Downhome November 2022

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Vol 35 • No 06

$4.99

November 2022

Fall Comfort Food

Winterhouses of NL

Lumberjack Love Story Exploring Kelly’s Island

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$

16 99

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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 Account Manager Ashley O’Keefe Marketing Director Tiffany Brett Finance and Administration Accountant Marlena Grant Accountant Sandra Gosse Operations Manager, Twillingate Nicole Mehaney

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, Erin McCarthy, Marissa Little, Kim Tucker, Heather Stuckless, Katrina Hynes, Destinee Rogers, Amy Young, Emily Snelgrove, Brandy Rideout, Alexandria Skinner, Emily Power, Ella Coggins, Summer-Lynn Hewlett

Subscriptions Customer Service Associate Cathy Blundon

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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38

stunning scenes

Contents

64

island bound

NOVEMBER 2022

38 And the Winners Are… Downhome’s annual Calendar Contest winners revealed!

48 Hibernia: 25 Years With two special features, we look at the evolution of the oil and gas industry and the province since first oil was pumped from Hibernia in November 1997.

64 Exploring Kelly’s Island Uninhabited by people, but home to pirate legends and ghost stories, there’s more to this hunk of land in Conception Bay than meets the eye.

Dennis Flynn

108 Intercontinental Navigator Gus Harris, 100-year-old veteran, recalls his days in the Royal Air Force Ferry Command. www.downhomelife.com

November 2022

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Contents

NOVEMBER 2022

homefront 8 I Dare Say A note from the Editor 10 Letters From Our Readers Connecting with the past, friends reunited, and an uncomfortable read

16 Downhome Tours Our readers explore Gibraltar

18 Why is That? Where does the

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‘spell’ bound

expression “make ends meet” come from? Linda Browne

20 Life’s Funny Spelling Lesson Orville Cole

21 Say What? A contest that puts words in someone else’s mouth

22 Lil Charmers Cute in Season 24 Pets of the Month Fall Frolic 26 Reviewed Denise Flint reviews The Wards by Terry Doyle

24 a furry fall

28 What Odds Paul Warford’s best buddy gets his time to shine.

30 Fresh Tracks Wendy Rose reviews Youngtree & The Blooms’ new selftitled album 34 Adventures Outdoors A Hunter’s Dream Day Gord Follett

34 day dream

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25 years on…

features 50 A Platform for Change How Hibernia’s development fuelled a profitable industry when NL needed it most Kim Ploughman

56 Safe and Sound A rig worker’s advocacy for mental health support in offshore workplaces Nicola Ryan

explore

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72 Rebuilding the Past History buff recreates a traditional earth house, the latest addition to his private museum.

Dennis Flynn

earthworks www.downhomelife.com

November 2022

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Contents

NOVEMBER 2022

90 cool nights, warm food

home and cabin 80 Stuff We Love Fall Yard Cleanup Nicola Ryan

82 Lest We Forget Interior designer Marie Bishop offers tips on displaying your family history.

86 Todd’s Table Turkey Soup 90 Everyday Recipes Fall Comfort

96 Down to Earth Whipper Snippers as Weapons Kim Thistle 6

November 2022

80 get to work!

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114 he ‘saw’ love

reminiscing 100 Flashbacks Classic photos of people and places.

102 This Month in Downhome History 104 Visions and Vignettes Adventures of two young scallywags in an imaginary outport of days gone by. Harold N. Walters About the cover Sheldon Hicks’ warm photo of Quidi Vidi in the dawning light is among the winners of the 2023 Downhome Calendar Contest.

Turn to p. 38 to see all of this year’s winners.

Cover Index Fall Comfort Food • 90 Safe and Sound • 56 The Stars to Guide Him • 108 Scenes of Home • 38 Winterhouses of NL • 72 Lumberjack Love Story • 114 Exploring Kelly’s Island • 64 www.downhomelife.com

114 Lumberjack Love Story Lester Stoyles went overseas with his buddies, came back with his bride. Lester Green

122 Puzzles 134 Colouring Page 136 Classifieds 138 Mail Order 144 Photo Finish November 2022

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i dare say It was over in a matter of hours, not the storm, but the sense of security and feeling safe at home.

On September 23-24, post-tropical storm Fiona tore through Atlantic Canada, ripping down trees and power lines, clawing away at shorelines and smashing any structures in her path.

From afar, many of us watched in horror as houses in Port aux Basques succumbed to the waves, and debris filled coves all along the southwest coast of Newfoundland. These communities had faced the ocean, in its beauty and its wrath, for hundreds of years, but they were no match for this. The homes and livelihoods destroyed, the life lost – it’s almost too much to comprehend.

As I write, residents are still stumbling shell-shocked among the rubble, looking for anything to salvage from the life they’d built and the home they’d loved. Stories of close calls and heroic neighbours are coming out, and help is pouring in.

Organizations such as the Salvation Army, the Lions Club and the Canadian Red Cross have stepped in to provide meals, shelter and other emergency services. Folks near and far are donating truckloads of food, clothes, toiletries – whatever is needed – as volunteers hand out supplies and offer comfort.

The most “Newfoundland” thing I’ve heard is that people are politely refusing free food and aren’t registering for government assistance through the Red Cross because they think others need it more. What these survivors – and they are survivors, whether they lost everything or came out unscathed – may not realize is the trauma they’ve been through. I hope all those affected – victims, first responders and witnesses – reach out for mental health care. Just because you didn’t lose your home like your neighbour did, it doesn’t make you less worthy of help.

We’ll have stories from the southwest coast in our next issue and likely beyond, and I encourage anyone who wants to share their experience to get in touch with me. Atlantic Canadians, especially rural folks, are resilient and our strength is in our communities. Hold each other tight as you pick up the pieces, and allow yourselves to grieve what you’ve lost while forging ahead, one day at a time.

Thanks for reading,

Janice Stuckless, Editor-in-chief janice@downhomelife.com 8

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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 43 James Lane St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3

mail@downhomelife.com www.downhomelife.com Deadline for replies is the 25th of each month.

Congratulations to Mary Defreyne of Simcoe, ON, who found Corky on page 28 of the September issue.

*No Phone Calls Please. One entry per person

www.downhomelife.com

November 2022

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A Newfie Reunion

Thirty-one years ago, Marie Hann of Placentia and I (Mary McCormick) sailed together aboard a freighter as cooks. In May 2022, we were reunited along with my daughters, Bee and Rose, and Marie’s partner, Derm Hann. We took the Downhome magazines everywhere in our travels to take pictures with them around Newfoundland, and then back they came with us to our home in Ontario to be in a photo at Lock 7, part of the St. Lawrence Seaway.

We will all be reunited again in October 2022, when Marie and Derm travel to us in Niagara. We are all forever friends, linked together across the miles.

Mary McCormick Thorold, ON

It’s nice to see your photos. Thanks for letting us tag along!

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Familiar with Fairies

Welcome/Farewell Ship

It was a very interesting story from Marystown, NL, about the fairies [“Mary’s Magical Mug,” May 2022] because in my day we did believe in fairies. Mrs. Alice Drake used to tell us, and we believed, that the fairies danced in the fields in little pink, yellow and green dresses. We even thought we saw them dancing. This is interesting because the grandfather [in Kim Ploughman’s story] was a Drake, and so was Mrs. Alice Drake of Lawn, NL. My, how time passes. I am now 85.

This week we received our Downhome (September 2022 issue) and on page 12, the “Correction” letter spoke of the Welcome/Farewell ship, and Burton Janes said it was just outside Port aux Basques. He is absolutely correct. I was born and raised just south of Port aux Basques, and we would see the ship each time we left the area or returned. I just wanted to add that the name on the vessel was “Annie Coady.” I’m not certain if this was a true name or invented, but I thought you may like to know that little piece of info.

Beatrice Gilmour Carleton Place, ON

Thanks for your letter, Beatrice. Anyone else have memories of fairy talk from their youth? Send us your “fairy tales” by email at editorial@downhomelife.com, or by writing to Downhome, 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3.

www.downhomelife.com

Darrell Park Margaree, NL

Thanks, Darrell.

November 2022

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Class of 1950 Identified

In response to the “Class of 1950” flashback photo on p. 104 of the September 2022 issue, reader Evelyn (Humby) Parsons of Mount Pearl, NL, sent us the names of all the Prince of Wales College classmates, as written on the back of her copy of this same photo. She hopes that all the names and spellings are correct, as the handwritten letters were faded in places.

Back row (l-r): Gordon Hussey, Wallace Maynard, John Keough, Raymond Kellaway, Rupert Lawrence, Eugene Ivany, Ronald House, Raymond Keats 4th row (l-r): Daniel Lyons, Sam Keeping, Harold Janes, Pleman Hicks, Donald King, Alec Janes, Reginald Hynes 3rd row (l-r): Violet Legge, Eunice House, Dorothy Kennedy, Ruby Legge, Margaret Kelly, Lydia Kelly, Evelyn Kendall 2nd row (l-r): Evelyn Humby, Stella Kirby, Joyce Lahey, Elizabeth Kelly, Patricia Lush, Carrie Hunt, Winnie Lar Front row (l-r): Evelyn LaCoeur, Joyce Humby, Marie Melvin, Neta Mahaney, Doris Lockyear, Violet Hutchings, Edna Ivany, Clotile Lidstone

Surprise to Subscription

Give a Songwriter His Due

I have received my September issue of your Downhome magazine and notice the question regarding surprising places seeing your magazine [“Letters from Our Readers,” p. 11]. My husband was at a chiropractor’s office in Strathroy, ON. He looked through their copy of the Downhome magazine while waiting and took note of the subscription details. We have been subscribers to your great magazine ever since.

R. Whetstone Via email

In the September 2022 edition, I would like to make a correction in the “Flew in on the Breeze” article [“What Odds” by Paul Warford]. The song he mentioned is a cover by Lynyrd Skynyrd made in April 1974. “Call Me the Breeze” was written and released by the late, great J.J. Cale in November 1971. At least 56 groups did a cover of this song. As a J.J. Cale superfan who had the privilege to see him in concert in Boulder, CO, on August 16, 2002, I’d like to give J.J. his due.

Thanks for sharing – and, of course, for subscribing!

Patricia Guinchard Via DownhomeLife.com

Thanks for your letter, Patricia.

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Uncomfortable Read I find it very disheartening that Downhome would submit a story “My First Game Hunt” in this magazine. I have been a subscriber for a few years, and at no time has there been a topic that even comes close to being as uncomfortable as this topic. How could anyone enjoy going out and killing such a magnificent animal for fun? The person who wrote this story may think this is a sport, but I am surprised that the editor did not cut the print edition.

Thom Robinson Windsor, ON

We heard from a couple of readers who were disturbed by the graphic description of a caribou hunt in Gord Follett’s September edition of “Adventures Outdoors.” Harvesting wild game is a large part of the subsistence culture of Newfoundland and Lab-

www.downhomelife.com

rador, and the vast majority of hunters, Gord included, have great respect for the animals they take. The hunting described in that column was not for “fun,” but it was a defining moment for an avid outdoorsman. And the caribou was taken for its meat, as is also detailed and which no doubt provided a good many meals. The description of the kill is what seems to have really struck a nerve with some and, admittedly, it is a bit graphic. For those who are into hunting, the vividness is the appeal as it puts them right there with the author. However, for those who are against the killing of animals for any purpose, it can be all too real. It is the job of a good writer to set scenes, to describe the action and, often, to elicit an emotional response – but the type of response is dependent on the person reading it.

November 2022

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1988 was a Good Year

I recently read in your magazine that you were wondering what folks were doing in 1988 [“I Dare Say,” June 2022]. For me, 1988 was one of my best and most memorable years. Why was 1988 so good? This is why: April: I rode one of the last mixed trains over the Gaff Topsails – Terra Transport Mixed Extra 935 West. August: I rode another mixed train from Bishop’s Falls to Corner Brook return – sailed from Lewisporte to Goose Bay return on the Sir Robert Bond with three university friends for a wedding. September: My girlfriend Michelle accepted my proposal of marriage aboard the dining car of VIA Rail’s Canadian in the Rocky Mountains near Revelstoke, BC. October: I convocated from Memorial University with my Bachelor of Social Work. November: I started my rewarding 30-year career with Veterans Affairs Canada.

Yes, 1988 was a year of wonderful memories and adventures!

Kenneth G. Pieroway Conception Bay South, NL

That was some year, Kenneth. Is it any wonder you eventually wrote several books about trains? Here are some photos you shared from 1988:

(l-r) Kenneth Pieroway and friends Paul Moore, Jack O’Rourke and Paul Shea at Goose Bay waiting to board the Sir Robert Bond, August 27.

Looking out the window as the Terra Transport Mixed Extra 935 West travels through Kitty’s Brook, April 16

Newly engaged on VIA Rail, September 24

CORRECTION In the September 2022 article “A Delicious Success” (pp. 58-63), we misspelled the mayor’s surname. The correct spelling is Clouter. Downhome regrets the error.

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Sponsored Editorial

Taking a Stand for the Newfoundland Pony The Newfoundland Pony’s future rests on the efforts of dedicated people to promote and protect this endangered animal. The Newfoundland Pony Society (NPS) encourages youth to get involved, fostering what we hope will be a lifelong passion for the little pony that built Newfoundland.

Last summer NPS issued a call for volunteers to assist with their fundraising projects and the new Heritage Pasture in Hopeall. Visiting the pasture and learning about Newfoundland Ponies, 9year-old Luke Reid from Cavendish decided he wanted to help.

Luke’s mom Samantha says that Luke has always been obsessed with horses. Luke was always requesting horse birthday parties and spends a lot of time with Jack, a 5-year-old part-Clydesdale owned by their neighbour. Samantha says “Luke is a very active little boy. He loves karate, softball, ball hocky and golf. Luke’s dream is to someday own his own horse. Everywhere we go, we stop to ride, meet and pet horses! His room is full of everything horses. Over the past couple of years, Luke has been helping to care for Jack, learning how to water, feed and groom him.” After visiting the Hopeall pasture, Luke told his mom “I’m going to do something to raise money for the ponies.” The idea for Luke’s Pony Stand was born!

With help from his dad Steven, 2 pallets, some pine lumber and lots of paint, Luke’s Pony Stand was ready for business.

With help from his parents

and his brother Jake, Luke set up the stand at various locations in the Trinity Bay area, including the Heritage Pasture, in Dildo, and at the Cavendish Beach Festival.

When asked why he wanted to help the Pony, Luke says, “they’re almost extinct. They are only a few hundred of them left. The money we raised will help with the barn at Hopeall and breeding more ponies.” Samantha notes that many people in the local area came out to support Luke’s project. From local businesses contributing supplies for the stand, to his classmates, teachers and even his bus driver from Acerman Elementary all supporting the stand as it moved around the area each weekend, the Trinity Bay community really came together to support Luke’s fundraising project.

This fall on September 15th, NPS was presented with a $1,206 cheque from Luke’s fundraising.

NPS is very grateful to Luke and his family for this wonderful donation that will be put to good use. We can’t wait to see what Luke does next!

Luke and family with a cheque for the NPS. (l-r) Jake, Luke’s brother, mom Samantha, Luke and Steven, Luke’s father

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homefront Downhome tours...

Gibraltar

From the Rock to the Rock Kristan Kinsella, originally from St. Anthony, NL, and boyfriend Devon of Halifax, NS, explore Gibraltar and the southern coast of Spain.

One of Gibraltar’s joyous oddities is that it is home to the only wild monkey population in Europe. Approximately 300 Barbary apes, a species of macaque, live and hustle tourists at the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. Legend has it that they travelled to Gibraltar through a mystical underground passage between St. Michael’s Cave and Morocco.

Another popular belief holds that as long as the apes exist on Gibraltar, the territory will remain under British rule.

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The Rock of Gibraltar Marie Clarke poses in front of the famous Rock in this 2016 photo submitted by Harold Clarke of Kingsley, Australia.

Gibraltar’s famous Rock – a steep eminence of rugged limestone at the foot of the Iberian Peninsula – keeps watch over the Mediterranean, the Atlantic and North Africa, and has long served as a military stronghold. You can climb the steep Mediterranean Steps or take the six-minute cable car ride the 412 metres to the top to take in the spectacular views.

Old Town Tom and Judith Sutton of Ancaster, ON, took their Downhome magazine to Gibraltar in October 2018.

Gibraltar’s Old Town as it is today was largely rebuilt at the turn of the 18th century, after being wrecked a number of times during sieges and invasions. Its unique vernacular style reflects a blend of cultural influences – including Moorish, Genoese, English and Spanish – that’s entirely distinct from neighbouring provinces of Spain.

And, Gibraltar is so small that there are only 29 kilometres of roads! www.downhomelife.com

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Expert answers to common life questions.

By Linda Browne

Where does the expression “make ends meet” come from?

From gas to groceries to, well, pretty much everything – being alive is an expensive endeavour these days! And while some may be feeling the financial pinch more than others, most would likely agree that the ability to “make ends meet” is becoming increasingly tricky. But where does this particular saying come from, and what “ends” are we talking about exactly?

While we understand that to “make ends meet” means having enough money to get by, its origins aren’t completely clear. Though there are a few theories. To start, we reached out to the UK-based Economic History Society, who told Downhome that they’ve seen a number of explanations “from something to do with [a] Church of England clergyman in 1662, to rope handling in shipping, to tailoring or dressmaking.”

The dressmaking theory is one that seems to have gained traction over the years. In the 2001 book Common Phrases and Where They Come From, Myron Korach and John Mordock write that the phrase evolved from dressing a “well-heeled lady” in the 18th and 19th centuries. Describing 18

November 2022

the tedious process, they state that a fashionable woman “often required assistance in pulling together the two ends of her corset and then buckling it when both ends met. Her dress would not hang properly unless a helper, generally her maligned husband, had hooked together numerous latchets and hooks and eyes, all of which required tedious and cautious pulling to ‘make the ends meet.’” Even their shoes “were equipped with leather thongs, the ends of which had to be brought together before they could be buckled. From all this strenuous effort of pulling corsets, dresses and shoes together came the phrase ‘making ends meet.’”

So how did this phrase come to be connected with financial hardship?

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Korach and Mordock note that “as the cost of her ensemble increased and the difficulty in putting it together diminished, ‘making ends meet’ came to refer to the financial ordeal connected with gathering the funds necessary to dress a lady properly.”

To dig deeper, we contacted blogger Pascal Tréguer of WordHistories.net.

He regularly uncovers the stories behind words and phrases while “trying to expose the falseness of many etymologies flourishing in books and on the internet,” he writes online. In an older post, Tréguer had examined the origin of the phrase “to make [both] ends meet,” and with his permission, we’re sharing some of his findings here.

The phrase, he notes, was first recorded in The History of the Worthies of England (1662) by Thomas Fuller, a clergyman in the Church of England, while writing about English Protestant leader Edmund Grindal: “...Worldly wealth he cared not for, desiring onely to ‘make both ends meet’; and as for that little that ‘lapped over,’ he gave it to pious uses…” Tréguer notes that “make both ends meet” and “lapped over” were presented in italics in the original text because Fuller was “quoting existing idioms.”

There are a couple of possible explanations for the origins of this phrase, Tréguer says, the first being that it comes from dressmaking or tailoring “and refers to the amount of material needed to make a piece of clothing reach round the body, so that its two

ends meet. This is what Thomas Fuller seemed to imply with ‘that little that lapped over…’” Another mention of this phrase in A New Dictionary of the Terms Ancient and Modern of the Canting Crew (1699), compiled by an individual simply known as B.E. Gent, Tréguer says, also adds credence to this theory: “Tis good to make both Ends meet, or to cut your Coat according to your Cloth.”

Another explanation is that the phrase comes from the world of finance, or more specifically, “to keep one’s finances, income and expenditure, in balance throughout the year,” Tréguer writes. He notes a connection to the French expression joindre les deux bouts, which means “to join both ends,” which Tréguer adds “used to end with de l’année, ‘of the year.’” He also notes an English example from The Adventures of Roderick Random (1748) by Tobias George Smollett: “This facetious person was a school-master, whose income being small, he was fain to keep a glass of good liquor for the entertainment of passengers, by which means he made shift to make the two ends of the year meet.”

Tréguer adds that these two explanations “are not mutually exclusive.”

He explains, “The two earliest attestations seem to indicate that the original image was the amount of cloth necessary to make a garment reach round the body, while the later uses seem to show that the phrase was reinterpreted as referring to bookkeeping.”

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

Spelling Lesson In northern Newfoundland, the term used for seal is (or used to be) “swile.” And to carry an armful of wood from the woodshed to the kitchen stove was to “spell,” as in, “Go spell in some wood for me, will ya?”

In my teaching days, the female teacher in my school shared the following exchange. One day in March, John was missing from school. When he returned the following day, she said, “John, you were not here yesterday. Where were you?”

“Out swilin’, miss,” he said.

“You were doing what?”

“Out swilin’, miss.”

She asked, “How do you spell that?”

He replied, “Miss, we don’t spell it; we drags it!”

Orville Cole Nova Scotia

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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me “Can’t even set hile I wn w Down’omer do od, or da o brings in da w off wit’ it!” ake missus will m y – Brad Voke

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

Here are the runners-up: “Take a picture, luh, and send it in to da Downhomer.” – Krystal Domalain “Last month’s Downhomer is dis month’s fire starter! So it warms me heart twice as long!” – Craig Hanlon “Dis should keep ya warm, ’til I finish readin’ me Downhomer!” – Cheryl Abbott

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

www.downhomelife.com

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homefront lil charmers

Rack ’Em Up This little cutie is the picture-perfect prize.

Larry Carey Witless Bay, NL

Cute in Season Set Your Sights Cayden keeps a sharp eye out while hunting with his dad and pop.

Chris Taylor Elliotts Cove, NL

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Safety First Two-year-old Aiden’s got the right bright duds for the deer hunt.

Valerie Dick Renfrew, ON

Gaining Ground Avery Colbourne takes the truck for a spin.

Claudette Russell St. John’s, NL

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homefront pets of the month

Fall Frolic Fall it a Day Rupert and Rudy, together in their neck of the woods.

Gail Hull Boom Siding, NL

Raking it In Coco the Aussiedoodle thinks it’s time to turn over a new leaf.

Diane Vey-Morawski Gander, NL

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Unbe-leaf-able Gus the Gangster can’t wait to explore.

Patricia Lopez Badger, NL

Falling for You Copper enjoys the pretty fall colours.

Gail Bowes via DownhomeLife.com

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reviewed by Denise Flint

The Wards Terry Doyle Breakwater Books $22.95

The Wards are a typical Newfoundland family. Al’s a rotational worker in his 50s and Gloria, his wife, works at a local restaurant to keep herself busy and stave off loneliness. They have two young adult children: one’s in university and the other one’s a bit of a slacker, much to Al’s chagrin. How they pull together when trouble hits, or how they don’t, is the subject of Terry Doyle’s debut novel, The Wards.

Doyle does a really good job of writing dialect without ever letting it slip into parody. If you are familiar with the Newfoundland dialect you can hear the voices clearly. If you are not, the way the characters speak in no way distracts from the story. There’s no need to try to puzzle out what they’re saying or what the words they’re using mean. He’s also done a really nice job of giving the characters individual voices. There’s definitely a generational difference between how Al and Gloria view things and the way their children do, for example. Even the way they speak is different, which also lends authenticity to the story.

This kind of family chronicle, firmly rooted in day-to-day reality but never becoming dreary, is a welcome addition to the literary scene. With the exception of a couple of minor characters, none of the people are simply there to play supporting roles. They’re all equally important and they all have their own story to tell. But really, when all’s said and done, the family is the main character of this compelling and beautifully written read.

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Q&A with the Author Denise Flint: Where did the inspiration come from to write this kind of sprawling family drama?

Terry Doyle: I wouldn’t say that I

people to provide feedback. Yes, I rely on others because it can be difficult to see your own project.

was inspired or had any intentions.

I try to write without intention and feel my way into a story. I started with a scene with Gloria at work, and soon she had a husband and a daughter and a son and a sister; and before you know it, what I thought was a short story became this novel.

DF: Who is your favourite character?

TD: Mark (son Gussey’s best friend).

DF: How hard was it to write from so many different perspectives?

TD: I think it was much easier than trying to write a full novel from one singular perspective. When I reached the end of a scene I had lots of options of where to go with the next scene. I rarely hit a road block or stumble. It also allowed me to tell a broader story.

Multiple characters can triangulate a perspective. One character can give a perspective on another you don’t expect. It allows the characters to become more accessible.

DF: How much input do you get from others when you’re writing?

Do you workshop? Have beta readers? Belong to a writers’ group?

TD: I do have early readers. Usually the first person is Amy Donovan.

After that I sometimes hire friends to do a read. In this instance I had Jennifer McVeigh and Craig Francis Power. I don’t have a writing group anymore. They were more useful for short stories. It’s difficult to present a novel because you’re sharing one scene or chapter and it’s difficult for www.downhomelife.com

Mark plays a really important role.

The Ward family would be difficult to spend so much time with without him. Mark delivers pathos when it’s required. It allows the reader to see Gussey in a warmer light. Mark and Gussey’s relationship acts as a lens for Gussey and Al’s relationship.

DF: Who are your biggest influences?

TD: When I was writing the first draft of this book I was reading (American author) Tom Drury. He has five novels and I was reading them all during the draft of this, and they are similar in that they are all from multiple perspectives. I’m drawn to a lot of Irish literature. Colin Barrett. Dermot Healy.

There’s something I find really relatable about Irish fiction. It might be the dialogue that contrasts with the exposition, which is similar to what I do – writing dialogue in the Newfoundland dialect, but then the exposition is more formal. I was very lucky to have Jessica Grant as my editor of this book, which was a very formative experience I’m extremely grateful for.

DF: What are you working on now? Do you always have something on the go?

TD: I have another novel that I had hoped to publish before The Wards.

It’s shorter. It’s about parenting during a climate crisis. And I’ve been writing short stories.

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homefront what odds

simply the best

By Paul Warford

Recently, Kirk Remember when “Who Wants to be a and his lovely Millionaire?” was the hit game show to watch?

Everyone would tune in to follow Regis Philbin in-laws were as he led contestants along the path to financial contestants on exuberance, watching them trip up on questions “Family Feud about history and American politics along the Under those bright lights, with the camCanada.” The way. eras and everything, I’m sure it’s a lot of presfinal airing was sure. By the time “Millionaire” was popular, two days ago I already knew who my phone-a-friend would were I ever in the hot seat: Kirk Bussey. and I’m still beWe’re a funny pair, my best pal and me. I’m reeling from the extroverted and desperate for attention; outexperience. spoken. Meanwhile, Kirk is very quiet and reserved, content to stick to the background and observe. This is exactly what he’d do in our high school friend circle. While we all talked over each other, clowning around, Kirk would be off to the side of the rec room, watching Blue Jays highlights. Though he might only say two things the whole night, they’d get the biggest laughs from everyone. He’s shy, yes, but very funny.

I’ve never been one for sports, and our differences don’t end there. Bussey is a real math whiz. While math was my weakest subject in school, Kirk easily breezed through calculus. He has a fantastic memory, whereas I can’t tell you how many times I’ve related a story to him only to have him patiently wait for me to finish and then say, “I know, I was there.”

Above all, he’s loyal, and there’s no better trait in a best friend. He’ll drive for hours to watch me perform. When I flew home from Banff to surprise Nan for her birthday, I made all the arrangements with Bussey. I knew he wouldn’t ruin the surprise and I knew he’d get me home.

I can always count on him.

Recently, Kirk and his lovely in-laws were

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game show contestants on “Family Feud Canada.” The final airing was two days ago and I’m still reeling from the experience. If you’re unfamiliar, the way it works is you compete against another family, and if you beat them you get to play for $10,000. So, in a sense, you can win the game while not truly “winning” the game; you might beat the other family, but this doesn’t guarantee the cash prize. After a superb performance in the first match, this was the unfortunate outcome for Kirk and the gang. They bested the other family, but couldn’t topple the fast money round. They would return the next episode to try again.

For the second match, I was prepared. I recorded myself watching, simply because I was experiencing so much joy I felt I had to. The MaddoxBusseys squared off against an Elvis impersonator from Kitchener and his gaggle of grandchildren. While Kirk and his crew managed to field most questions, they would miss an answer or two, leaving an opportunity for the other team to steal. This happened again and again, with Kirk’s team ostensibly “doing all the work” while the opponents managed to reap the benefits. However, his mother-inlaw, Jennifer, managed to save the day with a sudden-death win, and they were once again in the fast money round.

Two hundred points spread across two participants will net you $10,000. Kirk’s brother-in-law, Shawn, went first, and after a respectable performance he had 100 points exactly. As Kirk was called from his soundproof booth, comedian and host Gerry Dee quipped, “Take www.downhomelife.com

your time, Kirk,” as my buddy slowly ambled to his position. I knew he’d win. He’s my phone-a-friend. Gerry told Kirk the score he had to work with and Kirk replied, “Halfway, let’s go.”

I was on the edge of my seat as Gerry tallied the points with Kirk and the crowd. On the last question he needed to score 42 points – a massive amount to receive for just one answer. The odds were very much stacked against the family. When Gerry announced his answer was the number one response, Kirk’s hands were to his mouth and I was yelling, “Come on! Come on!” over and over again at my screen. In the end, he did it with five points to spare!

It’s a surreal thing, watching your best friend, in that classic game show pose of extreme tension and suspense, suddenly breaking out in relief and joy. I pumped my fist and bellowed, “Look at him go!” as Kirk did a victory dance in the background while Gerry thanked everyone for watching. I had tears in my eyes. I’ll never forget it.

After the episode was done and I’d rewatched it a few times, I understood why I felt such jubilation. It wasn’t just the novelty of seeing my best friend on TV, or even watching him win the money. After spending so much of our lives together, it was nice to finally see him in the spotlight for once.

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 November 2022

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fresh tracks

new music talk with Wendy Rose

Youngtree & The Blooms

Youngtree & The Blooms AS I SIT DOWN TO WRITE A REVIEW of Youngtree & The Blooms’ new

self-titled album, I’m wondering exactly what Peter Willie Youngtree is up to right now. Last time we chatted, Peter was on the way to a silent retreat – a seemingly unlikely place for a charismatic music maker. But then again, not for him. Peter had previously spent time at a Buddhist Zen monastery in New Mexico, learning from the same Japanese Zen master who taught Leonard Cohen. Cohen emerged from five years in the monastery with a new collection of poetry, the famous and beloved Book of Longing currently sitting on my bookshelf.

At the time of writing, Youngtree & The Blooms’ new record has yet to be officially released. Yet, with two singles out, he’s receiving rave reviews from the UK, Canada and the US. I’m one of the lucky ones who got a sneak listen.

The album begins with “Set our Course for the Wind.” Electric guitar gently brings us in as Peter starts singing softly. I dig out the liner notes and find a welcome surprise – they’re in Peter’s handwriting. I read along as viola and cello swell and we hit the chorus.

It’s an epic song that serves as one hell of an intro.

The liner notes also give credit to the stellar crew of musicians involved: The Blooms them-

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selves, Carole Bestvater and Joe Tucker; as well as Darren Browne, Chris Donnelly, Josh Ward, Mara Pellerin, Amy Collyer-Holmes, Maria Cherwick, Chuck Boyd and Mark Feener. Based solely on this list of first-class musicians, I know I’m in for a wonderfully profound musical experience.

Next up is “Heaven Ain’t a Lonely Road,” the first single released in June 2022. Twangy acoustic guitar kicks us off, with Peter’s signature altcountry style vocals joining in. The song tells of an ailing friend pondering about mortality and what we should prioritize in life: friendships, relationships, love, kindness and care. “I think that now I could face any kind of weather,” he sings.

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The Blooms slow things down a bit on “I’m Not That Anymore,” a deeply self-aware song about self-exploration and identity. “They told me I should write songs about trucks, girls and beer, and I gave up my voice as if I didn’t have a choice,” the lyrics explain.

One might think the next track, “Can’t Be Nothin’ I Ain’t,” is a continuation of “I’m Not That Anymore,” but for this piece we are transported into a whole new storyline – a dark tale of crime, retaliation and ensuing prison time. As someone who got into country music through a macabre interest in “murder ballads,” this instantly becomes a favourite of mine.

Viola and cello join The Blooms on “Seas Change,” the album’s longest track at 6m26s. This is a classic tender love song; I can already imagine it playing at a wedding’s first dance.

“I’m not lost, I’m with you,” he sings in the final verse, before delivering a rousing chorus and a gorgeous, layered outro. www.downhomelife.com

The sixth track is “Waiting for Us (Let’s Make the Time for It),” the second single the band released, back in July. In this song, Peter questions when to use our voices and when to listen; the need to change and the importance of making the time to experience change. His lyrics also speak of making mistakes, learning from them, and constantly working to better yourself and the world around you. It’s uplifting and catchy, just like the rest of the record.

“Aurora” then kicks off with a blazing electric guitar riff and sorrowful violin. In this song, Peter continues posing questions. “Would the colour find your eyes if you went searching for the northern lights?” he asks. “And when that aurora blew up for ya, did I cross your mind?” I picture the scene he’s setting, and it’s just beautiful.

At just over two minutes, “I Watched You Smile” is the shortest track on the record and has a special credit to Kahlil Gibran’s book, The Prophet, which inspired the song’s November 2022

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bridge. Simplistic, with just acoustic guitar, this selection is reminiscent of early Bob Dylan folk songs.

The album finishes with “Got Things on My Mind,” another slower tempo piece.

The lyrics are inspirational, deep and reflective. I paused the song and continued reading the lyrics, this beautiful, thought-provoking poetry. I want to write these lyrics on the inside of a greeting card and send it to a loved one – but maybe I’ll just send them a copy of Youngtree & The Blooms’ new record instead.

Q&A with the Artist Wendy Rose: Congratulations on your recent MusicNL Award nominations, in the categories of Group of the Year and Country Artist of the Year. What was your reaction to this exciting news?

Peter Willie Youngtree: When I’ve received awards in the past, I’ve felt a lot of gratitude toward the community for caring enough to listen and to vote. That was particularly true when I was named the Ron Hynes Songwriter of the Year because I knew people were considering my whole body of work for that year, which takes time, and it was nice to be recognized for it by a community of peers. But when it comes to awards and the nomination process generally, I keep a pretty stoic attitude.

I figure if I get all excited and happy by a nomination or award, then I’ll have to feel commensurately bad if I don’t get one – and who wants to feel bad? Not me! I love writing music and performing, so I just try to focus on that love, without too much concern for accolades.

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WR: You’ve been teasing listeners for months with singles from the new record. What kind of feedback have you heard so far, from within the music industry and from music fans?

PWY: First of all, I love when fans

write to tell me about a particular lyric or moment in a song they enjoy, or some experience they have while listening to it. A lot of people seem to agree that “Heaven Ain’t a Lonely Road” is the best thing we’ve ever done. It has a very singable chorus and a driving rhythm, and the lyrics are about the paramount importance of love and friendship, which I think people vibe with… I really made an effort to let myself write more simply, less analytically, on this album, and I think people are hearing that in the music. People are also hearing how sonically different these songs are than our previous work, thanks to my fabulous band and to Mark Feener, who coproduced and engineered the album.

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WR: Amidst releasing singles, yourself and the Blooms crew have had a pretty busy summer on tour… Where did you go and how did it go?

PWY: We travelled to Ontario and back, playing festivals, club shows and seat-

ed concerts, 17 performances in total. It was amazing. I met fans I never even knew we had in Toronto (thanks YouTube!), and when we arrived in Orillia to play Mariposa Folk Festival, Carole Bestvater and I walked on stage the first night for a duo set and there were about 4,000 people in front of us. The next day, I sang “Onomatopoeia” with the John Prine Band (yes, his actual band) in front of another couple thousand people – what a dream that was. After those performances, a good many people started following our band around all weekend. We definitely made new fans everywhere we went, whether in Ontario or Nova Scotia, and I don’t think any of us wanted the tour to end.

WR: Speaking of connecting with audiences, I saw your recently created TikTok account, in which you offer some guitar lessons, teaching people to play your original tunes. Can you tell me a little about what you hope to achieve by using this hip new social media platform in this way?

PWY: I hope people get to know me a

little better through it, and I hope they learn some things that interest them about songwriting, guitar and production. In the tutorials, I tell some personal stories, talk about songwriting and how I came to write particular songs, and throw in some things about the production process. It’s still new and evolving, but I’m aiming to connect with fans by doing something I enjoy, and that they’ll want to watch. www.downhomelife.com

WR: What’s in store for the rest of 2022 for Youngtree and the Blooms?

PWY: Well, we’re releasing our

album online on October 14, 2022, and we’re doing the album release concert on November 5, 2022, at First Light Centre in St. John’s.

The next single is called “Seas Change,” and we’ll be launching a music video for it as well. It’s our first-ever music video, so that’s exciting... and we’re looking ahead to getting out on the road again in 2023 – I think it’ll be bigger than 2022!”

Ed. Note: This interview has been edited for space.

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adventures outdoors

A Hunter’s Dream Day

By Gord Follett

It was the most remarkable single day of hunting I’d

ever experienced, and I dare say I’ll never have another like it again. No sir. Once in a lifetime, I figure.

Late October, eight or nine years back, after six straight days of moose hunting in central Newfoundland without firing a shot, I headed off from the cabin alone at daybreak yet again for what was sure to be another waste of time, effort and gas.

I started the quad, flung the rifle across my back and headed east on the woods road for a change. Just a few kilometres along, something told me to head uphill, north, and try the old cutovers there.

Less than 200 metres along, I thought my eyes were deceiving me: a massive bull was stopped just as he 34

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was about to climb a small bank and head through the cutover. I slowed my bike and turned it towards the trees before stopping so that I could steady my rifle across the seat... if indeed I wasn’t seeing things.

The big fella quickly climbed the bank and started walking through the cutover when I snorted, “Aurgh.”

He stopped again. Broadside he stayed until I chambered a round, rested across the seat and steadied on his vitals... Boom! He staggered to the side right away, then his back legs buckled and down he went.

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celebrate by myself, but I did it anyway. I had a 14-point bull, dead from a perfectly placed heart shot. No tracking, very little lugging, just a drive back to the road to get cellphone service and call a couple of the boys to come help.

As I stretched my right leg over the seat of the quad and was about to start ’er up, three young fellas – well, late-30s, but young to me – pulled alongside in an F-150 pickup after spotting my downed bull. We chatted

around like the bull did. Boom! The struck animal bolted into the woods.

He didn’t go far, though, and my new friends were quick to find the dead bruin and haul it out to the road.

They cleaned that up as well, lifted it into the box of the pickup on top of the moose, brought it back to the cabin and skinned both animals, all before 10 in the morning!

“God love ye fellas; I can’t thank you enough,” I said as they backed out of the driveway.

for less than a minute when I told them I had to leave and try to reach my buddies.

“Don’t you worry about that, skipper,” said the guy with a fox-coloured beard. “We’ll quarter that up for ya, no problem. We’ll throw it aboard our truck and follow you back to whatever cabin you’re staying in, then hang it up and skin it for ya.”

As they were paunching the brute of a moose, one of them whispered and pointed to a black bear about 150 metres up the road. “Too bad we don’t have a bear licence,” the short, chubby fella commented.

“I do,” I said.

Across the seat of the quad I set up once again, but had to fire quickly because this big bear wasn’t waiting

Too excited to nap, I tossed a few tins of kippers, a Coke and a few handfuls of various shotgun shells in the backpack, grabbed the 12-gauge pump action shotgun and climbed back on the bike.

Five minutes along an old quad trail, four grouse stood 60 metres ahead. I reached into the bag for some No. 6 shot, loaded ’er and fired two shots. Four grouse fluttered to the ground. I picked them up and put them in the blue plastic container I carried on back of the quad.

I wasn’t even back on the bike when I saw a rabbit come out of the alders and onto the trail. I reloaded and was about to fire when another one came out right behind it and turned in my direction. I fired at the

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farthest one first, then took the second as it was halfway back into the alders. In with the grouse they went.

I decided to take the long way back to camp. Just 10 minutes later, I glassed five Canada geese in a small pond about 150-200 metres off the road. I put three No. 2 shells in my gun and managed to crouch my way to within 50 metres. The big birds started to lift off, but three quick shots resulted in all five geese being added to my game container, which by now I couldn’t keep closed without a bungee cord.

Back on the gravel road, I was slowly driving by some barrens when a pair of ptarmigan caught my eye. Again I got off the bike and sneaked towards them until not two, but six birds went to wing. Boom!

Boom! Boom! Dropped all six!

This was freakin’ unbelievable.

What a day!

Two kilometres from the cabin I passed a gully where I’d always managed to hook a feed of pan-size trout.

I saw ripples on the water, so I got off the quad, put three more shells in the shotgun and walked towards the pond. Suddenly, up came seven or eight black ducks and I managed to drop four of them. The b’ys are not gonna believe this!

As I turned into the driveway, there just to the side of the cabin 40 metres away was a coyote. I pushed in a couple of No. 2s and raised the gun— “Gordie, Gordie!” my wife Dianne said, shaking me awake.

“It’s 20 past eight; you’re gonna be late for work!”

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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Salvage Beach in Trinity Bernice Goudie

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And the Winners are...

Thank you to everyone who entered our 2023 Downhome Calendar Contest. It wasn’t easy, but we managed to whittle down all your beautiful photos to the 13 that will fill the calendar and provide scenes from different seasons and different areas of Newfoundland and Labrador.

Congratulations to our winners, who will receive 10 copies of the calendar to share with family and friends, a one-year membership to Downhome and, best of all, bragging rights!

Turn to page 47 to find out how you could see your photo in the 2024 Calendar Contest.

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January Winner First Snowfall in Massey Drive Gail Rideout

February Winner Winter Morning in Burgeo Julie Baggs 40

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March Winner Blue Hour Near Wild Cove John Cartledge

April Winner Ryan Premises, Bonavista Mark Gray www.downhomelife.com

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May Winner Great Heights in Francois Trevor Black

June Winner Early Morning in The Gut Sheldon Hicks 42

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July Winner Homestead in Perry’s Cove Ian Gidge

August Winner Joe Batt’s Arm Gregory Knott www.downhomelife.com

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September Winner Flight of the Puffin Harold Feiertag

October Winner Gun Hill Sunrise, Trinity Barry Langdon 44

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November Winner Great Big Sea at Green Point Lighthouse Lorraine Winsor

December Winner Top of the Mealy Mountains, Labrador Joan Saunders www.downhomelife.com

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We’re wasting no time preparing for the next Downhome Calendar, . . . and neither should you!

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, animals, laundry lines, historic sites, seascapes, hilltop views, and so much more – and photos from all four seasons.

And you could win right away!

Downhome staff will select four 2024 Calendar Contest entries submitted November 1-30, 2022, to be put to a public vote at Downhomelife.com. The photo that receives the most votes will be turned into a postcard.

The lucky photographer will receive 10 postcards and $50 Downhome Dollars, gift certificates that can be used like cash to purchase products from Downhome Shoppe locations and online at ShopDownhome.com.

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, file 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

@HiberniaProject photo

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WHILE WIND IS THE HOTTEST ENERGY topic around Newfoundland and Labrador these days, we couldn’t let this month pass by without acknowledging a significant anniversary. It was 25 years ago in November when Premier Brian Tobin, Mines and Energy Minister Chuck Furey and Hibernia President Harvey Smith stood triumphantly in front of Cabot Place on New Gower Street in St. John’s, NL. Behind and above them, a giant banner with an oil drum blanketed the front of the office tower, beneath the Hibernia Management and Development Corporation (HMDC) offices. Confetti danced in the air as they proclaimed that as of 1:40 p.m. that day, November 17, 1997, Hibernia had started pumping oil. Production had begun and economic optimism ran high.

By 2008, Newfoundland and Labrador had became a “have province,” no longer qualifying for equalization payments due to oil revenues. In the past 25 years, the province has produced a generation of oil and gas experts, the industry has employed tens of thousands in the offshore and in land-based supporting businesses, and communities have benefited from higher incomes and investments by oil and gas companies in education and infrastructure. The province has been transformed – not without growing pains, societal struggles and even tragedy – from a fishery-based economy on the edge of collapse to an energy-rich one that, with wind and hydro, is positioned to lead Canada into a greener future. To see where we’re going, we first have to look at how far we’ve come.

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features

How Hibernia’s development fuelled a profitable industry when Newfoundland and Labrador needed it most

BY KIM PLOUGHMAN

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IT WAS A HUGE OCCASION IN JUNE 1997, when a massive gravity-based structure (GBS), built in Bull Arm, was towed out to iceberg alley and installed on the delicate seabed off Newfoundland and Labrador. By November 17, first oil gushed from the Hibernia field. The age of pursuing oil riches, trapped in rock formations more than 3,700 metres underwater, was launched.

It came at an opportune time, five years after the closure of a major part of Newfoundland and Labrador’s founding industry, the cod fishery. At a time when all seemed lost for traditional fishers, a good number of resilient folks redirected their career paths, from fish to oil.

Despite skepticism by some that it was merely a make-work project that would never pump a single barrel of oil, Hibernia produced 25 million barrels that inaugural year, against a backdrop of tens of thousands of people forced out of outports due to the 1992 cod moratorium. The project created 650 long-term jobs in its first year; and while it took some time for the economy to improve, improve it did.

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In the next few years, unemployment rates went down, St. John’s vacancy rates dipped below two per cent and the population grew, especially on the Northeast Avalon. With the influx of oil and gas executives and their deep pockets, housing prices soared and upscale restaurants popped up around town.

written extensively about the oil and gas industry over the years, as well the fisheries and rural Newfoundland and Labrador. He came to teach at MUN in the early 1980s, just after the announcement of the big discovery. In a recent conversation for this story, he recalls that house prices in the St. John’s area rose rapidly and

Peter Sinclair laments that while the industry did not resolve the rural-urban division, “as affluence was not well distributed,” he concedes that St. John’s has become “a premier city in Canada” due to oil bucks.

Josh Hicks photo

A decade on, in 2007, St. John’s was once again a boomtown, as it capitalized not on the traditional salt fish trade, but on the steady flow of oil riches. The province’s gross domestic product bumped to an extra $10 billion than a decade earlier. Other oil fields came onstream: Terra Nova, White Rose and Hebron. By November 2008, Newfoundland and Labrador kicked the equalization package to the curb and embraced the distinction of being a “have” province, due mainly to oil revenues.

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made home purchases a problem for many residents.

Peter uses this experience to highlight the various positives that transformed the city, together with the inevitable downside of such changes for some groups and communities.

“The presence of a BMW dealership and high-end and expensive residences are indicative that some people enjoyed the perks; but clearly, the project didn’t benefit everyone.”

He also points out that he recently checked household incomes in the province. While in St. John’s, the average income is high compared to larger urban areas across the country, there is also a relatively high 1-888-588-6353

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number of people classified as low income – which is influenced by aging population in rural areas. In terms of population, he explains, the capital city did manage to grow since Hibernia and the oil boom, yet communities beyond the overpass were radically hit with population loss.

“The assumption is that all is highly positive – and for some people, it truly was – but there’s a heck of a lot of inequality,” he says, adding, “What exactly is due to the oil industry as compared with other things is often hard to say with certainty.”

Still, Peter says, “it hasn’t all been negative.” He points to the project’s impact on the service sector’s growth, and increased employment opportunities in various facets of marine and engineering fields, as well as the transfer of skills, talents and technology from Hibernia to

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other oil fields.

“No doubt, without oil, Newfoundland and Labrador would have been in worse shape, but it is the big question: Who benefited from the accelerated growth?… Let’s not imagine that it all has been great.” He also points to Muskrat Falls as a serious drain that has ultimately impacted any significant benefit from oil.

Peter laments that while the industry did not resolve the rural-urban division, “as affluence was not well distributed,” he concedes that St. John’s has become “a premier city in Canada” due to oil bucks.

OVERALL SUCCESS Tina Olivero, publisher of The OGM, built her business on the emerging oil and gas industry in this province, having started her magazine a year before first oil. She waxes poetic

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about the free-standing structure on the Hibernia field, calling it a “castle in the sea.”

“That castle is the first of the offshore platforms… designed to repel icebergs and withstand the perfect storm. Think about it: you get to the Hibernia platform by helicopter, work there in every weather condition imaginable, on a structure half the height of the Empire State Building, smack dab in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean,” she says.

Tina credits Hibernia with not only being “technologically advanced and ahead of its time,” but also very kind to the public purse. “It has paid enormous dividends, far greater than we ever expected. Royalties, jobs and contracts flowed to the people of Canada and, in particular, the people of Newfoundland.” She adds that

with peak daily production of 220,000 barrels, Hibernia pinned the province on the world map of offshore oil producers.

While Hibernia was built at Bull Arm, Tina explains that most of the oil companies, major contractors and suppliers in St. John’s grew their companies to build the mega-oil project. “The entire business ecosystem has changed on the Avalon Peninsula. The region is bustling with oil activity, and this infrastructure now lays the foundation for our new energy sustainable future.”

Tina says Hibernia changed the trajectory of Newfoundland and Labrador’s future. “Hibernia meant that job opportunities boomed, salaries increased, technology was transferred; and as a result, today we are an epicentre of energy.”

Tina Olivero credits Hibernia with not only being “technologically advanced and ahead of its time,” but also very kind to the public purse. “It has paid enormous dividends, far greater than we ever expected.”

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A GRAND PRODUCTION Of course, grand projects in Newfoundland and Labrador cannot be mentioned without including Premier Joey Smallwood’s name. Back in the 1960s, at the mere speculation over oil production on the Grand Banks and the possibility of it being an economic saviour, Smallwood dispatched divers to the floor of the Grand Banks to lay a plaque, claiming the oil resources for this province.

from the Ocean Ranger disaster and the Cougar 491 crash), nor to the global challenges and market conditions caused by oil prices and the pandemic. Neither did it escape criticism about the destruction of marine ecosystem and its impact on fish resources with seismic blasting and drilling. And notwithstanding the inequalities that Peter Sinclair alluded to earlier, this world-class project has, indeed, far exceeded

The legacy of the Hibernia project and the province as a world-class energy provider continues with new projects such as Terra Nova, White Rose and Hebron.

Norman Purchase photo

However, that symbolic gesture did not stop the constitutional fuss in the 1980s over offshore oil ownership that resulted in the Atlantic Accord – a pivotal agreement that transformed the province’s oil and gas business.

Today, the debate has moved to how much the province should stake its future on fossil fuels as we try to green up our act.

Hibernia has not been immune to controversies like spills and safety incidents (no one will ever forget the lives lost nor the lessons learned www.downhomelife.com

initial production estimates. With technological advances in offshore drilling of the past 25 years, the working life of the Hibernia field is now extended beyond 2040.

Hibernia, that special made-athome island in the sea, 315 kilometres southeast of St. John’s, has indeed proven to be a trailblazer of new frontiers. It transformed a project into a full-fledged industry, and helped steer a province towards becoming a world-class energy producer.

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features

How one rig worker is advocating for mental health support in offshore workplaces.

BY NICOLA RYAN

Photos courtesy Steve Tizzard

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LIFE OFFSHORE IS NOT FOR THE FAINT OF HEART–

it’s a tough industry for workers and their families.

Steve Tizzard has worked in a communications, weather and ice management role on Hibernia for nearly 25 years, and he is very familiar with the dangers, challenges and rewards that come with working offshore. He works closely with helicopter and vessel transportation and safety, and now in his role as a mental health advocate, he details how the industry is evolving to keep workers safe and sound.

“I think if you ask many workers in this industry, the rewards first start with the rotation,” Steve writes in an email sent from the Hibernia platform approximately 315 kilometres southeast of St. John’s, NL. “Being able to have three weeks off after a three-week rotation is not the norm.

People who enjoy travelling, the outdoors or completing other projects can do so given the rotation. There’s also a family-oriented feeling on many installations offshore.

Friendships that are built are very strong. Knowing that we can live and work in Newfoundland and Labrador and help contribute to the future of the province is a great feeling.”

As for the challenges, there are times when they seem to outweigh the rewards. “Challenges like not being home for special family events and holidays [are difficult],” Steve writes. “Equally as difficult, not being home for sad occasions like an illness or funeral. And, with the unpredictable weather on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland and Labrador, there is never a guarantee that after three weeks offshore a worker will arrive home on time.”

Those work hurdles can become stumbling blocks in employee’s personal lives. “When it comes to relationships, those are particularly challenging,” he continues. “Rotational family dynamics are not typical; one person being absent for six or more months a year can take a toll. It takes a significant amount of work and commitment for both parties to keep a relationship healthy and happy.”

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A MONUMENTAL MINDSET SHIFT

Clearly, working offshore presents stressors, anxieties and dangers that are different from any other workplace. But for many years, toughing out rig life meant workers faced these challenges alone. After a workplace tragedy in 2009, addressing the need for mental health support and services on the rig became one of Steve’s priorities.

“The Cougar 491 tragedy changed so many things for our industry,” he says, recalling the helicopter crash into the ocean that killed 15 passengers and two flight crew during a

inquiry including transportation safety, fidelity in training and helicopter operations. As a workforce, I think we were in a state of anxiety, despair and uncertainty. As things started to evolve, and operational changes made it safer for us to travel, many workers realized that we didn’t focus on ourselves. In the months and years post-accident we learned we needed avenues to talk, strategies to listen and opportunities to seek professional help if required. Once many of us started sharing our lived experiences, and how we were feeling, and started reaching out for assistance, we knew we had to take

“The Cougar 491 tragedy changed so many things for our industry. It was one of the most impactful and devastating things that I have ever had to go through professionally and personally.”

Steve Tizzard

routine flight to bring workers to the oil fields. One passenger survived.

“It was one of the most impactful and devastating things that I have ever had to go through professionally and personally. Losing our friends and coworkers brought many of us to question whether we could continue working offshore or not,” Steve says.

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things further with formal training.

Stigma is everywhere – the offshore workplace is no different.”

Steve completed Mental Health First Aid instructor training offered through the Mental Health Commission of Canada. He also became a certified Psychological Health and Safety Advisor, trained in suicide intervention with ASIST from Living1-888-588-6353

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Works, and he created a wellness committee for workers offshore.

“A wellness committee is designed to do a few specific things,” he explains. “Clearly, it is to take care of workers and make sure they are feeling their best both physically and mentally, but there is another reason, too. A wellness committee should encourage workers to get to know each other better; this includes management and supervisors. That way, if someone is behaving differently, seems unwell or appears to be going through a difficult time, we can recognize it. This kind of relationship will make starting conversations easier; sometimes a non-judgmental listening ear can make a big difference. Other times, it could mean pointing them toward EAP services or other external resources. The goal is to help people come out of the shadows, stop suffering in silence

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and access the help that is available.”

Steve says watching the transformation of the offshore workplace into a safer place where workers could access help was amazing. “I think back to my career before 2009, and struggle to remember any mental health conversations at that time,” he writes. “Unfortunately, it was never spoken about. If people were suffering, they were doing so in silence. So many of us, no matter the industry or position, deal with mental health issues every day. Until we can talk about things, explore education, and seek tools and strategies openly – free from judgment – stigma wins. However, addressing the psychosocial factors in the workplace, speaking openly about mental health and treating mental health the same as physical health will go a long way to help those suffering.”

The offshore oil and gas industry

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continues to evolve in the way it approaches the mental health and wellbeing of workers. Just this past January, for the first time in Canada, OHS regulations include employee wellness – a change Steve and others have been advocating for since 2016.

“This change ensures that companies will at least now start to talk about mental health and give effective ways for workers to obtain the assistance they require without fear of being stigmatized or worrying about jeopardizing their job. Knowing the words ‘mental health’ are written into legislation will always hold a special place in my heart.”

confidential, helpful person who will listen non-judgmentally.”

Steve now operates All the Best Consulting alongside his wife, Kelli.

Together, they offer training and consulting services to promote better workplace mental health.

“I would never be able to do the advocacy work and training without the unconditional support of my wife, Kelli, who is always there for me, to listen and encourage no matter what the circumstances are,” Steve writes. “We want to see better workplaces. It is something we do side by side – that is pretty special.”

As for the future, while Steve thinks

“My reward is sitting back after a conversation with a coworker, knowing in my heart I have truly helped that person receive the supports they so desperately need.”

- Steve Tizzard

This year, Steve was awarded a Workplace Champion of Mental Health Award from the Canadian Alliance on Mental Illness and Mental Health (CAMIMH). “I am truly humbled; [receiving the award] means a great deal to me personally, as both a mental health advocate and an offshore worker,” he writes.

“I don’t do this for accolades or awards. My reward is sitting back after a conversation with a coworker, knowing in my heart I have truly helped that person receive the supports they so desperately need. I feel overwhelmed knowing my coworkers and friends see me as a 60

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his days offshore may be winding down, he knows he will always be an advocate for mental health and worker safety. “The past few years have been difficult for many workers; workers in the oil and gas industry are no different. The word ‘future’ can be a scary one at times. I hope the importance of mental health in our offshore workplaces will be a legacy for future workers. When I finally leave the Grand Banks, I’ll feel confident knowing psychological health and safety has a strong foundation, with passionate workers coming behind me to continue the advocacy.”

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Three Sheets to the Wind Red Blueberry-Blackberry This full-bodied dry red wine combines the Newfoundland wild blueberry with the grape-like qualities of the Newfoundland wild blackberry in a delightful table wine that pairs well with cheese, steak, wild game, beef and chocolate.

Medium

Three Sheets to the Wind White Rhubarb

Dandy Rhubarb-Dandelion With its delicious blend of local rhubarb and wild dandelion, this medium white wine is, well, just Dandy, especially when paired with chicken or fish.

Semi-Sweet

Funky Puffin Blueberry-Rhubarb

A name that brings to mind a sparkling sea whipped up by fresh, cool breezes. This subtle wine is crafted from locally grown rhubarb, lending it a refreshing, crisp flavour with a hint of tartness.

Pairs finely with traditional Newfoundland dishes, poultry and pork. Medium

Moose Joose Blueberry-Partridgeberry A blend of blueberry and partridgeberry, two of Newfoundland's most popular berries. Full of antioxidants and flavonoids, this wine could be called a health juice - but it contains alcohol, so we'll just say it's berry good for you!

Medium-Sweet

A blend of Newfoundland and Labrador blueberries and rhubarb creates a wine that is fun, delightful and well balanced. It is a great sipping wine and goes well with cheese and crackers. Semi-Sweet

Frig-Off Strawberry-Raspberry A refreshing strawberryraspberry wine is just what you need. And it makes a delicious way to tell someone else to chill out, or even Frig-Off! Semi-Sweet

www.aukislandwinery.com 1-877-639-4637 AUK Shipping not available to Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut.

Please visit your local NLC location.

ISLAND

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explore

Home to pirate legends and ghost stories, there’s more to this hunk of land in Conception Bay than meets the eye.

PHOTOS & STORY BY DENNIS FLYNN

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The rigid-hull inflatable boat lands ashore at Kelly’s Island, near Bell Island in Conception Bay, NL, and our party climbs out onto the beach. Today for the first time, I’m going to be exploring all over this island, following about six kilometres of newly marked trails.

I’ve been quite fortunate to visit Kelly’s Island a number of times, for beach cleanups and on snorkelling excursions with the same tour operator that brings me here today, Ocean Quest, and I’ve kayaked to the beach here a handful of times. I’ve even been atop Kelly’s Island, but never explored more than the grassy meadow on the southwest end (called “The Green” by local

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boaters) and above Chimney Cove (also called Martin’s Cove) on the northeast end. At about two kilometres long and just over one kilometre at its widest, there is so much more to this island and I’m eager to see it.

Using some strategically placed ropes for hand holds, our group carefully ascends the path leading up to The Green, a surprisingly large meadow covered in a sea of late summer hay. I’d previously checked topographic maps as far back as 1954, and no structures of any significance appear to be marked on the island,

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yet uniform indentations in the grass clearly show some fairly large rectangular spots where, I would assume, man-made structures once stood.

Nearer the forest, evidence of old cellars long ago collapsed and partially filled in are more clues that this was once a tiny, but vibrant place where people lived. I’m told that Kelly’s Island was once used seasonally by fishermen and farmers.

We proceed in a clockwise direction along the trail through small sections of dead trees, akin to skeletal hands of pirates reaching out,

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interspersed with verdant sections of trail where the makings of fairy rings mix with a yellow-orange fungus known colloquially as witch’s butter.

In keeping with the ethereal feel of the place, I recognize an abundance of miniature “witches’ brooms” adorning “snotty var” (fir trees). Witches brooms describe tangles of branches and twigs on trees and shrubs, caused by environmental stress.

Emerging above Big Cove on the back (north) of the island, we spot a half-dozen boats participating in the recreational cod fishery. Then we mosey along to one of my favourite locations, Martin’s Cove (Chimney Cove), where ropes lead down a long stone slope to the base of a waterfall cascading to the beach. Care and caution are always recommended as the rocks can be wet and slippery. On the beach below is a large rock naturally formed into the shape of a human derriere, which sailors have taken to calling “Kelly’s Arse.” (The island is named for a 17th-century pirate, Captain Kelly, who supposedly buried treasure here.) www.downhomelife.com

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Our exploration continues atop the island. Above the lagoon at Easter Beach, we spot otters playing in the pond. We find evidence of sea birds, eagles and hares along the trails. For an “uninhabited” island, there sure is a lot of life living on it.

Before long, we are all back on the landing beach enjoying a boil-up of hot chocolate and having a chat while waiting for our ride to pick us up.

Doug Harrison of Blaketown, NL, tells me, “This is my first time on Kelly’s Island and I loved it. I grew

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up here in Topsail, and all my life I looked out at Kelly’s Island and said, ‘One of these days I am going to get out there,’ and today was the day.

The trail was great… It is a little bit of a naturalist’s paradise.”

Lisa Butt, also of Blaketown, agrees. “It was beautiful. I really liked the trail as it was almost a minimalist style trail with no unnecessary cutting done. So you can make your way through, but it is largely left natural and untouched. There are so Continued page 70

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A History of Kelly’s Island According to legend,

Kelly’s Island was named for the 17th-century pirate who operated out of this bay and supposedly buried treasure here. In the next century, local fishers and farmers used Kelly’s Island seasonally, and it has been suggested that local residents may have sought refuge here from the French, who were fighting with the English for control of key areas of Newfoundland during this time in history.

The island was uninhabited, though, in 1839, when Roman Catholic Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming arrived to oversee quarrying of sandstone to build the new Basilica in St. John’s. At this time, shelters were built for the workers, and the Bishop, to live in while the quarrying was ongoing. Writer Sir Richard Henry Bonnycastle, serving as an officer of the Royal Engineers at the time, noted in 1842, “The stone for the cathedral has been obtained in Conception Bay, from a small island called Kelly’s Island, where it was found to be in great quantity, and nearly ready, from natural stratification and cleavage, for the use of the mason in the rough walling. The cut stone for the doors, windows, pillars and front has been brought from the celebrated white granite quarries of Kingstown, formerly Dunleary, near Dublin.”

Another landmark associated with Kelly’s Island is Father Walsh’s Hill (now a tiny park in the Military Road-Queens Road area) in downtown St. John’s. The site was originally chosen as a gentler slope for transporting the large shipments of stones for the Basilica from Bishop’s Wharf at the harbour, rather than up the very steep main roads of the day.

Kelly’s Island stone was also used in the building of what is now the John N. Leamon Museum: Ye Old Stone Barn Museum in Brigus, in the Rorke’s Stone House (now the Stone Jug) in Carbonear; and the St. John’s Courthouse on Duckworth Street. The stone was also used in the construction of culverts, walls and churches in Conception Bay, and in the making of headstones until about the 1870s.

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few places left like that, especially here on the Avalon Peninsula area of the province. It was a real treat.”

Brenda Power of Mount Pearl, NL, says with a big smile, “I loved it all – the boat ride over; the great company and chats; the beautiful trail; and, of course, the scenery is amazing. I have hiked the entire East Coast Trail, which is wonderful, and Kelly’s Island is similar in some ways to parts of it, but very different and peaceful. It is a magic place, and I had to almost pinch myself a few times, since some of it was so pretty today.”

Our tour of the island was made easier by the volunteer efforts of a New Zealander. Greg Horner has been living in Newfoundland and Labrador for about 20 years. He tells me about two years ago he asked Rick Stanley of Ocean Quest to drop him off at Kelly’s Island one morning and return for him in the evening.

That day trip turned into a series of

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overnight excursions and a passion project.

“I discovered there were parts of some older footpaths left in places, but no trail at all. So being a trail guy, and an ultramarathon guy, and a multi-day backpacking guy, I decided to start in, very selectively cutting a little bit here and there over that time – and now there is a trail that goes roughly six kilometres. I jokingly say it is a different trail every kilometre, from moss-covered forest floor, to spruce deadwood, to open fields – and the views are unbelievable.”

He adds, “This is really just a labour of love, and the natural barrier of the water crossing and a little challenging access make it very special place to visit. It may never see large numbers [of visitors], but that is OK, and I think as long as people treat it right and respect the land and the wildlife, it will be something to be enjoyed for years.”

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explore

History buff recreates a traditional earth house, the latest addition to his private museum.

Story & Photos by Dennis Flynn

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I first met Stan and Loretta Deering

when I visited their Shades of the Past Museum in Flat Rocks, Conception Bay, NL, way back in 2012. B’ys oh b’ys, have they been busy since then. The Deerings have added a fair number of small structures to their already extensive collection of tiny, neat buildings that comprise their unique community lifestyle museum.

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Amongst the many treasures in the Shades of the Past Museum is a 3D model of the town of Flat Rocks Stan constructed using photos, maps and drawings.

Stan, now 73, is a plasterer and painter by trade, and he has not lost any of his skills as an artist and handyman in the last decade. The seasonal museum has such a depth and breadth of ephemera and offbeat items for a two-person operation that it makes me smile as I tour it. It is truly a labour of love that should be enjoyed, chatted about and appreciated in person.

“Flat Rocks was settled by Thomas Pottle around 1756, or even earlier,” Stan says. “I grew up here until it was resettled in 1966. We returned about 20 years ago now to live here all year round, and we really enjoy it. It has been nice seeing folks out visiting again for Come Home Year, and hopefully that trend will continue next year and beyond.”

Catching up with a quick tour, we pass through recreations of the oneroom school; the old general store; the 1950s-era kitchen; the smoke house for preserving meat and other food; the snack bar; the hen house; a replica fishing stage; outbuildings; 74

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several types and styles of cellars; and a garage complete with older style gas pumps. I get a small chuckle as I note the last price charged on one particular gas tank was 64 and 9/10ths of a cent for a gallon of premium. (I am told an imperial gallon is about 4.54 litres, which works out to about 14.29 cents per litre.) I jokingly ask Stan if the pump is working and if he will charge me that price. He chuckles, “They haven’t worked in a very long time, but given the cost of things today this would be a pretty popular place if we could sell it that cheap. I’d need to add on a bigger garage.”

Stan pauses for a photo by a special new addition: a large table-sized 3D model of his beloved hometown of Flat Rocks as it looked when he was a boy, complete with cliffs, roads, houses, fences, barns, fishing stages, even a few tiny trucks and barrels for good measure.

“I used old photos and a few maps and lots of my own drawings to do the layout. I actually walked off the measurements of the various 1-888-588-6353

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Stan collected bricks he found on the properties of past residents of Flat Rocks.

Each brick is labelled with the family name and has become a part of the museum’s collection.

families’ homesteads to help get the scale right,” he explains. “Also, if they had a brick left behind on the land, from an old foundation or where the chimney of the house once stood, I took one and marked the family name on it and then placed it in the museum. That way, even if the original residents themselves are all long dead and gone, somebody passing through the museum will be able to see their names, touch a lasting bit of their home and remember them. It is a little thing, but you’d be sur-

prised how many people are really moved by seeing all those bricks with names on them.”

The Winter House

This particular visit was inspired for me not by bricks, but by far more basic building materials, namely stones, soil, sticks and sod – all elements used to construct what goes by different names in various parts of the province, but can generally be described as a winter house.

Continued on page 77

It took Stan 350 days to construct this earth house

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Winter Houses of NL The late Frank Whelan (1929-2015) of Colliers told me back in 2006, “When I was a boy in the 1930s, my grandfather and my father used to take me in on the land back between our house [located along the waterfront in Colliers Harbour] and Coles Monument [a prominent hilltop], since we had potato gardens up there. They showed me a number of times what the old people called ‘sod tilts.’ They were still standing and in good shape and we played in them as children, but I went back years later as an adult and trees are all grown up and I could never find them, so they must have collapsed in. They looked something like a cellar in that they were made of stone with a turf roof, but they were a nice bit bigger and not dug down deep. They had a place for a small fireplace or maybe some kind of little stove, though I don’t remember seeing any actual stoves. There was no floor, just the dirt and maybe a bit of wood left from rough homemade furniture… We were told they were the winter homes that the first people around here had. Almost everyone needed to be close to the water in the spring and summer to fish, so they had their main homes near the ocean.

Some folks had spots that were pretty barren and exposed to storms and bad winter weather, so they would have a sod tilt somewhere inland that was a sheltered location with lots of firewood close by. I guess they built them old-fashioned out of flat rocks and sods because that was what they knew how to work with and it was all free and on hand. Also the rock walls and the sod roof probably acted as insulation against the cold and held the heat of a fire pretty good. They had to be smart and hardy to live here, so I’m sure they had a reason for doing it that way.”

Elsewhere in the province, the seasonal house concept abounds in place names. A few of them include Black Duck Brook-Winterhouse on the Port au Port Peninsula, Winter House Brook in the Bay of Islands, Winterhouse Cove near Burlington, Winter House Cove near Glover’s Harbour, Winter House Cove on the Bay of Exploits, and Winter House Pond near Winterton.

The landscape in Colliers where Frank Whelan remembers playing in winter houses as a child

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Made with approximatly 13,000 stones, 500 buckets of clay, 600 sods and other natural materials, Stan documented the construction of the earth house with photos that can be seen in the museum.

“They go by lots of titles, but here we called them earth houses,” Stan says. “This one is the type [that] would have been used by older people around here and is really kind of similar in style and materials to what the Vikings would have done at L’Anse aux Meadows 1,000 years ago. Not much needed to change because it worked, didn’t require much maintenance; and, if you did a tidy job making it, they lasted a really long time.”

Stan built his sturdy structure over a 350-day period in 2021, working six to eight hours per day by himself (with help from Loretta when needed). “You can’t really see it, but I took photos and documented www.downhomelife.com

the process as I was going along, and I dug 500 buckets of clay; cut 600 sods for the walls and roof; picked and placed approximately 10,000 small rocks; used around 2,800 shale rocks for walls; placed three long 16-foot logs [and] another 60 smaller logs; plus 100 boards for the roof. It was no small feat, but I loved it,” Stan says. “Everyone seems to really enjoy it and some even want to stay in it, but we tell them with a smile it is an earth house and not an AirBnB, which makes them laugh. We are just really glad to be able to preserve and share this unique part of our heritage that many in recent generations have never experienced.”

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life is better The Narrows in autumn, St. John’s, NL Scott Udle, St. John’s, NL

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stuff we love by Nicola Ryan

Fall Yard Cleanup HAUL IN There’s nothing better than spending a crisp autumn afternoon out raking the leaves. Make gathering them up easier with the EZ Leaf Hauler – it’s like a big dustpan for leaves. Handy stakes keep it secure on windy days and six handles make it easy to move around. Amazon.ca

MUCKING AROUND They’re called Muck Boot Company Chore Boots – and with a name like that you know these are the only yard boots you’ll need to keep by the back door. They’re comfortable and 100% waterproof. The rubber outsole is easy to rinse off and provides good traction on slippery surfaces like wet grass.

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TAKE HOLD Keep your hands toasty warm during cleanups on cooler, wetter fall days with a pair of thermal waterproof gloves. We love these MaxiDry Zero Cold Condition work gloves that stay grippy and flexible in the cold and damp. Amazon.ca

BLOW HARD If you’ve got a big outdoor job that really needs some muscle, get ’er done with a cordless jet blower by Greenworks. Lightweight and easy to use, the 80V version has a powerful motor and a turbo-blast button if you’re feeling really extra. GreenworksTools.ca

NATURAL SELECTION Why not create some seasonal décor with the natural elements you find in your garden – or maybe leave it to the pros? The Newfoundland Wreath Company makes beautiful, long-lasting, handcrafted wreaths using sustainable foraging methods. The holidays aren’t too far off…

Facebook.com/NLWreathCo/ www.downhomelife.com

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Lest We Forget Interior designer Marie Bishop offers tips on displaying your family history.

It’s November, a month when we take time to

remember those who gave so much so that we could enjoy the freedoms we often take for granted today.

I think it’s safe to say that almost all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians have a relative who fought in at least one of the historic wars and, as a result, have some photo, medal or relic that reminds them of their sacrifice. Sometimes these items are stored in a dresser drawer or on a closet shelf and unintentionally forgotten about for most of the year.

Sometimes it’s a matter of not really knowing what to do with them or how to bring them into our everyday lives.

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Maybe now is a good time to create a permanent place for these treasured pieces of history. There are any number of ways to do this, depending on the memorabilia you have.

You could use a shadowbox for a collection of smaller items and photos. This is a great way to tell their story in a concise, tasteful and visual way. Shadowbox frames are available at most retail stores where household accessories are sold. If you’re unsure of what type of frame to buy or how to put it all together, you could bring your collection to a professional framer; you will pay a little extra for their expertise and service, but it’s definitely worth the investment. I would highly recommend Art Cansel in St. John’s, NL, for the job – great staff, great service and an excellent end result.

For a treasured photo, a classic frame with appropriate matting will keep it simple and elegant. If you have a number of artifacts, the best way to showcase them would be in a curio cabinet or a well-orchestrated display on a side table.

Today’s design and decorating trends lend themselves more to a minimalist, modern look. And while it is very refreshing to declutter and live with less, there is much to be said about having some of our history surround us on a daily basis.

There is nothing more comforting than walking into a house that immediately feels like an old friend, a space that reminds us of our childhood and wraps around us like a welcoming hug.

My first cousin, Molly Boland, and her husband, Doug, live in the centre www.downhomelife.com

If you have a number of artifacts, the best way to showcase them would be in a curio cabinet or a well-orchestrated display on a side table.

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of the city, but as soon as you walk through their back door you’re transported to a home around the bay back in the 1950s. They are no strangers to renovating and restoring older properties, but their current house is their pride and joy. Every nook and cranny evokes a memory of our wonderful

A memory book is a fun and creative way of sharing your family’s history with guests.

Newfoundland and Labrador history.

And part of that history includes her dad, Jack Conway, who enlisted at the age of 17 and fought with the British Navy for the duration of the Second World War. In fact, Doug was so 84

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intrigued with his father-in-law’s participation in the war that he set about putting all the photos and details into a book, so that his grandchildren would know the story of their greatgrandfather. That book sits prominently on the main coffee table for all to see and read. That is some serious devotion to honouring his memory.

A recent trip to The Rooms, one of my favourite places in the city, reminded me of the local unsung heroes and all the stories that our province has to share with the world.

If you get the chance, this month in particular, it’s worth checking out the ongoing exhibit commemorating the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.

On a more general note, creating a framed photo gallery is a great way to set up your personal wall of fame. You could do a collection of previous generations, honouring those in uniform as well as those who worked in the war effort back home. Maybe you can create a collection of your children and grandchildren, or a mixture of your family members through the years. Different size frames work well as long as the colour is consistent.

Costco recently had a set of seven frames, various sizes, in black or grey for a very reasonable price. Two sets, depending on the size of your clan, would make a great collage on a hallway, living room or family room wall.

There are even a few recommended arrangements suggested on the box, in case you don’t know where to start.

It’s a wonderful way to showcase past and present, to ensure that those gone before us are not forgotten, and to keep track of the younguns as they grow up too fast. It’s a great way 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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If there is one meal that I would consider a “go to” comfort meal of choice, for me anyway, it is soup! I love making it, I love bottling it, I love sharing it and, of course, I love eating it.

When the fall and early winter arrive, making soup is a weekly tradition in my home. Usually on Saturdays I’ll be in my shed (a.k.a cookhouse) with all I need to make soup of some kind. Having “all I need” consists of the ingredients, of course, but more importantly a desire to clear my mind after the week just gone by, a good show or golf game on TV to watch, and a great recipe to make.

I have made and bottled various soups, from beef and pea to roasted red pepper, tomato and turkey. There is something about turkey soup, in particular, that does it for me. The way I prepare it might seem a little convoluted, so hopefully I don’t lose you. You may consider what I do to be too much or a waste of time, but trust me, in the end, it is worth it – every single spoonful!

Let’s start with making the turkey broth.

That’s right, no water out of the tap here, or chicken broth out of a box. We are building the flavour right from scratch. I always keep all the turkey bones, carcass, skin etc. after carving a freshly cooked turkey. I bag up all the parts and freeze them to make broth for my next pot of turkey soup. (Or you can make the broth now and freeze the broth for later.) To make the broth, place the bones, skin and carcass in a large pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer.

Spoon off the foam that rises to the top for a cleaner looking soup. Simmer for about an hour and add a mirepoix mixture: 2 carrots chopped, skin on 1 large onion roughly chopped, skin on 2 celery stalks, chopped 1 tbsp whole peppercorns Simmer all this for at least another five hours, to let all the flavours develop.

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As mentioned, I make my broth from frozen turkey bones, but I rarely freeze the turkey meat for later. I prefer to use the leftover meat from the current turkey meal, while it’s fresh. So essentially, I make the broth from the bones of one turkey and add the meat from another.

Back to the broth. Once you have simmered the bones and mirepoix, strain the broth into another pot and discard the bones, veggies etc. All you are keeping is the liquid.

Some people, especially Newfound-

landers and Labradorians, like the traditional salt meat taste of soup. So you could have some diced salt meat simmering away in a small pot to add to the soup later.

The size of the pot of soup obviously varies based on how many people you’re feeding and how much you want to bottle. This ingredient list is basically a large pot of soup that will yield many bowls and some for bottling. You can adjust for your situation, but remember that soup can be frozen if you are not set up for bottling.

Turkey Soup 2 tbsp olive oil 2-3 med. onions, peeled and diced 5 large carrots, peeled and diced 1 med-large turnip, peeled and diced 4 stalks of celery, diced Salt and pepper to taste 1 tsp dried oregano 1 tsp ground savoury 7-8 cups turkey stock (adjust amount to reach your preferred thickness of soup)

1 large can diced tomatoes 1 cup long grain rice 5 cups of cooked, cubed turkey meat (or as much as you want) Optional ingredients: 2 med. parsnip, peeled and diced 1 cup salt meat, diced and simmered in water for 3 hours until very tender 3 potatoes, peeled and diced

Start by adding olive oil to a soup pot over medium high heat. Add carrots, onions, celery and turnip (and optional parsnip), and sauté until veggies start to soften just a little. Add salt and pepper, oregano and savoury. Stir in stock, tomatoes and rice (and optional salt meat and potato). Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until tender. Add turkey meat and cook until meat is heated through and rice is cooked. I do it this way so that the turkey meat remains as whole bite-size pieces and not overcooked strands (that I personally dislike).

I prepare my bowl with a large piece of cooked potato or a whole one, and I ladle the soup over it, then break up the potato as I eat the soup. This way I get to enjoy potato in my soup, but the leftover soup in the pot that gets bottled or frozen doesn’t get too starchy from potatoes in it. Simply delicious!

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• Take the time to make the broth. It’s worth it.

• Do not boil the cooked turkey meat. Simply heat the turkey through after the vegetables are cooked.

• There are no rules to soup, really. Add the spices and veggies that you love to eat.

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HOME and Cabin

everyday recipes

Fall Comfort As the days get cooler and the evenings grow longer, we reach for warm sweaters and crave hearty, savoury foods. These recipes should hit the spot!

Stuffed Eggplants 2 2 1 2 1

medium eggplants tbsp olive oil small onion, chopped cloves garlic, crushed tsp dried oregano

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs 1 tsp chopped fresh parsley 2 cups tomato sauce 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 325°F. Cut eggplants in half lengthwise. Hollow them out, leaving 1/4" shell, making four “boats.” Place them in a shallow baking dish. Chop up the eggplant flesh you removed. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan over medium high heat. Add eggplant, onion, garlic and oregano. Cook and stir until lightly browned. Remove from heat and divide mixture among the four eggplant boats. Sprinkle each with Parmesan cheese, breadcrumbs and parsley. Pour tomato sauce over all and top with mozzarella cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, until eggplant is fork-tender and cheese is bubbly. Serves 4.

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Spaghetti Squash Casserole 1 1 1 1 1 1

average sized spaghetti squash lb ground chicken tbsp olive oil medium onion, chopped can sliced mushrooms (540 ml) can seasoned diced tomatoes

1 (640 ml) jar pasta sauce (your favourite kind) 1 (156 ml) can tomato paste 1 cup shredded cheese 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs 1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cut spaghetti squash in half lengthwise. Use a metal spoon to scrape out seeds. Place cut-side down in a microwave-safe dish with half-inch of water in the bottom. Cook on high for 3 minutes at a time. Repeat 4-5 times, until fork easily pierces the skin and it’s soft inside. Remove and use a fork to scrape out the “spaghetti” strings of squash, and transfer that to the bottom of a lasagna dish. Add olive oil and onion to a large fry pan with ground chicken. Cook, stirring, until meat is no longer pink and onion is soft. And mushrooms and cook on medium for 5-10 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, pasta sauce and tomato paste. Simmer on medium-low for 15 minutes. Pour sauce over spaghetti squash noodles and stir to combine well in the dish. Sprinkle shredded cheese over casserole. Combine breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese, and sprinkle that over top. Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes, until crumbs are browned and cheese is melted. Serves 6.

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Pumpkin Walnut Soup 2 lb fresh pumpkin (or 2 cans puréed pumpkin) 1 onion, sliced 2 whole garlic cloves, peeled 3 cups vegetable broth

1 cup water 1 cup walnuts, finely chopped Salt and pepper to taste 1/2-3/4 cup heavy cream or half-and-half

Cut pumpkin into chunks, removing peel and seeds. Add pumpkin (chunks or canned purée) to a large pot with onion, garlic, broth and water. Bring to a boil, uncovered, then reduce heat and simmer rapidly until pumpkin is tender and onion is soft (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in walnuts. Use an immersion blender to blend until smooth (or let the soup cool a little and transfer it to a blender/food processor and blend in batches, being careful of hot splatter). Season to taste with salt and pepper; stir in cream just before serving. Garnish with dollop of cream and a sprinkle of walnuts, if desired. Serves 4-6.

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Sweet Potato Breakfast Hash 4 cups sweet potatoes, peeled and diced 2 cups red or yellow onion, diced 2 cups sweet bell peppers (any or all colours), diced 2 tsp olive oil

2 tsp salt 1-2 tsp savoury 4 large eggs 2 tsp butter Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 425°F. Toss all the veggies together with olive oil, salt and savoury; spread them out in a single layer on a large parchmentlined baking sheet. Roast for 30 minutes, flipping veggies over halfway through, until potatoes are browned. Meanwhile, add butter to a nonstick frying pan and fry four eggs to desired doneness. Divide hash among four serving plates and top each with a fried egg. Serves 4.

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Rumbledethumps 1/2 head green cabbage, thinly sliced (about 8 cups) 2 1/2 lbs potatoes, peeled, chopped 1/2 cup butter

1 medium yellow onion, grated Salt and pepper to taste 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 2-quart casserole dish. Cook cabbage in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 2 minutes.

Transfer cabbage with a slotted spoon to a bowl. Add potatoes to the pot of water and return it to boil, then reduce heat, cover and cook until potatoes are tender. Remove from heat and drain water from potato pot.

Add butter and mash the potatoes. Stir in onion, then cabbage. Season with salt and pepper, then spoon mixture into the casserole dish.

Sprinkle top with cheese and bake, uncovered, for about 35 minutes until cheese is bubbly. (This is a traditional Scottish dish.) Serves 8.

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Apple Parsnip Soup 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil 4 cups parsnip, grated 2 cups onions, small dice 1/2 cup carrot, small dice 1/2 cup celery, small dice 2 tsp fresh, minced garlic

1 bay leaf 2 tsp fresh thyme, minced 3 Granny Smith apples, peeled and grated 3 L vegetable stock, hot 1/2 cup cream, hot (skim milk for reduced fat) Salt and pepper to taste

In a large pot over medium heat, sweat vegetables and garlic in oil until the onion is translucent. Add bay leaf, thyme and apples; cook for 5 minutes.

Add the hot stock and simmer for 10 minutes. Purée soup with an immersion blender, or let it cool slightly and purée it in a blender (in batches and being careful of hot splatter) until perfectly smooth. Add the hot cream.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serves 6-10.

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HOME and Cabin

down to earth

Whipper Snippers as Weapons

BY KIM THISTLE

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This article is for anyone who has ever used, or will ever use, a mechanical device for removing weeds from the base of a tree.

It is a sad thing to see a dying tree, even sadder when it could easily have been prevented. We often receive calls from people wondering why their trees seem to be dying.

More often than not, it is due to mechanical damage, often from a whipper snipper. If not used correctly, these can be lethal.

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Pith Growth rings Cambium Inner Bark Outer Bark Aggressive use of power trimmers can break the inner and outer bark and damage the cambium, which transports nutrients throughout the tree.

A little botany lesson never goes astray. When a tree has been newly cut down and you look at the crosssection, you can easily see the rings that we use for counting the age; the outside bark; and in between the bark and the growth rings, the live bark and microscopic small band of green called the cambium. This layer is the living tissue of the plant, which helps the food materials produced by the leaves to send nutrients to the branches, trunk and roots of the tree.

Think of it as a straw through which you can sip your lemonade. Now, picture a paper straw that has gotten bent or a plastic straw with a nick in it. Kind of hard to sip your lemonade now, isn’t it? Well, a tree behaves the same way. Once you damage that small life support system, the cambium, the tree struggles to get the water and nutrients it needs. When this damage exists around the perimeter of the stem, it is called girdling and may be 98

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caused by anything that acts as a tourniquet such as wires, twine, chains or ropes. Also, abrasive materials used to stake a stem may rub the bark off a little at a time.

Minor damage by a weed whacker can often repair itself if a tree is healthy and less than one-quarter of the circumference of the tree is damaged. However, you have just opened up a wound for insects and disease to have quick entry to your tree, and that allows a whole other host of problems. If the wound is all the way around the tree, its circulatory system has just been cut off and the tree will die a slow and painful death.

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A ring of mulch at the base of a tree can provide a no trimmer/mower safety zone.

Prevention is the key. Instead of using machinery close to the trunk, you may have to get on your hands and knees to remove grass from around the base of your tree. If you hire a person to mow, be sure they understand the issue and insist on hand removal or handheld clippers be used around your trees. This will cost extra, of course, but are the savings worth the price of your tree?

Keep your trimmer in good repair so the string does not slip. If the parts of your machine are worn, that may cause the string to suddenly become longer and you will unwittingly cut into the bark even though you have tried all the above methods to prevent this.

Another option is to put a ring of mulch a few feet in diameter around

the tree as buffer zone. This will ensure that mowers and whipper snippers are not in close proximity.

Be sure to clear away the grass first and do not place the mulch up against the base of the tree, as this will create other problems. Leave a couple of inches of bare ground exposed next to the trunk.

If the damage has been done and you wish to attempt to repair it, pruning paint and pitch are not recommended. These just set up a barrier to create rot. Leave the area alone, as the tree will produce compounds to form a callous over the wound.

Our rule of thumb is, “If you wouldn’t put it around your own neck, don’t put it around your tree stem.” Use precaution and protect the cambium… that’s a T-shirt I’d buy!

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.

Got a question for Kim? Email downtoearth@downhomelife.com. www.downhomelife.com

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reminiscing flashbacks

Victory Day Roland Winsor (far right) was born November 11, 1921, to WWI veteran Arthur Winsor and his wife, Fanny (nee Fudge). He enlisted in the 16th Contingent of the Royal Navy (#299595). While serving his country he crossed the equator on February 1, 1942. After the war he married Marie Wiseman and they raised five children in Triton, NL. Justine Thomas (nee Vincent) South Brook, NL

Smiling Sailors “I found this photo lately and recognize my dad, Chester Keeping, on the far right,” writes the submitter. “Dad served in the Merchant Navy in WWII and I am curious as to who the other men might be.”

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Royal Rifles of Canada “My dad worked as a carpenter when they were building the Canadian Army base in St. John’s in 1940 and ’41,” writes the submitter. “The army needed bandsmen, and my dad was asked to join the Royal Rifles of Canada.

My dad is behind the bass drummer on the left with the strap on his shoulder. The Royal Rifles were sent to Hong Kong, where they surrendered Christmas Day, 1941, and my dad was killed on the same day.”

Herb Noseworthy Christina Lake, BC

Gunning for Home “My uncle, George Harvey, was a gunner with the Royal Artillery in WWII,” writes the submitter. The unidentified woman with him is someone he used to know.

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The Downhomer November 1988

First World War Veteran Celebrates 103rd Birthday Remembers riding triumphantly into Germany on horseback

The home of Rod V. Gillis in the community of Loch Leven was the scene of a most joyous occasion on the afternoon of August 5, when one of the area’s finest old gentlemen celebrated his 103rd birthday.

Rod, or Uncle Rod as he is known throughout the area, was born in the settlement of Highlands in 1885, the son of Archie and Christie Gillis. When the First World War broke out he lost no time in enlisting along with two brothers, Dan and Joe. All saw action in France and Germany.

Rod’s brother Dan died some years ago, but Joe, who is now in his 90s, is still hale and hearty and lives in Saskatchewan. Rod was in action constantly during the war and was lucky enough to return without suffering any serious disability.

One thing that he was always particularly proud of was the fact that at the end of hostilities he had the opportunity to ride triumphantly into Germany on horseback.

Being a splendid horseman, he took great pride in that particular achievement.

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One thing that he was always particularly proud of was the fact that at the end of hostilities he had the opportunity to ride triumphantly into Germany on horseback.

When he returned home at the end of the war he made his home at Highlands, married Mary MacIssac, who predeceased him some years ago, and raised a family of five. He now has two sons: Robert, who lives with him at Loch Leven, and Fred, who resides in Toronto, ON. As well he has three daughters: Mary Meade of Corner Brook, Eileen MacDonald of Loch Leven, and Catherine of Hamilton, ON. All his children were able to make it home to help him celebrate this memorable occasion.

A number of his friends gathered at his home on the afternoon of August 5, and a most joyous time was had by all. Old-time fiddle music was provided by Michael Brake of St. Fintans and Churchill Parsons of Jeffreys, both WWII veterans. Another WWII veteran, who was always a great friend of Rod and who is now residing in Toronto, was able to be on hand; it

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was good to see Jacob Hulan on this special occasion.

Although Rod has lost some of the spring from his step, he is still surprisingly alert. And to look at him, you would never say he was 103 years old.

His surprising health over the years has to be an inspiration to all who knew him, which was a large number of people. His honesty, cheerfulness and dedication – first of all to his country and then to his family – won him the respect and admiration of all with whom he came in contact…

Incidentally, Rod was a member of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment who served so valiantly under such trying circumstances during WWI, and won the undying respect of all who served with him.

(Reprinted with permission from The Georgian.)

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reminiscing visions & vignettes

Gnat, do you mind…

Moose Hunters

By Harold N. Walters

Brookwater folks had taken to calling the big bull moose Clyde.

Shot at and missed when he was a yearling, Clyde – wily then, wily now – had evaded hunters for decades. Not only had Clyde dodged bullets every autumn, but also he had openly taunted the men who saw him as merely meat. For weeks after hunting season ended, Clyde appeared on the Bald Knap, shook his enormous rack in hunters’ faces and bellowed a mocking wail, an imitation of his distant Rocky Mountain cousins.

Eventually, even Brookwater’s best moose hunters – Old Man Farley and Wince Cody both claimed the distinction – left Clyde alone as a sign of respect. Or frustration. Nowadays, they ignored his annual appearances on the Bald Knap and set their sights on lesser game.

This year, however, Harry, seldom bound by local customs, decided it was high time that brazenfaced Clyde got his comeuppance. Harry’s scheme was seeded one day at school 104

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as he leafed through The Great Big Book of Hunting History.

At the time, Harry himself didn’t realize a seed had been sown, one that could lead to Clyde’s demise. Yet, months before sugarplums would appear there, visions of weapons and actively hunted prey sprouted in Harry’s head: spears, traps, pits and assorted guns; buffalo, beaver, bears and… well, moose.

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phone poles when Harry said, “You knows that gun Wince Cody made.”

“Yeah,” said Gnat.

“I got an idea,” said Harry.

Oddly, Gnat didn’t respond. Maybe the mention of ideas and guns in the same breath made Gnat uneasy.

After all, Harry’s experiences with guns – Red Ryder air rifles or heirloom muzzle loaders – never had been 100 per cent positive.

“Gnat…?”

“What about Wince’s gun?” asked Gnat.

“Let’s go look at it,” said Harry.

Harry and Gnat found Wince puttering around in his shed, shifting odds and ends from one place to another. Harry broached the subject.

“Wince, you knows that gun you made.”

“Me blunderbuss?” asked Wince. “I s’pose yous wants to see it.”

Harry and Gnat followed Wince into his house and into a sunporch of sorts. The gun, nigh on to six feet long, reminded Harry of Davy Crockett’s Ol’ Betsy, except for its barrel, which was half the diameter of a stove pipe and flared at the end like the mouth of a herald’s horn. Its hand-carved stock, with W. Cody (an unconscious nod to Buffalo Bill?) neatly chiseled into its butt, was once a slab of witch hazel.

“Idden she a beaut?” Wince stroked the gun to confirm its magnificence.

Harry and Gnat admired the gun. It rested on two tripods. One tripod supported the barrel’s bulbous end.

The other held the stock just aft of the trigger guard.

“Some size of a gun,” said Gnat.

“She is,” said Wince. “I had to make special shot for her.” Wince lifted a jar from a nearby shelf and rolled 1-888-588-6353

slugs double the size of cast net bullets into his palm.

“You ever shoot anything with her?” asked Harry.

“Only to test her,” said Wince. “I blowed a hole in a tree. The kick nearly broke me shoulder.”

“How do you fire her?” asked Harry.

Lifting a gnarly powder horn from a hook, Wince proceeded to demonstrate how to pour gunpowder into the firing pan and cock the flint-lock hammer. “Of course, that’s after you stogs shot and powder down her muzzle with the ramrod,” he said.

Finished marvelling over Wince’s blunderbuss, Harry and Gnat said, “So long,” and headed home. As they parted ways at Gnat’s garden gate, Harry said, “You knows that friggin’ Clyde...”

Pretending not to hear, Gnat dodged on up the lane.

“I got an idea,” Harry didn’t say out loud.

While Harry’s idea cooked, and he coaxed Gnat to join him, Clyde appeared daily on the Bald Knap.

When the sun rose from behind the Crow Cliffs, its beams spotlighted Clyde for all of Brookwater to see, if anyone bothered to look anymore.

Then, his neck craned and his expansive rack high, Clyde trumpeted, his blare smothering Aunt Chook’s rooster’s cock-a-doodle-do.

For two mornings, rousting out of bed before daylight, Harry and Gnat climbed halfway up the Bald Knap and studied Clyde’s scoffing. “He’s turning grey,” Harry said on the first morning, seeing the grizzled dewlap hanging like a bell clapper from Clyde’s lower jaw.

“I s’pose he is,” said Gnat. “He’s old November 2022

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as the hills, sure, alive before we was born.”

“We’ll remedy that,” said Harry, images of Wince Cody’s blunderbuss shuffling like playing cards in his noggin.

“Maybe,” said Gnat, perhaps remembering Harry’s previous illfated experiences with guns.

After they’d scoated down from the Bald Knap on the second morning, Harry said, “We’ll get up earlier tomorrow morning ’cause we got to get Wince’s rifle before he wakes up.”

carefully on the canvas. They folded the tripods and laid them alongside the rifle. Harry then unhooked the powder horn from its nail and looped the strap over his shoulder.

Gnat stogged his pockets with oversized buckshot and cinched his belt tighter to keep his pants from dragging down. Wrapping their arms around the bundle of gun and tripods, Harry and Gnat staggered back outdoors. All the while, suffering from vociferous snoring, the rafters of Wince’s house shivered.

The gun, nigh on to six feet long, reminded Harry of Davy Crockett’s Ol’ Betsy, except for its barrel, which was half the diameter of a stove pipe and flared at the end like the mouth of a herald’s horn.

“I s’pose we do,” said Gnat.

Rafter-rattling snores echoed from Wince’s upstairs bedroom the next morning as Harry and Gnat – albeit scrubbing sleepy-dogs from their eyes – crept into Wince’s house as quietly as whizzles sneaking into a henhouse.

“Keep quiet,” said Harry.

“The way he’s snoring, Wince wouldn’t hear a clap of thunder,” said Gnat.

Nevertheless, like thieves in the day’s darkest hour, Harry and Gnat crossed Wince’s living room into the sunporch where the blunderbuss’s long barrel glowed ghostly in the waning moonlight.

“Hoist her easy,” said Harry. He gripped the barrel and chinned at Gnat to lift the stock.

Together, Gnat holding the heavier load, as was often the case during Harry’s escapades, they lowered the gun to the floor and lodged it 106

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There was no sign of Clyde when me two laddioes lugged the blunderbuss up the lower scrape of the Bald Knap. They lodged it down on a slightly sloped spot.

“This’ll do,” said Harry. “We needs the angle to aim at Clyde.”

“Prob’ly,” said Gnat, maybe wondering how steady the gun would be mounted on a slant.

A bough cracked on the Bald Knap’s top. “He’s up there now,” said Harry.

Perhaps, from inside the Bald Knap’s topknot of scraggly spruce, Clyde watched Harry and Gnat load the thunder gun. Gnat braced the gun while Harry stogged shot and half a horn of powder into the barrel with the yard-long ramrod. The tripods teetered but held the blunderbuss when the unlikely hunters settled the gun into position. It pointed up towards Clyde’s favourite crowing site.

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Harry knelt like a fusilier behind the gun. He managed to reach the trigger without knocking over the tripods. As best he could, he braced the butt plate against his shoulder.

“Stand behind me,” he said.

Gnat placed his hands on Harry’s shoulders and scuffed his feet, locking them to the ground. “I’ll block you if the kick knocks you backwards,” said Gnat.

If Clyde truly had been watching from undercover, he decided it was time to step into view seconds after the dubious gunner and his bosom buddy readied themselves. Sunlight lit Clyde up when he strode to the Bald Knap’s rim and reared his head.

“Like that caribou statue,” Harry thought, remembering last summer’s visit to St. John’s, during which Aunt Twilla had taken him to Bowring Park.

His grey wattle wagging, and likely watching the boys from the edge of his eye, Clyde rattled a rack broad enough to span a barn door and, flaring his nostrils, commenced his morning salutation.

Harry drew a breath… and pulled the trigger. Flint sparked in the firing pan. Powder ignited and shot exploded from the barrel like cannon fire. KA-BOOM! The gun’s recoil slammed Harry in 1-888-588-6353

the shoulder and hurled him backwards against Gnat. Together, as if hammered by a battering ram, the boys shot backwards. They crashed on loose scree and skidded arse-over-appetite down the Bald Knap’s talus slope.

The tripods collapsed. The blunderbuss toppled and, like a log in a chute, followed the boys to the bottom of the hill.

Mind that hunt, Gnat? Despite a nick on one antler, Clyde bawled derisively before trotting back into the woods. All the same, it was a couple of years before Clyde returned to disparage Brookwater’s hunters.

Harold Walters lives in Dunville, NL, doing his damnedest to live Happily Ever After. Reach him at ghwalters663@gmail.com November 2022

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WWII veteran Gus Harris celebrated his 100th birthday. His memories of serving with the RAF Ferry Command are vivid and precise, and I recently had the pleasure of interviewing this remarkable gentleman at his daughter’s (Susan Tiller’s) home in St. John’s, NL. Gus was born September 3, 1922, at Frankton Junction, a railway station on New Zealand’s North Island. In 1940, his country at war, he enlisted in the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

Called into service the following year, his first stop was an airfield at Hobsonville, outside Auckland.

“At that time I had enlisted as a pilot trainee,” says Gus, but the training pool was awash with aspiring pilots. An instructor put forth an option: anyone wishing to pick another air trade could be in Canada within six weeks. Gus jumped at it. He sailed to North America in October 1942 aboard the troopship SS Matsonia, docking at San Diego, California. A train took him to Canada and, eventually, Winnipeg, MB, for navigation training under the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan (BCATP) at No. 5 Air Observers School. The BCATP operated schools across Canada, training pilots, bomb aimers, wireless operators, air gunners, flight engineers and navigators.

At observers school, Gus learned how to use a compass, sextant, drift recorder and other computing instruments. Teachers lectured on maps and charts, latitude and longitude, magnetic variations, wind direction and so on. Students learned “dead reckoning,” using measurements and calculations to plot a course and determine an aircraft’s position in flight. Aerial training started simple; after 10 minutes flying, the pupil calculated their position and returned to base. Exercises got more complex, with the pilot making course alterations at irregular 1-888-588-6353

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Gus Harris in Winnipeg, Manitoba, 1942, where he received navigation training under the BCATP

intervals. Long cross-country flights further developed a navigator’s skills.

Gus learned astronavigation, taking sextant shots of the stars from a dome atop a twin-engine Avro Anson trainer. Astro flying became a favourite and something “I must have learned well because I used astro a lot during the war,” he says.

For a New Zealander, the timing could not have been worse. Canadian winter had set in with temperatures of -40°C, “but we flew in -25,” recalled Gus, day and night, in unheated Ansons. Indeed, Manitoba’s winter weather almost proved fatal when an unexpected snowstorm iced up the Anson’s engines.

Thanks to the pilot’s skill, praised Gus, they safely crash-landed in a field. Gus quickly bagged up his navigation equipment, mindful of orders that aircrew leave behind nothing of value to the enemy. Of course, Manitoba was not enemy territory, but orders were orders.

Well, they were for Gus, who noticed as he trudged through the 110

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snow carrying his bag and parachute that his crewmates had taken nothing! A whiff of smoke soon led them to Lavenham, a railside farming town. Gus got frostbite on the way, but a local storekeeper kindly provided shelter until a passing train returned them to Winnipeg.

Eighty years later, and Gus still hates the cold!

Gus graduated as a navigator in March 1943, with the commissioned rank of pilot officer. He was immediately posted to RAF Ferry Command, an organization established in 1940, albeit initially under a different name, to air-deliver American-made bombers to the United Kingdom. The aerial routes expanded to include the South Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

Gus reported to Ferry Command headquarters at Dorval airport near Montreal, QC, completed a short navigation training program, and travelled by train to Miami, FL, and by air to Ferry Command’s South Atlantic base at Nassau, Bahamas. In May 1943, he navigated a Baltimore 1-888-588-6353

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bomber to Accra in the Gold Coast in western Africa (now Ghana). A B-24 Liberator bomber returned him to Nassau via Ascension Island, Brazil and Trinidad. Delivery number one was in the books! Future deliveries included more Baltimores, C-47 Dakota transports and B-26 Marauder bombers, hopscotching coastal

fly the aircraft. During a flight to Ascension Island, he took over so the pilot could go aft and play cards with the radio operator. It happened that three aircraft operated by American aircrews had arranged to shadow them into Ascension. The Americans eventually radioed Gus for a position report, but he was preoccupied in the

During the confused conversation, they asked the whereabouts of the captain. “He’s back having a game of cribbage,” answered Gus. “Well, who’s flying the aircraft?” asked the startled American.

“I am! I’m the navigator,” replied Gus… bases in South America before setting course for Ascension Island in the tropical mid-South Atlantic, refuelling and then on to Accra.

Crossing 2,200 kilometres of ocean between South America and Ascension Island, and a like distance thereafter to Africa, was not for the faint of heart. Navigation was crucial.

“Now, flying over land masses in daylight was easy by recognition of cities and towns,” Gus explained.

Ocean flying was another matter.

During “daylight we’d use the sun to navigate,” taking sun shots every half hour. Navigation on night flights was always celestial. “We could select a constellation and pick out three stars,” shooting each one with the sextant and then plotting position lines on a map. “I loved celestial navigation because it was so accurate,” says Gus, “and if you were doing your job you couldn’t go wrong.”

Time permitting, Gus might even

pilot’s seat. During the confused conversation, they asked the whereabouts of the captain. “He’s back having a game of cribbage,” answered Gus. “Well, who’s flying the aircraft?” asked the startled American.

“I am! I’m the navigator,” replied Gus, chuckling as he recalled the incident. At Ascension, the American

Gus (left) aboard a B-26 with fellow crewman Jean-Pierre Lagadec, 1943 1-888-588-6353

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“sorted us out at the bar” and jokingly declared, “I never saw such a crazy bunch of crew as you British guys. I called to find out where everybody is and they’re not doing what they’re supposed to be doing!”

Occasionally, tropical conditions created life-threatening situations.

Between Ascension Island and Accra, explained Gus, “there’s an intertropical front, and it rains like hell in there. We went through it once” in a Baltimore and the rain “killed both engines.” For emergencies, the Baltimore had a set of auxiliary flight controls in the navigator’s position in the Plexiglas-enclosed nose, with an altimeter, airspeed indicator and compass mounted overhead. Gus swung out the controls and wriggled them to show the pilot that he had taken over.

Eyeing his instruments, he kept the aircraft just above stalling speed, leaving the pilot to focus on restarting the engines. Within minutes, “we had dropped to about 2,000 feet… and all of a sudden we got one engine going.”

The pilot then re-took control. “About five minutes later he got the second engine going.” They made Accra with 20 minutes of fuel remaining.

Unlike this flight, Accra was not always welcoming. Aircrews going into Africa took the antimalarial drug quinine, but “I got bitten by a mosquito in Accra,” says Gus. “It hit me about 12 hours later when I was back in Nassau and that put me in hospital” with nausea and headaches. “They were giving me injections of quinine” and “for two weeks I was out like a light.”

In May 1944, Gus’s flight plan aboard a B-24 Liberator included Cairo, Egypt, where he visited the pyramids. From Cairo, the Belgian airline Sabena flew the crew to Khartoum in 112

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Top: Gus in Fiji, 1945.

Bottom: Gus atop an Egyptian pyramid.

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Sudan, through central Africa to Stanleyville in the Congo, the Cameroons, Lagos in Nigeria and finally, Accra. After Khartoum, added Gus, “you were into heavy jungle. From then on you just hoped the engines kept going!”

Four months later, he was outbound from Montreal in another bomber, refuelling at Gander, NL, for a direct 2,400-km flight to Lagens in the Azores and then on to Morocco in North Africa. Once, when engine trouble grounded his crew at Port Lyautey airfield in Morocco, they visited an “old Roman ruins called Volubilis … They had a wonderful museum run by a French caretaker,” and “luckily our radio operator [Canadian Jean-Pierre Lagadec] was French-speaking and we had no problem in communicating.”

Sadly, Lagadec was killed in an aircraft accident in Bermuda in February 1945.

Gus’s busy schedule continued into late 1944, with a Catalina flying boat delivery to Los Angeles. From there, the globetrotting navigator took a C-47 Dakota to Australia via Honolulu and Fiji. Early 1945 found Gus posted to Nadi airfield in Fiji as a navigation officer, briefing departing aircrews. He was there when the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945 effectively ended the war.

After two years of navigating long stretches of stormy oceans, dangerous jungles and hostile deserts, it was time to go home.

Gus hitched a flight back to Montreal. Flight Lieutenant Harris returned to New Zealand and was honourably discharged from service.

Still, Canada had left a lasting 1-888-588-6353

impression, barring the cold, so he immigrated there in 1947, married and raised a family in Ontario. He retired from Ontario Hydro in 1987 and moved to St. John’s, NL, several years ago to live with his daughter.

Ferry Command delivered almost 10,000 aircraft during the war, thanks to brave airmen like Gus Harris. Still, Gus counts himself lucky, as some 500 Ferry Command aircrew gave their lives on delivery flights, including Newfoundlandborn radio operators William Collins, Harry Moores and Cyril Small.

Hats off to Gus Harris, New Zealander by birth, Canadian by choice and hero of Ferry Command.

Gus holds a celebratory certificate from the Lieutenant Governor he received on his 100th birthday November 2022

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At the Church of Scotland

in the town of Carrbridge during the fall of 1945, Newfoundland lumberjack, Lester Stoyles, exchanged marriage vows with the Scottish lassie, Alexandria Calder, who had stolen his heart.

The war had just ended and Lester, a member of the Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit for the previous five years, was completing his work as a scaler in the Beananach camp near Carrbridge. He would soon be sailing home to Newfoundland.

Lester was one of six children born to James and Annie Blanche (Vey) Stoyles of Hillview (formerly Northern Bight), in Southwest Arm, NL. James and Annie were living with his parents when Lester was born on February 21, 1921. James was offered a job with the Newfoundland Railway the following year at the nearby Northern Bight train station, where he became the station master and his wife became the telegraph operator.

Lester and his five siblings – Leonie, Marguerite, Alfred, Ruth and Ray – were raised at the station, which was connected to their home.

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Lester Stoyles #2348 dressed in his Home Guard uniform.

In the spring of 1940, Lester joined his friend Kenneth Churchill of Hillview and six boys from Queen’s Cove on a train from Northern Bight to Clarenville, to enlist with the Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit.

They were examined by Dr. G. B. Cross, were found fit and signed their six-month contract.

In late June, they were joined by George Butt, Josh Goobie, Jonathan Gregory, Max Pinsent and the Cooper brothers, Robert and Doug, at the Northern Bight train station. Other loggers from Southwest Arm – Hodge’s Cove, Caplin Cove and St. Jones Within – joined them, too.

Their train pulled away from the small station en route to Botwood.

From there, they’d begin their adventure with the Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit in the Scottish Highlands.

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At Botwood they lined up with other loggers arriving from across Newfoundland to board RMS Antonia and join a convoy heading overseas. The vessel arrived at Liverpool, England, on July 14. The men were transported by train to the camp at Fairburn, 18 miles north of Inverness, Scotland.

Lester was assigned the duty of logging scaler around the time that there was a change in wages, from a set rate of $2 per day to a rate based on the running feet of logs cut. His duty involved measuring the trees cut by other loggers to determine the number of cords and quality of the logs cut. (His brother, Ray, still has the measuring device Lester used.)

In the spring of 1942, German forces broke through the Western Front, which resulted in the British Government issuing an urgent call 1-888-588-6353

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for volunteers to form Home Guard units. The units would be selected from the civilian population and assist in the defence of the British Isles from any German forces attempting to invade.

When this request reached the Newfoundland Forestry camps, many of our loggers stepped forward.

They formed a unit that became known as the 3rd Inverness Newfoundland Battalion. Nineteen men from the Southwest Arm area, including Lester, volunteered. The men of the Home Guard were required to train during their spare time on the weekends.

On December 3, 1944, the National Home Guard stand down parade was held in London. The Aberdeen

Weekly Journal at the time recorded that the 3rd Inverness Newfoundland Battalion was represented by three Newfoundlanders, the only Empire representatives in the parade. They were Corporal Louis Walsh, HQ Company; Corporal Lester Stoyles, “B” Company; and Lieutenant Corporal Harold Wheeler, “C” Company.

Lester was known in the camp for providing evening entertainment with his guitar. He and his buddy, Max, would lead a singalong to Newfoundland favourites such as “Squid Jigging Ground,” “Star of Logy Bay,” and “Let Me Fish off Cape St. Mary’s.”

Lester’s camp was near the village of Carrbridge, and occasionally he and other camp members would visit

3rd Inverness Newfoundland Battalion representatives at London Parade on December 3, 1944.

Max Pinsent and Lester Stoyles entertaining at Forestry camp, Scotland.

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Alexandria (Trixie) Calder taken as a young woman in Scotland.

the home of James and Hughina Calder. Lester went on a few dates with their oldest daughter, but nothing serious ever became of their relationship. However, Lester’s eyes were soon fixated on the beauty of their youngest daughter, Alexandria, “Trixie” to her friends. Trixie trained in shorthand typing and was hired on at the headquarters of the Newfoundland Forestry Unit camp, working in the office handling payroll for the loggers.

It was during this time period that Lester and Trixie started dating.

Their relationship grew and shortly after the war ended on September 2, 1945, Lester asked her parents for permission to marry their youngest daughter before he received orders to depart for Newfoundland.

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On October 25, 1945, they were married at the Church of Scotland, Carrbridge. The witnesses were his good friend, John Goodyear from Foster’s Point on Random Island, and her childhood friend, Elizabeth Lefresne. Elizabeth had married a Newfoundland lumberjack, Jack Lefresne of Windsor, in 1944, and would also come to Newfoundland with her husband.

After a month of being married, both Lester and Trixie made their decision to go to Newfoundland.

However, her parents were only willing to give their blessing under one condition. Lester would have to travel to Newfoundland and find employment first, before their daughter could leave home. Records show that he travelled alone onboard 1-888-588-6353

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RMS Mauretania in December 1945.

He arrived home on December 15. A party was given in his honour and a presentation made.

Lester was hoping to get employment at the Northern Bight station where his dad was still employed.

However, he instead found employment in Gander as a radio operator.

He contacted Trixie and her family with the good news. On April 25, 1946, Trixie boarded the SS Aquitania at South Hampton and sailed for the port of Halifax, NS, to begin her new life. At Halifax, arrangements were made to get her to Newfoundland.

In the book We Came From Over the Sea: British War Brides in Newfoundland (edited by Barbara B. Barrett and Eileen Dicks, 1996), Trixie gives a vivid account of her trip across the Gulf of St. Lawrence. She

recalls how seasick she became and how she staggered down from her upper bunk, dressed and found her way onto the top deck. The boat was rolling and she stood all alone by the railing, being violently sick with nothing coming out of her stomach.

She boarded the train at Port aux Basques and was greeted at Northern Bight by Lester and his family. She could not get off the train at Gander because Lester was living in a building that was only for men. When Lester got their new home arranged, they established themselves in Gander and raised four children there.

Lester remained as a radio operator until he retired in 1978.

On April 24, 2014, Trixie passed away. Lester followed her three years later, on December 28, 2017, at the grand age of 96.

Lester Stoyles and Alexandria (Trixie) Calder’s wedding party, Scotland, October 25, 1945 1-888-588-6353

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puzzles

The Beaten Path

Lorraine Winsor 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.

L

R L

E

G

S

T

B

G

H

T p

n

H V

U

x

Q

T

D

H

A

M K E A

n

S

E

T

Q

S

p T T A E

H B

B

S H

U

x

M

G

S

I K

R T H

n

V L U L U S K S

H

Q

M

Q

M

D

T

G

S

n

A G

L

A

R S

G

S

D

x

p

p

H

B

x

B

V

Last Month’s Community: Eastport 122

November 2022

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Sudoku

from websudoku.com

Last month’s answers

?

Need Help

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

www.downhomelife.com

November 2022

123

Darren Powers photo

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Downhomer Detective Needs You After more than two decades on the Urban City Police Force, Downhomer Detective has come home to rid Newfoundland and Labrador of a new threat – cunning thief Ragged Rick. A real braggart, the slimy criminal sends DD a blurry photo of his surroundings plus clues to his whereabouts just to prove he’s always a step ahead. DD needs your help to identify where in Newfoundland and Labrador Ragged Rick is hiding out this month.

Use these 5 clues to identify where Ragged Rick is now: • town is named for a former prime minister of Newfoundland • settled by Europeans in 1675 • originally named Scilly Cove • home of the Wooden Boat Building Museum of NL • located in Trinity Bay

Last Month’s Answer: Merasheen

Picturesque Place NameS of Newfoundland and Labrador

by Mel D’Souza Last Month’s Answer: Griquet 124

November 2022

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

Last Month’s Clue: You are merely as aged you sense In Other Words: You are only as old as you feel

This Month’s Clue: Cease pummelling your noggin in contact with a partition In Other Words: ____ ________ ____ ____ _______ ____ ____

Rhyme Time

A Way With Words

A rhyming word game by Ron Young

Last Month’s Answer: Tiny House

HOUSE

1. The correct altitude is the _____ _____ 2. A little stumble is a _____ ____

This Month’s Clue

P

S I

A A

C N

3. A large truck is a ___ ___

Answer: ________ ___

Scrambled Sayings

Last Month’s Answers 1. hag gag, 2. grave rave, 3. ghost host

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

E E R U

E S A F A C E H E A R O H C V E S G R S L L Y O U R S U T S

Last month’s answer: You know it’s love when all you want is that person to be happy, even if you're not part of their happiness. www.downhomelife.com

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Rhymes 5 Times Each answer rhymes with the other four

1. cyan

____________

2. soared

____________

3. team

____________

4. signal

____________

5. masticate

____________

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

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

Last Month’s Answers: 1. cove, 2. dove, 3. stove, 4. drove, 5. hove

Tangled Towns

by Lolene Young Condon and Ron Young

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

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

1. RAQUES ALSINDS

For best results sound the clue words out loud!

2. MENCHIY LICKET

Hike Ann Tell Pit _ ____ ____ __

3. DUMDY YAB

Abe Each Dwell _ _______ _____

5. THIWE RABE VIRRE

Last Month’s 1st Clue: Age Happen He Scar.

Answer: A Japanese car. Last Month’s 2nd Clue: Sue Punk Rack Hearse.

Answer: Soup and crackers.

4. YEELNH RABHOUR

Last Month’s Answers: 1. Glenburnie, 2. Curzon Village, 3. Norris Point, 4. Winter House Brook, 5. Wiltondale

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

1. THAT BUB ~ Clue: has no arms, just claw feet 2. MAC INN ON ~ Clue: sugar and this spice make everything nice 3. COMIC SETS ~ Clue: they put on a good face 4. A MIX MUM ~ Clue: you couldn’t ask for more 5. HE MELT ~ Clue: geared for head-on collisions Last Month’s Answers: 1. athletic, 2. swimmer, 3. competition, 4. trainer, 5. referee 126

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Four-Way Crossword F o re Wo rd s • B a c k Wo rd s • U p Wo rd s • D o w n Wo rd s

By Ron Young

Unlike regular crosswords, in Four-Way Crossword each letter is not necessarily related to the letter in the adjacent row or column, but is part of one or more words in some direction.

1-10: finally 1-91: single-handed 5-7: carpet 7-97: equivalent 9-7: allow 11-14: snoozes 14-16: unhappy 18-20: entirely 21-41: donkey 21-71: help 23-25: groove 25-27: take sun 30-10: cunning 30-22: autograph 30-27: billboard 31-35: disgrace 32-2: get well 32-52: shack 34-37: thaw 37-57: beret 39-9: tablet 39-37: marijuana 40-37: see 41-43: litigate 43-13: gunman Wyatt 46-16: happy 46-43: adhesive 46-50: dormer 47-50: capable 48-28: marsh 48-46: sack 48-68: tavern 50-47: Napoleon isle 52-82: stretched 53-23: don 53-56: legal paper 57-97: horse 60-30: fewer 60-57: topsoil www.downhomelife.com

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61-63: reclined 64-68: giver 68-70: pole 75-25: outhouse 75-71: game fish 75-78: hoodlum 76-79: big 78-48: snatch 84-81: memo 86-84: biscuit 87-90: longest river 89-69: lion 91-100: description 93-23: shoes 93-63: 12 inches 93-91: gave food to

93-95: fish part 95-97: louse egg 100-10: unnecessarily 100-70: require Last Month’s Answer

B EW I T CH I I MO T A B U R RA E D E L B B T RA EH P A I H E A D WA I T R AMP I R T S I L E G N I WE GUN I K S A T HG DWL N R A T A S T E F U L November 2022

N N I L E S T N E L

G E N E R O S I T Y

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The Bayman’s

Crossword Puzzle 1

3

2

by Ron Young

4

5 6 7 8 9

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128

November 2022

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ACROSS 1. “A warm smoke is better than a cold ___” 3. “__ _ strode ashore from my schooner close by” 5. __ loft – where fishermen gather to work and tell tales 6. young fox 7. opposite WSW 8. regional express rail (abbrev) 9. one involved in the salmon fishery 16. passport 18. ______ of Belle Isle 19. not a soul 21. fishing premises 22. “where the _______ sail and the foghorns wail” 24. to ___ is human 25. “Weigh, hey, and up __ rises” 27. opposite NW 28. Toogood __ 29. here (colloq) 30. picnic pest 32. that fellow 33. “Oh me, oh ___, I think I’m gonna die” 35. had a mug-up 36. not against 37. onetime school punishment 39. “lonesome as a gull __ _ rock” 40. Society of United Fishermen (abbrev) 42. “_’_ _ son of a sea cock, and a cook in a trader” 43. sugary 45. use a cheesecloth 47. cobbler’s specialty 49. compass pt.

50. slow __ cold molasses 51. offshore oil platform 52. canvas camp

DOWN 1. sparks (colloq) 2. freezing rain shower (colloq) 4. net www.downhomelife.com

10. Joe Batt’s ___ 11. molasses (colloq) 12. Marine Institute (abbrev) 13. “if it’s not one thing, it’s the ____” 14. finish 15. perch 16. Holiday ___ 17. frantic 18. apologetic 20. indebted to 21. packages of paper 23. “old as Buckley’s ____” 26. commercial fish 31. wrestling hold 32. true 34. “__ ___ as ever a puffin flew” 35. gone by (colloq) 36. enemy 38. morning (abbrev) 40. straits (abbrev) 41. you are, in text shorthand 44. sogged 45. Sop’s Arm (abbrev) 46. Roman two 48. “__ could talk the legs off the table”

1

S C R A V E L F I S H E R M A N

2

U N U O D N D I T C K P O O S H I S S E E I D N E W

ANSWERS TO LAST MONTH’S CROSSWORD C L A N S A S I F

A P L I N I S H A S A G Y A G U R G E S P E A R B H I P N A L I O U N D L

S C U L L P E S I A E R N R D A N D E R A N T L I N E A V Y C V E M A A N D E R

November 2022

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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. __ 43 __ 28

___ 968

____ 9687 ____ 2255

’

___ _ 226 8 ___ 696

__ 63

_____ 52844

________ 77625367

___ 263

__ 28

_____ 52844

’

’

_ __ 4 55

____ 8436

Last Month’s Answer: Bisexuality immediately doubles your chances for a date on Saturday night.

©2022 Ron Young

CRACK THE CODE

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

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ ZX Y pYl x _ _ Yp

L _ _ _ ; Y 7K

_ _ L L _ m K; ; y

_

X

_ _ Qy

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ QK K lX x K Z _ _ _ L _ _ _ lX Y ; Y l x _ _ _ QOK

_ _ L L

3X ; ;

Last Month’s Answer: Once you can accept failure, you can have fun and success.

130

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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.”

dance hall =

_ _ _

damp =

v][

somersault =

crave =

dirty =

al we

pushed =

_ _

b ]n ` y ’

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _

Kpy [ _

v p`` b _

_

_ _ _

n an w l h’ _

Ynll`ppt

_ _ _ _

_ _ _

_ _

n`] _ _ _ _

tp`] _ _ _

[ q]

_ _ _ _ _ _

_ _

_ _ _ _

_

_ _ _ _ _

_

t]hh b

hqpz]K

_ _

_ _ _ _

wa elny _ _ _ _ _

[q]`]

_ _ _ _ _ _

–

_

_ _ _

[v]y[ b a wz] _ _ _ _ _ _ _

l][[]`h _

_ _ _ _

_ _

wy

_ _ _

nleqn Y][

Last Month’s Answer: In the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. www.downhomelife.com

November 2022

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2211_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 9/29/22 2:48 PM Page 132

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 AFTER THE HUNT

Last Month’s Answers: 1. Ridge, 2. Door, 3. Cap, 4. Bottle, 5. Hair, 6. Railing, 7. Burger, 8. Relish jar, 9. Gas cylinder, 10. Roof, 11. Boat, 12. Window “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.

132

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HIDE & SEEK BEDTIME

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

PYJAMAS QUILT RELAX ROUTINE SETTLE

BEDSPREAD COMFORTER CUDDLE CURTAINS DARK DREAMS GOODNIGHT LAMP LULLABY LUNCH NIGHTGOWN NIGHTLIGHT PILLOW PRAYERS

F D Y S P E C U D D L E Q A P J C Y

T I R E D D L D R V E B K N B H S W

E F X H W X Y T P Y T K S W G J E E

Z H B T H G I L T H G I N A D J A E

B C T I U C Z F G E R U U Y E Q H B

x X C U D G Z P C N R U Z T H I Y L

Last Month’s Answers

P N R M R M L I W S S H W O L L I P

G U Z V J R N S H M W C Y F U G E M

www.downhomelife.com

F L N B E D S P R E A D B E Q C I A

X E W H O L I F D H O D D S U L G L

C G L O P E L H V U B U R R M W J G

X U G P K W L T V L Y E T E A V W M

D F J U Y U L K S V Y A C B A B R U

N E C R T C F C H E S S L T G T Q R

D Z M Y L I K A L A I N E M X M A O

SLEEPY STORYBOOK TIRED YAWN V P Z K M A H J O N G K S M N V B V

P M T T R A Z J Z T Z E F O H A A J

D Y Z L U Y M N R N E X F D T G S F

K O Q E H W B V B Y O I I L C A W Y

B W P J W A D F L N H T S K Y J A U

R S A Q E A K P S C W U R H N S W X

B D V N L I Y O I F A E G L R X D I

O M S N N E P M F R I A W B A A N X

F B N Y J N A B O B J Y K X W A X T

A Y L O T O O K E R M O X R N R W N

N D E M N D W P O M Q E V I O J D W

Y O N Y E G I M N Z V V G E O P X U

J A N O U X O G O D G E C D I F B K

T S M A N E R N B L Y E O G T X I W

J Z P K B D F T Y X N U P G G O N F

B A T T L E S H I P T Y G E C Q E L

K S C N T Y B K R E G A B B I R C U

B P N N N O P G U P E R E W T R P M

R Y Q T C Y D E S S K E U T P U W A

J E A I W H T N O I N L L W Y N Y M

M S I E R X S R S O E J X F H R T P

W C N V F S E R A E R B E B A V X E

G R V T O W D B O T R E A E G D W U

S P D Y I M R C C C H B F W U H Z E

U T D W X Y I Y K O S A P B M O W T

H V E L U F R U C D L S L J I K R W

U Q T Z A E E O K E C R W N T R R A

D C R A N I U M T K R C I Z N C D T

N R W Z E G Q P H A A P E S N O R Q

S N P C V M L T H P I S A M C P I G

D C B V E W C B R Q P Y S Z V F C J

A X K O O B Y R O T S R R D Y S A I

November 2022

U S S B A L D E R D A S H B T U W R

T Y F M A S T E R M I N D T P K M V

E U W G L S M L S J V I K A W D N T 133

2211_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 9/28/22 5:17 PM Page 134

Colourful Culture

The drawing on the opposite page

is the work of Newfoundland Mi’kmaq artist Marcus Gosse, a member of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation Band. His grandmother, Alice Maude Gosse (nee Benoit) is a Mi’kmaq Elder from Red Brook (Welbooktoojech) on the Port au Port Peninsula.

Marcus’ work has been exhibited in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax; The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery in St. John’s, NL; and the Canada 150 Art Show at the Macaya Gallery in Miami, FL; and his work is in private collections around the world.

He has generously offered a series of colouring pages that run monthly in Downhome. Each image depicts a NL nature scene and teaches us a little about Mi’kmaq culture and language. Each colouring page includes the Mi’kmaq word for the subject, the phonetic pronunciation of the word, and the English translation. And you’ll notice a design that Marcus incorporates into most of his pieces – the eight-point Mi’kmaq Star.

This symbol dates back hundreds of years and is very important in Mi’kmaq culture. Marcus’ Mi’kmaq Stars are often seen painted with four colours: red, black, white and yellow, which together represent unity and harmony between all peoples. Many Mi’kmaq artists use the star, and various Mi’kmaq double curve designs, to decorate their blankets, baskets, drums, clothing and paintings.

To download and print this colouring page at home, visit DownhomeLife.com. To learn more about Marcus and find more of his colouring pages, look him up on Facebook at “Mi’kmaq Art

by Marcus Gosse.”

134

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www.downhomelife.com

November 2022

135

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Serious inquiries only.

Please contact: Graham at 709-486-1368

Real Estate Rates Prices start at $50 for a 1 column x 1 inch colour advertisement.

This size fits approx. 20 words.

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Movers & Shippers Rates start at $175 for a 1 col. x 2" ad.

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November 2022

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Mummer Pillow Covers $11.99 each Mummers Boil Up Table Runner #82063 | $19.99

Mummers Boil Up

#82064

Mummers’ Boil Up #82758

Mummer Christmas Cards

5 Assorted #79609 | $8.99 Mummers Parade

#82065

Mummers in Port de Grave

#82066

Mummers Parade #82070

Mummers in Port de Grave #82071

Fleece Throws - 50" x 60" $44.99 each

Map with Home Ornament #79609 | $9.99

Mummers Wine Glasses $21.99 ea.

Ugly Stick

#73793 Violin NL Sayings

#77814

Any Mummers ‘lowd In?

#73794

#75515

Mummers Stemless Wine Glasses $21.99 ea.

NL Town Names

#75518

NL Tartan #75517

Violin

#79649 NL Pictorial Map

#75516

Ugly Stick

#79648

ORDER ONLINE: www.shopdownhome.com Prices subject to change without notice.While quantities last.

2011MailOrder_Layout 1 9/29/22 2:50 PM Page 139

MORE SELECTION ONLINE www.shopdownhome.com

Mummers LED Ornaments 3-Pack

Mummers Gift Wrap

#82751 | $23.99

3 Assorted #82723 | $1.99

Clarenville Christmas 2022 Pewter Ornament Northern Lights of Labrador

by Rodney Hand

#81519 | $18.99

Codfish Cribbage Board #82719 | $15.99

Moose Cribbage Board #82718 | $15.99

Plastic Placemat and Coaster Sets (8 pc.) $5.99 each

Scenic NL Mini Bulb #43337 | $7.99 ea.

Mummers Parade

#82756

Mummers Boil Up

#82724

Mummers Port de Grave

#82757

Mummers Boil Up Pewter Ornament

Mummers in Port de Grave Pewter Ornament

Mummers Parade Pewter Ornament

Mummers Boil Up LED Musical Ornament

Mummers in Port de Grave LED Musical Ornament

Mummers Parade LED Musical Ornament

#82720 | $12.99

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TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353 Prices subject to change without notice.While quantities last.

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2011MailOrder_Layout 1 9/28/22 5:29 PM Page 140

GREAT GIFT IDEAS! 6

1

3

2

4 5

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7

2

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Handpainted Round Mummer Ornaments • $8.99 ea.

8

8

6

9

1. Accordion #78686 | 2. Couple #78692 3. House #78693 | 4. Lantern #78688 5. NL Dog #78691 | 6. Outhouse #78690 7. Puffin #78685 | 8. Ugly Stick #78694 9. Violin #78687 | 10. Snowman #78689

10

7

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2

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8

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1. Carnation #79659 | 2. Fussells #79658 | 3. Vienna Sausages #79657 4. Hard Bread #79669 | 5. Jam Jams #79666 | 6. Screech #79670 7. Eversweet #79665 | 8. Lemon Creams #79664 9 9. Good Luck Margarine #79667 | 10. Tetley Tea #79668

ORDER ONLINE: www.shopdownhome.com Prices subject to change without notice.While quantities last.

10

2011MailOrder_Layout 1 9/28/22 5:29 PM Page 141

MORE SELECTION ONLINE www.shopdownhome.com Hand Painted Row House Shot Glasses A

B

Hand Painted Wine Glass

Row Houses of NL Ornament

D

C

Hand Wash Only Sold Assorted Colours

#72979 $16.99

More colours online

#59831 | $5.99 each

Hand Painted Key Rack Row Houses Assorted Colours, 10" x 3 1/3"

#59826 | $26.99

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Hand Painted Coasters Row Houses

Hand Painted Row House Mailbox

Set of 4, 4" x 4" #59827 | $26.99

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Downhome Mummer Pewter Key Chain Downhome Mummer Coaster Set - Set of 4 3" | 60342 | $11.99

Downhome Mummer Magnetic Thermometer

60345 | $6.99

3"x 3" | 60343 | $7.99

Raised Level

Downhome Mummer Wooden 2D Magnet

1.5" round #60344 | $5.99

Downhome Any Mummers ‘Lowd In? Ornament 76316 | $7.99

Row House Pewter Key Chain #60340 | $6.99

Raised Level

2D Wooden Magnet Row House 3" x 3" #60339 | $5.99

Magnetic Thermometer Row House 3" x 3.5" #60338 | $7.99

TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353 Prices subject to change without notice.While quantities last.

Coasters - Row House

Set of 4, 4" x 4" #60337 | $11.99

2011MailOrder_Layout 1 9/29/22 3:11 PM Page 142

GREAT GIFT IDEAS!

8" Puffin

#56144 | $13.99

A NL Christmas Wish Necie - Hard Cover

#79611 | Was $16.95 Now $6.00

A Puffin Playing by the Sea:

8" Dog

#56143 | $13.99

Christmas in Newfoundland - Mike Martin

#77993 | $16.95

Puffy Moose

#82772 | $17.99

Mummer’s Songbook CD Enclosed - Bud Davidge #4055 | $16.95

12 Days of Christmas in NL - Gina Noordhoof

A Moose Goes A-Mummering - Lisa Dalrymple

A Newfoundland Christmas - Dawn Baker

Our Best Seafood Recipes From Readers and Staff of Downhome

Our Best Berry Recipes From Readers and Staff of Downhome

Fat-Back & Molasses -

#55888 | $10.99

#2313 | $9.95

All New Purity Cookbook

Cooking Up a Scoff

Happy Belly: The Cake Book - Aaron McInnis

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#43813 | $9.95

Ivan Jesperson

#81624 | $29.95

ORDER ONLINE: www.shopdownhome.com Prices subject to change without notice.While quantities last.

2011MailOrder_Layout 1 9/29/22 3:11 PM Page 143

MORE SELECTION ONLINE www.shopdownhome.com

Fleece Lined NL Toque #74448 | $12.99

Fleece Lined NL Scarf #74449 | $15.99

Fleece Lined NL Mitts #74450 | $10.99

Ed Roche 2023 Vertical Wall Calendar NL Pom Pom Toque #75519 | $15.99

3 pc Toddler Set #79289 | $32.99

#81559 $16.99

Magnetic Thermometer Scenic Newfoundland and Labrador

Coasters - Scenic Newfoundland and Labrador

Ed Roche 2023 Wall Calendar

Magnetic Thermometer Newfoundland Sayings

Coasters Newfoundland Sayings

Dory Dan Musical Spoons

3" x 3.5" #74455 | $7.99

3" x 3" #72902 | $7.99

Kiss Me Arse Mug #81661 | $8.99

Set of 4, 4" x 4" #74462 | $11.99

Set of 4, 3" #72900 | $11.99

Frig Off Mug

#81663 | $8.99

TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353 Prices subject to change without notice.While quantities last.

#81558 | $25.99

#3470 | $15.99

St. John’s Rowhouse Mug #81666 | $8.99

2211_photo Finish_0609 Photo Finish 9/29/22 9:33 AM Page 144

photo finish

Starry, Starry

Night

The Milky Way shines brightly in this moonless Labrador sky.

Tim Collins Labrador City, NL

Do you have an amazing or funny photo to share?

Turn to page 9 to find out how to submit.

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