for upset stomach or stress. We follow a diet of leafy greens, nuts and seeds if we are subject to headaches. Ginger has long been used to treat bloating, gas and intestinal issues. Unfortunately, the herbal product sector is worth billions and getting more expensive at every turn. Maybe we could turn our gardens into a small, homegrown medicinal pharmacy.

When we are planning our garden, it is a good idea to keep some of the following plants in mind. These can be harvested and used fresh, or dried for later use, in promoting wellness in our lives. www.downhomelife.com

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Lemon Balm

Garlic

Lemon balm is a member of the mint family that is considered to be one of the calming herbs. It helps to reduce stress and anxiety, and is reputed to help with a better night’s sleep. The fragrant plants all help with improving moods. A cup of tea infused with lemon balm leaves will help you relax before bedtime, resulting in a better night’s sleep.

This perennial, like mint, is a great plant to have potted up on your deck, both for the fragrance and the accessibility to the kitchen. This herb prefers full sun but likes to be protected from the blasting midday rays.

It prefers a rich soil but will grow just about anywhere. To get the nice, soft growth preferred for tea, it is best planted in a soil rich in organic matter and kept consistently moist.

Garlic has long been known for its health benefits. I think that’s because it makes for such bad breath that people carrying viruses won’t come close enough to infect you! Garlic is believed to lower blood pressure and cholesterol, and is a great source of antioxidants.

Garlic is easy-peasy to grow. Plant hardneck garlic in the fall, as it needs to be overwintered. Use lots of organic matter and bonemeal, as it is a heavy feeder and needs the phosphorous to develop roots before the winter hits. Keep it well watered in the spring and early summer, but slack off on the watering a couple of weeks before harvesting. Garlic will benefit from a dose of blood meal in early summer.

Peppermint This herb is so easy to grow and has a ton of uses. It makes a delicious tea that calms the nerves and eases an upset stomach; and it has anti-bacterial benefits, which would explain why it is so often used in toothpastes.

Peppermint is very easy to grow. It likes to be moist at all times, but when planted in a wet area of the garden it can be invasive, so it is best planted in a large container. Keep it close to the kitchen so that it’s easily accessible, and be sure to keep it well watered.

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Yarrow

Echinacea

Yarrow grows wild in Newfoundland and Labrador, but there are also varieties that have been developed by plant breeders that are beautiful in the late summer garden. Yarrow is often used for a poultice to stop bleeding, but it can be used medicinally in many ways. Chewing the leaves will relieve the pain of a toothache and ease lower abdominal pain. The young leaves and flowers are tasty in a salad.

Yarrow loves it hot and dry, and does not need great soil to thrive. It combines well with Echinacea both for bloom time and soil conditions.

Be sure to plant it in full sun. This plant attracts pollinators and beneficial insects such as lacewings, parasitic wasps and hoverflies. Don’t let the word wasp unsettle you. These insects are teeny tiny wasps that are not a nuisance to humans, they just have the bad fortune of being part of the wasp family.

This attractive perennial is popular for boosting the immune system and helping to prevent colds, as well as helping to shorten their duration.

The leaves and petals are both edible, but all parts of the plant have been used for medicinal tinctures.

Echinacea loves full sun and will tolerate dry, rocky soil. It will wither and die if planted in wet, mucky soil.

It is a great choice for xeriscaping, a garden style that requires little or no irrigation. Deadhead the spent flowers to keep the plant flowering for a longer period of time, but once it runs out of steam, leave the seed heads for the birds.

Medicinal plants are an easy thing to incorporate into the garden, and their versatility and fragrance will make your garden a more welcoming and comfortable setting to enjoy. Not only that, but also your friends may dub you the neighbourhood witch!

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.

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reminiscing flashbacks

Cavendish Classes This remarkable photo was taken at the United Church School in Cavendish, Trinity Bay, NL sometime in the early 1900s.

Abby Whiffen Bonavista, NL

Graduation Day Some of Memorial University’s first graduates are pictured on the steps of the old Administration building in St. John’s, NL, in 1956.

John Christopher Toronto, ON

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Boswarlos School “My mother, the late Jessie (Spracklin) Harvey, met my dad while teaching in the early 1930s at the little one-room school in the community of Boswarlos on the Port au Port Peninsula, west of Stephenville,” writes the submitter. “In 1970, while visiting the community with Mom, we visited the school, which was still standing.”

Doug Harvey London, ON

This Month in History Come from Away is a Canadian musical based on the true story of what transpired when 38 planes carrying 7,000 passengers landed unexpectedly in the small town of Gander, NL, following the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001.

Toronto producer Michael Rubinoff first conceived the idea for the show, and he attracted writers Irene Sankoff and David Hein to create an initial script. Sankoff and Hein visited Gander in 2011 on the 10th anniversary of those life-altering events and interviewed many locals and returning passengers. The couple incorporated many stories and details directly and included many real-life characters in the script.

After being workshopped in 2012 and first produced at Sheridan College in 2013, the show went on to have record-breaking runs at the La Jolla Playhouse in San Diego, CA, in 2015 and the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, ON, in 2016. It opened on Broadway at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on March 12, 2017, routinely playing to sold-out audiences and earning glowing critical praise.

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reminiscing visions & vignettes

Gnat, do you mind…

Chooks?

By Harold N. Walters

Although her given name was Rachel, Aunt Chook Martin got her nickname because of her large flock of hens. Nearly always, a hundred or more hens ranged freely in Aunt Chook’s garden, peck-peck-pecking the chicken feed Aunt Chook cast daily. Oftentimes, they beat breakfasting robins to plump, but heedless, earthworms.

Aunt Chook’s brood contained a majority of common red and brown hens, dependable layers, and scrawny-necked white hens of motley pedigree. Once she had half a dozen Plymouth Rocks brought in from up in The States, speckled fowls unique among Brookwater henneries.

The Plymouth Rock Aunt Chook named Mayflower turned out to be an intrepid defender of her nest.

Harry learned that firsthand. The punctures and scabs on his arms and legs were evidence. His encounter with Mayflower happened when he and Gnat decided it would be fun to 110

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light a fire down on the beach and boil a few eggs for lunch.

“Aunt Chook’s hens lays eggs all over the place,” Harry said. “It’ll be easy to find some.”

And it was easy to find the eggs, as easy as searching beneath bushes for the makeshift nests where free-ranging hens laid them.

While Gnat held a pail of already plundered eggs, Harry approached a nest containing a large, brownshelled egg. He reached in and touched the egg. Its warm shell spoke of its freshness. His fingers curled around the egg like a hen1-888-588-6353

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hawk’s talons.

Poof! As suddenly as a genie from a belly-rubbed lamp, Mayflower appeared in all her speckled splendour and struck without warning. In a feathered fury, she drove her bony beak into the back of Harry’s hand.

Once … twice … three times … as rapidly as a trip-hammer. “Prawkkkkk!

Prawkkkk!” Faster than Harry could withdraw his thieving paw, Mayflower stitched a line of bloody holes up his naked arm from wrist to elbow.

Scrambling backwards to escape the hen’s wrath, Harry fell flat on his arse, legs up. The cuffs of his jeans slid up to his knees, leaving his pale shins exposed. Mayflower struck again. A fowl tornado, she hammered Harry’s shins with a beak that dripped blood like an assassin’s dagger.

Gnat hauled Harry to his feet and they fled. For a week after, Harry suffered the mockery of his friends.

“I ’low a fox would be better than you at robbing hens’ eggs,” Spud Spurvey tormented.

Olsen Tetford added, “You might have tried to rob a tamer hen than Mayflower.”

Even Otto Cook, who lived over in the Bogs with his grandmother, poked fun. “You’m some stund, Harry b’y.”

“Hope that taught you a lesson,” Sally said, patting Harry’s scabspeckled forearm.

His friends’ teasing riled Harry.

And like many a miserable miscreant who fails to see his own fault, Harry chose to blame the true victim – Mayflower, protector of home and hearth, so to speak.

“I’ll get ’er back,” Harry swore to 1-888-588-6353

his tormentors as they taunted him one day near the Big Rock across the road from Uncle Pell’s shop. “I’m going to put ’er to sleep.”

Surprised, Gnat said, “You’m going to kill ’er?”

“No, not kill ’er,” said Harry, “just hypnotize ’er for a spell to teach ’er a lesson.”

All eyes looked at Harry. Each pair wondering how Harry could put Mayflower to sleep. Harry answered the disbelief showing in every eye. “I knows how to do it. I read about it in school, in The Great Big Book of Fowl Behaviour.”

Only Gnat followed Harry away from the Big Rock, listening to him grumble about his so-called friends and repeating his intention of seeking revenge on – as Harry saw it – a savage brute of a hen. Halfway home, Gnat posed the question. “Harry b’y, do you have a plan?”

“I ’low I do,” he responded.

As it always does in the world where youngsters dwell, news of Harry’s plan to put the snooze on Mayflower spread throughout Brookwater. When the hour of Harry’s retaliation arrived, every youngster in Brookwater – from Sonny Mann, who practically heroworshiped Harry, to Ugly Maude, who stood with a comforting arm around Sally’s shoulder – lined up outside Aunt Chook’s picket fence.

Sneaky as an egg-sucking whizzle, and carrying a brin bag to boot, Harry pulled aside a loose picket and slipped through the fence into Aunt Chook’s garden. Gnat followed Harry while all the others watched. Gnat seemed uneasy. And rightly so because he was the bait.

The sun squeezed its beaming September 2021

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chops out from among a flotilla of scudding clouds and, with a single ray, spotlighted the bush sheltering Mayflower’s nest. The sunbeam sparkled like limelight, as if waiting for a leading player to come on stage.

“Prawkkkkkk.” Heralding her imminent entrance, Mayflower poked her head from beneath a bough and, with a flap of her wings, stepped into the sunlight.

“Prawkkkkkk.” Heralding her imminent entrance, Mayflower poked her head from beneath a bough and, with a flap of her wings, stepped into the sunlight.

“There she is,” said Harry as he quat down low and edged toward the bush.

“I sees ’er,” said Gnat, as he also quat down and, duck-waddling, shifted away from Harry.

“Get out in front and wave your arms or something,” said Harry.

“Lure ’er towards you so she don’t see me.”

“Here chook, chook, chook,” called Gnat. Having gained Mayflower’s attention, Gnat swung his hand left and right, a pantomime of strewing scratch, inviting the hen to approach.

“Prawkkkk.” Downright suspicious, Mayflower took a cautious dickystraddle in Gnat’s direction.

Still hunched down, Harry moved between Mayflower and her nest. He held the brin bag’s mouth as wide open as a sculpin’s toothy gob.

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“Here chook, chook, chook,” Gnat beckoned. He back-peddled, but Mayflower halted and cocked her head as if listening for a threatening sound.

The gallery of Brookwater youngsters leaned forward and held its communal breath.

“Here chook—” Before Gnat finished his chookiehen coaxing, Mayflower spun like a dervish. Her speckled feathers fluffed up so she looked the size of a bald eagle.

“Prawkkkk!” If an angry Plymouth Rock could hiss, that’s what Mayflower did a second before she flew into Harry’s face … … well, not Harry’s face, as it turned out, but into the brin bag’s gaping maw.

“I got ’er! I got ’er!” Harry crowed, choking the brin bag closed and wrapping his arm around the hen that was frantically attempting to flap herself free.

“Now what?” Gnat posed the question and the watching youngsters wondered the same.

“I got to calm ’er down.”

Harry cooed and gentled Mayflower until she settled down. He cradled the brin bag as Mayflower became still. Then, Harry carefully peeled open the bag and cuddled Mayflower gently as if she were a babe in arms.

Although her beak was still capable of inflicting wounds, of rending flesh, Mayflower remained motionless, as hens are wont to do once their wings are swaddled.

Gnat patted the air like he also was soothing Mayflower. The audience was a gallery of statues.

“Hush up, chooky,” Harry said.

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“Now you’m going to sleep.”

Harry stroked Mayflower’s feathers flat. With his thumb and forefinger, he massaged her neck until her eyes closed and her head nodded.

“Hush-o, chooky. Almost there.”

Then Harry bent Mayflower’s neck like Whipper Billy Watson putting a headlock on Gene Kiniski, until her head was clamped under his arm, a smothering hold that sent Mayflower with a muffled cluck to dreamland.

“You’m there, ol’ chook,” said Harry.

Five minutes passed.

The sun, fearing something was amiss, pulled a brace of grey-bellied clouds across its face. All the youngsters hung arms and elbows over the top of the picket fence.

“Can you wake ’er up?” Gnat asked.

Like the sun, he wondered if Harry’s stunt had backfired.

“In a minute,” said Harry, though he, too, looked unsure.

Steeling himself, Harry lodged 1-888-588-6353

Mayflower on the ground and attempted to stand her upright. Her gnarly feet clenched in rictus, Mayflower capsized. Her normally blood-red comb had gone ashen.

Mayflower appeared to be dead.

Harry nudged her with the toe of his sneaker.

And Mayflower, no longer playing possum, unwound like a fowl berserker. Her beak shredded scabs and drilled brand-new holes in Harry’s shins – the shins of legs that commenced to skedaddle.

Mind that stunt of Harry’s, Gnat?

Not that Mayflower informed her, but when Aunt Chook learned of Harry’s mischief, she inflicted added injury with her kitchen broom.

Harold Walters lives in Dunville, Newfoundland, doing his damnedest to live Happily Ever After.

Reach him at ghwalters663@gmail.com September 2021

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Top: Pal the Newfoundland dog pulls Jack Hayden, Mickey Ratcliffe and Eileen Elms on Chestnut Street. Courtesy of Eileen Elms 114

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The decades slip away

as Eileen Elms (Chafe) recalls moving to the Newfoundland Airport in 1940. “That was 80 years ago,” Eileen says with a chuckle, “but it feels like yesterday.”

Her memorable childhood adventure began at Christmas 1939. “It was unusual for a number of reasons,” Eileen says. “First, we had no tree.

Secondly, we had to pack up most of our furniture and put it on the train.

Thirdly, we were moving to the Newfoundland Airport, where my father was working as an electrician.

As the person in charge of the diesel power house, he was offered one of the first five permanent houses on Chestnut Street.

“Dad wrapped our piano and large pieces of furniture in hooked mats.

Everything else went into boxes and the whole lot went into a boxcar on the train. We couldn’t take all our belongings, so we stayed in our rented house in St. John’s until New Year’s Day, 1940.”

Mrs. Chafe would have liked the whole family to move together, but Eileen’s 12-year-old brother Bill and 10-year-old sister Joan had scarlet fever. They would be in the fever hospital in St. John’s for another two weeks. However, Eileen’s asthma had been particularly bad, so the doctor recommended that she be moved out of St. John’s as soon as possible. On January 1, 1940, 7-yearold Eileen Chafe began the biggest adventure of her life.

“Sometime around 2:00 a.m., we arrived at the Newfoundland Airport train station,” Eileen remembers. “A friend of my dad’s carried me and my dad carried our suitcases to a tarpaper shack near the station. Mum and I slept in Dad’s room and he slept somewhere else. Maybe some of

The Newfoundland Airport Train Station where Ellie’s family arrived in 1940 Courtesy of the Railway Coastal Museum

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Above: The Newfoundland Airport in 1939-40. The first five permanent homes on Chestnut Street are circled.

Courtesy of Robert Pelley from the late Fred Smeaton

Right: The house on Chestnut Street where Ellie’s family lived in Gander. One of the men outside the duplex is the Duke of Kent, who was touring the airport.

Courtesy of Eileen Elms

the men were still on Christmas holidays and Dad used one of their beds.”

In the morning, Eileen and her parents walked to their new house. It was a two-storey duplex that H.A.L. Pattison and his family had recently vacated; as the airport manager, Pattison was entitled to a singlefamily home.

“I remember how excited I felt the first time I saw it,” Eileen says. “We walked up a few steps to a divided veranda, with doors into each side of the duplex. The wooden siding was 116

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white and the trim was a dark colour, green or blue. We were pleasantly surprised to find that our furniture had been set up by some of Dad’s friends. An archway divided the living room and dining room, and the kitchen opened into a back porch.

There was an oil stove, but no refrigerator. The back porch had no heat, so we used it for cold storage.”

Eileen continues, “The rest of the house was heated with a coal furnace in the basement. Grates in the downstairs and upstairs hallways allowed 1-888-588-6353

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the heat to rise from floor to floor.

The second storey had three bedrooms and a bathroom. Joan and I would share a room; Bill and our parents had their own.”

Two weeks later, Bill and Joan arrived in the wee hours of the morning. This time Mr. Chafe borrowed a truck to pick them up at the train station. A noisy and happy exploration of the new house immediately occurred. The next morning Mrs. Chafe apologized to Mrs. Ratcliffe, who lived on the other side of their duplex, but she said the noise didn’t bother them one bit.

Friends and Neighbours

“I remember our friends and neighbours so clearly,” Eileen says.

“Michael (Mickey) Ratcliffe became my best friend. We were exactly the same age. He currently lives in Perth, Australia, and we still communicate.

There were children at the Pattisons’, Joy and Guy, but they were older.

Peter Blackie, who lived in the duplex next to ours, was born after we arrived. Felicity Heath was older and Sandra Pittman was younger; I remember giving her my dolls when I outgrew them. The Sheppards had five children: Douglas, David, Daphne, Vera and Ian. Douglas was my age, but the others were younger.

“In St. John’s I didn’t have many friends. I spent a lot of time indoors because of my asthma. But the doctor had been right about my asthma improving in Gander. All that winter I didn’t have a single attack. I played outside with the children who lived on Chestnut Street. We went sliding and built snowmen. It was a whole new life for me.”

Eileen particularly remembers 1-888-588-6353

what she wore in the winter of 1940.

Because the girls wore skirts or dresses, her mother made her a onepiece snowsuit with a zipper up the front. “I don’t know if you could buy them anywhere else, but we certainly hadn’t seen them in Gander,” Eileen says.

“In St. John’s I didn’t have many friends. I spent a lot of time indoors because of my asthma. But the doctor had been right about my asthma improving in Gander. All that winter I didn’t have a single attack. I played outside with the children who lived on Chestnut Street. We went sliding and built snowmen. It was a whole new life for me.”

In the summer, Eileen remembers a long walk to Gander Lake where they swam in the cold water. Because it was so far, they packed lunches and stayed most of the day. There were no lifeguards, but there were always other people there. “I suppose they unofficially kept an eye on us,” Eileen says.

Setting Up School

The absence of her asthma attacks had another benefit for Eileen. She could go to school whenever it was available. She remembers there was still snow on the ground when she September 2021

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The first permanent school was a one-room structure located at the end of Chestnut Street Courtesy of Eileen Elms first went to school at the airport: “Our classroom was in one of the tarpaper shacks down by the railway station. Normally they were used as housing for railway workers, but for two weeks one of them became a schoolroom, with long tables and benches.

“A railway car was set up as a classroom and moved from town to town.

Two teachers taught for two weeks in each location, and then the railway car was moved to a new town. For the families near the airport, the railway car was parked at Cobb’s Camp and the children came in every day. For the families at the airport, one of the teachers rode a speeder to the train station.” At the end of the two weeks, the school car moved on and the students went back to learning through a correspondence program provided by the government.

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In September 1940, a one-room school opened at the end of Chestnut Street, with Gordon Cluett as the first teacher. Because Eileen had missed so much time in school in St. John’s due to asthma, she had to repeat first grade. She had been prepared to brazen her way through, but her sister told the teacher the truth.

Military and the Mascot

There were very few military personnel at the Newfoundland Airport in 1940, as it was a civil aviation base.

“Our only contact with soldiers occurred in the open field across from our house. They lived in tents to protect the airport from any outside attacks. I think it was the Royal Rifles in late 1940,” Eileen says.

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Newfoundland dog, Pal. He used to pull us around in a sleigh until the day he jumped up and accidentally scratched my sister Joan’s face. Mrs. Hayden said he was too big and playful to be around small children. He would have to be sent away. That was when the Royal Rifles asked if they could have Pal as their mascot. They renamed him Gander, and when they were shipped to Hong Kong in 1941, Gander went with them. He earned the Dickin Medal for animal bravery when he picked up a live grenade and carried it away from the men. Today there is a statue of him in the Memorial Park in Gander.”

The airport changed dramatically after the first flight of seven Hudson bombers to Aldergrove, Northern Ireland on November 10, 1940. “We knew about the flight and its success from our father,” Eileen explains.

“Everyone was very excited because we knew those pilots were delivering planes to help the British war effort.”

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By 1941, new construction began to change the Newfoundland Airport from an “essentially civil aviation base” run by the Newfoundland government into a “bustling military operation” run by the RCAF, says Eileen. In July 1941, the Newfoundland Airport became Gander Airport.

“As I got older, I understood the military purpose of the airport, but as a seven-year-old in 1940, my world was dominated by my family; our teacher, Mr. Cluett; big, friendly Pal; and our friends and neighbours on Chestnut Street.”

The author wishes to thank Eileen Elms (Chafe) for her memories and Darrell Hillier and Robert Pelley, Gander historians, for their contributions to this article. Heather Stemp is the author of Amelia and Me and Under Amelia’s Wing. She’s currently working on book three of this series.

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reminiscing

A surprise encounter with a humpback that nearly ended the lives of three brothers

By Kim Ploughman

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Although fishing is one of the most dangerous occupations in the world, heading off to the fishing grounds is an everyday venture for fishers in our province; and most days on the water unfold with a certain degree of predictability. However, for Peter Jones of Baine Harbour, NL, a June day in 1992 was anything but ordinary or foreseeable. In fact, the 28-year-old and his two younger brothers – Eugene, 24, and Felix, 20 – experienced one of the most harrowing and memorable days in their lives.

The day was just breaking at 4:30 a.m. on June 8, when the Jones brothers nosed out of Baine Harbour in Placentia Bay in a 23-foot speed boat. With the wind still asleep, a thick fog wrapped them in a shroud for a short while. Twelve miles out, they shut off the boat’s engine to haul their gillnets.

The b’ys were pretty pleased with their harvest – 1,400 pounds of plump cod. They decided to gut the fish on board, so they could enjoy some hand-lining afterwards on this pleasurable day on the ocean.

By 1:00, with the work near complete, the ocean outing took a sudden and drastic turn for the fishermen. In a recent interview, Peter, now 56, recounts that exact moment.

He was at the stern, back-on to his brothers who were in the boat’s forward, when he heard Eugene shout, “Oh my God!” The next thing he knew, “I felt the weight of something touching my back and then the boat going.”

A young humpback whale had leaped from the water and landed in the boat, before plunging back into the ocean, tipping the boat as it went.

In a flash, Peter found himself 1-888-588-6353

going up the side of the boat’s keel as it flipped bottom up. An eerie silence hung in the air for a moment.

Eugene broke the surface of the water first. Felix, thrown farther from the boat, struggled to swim. He had been hit in the head by the bulkhead, which “done him in from the get go,” says Peter. Plus, Felix was not a swimmer.

Kicking off one boot to “give me more strength in my leg,” Peter pushed off from the keel and swam towards Felix and held onto him. His brother, however, started dragging him down in the water. “I told him to keep moving his legs and flick his arms.”

They made it to Eugene (also a non-swimmer) and Peter managed to get the two of them to the boat. He then dove under the capsized boat for the “painter” – a rope located in the stem used for tying up or towing.

With Eugene holding one end of the rope near the forward, where he knelt on the keel, and Peter holding the other end at the stern, they managed to tie Felix onto the rope between them.

“Every time he slipped off, we would haul him up,” Peter explains.

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Clinging and Waiting The stranded boaters held on for dear life, hoping for help to arrive.

Peter recollects at one point, they caught sight of a boat setting lump nets, and later, a longliner; but neither vessel saw the three brothers in distress.

Meanwhile, the humpback whale kept circling the overturned boat.

Peter remarks, “He was going ballistic, having caught the scent of the bait and the gutted cod.”

As time passed, Peter grew more and more concerned over Felix. “He was getting weaker by the hour and began hallucinating, seeing helicopters at one point.”

Peter Jones

Eugene Jones

It was a race against time and the swells. “Every time the boat moved, Felix slipped off,” says Peter, explaining that his younger brother’s body was mostly in the cold water with the way he was positioned.

By 5 p.m., after four long hours, the wind dropped out, steadying the boat and making it easier to keep Felix out of the water. Still, “We had to do a lot of talking to keep Felix awake,” says Peter, who also managed to stand on the keel and scan the horizon for potential rescuers.

The Rescue Meantime, back in nearby Parker’s 122

September 2021

Cove, Thomas Jones began to worry about his overdue sons and headed towards the community wharf. There he met another fisherman, Melvin Murphy, who volunteered to join the search.

The searchers feared the worst, when at 8:30 p.m. they sighted the overturned boat. On the keel, Peter spotted a speedboat steaming towards them and remembers feeling elated when the boat did not zigzag away from them. The rescuers took on the relieved survivors – first, Felix was boarded, and then Eugene and Peter jumped aboard.

“Once Placentia Traffic was alerted to send an ambulance, boats started

Felix Jones

Melvin Murphy

to come in all directions,” says Peter.

About halfway in, the party met a faster boat, who took Felix aboard to get him to shore and into the waiting ambulance sooner. From there he was taken to the Burin hospital.

Luck & Lessons Sitting at his friend’s table in Baine Harbour nearly three decades after the incident, Peter talks nonchalantly about what transpired on that memorable day in June 1992, when they had drifted some four-and-ahalf miles while desperately clinging to their fibreglass vessel.

Peter admits it was “a long day” 1-888-588-6353

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and that “keeping Felix alive was what kept us going and alive.” Felix survived, but Peter discloses that “the doctors said that another halfhour and he would not have made it.”

He adds, “If it was another hour later, it would have been dark; or if the fog had reappeared, it would have been a different ending.”

The day after their rescue, Eugene revealed that while under the capsized boat in the seconds after it flipped, he came face-to-face with the one that caused it – the humpback whale.

Humpback whales are not known to be aggressive, but they are very acrobatic and breaching is their speciality. Peter surmises the whale had an accidental encounter with his boat while looking for breakfast.

Eugene and Peter were back on Placentia Bay three days later in the same boat with a cleanedup motor. Whale markings on the boat’s radio box, etched by its sharp barnacles, reminded them of their ordeal. Peter fishes out of Baine Harbour to this day.

Understandably, Felix steered his career away from the sea. He has a management job in northern Saskatchewan. Peter shares that four years ago, Felix developed blood cancer and the only match for a needed treatment was Eugene. “If Eugene had drowned that day…” Peter trails off with the dreadful thought.

Eugene left fishing in 2007, and went on to become a journeyman electrician. He lives in Paradise, NL, but recently lent Peter a hand with crab fishing. When asked if he recalls that fateful day, he replies, “It’s still 1-888-588-6353

with you, but when you go back in the boat, there’s still an eerie feeling wondering if it could happen again.”

When asked about the boat’s personal protective equipment (PPE), including lifejackets, Peter admits they were regrettably stored in the gunwale. Yet, he also thinks it’s

Peter Jones never stopped fishing.

possible that the equipment, stored in an airtight garbage bag, kept the boat afloat during that dramatic time at sea.

Still, it was a lesson learned – not just for Peter but for other area fishermen as well. “I seen people going out on the water with two life jackets on after that!” he says.

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life is better Starry night at Cape Spear, NL Stephanie Linthorne, Mount Pearl, NL

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puzzles

The Beaten Path

Meghan Anderson 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, when unscrambled, will spell out the name of the above community.

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n H V U

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Last Month’s Community: Gander 126

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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

September 2021

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Alma & Harold Whalen photo

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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: • Tucked into the Shoal Harbour River Valley • Established in 1891 as Clarenceville • Gateway to the Bonavista Peninsula • Economy built on shipbuilding and railway • Home of a popular ski resort

Last Month’s Answer: Moreton’s Harbour

Picturesque Place NameS of Newfoundland and Labrador

by Mel D’Souza Last Month’s Answer: Dunville 128

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In Other Words Guess the well-known expression written here in other words.

Last Month’s Clue: A jester and his wealth are momentarily separated In Other Words: A fool and his money are soon parted This Month’s Clue: Inquisitiveness spelled the demise of the feline In Other Words: ________ ______ ___ ___

Rhyme Time

A Way With Words APPRECIATED

FEELING

A rhyming word game by Ron Young

Last Month’s Answer: Feeling underappreciated

1. Out of control tot is a ____ ____

This Month’s Clue

2. A moonbeam is a natural _____ _____

THEDOWNDUMPS

3. A baby stroller con is a ____ ____ Last Month’s Answers

Answer: ____ __ ___ _____

Scrambled Sayings

1. like a hike, 2. lazy daisy, 3. power hour

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.

’

’

A H E A E C B E A E N H E E A G I E G I E H L T H E I L T R H E A I R H S T F S T O N S S T M F N T T O T T W T T T L T T

A F H N

E E G E E S H I P S T L N R U S T

Last month’s answer: Be happy with what you have and are, be generous with both, and you won't have to hunt for happiness. www.downhomelife.com

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Rhymes 5 Times Each answer rhymes with the other four

1. hooter

____________

2. cloth

____________

3. snarl

____________

4. hen

____________

5. intestine

____________

STUCK? Don’t get your knickers in a knot!

Puzzle answers can be found online at DownhomeLife.com/puzzles

Last Month’s Answers: 1. run, 2. fun, 3. son, 4. stun, 5. gun

Tangled Towns

by Lolene Young Condon and Ron Young

Unscramble each of the five groups of letters below to get 5 Newfoundland and Labrador place names.

Sound out the groups of words below to get a familiar expression.

1. OLIRSELC

For best results sound the clue words out loud!

2. LAVADONE

He Legs Shunned Hay ________ ___

3. DORYOHLO

Hit Suck Rhyme ___ _ ______ Last Month’s 1st Clue: Plea Sack Chore Rage Answer: Please act your age Last Month’s 2nd Clue: Pay Burp Ax Answer: Paperbacks

4. RUGISB 5. HICKSUETS Last Month’s Answers: 1. Buchans, 2. Badger, 3. Millertown, 4. Bishop’s Falls, 5. Norris Arm

A nalogical A nagrams Unscramble the capitalized words to get one word that matches the subtle clue.

1. PA RAP WELL ~ Clue: can’t function unless it’s plastered 2. IGNORE STYE ~ Clue: only those who give really get it 3. TAVERN DUE ~ Clue: it begins, it awaits and for some it never ends 4. SNAIL POETRY ~ Clue: big ones get noticed 5. RAINY RAVENS ~ Clue: it’s a date!

Last Month’s Answers: 1. sunshine, 2. hammock, 3. treehouse, 4. vacation, 5. compromise 130

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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.

1-31: lofty 1-91: stagecoach robber 2-4: unhappy 2-32: sleigh 3-23: become sick 5-7: colour 5-45: renegade 10-1: bunkum 10-7: hairless 10-30: tavern 10-100: hatless 12-15: string 18-15: waterway 19-49: autumn 23-21: limb 23-43: toss 25-22: liver secretion 27-30: big pig 28-30: paddle 29-59: comrade 32-35: ration 32-52: canine 36-6: similar 36-40: soup-scooper 38-8: dame 38-35: glen 41-46: totter 41-61: route 43-41: ship front 44-4: sightless 44-48: intermingle 47-27: capture 50-30: she 50-80: noggin 55-52: male deer 55-85: dispatched 59-57: yearning 59-89: garden 60-58: peeper 66-61: lethal www.downhomelife.com

1

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71-91: human 74-54: devour 75-72: birdie bed 77-79: equal 78-76: mimic 80-76: curtain 81-85: separated 87-57: ajar 87-89: ancient 85-82: ensnare 88-68: jurisprudence 94-54: goody 94-96: alloy 96-6: thin pin 96-46: sewing tool 96-66: require 98-48: imperfection

98-96: fish part 98-100: gave food to 100-91: interpretation Last Month’s Answer

A F T B E A B EG ROU E R T V E E I L L AUN T AA EMP

E R U T A R E T I L

R WA R TH I N NODR E T P A DM I R A I N E CRA F CU P I LOAN OYME

September 2021

D E A D E L A Y I N

S E P A R A T I S T

131

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The Bayman’s

Crossword Puzzle 1

2

by Ron Young 3

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September 2021

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ACROSS 1. enemy 3. paddle 5. worldwide web (abbrev) 6. mat 7. they “run” ashore 12. vacant land 13. information technology (abbrev) 15. Olympic Games (abbrev) 16. “___ __ Newfoundland” 18. mug-up 20. I dos 21. spigot 22. “Cold enough to __ anointed” 23. Robert’s Arm (abbrev) 24. broad 26. Tickle Cove (abbrev) 28. nude 30. mast 32. wireless messenger 33. “Foolish __ odd socks” 34. mother 35. Labrador West output 36. slide downhill (colloq) 38. crisscross pattern 40. “Little _____ of Newfoundland” 42. “What’s on the __?”

43. ___ Paulo, Brazil 44. foot digits 46. rudder handle (colloq) 48. allow 49. alone 50. lager DOWN 1. Next to Nameless Cove (2 words) 2. common creepy insect 4. Warhol’s initials 8. past 9. ____ at sea 10. “__ know him boiled up in a pot of soup” www.downhomelife.com

11. seine 12. small white-capped wave (colloq) 13. in other words (abbrev) 14. pitch 17. sailing into the wind 18. disorder 19. The Big Land 22. arts degree (abbrev) 24. Victoria Day (for short) 25. toilet paper (abbrev) 26. tropical root vegetable 27. make 28. L’Anse aux Meadows explorers 29. All Nippon Airways (abbrev) 31. “friend” in St. Pierre 32. mafia 37. fancy affair 38. ball 39. bread and ____ mix 41. toddler 43. Saddle Island (abbrev) 45. steamship (abbrev) 46. “Where you going __?”

47. East End (abbrev)

F I S H A N D B R E W I S

O B R E E A T L E O R O U A N C I L E A M D O S D E G O

ANSWERS TO LAST MONTH’S CROSSWORD A D Y E L A P L L E A C K E V

M A D I N G N E V S I U T E D V R A S M A L H A N D E N T I

M I E E N T C A L A L W

R A I L L O O N

D E

September 2021

A L C E N G E E E Y N E O D C H E

133

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DIAL-A-SMILE © 2021 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. ____ 4273 _ ___ _ _ 5 455 3 3 ___ 949

____ 9675

_____ 63837

_____ __ 26926 39

____ 8253

___ 843

’

___ 288

_ _ _ _ _ _?

2 42623

Last Month’s Answer: If you haven’t got anything nice to say about anybody, come sit next to me

©2021 Ron Young

CRACK THE CODE

Each symbol represents a letter of the alphabet, for instancez= N Try to guess the smaller, more obvious words to come up with the letters for the longer ones. The code changes each month.

_ _ _ _ _ D QkZ k

_ _ WC

_ _ _ _ N _ _ _ CD Z \ zpkZ _ _ _ D Qk

_ _ _ _ _

n\Z a b

N _ _ _ _ N _ z \DQ W zp _ N Wz _ _ _ N DQ z

L

_ _ N _ _ _ N _ _ _ pkzD a kzkCC Last Month’s Answer: The privilege of a lifetime is being who you are.

134

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Food For Thought

© 2021 Ron Young

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.”

evil =

nasty =

_ _ _

spouse =

range =

bumpier = _ _ _ _ _ _ _ KnctVx K

_ _ _ _

wd b x

_ _

_

_

fake =

_

]an q x

_

[

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

]Y dax b co

k[ v

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _

b Kd xfv

aK c x _ _ _ _

_ _

_ _ _ _

t xa] d f IncK _ _

_ _ _ _

c f ox]]

_

_

an

_ _

kx

_ _ _

Inc

_ _ _ _

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Y Vnf xI

_ _ _

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f xq xK _ _ _

w[ I

_ _ _ _ _ _

V[ YYxf

_ _ _ _ _

tndft

_ _

_

_

vn w f

Last Month’s Answer: Life is pleasant. Death is peaceful.

It’s the transition that’s troublesome. www.downhomelife.com

September 2021

135

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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 MOW THE LAWN

Last Month’s Answers: 1. Road sign, 2. Elbow, 3. Legs, 4. Sunglasses, 5. Sleeve, 6. Man moved, 7. Carry-on bag, 8. Cloud, 9. Wipers, 10. Licence plate, 11. Tree; 12. Car. “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.

136

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HIDE & SEEK

AMERICAN BASEBALL TEAMS The words can be across, up, down, backward or at an angle, but always in a line.

PHILLIES PIRATES RANGERS RAYS REDS

ANGELS ASTROS ATHLETICS BREWERS CARDINALS CUBS DIAMONDBACKS DODGERS GIANTS MARINERS MARLINS METS NATIONALS ORIOLES PADRES

C P Q S O C O R I O L E S E S L P E

C O O U E N L D W K R O Y A L S O X

J D O D G E R S O Z B F K K E H W Y

K W K G R S K U P F U J R S M G N H

P T S B L X I N F K V I E E P S W Q

O H C E K S T N A I G R I V H L X U

K J G B F V W L U Y D O P Z I A D Y

www.downhomelife.com

U H S O F S K C S G U Q V Y J L F C

Last Month’s Answers

F N Q Z R I W X G A G Y E E L N K L

A E O T J O I C P H B A C M L I N Y

M V S I S K C A B D N O M A I D S M

C F G G D Y C K O Q N X A S E R D X

D M F E T L O U I O V A R M S A E F

D O T R M U V L B E Q Q I P S C R A

Z B F H L A B M D R R L K J Z L S U

ROCKIES ROYALS TIGERS TWINS YANKEES E T R H J D A T E J E O Q I N S Z C

C E V S V N A C C S S B N M M Q Q J

K N U A H C S K I B L M W C U L Z W

Z K I O E A X L X U O J M F S O F O

V M D B H W X Q M C Q Z E A I B D D

R X T W X X N F V O O M Z U V W R Y

G G L U J Q C T H Q C D B A S F G S

S J S P S O S T E M B Q R D Q T U N

P E N V Y N W T S F R B M D B B I T

H O N P W C D S M A P S P I H C O H

U P Y V C N S T W D J R S F U Y A H

L X T W Y T E N L R K W S N B X E C

L X A F I E M K V Y Z K E X M T T D

H M J E G I H C A E B S L A T S X N

Y X T G K E H L R J B D A R E L G U

D U C O I S B E G W H K E E C D M L

E H R W T C R A N G E R S W I X V L

I A O J H N A R D Y C J H B U W B W

S W T A E H A Y R W A H M O E C K R

Z C L P Z P A B H A V C M S T A B T

P P D A H S F R P P N N L P L X A U

A O R L L G C H I L G S N Z M R J L

Q T P F S R T Y E Y Z O U I E J Y C

X U L L S O D N C X U M M I R J V N

Q I U S H D L H V Y I A T Q G D S D

G O A K L Y W E G S L I H E Y L I P

L E T S W Y Q W Q A W D V J L Z A W

P F F V T Q D P W S L N G R J F J K

E K E L G E C R A C K E R S R S N K

P A R K Q T E K N A L B G H U Q L G

W Y M T A J C R E S X M S N O P C F

September 2021

F T S A N D W I C H E S N A C K B S

T E Y M R Y U M G I C F Q D V W C F

Y R W O I K U S D L W M T B F W H I

F P F Q Y Z Y C K A G N A K P S K T 137

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%$#"! $% $# $ %! $

St. Anthony

Not intended to solicit properties currently under contract

Panoramic View of Harbour 1924 Sq. Ft. • 4 bdrm, 2 bath Double Attached Garage with Wood Stove Large Driveway • $246,000 Call Tom: 709-454-6604 (c) or 709-237-3242 (h)

FOR SALE • CAPE RAY/RED ROCKS Prime Oceanfront Property on the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Ideal for Boat Owners - Build Your Dream Home!

Approx: 7.6 Acres. Unlimited Potential – All Natural Safe Harbour. Power Services Available. Vendor Willing to Subdivide. $350,000. Kijiji Ad ID: 1574795142

Contact: 709-640-9905

Downhome Real Estate Book your ad today 709-726-5113 1-888-588-6353

Spectacular View!

Located in the most desired area of Twillingate, NL This 5 year old, custom built home offers soaring 9' ceilings, and 7' picture windows overlooking the ocean. A cook's dream kitchen, 3 generously sized bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms, in-floor heating, 2 car garage shed, and a greenhouse.

Double lot (can sell separately). $388,000.

Call Lucielle at 709-700-1275 or 709-424-1146 138

September 2021

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Licensed to do Business in Ontario.

Mortgage Agent # M18002662 FSCO# 12728

CODROY VALLEY Book Today 709-726-5113 1-888-588-6353 advertising@downhomelife.com

Private 2 Acre Lot • View of Mountains • 3 Bedrooms 2 Bathrooms • 12' x 16' Sunroom Workshop & Single Garage

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Andy: 416-247-0639 Out West: 403-471-5313

aandkmoving@gmail.com September 2021

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GREAT GIFT IDEAS!

Catherine Snow:

White Picket Monsters

A Novel of the Last Woman Hanged in Newfoundland Nellie P. Strowbridge

A Story of Strength and Survival - Bev Moore Davis

Uncommon Courage

In the Shadow of the Long Range Mountains

#80210 | $22.00

- Jim Wellman

#80272 | $19.95

Love, Life:

A Mostly True Fable Bernadine Ann Teraz Stapleton

#80311 | $19.95

#80316 | $21.95

Inner Compass:

One Man’s Spiritual Journey Nicholas Galliott O'Keeffe

#80273 | $19.95

Twine Loft:

- Adrian Payne

Stories and Sayings from the Oral Tradition - Rex Brown

Last Hummingbird West of Chile - Nicholas Ruddock #80215 | $22.95

Sick in Bed, Across Two Chairs, with My Feet Out Through the Window -

#80275 | $21.00

#80312 | $19.95

Grandpa Pike

#80313 | $19.95

Prices listed do not include tax and shipping

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MORE SELECTION ONLINE www.shopdownhome.com

A Very Silly (Wet and Woolly) Beach Rock Band - Susan Pynn Taylor/Ashley Quirke #80314 | $9.95

Plush Humpback Whale - 12" #52754 | $10.99

Finn’s First Song: A Whaley Big Adventure - Gerry Daly

#80315 | $9.95

#47477 | $12.95

Plush Harp Seal - 8" #63324 | $11.99

Plush Puffin - 4.5" #44414 | $8.99

Sale!

NL Flag Towel - 32"x 64" #79656 | $17.99

Saltwater Joys - Wayne Chaulk/Dawn Baker

NL Sayings Blanket #77814 | $39.99 $24.88

TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353

Sale!

NL Tartan Blanket #75517| $39.99 $24.88

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GREAT GIFT IDEAS!

PURITY GOODNESS

Purity Peppermint Candy Purity Goodie Box #79290 | $49.99

Nobs #4238 Candy Barrels #49556

$4.50 each

Purity Kisses

Purity Gift Box #78550 | $19.99

Assorted #3997 Peanut Butter #4010

$4.50 each

Newfoundland Seasonings Ragin' Bayman Spicy BBQ #79465 | $7.99 • Moose Spice #77375 | $7.99 • Steak & Burger #77377 | $7.99 Cod Spice #77379 | $8.99 • Atlantic Ocean Salt #79802 | $7.99 • Maple Smoked Salt #79803 | $7.99

Prices listed do not include tax and shipping

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MORE SELECTION ONLINE www.shopdownhome.com

Canvas Print 11"x 14" Lobster Pots Witless Bay #49806 | $42.99

Canvas Print 11"x 14" Victoria S Street #49807 7 | $42.99

Canvas Print 10"x 16" Boat Oars #49757 757 | $42.99

Canvas Print 11"x 14" Mittens for Sale S #49801 | $42.99

Canvas Print 11"x 14" Emma’s mm Clothesline #51297 5 7 | $42.99

Canvas Print 11"x 14" Tilting Quilts #49805 5 | $42.99

Canvas Print 11"x 14" S S Sea Symphony m #51290 5 | $42.99

Canvas Print 11"x 14" Red S Sky Tranquility #49810 | $42.99

TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353

Canvas Print 11"x 14" Chunks of Ice #49799 7 | $42.99

2109_photo Finish_0609 Photo Finish 7/29/21 10:38 AM Page 144

photo finish

Saltwater

Cathedral

Jewel-toned bottles catch the light like stainedglass in the window of this old fisherman’s store.

Cory Babstock Clarenville, NL

Do you have an amazing or funny photo to share?

Turn to page 9 to find out how to submit.

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September 2021

1-888-588-6353

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1.800.563.2800 | palairlines.ca

@PALairlines