Downhome January 2022

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Vol 34 • No 08

$4.99

January 2022

VOTE for Submission of the YEAR

Rescue at the Battery Apps for New Year’s Resolutions

Colour trends for 2022

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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, Destinee Rogers, Amy Young, Bobbi Jensen, Kate Flynn, Emily Snelgrove

Subscriptions Customer Service Associate Cathy Blundon Customer Service Associate Courtney Ralph

Operations Manager, Twillingate Nicole Mehaney Founding Editor Ron Young Chief Executive Officer/Publisher Grant Young 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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66 cool cats

Contents

JANUARY 2022

42 Submission of the Year Browse the 12 photo finalists from 2021 and vote for your favourite.

52 Backwards Talk Nicola Ryan attempts to find out why Newfoundlanders often say the opposite of what we mean.

66 The Elusive Lynx

42 cast your vote

www.downhomelife.com

The Newfoundland lynx is real, and it’s one of the province’s most interesting native species.

Todd Hollett

120 Rescue at The Battery A first-hand account of a now historic tragedy in old St. John’s.

Tom Rissesco

January 2022

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Contents

JANUARY 2022

homefront 8 I Dare Say A note from the Editor 10 Letters From Our Readers A problem with Farley, newlyweds in Burnside and a Newfoundland pony 18 Downhome Tours Downhome readers explore China

20 Why is That? Why do we call computer glitches “bugs”? Linda Browne

18 writing on the wall

22 Life’s Funny Laugh Lines Pearl Vokey

23 Say What? A contest that puts words in someone else’s mouth 24 Lil Charmers Campfire Cuties 26 Pets of the Month Takes All Kinds

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self reflection

28 Reviewed Denise Flint interviews Donna Morrissey about her new book, Pluck

30 What Odds Paul Warford has a status update

32 Fresh Tracks Wendy Rose reviews Kyle Gryphon’s sophomore album, Desolation 38 NEW! Outdoor Adventures Give Kids a Chance Gord Follett

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personality plus 4

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72 art of the matter

78 test your limits

features 56 Tell Me a Story Karen Carroll continues the longstanding recitation tradition in a modern way.

Nicola Ryan 60 Wing and a Prayer Ray Hawco’s new memoir recalls some harrowing events. Dennis Flynn

explore 72 Art APPreciation A new app offers a unique way to discover and appreciate public art. Linda Browne

78 The Ultra-Magnificent Seven Ultramarathon events, a winning combination of fitness and travel goals. Dennis Flynn www.downhomelife.com

January 2022

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Contents

JANUARY 2022

86

wonderful winter

86 Choose Your Winter Adventure! How readers make the most of this time of year.

90 Travel Diary Day Trip to Rattling

102 super suppers

Brook Calvin Perry

home and cabin 92 Stuff We Love New Year’s Apps Nicola Ryan

94 Bright Ideas for 2022 Interior designer Marie Bishop’s home décor tips.

98 Todd’s Table Baked Stuffed Squid Todd Goodyear

102 Everyday Recipes Winner Winner Chicken Dinner 6

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112

back in the day

108 Down to Earth Critters in your houseplants Kim Thistle

reminiscing 112 Flashbacks Classic photos of people and places

113 This Month in History The SS Beverly

114 Visions and Vignettes About the cover Did you know that the Newfoundland lynx has been around for 20,000 years or more? Take a closer look at the life of the notoriously shy lynx, beginning on p. 66.

Cover Index Vote for Submission of the Year • 42 Tougher Brand of Tourists • 78 Dinner is Solved • 102 The Elusive Lynx • 66 Rescue at the Battery • 120 Apps for New Year’s Resolutions • 92 Colour Trends for 2022 • 94 www.downhomelife.com

Adventures of two young scalawags in an imaginary outport of days gone by.

Harold N. Walters

118 DH Memories The Winter Cut in Torbay Danny Gosse

126 Puzzles 138 Classifieds 140 Mail Order 144 Photo Finish January 2022

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i dare say It’s funny how kid-me and adult-me see the same things so differently.

Kid-me loved icicles that streamed down from the eaves in winter. (Thanks, Harold Walters, for reminding me of that with your Visions and Vignettes tale this month, on p. 114.) The early morning or early evening sun made them sparkle, a cheery sight after all the colourful Christmas lights were taken down. I loved to try to break off the largest one in a single piece, like a giant Popsicle – and I licked many an icicle in my childhood day. It was a treat just like drinking water from the hose on a hot summer day.

Adult-me looks at icicles and thinks, “That roof has an insulation/air flow problem. Gonna be ice damming and a leak there for sure.” Adult-me would be horrified at breaking off the icicles and licking them. For one, that could damage the eavestrough; two, all the roof dirt that dripped down with the water to make those icicles – ewwwww!

Kid-me hated Sundays because they were so long and boring, with nothing to do. Adult-me loves long, drawn-out, lazy Sundays, the less to do the better.

Kid-me saw a tree and had to climb it; adult-me sees a tree and worries about falling out of it. Kid-me never wanted the day to end and go to bed; adult-me can’t wait to go to bed out of it. Kid-me hated early mornings; adult-me, well, still hates early mornings.

The only sunrises kid-me and adult-me ever saw were the ones we stayed up all night for.

As I head towards a milestone birthday this year, kid-me would think I’m pretty old. But adult-me thinks I’m as young as I ever was; haven’t aged a day. And you’re supposed to listen to your elders, right? Right.

Thanks for reading,

Janice Stuckless, Editor-in-chief janice@downhomelife.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 Noah Gosse of Port Hope, ON, who found Corky on pg. 77 of the November 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

January 2022

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Posing at Pearson’s Peak The attached is a picture of my wife, Meta, standing at Pearson’s Peak in August 1969. From 1968 to 1970, I was a teacher at St. Michael’s high school in Grand Falls. On a warm August afternoon, we decided to visit the Peak where this picture was taken. At the time she was pregnant with our first son, who turned 52 on October 6. I am unsure as to when it became inaccessible or what happened to the remains of the structure.

Harry Elliott Via email

Thanks for your letter, Harry. Based on the various responses we’ve gotten like yours, it seems Pearson’s Peak was more popular than we knew.

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Newlyweds in Burnside

My husband and I got pictures taken on my grandfather’s wharf in my hometown of Burnside, NL. The JR6 buoy washed ashore in the storm surge caused by Hurricane Larry. Between that and the calmness of the water, it makes for a once-in-a-lifetime photo!

Ashley Elson Conception Bay South, NL

Congratulations on your wedding, and thank you for sharing this beautiful photo.

Cooper Family History Let me begin by conveying to you how much I look forward to receiving my Downhome copy by mail every month.

It connects me to the island where my mother, Dorothy, was born in Old Perlican, Trinity Bay, on October 26, 1926. In June and July, 2014 and 2015, I finally travelled to this beautiful, rugged island and it has taken hold of my heart. The people we met touched us with their resilience, pride, kindness and sense of humour. I am very proud of my NL heritage.

I am in possession of the Certificate of Birth (No. 10537) for my grandfather, Archibald Cooper, who was born on February 5, 1882. He was baptised May 7, 1882, by Rev. William Swann, in the Methodist (now United) church in Old Perlican. It lists his father, James Cooper (occupation fisherman), and his mother, Frances Cooper. It was signed by C.H. Tobin, Registrar General, on September 11, 1943. I would be happy to return this document home where it belongs, but I am uncertain where to forward it. www.downhomelife.com

Both my grandparents, Archibald Cooper and Ester Louisa Tizzard, were born in Old Perlican, NL. Sadly, in September 1920, Grandpa Cooper was forced to separate from his wife and children in order to find work in Saint John, NB. In September 1922, the entire family was reunited there and they never returned home to Newfoundland.

I also possess family histories listing both Archibald and Ester’s siblings, as well as their offspring (my aunts and uncles). If there are relatives, church archives or an historian who would preserve these documents for future generations, I would be most interested in having them contact me.

Esther Grant Waterloo, ON

If you have an interest in these family records, contact Downhome to be put in touch with Esther. Call us at 1-888-588-6353, email editorial@ downhomelife.com, or write to Downhome, 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3.

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A Very Special Occasion This is Shirley Blanchard, turning 84 years young. Her family asked that people send her a birthday card with a story as to how they know her etc., thinking we wanted to get 84 cards. Well, we lost count after 220! Thanks everyone!

Kim Blanchard Shallop Cove, NL

We didn’t send a card, but we happily send Shirley belated birthday greetings!

Chasing Waterfalls I enjoyed this article [“Chasing Waterfalls,” August 2021]. It made us remember the waterfall (maybe it would just be called rapids) in the Humber River, in the provincial park where we camped on our first trip to Newfoundland in 1972. Then on our second trip, in 1975, we saw the waterfall on the Pinware River in southern Labrador.

Peggy and Don Roeske Apple Valley, MN, USA

Those are two gorgeous camping spots, for sure!

Hometown Heroes I’m writing about your article “Hometown Heroes” in the November issue.

Thank you for including this in your publication. I live in Perth, Ontario, where we have 210 of these banners installed – honouring our veterans, past and present. I love that there are connections all over the country and specifically Newfoundland.

My mom is from Newfoundland and she receives your magazine in the mail. You are a wonderful publication – keep up the great work!

Susan M. Storie Perth, ON

Thank you for your letter, Susan.

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Error Detected Received our November copy.

Thank you. Friends and family are calling to say they did read the insert on Sam and Marjorie [Chief Petty Officer Samuel Arthur Peet, “Heroes Among Us”].

Unfortunately, and I can understand your requirements for “editorial licence” in editing my piece for space; however, in doing so your individual editorial changes to my submission now presents the reading audience with incorrect facts about CPO Sam Peet’s naval career. Specifically, your rewrite in the first paragraph, which now states that “Sam was the first Newfoundlander to enlist in the Royal Canadian Navy at the start of the Second World War” presents the audience with an incorrect statement of facts (which several readers have already picked up on)!

Since Newfoundland was still a British colony at the start of the Second World War, my originally submitted statement that “Sam joined the Royal Navy at the start of the Second World War” is the correct statement of fact.

Also, my further statement, “Following Confederation, when Canada joined Newfoundland, Sam was the first Newfoundlander to enlist in the Royal Canadian Navy,” is also the correct version.

I remain, respectfully, Colonel (Ret’d) James Lambie Dartmouth, NS

Thank you for bringing this to our attention and giving us the opportunity to correct the record. We regret the error. Here is your original submission detailing the career of CPO Sam Peet: Born in St. John’s, Samuel Arthur Peet was the son of the late Harold John Peet and Winifred Parsons. Sam joined the Royal Navy at the start of the Second World War. He was a veteran of many Royal Navy naval battles, including the Bismarck and the Murmansk Run. Miraculously, he was sailing aboard HMCS Valleyfield (K329) as a Royal Navy sailor on returning to St. John’s when, on the 7th of May 1944, HMCS Valleyfield was torpedoed and sank in the North Atlantic 400 miles off St. John’s. Sam was one of the few survivors! He was undergoing the Royal Navy formal Pilot Training Courses when the Second World War suddenly ended. Following the war, Sam worked for Trans Canada Airlines in St. John’s. www.downhomelife.com

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Sam and his wife Marjorie (Butler) spent 68 wonderful years together and they were happiest spending time with their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Sam will be lovingly remembered for his charming wit and storytelling. He also had a passion for writing and was a natural artist. He captured many of his wartime experiences in his personal novel “Of Other Times,” which he wrote for his family.

Following Confederation, when Canada joined Newfoundland, Sam was the first Newfoundlander to enlist in the Royal Canadian Navy. He subsequently served on several RCN ships, including carriers (HMCS Bonaventure), destroyers, frigates, tankers and naval auxiliary. After retiring from the RCN, Sam served as an officer and captain in the Merchant Marine.

His leisure time was happily spent sailing and travelling. Sam’s favourite traditional naval toast was “Absent Friends” with two fingers of Pusser Rum. Sam was predeceased by his loving wife Marjorie and also predeceased by eight brothers, three sisters.

“We Will Remember Him!”

Not a Fan of Farley Artists undertaking a public event like the one being done by artists Martine and Isaac Blue [“Following Farley,” November 2021 issue] should at least take the time to research our society’s response to and our feelings about the man they are honouring. To put it mildly, Farley Mowat is not held in high esteem by many (if not most) of the citizens of our province.

His massive support of Paul Watson (Sea Shepherd Society), whose actions have vilified our people around the world, not to mention actually threatened them physically, has destroyed any fondness we may have had for him.

Watson, on the other hand, rewarded Mowat’s support by naming one of his ships in honour of the author.

If Martine and Isaac Blue wish to honour a Newfoundlander by sailing around the island, there could be no better choice than Gus Etchegary. Mr. Etchegary has been recognized for his career by MUN in the form of an honorary degree, which is only one of the many recognitions he has received for his lifelong contributions to our society. Aside from the above reasons for honouring Mr. Etchegary, it would also be appropriate as he and his wife, Kay, did sail around the island on their sailboat.

Jim Winter St. John’s, NL

It’s true that Farley Mowat is a controversial figure in Newfoundland and Labrador. He also upset Burgeo residents with his 1972 book “A Whale for the Killing,” because of how locals were portrayed. Meantime, Gus and Kay’s sailing days were recalled in our August 2021 issue. You can read it on DownhomeLife.com, where it’s called “The Captain and the Mate.”

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Sponsored Editorial

Star (left) and Tucker (right)

Pony Ambassadors in Orangeville It was an old photo

from the 1980s that charted Daureen Murphy’s destiny with Newfoundland Ponies. It was a picture of a roaming herd being rounded up with trucks.

“When I snapped a picture of it with my phone and zoomed in, I could see what was actually happening,” she said. Sadly, it is a piece of history that bears witness to what happened to so many ponies.

Daureen, who is a retired social worker in Orangeville, Ontario, was thinking about what to do next. She spent 35 years working with horses. In addition to a social work degree, she did Equine Studies at Humber College. She qualified as a Dressage Canada judge (Basic) and judged Ontario Championships, as well as many other school, provincial, CADORA and pony club shows and clinics.

She began reaching out to Pony owners in Newfoundland and Ontario and NPS. At the time she was thinking mainly about breeding, given her horse facility and experience. She also has 2 Hanoverians. As luck would have it, an ad popped up on a buy and sell site listing two Newfoundland Ponies for sale: Tucker and Star. “I called and the next day, the boys were in my barn. No vet check. I did it knowing exactly what I was getting myself into,” she recalls.

Majestaview’s “Tucker” is 20 and is a big burly red roan radical changer 12.3 hands high. His full brother, Majestaview’s Shining “Star” who is 19, is light bay at 11.3 hands. Knowing equines, Daureen knew that the ponies needed a job. And what better job for them than to be ambassadors greeting visitors for the art show she was hosting at her property with fellow artists?

As for the future and what she will do with her senior Ponies who are inseparable (they even share a stall), Daureen is busy making plans. At next year’s art show she will tell their story through her beautiful art. The vet who lives nearby has taken interest in them; she has offered her horse trailer and they plan to venture out to local senior’s homes to share their joy. “These ponies are a chance, a small window of opportunity, to make right a past injustice,” she says.

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Seaglass Trees This was taken at Middle Cove beach. All these trees were handmade from beach glass, all collected on the beaches here in Newfoundland.

Bernice Goudie St. John’s, NL

Beachcombing is such a popular and enjoyable pastime. This is a beautiful way to display some of those seashore finds.

Reminds Mom of Home My mother loves this magazine; it reminds her of her years spent in “Newfie.” The nurses and aids enjoy watching my mother’s delight when they change the months on the [Downhome] calendar. The pictures prompt my mom to share stories from her childhood and visits as an adult.

Thank you!

Lillian Strout USA

You’re welcome, Lillian.

father and uncle put him in their motorboat, which my father had built the year before; he was a wonderful boat builder. Must have taken him 10 or 12 hours to reach our destination. The sea was rough in many places, especially around the headlands, but the pony stayed standing all the way. He lived a happy life a long time until one day someone left the gate open and he got killed on the road. He was buried in our back garden. I don’t remember if we had a funeral for him or not.

Marie Stead Musgravetown, NL

Our NL Pony On the cover of September’s Downhome, a picture of a Newfoundland pony attracted my attention. It reminded me of the last pony my family owned.

When the resettlement occurred in Newfoundland, my family had to move to a larger community or town.

We had to bring our pony with us. My 16

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One time there were a lot of families who had a Newfoundland pony. If the Newfoundland Pony Society (NPS) sees their dream come true, many more ponies will have NL families. To learn more about the current plight of the pony or to keep up with the good work of the NPS, visit them online at NewfoundlandPony.com.

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homefront Downhome tours...

China

The Great Wall Cassie Edison-Huntley, of Lower Sackville, NS (originally from Hay Cove, NL), climbed the Great Wall of China in 2018.

With a total length of 21,196.18 km – half the distance of the Equator – the Great Wall of China is the longest manmade structure in the world and was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1987. Large crowds of visitors converge on Badaling, the most well-known section located about 70 km northwest of Beijing, to see the best preserved walls and stunning scenery.

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Gate of Heavenly Peace Catherine Burke-Brown travelled to Beijing to visit her son who was teaching there. (photo submitted by Yvonne Burke of Gander, NL)

Tiananmen Tower, also known as the Gate of Heavenly Peace, stands in Tiananmen Square. Once the place where emperors held court during the Qing Dynasty, it is now a symbol of modern China. Above the archway hangs a large portrait of Mao Zedong, Chairman Mao, the Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founding father of the People’s Republic of China.

Temple of Heaven Marguerite McDonald and friends Beverly Shelley and Cynthia Mills visited China in March 2017.

Originally called the Temple of Heaven and Earth, the Temple of Heaven was built from 1406 to 1420 during the reign of Emperor Yongle. In ancient China, the emperor was regarded as the “son of heaven,” and the temple was visited by the emperors of the Ming and Qing dynasties for annual ceremonies of prayer for a good harvest. It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1998. www.downhomelife.com

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Expert answers to common life questions.

By Linda Browne

Why do we call computer glitches “bugs”?

Technology is great – when it works, that is. But how many times have you turned on your laptop, tablet or another device and started swearing to high heaven because it just didn’t seem to want to cooperate?

From randomly shutting down to flashing screens, weird noises and overheating, you never know what kind of malady your computer or smartphone might have from one day to the next; unless you’re somewhat technologically savvy, you probably have no clue how to fix it. If you’ve brought your device somewhere to get it repaired, you’ve probably mentioned that it has a “bug” of some sort.

But what does this mean? Is there an earwig or an ant scuttling around inside, chomping on wires and grinning with their beady little eyes as they make your life miserable? Probably not. But a peculiar incident from real life involving an actual insect has helped cement the term “computer bug” in the common lexicon. The Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History shares the story on their website.

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It was September 9, 1947, and a team of engineers and computer scientists at Harvard University were working on the Mark II computer.

They grew frustrated when the machine kept giving them errors, and when they opened it up to investigate, they found a moth stuck inside. Finding humour in the incident, the team removed the moth and taped it to their logbook with the label: “First actual case of bug being found.” According to the Smithsonian, it wasn’t long before the terms bug and debug “became a standard part of the language of computer programmers.”

Contrary to popular belief, Grace Hopper, a computer programming pioneer and rear admiral with the US Navy, didn’t discover the moth, but she was working on the same machine at around the same time and enjoyed sharing the tale.

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“This logbook was probably not Hopper’s, but she and the rest of the Mark II team helped popularize the use of the term computer bug and the related phrase ‘debug,’” states the museum’s website.

And here’s where things get a bit sticky. The Harvard team may be responsible for helping propel the term bug into the public consciousness, but they’re not the ones who coined it, as several publications have erroneously noted.

For one thing, the wording in their logbook suggests that “bug” had already been in use prior to their discovery of the moth inside the Mark II. According to the Smithsonian, the term had been used in the engineering world for over a century.

“Thomas Edison talked about bugs in electrical circuits in the 1870s.

When the first computers were built during the early 1940s, people working on them found bugs in both the hardware of the machines and in the programs that ran them,” the website states.

In his article titled “Etymology of the Computer Bug: History and Folklore” in the journal American Speech, Fred R. Shapiro, a library director and lecturer at Yale Law School, does his best to quash the myth that the moth

incident at Harvard inspired the famous term. But, as he writes, “Neither lack of documentation, lack of plausibility, nor even outright disproof seems to pose much of an obstacle to the career of a colourful word-story.”

In The Yale Book of Quotations (2006), which Shapiro edited, he shares a snippet of a letter from Thomas Edison to fellow inventor Theodore Puskas, dated November 18, 1878. “It has been just so in all my inventions. The first step is an intuition – and comes with a burst, then difficulties arise. This thing gives out and then that – ‘Bugs’ – as such little faults and difficulties are called – show themselves and months of anxious watching, study and labour are requisite before commercial success – or failure – is certainly reached,” Edison wrote.

Therefore, Shapiro shares, “Hopper and her colleagues must have thought the discovery of the moth remarkable because mechanical defects were already called bugs.”

So the next time you start swearing on your glitchy, bug-riddled computer, you can thank both the Harvard team and Edison (and those early engineers) for popularizing that colourful little term.

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

Laugh Lines When I visited my son and his family, my four-year-old grandson, Tyler, often got in bed with me early in the morning. One morning, as he lay face-to-face with me on the pillow, he sheepishly asked, “How come some people get wrinkles?”

“As we get older, some people get wrinkles,” I told him.

Later that morning, when he saw me putting moisturizer on my face, he asked, “What are you putting on your face, Nan?” I told him it was moisturizer, so I wouldn’t get wrinkles. He replied, “How come it doesn’t work?”

Pearl Vokey Via Downhomelife.com

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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day. Now n u S is y a d o “T an ass!” e k li l e e f y ll a I re l Shainline – Michae

Say WHAT? Downhome recently posted this photo (submitted by Deanne Hussey) on our website and social media platforms and asked folks to imagine what this mule might be saying. Michael Shainline’s response made us chuckle the most, so we’re awarding him 20 Downhome Dollars!

Here are the runners-up: “Dad said I have to stay out of the garage, but hee-hawlways says that.” – Sherry Day “I’m here to get my snowshoes on!” – Judy Lee-Doyle “I heard you worked on mustangs – how about mules?” – William V Cook

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

www.downhomelife.com

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homefront lil charmers

Happy Camper Sage sips on hot chocolate in the open air.

Brittany Rose Colliers, NL

campfire cuties Fireside Delight Little 12-week-old William likes his first campfire.

Heidi Ballett Trouty, NL

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Cosy Cousins Cousins Caleb and Jack enjoy a boil-up in Noggin Cove.

Curtis Gillingham Glovertown, NL

Cold Weather Cuppa Haile and her little brother Jake warm up with a good cup of tea.

Adrienna Osmond Jackson’s Arm, NL

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homefront pets of the month

takes all kinds Doggone Cute Gracie loves to play in the mud.

Jenn Tourout Corner Brook, NL

Silly Billy This goat’s got noodles on his noggin!

Karen Oliver Ochre Pit Cove, NL

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House Cat

Gus prefers to stay indoors, and dares you to say otherwise.

Elaine Nicholl Grande Prairie, AB

Horsin’ Around Brisa’s the beauty of Cupid’s Crossing.

Vicki Ruth Kell Cupids, NL

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homefront

reviewed by Denise Flint

Pluck Donna Morrissey

Penguin Random House Canada $24.95

Donna Morrissey has always been known for writing novels based on real events and people, often drawing on a member of her own family to form the basis for a fictional character. But in her latest book, Pluck, Morrissey has dropped the fiction mantle with which she has covered her tales and written a straight-up memoir inhabited by real people bearing their own names and performing real deeds. What a great decision.

The story begins with the death of her baby brother when Morrissey is eight years old. That event becomes a lodestone for everything that follows as she grows up, goes through a little more extreme form of teenaged angst than the average, marries, has children and eventually becomes a novelist.

It ends with the sale of her first novel.

Pluck is everything a reader could want in a book. It’s well written with great characters and a plot that kicks butt, while being the kind of story that would be considered too far-fetched if it were fiction. The trials and tribulations that rain down on her family are heartbreaking, and Morrissey herself seems to attract misfortune the way a freshly washed car draws the rain. Nonetheless, they always seem to come out the other side intact, and that’s a rare gift.

The book’s full title is Pluck: A Memoir of a Newfoundland Childhood and the Raucous, Terrible, Amazing Journey to Becoming a Novelist, and that tells you everything you need to know about the book, except how good it is.

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Q&A with the Author Denise Flint: Was it hard to suddenly stop cloaking stories in fiction and start writing the unvarnished truth?

Donna Morrissey: Yes, it was because I was so used to having a character carrying the emotion, so when I was writing memoir I didn’t have that cloak. I started writing it as fiction, but I said “No.” So I had to face that vulnerability and it took a bit of getting used to. I felt a little selfconscious at first, but after a while I got into the shape of things.

DF: What made you decide to write a memoir?

DM: ...I had written six books of fiction and I was never able to tell the story that I really wanted to tell. I could never get any of my characters to tell the real story, so after the sixth book I thought I really wanted to tell this story. I had something I really wanted to share, so I did it.

DF: Some of these scenes are very detailed – what clothes you bought with your first paycheque for example. Did you always keep a diary?

DM: No, I’ve never ever journalled. I can tell you to the last penny what I bought with that cheque. Your first tiedyed shirt, who doesn’t remember that?

Your first pair of Janis Joplin glasses!

It was revolutionary, and the fact that I was shopping for the first time for myself. Oh yeah! Others would write other details; you remember different things. You don’t have to remember it exactly – for example, with dialogue – as long as you have the feeling. www.downhomelife.com

DF: How do you include other people’s stories in your own? Do you leave out a lot? Do you ask permission?

DM: I kind of let the chips fall where they may. It’s interesting that fiction can have more truth than real life; in memoir, you are the interpreter of other people’s life. When you write a story you get ownership of the story. It wasn’t a story of vengeance or anything like that; it was a love story and I had their [her siblings’] permission to write it any way I wanted. They had a lot of pride and they knew the story so well, and none of them were surprised.

DF: Do you have a special place you like to write, or can you just sit down anywhere and get to work?

DM: I have my corner. I’ve got my office in the back of the house and I get up in the morning to go to work. I live in here. I tried to be cool and go to a café, but I’d drink too much coffee.

It didn’t work for me.

DF: You managed to get your first sale pretty easily (at least according to the book). Do you think it’s easier or harder now for aspiring novelists?

DM: Harder. Harder. Harder. So many publishing houses have shrunk or collapsed into larger publishing houses. There are the smaller publishers that are more of a friend for writers. For self-publishers, there’s a story in you, then it’s your story so you tell it. If it needs to be told, you tell it and worry about who reads it after.

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homefront what odds

a Baltimore built for one

By Paul Warford

The benefit of I never promised to always have good dear readers. You may want to sit down for having an odd news, our foray this month. Do you have wine in your sense of humour house? Maybe get a glass of wine, or a nip of brandy if that’s more your speed. is that you often My wife and I have separated. find the humour Now, I know some of you out there frequent What Odds for my offbeat humour and saucy in odd situations. quips, and you may now be tempted to turn and leave, pretend you were just looking for the bathroom, but no need to be hasty. No need to be uncomfortable. It’s sad, but these things happen. You were all here when I proposed, so it seems only fair you be here now. That said, if you still feel the need to step out and get some air, I’d encourage you to do so and we’ll see you next month.

As for the rest of you, please forward any fan mail or gift cards to my new address: a basement apartment on Baltimore Street, where international students attending MUN stroll past my new driveway and my new garbage can, as they return from evening study sessions at the QEII. My new bathtub doesn’t drain properly, so showers are ankle-deep affairs. Mould dots the bathroom ceiling in places, like rough and angry blackheads. (I’m going to ask to paint it; I’m leaning towards a lime green.) My upstairs neighbours are three guys (dudes, bros) who are charming, loud and often drunk. They’re comedy friends. Since hearing the news, they’re “stoked” to get me back on the scene, sitting with them at bars while the waitress approaches with another round. I haven’t the heart to tell them I feel exhausted at the prospect before I’ve begun.

Then again, in the words of another comedian friend of mine, “You can’t get women on Skip The Dishes.”

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So, I’ve been buying new pants – slacks, really. Or trousers. When you begin looking at yourself with an objective eye for the first time in several years, you quickly notice how many pairs of pants you own (not that many, actually), and how stained with ink their pockets have become from the pens that took a ride in the wash.

I should really get some jeans. I have lots of outfits suitable for church, but none that are suitable for working on an old car – not that I do much of either.

Those of you long married (or never married) may be asking: what does one do with oneself in such a scenario? The answer: leave Baltimore Street whenever possible.

“Don’t wallow in it,” my comedian friend Brian recommended. He went through a divorce when we were still burgeoning buddies living in Halifax.

“Get out, see people.” An astute suggestion, but the only people I know tend to be comedians or guys who make horror films – neither of whom are dating prospects, but they’re sure as hell good friends. I get onstage and talk about where my life is now; clear the air. Standup comedy is nothing if not a great way to get things off your chest.

This is not to say I’m airing my dirty laundry; not onstage and not here, either. I’m no politico and therefore have no interest in tabloids or smear campaigns. I still love Andie, she’s still a wonderful friend, but we need time

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apart. That’s all I’ll say about that.

Instead, I’ll talk about the terrifying notion of returning to the dating scene at the age of 39, which is like… it’s… I can’t tell you what it’s like. Put it this way: You ever get off of a long flight, and you’re just inside the terminal, walking under the fluorescent lights on the way to the luggage carousel, when someone asks if you’d like to sign up for a credit card? Well, I feel like that person, the one trying to get you to fill out unexpected paperwork when all you want to do is have a nap.

This is the best comparison I’ve come up with so far, and I’ve been saying it onstage. The benefit of having an odd sense of humour is that you often find the humour in odd situations.

Now dear readers, don’t you worry ’bout a thing. Life was never meant to be predictable and at least we’re here together. I took some old show posters to a framing shop to have them plaque-mounted, something I’d been meaning to do for ages. Once I got them to Baltimore and hung them on my new walls – still pockmarked from the previous tenant’s thumbtacks and brads – I took a step back, scrutinized them and decided they look great where they are. For now.

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

Desolation Kyle Gryphon

WITH THE RELEASE OF HIS SOPHOMORE ALBUM,

Desolation, in October 2021, contemporary folk/traditional musician Kyle Gryphon may have made history by having the most easterly album release of the year – or maybe of all time.

Desolation was launched at the Cape Spear barracks, with the dark tunnels lit only by candles.

Gryphon has consistently been a major player in the St. John’s DIY music scene, helping put together generator-powered metal/punk shows at various semi-secret locations. The metal/punk scene is where this writer met Gryphon, as the drummer of local blackened crust punk band Dark Era. As a solo artist, Gryphon has performed at the Folk Arts Society’s Folk Night, the Sound Symposium’s Night Music event series, Urban Market Community Vendor Fair, the Bowring Park Amphitheatre and O’Brien’s Music Store. He’s also made numerous appearances at The 32

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Ship Pub, a particularly fitting home for Gryphon’s traditional folk tunes, half shrouded in darkness like The Ship itself.

Desolation opens with “Careful and Wise,” a song Gryphon picked up in Placentia Bay. The accordion is reminiscent of The Dorymen’s “Tiny Red Light,” while the banjo picking gives a more modern feel to a traditional song. One can immediately picture a couple waltzing in a legion... perhaps in Placentia, where this song was found by Gryphon.

“Adverse Possession” immediately feels darker and heavier, with banjo and guitar. Gryphon tells a story of a townie relocating to the bay, detailing the bureaucratic headaches of seeking ownership of crown land, as evidenced by the song’s title, “Squatters Rights.”

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The album’s third track, “Doe Hills,” is an ode to the beauty of nature and the importance of preserving our green spaces. In this song, we hear a kind of woodwind instrument

All photos by Sydney Wade

– perhaps a tin whistle, commonly featured in traditional Newfoundland and Irish music.

The wonderfully clean and clear vocals continue on “Mind in Chains,” a slower, more sombre song, before we head into “Constant Armageddon,” which features droning accordion throughout. “God bless your heart, my sonny boy,” Gryphon sings, his true Newfoundland accent highly audible as he presents a spokenword piece about being saved from www.downhomelife.com

sin by a religious fanatic living in “Constant Armageddon.”

“Mouth of Madness,” is the longest track on the album, at nearly six minutes. Opening with gorgeous banjo and guitar, “Mouth of Madness” features a lengthy instrumental intro. After listening to this song three times in a row, I drew parallels to Stan Rogers’ Northwest Passage and Pat & Joe Byrne with Baxter Wareham’s renowned 1983 album Towards the Sunset – two landmark albums in East Coast trad/folk. A story of belonging, and searching for that feeling in all the wrong places, this is a personal favourite from Desolation.

“Green Table Waltz” is an instrumental piece, as noted in the song title. Described on Bandcamp as a “tune written around a green Superior chrome table,” it conjures an image of the olden days of kitchen parties and musicians crowded around the dining room table.

“Changeling” draws inspiration from the island’s fascination with fairy folklore. Akin to a spooky campfire tale, this piece doubles as a warning to always be cautious in the woods.

The album concludes with its title track, “Desolation” – one final instrumental to cap it off. At the time of writing, Kyle Gryphon’s second album is only two months old, but like so many, I’m already excited to hear what comes next.

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Q&A with the Artist Wendy Rose: First big question – Who is Kyle Gryphon? Many local music listeners know you as Kyle Griffin, drummer from blackened crust punk band Dark Era. Is this name change for googleability, anonymity (LOL sorry) or to further distinguish yourself as a multi-talented artist working in multiple genres?

Kyle Gryphon: I had a hard time putting out music under my real name.

Seeing my name in print usually sends cringe shivers down my spine, also found it kind of corny in a way. On the other hand, using a moniker seemed a bit cheesy. There was quite an internal battle there in order to come to a decision. It would have been well and fine to put out music with no name, but obviously that would have been too confusing. Even a symbol or sigil would have worked for me, but even that seemed a bit too pretentious – I’m no Prince. All I wanted to do was release music for the sake of the song, 34

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not the person. So I had to bite the bullet and meet in between my real name, a moniker and a symbol. Also I’m really into folklore and mythology, and I have a tattoo of a Gryphon over my heart (tattooed by the local artist Andy Griffin by the way, no relation).

WR: I always find it interesting that there are musicians playing in heavy metal bands on a Saturday night who wake up and blast traditional Newfoundland music on Sunday morning. What draws you to these very different genres of music, and inspires you to create content in these independent fields of music?

KG: Traditional music was my first introduction into music in general. The first song I ever learned was “Sweet Forget-Me-Not” on my great-grandmother’s accordion when I was like six or so. My great-grandmother played accordion, my grandfather played accordion, my father plays accordion, I 1-888-588-6353

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play accordion, and maybe someday my kid will keep the tradition going, making it five generations of accordion players. Traditional music was and always will be in my life.

In the mid-late ’90s, we moved to Southern California, where I got really into punk and hardcore. My friend’s dad was an O.G. SoCal punk, so he took us to shows every now and then.

I went to my first punk show at the L.A. Clippers stadium when I was about 10. It was a massive show with The Vandals, T.S.O.L., Pennywise, X and ALL. After that show I knew I was hooked for life. These two worlds that seem so far apart have been ingrained in my mind since childhood.

The step dance and the slam dance had become synonymous to me very early on. After all, a polka beat and a punk beat are both in 2/4 timing.

WR: You branded Desolation as a sequel to your debut album, Isolation, released in April 2020. In your own words, can you tell us a little about the continuing themes on these albums?

KG: All of the original songs on both albums were written roughly around the same time, with the exception of the tune “Trout Lure.” That tune was written over 10 years ago for sure.

Instead of doing an over hour-long album, I figured I would split the songs up into two albums. Isolation refers to a couple of different concepts. Many facets of Newfoundland culture are formed out of being isolated from the mainland and the genealogical homelands. Globalization is slowly but surely chipping that away, but the feeling still remains.

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one word that stands out to me when I think of Newfoundland traditional music in general would be “isolation.”

I also write a lot of songs that I never play with other people (not intentionally, just not enough time), the songs on both albums being some of them.

The songs themselves were technically in isolation. Desolation is more descriptive of the subject matter and sound of the songs: emotion more so than circumstance. You can almost say those two words equally describe both albums as if they were one.

WR: Multi-talented in multiple genres and facets of music production, I imagine you’ve got an iron in every fire associated with this body of work.

As well as recording, did you play all the instruments – guitar, banjo, accordion…? I was surprised by the lack of percussion, knowing you as a gifted drummer!

KG: Yeah, I played everything on both albums. DIY has always been my motto, even to a fault. If I decide to do something, I usually have a hard time asking people for help, unless those said people are already on the same page. I was going to record everything myself originally, but I don’t know what I’m at gear and software wise. I asked my buddy Kris Hamlyn to record and mix the Isolation album, and I’m so glad he did. He has been at it for years and did a deadly job; I probably would have butchered it just for the sake of not wanting to be a bother. The Desolation album was semi self-recorded, with a super helping hand from my buddy Michelle LaCour. Michelle also mixed the album and did a wicked job. Both January 2022

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albums were mastered by Luke Mumford out of Nova Scotia. He is after mixing and mastering some of the best punk albums and EPs to come out of Nova Scotia.

I have mixed feelings about drums in traditional music. If it’s not done right it can totally ruin the music. In my personal opinion, unless you’re going on a rock or country angle, a drum kit as we know it has a limited place in traditional styled music. Just personal preference. I didn’t think I could make percussion work on any of these songs. Maybe someday I will change my mind, you never know.

WR: What’s the game plan for Kyle Gryphon and your dark folk project in 2022? Maybe investing in a better generator so you have adequate electricity available to record your next project in your off-grid home on the Southern Shore?

KG: Actually, within the past year or so I’ve been gathering some low wattage gear together to be able to record at home. I purchased a standalone multi-track recorder that takes AA batteries and a pre-amp that takes up like 30 watts, so I could record during a sun drought in the middle of the winter if I wanted. Generators usually make too much background noise and grounding buzz for recording, but solar is 100 per cent silent. I still think analog sounds better, but I have come to terms with the efficiency of digital.

Not many people around today can fix an 8-track cassette recorder.

The next project will probably be an instrumental album. Me, da missus [Kady Meaney] and Thomas Whelan of Dark Era have been talking about 36

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doing an album of traditional and original tunes for years now. We used to busk on the streets together playing jigs and reels from time to time, and still play at live venues every now and again. I have an album worth of songs written for another solo release, but an instrumental album with da b’ys has been long overdue. I would say my next solo album will probably be in 2023, but you can catch a couple of new songs at a live show. What I can say for sure is that it won’t have “-olation” in the title.

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homefront

outdoor adventures

Gord’s grandsons, Andrew and Dylan, trolling Thorburn Lake with Pop.

give kids a chance If you curse and complain each time they get the line tangled while learning to cast with a spinning rod, it’s not gonna work.

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By Gord Follett

As devastating as the pandemic has been

on a global level, it has managed to introduce (push) more people to the safety of the wonderful outdoors – particularly in Newfoundland and Labrador – than ever before. Surely over the past 16 months or so you’ve noticed many of the thousands of social media posts featuring families enjoying simple outdoor activities such as boil-ups for the very first time.

If you’re hoping to get your child or grandchild involved in the outdoors, the No. 1 rule has to be “make it fun.” Adults sometimes lose sight of the fun aspect during the all-important early goings, then chaulk up their lack of success in getting the kids involved to the child just not being interested.

Hey, not every kid is going to be an avid outdoors person. I get it. But if you want them to at least have an opportunity, there are right and wrong ways to go about it.

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Comfort is another vital consideration when attempting to involve children in the outdoors. If you fail to provide the proper clothing to protect them from the wind and cold during a day of ice fishing, for instance, dig out your receipt for those extra rods and return them to Canadian Tire. They will not want to go again.

Fishing is a common entryway to outdoor adventures. Let’s start there.

If you curse and complain each time they get the line tangled while learning to cast with a spinning rod, it’s not gonna work. They’ll lose interest right from the get-go. Help them practise casting a wooden bobber or hookless lure on the lawn at home. And don’t expect them to fish for five or six straight hours the first few times they go. Be sure to pack a few treats with their lunch (remember the fun part?), and don’t forget patience; there are times you’ll need plenty of it.

Introducing them to hunting? If they miss a stationary grouse with the .410 just 15 yards ahead on the trail and you poke fun or jokingly ask what they’re shooting at, you may as well put that lil shotgun back in its case, ’cause they’re not gonna want it again.

(Safety reminder: anybody – child or adult – who touches a firearm must first be versed in best safely practices and must follow them at all times.)

Some years back I took my daughter to an empty gravel pit and, after going through the general firearm safety rules with her, I set up balloons at 40 yards for her to try a few blasts with www.downhomelife.com

my 12-gauge shotgun. She had an absolute ball and was thrilled when she picked off a pair 10 yards apart with two quick shots.

If you’re an avid hiker and want the kids to join you, start at their pace and distance preference. Stop occasionally to admire scenery, skim rocks across the water or search for animal tracks. Keep it interesting and make time for fun.

Comfort is another vital consideration when attempting to involve children in the outdoors. If you fail to provide the proper clothing to protect them from the wind and cold during a day of ice fishing, for instance, dig out your receipt for those extra rods and return them to Canadian Tire. They will not want to go again.

Success in the outdoors – as in catching fish or harvesting game – is secondary. A distant second, actually.

That will come with time. But if, for whatever reason, kids are turned off during those initial outings, chances of you getting them to try it again are twofold: slim and none.

With few exceptions, involving the next generation in the outdoors these days is not strictly about continuing a January 2022

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The province’s Wildlife Division offers youth shooting skills programs. tradition or putting food on the table.

Adventures in the woods encourage fitness and health, they make for great bonding time, they teach life skills, responsibility and the value of teamwork – all qualities to last not just for the duration of a trip, but an entire lifetime! The relaxation and peace of mind that the outdoors can offer later in life is simply immeasurable. Trust me on this one. In many cases, the most unsettling and troubled times seem to disappear during a quiet hike in the woods or while casting a fly in a slow-flowing river.

Incidentally, the province’s Wildlife Division offers youth shooting skills

events at various locations throughout the province each year. Under the guidance of qualified instructors, children aged 12-17 can take part in rifle and shotgun shooting, archery, fly fishing and outdoor survival. I’ve attended a number of these events in the past as a sponsor representative with Newfoundland Sportsman, and to see the excitement of the participating boys and girls as they were actually learning was most encouraging, not to mention uplifting. These events are quite popular and registration space fills up quickly, so if you hear of one in your area, jump on it.

Gord Follett was editor of the Newfoundland Sportsman magazine for more than 30 years and co-hosted the Newfoundland Sportsman TV show for 15 years. Email gordfollett@gordfollettoutdoors.com.

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What a joy (and a struggle!) it was recently to go through all the fabulous reader-submitted photos from 2021 and choose the top ones. Based on their subject, composition, quality and originality, these are 12 finalists. Now it’s up to readers to vote for the overall Submission of the Year. Browse the finalists on the following pages, and between January 10-17 visit DownhomeLife.com/soty to vote for your favourite.

The winner of the Submission of the Year (photo) will be announced in the March issue, as will the Submission of the Year (written), which will be chosen by the editors. Each winner will receive $500 in shopping coupons that can be used like cash at any Downhome retail store and online at ShopDownhome.com.

Thank you to all the readers who share their photos and stories with us throughout the year. We wouldn’t be the same magazine without you.

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Frozen Pathways in Twillingate Julian Earle

The Odd Couple Holly Walsh

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Into Thin Air Stephanie Decker

Friends at the Beach Irving Wareham

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Fun in the Air Laurie Holloway

Smash Hit Mark Gray

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Say What Brendan Clark

Downhome Resettled Paulette Hann

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First Rate Mate Lori Butler

Fishery Student Garfield Balsom

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Accordion Idol John Drakes

Grow Big or Go Home Janice O’Brien

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Submit your favourite photos of scenery, activities and icons that best illustrate the down-home lifestyle. We’re looking for a variety of colourful subjects – outports, wildlife, laundry lines, historic sites, seascapes, hilltop views, and so much more – and photos from all four seasons.

This is your chance to get in on our most popular reader contest and try to woo the judges into choosing your photo for the 2023 Downhome Calendar. These calendars are seen by tens of thousands of subscribers and displayed all year long.

What are you waiting for?

Submit today, using one of these ways:

by mail: Downhome Calendar Contest 43 James Lane St. John’s, NL A1E 3H3 online: www.downhomelife.com/calendar Must be original photos or high quality copies. Digital photos must be at least 300 dpi, files sizes of about 1MB. We can’t accept photocopies or photos that are blurry, too dark or washed out. Include a self-addressed stamped envelope if you want your photos returned.

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features

Ever notice that Newfoundlanders often say the opposite of what we mean?

Nicola Ryan attempts to find out why.

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“Knows we never had a good time!”

You’ve heard this said, or said it yourself, knowing exactly what it means – even if the words mean the opposite. There’s no doubt that we Newfoundlanders have a particular way of speaking.

You’ll hear colourful pronunciations and clever turns of phrases everywhere from St. George’s to St. John’s. The Dictionary of Newfoundland English, first published in 1982, gives the meanings for hundreds of words and idioms in what the editors G.M. Story, W.J. Kirwin and J.D.A. Widdowson dubbed “Newfoundland English.” Most of these “non-standard linguistic features” are the result of migrants arriving from southwestern Britain and southeastern Ireland in the 17th century, bringing their local dialects with them and remaining outside the influence of the rest of North America throughout most of our history. Even today, you can hear traces of Gaelic and French, or the accents of the West Country and Channel Islands.

Dialect and vocabulary aside, Newfoundlanders also have a way of play“You don’t ing with speech patterns. One we’ve noticed is the odd way Newfoundlanders want none of have of saying the opposite of what they that, do you?” mean. For example, say you’ve got your eye on that handsome fella from Fortune.

“Knows he’s not gorgeous,” you’d say to your sister. Sun splitting the rocks? “Some bad day out there.” Buddy on a Yammie flying across a frozen pond – “Knows he can’t go!” Why do we say this? We turned to some language and culture experts to see if they could offer any insight. www.downhomelife.com

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“Not fit to eat.” (delicious)

Dr. Philip Hiscock, retired associate professor of folklore at Memorial University, says these kinds of backwards expressions are part of our unique sense of humour.

“That sort of irony caught on here perhaps 60 years ago and became an object of popular remark around then,” he says. “In other words, it became a kind of viral style of humour in the 1960s and ’70s. It’s become a matter of comment and jokes for comedians in the past 25 years or so. I expect the routines by Buddy Wasisname added to its celebrity and its spread; and before then, writers like Ray Guy and Ted Russell did the same. Speech play like this (when it is playful rather than a person’s actual dialect) is common in all languages and all forms of English – but there is no doubt that here in Newfoundland people enjoy it more than some other groups and use it with pretty high frequency. Speech play generally is often said to be part of what attracts visitors to here – we’re thought of as having a

“You thinks he’s not brazen I know!”

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“It’s an awful nice day.” stronger sense of humour.”

True, we’re a funny bunch who don’t take things too seriously. Can this particular kind of backwards wordplay be traced back to the old countries of our ancestors?

“Most of our unique speech patterns have, in fact, been inherited from either southwest England or southeast Ireland, where most of our ancestors originated,” explains Dr. Sandra Clarke, professor emerita in linguistics at MUN. And while this particular construction is not one that she has specifically traced back to a particular source, she says, “I wouldn’t doubt, however, that this is also an inherited pattern.”

Lyrical ancestors in isolated communities with a gift of gab and a sense of humour seem to be the explanation. But is this a pattern of speaking that is unique to New-

“You’re some smart, b’y!” (did a dumb thing)

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“I knows it’s not raining.”

“Bad good, eh?” (very good)

foundland? Dr. Gerard Van Herk, honorary research professor in the department of linguistics at Memorial University, suggests maybe not.

“It’s a Newfoundland thing,” he explains, “but it’s also really closely associated with the English of the islands in Chesapeake Bay. What makes that interesting is that (a) those places were settled really early and then followed by a long period of limited new in-migration, just like Newfoundland; and (b) the original settlers of those islands were from the same parts of southwestern England as many Newfoundland settlers.”

In fact, one of the peculiarities of the speech of the residents of Tangier Island – a tiny place 12 miles, or an hour by boat, off the east coast of Virginia in Chesapeake Bay – is a similar humorous use of opposite meanings and double negatives. For example, if a Tangier Islander says, “You ain’t pretty, none,” they’re giving you a compliment. And while you might be scratching your head, all

the locals would know exactly what that meant.

So, basically, most of the peculiarities of the way Newfoundlanders speak today can be credited to the earliest settlers who arrived on our shores. Even if there’s no definitive answer to exactly why we like to turn things upside down and play with words and meanings in our variety of spoken English, that’s part of its special charm.

In today’s modern world of internet connectedness, outmigration and travel, unique local dialects and zany patterns of speech can quickly disappear.

So we should celebrate our backwards expressions. Say it loud and proud – knows we don’t love it!

“What a feed we never had!”

www.downhomelife.com

To learn more about Tangier Island and its residents who sound so much like Newfoundlanders, go to DownhomeLife.com/magazine for a link to a video.

“Not sweet, she’s not!”

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is a storyteller, writer and recitationist living in Logy Bay, NL. Originally from Carbonear, she writes stories with local flair based on her family, her personal experiences and tales shared by friends. Recently, with the generous help of some local musicians, she recorded and released an e-album of original recitations titled Molasses and Homemade Bread.

Recitations are rhyming, rhythmic, funny stories told from memory in front of a crowd. Downhome readers may remember listening to Ted Russell perform the Chronicles of Uncle Mose on the radio or learning the lines to The Smokeroom on the Kyle at school. Spinning yarns is popular here in Newfoundland and Labrador, and our distinct oral tradition is so deeply woven into our culture it can be traced back to the first European settlers who arrived here.

“Every culture has its stories,” Karen says. “But for us, for some reason, we’ve become exceptional storytellers. It’s something we’ve done here for years.”

She adds, “I think storytelling is in the water and the air here, really. It’s here everywhere.”

She traces her gift of gab all the way back to her earliest days growing up in Carbonear. “I started from a very young age listening to stories. I’m number six of eight children, so there were always stories around our kitchen table and our house. My father told stories. My mother always had these little rhymes she would do. My maternal grandmother was a storyteller, so it just came to me organically, I suppose.”

Above: Karen hails from a long line of storytellers, including her grandmother Elizabeth, seen here with her husband, Michael Gibbons.

Left background: A painting by Mike Whitelaw of Karen’s childhood home www.downhomelife.com

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With the help of dedicated teachers, a young Karen honed her performance skills at school concerts and the Kiwanis music festival. “It’s been kind of a process that’s evolved for me over a long period of time,” she explains.

In recent years, she’s been an active member of the Concert Crowd in Outer Cove and St. John’s Storytelling. Her recitations generate plenty of positive reception. “People started giving me stories,” she laughs. “It’s like I’m a magnet for it – which is great because it gives you so much material.”

The current COVID-19 crisis also gave Karen material. “During the pandemic, I took the opportunity and wrote a rhyming fable about my three grandchildren. I [wanted to] link it back to my maternal grandmother. She was born in 1900. She was alive for the Spanish flu, First World War, Great Depression, tuberculosis, polio – and she survived all that. So she had a lot of knowledge.”

Storytelling has long been an essential way of sharing this kind of traditional knowledge. “Everything my grandmother knew – how to bake bread, how to birth a baby and cure an infection, and herbs and plants, and how to make a poultice – that was all passed down verbally. That’s how things were done,” Karen says.

“A lot has been lost to time. Lots of times, when people died, unless they passed [that information] on, it died with them and was gone. So any of these stories, even pieces of stories, that we can take and preserve and write down and record, they can now be passed on.”

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husband Jim Carroll added some instrumental music, and they shared their work with family and friends that Christmas.

At the same time, the pandemic also compelled St. John’s Storytelling to go virtual, which expanded their audience tremendously. “We

Karen Carroll performs with St. John’s Storytelling

moved to the virtual format and we started doing our storytelling circles and events online for free. We had people attend from the entire world – from Australia to California to Scotland, Wales – you wouldn’t believe the audience.” Seeing folks online being enchanted by recitations and storytelling from Newfoundland and Labrador really inspired Karen. “I thought, you know what, I’ve got all these recitations, I’ve got to put them down, I’ve got to preserve them, I want them out there,” she says.

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did not. “I started getting advice from people. The first thing [fellow recitationist] Dave Paddon said to me was ‘don’t print CDs,’” Karen laughs. “He said, ‘I have 800 of them in my basement; they’re expensive to make and (you’ll) end up just giving them away.’” Creating an e-album that could easily be shared online was the way to go. “I worked with Brad Tuck, who’s an amazing recording artist. He said we’re going to put it on these [streaming] platforms and it doesn’t matter where people are in the world, if they’re interested they can access it electronically.”

The album, titled Molasses and Homemade Bread, is comprised of 12 original recitations written and performed by Karen, accompanied by instrumental music from a variety of local musicians including Siochana, Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellas, the Dardanelles, and Sherry Ryan – who all lent their talents freely. “I was so fortunate to have all those musicians from here agree to let me use their music.

There’s such a wonderful community of artists here,” Karen says.

Launched online via YouTube last October, the album is available on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon Music. So far, the reception and sup-

Karen’s daughter Lauren Sinclair created the cover art for Molasses and Homemade Bread

port have been phenomenal. “I’ve had people say ‘I’m going to give this to so and so for Christmas,’ ‘I’m going to send this to my niece in London because she would love this and I can gift it so easily.’ It’s a really nice thing because it’s gone so many places,” says Karen.

“Dave Paddon said to me, ‘Now you don’t think you’re going to make any money, do ya?’ I said, ‘No, I’m not doing it for that reason,’” says Karen.

“I say, just send it out to the world.

Where it’ll land, I don’t know. I hope it lands with people who enjoy the stories.

I just want people to enjoy it.”

For a free preview or to purchase the full album Molasses and Homemade Bread, visit https://tinyurl.com/KarenCarrollStoryteller, or follow “KarenCarrollStoryteller” on Facebook. www.downhomelife.com

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In the Goulds, NL, home of 84-year-old Ray Hawco,

I admire a collection of photographs on his living room wall that all feature airplanes. There’s Ray taking off in a floatplane from Paddy’s Pond in a Cessna Skyhawk, its white fuselage adorned with black and blue striping reaching back to the tail letters C-FQKD. In another, Ray is posing next to a plane while holding an obviously beloved dog. In another, Ray is at the controls of a plane explaining how things work to his two young grandchildren.

It should be no surprise then, seeing these photos on prominent display, that Ray’s memoir has an aeronautical air: Leaning into the Wind was published in the fall of 2021. The book covers Ray’s flying days as well as his stints as a priest, a federal political candidate, an educator, a civil servant and a business person. He has worked in the offshore and on land claim negotiations. He was well known in sports and has, out of necessity and inclination, taught himself to be a mechanic, a boat builder and basically a pretty handy jack-of-all-trades.

What I found most interesting about Ray’s memoir is the incredible number of near misses that almost claimed his life over the years. The first one happened at the Argentia air base, where his family had moved from Harbour Main in 1946.

“There were many military aircraft coming and going night and day, but my first real up close experience with planes was actually a bad one,” Ray recalls. “We were sitting in the living room of our house on the base in Argentia, and we saw a ball of fire coming right at us when this B-26 Bomber crashed. My father was the www.downhomelife.com

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Ray shares some stories of his adventures while looking through one of his flight log books.

superintendent for the dock, and he immediately took off running towards the accident site. Apparently the plane came down and had hooked Pearce Peak [a mountain between Argentia and Fox Harbour], and the pilot tried to put her down in the water but hit the dock. All five aboard, I believe, were killed. I knew the dock really well, so that night a buddy of mine, Len Walsh, and I hid near the dock as my father and servicemen tried to put out the fire.”

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removed the bodies. “It was terrifying, but exciting,” Ray says. “It was only much later that I got really interested in flying myself.”

Ray eventually went to seminary school in Ottawa, ON. In his book, he explains the very funny tale of catching a ride on a wooden schooner to St. Brendan’s in Bonavista Bay, NL, during a fall storm with an old American surplus Willys Jeep Truck strapped to the top deck. He was the new priest there, and that vehicle would get him around the island – after he installed a new engine in it (and first taught himself how). Ray 1-888-588-6353

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wearing out a new car just about every year and had to go to Gander about twice a week for work meetings, so a plane made sense to me.”

Ray shows me his flight plans and log books from his aviation days, and mentions a number of crashes he walked away from, relatively unharmed, including one caused by a freak wind gust in October 1975, on Kitty’s Lake in the Gaff Topsails. Ray had to swim ashore and build an overnight emergency shelter. Next day, Ray walked out soaking wet to the railRay’s interest in flying grew while way line and followed it until he reached a cabin he was a priest in St. Brendan’s at the Gaff.

He laughs at the memory now. “When I opened the cabin door in the middle of nowhere, wet and bruised with some blood on me from the crash, I can still see the look of shock on the lady’s face, and all she said was. ‘Good Jesus!

What happened to you?’”

By strange coincidence, two other small plane incidents hap(pioneer bush pilot in the Gander pened the same day in the same genarea), got him really intrigued about eral area of Central Newfoundland, flying. Ray would often jump in the and one person died. “A few weeks co-pilot seat for short runs, and Bill later I bumped into a fellow while I would give him flying lessons along was walking downtown in St. John’s, the way. That led to formal flying lesand he turned white and almost sons in Gander and earning his fainted – for he thought for sure I licence over the next few years. “I was a ghost, as the word had gotten eventually ended up getting a good back to the small towns that I had deal on a small used plane when I been killed in a plane crash.” was stationed in Bonavista. I was Another near miss for Ray was travelling a huge area. It was all during float certification. “After we really rough dirt roads in those days, successfully completed the float beating up any car driving over them, endorsement course, myself and this and I was putting in about 100,000 other fellow had an arrangement to miles a year. So I was essentially also learned how to build his own small boat for getting on and off the island community. And that’s not all he had to learn to do. Ray says, “…in the absence of anyone else official, I functioned as the informal doctor doing stitches, the dentist pulling teeth, and sometimes the only policeman/peacekeeper in mediating disputes. I had no choice, so I just did what had to be done.”

Ray was still stationed at St. Brendan’s when a friend, Bill Bennett

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rent a Cessna 180 plane to go Friday of that week on a short solo crosscountry run, since it was good weather.” Names were chosen alphabetically and this other pilot got the Cessna first, to go trouting at Ten Mile Pond. Ray would get the plane later to fly to Bonavista.

A $5 bill serves as a reminder to Ray of one of his more harrowing experiences as a pilot.

“Unfortunately, and nobody knows for sure what happened, the plane crashed and the first pilot got killed on landing. It was very sad. I didn’t know him all that well, but he was a nice man.”’

Ray had several incidents flying solo where sudden storms, bad seas or winds came up without warning, preventing safe landings. He once ran dangerously low on fuel crossing the Gulf of St. Lawrence. “I did everything I could. I used all my training, all my many years of experience as a 64

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pilot, and everything I knew about my plane to stay in the air as long as I could. I never gave up, but I figured this was it and I would run out of fuel and crash in the sea long before I ever reached land. I said my prayers, wrote a letter to my wife telling her I loved her and that I was sorry, and put it in a plastic bag in the glove box of the plane so they would find it if the wreck was ever recovered. You know, once I did that all the weight was off my shoulders. I’d made all the choices I could make. It was out of my hands and I was at peace. Fortunately, it cleared and the storm winds abated just enough for me to make it. Landed on a totally empty tank and she glided in and set down as perfect as it could be.”

Tucked in Ray’s log book is a special five-dollar bill, a reminder of a particularly harrowing experience with a darkly humorous ending.

After a very challenging emergency landing, Ray climbed up a riverbank and was met by two employees of a nearby business. Right away, one gave the other this five-dollar bill.

Ray says, “I asked them what that was all about and one of them said, ‘We had a bet watching you circling, looking for somewhere to land. I thought you were going to die. The other guy figured you would live. He won. Bet you are glad he did. I am actually glad I lost that bet, to tell the truth.’” Rather than be offended, Ray good-naturedly convinced the winner to part with the bill so he could have a keepsake of this latest escape.

Ray, in his wanderings, may have occasionally fell to earth, but with his good humour and gratitude always rose again with the resilience of one flying on a wing and a prayer.

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features

It’s so rarely seen, it’s almost mythical.

Not only is the Newfoundland lynx real, it’s one of the province’s most interesting native species.

BY TODD HOLLETT • WILDLIFE TECHNICIAN

DESPITE THE LARGE NUMBER

of cougar and black panther sightings reported in the province over the years, the boreal forests of Newfoundland and Labrador is home to only one native feline: the Canada Lynx (Lynx canadensis subsolanus). Based on size, cranial differences and coat colour, the Newfoundland lynx is considered a unique subspecies that genetically diverged from the mainland population after the last Glacial Period, around 20,000-33,000 years ago.

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Medium sized felids, lynx have a spaces. If prey is scarce, they will short body with long legs, standing sometimes venture onto tundra. If 48-60 cm at the shoulder and weighundisturbed, they are remarkably ing 5-17 kg, with the males being the tolerant of human settlements. Lynx larger sex. Its stubby black-tipped hold a territory of 15-50 square kilotail is just 5-13 cm long. Lynx are yelmetres and can travel 8-9 km per lowish-brown, pale grey or buff, with day, moving at 0.75-1.46 km/h to some brown streaks and white catch prey. underparts. The summer coat looks ragged, but in winter it is thick and silky. Its distinguishing feature is the triangular ear tufts, up to 4 cm long. The lynx has a broad face with ruffs of fur on the cheeks, and broad snowshoe-like paws that can spread to 10 cm. The hind limbs are longer then the forelimbs, giving the lynx its sloped appearance. The fully retractable claws of the lynx are extremely sharp.

Built for winters, the lynx’s warm coat, wide paws and long legs are adapted for navigation and hunting in deep snow. They are excellent climbers and swimmers as well. Primarily solitary, lynx have minimal social interaction, except for the bond between mothers and female offspring, and during the mating season. These secretive animals live for 10-20 years and are likely descenIn the summertime, the lynx’s coat dants of the Eurasian lynx is more ragged than its thicker (Lynx lynx). and silkier winter version Newfound LandScapes Photography These elusive felids prefer old-growth forests with dense understory vegetation, but are Nocturnal hunters, lynx hunt also found in other habitats with mainly around dusk or at night. They cover and abundant prey. Generally, are ambush predators: they wait near they will avoid open areas, such as trails or in “ambush beds” watching heavily logged and agricultural for movement, then stalk and pounce 68

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Some of the lynx’s most distingushing features are its ear tufts and stubby black-tipped tail. It can have bursts of speeds up to 80 km/h. on prey, killing it with a bite to the head, throat or nape. Lynx may cache prey in the snow or leaves, to eat over a number of days.

Lynx are found across Canada from Newfoundland and Labrador to the Yukon. In an unusual case in 1903, a Canada lynx was shot near Newton Abbot in the United Kingdom after attacking two dogs. It was preserved at the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery and remained unidentified until 2014. It was concluded that it may have been captive, possibly as part of a travelling exhibit or as an exotic pet, had escaped and then survived for a substantial amount of time in the wild. This is considered the earliest record of an exotic cat on the loose in the UK. www.downhomelife.com

THE LYNX AND THE HARE Lynx can breed in their first year, even though they do not reach full size until they are two. Mating occurs in January through March. After a 60-day gestation period, a litter of one to eight kittens are born in a den underneath fallen trees, stumps, rock ledges or thick bushes. They are weaned at about two months and leave the mother in six to nine months. The size of the overall lynx population is closely tied to local population of the snowshoe hare.

Prior to the introduction of the snowshoe hare (Lepus americanus), from 1864 to 1876, lynx were extremely rare in Newfoundland and Labrador. Since then, numbers have ranged from abundant to scarce January 2022

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The lynx population will rise and fall depending on the lynx’s access to its main prey, the snowshoe hare.

depending on the hare fluctuations.

Records have been kept by the Hudson’s Bay Company since 1730, and in 2010, it was estimated that the total Canadian population was at 110,000 individuals.

The Canada lynx is a specialist predator that depends heavily on snowshoe hares for food, which leads to a predator-prey cycle. The Canada lynx population will rise and fall with the same changes in the snowshoe hare population, which cycles every eight to 11 years. During times of hare scarcity, lynx will move to areas with more hares, sometimes covering 70

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Peter Harris photo

over 1,000 square kilometres, and generally produce fewer, or no, offspring. Hares comprise 35-97 per cent of a lynx’s diet and one lynx can consume up to 200 hares annually. It is unclear why, but lynx tend to be less selective in summer and fall, adding other prey to the menu. During winter, more than 75 per cent of the diet is hares and they may kill one or two a day.

When hare are harder to find, or are on a downward cycle, lynx will supplement their diet with grouse, ptarmigan, voles, mice, squirrels, foxes, geese, songbirds, moose and 1-888-588-6353

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DID YOU KNOW? Lynx can make a variety of vocalizations, similar to a house cat, but louder.

Lynx are not good runners, but can reach a top speed of 80 km/h in short bursts.

Lynx can jump 7.6 metres.

They are more than twice the size of a house cat.

They have natural snowshoes for feet.

The rare “blue lynx” is a result of a genetic mutation.

Their tufted ears enhance hearing by funneling sound.

The Newfoundland lynx subspecies is larger than the mainland lynx.

They use urine to mark their territory.

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caribou calves, and ducks. They may even scavenge on animals killed by weather, hunters or vehicles. It has also been reported that, like domestic cats, lynx will occasionally eat grasses and sedges. Cannibalism is rare; however, it does occur in periods of poor prey availability.

Natural enemies of the lynx include wolves and coyotes. Despite having poor chances of escape in open areas, lynx are expert climbers and will often avoid predation by climbing trees.

Humans are the lynx’s main predator. The Newfoundland and Labrador Wildlife Division requires trappers to submit carcasses for biological analysis. This research provides valuable information for wildlife managers tracking harvest trends and providing an index of abundance. The teeth are analyzed to determine age distribution, and reproductive rates are determined by counting placental scars. Food habits are determined by analyzing stomach contents, and physical condition and animal health is observed. This research helps the Wildlife Division develop management strategies that ensure healthy and sustainable populations. The furs of legally harvested lynx must be stamped prior to sale and all carcasses submitted.

The lynxes at Salmonier Nature Park on the Avalon Peninsula – your best bet at seeing one in person, and even there they are notoriously shy – have successfully produced young in the past, which were transferred to other reputable zoos in Canada.

Occasionally, wild lynx are spotted in the park and have preyed on the resident geese and snowshoe hares.

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New app offers a unique way to discover and appreciate public art in Newfoundland and Labrador.

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Public art serves many purposes.

Besides invigorating and beautifying public spaces, it helps attract visitors, connects people to their communities, generates conversations, raises awareness about important issues and, best of all, it’s accessible and free for all to enjoy. And here in this province, we’re lucky to have a lot of it.

From the Fighting Newfoundlander at Bowring Park in St. John’s and the Sealers Memorial at Elliston, to the beautiful murals of Botwood and the trapper statue at North West River, the public art sprinkled all around Newfoundland and Labrador helps tell the story of this place, its people, where we came from and where we’re going. You’ve likely come across a few pieces in your own travels and wondered about their significance and who created them.

A new mobile app released by a local nonprofit is giving residents and visitors the opportunity to explore public art across the province, while learning more about the history, heritage and culture of this place we call home.

Background Peter Morrow photo

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Business & Arts NL launched the Explore Art NL app in September 2021, set against the backdrop of the murals at the Purity Factory in St. John’s.

Cataloguing Culture

Since 2014, Business & Arts NL has been working to establish partnerships between the arts community and the public, private and social sectors, while supporting artists through various programs. Last September, the organization announced its biggest project yet with the release of its Explore Art NL app.

Support for this project was provided by the Community Foundations of Canada’s Canada Healthy Communities Initiative, the City of St. John’s, Tract Consulting (a St. John’s-based business that offers landscape architecture, engineering and planning services) and car dealership Genesis St. John’s. The app was inspired by the Winnipeg Arts Council’s own public art app. “[Public art] is there for a reason.

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it’s there to draw people in. But unless you drive by it or unless you know it’s there, sometimes it’s hard to find.

There are also tiny pieces of public art all around, especially in St. John’s, that people walk by every day without really stopping to think about [them],” says Amy Henderson, executive director of Business & Arts NL. “So we wanted to provide the opportunity for people to find those pieces... and to sort of just change the way they look at the world around them.”

Available to download for free via the Apple App Store and Google Play (search “Explore Art NL”), the app features more than 100 works of public art (including sculptures, statues, memorials, murals and yarn bombings) across the province, from St. John’s to Makkovik and everywhere in between. Users can browse works by location, medium or artist, and information about each piece is 1-888-588-6353

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included, often with links to additional information and media to learn more. Use the map feature to locate pieces near you (the app can also tell you when you come within 1 km of a given artwork), and the directions button to help you get there. You can also “collect” pieces and add them to your virtual art collection to keep track of what you’ve seen. The submit

each piece.

“Throughout the process, I learned so much. I located works that I did not know about… I think we’re just kind of scratching the surface,” she says.

While some people might download the app and take a road trip to explore the public art in person, others may choose a virtual tour from the comfort of their couch (per-

Lead curator of the Explore Art NL app, Po Chun Lau (left), and executive director of Business & Arts NL, Amy Henderson. “Throughout the process, I learned so much. I located works that I did not know about… I think we’re just kind of scratching the surface,” says Lau.

button allows you to submit pieces of public art that you’d like to see included in the app.

Po Chun Lau is a Pouch Cove-based painter and sculptor whose PhD research focuses on public art and its place in the province. She’s also the lead curator of the Explore Art NL app, and painstakingly combed her own research and inventory list (while also doing further research) to put together the information for www.downhomelife.com

haps a more pleasing option during the cold, snowy winter months). For those who choose the former, Po hopes they take some time to get acquainted with the art, rather than just ticking the boxes.

“I would like people to really spend time on site and see how the place relates to the work… make [a] connection with the place and with the work – and if you’re lucky, you meet some people.”

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Artist Ginok Song has two Torbay murals on the Explore Art NL map. Here she poses with her latest project in Petty HarbourMaddox Cove, which will be added to the app.

A Step Back in Time

For the artists featured, the Explore Art NL app provides the opportunity to showcase their work and reach an audience they might not have access to otherwise. One of them is Ginok Song, a visual artist who’s been creating at her Petty Harbour studio for over two decades. Two of her murals, “The Way We Were in Tapper’s Cove” and “Torbay Beach Elegy,” both located in Torbay, are featured in the app. Her latest work – a mural depicting the women who worked in the inshore fishery, located at the municipal building in 76

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Petty Harbour-Maddox Cove and completed this past summer – is in the process of being added.

“It’s nice to have that kind of exposure,” she says. “It’s great to have an app like that because I never know which town has which piece, and there’s so many combinations of so many artworks, sculptures and paintings and murals. It’s quite impressive.”

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The app helps tells the story of many towns in the province. For example, the Indigenous heritage of Port au Choix is highlighted in these pieces from artists Michael Massie and Jim Maunder

local history. On the Northern Peninsula, for instance, the story of the town of Port au Choix (a National Historic Site) is a rich tapestry that includes the Maritime Archaic, Dorset, Groswater and Beothuk peoples. Four of the artworks featured in the app – “Dorset Doorway” and “Mother and Child” at Point Riche, and “Hunters with Seal” and “Hunter in Kayak” at Phillip’s Garden (collaborative works created by Michael Massie and Jim Maunder) – help strengthen the sense of place and are a point of pride for those who live there.

“I grew up in this area and played in those places as a child. I’m very proud of this art, erected in place by Parks Canada... Many groups of Indigenous peoples have been proven to have lived in the area back www.downhomelife.com

as far as five to six thousand years ago – long before [being] discovered

by John Cabot and the coming of the European fishermen,” says Susan White, deputy mayor of the Town of Port au Choix, a member of the local heritage committee, and herself a proud Indigenous person.

“Those pieces of artwork are a pleasure and very much photographed as the locals and tourists hike our shoreline from our community to Point Riche lighthouse… All of it is respected and appreciated, and the townspeople take pride in sharing with all family and friends who visit. This public art app released by Business & Arts NL will certainly bring more visitors to this community for its rich history of its Indigenous people that lived here long before Canada was formed.”

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explore

Looking for a new year, new you challenge?

These 2022 ultramarathon events offer a winning combination of fitness and travel goals.

BY DENNIS FLYNN

Tanya Joy, founder of the Joy Run 50K

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THE NEW YEAR

WHISPERS

of opportunities to begin again, to reinvent ourselves, to dare the unusual, to scratch a special item off the proverbial bucket list. For avid runners caught in the same pandemic we’re all living in, folks who’d ordinarily be preparing for epic events such as the Boston Marathon, that means looking for remarkable races closer to home.

Fortunately, the newest trend in distance running, the ultramarathon, is growing enormously right here in Newfoundland and Labrador.

So how does an ultramarathon differ from a regular marathon? A marathon is a run with a distance of 42.195 kilometres (26.2 miles). An ultramarathon is any run longer than that, and usually goes beyond a road track to include varied terrain – forested paths, hills, desert plains etc. According to MarathonHandbook.com, “Ultramarathon race distances typically start at 50K. From there, common race distances jump up to 50 miles, 100K and 100 miles. The longest ultramarathon, in fact, is a 3,100-mile race that takes place over 52 days.”

So, running an ultramarathon on trails is an extremely physically and mentally demanding niche event requiring significant preparation and appropriate terrain training. And, as with any physical activity, you should consult with a doctor to be sure ultramarathon running is right for you. Given that caveat, Newfoundland and Labrador has an embarrassment of riches in terms of both dramatic landscapes and events to satisfy even the most ardent ultramarathon enthusiast. Here’s a rundown on seven such events planned for 2022. www.downhomelife.com

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Participants gather to run the ECT50

The East Coast Trail 50 Kilometre The ECT50 is the best known and longest-established ultramarathon in the province. It runs a portion of the East Coast Trail from Pouch Cove to inside the Inn of Olde in Quidi Vidi village in St. John’s. Yes, you read that right. The finish line is actually inside the bar. I have done the ECT50 six times over the years (very, very slowly, I might add), and it is a moving feast for the senses.

There are no medals, no prizes, no T-shirts, and you run 50 of the most spectacular and challenging kilometres of your life. If you make it to the Inn of Olde, they give you a Cadbury Curly Wurly chocolate bar made in the United Kingdom, followed by a feed of chili and beer. This October event started in 2014 (it did not go in 2020 or 2021 due to the pandemic), and under normal circumstances folks travel from all over the world to take part.

Liminality Trail 50 Kilometre and 50 Mile The name Liminality itself says a lot about this very tough event, which runs all day and well into the night in Clarenville. It comes from the Latin word limens, which means “threshold.” According to the race website, “It is when you have left the tried and true, but have not yet been able to replace it with anything else. It is when you are between your old comfort zone and your new one.” Liminality did not go in 2020 or 2021 due to COVID-19, but when it last ran in June 2019, there were both individual and relay team options at various distances. There were four events all done on trails (except for 0.3 mi of road). The 50-mile race consisted of 80

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Timed Laps, a new concept to this province. An 8.3-mi loop was alternately attempted both counter clockwise and clockwise; participants had two hours to complete the loop before the clock and the direction reset. Racers who failed to cross the finish line within the two-hour limit were eliminated from the race. The winners of the Liminality Endurance Race were the top male and female who completed the most laps. In a tie for laps, the winners would be determined by the most laps in the fastest accumulated run time. Organizers may have a new format /route for participants to look forward to in 2022, so keep watch for that.

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Left: Dennis Flynn with race director Michaela Pye. Right: The STEEP route takes you to the top of the Man in the Mountain.

STEEP Trail 50K and 100K I actually took part in the 50K portion of the inaugural running of the STEEP ultramarathon held in September 2021 in western Newfoundland. While there, I got to chat with the race director, Michaela Pye of Deer Lake.

“STEEP got its start after I spent a year doing a lot of travelling for ultras. As I was training in between events, it was clear that the trails on the west coast of Newfoundland were world-class in challenging terrain and views,” she said. “One of the things that excites me most about trail running is how accessible it can be. That is an important issue for me in Newfoundland and Labrador. To run short distances, you really need minimal gear, and it’s a great way to explore the province, given our many hiking trails. Ultramarathons in this province fascinate me in particular, www.downhomelife.com

largely because the qualities of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and the qualities of ultramarathon runners are very similar: perseverance, hard work and determination.”

The STEEP included running up and down several peaks: the Man in the Mountain overlooking the Humber River, the Doppler Site at the summit of Marble Mountain, then any other incline that can be found to make up 7,000-foot elevation gain over the 50K route before the 12 hour time elapsed. Do the STEEP ultramarathon and you will see an amazing variety of panoramic scenery and trails, including parts of the International Appalachian Trail and the Corner Brook Gorge Trail System. Do the 100K and you get to see it all twice, including parts of it at night – if you dare.

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The Joy Run 50 Kilometre Tanya Joy is the founder/organizer and race director for the Joy Run 50 inaugural ultramarathon that took place July 31, 2021. It started at Pasadena and ended at Steady Brook.

The Freshwater, Placentia Bay, native notes that ultramarathons are well suited for this province. “The landscape is uniquely laid out and has such a variety to offer depending on which part of our beautiful province you visit or are from. The East Coast has tough, rugged, rootcovered and rocky trails with ocean view along the coastline. The West Coast of Newfoundland showcases the mountains, the valleys and backcountry landscape to trail run on,” Tanya explains.

“The Joy Run 50 ultramarathon trail race was founded in memory of my brother, Jody, who died by suicide in 2019. Our mission is to promote mental health through the joy of trail running. This event also brings awareness to suicide prevention and creates a safe space to share in our challenges and heal from our loss,” she adds.

“An ultramarathon on trails is not just about running the distance, it is about the connection to nature. That feeling of the earth under each stride you take, the sounds of life and the comradery of the people coming together. Trail running is a wellness experience for physical, emotional and mental health. In September 2020, I ran a gruelling 100 kilometres and the quietness of running in the woods, dodging roots, and the smell of the earth and the trees, the natural beauty, lit up my soul. When I lay down that night, I realized I didn’t conquer the mountains – I conquered me.”

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Tuckamore Trail Runners Annual Trail Running Retreat After a successful first event in October 2021, organizer Erica Summers is already planning the next one. “It is a very low-key weekend where participants can choose their own adventure each day of the retreat. It can be as intense or as laid back as they would like it to be,” Erica says.

“The retreat is based out of Neddies Harbour in the Gros Morne region. Over the course of the weekend, we have three to four trail runs scheduled (two of those falling on the Saturday), totalling about 42 kilometres running for the weekend. There is also a yoga session, information sessions surrounding trail safety, nutrition, gear etc., and there is a social on Saturday evening as well.” To really unwind, or recover, there is a spa, a hot tub and a sauna on site.

“One of our main goals in hosting this retreat is to also support local businesses as much as possible. Some of our partners for our first retreat were Gros Morne Coffee Roastery, the Oat Co., Gros Morne Outdoor Company, Neddies Harbour Inn, The Black Spruce Restaurant and Megan Humphrey Yoga,” Erica adds. “This year we will have much of the same focus and to showcase our amazing trails.

It is an all-inclusive weekend minus travel, which is a nice option for participants as well. The dates are September 30 to October 2, 2022.” www.downhomelife.com

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Gros Morne Trail Running Race 43 Kilometres This September ultramarathon spans two days and takes runners through the best parts of Gros Morne National Park. Race director Steve Wheeler says, “We divide the race up into stages to make it more accessible for people, and to allow us to use the top trails in the park. My best memories of our event are of people finishing Gros Morne Mountain, crossing that line, and just so happy to be done. Or coming in to the end at Woody Point in the rain. For participants, it’s the culmination of a training plan, travel, commitment and getting through some tough periods on the course.

It’s nice as race director to share those moments at the finish line.”

Of course, Steve is also a long distance runner. He completed his first ultramarathon, the Deer Lake 67K, in 2013. Trail running is something he got into in New Zealand in 2006, the Stephenville native says.

“I love two aspects of ultras: I enjoy the solitude and exploration of the off-trail routes, and I enjoy the community and company on the racing 84

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side,” he explains. “Running is quite an accessible activity to get into compared to some sports. Even if you can’t run a 5K on a trail, start by hiking (most trail runners are hiking/walking the hills anyways), and move on from there with a gradual focus on distance. An ultra on trails brings together a number of fundamental aspects of being human: being outside in the fresh air, and most often an ultramarathon trail race takes place in a natural setting, which is quite beautiful. So you are travelling through this beautiful landscape, taking in the fresh air, and you have to overcome, or accomplish a goal, and it’s a simple goal – you have to finish. The people around you share the same goal of simply finishing.

“Newfoundland with our added cultural layer, we get people who are a little tougher, rougher around the edges come out, you know; you get real people, in real weather, in real beautiful sprawling landscapes with rough trails. It is a real comradery.”

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Rockcut Ultra 55 Kilometre After a year of great preparation and a build-up of excitement, the inaugural Rockcut Ultra in Twillingate was cancelled at the very last minute – volunteers had assembled and swag bags were ready to hand out – due to a COVID-19 outbreak in the region. For safety’s sake, organizers had no choice. All that leg work and planning experience will not go to waste, though, as the event is already slated for September 24, 2022. Billed as Twillingate’s first trail race, it takes runners along the rugged coast, up and down cliffsides, through woods, over marshes – all following 55 km of marked hiking trails that have helped make this town a popular tourist destination.

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explore Dog-team ride in Williams Harbour Yvonne Russell

When the snow blankets the ground and the ponds freeze solid, do Newfoundlanders and Labradorians hibernate till spring?

Not a chance! From Nain to Forteau, St. Anthony to Rose Blanche, Springdale to Pouch Cove, and Burin to Trepassey, winter lovers pull on their snow gear, rev up their Ski-doos, strap on their skates, jump on their sleds and make the most of this white and woolly time of year. To remind you and inspire you, we combed our collection of photos readers have sent in over previous winters from all parts of the province, proving once again that Downhome, life is better!

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Ice Fishing on Second Pond, Notre Dame Bay Helena Burt

A game of shinny in St. Paul’s Jan Boone

Snowmobiling in Central Newfoundland Pansy Snow

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Skate ‘n slide in Lamaline Michelle Stacey

Skating on Badger Lake Carla Legge

Skidooing Western Newfoundand Valerie Wiseman

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Sliding in Bowring Park, St. John’s Shane Howard

Snow sculptures in Carmanville Ross Weste

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explore travel diary

By Calvin Perry, Oshawa, ON Formerly of Laurenceton, NL

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It was exciting to hear the news of open doors once again enabling travel to Newfoundland and Labrador. A trip to visit our family there was long overdue due to COVID-19 restrictions. So we took the opportunity to spend a month (mid-August to mid-September 2021) visiting with family, seeing friends and again taking in all the beautiful scenery.

We love to take day trips to small communities, especially along the coastline. One of these trips this year was to the town of Rattling Brook, in the vicinity of Springdale. As we drove through the community, our attention was drawn to a large waterfall. Looking way up from the road we could see this water seemingly coming out of the top of the mountain. We stopped and pulled into a parking lot where we found access to a well-groomed trail leading to the falls.

As we walked along the trail, on the right side we could see and enjoy the water “rattling” over the rocks. To the left there was beautiful green moss covering the forest floor beneath the many trees – breathtaking scenery!

The trail led to a boardwalk and then a long and steep stairway reaching close to the top of the falls. At this point, the noise was deafening as the water gushed out of the deep crevice in the rock, tumbling its way downward to the brook (river) below. We stood in awe of this spectacle of nature. This truly made for a very pleasant afternoon excursion. To be able to capture some of these scenes in pictures for future enjoyment is one of my joys in life. A day to remember indeed! www.downhomelife.com

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stuff we love by Nicola Ryan

New Year’s Apps FANTASTIC FITNESS For a healthy start to the New Year, get moving with fitness app FitOn and its huge variety of free classes.

From boxing and circuit training to stretching and meditation, there’s something for everyone, including beginners. Search by activity, intensity, class length or even target muscle group and kickstart a personal training program, no equipment or gym membership required. Available on Apple App Store and Google Play.

CHECKS THE BOXES If you’re looking to get organized and maximize your productivity with a great to-do list app, Todoist is for you.

Take notes, remember deadlines, get reminders, collaborate on projects and never feel frazzled again. Todoist is packed full of features, and since it is cloud-based, it syncs automatically to all your devices. Get ’er done!

Available on Apple App Store and Google Play.

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SUPERMARKET SWEEP To save money at the grocery store, download Flipp – a free app that aggregates all the weekly flyers for your area. Enter your postal code and it will load all your local stores. Flipp can help you take advantage of sales and deals, compile grocery lists, plan healthy meals and make better decisions on your weekly shopping. Available on Apple App Store and Google Play.

READ UP ON IT Want to learn something new this year? Put your local library in your pocket with Libby, a free app that lets your borrow books, audiobooks, magazines and music for free.

You can stream titles, or download them so you can read up on any subject, any time, anywhere. All you need to get started is a library card! Available on Apple App Store and Google Play.

MIND NOW Take some time to focus on yourself this year with Headspace. Hundreds of guided meditations will help you manage stress and anxiety, develop mindfulness and bring balance to your everyday life. Drift off to sleep with calming stories or tranquil music, and start each morning motivated and inspired. Get happy, stress less and brighten each new day – make 2022 your year.

Available on Apple App Store and Google Play.

www.downhomelife.com

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Bright Ideas for 2022

BY MARIE BISHOP

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Happy New Year! Time for a clean

slate, a fresh start, a new look in your old space, a facelift for your favourite room. Aside from the obvious decluttering process we go through after Christmas, maybe it’s time for a few cosmetic improvements to your home, like a new paint colour to bring joy and light to your everyday life.

If you want to incorporate what’s trendy, soft greys and creamy neutrals are still good choices.

But bolder colours, most notably blue and green, will give your space the most updated look.

Blue has been on the decorating scene for a couple of years now, but for 2022, every paint company on the planet has chosen some shade of green as their colour choice. A frontrunner seems to be the Sherwin Williams colour of the year, Evergreen Fog SW-9130. The word “fog” might make us East Coasters want to grab our heavy waterproof hooded jackets; however, as they describe it, it is a “green-meets-grey with a hint of blue.” It makes a very calming, sophisticated, inviting backdrop for all kinds of décor.

Another option is Benjamin Moore’s #1495 October Mist, a gentle sage green that you could confidently use for the whole room.

My go-to colour has always been blue, almost any shade, anywhere, anytime. So, when I decided to update a space and make it functional, pleasing, joyful and used every day, I confiscated a small area of my kitchen for a new coffee station.

The cabinets above and to the side of my fridge had become catchalls for items no longer used or needed, and the small counter space there was usually cluttered with random stuff. It was not a joyful space; in fact, it made me cringe every time I walked past it.

While this would require more than just a coat of paint, it was a relatively simple project. www.downhomelife.com

Sherwin Williams colour of the year, Evergreen Fog

Benjamin Moore colour of the year, October Mist

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(Granted, I do have Mr. B, who is game for most of my “wouldn’t it be nice if…” ideas.) We removed the upper cabinets, repaired the wall and painted it with chaulkboard paint in a deep navy blue. This gave me the option of using coffee shop calligraphy to showcase my new space. Next we purchased 1 3⁄8" thick pine shelf planks at a local building supply store, cut them to length and laminated some for a deeper shelf over the fridge. We finished them by brushing on paint, letting it sit for a minute, then rubbing it off. Much the same way you would use a wood stain, but creating a softer look that

BEFORE

Pine shelving was installed with black metal brackets The back wall was painted with deep navy chaulkboard paint

A new countertop was added to match the kitchen island

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still allowed the gentle woodgrain to show through. We installed them using black metal brackets that disappeared into the navy wall. It was just easier than creating floating shelves.

We replaced the countertop. I chose a top to match our island. But you could go with a butcher block, a painted wood top, laminate or solid surface. I considered this a space with its own identity, which is why, instead of painting the bottom cabinets white like the rest of the kitchen, I painted them a blue-grey, which I love, and added its own light fixture.

Next, the fun part – shopping! A serious coffee station needs a coffee machine, of course; an espresso machine, of course; milk frother; storage jars for coffee beans, pods and sugar cubes; and cute baskets for holding filters, stir sticks etc. I www.downhomelife.com

finished the look with a few coffee books, some funky accessories and wall art – which could just be calligraphy on the chaulkboard wall.

As a bonus, the new shelves had enough room to store liquor for the occasional specialty coffee, items collected on various holidays and a green plant or two.

Now, whether it’s my first stop in the morning to make a latte, or passing it on my way to the laundry room, my coffee station brings me joy and makes me smile.

So, as the stillness of January settles in and you’re fighting off the winter blues, pick a room, a wall, any area, get some paint and grab a brush. Before you know it, you will have spread the joy and given yourself another reason to Love Your Space.

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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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Baked stuffed squid, or calamari ripieni al forno in Italian. Sounds delicious either way, right?

I flash back to a time in rural Newfoundland and Labrador, growing up in Baie Verte. Even though my family was not connected to the fishery as such, we certainly lived on fish and off the land, so to speak.

We caught rabbit, hunted moose, grew our own vegetables etc., and looking back, we had some pretty amazing feeds.

In the late 1970s early ’80s, it seemed every man and his dog were in the habit of catching squid, cleaning and drying them for Asian markets. The squid jigging grounds in my mining hometown was littered with seasoned fishermen and young gaffers like me, who were out for the fun of it and to make a buck on the side. I can’t say, nor likely would anyone dare say, that squid jigging was an easy feat. It was downright hard and messy work.

I have to say, catching the squid was the easy part. As a matter of fact, it was a good laugh, too – anyone who has done it before knows exactly what I’m talking about! The hard work really started when I got home with my catch. The squid had to be cleaned, split and then hung to dry. I remember wearing the white cotton gloves that didn’t stay white for very long, and oh, as the evening settled in and the nippers (mosquitos) bombarded all my exposed skin, the wet gloves were my only defense. You can imagine, killing the nippers on my arms, neck and face with those cotton gloves covered in squid guts and ink left quite the artistry on my skin. It’s a wonder I was even allowed in the house.

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I didn’t stay at the fishery too long in the end, maybe just that one little stretch for the fun of it and the cash.

Looking back, it was certainly worth the memories.

What got me reflecting on these memories? I recently picked up a

couple of packs of “squid tubes.”

That’s the body of the squid, all cleaned, skinned and neatly packed and frozen. This is my very first time making baked stuffed squid, so please join me as we navigate this traditional NL dish together.

Baked Stuffed Squid Serves 3 adults 6 squid tubes Stuffing: 4 cups breadcrumbs 3 tbsp olive oil 3/4 stick of butter 3 tbsp flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

1 small onion, finely chopped 1/2 fresh squeezed lemon 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 4 tbsp savoury, or to taste salt and pepper to taste

In a small saucepan, add oil and butter. Melt butter; add chopped onion and sauté until tender. Transfer to a bowl and add all other stuffing ingredients except cheese, and mix well. Wait a few minutes for the onion to cool before adding the cheese (to prevent melting).

For the sauce, mix together in a bowl: 1 (28 oz) can of whole skinned tomatoes 1/4 cup dry white wine 1/4 cup olive oil 1/4 cup water 1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, finely chopped 1/2 fresh squeezed lemon

Preheat oven to 325°F. Stuff each squid tube no more than halfway with the stuffing. The squid will shrink when it’s baked; if you put in too much stuffing, the squid will actually burst open as it cooks, and it just makes a mess and looks terrible. Use toothpicks or kitchen twine to close the ends so that the stuffing stays in the tubes. Place the squid in a roasting pan or baking dish. Pour the tomato sauce over top and place in the oven. Depending on the amount of liquid, you may want to cover the squid with aluminum foil to prevent the liquid from evaporating and burning the squid, so monitor for this during cooking.

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Bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, or until the squid is tender. Do not overcook! Baking squid too long will make them tough, so pierce with a fork after 1 hour to check for tenderness.

I have said it so many times before: cook with confidence. If I can do it, so can you.

Todd’s Tips Use seasoning that you like, make it your own.

If you have leftover cheese, sprinkle it over top of the squid.

Most important tip: Do not over stuff the tubes! Fill to just about half.

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everyday recipes

Winner, Winner Chicken Dinner Chicken is typically a crowd pleaser, and while boneless, skinless chicken breasts can be pricey, you can substitute other chicken parts, such as thighs, or even turkey, in several of these recipes.

Quickie Chicken Pasta 2 1 2 1

cups cooked chicken, cubed (24 oz/640 ml) container tomato sauce (your favourite kind) cups rotini pasta (or any pasta shape), cooked and drained 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease or spray a 9" x 9" baking dish.

Combine pasta, chicken and sauce; pour into the prepared baking dish. Top with shredded cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 15-20 minutes, or until bubbly. Serves 6.

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One Pot Chicken Supper 1 tbsp olive oil 1 small onion, chopped 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed Dash of salt and pepper 3/4 cup Minute rice (white or brown), uncooked

1 can cream of chicken (or mushroom or broccoli) soup 2-3 soup cans of water 2 cups broccoli florets (fresh or thawed from frozen) 1 cup marble cheddar cheese, grated

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large, oven-safe frying pan or Dutch oven. Add onion and chicken. Cook, stirring chicken until it is no longer pink and starts to brown a little. Season with salt and pepper. Add rice, cream of chicken soup and 2 soup cans of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat, cover and cook over medium heat until the rice is fully cooked. Check and stir occasionally and, if needed, add more water to cook the rice. This should take about 15 minutes. Stir in broccoli and half the cheese. Cook for 2 more minutes, until broccoli softens a bit. Sprinkle remaining cheese over the top and place the skillet under the broiler for a few minutes until cheese melts and starts to brown. Watch it carefully so it doesn’t burn. Serves 4-6.

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Salsa Breaded Chicken Casserole 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cubed 1 pkg Stove Top chicken stuffing mix 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes 1 small bottle (473 ml) salsa

1 tsp dried basil 3/4 cup shredded cheese (cheddar, mozza or a blend)

Cut tomatoes in half and place in a microwave-safe dish. Microwave on high for 2 minutes. In a large bowl, combine tomatoes and salsa. Add stuffing mix and fold in until stuffing is wet. Place chicken in the bottom of an ungreased 2L casserole dish. Sprinkle with basil and cheese.

Top with stuffing mixture. Bake uncovered at 400°F for 30-40 min. or until chicken is cooked through and topping is beginning to crisp.

Serves 4.

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Honey Garlic Chicken Stirfry 2 1 2 1

tbsp vegetable oil, divided cup carrots, cut into matchsticks cups broccoli florets lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into small cubes salt and pepper to taste

4 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 cup low-sodium chicken broth (or water) 1/4 cup soy sauce 3 tbsp honey 2 tsp cornstarch + 1 tbsp cold water

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add carrots and broccoli, and cook until vegetables are tender (4-5 min.). Remove vegetables from the pan; set aside in a covered dish. Wipe frying pan clean with a paper towel and turn the heat to high. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper; add them to the pan in a single layer (cook in batches). Cook for 3-4 minutes on each side until chicken is golden brown and cooked through (reduce heat to medium if grease is popping a lot). Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Return vegetables to the pan and cook just until vegetables are warmed through. In a bowl whisk together chicken broth, soy sauce and honey. In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch and water. Pour soy sauce mixture over the chicken and vegetables; cook for 30 seconds. Add the cornstarch thickener and bring to a boil; cook for 1 more minute or until sauce has just started to thicken.

Serve immediately over hot rice. Serves 4.

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Breaded and Baked Chicken 6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (or skinless chicken thighs or legs) Salt and pepper to taste 1/4 cup olive oil 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 tsp paprika 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup panko 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese, fresh grated 1 tsp dried basil 1 tsp dried oregano 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/8 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9"x 13" dish. Season chicken pieces liberally with salt and pepper on both sides. Set aside. In a shallow dish, combine breadcrumbs, panko, Parmesan cheese, basil, oregano, onion powder and pepper. In another shallow dish, mix together olive oil, garlic and paprika. Dip each chicken piece in the oil mixture, then in the breadcrumb mixture. Press the breadcrumbs to the chicken so each piece is well coated. Place chicken pieces in a single layer in the prepared baking dish; top them with any remaining breadcrumb mixture and drizzle with any leftover oil. Bake for 30-35 minutes until internal temperature of the chicken reaches 165°F, or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear (40-45 minutes for bone-in pieces). Serves 6.

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Chicken Stew 2 tbsp butter 2 large carrots, peeled and sliced into coins 1 stalk celery, chopped Salt and pepper to taste 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 tbsp flour

1 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs 3 sprigs fresh thyme 1 bay leaf 3/4 lb potatoes, peeled and chopped 3 cups low-sodium chicken broth

In a large pot over medium heat, melt butter. Add carrots and celery; season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until vegetables are tender, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook about 30 seconds. Stir in flour to coat the vegetables, then add chicken, thyme, bay leaf, potatoes and broth. Bring stew to a simmer and cook until the chicken is no longer pink and potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Turn off heat. Transfer chicken pieces to a bowl or plate and use two forks to shred the meat. Return chicken to stew, stir and serve hot. Serves 4.

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HOME and Cabin

down to earth

Critters in Your Houseplants

by Kim Thistle

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If you have houseplants, you know just how aggravating it can be to find yourself renting out accommodations to pesky insects. At the first sign of one little creature, you can be sure that tomorrow there will be dozens. Fortunately, there are a few preventative measures that you can take before you get a full-on invasion.

What to Watch For Before purchasing, you should check plants over thoroughly. Not only should you look for insects, but also for signs of insect damage such as honeydew, the sticky excrement of many pests.

Once you introduce a plant into your home, it is best to quarantine it in a separate room for a couple of weeks to see if any nasties show up. Often there may be no sign of adults in your new plant, but there could be eggs or larvae that are hard to detect. By keeping the plant in a holding area, it will give time for these eggs to hatch. www.downhomelife.com

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Yellow sticky traps placed just above the plant will attract insects that will stick to the card. If anything untoward shows up, it is a sign that there are many more in the plant that you have not yet detected. These traps are available for purchase at your local garden centre, but you can also make your own at home. All you need is a swatch of yellow cardboard or paper smeared with Vaseline. The insects are attracted to yellow. As soon as they touch the paper they stick to the Vaseline and are unable to free themselves. If you find anything, you should treat the plant before introducing it to the rest of your home.

Constant monitoring is a must. Every time you water your plants you should check them over for signs of damage. Often, the damage is noticed before the actual insect. You may see discolouring of the leaf, changes in leaf texture or spot webbing at the intersection of leaf and stem. If honeydew is present, you have a problem. This feels a bit like spilled lemonade and it drips onto surfaces surrounding the plant. If the honeydew is serious enough it encourages mould, which looks a bit like soot.

Insects multiply rapidly in an indoor environment, so don’t put off treatment when you see signs. Act immediately. Some insects are born pregnant, and they give birth to enough young’uns to quickly make your life miserable.

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Common Culprits

Aphids These are small yellow, green, orange or black six-legged bugs. They are usually seen in clusters around the tips of new growth. These insects are born pregnant and will give birth to as many as 100 nymphs at one time.

At the first sign of these, wash them off under running water. Quarantine your plant and be sure to wash it off with a strong jet of water every three days until you have them under control. You can also squish them with your fingers if you are not squeamish, or use rubbing alcohol on a Q-tip to remove them. Insecticidal soap works wonders and is safe to use.

Spider Mite These tiny arachnids are usually prolific under hot, dry conditions. You will probably not see the spider as it is very, very tiny, but there are telltale signs. The leaves of your plant will look pale and lose their sheen.

Upon close examination, you will see very fine webbing on the undersides of the leaves or at the leaf axil. Spiders are wind surfers and float around on drag lines, so chances are that if one plant has them, someone has escaped and begun reproduction 1-888-588-6353

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on a neighbouring plant.

Prevention is key here. Keep your plants hydrated and do not let them dry out. Make sure you are using a healthy soil with organic matter, such as worm castings; healthy soil creates healthy plants that are better able to fight off problems. As soon as you see any sign of this pest, quarantine it and, again, spray with a hard jet of water. Remove as much of the webbing as you can, as this is what is used to protect their eggs. Horticultural oil or dormant oil is a great organic treatment after you have done your initial cleaning. If you can find a hungry ladybug, introduce her to your plant and she will clean up the remaining spider mites.

Prevention Tips It is key to be diligent when it comes to houseplants. A few preventative measures may keep pests at bay.

Repot your plant as soon as you bring it into your home. Use a good quality, sterile soil with organic matter already added, or add your own. I love worm castings.

Avoid repotting to a significantly larger container. Rather, go up one size in diameter.

Use an organic fertilizer.

Whitefly Hideous creatures, they look like tiny white moths that become airborne when a plant is moved. These insects are also producers of honeydew that increases the chance of fungal diseases on your plants. As with any insect problem, it is important to keep your plant healthy. Do not let it become stressed from being pot bound or improperly hydrated. If you spot an infestation, get the vacuum out. You can destroy a goodly number of these bugs by sucking them up gently with your vacuum nozzle. Be careful not to injure your plant in the process. Remove the bag afterward and get it out of the house. Once this step is completed you can spray with insecticidal soap. www.downhomelife.com

Stick to a healthy watering schedule.

Clean your plants regularly with a damp cloth. A layer of dust will prevent them from transpiring properly and may hide insect eggs.

Houseplants are a wonderful addition to any household, but like any living thing, they require maintenance. Be diligent with your monitoring. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

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

Happy New Year This old postcard is from a collection owned by the late Gilbert Ralph of Moncton, NB (formerly of Traytown, NL).

Bev Ralph Via DownhomeLife.com

On the Tickle

“This is my great-grandfather, Tom Neary, bringing supplies back to Bell Island when ice still formed between Bell Island and Portugal Cove,” writes the submitter. “Tom built Neary’s barn on Bell Island in the 1930s, which at that time was the largest building in Eastern Canada.”

Heather O’Brien St. John’s, NL 112

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Game On

The Civil Service team plays St. Pierre circa 1961 or 1962. “We have always teased referee David ‘Dutch’ MacDonald about refereeing ‘international’ hockey,” the submitter writes.

Shirley (Knee) MacDonald Fredericton, NB

This Month in History On January 21, 1918, the SS Beverly and her crew of 24 Newfoundlanders set sail from Harbour Grace with a load of salt cod and cod liver oil, bound for Greece – but was never seen again. The subsequent inquiry into the disappearance of the ship and her crew laid the blame on the regulatory system that allowed ships that were not seaworthy to leave port.

According to Long Overdue: SS Beverly 1885-1918, by Suzanne Sexty and Liz Browne, the tragedy provided the impetus to better safeguard the lives of merchant mariners sailing from Newfoundland ports in the future.

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reminiscing visions & vignettes

Gnat, do you mind…

Red Ryders?

By Harold N. Walters

A month after Christmas it was obvious that Santa Claus had blundered when he’d given both Harry and Gnat Red Ryder BB guns. At first, the rookie riflemen safely shot tin cans off fence posts. Once hundreds of tin cans had been tracked down and laid low, they lined off empty jam bottles on the posts and blasted the glass to smithereens.

When inanimate targets no longer satisfied the urge to shoot, the boys set their sights on livelier game. BB pellets parted the tailfeathers of brazen grey jays. From the safety of a treetop, LaRue, Harry’s tame crow, berated me buckoes for firing at his feathered friends.

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led Harry and Gnat to stalking tomcats. However, pussycat prey very quickly became off-limits after Marmalade, Granny’s orange tomcat (a near miss!), hissed, catapulted from a fence rail into Harry’s face, and clawed his chops and trigger finger bloody.

Then one night a fresh batch of snow fell on Brookwater and covered every roof with heavy snow. Next morning, the January sun reluctantly hauled itself above the Crow Cliffs and squeezed out enough half-hearted beams to melt the snow on the south sides of rooftops. At day’s end, meltwater running off eaves froze into icy stalactites. Come daylight on a freezing, cloudy day, those ice candles became dandy targets for air-gun marksmen, until Harry turned to Gnat and said, “This idden no fun no more.”

“No, t’idden,” said Gnat.

“Let’s look for something else to shoot at,” said Harry.

Their hunting brought them abreast of Aunt Chook’s henhouse where, directly beneath the southern eave, half a dozen Plymouth Rocks pecked at a piece of ground they’d scratched bare. Ice candles plus living critters – now, that’s the stuff!

A pair of Red Ryder’s stocks notched against winter-padded shoulders and opened fire at not the hens, but rather the icicles suspended like glassy spikes above their heads. Ping! Ping! Ping! Bullseye. A fringe of icicles broke off the henhouse roof and fell among the chickens like frozen thunderbolts. Hens squawked and fled in mindless circles as if they’d already suffered the results of deadly axe strokes. Harry and Gnat cheered their success, 1-888-588-6353

almost dancing in their logans.

“Let’s look for something else,” said Harry, turning his back on the ice candle stumps left on the roof.

No doubt inspired by the panicked hens, the duo wandered around Brookwater, eyes peeled for heedless critters dawdling beneath icy eaves.

They spotted Ranger, Harve Hinker’s golden retriever, snoozing on Harve’s porch step. Now seasoned hunters, Harry and Gnat exchanged silent directions and crept towards Ranger until they were within firing range.

Ping! Ping! Ping! Bullseye. Ice

A fringe of icicles broke off the henhouse roof and fell among the chickens like frozen thunderbolts. Hens squawked and fled in mindless circles as if they’d already suffered the results of deadly axe strokes. candles cracked off the eave and pelted Ranger, pinning him to the step like a damsel pinned to a knifethrower’s wheel. One pointy icicle nipped Ranger’s tail and he bolted from his nap like a scalded pup, vanishing beyond the horizon.

“B’ys, oh b’ys,” said two rapscallions before falling in fits of laughter into a handy snowbank.

Next, Harry and Gnat swung their gun barrels towards Harve’s stable and studied the rime of icicles stretching down almost to the top of the manure piled against an outside wall. “Take a lot of BBs to knock January 2022

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them down,” said Harry.

“I ’low,” said Gnat.

“We better reload.”

As pellets rattled into Red Ryders, Trafalgar, Harve’s young entire, who shared mischievous history with Harry and Gnat, stuck his head out over the stable’s half door. Ice candles hung almost close enough to comb his mane.

Heedless of history, the hunters hoisted their rifles.

In a blur of ambushed horseflesh, Trafalgar spun around, flicked up his heels and booted the stable door off its hinges. He leaped from the stable and reared up on his hind legs, daring his traitorous companions to open fire.

The Red Ryders drooped. Wisely, the riflemen fled from Trafalgar’s brandished hooves and went in search of less threatening quarry.

Just as they arrived at the Big Rock opposite Uncle Pell’s shop, Old Man Farley stepped out of his outhouse, snapping the straps of his bibbed overalls. Across the lane from the outhouse, a veritable cascade of icicles flowed from the eave of Old Man Farley’s bungalow. He crossed the lane and stopped to size up the impressive ice candles.

From the cover of the Big Rock, a brace of Red Ryder renegades fired a fusillade at Old Man Farley’s eave. If their ammunition had been bullets rather than BBs, their gun barrels would have smoked. Ping! Ping!

Ping! Bullseye.

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Old Man Farley thrashed on the ground like a man who’d fallen off his bob-sleds.

Scattered chooks, a sleeping dog and a bushwhacked old man lying in the dust behind them – so to speak – Harry and Gnat trod Brookwater’s byways until they came within a gunshot of a cottage hunkered arse-on to a slab of rock taller than its roof. The cottage was the home of Aunt Sissy Hatt, the Brookwater witch.

A cataract of wrinkled ice crimped from the rock’s rim onto and across the roof of Aunt Sissy’s house before draining from an eave as stupendous ice candles. The icicles veiled the house so that its front door appeared to be inside the wall of an ice cave.

“I don’t ’low we can crack them,” said Gnat.

“But we got to try,” said Harry.

After studying the best way to approach Aunt Sissy’s house, Harry and Gnat dropped to the snowcovered ground. Then, crawling on hands and knees, and bellying along with elbows acting as paddles, they reached an angle that allowed them to see behind the icicles blocking Aunt Sissy’s front door.

“P’raps if we hits them from the back, inside the eave kind of,” said Harry.

“Worth a try,” said Gnat.

Ping! Ping! Ping! Bullseye… but nothing.

“Bugger,” said Harry.

Before they could trigger another round, however, the front door opened and Aunt Sissy Hatt stepped outside. As if aware of devilment afoot, she cast suspicious eyes up to the icy eave.

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the ice, Aunt Sissy looked like the witch that folks ’lowed she was. A bandana wrapped her skull like an old hag’s bonnet. Her ancient overcoat was a sorceress’s frock. The birch broom in her hand was – well, what else could it be? – a witch’s ride.

Seeing Aunt Sissy in all her witchy maleficence, Harry and Gnat lost their nerve and wished they could melt into the ground. Unable to do so, they shuffled backwards, hoping their butts weren’t sticking up above the drift.

The snow creaked.

Aunt Sissy’s eyes snapped in the direction of the two boys. “I sees you.

I knows who you is, you two imps,” she cackled.

Harry and Gnat reared up and

ran, abandoning their Red Ryders in the snow.

At that point something fantastical happened. Maybe it wasn’t truly an enchantment. Maybe it was a tableau conjured up in a couple of noggins overwhelmed by fear of witchcraft.

Whichever – witchever? – Harry and Gnat froze, hung suspended in midair. Behind them in the icy cavern, Aunt Sissy screeched out a curse and jabbed her broomstick handle at the curtain of crinkled ice.

Maybe she was venting her spite at the boys by trying to knock ice off her eave. Yet, in the eyes of two boys locked in the air like levitated ice sculptures, the wall of ice detached from Aunt Sissy’s eave and hurtled towards them… and smote them.

Splinters of ice and bits of broken boys crashed to the ground.

Perchance, that isn’t exactly what happened. Nevertheless, when the reassembled boys plucked up sufficient courage to retrieve their Red Ryders, they found them with their barrels knotted like tangled pipe.

Mind those BB guns, Gnat? Despite barrels hammered more or less straight, they were never fired again.

Harold Walters, who never in his life owned a BB gun, lives in Dunville, NL, doing his damnedest to live Happily Ever After.

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The Winter Cut in Torbay

By Danny Gosse • Torbay, NL

It was customary

when I was a boy for residents who burned wood for heat to be involved in the “winter cut.” Usually, wood was cut in the spring (this wood is called “spring var”) and dried over the summer to be used during the long winter months. To make the dry wood last longer, the men would engage in the winter cut. The winter cut entailed cutting green wood, loading it on the catamaran (slide) and bringing it home the same day, especially if there was enough snow for the horse to easily pull the catamaran.

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One Saturday in winter, a beautiful sunny day – a “pet day,” as my father would say – we tackled up our horse Nell to the catamaran to get the winter wood at Humply Marsh, Dead Calf Ridge or Furlongs Ridge. The men used several winter sleigh paths to reach these woodcutting areas, but all of them took a shortcut up Whiteway Pond when it was frozen.

I remember being so excited that morning because Dad was allowing me to go with him and ride the sleigh. My father placed me on the front of the sleigh between the sturdy horns that would hold the wood. I was warned to hold tightly to the horns, to look straight ahead, and to watch for clogs of ice and snow coming back from the horse’s hooves.

“Don’t look back at me,” my father sternly warned.

My father stood on the hind skis of the catamaran, with the long reins of the horse hung loosely behind his neck. To my surprise, as our path opened up on Whiteway Pond, three other horses pulling sleighs appeared simultaneously, all on the same mission. My father had his choice cutting area in mind and he knew there was only one exit path at the head of the pond, and the first horse to reach it got the choice of cutting area.

Suddenly, the race was on!

Joey Gosse, my father’s cousin,

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could be heard yelling at his horse across the pond: “Go on! Go on!”

I stole a glance back at my father – 60 years later I still clearly recall and marvel at his coolness. He was already 55 years old when I was born.

He had just rolled and lit a cigarette, and in almost a whisper he said, “Come on, Nell.” But the look he gave me with those sheer blue eyes, for looking back against his warning, would cut you in two!

Nell was a trotter, and my father often said she belonged on the racetrack. The low voice of my father was picked up instantly by this kind, keen animal and we flew up the pond. On the sleigh that day I felt I was caught somewhere between Heaven and Earth: the fleeting blue ice below, the sparks from the horse’s hooves, the intense blue eyes of my father, all etched against a heavenly and peaceful blue sky.

We glided smoothly onto the path at the head of the pond, well ahead of the pack, as if we were transported there from another planet. The next sound I heard was the warm congratulatory voice of my father: “Well done, Nell. Well done, old girl.”

Many years have since passed, and I have since been on that pond on a snowmobile, but I never again had that out-of-body experience of that perfect Saturday morning with our horse Nell, my father and me.

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reminiscing

A firsthand account of a now historic tragedy in old St. John’s.

BY TOM RISSESCO

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ON SUNDAY, THE 16TH OF FEBRUARY, 1959, WE EXPERIENCED A STRONG BLIZZARD IN ST. JOHN’S, NL.

The next morning, I left my home at 8 Mullock Street before 8:00 to go to St. Joseph’s boys school, fully knowing there would be no school!

Dressed in my COTC army great coat, I trudged through the snowy streets. I encountered big drifts at Rawlins Cross and where Military Road meets Forest Road. Otherwise, the walking was fairly easy until I got closer to Quidi Vidi Road, where the snow was much deeper.

As I reached the street in front of the school, I encountered shopkeeper Gerry Connolly. He told me there was a disaster at the Lower Battery and we should go help, but first we needed first-aid supplies. We went to Thompson’s Pharmacy, which was close by on Quidi Vidi Road.

Luckily, pharmacist Doug Thompson was there. We procured a good-sized bag of supplies and he agreed to join us.

At the beginning of Battery Road, the snow was up to our waists. There were no noticeable tracks in the snow. Gerry pointed out the house where Ninshi Crewe lived. There were no houses to our right – only a sheer drop a number of yards deep. The only houses were on the upper left side of the road.

We had a hard time working through the snow until we got well down the Lower Battery Road. There we found shambles of the former homes of the Lower Battery fishermen. It was a sickening sight! We gave first-aid to the people in the partly damaged homes. After an hour and a half, Gerry and Doug had to return to their own stores. I carried on administering first-aid as needed.

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Damage from the 1959 avalanche

About the same time, the city’s emergency aid workers arrived on the scene. They were the first responders to arrive besides a few policemen and we three volunteers. The city streets weren’t yet plowed and people could not travel any distance.

I remained at the Outer Battery and later joined a team of stretcher-bearers carrying injured persons well over a mile on foot to the hospital on Forest Road. We had two teams and took turns carrying the stretchers.

I think we had something to eat at the hospital. I don’t even remember eating for most of the day, and I know I was very hungry when I got home to Mullock Street late in the afternoon.

At the time of the disaster, Gerry Connolly, a Duckworth Street store owner, was 48; Doug Thompson, pharmacist and pharmacy owner, was 25; and I, a Scoutmaster and teacher, was 29. We were grateful that we were able to help people at the time of a terrible disaster, when help was really needed.

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BATTERY AVALANCHES First recorded avalanche at the Battery was in February 1921. The most recent was in January 2020.

The storm that caused the 1959 avalanche brought strong winds, up to 220 km/h, and 55 cm of snow.

The 1959 avalanche buried several houses and killed five people.

One person, Shirley Noseworthy, was rescued after being buried in snow for 12 hours.

In 1987, an avalanche ripped the porch off a house in the Outer Battery.

Source: www.heritage.nf.ca

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life is better Winter in Little Port, NL Connie Boland, Corner Brook, NL

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* Valid in Canada on a 1-year term. 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/International $49.99. ** Valid in Canada on a 3-year term. Total inc. taxes, postage and handling: for residents in NL, NS, NB, PE $114.99; ON $112.99; QC, SK, MB, AB, BC, NU, NT, YT $104.99; US/International $140.99.

Send to Downhome, 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3 or call 1-888-588-6353

ORDER ONLINE TODAY! www.joindownhome.com

2201_1701-puzzles 11/26/21 3:43 PM Page 126

puzzles

The Beaten Path

Shauna Whiffen 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.

K

B

G F

I

J L R

n H V U

E

Q

C

S

R K

A

E

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G J L M

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n E

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L J

E T

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p B

K V

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M J H

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R C

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n

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p

M V

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G

U

B

Last Month’s Community: Grand Falls 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

January 2022

127

Harold Feiertag photo

2201_1701-puzzles 11/29/21 2:16 PM Page 128

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: • Connected to the Water Witch wreck • Incorporated as a town in 1970 • Merged with Shoe Cove in 1987 • East Coast Trail runs through it • Reads like pocket, sounds like doggy

Last Month’s Answer: Bay de Verde

Picturesque Place NameS of Newfoundland and Labrador

by Mel D’Souza Last Month’s Answer: Harbour Main 128

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

Last Month’s Clue: That man observes you while you slumber, that man is aware of your conscious state In Other Words: He sees you when you’re sleeping, he knows when you’re awake

This Month’s Clue: You are unable to determine a tome by its wrapping In Other Words: ___ ____ _____ _ ____ __ ___ ______

A Way With Words THE TREE PRESENTS

Last Month’s Answer: Presents under the tree

This Month’s Clue

Rhyme Time A rhyming word game by Ron Young

1. Good times end when the ___ is ____ 2. A chatty taxi driver is a ____ ____

UNIVERSE UNIVERSE

3. An evening boxing match is a _____ _____

Answer: _______ ________

Last Month’s Answers 1. gift of thrift, 2. December to remember, 3. jolly holly

Scrambled Sayings

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 E B D A A I A O I L A F D E E E H D E H F Y M H I E M A N T H S S O L G R E F G N I T L O O U K U E Y N W T O R R I U R S T O T T Y U Y O W T T

Last month’s answer: If we don’t believe in freedom of expression for people we despise, we don’t believe in it at all. www.downhomelife.com

January 2022

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Rhymes 5 Times Each answer rhymes with the other four

1. laneway

____________

2. kitchen

____________

3. gorge

____________

4. add

____________

5. convention

____________

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

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

Last Month’s Answers: 1. toys, 2. boys, 3. alloys, 4. decoys, 5. joys

Tangled Towns

by Lolene Young Condon and Ron Young

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

For best results sound the clue words out loud!

May Jerk Hunts Earn _____ _______

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

1. GRIB YBA 2. DESDIE VCOE SATE 3. IOGNEP CEVO 4. CYKOR BRORHAU

Urine Owe Wit Hall ____ _ ____ __ ___ Last Month’s 1st Clue: Lettuce Hand Lit Answer: Let us handle it Last Month’s 2nd Clue: Wish Shallow Fork Hum Answer: We shall overcome

5. VISTASWRITE Last Month’s Answers: 1. Davis Cove, 2. Monkstown, 3. Clattice Harbour, 4. Isle Valen, 5. Toslow

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

1. BATTLE URN ~ Clue: it holds the record for playing music 2. ABLE PATH ~ Clue: has more letters than a mailman 3. SLAM MINI MI ~ Clue: code for less is best 4. INSECT ON TINS ~ Clue: never the same way twice 5. ANTS GEM ~ Clue: opposites attract Last Month’s Answers: 1. friendship, 2. delivered, 3. calendar, 4. hindsight, 5. nomination 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.

1-4: sea dweller 1-10: trouting tool 1-51: act of kindness 1-91: pleasing 3-6: leg bone 4-34: warmth 5-95: garbled 8-10: pole 10-100: make weak 11-13: Pres. Lincoln 12-42: chomp 15-13: born 17-14: zero 18-20: exist 19-49: lasso 20-18: epoch 23-26: nutmeg spice 28-30: toss 30-10: cot 31-51: belongs to us 36-6: galley slave 36-31: spud 37-7: croon 37-34: see 37-39: dine 39-59: favourite 43-13: crippled 45-42: crater 45-47: possesses 45-75: in this place 50-70: ignited 51-55: firearm 53-3: blazes 53-51: tree 53-56: escaped 53-93: strength 54-74: lumber 56-86: debris 62-42: tart 62-65: destitute www.downhomelife.com

1

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62-92: bucket 65-67: potent potable 67-7: lost 67-70: roast 71-75: flatboat 78-8: mobile 78-48: cubicle 79-59: feline 79-99: baby bed 80-75: incriminate 81-84: parasites 83-87: pennies 87-67: total 90-70: knit 90-86: salute 91-61: Napoleon isle

91-95: choose 91-100: voters 97-95: decay 97-100: merit Last Month’s Answer

T S I AC T CRY HA S OMO MA R E D E T AX EMO R E B

L I A S P O T S R U

EGNAV UO AMA S V BO S L E ND E OR T NO ON I AH I ME R I N E L A T O N WE I T T A B L

January 2022

E X T R A C T I V E

131

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The Bayman’s

Crossword Puzzle 1

2

3

by Ron Young 4

5

6

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8 9

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11

18

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12

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32 35

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January 2022

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ACROSS 1. Mother’s Day month 4. deaf __ _ haddock 5. good ___ on clothes 7. Joe Batt’s ___ 9. opposite of NW 10. crossbar behind horse 14. cold, strong wind out of the north 18. “__ sick enough to be in three hospitals” 19. Wabush export 20. Like a birch broom __ the fits 21. “It’s snowing by the ______” 23. church seat 25. tree 26. “Where old Neptune calls the numbers _____ the broad Atlantic combers” 28. fairy 29. canal 31. we 33. “Arn?” response (colloq) 34. “___ Me Fish Off Cape St. Mary’s” 35. decline 38. mouth (colloq) 40. his boat was painted green 42. old fish merchant company in St. John’s (3 words) 45. island (abbrev) 46. Robert’s Arm (abbrev) 47. fish stringer 48. aft DOWN 1. young, unmarried girl (colloq) 2. foolish __ a capelin 3. sly (colloq) 6. cold and bracing (colloq) www.downhomelife.com

8. nickname for Margaret 10. bird hunting (colloq) 11. Crown representative in Canada 12. region 13. crow’s ____ 14. pinch 15. “Don’t know no ___ wants nuttin’ done, do ya?”

16. dried grass piles (colloq) 17. thin (colloq) 22. power 24. ocean waves (colloq, 2 words) 27. colour 30. Toogood Arm (abbrev) 32. breeding stallion 36. Dildo ___ 37. Path End (abbrev) 39. “Where __ that blackbird to?”

41. story 42. inquire 43. “An honest man when there ___ no anchors around” 44. neither (colloq) 45. exists M U M M E R S O R R B O C R M E

O P N J O O S O E U P T H O S A M C A L B L A W H O S O D D

ANSWERS TO LAST MONTH’S CROSSWORD O T P K R U N B A Y

R A C E I E L B

N Y M A N B O Y S S L

B H S N E E C H I M

A C A S P D S E T R R O A O R M I Y V

K A Y O Y E S R I

A R R N W C E A T

S W O U N I T

S H O P P N E S F T A S

January 2022

E Y E G B E A M K 133

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DIAL-A-SMILE © 2022 Ron Young

Pick the right letters from the old style phone to match the numbers grouped below and uncover a quote which will bring a smile to your face. _ 4

’

____ 3668

_ ____ __ 2 2268 68 ____ 5669

____ 4283

_ 2

_______ 2322873 __ 69

____ 2265

’

_ 4

____ 3668

’

_ _____ _ 6 68437 7

___ _ __ 624 3 36

____ 6263

Last Month’s Answer: Cleanliness becomes more important when godliness is unlikely.

©2022 Ron Young

CRACK THE CODE

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

_

\

_ _ _ T _ n m i A3

_ _ _ _ iD N l T _ _ A z3

_ _

\D

_ _ _ _ _ i xH 3 x

_ _ T T _ _ Q3 A A 3 x

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ 3 0 x3 O O

L

_ T _ _ _ _ i A z3 xO

T _ A i

_ _ _ _ _ _ C l O3 N f

Last Month’s Answer: Success isn’t everything but it makes a man stand straight.

134

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Food For Thought

© 2022 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.”

toupee =

_

tossing =

_ _

lo i

remain =

chews =

_ _ _ _

qw v y

pleased =

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Yw m b vVq

_ _ _ _ _

worried =

_ _ _

b v m’w

] cKwt

_ _ _

yKw _ _ _ _ _ _

tV]V _ _ _ _

V

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

wv cKlom i

y

Vq

mt

_

_ _ _ _

_ _

yKw c

Km

_ _ _ _

lvVm

_ _ _ _

yKw c

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

oY v io mv woKm _ _ _

Kw w

_ _

Kd

_ _ _ _ _ _

d V v c Vt

_ _

oq

_ _ _ _ _

dK b w q

Last Month’s Answer: A rejection is nothing more than a necessary step in the pursuit of success. www.downhomelife.com

January 2022

135

2201_1701-puzzles 11/26/21 3:35 PM Page 136

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 BRING IN NEW YEAR ON SIGNAL HILL

Last Month’s Answers: 1. Bag of Toys, 2. Tree, 3. Roof, 4. Santa’s trousers, 5. Steeple, 6. Reindeer, 7. Fiddle, 8. Cap, 9. House, 10. Snowmobile, 11. Toboggan, 12. the Downhome magazine “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 NL ANIMALS

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

PORCUPINE SHREW SQUIRREL VOLE

BEAR BEAVER CARIBOU CHIPMUNK COYOTE FISHER FOX HARE LYNX MARTEN MINK MOOSE MUSKRAT OTTER

K V H K S A B G U H G C O Z O C P Q

V V T D R I U Q M F M B K T E I L U

E R A H G B W V Q D E U M H I Y Y L

L Z R A Z B E M Z O A E F B N M L B

Y L K B C L Q L X F R J F X Q M R C

H N Y V C V Q B L C P R Y M V Q J J

Last Month’s Answers

M T S D W V E J F P H W X S R U H O

P Z U K X S W O O D C H U C K I S B

www.downhomelife.com

Z L M Z A Q M Z F M T M K F P Y M W

G U K E L U M E F W Z C R M S R I T

B P W T R I W C O Y D E U D I E N N

J W Y E P R I E T N C N Z Y G V K M

P M N G E R Q Y W P K J E W F A B K

D U L P I I C K L D H G N P C S P N

R J O D B E D R A I C E A T H E E Z

X I L C G D L C F K N I M A C U V Y

WEASEL WOLF WOLVERINE WOODCHUCK B T E Q A I E T L M C D M G G I Z F

S U B P K L E N Y I B N Z T R B J F

H V B D M B J O Z E T P H N F J X M

I Q P A F E Z I T D J W P N E V T Q

O T T E R H F H U X E I X W T A X M

T T Z P M W X T U O Z R C L W Y F A

Z O J H A T I L J W Y V V A A Q D P

D E Q N S R P N T L A P S I E M M D

K A H P W R A T S I L F Q V C I U R

F N E J J O A E F S X F M T O K N E

D O V I U N N G C Z R U N Y H R R A

W E D V Z K V D L G K O L Z O Q P I

O B T W C L G Y E G N V S F K D Q N

S M F R I T W G L O R C X B U S H N

Y S B I E P B X G Y L A O C I B J D

K P Q H S H Z F A N O I G F E V S E

K C L E C V E N H F Y R K V O S P S

S X K M A T M V Y W Y B N O S I W E

T W G Z M Q N Q P T L G H T N Q N R

W Z T V Z S F G O V G O U O B A Y R

O T F H T X R E H R Y T H G U A N H

L H O L O L Y X F M R P T L I J V N

O M O D S I C R S H X G D Y O V T J

B K Q E I M S N D E I K P Z X L G L

I D W O O J E J C K V W X E R A J I

Y O S R R N O W B E R Z N J F S N L

R B S G H M Q H L B H P O H O H O H

L V M W R D H S W R D K Y V A R T G

P Y R M C R X S Y O T P J Y H M L W

H D R A E B L E L O P J A O S L Y C

Q B W A A L E X O B V I O W C D X F

January 2022

H R X N P P L S N K N R O W D V Q Q

H P M J E S T W H W I P I O K U L E

H Y Y P I V F J R O C L A O N B P P 137

2201Mktplace_0609 Marketplace.qxd 11/29/21 2:23 PM Page 138

Business For Sale Springdale, NL 3 Levels. Approx. 2800 Sq. Ft. per Floor. Basement, main floor & two apartments on top level. Includes $120,000 in inventory. $300,000 Contact 709-673-4512

Licensed to do Business in Ontario.

Mortgage Agent # M18002662 FSCO# 12728

Downhome Real Estate Ad prices start at $50 for a 1 column x 1 inch colour advertisement.

This size fits approximately 20 words. The smallest size of advertisement with a picture is $100 for a 1 column x 2 inch advertisement.

709-726-5113 1-888-588-6353 advertising@downhomelife.com

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

Business For Sale

Vending & amusement serving western, northern, south-western and parts of central NL. Owners looking to retire. Serious inquiries only

709-646-5528 jblamusements@eastlink.ca

Book your ad in Marketplace

138

Marketplace rates start at $50 for a 1 column x 1 inch colour ad. This size fits approximately 20 words.

709-726-5113

709-726-5113 1-888-588-6353

advertising@downhomelife.com

January 2022

1-888-588-6353

1-888-588-6353

2201Mktplace_0609 Marketplace.qxd 11/29/21 2:23 PM Page 139

Not intended to solicit properties currently under contract

LAND FOR SALE St. George’s

West Coast, NL Two Acres • Ocean Front $80,000

Contact: 709-641-1736 or 709-649-9482

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

Movers & Shippers

A&K Moving

AR

Moving

Covering all Eastern & Western Provinces and Returning Based from Toronto, Ontario Discount Prices Out of NL, NS & NB Newfoundland Owned & Operated

Ontario to Newfoundland and All Points in Between

A Family Moving Families Professionally and economically

Return Loads from NL, NS, NB, QC, ON at a Discounted Price

Coast to Coast in Canada Fully Insured

Fully Insured

Newfoundland Owned & Operated

35 Years in the Moving Industry

Contact: Gary or Sharon King

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

905-424-1735

arent58@hotmail.com www.ar-moving.ca

www.downhomelife.com

Toll Free: 1-866-586-2341 www.downhomemovers.com

aandkmoving@gmail.com

January 2022

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GREAT GIFT IDEAS!

The Love Olympics - Claire Wilkshire

#80605 | $21.95

Something Fishy - Ray Andrews #80393 | $19.95

Such Miracles and Mischiefs: Book 2 of the Cupids Trilogy - Trudy J. Morgan-Cole

#80603 | $21.95

A Mountie’s Story: Life Without Parole - Tom Gruchy

#80465 | $19.95

Buried Secrets:

A Sgt. Windflower Mystery - Mike Martin

#80602 | $19.95

Ray Guy:

Portrait of a Rebel - Ron Crocker

#80652 | $24.95

A Match to a Blasty Bough: How FFAW-Unifor

Confronted Power and Shared the Wealth - Earle McCurdy

#80653 | $24.95

The Blue Moth Motel - Olivia Robinson #80604 | $21.95

An Embarrassment of Critch’s:

Immature Stories from My Grown-Up Life - Mark Critch

#80562 | $32.95

ORDER ONLINE: www.shopdownhome.com

Prices subject to change without notice. Prices listed do not include taxes and shipping. While quantities last.

2201_Mailorder_Mail order.qxd 11/26/21 3:36 PM Page 141

MORE SELECTION ONLINE www.shopdownhome.com

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

Jack and the Magnificent Ugly Stick - Joshua Goudie

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

#80315 | $9.95

#47477 | $12.95

Once Upon an Iceberg:

The Land Puffin

w/art by Craig Goudie

Errol's Twillingate Adventure Sheilah Lukins & Laurel Keating

East Coast Counting

Seeing Stars: The Secret Life

- Dawn Baker

of Starfish - Denise Adams

#80363 | $12.95

#80106 | $14.95

Saltwater Joys - Wayne Chaulk/Dawn Baker

#80194 | $12.95

#79860 | $12.95

TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353

- Lori Doody

#80113 | $12.95

The New Recruits - Gina Noordhof

#79693 | $16.95

2201_Mailorder_Mail order.qxd 11/29/21 5:30 PM Page 142

GREAT GIFT IDEAS!

North Atlantic Crossroads: The Royal Air Force

The Body on the Beach:

Chasing Newfoundland

#80488 | $21.00

#80461 | $34.95

Ferry Command Gander Unit, 1940-1946 - Darrell Hillier

Track Shoes & Shotguns:

Strange Terrain: The Fairy

A Novel - Patrick J. Collins

Flown into the Arms of Angels: NL’s Unsung Heroes of 9/11 - Mac Moss

#80391 | $24.95

Operation Trafficked: A Crime Thriller - Helen C. Escott

#80380 | $22.00

- Ray Mackey

#80459 | $19.95

From Downtown to the Great Outdoors - Gord Follett

World in Newfoundland - 30th Anniversary Edition - Barbara Rieti

Bonavista

The Stolen Ones

#80360 | $22.00

#80335 | $22.00

#80392 | $19.99

- Bruce Whiffen

#80382 | $27.95

- Ida Linehan Young

ORDER ONLINE: www.shopdownhome.com

Prices subject to change without notice. Prices listed do not include taxes and shipping. While quantities last.

2201_Mailorder_Mail order.qxd 11/29/21 2:19 PM Page 143

MORE SELECTION ONLINE www.shopdownhome.com

Cooking Up a Scoff:

Fat-Back & Molasses:

Traditional Recipes of NL - New edition with extra recipes

A collection of favourite old recipes from NL - Ivan Jesperson

#79297 | $14.95

#2313 | $9.95

Newfoundland Recipes: Recipes From the Kitchens of Newfoundland

#2495 | $4.95

Sale!

Our Best Seafood Recipes: From contributors

Our Best Berry Recipes: From contributors

to Downhome magazine

to Downhome magazine

Rock Recipes: The Best

Rock Recipes Cookies: My Favourite Recipes For Cookies, Bars, & Sweet Treats - Barry C. Parsons

#58362 | $10.99

Food from My Newfoundland Kitchen - Barry C. Parsons

#53803 | $26.95

#55888 | $10.99

#75585 | $22.95

TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353

Downhome Gallery Cookbook #38455 | $19.95 $9.88

The Bologna Cookbook - Kevin Phillips

#53416 | $19.95

2201_photo Finish_0609 Photo Finish 11/26/21 3:40 PM Page 144

photo finish

Colour Me

Beautiful

As the sun sets, the stunning shades of winter’s palette are on full display in New Harbour, Trinity Bay, NL. Pamela Furlong via Downhomelife.com

Do you have an amazing or funny photo to share?

Turn to page 9 to find out how to submit.

144

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