Downhome January 2024

Vol 36 • No 08

$4.99

January 2024

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The White Rock Witch

Canso Full of Caribou Wintry Weather Lore

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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

Warehouse Operations Warehouse / Inventory Manager Carol Howell Warehouse Operator Josephine Collins Shipping/Receiving Clerk Jennifer Kane

Art and Production Art Director Vince Marsh Illustrator Mel D’Souza Illustrator Snowden Walters

Retail Operations Retail Manager, St. John’s Jackie Rice Floor Manager, St. John’s Crystal Rose Retail Floor Manager, Twillingate Donna Keefe Retail Sales Associates Jonathon Organ, Kim Tucker,

Advertising Sales Account Manager Barbara Young Account Manager Ashley O’Keefe Marketing Director Tiffany Brett

Heather Stuckless, Katrina Hynes, Destinee Rogers, Amy Young, Emily Snelgrove, Brandy Rideout, Alexandria Skinner, Emily Power, Colleen Giovannini, Rachael Hartery, Julie Gidge, Drew Oliver, Kaitlan Lewis, Emma Luscombe, Rebecca Pevie

Finance and Administration Accountant Marlena Grant Accountant Sandra Gosse

Subscriptions Customer Service Associate Lisa Tiller Customer Service Associate Cassia Bard-Cavers

Operations Manager, Twillingate Nicole Mehaney Founding Editor Ron Young Chief Executive Officer/Publisher Grant Young President & Associate Publisher Todd Goodyear General Manager/Assistant Publisher Tina Bromley To subscribe, renew or change address use the contact information above.

Subscriptions 1-Year term total inc. taxes, postage and handling: for residents in NL, NS, NB, PE $49.44; ON $48.58; QC, SK, MB, AB, BC, NU, NT, YT $45.14. US $54.99; International $59.99

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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76 snow days

Karen Williams photo

Contents 52

on home ice

JANUARY 2024

44 Submission of the Year Meet the finalists and prepare to vote!

52 Home Ice Advantage How Todd Skirving, forward and captain of the Newfoundland Growlers ECHL hockey team, has made himself at home both on and off the ice.

Pam Pardy

76 25 Fun Ways to Pass a Winter’s Day 25 entertaining ideas to ensure that every winter day is filled with fun.

Nicola Ryan

108 Down to Earth

NL Growlers/Jeff Parsons

www.downhomelife.com

Putting the Joy in January: ways to raise a gardener’s spirits in winter Kim Thistle January 2024

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Contents

JANUARY 2024

8 I Dare Say A note from the Editor 10 Letters From Our Readers Down home in Alberta, a nursery rhyme mystery, and a creepy beach find

14 Downhome Tours Canada 16 Why is That? Why do we say someone is “stealing our thunder”?

Linda Browne

18 Life’s Funny Say That Again?

Catherine Best

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it’s in Alberta, Charlie Brown

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

20 Lil Charmers Cold Weather Cuties 22 Pets of the Month Go With the Snow

24 Poetic Licence I’m Missing from the Darn Map Peggy Snow

28 Reviewed Denise Flint reviews Michael Crummey’s The Adversary

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grand theft thunder

30 What Odds Paul Warford finds joy in the grind

32 Fresh Tracks Wendy Rose reviews Valmy’s debut album The In Between 36 Adventures Outdoors My Outdoors Wish List Gord Follett 40 Handcrafted Heirloom Lucy Fleming shares the story behind a 90-year-old hooked rug 4

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made history 1-888-588-6353

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66

an eye for photos

features 56 Blazing His Own Trail Through a business he started at the age of 14, Alex Henniffent has carved out a cool niche in the snowboarding community.

Linda Browne 62 The Dean of Newfoundland Music Dean Clarke’s passion for Newfoundland and Labrador can be heard far and wide. Kim Ploughman

66 Sure Shots Featuring photographer Glen Pye

explore 84 Wintry Weather Signs

56 trendsetting www.downhomelife.com

Old wives and salty dogs alike swear by certain signs of upcoming weather.

86 The Great Indoors The kettle’s boiling, the fire’s lit and we’re celebrating Newfoundland and Labrador’s great indoors.

January 2024

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Contents

JANUARY 2024

102 winter warm-up

home and cabin 90 Stuff We Love Wearable Comfort Nicola Ryan

92 Ask Marie Anything Interior designer Marie Bishop takes your questions.

96 Waste Not Want Not 4 ways to stretch your grocery money and reduce food waste

98 Todd’s Table Corn Chowder Todd Goodyear

102 Downhome Recipes Soups On!

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90 keepin’ cosy 1-888-588-6353

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112 cruisin’ old school

reminiscing 112 Flashbacks Classic photos of people and places.

113 This Month In History Bell Island Mines

114 Visions and Vignettes Adventures of two young scallywags in an imaginary outport in days gone by. Harold N. Walters

118 Canso Full of Caribou Tom Green recalls what might well have been the “wildest” flight of his piloting career.

About the cover This Chicken and Rice Soup is one of six soup recipes (plus one chowder!) in this issue that will take the chill right out of winter. Start with corn chowder on p. 98. Soups start on p. 102.

120 The Witch of the White Rock A hair-raising tale out of

Cover Index

124 Puzzles

25 Fun Ways to Pass a Winter’s Day • 76 Tips to Stretch Your Grocery Budget • 96 Recipes for Warmth • 102 The White Rock Witch • 120 Canso Full of Caribou • 118 Wintry Weather Lore • 84 www.downhomelife.com

old Bay Roberts Dennis Flynn

136 Colouring Page 138 Classifieds 140 Mail Order 144 Photo Finish January 2024

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i dare say

I am optimistic to a fault.

I’m the dog in the meme surrounded by flames, sipping a coffee, insisting, “this is fine.” In a room full of gloomy Gusses (apologies to my dad, Gus, who is not gloomy), I’m usually the Cheer Bear – probably because I was raised to look on the bright side, to see the silver lining.

Besides, I’d rather feel hopeful than despondent. Who wouldn’t?

And is optimism a fault? It is sometimes labelled as denial. And so what if it is? Do I have to accept that things are bad? Will that make them better? Nope. It’ll just make me miserable.

I read somewhere that happiness is a choice. You can choose to be happy, just like you can choose to be kind.

That was so empowering to me, the idea that you don’t have to rely on other people or things to make you happy.

You can choose it.

Don’t get me wrong – I still feel a healthy range of emotions. I can feel sad for the suffering in the world, I can be angry at an injustice, I can get frustrated in the moment. These emotions are important: sadness brings out empathy; anger prompts change; frustration leads to growth. But through all of those emotions, I remain optimistic – I look for the best in people and situations; I seek to forgive; I approach with a kind heart. An eye for an eye might settle a score, but it won’t make friends out of enemies.

As I enter 2024, I’m putting my best foot forward. If I can tip the balance of the universe, I want to tip it towards positivity. It’s my choice.

Thanks for reading.

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

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Submission Guidelines and Prize Rules

You could WIN $100!

Every reader whose PHOTO, STORY, JOKE or POEM appears next to this yellow “from our readers” stamp in a current issue receives $10 and a chance at being drawn for the monthly prize: $100 for one photo submission and $100 for one written submission. Prizes are awarded in Downhome Dollars certificates, which can be spent like cash in our retail stores and online at shopDownhome.com.*

Submit Today!

Send your photo, story, joke or poem to

Downhome, 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3 or submit online at: www.downhomelife.com *Only 1 prize per submitter per month. To receive their prize, submitters must provide with their submission COMPLETE contact information: full name, mailing address, phone number and email address (if you have one). Mailed submissions will only be returned to those who include a self-addressed, stamped envelope. Downhome Inc. reserves the right to publish submissions in future print and/or electronic media campaigns. Downhome Inc. is not responsible for unsolicited material.

Hidden somewhere in this issue is Corky Sly Conner.

Can you find him?

Look carefully at all the photographs and in the text of the stories. If you spot Corky, send us your name, address and phone number, along with a note telling us where he’s located. Your name will be entered in a draw and the winner will receive a coupon worth 25 Downhome Dollars redeemable at our store, or through our website.

Send your replies to: Corky Contest 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 Evelyn Peddle of Harbour Grace, NL, who found Corky on page 48 of the November issue!

*No Phone Calls Please. One entry per person

www.downhomelife.com

January 2024

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Downhome in the North Channel Johnny Bartlett, originally of Marysvale, NL, has taken his east coast trawler, the Seafox, to the North Channel of Lake Huron with his wife Paula Bartlett and, of course, his Downhome.

John Bartlett Sheffield, ON

We love seeing all the different places that readers take their Downhome magazines. Where have you taken yours?

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Bank Closure a Blow I took this photo at the close of the day to signify the loss of a critical element of our town’s infrastructure with the impending closure of Scotiabank.

Others may think differently, but my considered opinion is that the closure of the bank will be a devastating blow to the economy as it is such a vital component of the lifeline of the town and surrounding communities. Just imagine the numbers of people from surrounding communities who visit Twillingate to do their banking, business or personal, and while here buy their gasoline, maybe have a meal at a restaurant or chicken bar, or visit a coffee shop, not to mention buying their groceries or fishing supplies. The list is endless! Once the doors of our bank close for good, all that money will be spent in Gander. A great boost for the economy of Gander and the Walmarts of the world, but another big nail in the coffin of rural Newfoundland, as it is not just our bank that is on the chopping block. Our councils, our MHA and our provincial government should immediately put pressure on Scotiabank to reconsider its decision, as being a good corporate citizen entails much more than the bottom line.

David Boyd Twillingate, NL www.downhomelife.com

While online banking is pretty common these days, and some banking institutions are strictly online with no walkin services anywhere, a town bank is a key component of local infrastructure.

Like a school, a hospital, shopping and recreation, a bank is among the services that make a place more attractive to live and do business. And it provides employment. Twillingate is one of several NL communities losing their Scotiabank, and every one of them will feel that loss. Perhaps another bank will see an opportunity and move in to fill the gaps.

Corner Brook Photo In regards to the Base 54 photo on page 104 of the November 2023 issue, I cannot ID the people but the location is not the Harmon USAF Base. The picture was taken in Corner Brook.

You can clearly see the USO White House across from the Majestic lawn with West Street and the hills of the west side in the background. The location may help someone identify the people.

Kenneth Pieroway Conception Bay South, NL

Thanks for pointing that out, Kenneth.

Hopefully, we’ll find out who these folks are.

January 2024

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Picnic at Little Fogo

Our mom, all 10 siblings, and our spouses came home in July 2022.

We all hadn’t been in Newfoundland together since 1966. This photo was our picnic lunch on Little Fogo.

Darcy Curran NL

Thanks so much for sharing your reunion photo, Darcy. We’d love to see more family reunion photos from other readers. Tell us about your family and your special event, and you could appear in a future issue! Submit your photos and stories to DownhomeLife.com or email editorial@downhomelife.com.

Nursery Rhyme Question Years ago I learned the following rhyme: “Sleep baby sleep, your father sails o’er the deep.

The birds have flown to the mates they love, The angels have lighted the stars above, Sleep baby sleep.”

Over the years, I have sung those words while rocking my own babies, babies in the hospital nursery and on the children’s unit, and even to my own grandchildren. I’d love to know who wrote the words and if there are other verses?

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I may be asking the wrong source, but I feel this song would have been written in the Maritimes. I can picture a mother rocking a baby, watching for the baby’s father to come home from fishing (perhaps the man is a deep-sea fisherman?) So many questions, please help satisfy my curiosity.

R. Pilon Via DownhomeLife.com

Is anyone familiar with this rhyme or song? If you have any information on the origin of this verse, or if there are more verses, we’d like to hear from you. Email editorial@downhomelife.com or write to Downhome, 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3; or call 1-888-588-6353.

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What Fish was This?

I found this fish on the beach at the Searston Gut in the Codroy Valley.

What kind of fish is this? It is about seven inches long, three inches high and two inches wide.

Julia Coates Codroy Valley, NL

Down Home in Alberta

That is one ugly fish! Our frequent contributor, wildlife technician Todd Hollett, tells us this fish head belongs to a striped wolffish. Wolffish are Atlantic Ocean bottom dwellers, and their bodies produce their own antifreeze to keep them moving in the freezing ocean depths.

Loving my down home Charlie Brown tree in my Alberta home this year.

Kerri McGee Fort McMurray, AB

We love your tree, too! And we’d love to see more of readers’ Christmas trees, especially if they have a special downhome theme. Submit your photos to DownhomeLife.com.

Dear readers,

Would you like to comment on something you’ve read in Downhome?

Do you have a question for the editors or for other readers? Submit your letter to the editor at DownhomeLife.com/letters or write to us at 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3.

www.downhomelife.com

January 2024

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homefront Downhome tours...

Canada

Rideau Canal

Jack Butler of Halifax, NS, skates on the Rideau Canal Skateway in Ottawa, ON.

In Ottawa each winter, the historic Rideau Canal is transformed into the Rideau Canal Skateway, the world’s largest outdoor skating rink. First opened during the 1970-71 season, when a team of National Capital Commission employees cleared a small section of ice near the National Arts Centre with brooms and shovels, the Skateway now welcomes a daily average of 19,000 visitors during the winter months.

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Banff Tina Shields of Port au Port East, NL, and her daughter Georgia enjoy a day on the ski slopes in Banff, AB.

In the late 1890s, as adventurers and tourists began to flock to the Rocky Mountains Park of Canada, the Canadian Pacific Railway hired professional Swiss mountain guides to work at the new resort hotels. Guides who stayed through the winter months introduced a favourite winter activity from back home: skiing. By 1926, members of the Banff ski club had cut the first ski run on nearby Mount Norquay, creating what would become the Canadian Rockies’ very first ski resort.

Temiscaming

“Enjoying Downhome all the way up at Lac Tee in Temiscaming, QC, while playing a little of Canada’s game outside on a frozen lake,” writes submitter Stacey Sharpe.

Hockey, the unofficial national winter sport of Canada, has its roots in various stick-and-ball games played in the United Kingdom and by Indigenous peoples in the Maritimes. The present-day sport of ice hockey developed most notably in Montreal, where the first indoor hockey game was played in 1875 at the Victoria Skating Rink. www.downhomelife.com

January 2024

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Expert answers to common life questions.

By Linda Browne

Why do we say someone is “stealing our thunder”?

Have you ever had a tantalizing tidbit of personal news to share – a big promotion, an engagement, a Nobel Prize win (hey, it could happen!) or another significant life event – but kept it under wraps because you didn’t want to spoil your family member’s or friend’s own significant life event (like a wedding or a birth announcement) by “stealing their thunder”?

Then you know the phrase means to take attention away from another by sharing your own good news ahead of theirs, or taking praise for someone else’s work or idea. But have you ever wondered where the loud crash, bang, boom of Mother Nature fits in?

Turns out that the origins of this one are quite literal. And it can be traced back to a 17th-century playwright who, while not always successful in his work, has earned his place in history for creating this popular idiom (albeit, unintentionally).

The world of theatre has given rise to lots of famous phrases, including “break a leg” (check out the April 2020 issue of Downhome for more on that), “in the limelight” and “wing it,” to name just a few. For this one in particular, we owe our thanks to John Dennis (1657-1734) and the clever 16

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method he concocted for replicating the sound of thunder.

Dr. Oliver Tearle is a lecturer in English (who specializes in 19th and 20th century literature) at Loughborough University in the UK, and author of The Secret Library: A Book-Lovers’ Journey Through Curiosities of History and Britain by the Book: A Curious Tour of Our Literary Landscape. He breaks down the fascinating story of stealing thunder on his excellent blog, Interestingliterature.com, which we quote from here with his kind permission.

Tearle notes that “even the mechanics of the theatre as a physical space used for performance has had an impact on the everyday, non-theatrical language we use.” Such is the case with the phrase in question.

John Dennis, Tearle explains, 1-888-588-6353

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“created an innovative thunder machine for his 1709 play, Appius and Virginia. The play was a flop, and quickly withdrawn. A performance of that old stalwart, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, was put on and the theatre company used Dennis’s thunder techniques without his permission.” (According to Pascal Tréguer of the “Word Histories” blog, who quotes from English poet Alexander Pope, this machine was made of “troughs of wood with stops in them.”)

While they say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Dennis was none too impressed. Tearle includes this passage from The Lives of the Poets of Great Britain and Ireland by Robert Shiels and Theophilus Cibber: “Mr. Dennis happened once to go to the play, when a tragedy was acted, in which the machinery of thunder was introduced, a new artificial method of producing which he had formerly communicated to the managers. Incensed by this circumstance, he cried out in a transport of resentment, ‘That is my thunder by G—d; the villains will play my thunder, but not my plays.’”

“This became ‘steal my thunder,’” Tearle writes, “and an idiom was born.”

It’s worth noting that “what play Dennis had written, what play he then saw, and exactly what he said vary

according to the sources,” mentions Tréguer in the aforementioned “Word Histories” blog. For instance, he writes, in A Handy-Book of Literary Curiosities (Philadelphia, 1893), William Shepard Walsh quotes Dennis as saying, “Damn them! They will not let my play run, but they steal my thunder!”

“In any case, Walsh’s version of the story has now become the accepted truth,” Tréguer adds. He also notes a significant gap (roughly 100 years) between Dennis’s 1709 play and the earliest recorded use of the phrase that he could find. But, he writes, “a common explanation is that the phrase was used in conversation, particularly within theatrical circles, long before its appearance in print.”

While his play might’ve been a dud, John Dennis can take a well-deserved bow for his colourful, and everlasting, contribution to the English language.

Do you have a burning life question for Linda to investigate?

Turn to page 9 for ways to contact us. www.downhomelife.com

January 2024

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homefront life’s funny

Say That Again?

I was having some tests done at the hospital, and the doctor asked me to stand up, legs spread. As she was looking at my feet, she asked, “Are you are from the East Coast?”

“You can tell that by looking at my feet?” I asked, surprised.

She replied, “No, your accent!”

Oh my.

Catherine Best Brampton, ON

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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“What kind of hand cream is that?” er – Cyn Rock

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

Here are the runners-up: “You need a manicure!” – Christine Fluney “Those aren’t Vienna sausages!” – Sivle Elvis “My favourite afternoon snack… Nibbles and Bits!” – Patsy Chaffey Humby

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

www.downhomelife.com

January 2024

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homefront lil charmers

Snug as a Bug

Addison keeps cosy in her handmade seal skin jacket.

Hilary Keeping Isle aux Morts, NL

Cold Weather

Cuties Mug Up

Little Christopher is sweeter than a mug of hot chocolate.

Valene Stacey Point May, NL

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Top Gear Enjoying a sleigh ride on a sunny winter day!

Drew Delaney Stephenville, NL

Snow Much Fun

Cole’s proud of his fine catch!

Nick Bishop Bay Roberts, NL

www.downhomelife.com

January 2024

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homefront pets of the month

Go With the Snow Cat’s Meow

Cool cat Maple inspired this snow sculpture.

Alice Spurrell Hodges Cove, NL

Take a Dig

Reese carves out a snow tunnel in the yard.

Trina Hillyard Paradise, NL

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Snowy Spaniel Rayna is cute in the cold at Badger Lake.

Lee Perkins Petawawa, ON

Freeze the Day City slicker Marner takes a trot downtown.

Robyn Hutchings Conception Bay South, NL

www.downhomelife.com

January 2024

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homefront poetic licence

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January 2024

I’m Missing from the Darn Map

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Peggy Snow of Botwood, NL, writes: “I was looking for a map with Botwood on it. Three maps, no Botwood. So I wrote this.”

Why am I not on the map?

I’ll show you just where I am at.

I live in Botwood and that should be good To get me put on the darn map.

How do I get on that map?

I’m on such a load of them apps.

Just pick up your phone, in on me you can zone.

But you can’t see me on the darn map.

How do I get on the map?

Off the highway, that’s where I’m at.

You can find me, just give’r up the Exploits River.

But don’t look for me on the darn map.

Oh, how do I get on the map?

So I called my MP for a chat.

He took it to Parliament, they said I’m a torment.

Now I’ll never get on the darn map.

How do I get on the map?

I guess now, I’ll just have to pack.

I’ll move to St. John’s I just can’t go wrong. ’Cause then I’ll be on the darn map.

www.downhomelife.com

January 2024

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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.

This is your chance to get in on our most popular reader contest and try to woo the judges into choosing your photo for the 2025 Downhome Calendar. These calendars are seen by tens of thousands of subscribers and displayed all year long.

What are you waiting for?

Submit today, using one of these ways:

by mail: Downhome Calendar Contest 43 James Lane St. John’s, NL A1E 3H3 online: www.downhomelife.com/calendar Must be original photos or high quality copies. Digital photos must be at least 300 dpi, 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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homefront

reviewed by Denise Flint

The Adversary Michael Crummey

Alfred A. Knopf Canada $35 (hardcover)

In his latest novel, Michael Crummey has returned to the historical setting he developed in his last book, The Innocents. But this time around, innocence has nothing to do with it.

The Adversary focuses on the inhabitants of Mockbeggar, who are trying to claw out a living on the east coast of Newfoundland 200 years ago. The book specifically focuses on two implacable enemies: Abe Strapp, who owns almost everything; and his sister, the Widow Caines, who owns everything else. Their names, variations on Cain and Abel (which took this reader much too long to notice), are a fairly strong indicator of which way the wind is going to blow.

The book opens with the sentence: “There was a killing sickness on the shore that winter and the only services at the church were funerals.” Things pretty much go downhill from there for the beleaguered inhabitants. To call this a gloomy story would be to understate its tone of dark despair.

Yet this is Michael Crummey. The characters absolutely come alive, and you can’t help but care about those caught up in the conflict. No matter how awful the subject matter – and there are some very, very gruesome scenes in this book – you keep reading.

The Adversary is not a book to pick up for a cosy afternoon’s read in front of the fire. It’s not something you come away from feeling good about the world. Nothing in this book will lighten your spirits. Quite the contrary. But it is an extremely compelling read.

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Q&A with the Author Denise Flint: Some of the events in this book are pretty gruesome.

How do you divorce yourself from that or not get totally depressed by it?

Michael Crummey: I think, in a way, this book is my expression of my own feelings about the world we’ve been living in for the last eight or 10 years, and things are pretty gruesome. This book was a very personal response to the world. It’s not about the world 200 years ago, it’s about the world we live in today. I am depressed and angry, and feeling all the things most of us have felt from watching the world unfold as it’s been unfolding.

DF: What do you think the purpose of fiction is?

MC: I dunno if it has a purpose. To ask ‘what is it for?’ is the wrong question. It’s a way of making sense of the world and to respond to the world around us. It’s a way of expressing what it is to be human. And right now to be human, if you’re paying attention, is a pretty fraught thing.

DF: How has your career as a writer evolved over the years?

MC: At the surface level it’s changed a lot. I’ve been at this for 40 years now, and for the first almost 20 years it was a very private thing and there wasn’t a lot to show for it. But for the last 20 years it’s how I make my living, and there’s much more of a public aspect to it. So, in some ways, it’s become a job. There’s a much more personal evolution as well, in terms of my relationship to the writing and www.downhomelife.com

why I’m still at it. I think that early on there was a lot of ambition, and that’s become less and less important. What matters is the actual work: what happens when I sit down in front of the keyboard.

DF: Where do your characters come from?

MC: A lot of them come from historical sources. Abe Strapp is based on a character I found in a history of Bonavista – someone I thought was completely compelling and completely reprehensible, and seemed to fit the times. A lot of other characters seem to come out of nowhere and sometimes it seems like magic – there’s nothing I can point to, it just happened. When it goes well, it’s amazing. It doesn’t always go well.

DF: How does writing fiction and poetry differ?

MC: It’s something I’ve thought about a lot. They feel completely different. They don’t feel very connected in terms of how it comes to me and how it feels when I’m working on it.

The poetry is way more meditative, and I lose a sense of time when I’m working on poetry, and it feels like it feeds me and I come away from it energized. But the fiction is completely different generally. It feels like heavy lifting. It feels like I’m digging a ditch. There’s only a few hours I can do it before I stop because I’m exhausted. There are moments in both when I have the opposite feeling.

I can’t for the life of me explain why that difference exists.

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homefront what odds

bound by blood

By Paul Warford

“Do what you Oh man, am I busy. “Flat out,” as we tend love,” they say, to say around here. I’m not sure if you and your have ever tried running a film festival, and few things friends but it is actually a rather involved, busy process. bring me more What Odds die-hards will be familiar with my joy than lying brothers in blood and guts, GRIND MIND, and prostrate on our perilous journey over the past six years to legitimacy in the world of independent semi-frozen earn horror film. Turns out, we’re not doing too bad. ground with fake We now have a TV show on BellFibe, “A Newblood smeared foundland Nightmare: The Hag,” which I would on me while my encourage you and your extended family to friends watch. We’ve made our share of on-screen content, but we also run a horror film hold lights and spooky festival here in St. John’s called Fog Fest. What cameras to started as a private Cineplex screening among capture it all. friends has mutated into a five-day macabre

extravaganza, and we couldn’t be more proud, happy and exhausted with the evolution.

As such, I sit here in the Majestic’s elegant Theatre Hill Bar and Café, desperately trying to hammer out these words for you fine crowd, while I have GRIND b’ys and unfamiliar volunteers popping by my little corner table to ask me a question about comp tickets or some email or text message or distress flare that I should maybe respond to. I’m running on split-focus and fumes right now, but I’m here and I’m present. I can do both, I swear.

The launch party was yesterday. This involved a few rounds of horror trivia to kick things off, hosted by yours truly. I left the questions in the capable hands of our writer, Francois Van Zyl. To tell you the truth, I feel like a bit of a sore thumb in the group, being a member of a horror film collective while having no familiarity with horror films whatsoever. I was far too soft a child to willingly enjoy a horror movie, and as

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an adult, well, I don’t let horror films into my little media bubble. But I may soon pop it so that I can learn the foundations of the genre I am now a member of, perhaps for the rest of my days. As we’ll sometimes joke to each other, “Grind for life!”

“Do what you love,” they say, and few things bring me more joy than lying prostrate on semi-frozen ground with fake blood smeared on me while my friends hold lights and cameras to capture it all. I never thought I’d know the taste of corn syrup so intimately.

The launch party trivia was followed by performances by The Order of the Precious Blood, MusicNL’s 2023 recipient of the Loud Artist of the Year Award. I found myself in conversation with the singer, another Paul, once I got to The Rock House to set up. Like many metal fans – and horror fans, for that matter – Paul was clad in black denim festooned with a mosaic of sewn patches, coupled with black boots. His hair was tied up in a tight knot. He was a charming fellow, originally from Rocky Harbour, and we had a nice chat before the show got started.

A short time later, when Paul took centre stage to perform, the mildmannered, soft spoken gentleman from moments before was suddenly gone. Paul’s hair was now loose and flowing down to the small of his back.

He greeted the audience by screaming “Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!” into the microphone. The transition is quite striking to see in person, to the point of being kind of funny. They played www.downhomelife.com

a fantastic show.

They were followed by a dogged old band from “back in the day” of 2007, when they had a cult following downtown. Appropriately, the band is dubiously named The Satans, but I promise you they seem like fine men to me. Steve, the bassist, is a longtime pal of the GRIND, and in turn has become a compadre of mine. It was great to see him and watch all of these familiar friends embrace and catch up with one another, even if I hadn’t known any of them back in their younger days.

My point, if I do in fact have one here, is that you really can create the things you conceive if you put your head down, put in the work, believe in yourselves – and drink lots of caffeine. Whether you’re patching drywall or curating a film festival, the day will always flow with a greater sense of ease when you’re among your buddies, havin’ a laugh.

Out of habit after 20 years as a comedian, I said to the guitarist of The Order of the Precious Blood (I believe his name was Barry) to, “Have fun!” As his bandmates took the stage and the swell of applause increased, he said to me, “That’s what it’s all about, man!” before stepping through the black silk curtain.

Paul Warford began writing for Downhome to impress his mom and her friends. He writes and performs comedy in Eastern Canada.

Follow him on X @paulwarford January 2024

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fresh tracks

new music talk with Wendy Rose

The In Between Valmy

VALMY’S DEBUT ALBUM, The In Between, was released in September 2023, and had its official launch at the LSPU Hall in St. John’s in November. For this Ontario-raised, Newfoundland-based singer-songwriter, there was very little time “in between” recording and releasing the record. Recording started in February with Michelle LaCour, and after long days and nights, “with tears, laughing breaks, real talk and trying new things,” it wrapped up in late spring.

“It turned out to be the most exhilarating experience because I found an honest flow of ideas that I didn’t have time to overcriticize, and I was able to lean into just going with what felt right in the moment,” the artist explains. “I really tried to stay present and aim for what I wanted without settling or rushing.”

The In Between opens with “Land,” starting off slowly with Valmy singing and softly strumming her guitar. Around a minute in, Valmy is joined by Tyler Stanley on drums and Carole Bestvater on violin, creating a fuller, contemporary folk sound.

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next on this album.

Valmy is joined by cellist Amy Collyer-Holmes on “Silent,” which features gorgeous layered vocal harmonies. Valmy also plays piano on this track. “Better not to force it, it gets old and we grow colder, carrying heavy hearts,” she sings, repeating the line, “I’ve hurt a lot but not like that,” as the song begins to fade out.

In “There Was Quiet,” Valmy shows off her instrumentalist skills, playing guitar, bass and various percussion instruments – cabassa, shaker and claves. This track is immediately catchy. “Look to the other side, find shelter from the wind, we fade before we notice the dark come in, restless, waiting just to drink up every word, there was quiet, only quiet,” she sings, repeating these lyrics in various arrangements.

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Valmy is again joined by cellist Amy Collyer-Holmes on “The Darkest.”

The soft strumming of acoustic guitar and sweeping cello are complemented by gently plinking piano. The lyrics speak of passion, loss, separation and frustration – not necessarily romantic passion, but a more complex, all-encompassing passion that we must hold in everyday life to thrive and succeed.

Next up is “To Know You,” a folky pop song with jazzy drumming – another track that immediately gets your head bobbing along with the beat. “I don’t know him, it’s the strangest thing, to still want to, know what made you,” she sings. There’s a bit of a spoken word element to this song at times, making this writer feel like Valmy’s gorgeous lyrics would also make impressive poetry.

“TheSameButDifferent” feels like a www.downhomelife.com

contemporary jazz song, with catchy guitar riffs from Darren Browne and an outstanding vocal performance by Valmy. I found myself listening to it multiple times in a row, almost not wanting to move on to the next track.

Valmy slows things down a little on “Hold,” an acoustic ballad about emotional disconnect and the importance of opening up and letting people in, even when it’s uncomfortable. “If we hold a light up to disarm this space, come out of our hiding place just long enough to catch a second wind,” she sings.

The album’s eighth track kicks off with acoustic guitar picking and Valmy’s soothing voice. “Paper Intentions” (the first single off the album) feels more like a pop song, somewhat unlike the rest of the album’s folky feel, yet it fits in perfectly with this record’s overall vibe.

On “Like She,” Valmy is joined by Maria Cherwick on viola. Valmy paints vivid imagery of a beloved inspirational figure in her life.

“Just a thought brings a warmth, you have visited in dreams, maybe one day you’ll find me,” she sings.

The album’s second last track is “Wednesday,” featuring Valmy on vocals, guitar, harmonica and shaker.

Another soft acoustic ballad, this folk/pop song would appeal to any and all fans of acoustic guitar and peaceful vocals.

The album finishes with “I Take It to the Water,” and WOW! What a January 2024

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marvellous finishing track. With Valmy playing guitar, piano and Shruti box; Carole Bestvater on violin; and Amy Collyer-Holmes on cello, this final song features group vocals from the three aforementioned artists as well as Darren Browne, Maria Cherwick, Tyler Stanley; album photographers and designers Sarah McInnis, Noah Bender and Tessa Graham; and engineer Michelle LaCour. With its captivating lyrics and hauntingly beautiful group singalong, it’s the perfect ending to a lovely record.

Q&A with the Artist Wendy Rose: How and when did you begin creating music, and what inspires your creativity in regards to composing music and writing lyrics?

Valmy: I’ve been a singer since I was

a child, and started actually keeping record of the lyrics I wrote and chord progressions I liked in my early teens, when I started learning guitar and accompanying myself… Writing songs was my outlet for heavy feelings and my way of self-soothing…

The playfulness and intensity of nature and the ocean, the complicated aspects of relationships, thought patterns and realizations – these all inspire what I write and how I try to fit lyrics together to process these experiences… I feel inspired by observing how intense it is to be human. I draw energy from time spent by the water and among plants, and I’m very much led by how this strengthens my connection to emotions and hearing melodies when I’m making music.

WR: What kind of feedback have you heard about this record so far?

V: I’d already been performing some

of [these songs] for years, so friends have let me know that they are enjoying the arrangements of these 34

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recorded versions. I’ve had people say they’ve found the record soothing, or that listening to it allowed them to picture themselves somewhere relaxing or in nature… [and] they’ve appreciated the vulnerability or resonated with the ways grief was explored on the record.

Tony Ploughman [of Fred’s Record’s] gave The In Between a very kind review that said “The rhythms and melodies wrap around the mind and soul like a lovingly patched quilt.” This made me smile because I create to comfort myself, and it’s fulfilling to hear that someone with their own experiences can associate my music with that imagery.

WR: Tell us a little about who you worked with on this record, and what that recording experience was like.

V: I had a lot of fun working out

drum parts with my friend Tyler Stanley, who played on the record.

We have similar stylistic tastes… which made communicating and exploring the drive that the percussion could bring to the songs I’ve primarily performed solo, feel natural and playful… Amy Collyer-Holmes (cello), Carole Bestvater (violin), Maria Cherwick (viola) performed 1-888-588-6353

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Hearing the arrangements created in the wee hours actually sound like what I’d envisioned, and performed by people I love and respect, was fulfilling and actually quite emotional. the strings on the album so beautifully. This was my first time arranging strings parts for other musicians, and they did an incredible job putting all the emotions I hoped for and more into this music… Darren Browne (electric guitar) delivered the tasty smooth guitar lines and solos you hear on track 6, “TheSameButDifferent”… I got really lucky being able to record with these fine people.

The choir on “I Take It to the Water” is one of my favourite parts of the album. It was important to me to include the majority of the people who were part of making this album on this last song – the whole process of making a record deepened my appreciation of the opportunity to make music with my friends… Overall the recording experience was an unforgettable experience and the highlight of my year… Hearing the arrangements created in the wee hours actually sound like what I’d envisioned, and performed by people I love and respect, was fulfilling and actually quite emotional. Hearing the newness that resulted from everyone’s unique ideas and polishing was such a gift.

I had a lot of helpful and regulating chats with Sarah Shin, who mastered the record beautifully, when I was feeling stressed, and she really encouraged me to prioritize enjoying the time spent recording. I’m thankful I had her voice and reminder in my corner during this process. www.downhomelife.com

WR: This year, you were nominated for both MusicNL’s Rising Star of the Year and Folk/Roots Artist of the Year awards. What was your reaction to finding out you had made the shortlist for both of these awards?

V: My first reaction was surprise,

because this was my first year applying to Music Celebration Week. I remember it being a last-minute decision and feeling nervous about eligibility or whether I’d filled the nomination section out right. So it felt really nice to learn I’d actually been considered for these categories, and I was thankful for the community’s encouragement and support in this way. Sharing these nominations with the deserving friends and artists whose work I admire made the moment cooler, for sure.

WR: What’s next for Valmy in 2024?

Any plans to tour NL or beyond?

V: I’m hoping to tour around New-

foundland in the spring of 2024 if it all works out, and then perform across the Maritimes in either early summer 2024 or early autumn 2024.

If I can line up a few festival dates, I would love to make it across Canada eventually. For now, fingers crossed and wheels turning!

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homefront

adventures outdoors

My Outdoors Wish List

By Gord Follett

There are several issues in the great outdoors of Newfoundland and Labrador that need more attention and change. Some may be minor in the eyes of many, while other concerns are seen as quite significant. I have my own views on dozens of outdoors matters, of course, plus I hear from numerous other outdoors people on a regular basis. So for what it’s worth, here’s part of my/our 2024 outdoors wish list.

First up, rabbit snare wire regulations This isn’t the most pressing issue out there, but for those who do partake in this form of animal harvesting, it’s been 15 years of frustration having to use 22-gauge brass wire and six-strand picture cord in place of the stronger stainless steel. This change was implemented out of concern for by-catches, particularly the Newfoundland pine marten, which is powerful enough to break free of the new wire.

And that’s great – but so is our snowshoe hare, or rabbit, as most call it. A rough guess on my part – again from what I’ve seen, read and heard – is that at least 40 per cent of those rabbits “bust off” and perish somewhere with a wire noose tightened around their necks. Many hunters are asking whether we still need to be using the weaker wire, particularly in areas where nobody has ever seen a pine marten. They also believe that after 15 years, the marten population should be pretty stable.

r

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New/aspiring hunters should have to successfully complete a shooting test before receiving a big game licence. Gord Follett photo Bring back the shooting test I was informed by officials within the Wildlife Division quite a few years ago that we’re not likely to ever see the day again when new hunters have to prove that they can hit the side of a barn from 75 metres with their high-powered rifle before they can go big game hunting. And that’s a shame because one of the main concerns here is that poorly placed shots by anxious and inexperienced shooters leave far too many animals injured and left to suffer and die days or weeks later.

Life Jackets

It should be mandatory for anybody in a small (recreational) boat to wear a life jacket.

Brian Hounsell photo

www.downhomelife.com

It’s time to make their use in small boats mandatory. Right now, as long as they are in the craft, we’re good to go. I still find this difficult to believe in a province and country with so many drowning deaths each year.

Experiencing a rough ride on the water? Use your life jacket as a seat cushion. It’s all you are legally obligated to do. If the boat hits a rock or suddenly tips and throws you in the water, though, good luck finding it and then trying to get it on. I devoted an entire column to this topic once, and boy, did it ever strike a nerve with boating groups and others across the country who don’t want to hear of it. Many of us didn’t want to wear seatbelts when it first became law in the early ’80s, either, yet it’s proven to have saved countless lives since then.

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Spring Trout Closure There’s no need for the trout fishing season to be closed from mid-April until mid-May. Residents should not be prevented from fishing during that period.

It’s time for DFO to remove this restriction.

Salmon Farming Despite our best efforts over the years to get this destructive and diseased industry out of our province and waters, it doesn’t appear that we’re gonna get rid of it anytime soon, simply because it gets votes and creates jobs. So while we’re waiting for our decision-makers to discover and understand how and why salmon farming is progressing elsewhere around the world primarily on land, the least our government could do is make it mandatory for supermarkets to label the fish as FARMED, and have the print large enough to read at a glance. The fact that this hasn’t been done already tells us a lot about the toxic product they’re trying to force on us.

Driving Moose Out of the Woods There are no regulations covering this common teamwork practice, and I’m actually surprised there haven’t been more accidents as a result of it. And yes, I’ve been part of such plans a number of times, but not in recent years and never will again. Here’s the scenario: You have three or four friends hunting together and you spot fresh moose tracks leading into a tuck of woods. A couple of buddies go around “to the back” making noise as they push through, to drive out the animal for the gunner to shoot. Problem is, the gunner isn’t always certain where his or her buddies are, and a bullet that misses the moose could hit a buddy walking around in among the trees. If anybody reading this – a parent, firearms instructor, family friend – has anything to do with helping a kid get involved in hunting, please teach them to never engage in such a dangerous plan. It isn’t great teamwork if somebody is shot.

There are several other issues/regulations that need some revamping, or at least discussion, including mandatory blaze orange and decreasing the moose licence allocation before there aren’t enough animals around to sustain a hunt in all areas. Perhaps these will be part of my 2025 wish list.

In the meantime, something I would hope for each and every year is a safe and enjoyable outdoor experience for all.

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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homefront

Lucy Fleming shares the story behind this 90-year-old hooked rug.

This rug was hooked by our mother, Lucina (Daly)

Hearn, when she was 20 years old – about 90 years ago.

At that time, it won second prize in a rug-hooking contest in the Avalon area.

Lucina (Lucy) Daly was born in 1913 in Mall Bay, St. Mary’s Bay, NL. There her family raised a few sheep, kept cows and grew vegetables to support their needs. Her father had his own sawmill on his land, and he owned a lobster factory. He lost his eyesight in a mill accident when he was in his 40s.

Lucy was unmarried and living at home when she made this award-winning rug. She hooked the rug on burlap, using yarn that she sheared from the family sheep, then washed, carded and spun herself. The different colours of blue, green, brown and

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Lucina Daly crafted this seal rug in 1933. It won second prize in a local rug-hooking contest.

yellow for the wool came from natural dyes made by Lucy from wild berries, flowers and leaves. Using the old Newfoundland Sea Dog matchbox for inspiration, she hooked the image of seals on an ice pan. The border around the edge of the rug certainly displayed her artistic skill.

Eventually, Lucy married Joseph Hearn of nearby Admiral’s Cove.

They had six children: four boys and two girls. Lucy was known as an artistic person who could turn her hand to anything with needle and thread. She made her own clothes, quilts, curtains etc. At one point, she www.downhomelife.com

took a six-week sewing course at the Anna Templeton Centre in downtown St. John’s.

Lucy lived out her final years in the Agnes Pratt Home in St. John’s. She was in her 80s when she passed away in 1998.

The rug was never used as a floor mat, but was carefully packed away for safekeeping. It was eventually passed down to me. Someday I hope to pass it on to one of my nieces.

We consider this rug a family heirloom. It’s a reminder to us of the hard work and talents of our parents and grandparents in days gone by.

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life is better Winter day in Bauline, NL Gordon Winsor, Paradise, NL

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homefront

The new year is always a good time to reflect on the past 12 months. For Downhome editors, it meant thumbing through every issue of 2023 and taking note of the amazing, funny, beautiful and poignant submissions from readers found in them. It was part of a larger mission: making the Top 12 list of submissions for you readers to vote on and decide for us who gets crowned Submission of the Year and wins $500 in Downhome shopping coupons.

Study all the finalists on the following pages, then go to our website from January 12-19 and vote for your favourite of these submissions. We’ll announce the winner with the most votes in the March 2024 issue. Good luck, everyone!

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Birds of a Feather Tim Collins

Full o’ Baloney Chrissy Bloom

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Codroy Couple Karen Simon

Peaceful Morning in Trinity, NL Sheldon Hicks

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Private Island Mary Bussey

Feeling Bubbly Serena Saunders

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Eye Matey Jaelyn Brenton

Horsin’ Around Richard Johnson 48

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Reflection in Bonavista Mark Gray

Salt Water Joys Helen Feehan

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Switzerland Trevor Miller

Claustrophobic Patti Bragg

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features

How Todd Skirving, forward and captain of the Newfoundland Growlers ECHL hockey team, has made himself at home both on and off the ice.

BY PAM PARDY AS TODD SKIRVING PREPARED to suit up for his fifth season with the Newfoundland Growlers, an ECHL franchise of the Toronto Maple Leafs, he admitted to experiencing a somewhat healthy case of the jitters. “It’s always exciting, or maybe it is nervous energy, whatever you want to call it. Just getting to that first game and getting on the ice with the guys and just seeing what we know and seeing how we play, and just kind of seeing what we got to offer is exciting. It’ll be interesting to see how we stack up early on because we obviously want to win some games,” the Thunder Bay, ON, native told Downhome at the start of the 2023-24 season.

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NL Growlers/Jeff Parsons

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NL Growlers/Jeff Parsons

(Above) Todd Skirving hoists the Kelly Cup in 2019. (Right) Community outreach is an important part of being a Newfoundland Growler.

Since then and up to press time for this issue, the Growlers have won five of their first 12 games and Skirving has been named team captain.

He’s only the second captain in Growler’s franchise history, following in James Melindy’s skates.

Fans have known #15 since the Growlers won the Kelly Cup in 2019, an adrenalin-fuelled way to finish the franchise’s first season. After six seasons in the ECHL, the last four with the Growlers, Todd admits he’s “at the tail end” of his on-ice career and he’s taking things “year by year… I’m just really excited to see how this season goes,” he says with a smile.

Todd finished out last season second in the club with 31 goals. Heading into the new season, he was a returning player and experienced teammate with a bunch of new faces.

Though he wasn’t yet captain, he sounded like one back in October.

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players and now it’s just trying to take them under my wing and help them out as much as possible – help make them comfortable out in the community and in the locker room, and then hope that translates into comfort on the ice, too,” he said.

The Growlers have a new head coach this season, Stanley Cup champion Matt Cooke, who says about Todd, “He’s been making me feel at home ever since I got here. He’s probably the biggest leader in any room – he does everything he can on 1-888-588-6353

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the ice and off the ice.” He adds, “Obviously, [Todd] is a guy that considers himself from Newfoundland now. He’s really ingrained himself into the community and that’s just who Todd is. He’s a guy that’s willing to do whatever it takes to be successful.”

Over the years, Todd has become as much of a fan favourite off the ice as on for his contributions to the community. From clearing snow for a neighbour, to donating time and

first year and Daffodil Place for cancer patients in St. John’s in 2023.

“We wanted to make sure all the money raised was put right back into the province of Newfoundland,” he says proudly.

Todd also takes part in Movember (a global moustache growing challenge to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues). These initiatives became even more personal last year when his father, Rod Skirving, was diagnosed with prostate cancer.

NL Growlers/Jeff Parsons

talent to a worthwhile cause, Todd is there when called upon. “When you give to other people, it helps create a better environment at the rink, a better environment in the community, and creates a better world in general.

That’s all I’m trying to do,” he says.

For the last two years, he’s been heavily involved in cancer awareness. Todd partnered with graphic designer Paul Loder, The Newfoundland Embassy and Saltwater Designs to create and sell a Skirving T-shirt (the “Skirvy”), with proceeds benefitting the Newfoundland and Labrador Prostate Cancer Support Groups the www.downhomelife.com

“Dad’s doing better, but it’s all about raising awareness and allowing people to feel comfortable having those important conversations,” says Todd.

Todd, a multi-time nominee for the ECHL Community Service Award since arriving in St. John’s in 2018, concludes by saying that he’s just happy to be playing the sport that he loves in a place he has come to adore.

Having that ‘C’ on his chest makes it all the sweeter. “I am ecstatic to be continuing my professional hockey career here in Newfoundland, a place that’s truly become a second home.”

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features

Through a business he started at the age of 14, Alex Henniffent has carved out a cool niche in the snowboarding community.

BY LINDA BROWNE

AS CHILDREN, our interests and passions are constantly evolving, and we change our minds about what our future careers will be almost as frequently as we change our socks.

But sometimes, some kids are lucky enough to land upon that thing that brings them true joy and purpose.

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Snowmageddon in St. John’s in 2020 created an irresistible backdrop for new Voltfuse footage. Liam Dawe photo

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Alex Henniffent (above) was just 14 when he founded the company to serve his passion for snowboarding.

Steve Sheppard photo

For Alex Henniffent, growing up in Grand Falls-Windsor in Central Newfoundland, that thing was snowboarding. It’s a love he developed in part thanks to his dad – and trips to the orthodontist in Corner Brook (a roughly three-hour drive away). During one of those trips, Alex’s father, a winter enthusiast, suggested they give snowboarding a shot. So they geared up and headed for popular Marble Mountain in Steady Brook, just outside the west coast city.

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“At that time of my life, I wasn’t really interested in traditional sports like hockey and standard team sports that you would often see in places like Grand Falls-Windsor and Newfoundland as a whole. So I guess he was keen to get me attached to something to occupy myself, keep out of trouble, keep active, keep fit,” Alex says.

While his father excelled at the sport, it wasn’t until after a few visits to White Hills ski resort in Clarenville that Alex started to get 1-888-588-6353

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the hang of it and build up confidence on the board. “From that point on it was like, ‘Aha! This is how it works,’ and this is really cool and fun and something I want to keep doing,” Alex says.

“It also kind of was the starting point for wanting to find a way to carve out a niche... to allow me to keep doing what I enjoy doing.”

A COLD CALLING Alex says “realizing at that earlier age that I probably didn’t have not only the talent, but also the resources and some of the amenities that would be required in order to pursue snowboarding on a more serious level,” he began exploring other ways to stay connected to his passion. He couldn’t find the kind of snowboard products he wanted, so he designed his own. He came up with a logo and started screen printing T-shirts and, with the help of his grandmother, sewed patches and labels onto shirts, sweaters, caps “whatever items basically were at my disposal,” Alex says, which he gave to his friends to wear and try out. In 2010, at the age of 14, his business Voltfuse was born.

While he didn’t intentionally set out to start a business, “it just kind of subconsciously unfolded in pursuit of snowboarding. I wanted to create this support mechanism that fostered that sport here in Newfoundland and Atlantic Canada,” Alex says.

“Voltfuse was simply a way to bring people together, to help host events, to give people who did this something to latch onto and something to identify with.” www.downhomelife.com

He hit the ground running and, before graduating high school, got a boost in the form of a $5,000 prize from investor Kevin O’Leary’s Future Dragon Fund Contest (meant to spur youth entrepreneurship and innovation). Over time, Alex refined his products, collecting feedback from friends and others he met while snowboarding in other parts of Canada.

Encouraged by his parents, Alex enrolled in the Business Administra-

Dave Howells photo

tion (Marketing) diploma program at College of the North Atlantic in Corner Brook, followed by a business degree at Memorial’s Grenfell Campus. He picked up several awards along the way, including second place at the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, Atlantic Canada Qualifiers, in Halifax in 2016. The prize package, valued at $15,000, included promotional video, strategy sessions and more. That same year, Voltfuse January 2024

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was named one of 10 regional winners in the Small Business Challenge sponsored by The Globe and Mail and Telus Corp. (receiving $1,500 worth of Telus services or devices).

With Marble Mountain practically in his backyard, when he wasn’t hitting the books, Alex was hitting the slopes, honing his skills along the way.

HIGH-FLYING SUCCESS Now 27, he’s come a long way in business, too. Today, Voltfuse is a specialty headwear and apparel brand (with an office and warehouse in the capital city of St. John’s, where Alex currently lives), selling caps, beanies, balaclavas, hoodies and jackets to customers all over Canada and the United States, and occasionally as far away as Iceland and Scandinavia.

Voltfuse’s staff of four (including Alex) works with a team of snowboarders all over the map who wear Voltfuse gear at competitions and events, helping spread the word and offering feedback and ideas to help improve the products.

“From a business standpoint, a lot of what we did from day one still exists today… it’s still very much so a snowboarder-driven initiative,” Alex says.

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rewarding experience as well.”

Aside from their website, Voltfuse also currently sells their products at 15 retailers sprinkled across Canada.

They’ve also partnered with other businesses, such as breweries and ski resorts, to assist them with bringing their own product design and development ideas to life.

Showcasing the pure thrill and joy of snowboarding (and sometimes the pain of a major wipeout), along with the majesty of Newfoundland and Labrador’s snowy landscapes, is also part of what Voltfuse does, through a collection of beautifully shot videos on their website.

“Storytelling is such an important part of where we come from and who we are as a brand. So naturally, that ties into how we do the things that we do,” Alex says. “It’s a lot of fun, too.

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Being able to work with different videographers, and being able to work with these different characters and highlight them, and feature them and some of the stuff that we’re producing, is really rewarding as well.”

He’s come a long way from that kid in Grand Falls, with a snowboard and a dream, cutting his own trails in the woods. And while he’s keeping details under his hat for now, he’s excited about what the future holds.

“We’ve got some cool projects in the works… we’ve got some new markets that we’re eyeing… we’ve got some new film content that we’re in the process now of sifting through.

So going into the next year or two, we’re going to be gradually releasing more and more.”

Alex may no longer be a student, but he’s always learning and trying new things, he says. “And that’s the key, I think, to all this: just not being afraid of change and not being afraid to look at things a little bit differently when the environment and the landscape changes.”

When it comes to the success of his homegrown business, he says, having an “amazing family” also doesn’t hurt. “[Without them] I really wouldn’t be able to do what I’ve done – and I mean that in all the different ways: the love and the support that I was able to get from my parents and my grandparents and my close friends – to just have the drive and the energy to pursue this,” he explains.

“At the end of the day, I still love www.downhomelife.com

snowboarding more than anything... and in the winter months, that’s what you’ll find me doing. Some aspects of what Voltfuse is today have shifted and changed a little bit, but... that’s always been the north star in terms of what we’re doing and how we do it,” Alex adds.

“Growing up, getting into this space, I always thought that if I was going to pursue snowboarding, I’d have to move to British Columbia or to the western States in order to really see anything from it. So to look back then and to think where we’re at today... is really cool to show that you don’t need to move elsewhere in order to make those things happen.”

Steve Sheppard photo

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[in Ontario], but my heart and soul were born in Newfoundland,” says Dean Clarke. “Everything about Newfoundland, just this feeling I have about the place, is who I am…

I belong there.”

While he may not hold a Newfoundland and Labrador birth certificate, the provincial connection is knitted into his DNA; Dean’s father and grandparents hail from Heart’s Desire in Trinity Bay, NL. Still, not everyone with Newfoundland roots gets stirred to passionately promote this place. Yet Dean, for his long-running “Jigs & Reels” radio show in Ontario, has been tagged “The Dean of Newfoundland Music.”

During a recent phone call from his home in Kitchener-Waterloo, Dean shares that his father, Frank, like many Newfoundlanders, left home and trekked to Ontario in the late 1960s. “One night at the Newfie Club, he met my mom, Nelda, who is from Ottawa Valley,” he says.

While the Clarkes raised their family in Ontario, they made regular trips “home” to visit Frank’s family. Dean’s memories of those visits to the Rock, from age four to well into his teens, include gathering around the radio. Every Sunday morning, his grandparents, Bill and Margaret Clarke, tuned into the “Home Brew” show that belted out traditional Newfoundland

Dean with his parents, Frank and Nelda Clarke

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Newfoundland music icons Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers with Dean in 2022 (above) and during the early years of “Jigs & Reels” (right).

At home in Ontario, Dean’s parents kept boarders – 11 of them at one point – all from his dad’s neck of the woods. “I recall every weekend the house was bursting with Newfie singing and music, played on guitars and button accordion,” Dean says.

While engaged in a broadcasting course, 17-year-old Dean approached a local community radio station with the idea that Ontario should have an authentic Newfoundland music show, like the one his Nan and Pop listened to in Heart’s Desire. “They laughed at first,” Dean says, “but by November 1988, my show ‘Jigs & Reels’ went on air.”

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were no CDs,” he says. And sometimes he had guests with him, including Ron Young of the fledgling Downhomer magazine, and Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers when they were in town on tour.

“It was for the many people, including families who left Newfoundland, who never lost the ache for, and pride in, their heart home,” says Dean of his show. “Essentially, I was offering a piece of home to the listener.”

For more than 20 years, Dean’s dedication, love and island-rooted pride energized every “Jigs & Reels, Newfoundland’s Music Radio Show,” aired on 98.5 FM CKWR across southern Ontario. But in March 2008, Dean found himself at a crossroads.

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found himself at a crossroads.

“I essentially lost interest in this passion,” he admits. The demands of a young family, friends, a career change and, eventually, a divorce required a course change in his life.

The final show was a “sad, sad day,” Dean recalls. “I had met countless friends who had listened to the show each week, year after year.” His audience included his two young daughters, Delaney and Zoe, who grew up listening to the show.

Recently, after a 14-year hiatus, Dean’s enthusiasm for radio returned and he went back into the studio with renewed energy.

“I resurrected the show in January 2022 because it was difficult to ignore the new and diversified music coming from the island, which needed to be heard on the mainland and beyond,” he says.

His new partner, Dana Shepley, a native of Ireland, was also an inspiration. “She asked why I wasn’t doing the show, and I didn’t have an answer,” Dean says.

The new “Jigs & Reels” has the potential to reach more listeners than ever, as it’s broadcast on the internet at LIVE365.com. The station plays nothing but Newfoundland music, 24 hours a day, seven days a week; from old favourites to new sounds. Dean also interviews interesting guests; recently, he had Mary Walsh on the show. “What doesn’t change is the amazing music the province has to offer, which drives the show. It’s the best in Newfoundland music this side of the St. Lawrence,” Dean says.

When asked what drives his passion, the 52-year-old says it’s wrapped into his mission statement: www.downhomelife.com

the promotion and showcasing of homegrown talent. “I want to be that guy who plays a debut song on the radio for someone, with their family and kids around; and then, for the artist to say, ‘Dean, you made my day,’” he says. “Right there, that’s my payment.”

And yes, to anyone who’s wondering, this is a volunteer passion project.

Dean chuckles, “I don’t do this for personal gain; if I were, I’d be flat broke.”

He might not be making a living at it, but he does make waves. He has a dedicated audience that he hopes will continue to swell. And for his unwavering support of Newfoundland and Labrador musicians, Dean was nominated for MusicNL Media Person of the Year award in 2022.

To listen in to “Jigs & Reels,” visit JigsandReelsRadioKW.com.

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features

sureSHOTS Featuring photographer Glen Pye

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When are lines in the sand not just lines in the sand?

When do trees become an enchanted forest? What makes a sunset more than just the end of another day? When they are appreciated by a photographer and captured by their lens on life.

Anyone can take a good photo with their cellphone these days, but not everyone can make art.

Glen Pye of Stephenville, NL, is pretty humble about his photography. He doesn’t wax poetic about it; he doesn’t assert himself as an artist. He’s just a person who appreciates the beauty around him, and if others like the pictures he takes, well, that’s nice.

“I love people’s reaction to my work,” he admits.

A few years ago, Glen bought his first camera, a Sony Cybershot digital camera, and began taking pictures of “pretty much everything.” When he showed his photos, people would comment on his “eye for photography,” he says. That encouragement and the enjoyment he was getting from his new hobby led to an upgrade to his first Canon DSLR. With that he took a photo that was ultimately chosen for one of the Downhome calendars, and he says that gave him a boost to keep at it.

Nature, as well as inanimate objects existing among it, provides most of the inspiration for Glen’s photography. “I love capturing a good landscape scene – love the colours of sunsets and sunrises – but I also like photographing still and, some would say, unassuming objects and trying to get an interesting angle or composition of them; make a

person think or beg to know the story,” he says. His favourite photo like that is of a long-silenced makeand-break engine. Dusted by a light October snowfall, the rust-red engine rests idly on the property where his grandparents’ house once stood in Lodge Bay, Labrador. “Not only did that make it meaningful to me, that photo ended up in Downhome magazine and on NTV news for the weather with Eddie.”

These days, in addition to his Canon DSLR, Glen will sometimes reach for the camera app on his Samsung S22 Ultra smartphone. “It’s something I always have with me and readily available at a moment’s notice,” Glen says. “I find I can also get angles and perspectives that would not be possible with a traditional camera. Some may not consider that ‘real photography,’ but it works for me and people seem to enjoy the results.”

Maybe hard core traditionalists would snub a cellphone camera, but some smartphone cameras and app technology these days can give a DSLR a run for its money. And, as noted in the beginning, it takes more than good equipment to take a striking photo. It also takes, as Glen Pye surely has, “a good eye.”

Would you like to be featured in Sure Shots?

Send a few sample photos to editorial@downhomelife.com. www.downhomelife.com

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Available at NLC locations province wide

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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

Jellybean Row Strawberry-Partridgberry

The subtle flavour of strawberries present a hint of sweetness that tames but does not diminish the tartness of the Newfoundland partridgeberries. A light-bodied wine that is best served chilled.

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

www.aukislandwinery.com 1-877-639-4637

Shipping not available to Newfoundland and Labrador and Nunavut.

Please visit your local NLC location.

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

AUK ISLAND

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explore

Some of us are snow bunnies – can’t get enough of winter and love the cold.

Some of us battle the winter blues and are tempted to hibernate ’til spring. Whatever camp you’re in, we’ve got you covered. From indoor hobbies that warm the heart, to outdoor escapades that embrace the season’s beauty, we’ve created a list of 25 entertaining ideas to ensure that every winter day is filled with fun.

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Have a snowman building contest

Challenge your siblings, your partner or your neighbours. Winner gets free hot chocolate to sip while watching the loser shovel the driveway for the rest of winter!

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Plan a vacation

Daydream about a tropical getaway or trip-of-a-lifetime.

Even it’s just fantasy, look at faraway shores and plan the must-sees of your dream destination. Make a packing list and don’t forget to add a copy of your favourite magazine!

Go see a show

Get out of the cold and into some culture.

Head to the movies or a theatre production, or out to catch some live music.

Catch the sun

The days are short. Set your alarm extra early to make the most of the tranquility of a winter morning blanketed in snow before the hustle of the day begins. It’s a great way to get a dose of Vitamin D, but don’t forget to slap on some sunscreen.

Gaze at the stars

Take advantage of those long, crisp, clear nights when the skies get dark long before bedtime. Bundle up the whole family to look for constellations or try to spot satellites.

Download an app like NightSky or Star Walk to help you find them.

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Go Sliding

It’s the perfect blend of exciting and terrifying, and hiking back up is great cardio. Stop for hot chocolate to warm up afterward.

Aiden Mahoney photo

Build a fire

Outside, build a campfire. Feel the warmth as flames crackle in the chilly air. Bring some tea and snacks for a boilup! At home, stoke the woodstove or fireplace for some seasonal cosiness.

Go skiing

Cross-country or downhill, strap on some skis and hit the slopes. Skiing’s the next best thing to having wings. If you don’t own skis, lots of parks and municipalities offer equipment rentals.

Go Skating

On the pond or at the rink, find some sturdy, smooth ice and go for a glide. If you can, get a group together for a game of shinny.

Always check the ice first and make sure it’s at least 10 cm thick before walking, skating or ice fishing on it.

Jan Boone photo

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Spruce up your space

Winter’s a great time to do some home improvement. Take the opportunity of time indoors to tackle that project you’ve been putting off, refresh a room with a new coat of paint, or just declutter and rearrange some furniture.

Get Baking

Whip up some cookies or muffins. Give nanny’s bread recipe a try. Not a baker?

Unwrap a pack of Pillsbury rolls, pop them in the oven and enjoy the delicious aroma filling the kitchen.

Learn a traditional craft

Even if you don’t consider yourself crafty, try knitting, carving, painting, rug hooking or whatever inspires you and keeps your hands busy. You can buy craft kits online or from supply stores such as Michael’s.

Build a fort

Get in touch with your inner child and create a hidden hideaway. Build a snow fort outside or a blanket fort inside, and let your imagination run wild.

Go to the library

Get an armload of books and check out board games, movies, musical instruments and all the library has to offer.

Go snowshoeing

Strap on some snowshoes and stop by a snowy wood for some winter serenity. If you’re new to winter sports, many parks offer rentals, and ski clubs and organizations often set up group outings and events.

Beulah Drake photo

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Take winter photos Snow-covered treetops, icy harbours, sparkling sunrises, frozen stages – winter’s full of great photo opportunities. Do it for the ’gram!

Alick Tsui photo

Have a dance party

Shake off those winter blues. Make a playlist of your favourite tunes, roll up the rug and boogie! Dancing gets endorphins flowing, even if you have two left feet.

Throw a dinner party

Invite some pals to gather ‘round for something to eat. Have fun planning a menu or try out a new recipe. It doesn’t have to be perfect! Make a whole night of it with some afterdinner games.

Make seasonal decorations

Cut snowflakes out of paper; gather pinecones and berries to decorate a wreath; line up tea lights in frosted mason jars; there are lots of ways to make cold-weather-themed crafts.

Make a short film

Write a script or storyboard and film it on your phone. Live action, stop-motion, documentary or drama – it could be a masterpiece!

Make music

Always wished you were more musical? Pick up an instrument and get started now. You can check out lessons and tutorials online for almost any instrument.

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Shovel

You’re gonna have to do it eventually. Get out there and clear the driveway. Shovelling is good exercise and a great way to get to know your neighbours.

Have a movie marathon

Pop some popcorn and curl up on the couch for a movie day or night.

Pick a franchise or let each family member take a turn choosing the next flick.

Research your family tree

Trace your ancestry back as far as you can. Record a conversation with your nan or pop about what they remember from their childhood days, or make a scrapbook of family photos for future generations.

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Go on a sleigh ride

Hear those sleigh bells jingling! Meet some friendly horses and go dashing through a winter wonderland.

Many farms and stables offer winter sleigh rides – make sure to bring a blanket to stay comfy-cosy.

Shirlene Edwards photo

www.downhomelife.com

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explore

On any given day in this province, the weather is guaranteed to come up in conversation, whether it’s about the current conditions or the forecast. Old wives and salty dogs alike swear by certain signs of upcoming weather, and our lore is so rich there are even rhymes about weather omens to help us remember.

Hoar frost (crystallized frost) signals southerly wind and rain.

Connie Boland photo

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If Candlemas Day* is fair and fine The worst of the winter’s left behind.

If Candlemas Day is dark and grum, The worst of winter is yet to come. *Candlemas Day is February 2

Thick coats on wild animals indicate a cold winter.

Nicole Bishop photo

When seals whelp (give birth) it means a heavy snowfall is coming.

Old seals jumping into the water is a sign of wind and snow.

If February gives much snow, a fine summer it doth foreshow.

Bright northern lights above the hill, A fine day, then a storm foretell.

The weather on the first 12 days of January foretells the weather for the next 12 months.

Clear moon, frost soon.

Sheila’s Brush, which is a winter storm just after St. Patrick’s Day, signals a good spring to come.

Dreaming of horses is a sign of an impending storm.

Leah Willcott photo

When the winds of October won’t make the leaves go, There’ll be a frosty winter with banks of snow.

A green Christmas means a white Easter.

The closer the ring to the moon or sun, The further the weather yet to come.

www.downhomelife.com

An abundance of myrrh on evergreen trees signals a very cold winter.

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explore

Ah, winter in the North Atlantic.

It’s a frosty, icy, bracing time of discontent. A time of sleetsoaked days and blustery nights. A time of snow squalls, high winds, and graupel that’d put ya off yer tea. And so, we invite you inside – come in out of the cold, b’y. The kettle’s boiling, the fire’s lit and we’re celebrating Newfoundland and Labrador’s great indoors.

Warm as Toast Lucy loves sitting in front of the woodstove.

Michelle Williams • Portugal Cove-St. Philip’s, NL

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Full Swing A kitchen party with music and friends.

Ron and Lila Young St. John’s, NL

Happiness is Homemade Rayna whips up a batch of cookies.

Trina Burry • Badger’s Quay, NL

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Cuddle Up Jasper watches reruns under his favourite blanket.

Rebekah Hayley • Cambridge, ON

Book Nook Grayson relaxes with some reading after helping his Poppy in the garage.

Danielle Hynes • Port au Port, NL

Knit One, Purl One Knitting with nanny.

Carol O’Quinn • St. John’s, NL

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Saturday in the Shed Havin’ a yarn.

Betty Brown • Little Harbour East, NL

Tea Time There’s nothing like a good brew and some Purity crackers.

Jeff Musseau • Port aux Basques, NL

Nan’s Homemade Bread This cutie can’t wait to dig in.

Sherry Cull • Churchill Falls, NL

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HOME and Cabin

stuff we love by Nicola Ryan

Wearable Comfort SLIP YOUR MIND Debby Briffett Waye of Mostly Moccasins has been sewing handmade, Labradorinspired, beaded moccasins for more than 30 years. Treat your tootsies to a pair of her hand-stitched slippers made of suede with soft fur trim and Sherpa lining to stay warm and cosy.

Facebook.com/Moccasins

BLANKET SPACE Ultra soft, ultra cosy, you’ll want to keep your Oodie on till spring.

Oversized, with a soft flannel fleece exterior and a Sherpa fleece interior, these toasty wearable blankets have a giant pocket for snacks and come in an endless variety of quirky patterns. You won’t feel winter’s chill when you’re cuddled up in one of these! Ca.TheOodie.com

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ALL WINDS AND WEATHER Maria Halfyard was working in the maritime business development field when she recognized a need for fulllength rainwear made for women.

She’s since created the Mernini raincoat: full length, lightweight and 100% waterproof, it’s the best raincoat for the worst weather. Sleet, snow, sideways rain; bring it on. Mernini.com

MITTS ABOUT YOU Wooly mitts combine cosiness with a touch of nostalgia when they’re knit in a traditional style like nanny used to make. You can find oldfashioned Newfoundland trigger mitts like these ones by Spindrift Knits at local retailers, craft markets or online. SpindriftKnits.com

SWEATER WEATHER Oileánach Knits creates NL landscape-inspired knitwear using highquality, all-natural materials like wool, silk and mohair from ethical and sustainable sources. Splurge on a handmade sweater – orders can be placed at Oileánach.ca – or check out the more affordable patterns at Ravelry.com.

www.downhomelife.com

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Ask Marie Anything Interior designer Marie Bishop takes your questions

Q. I’ve been thinking of hiring an interior decorator or designer for an upcoming renovation project. Can you tell me what services are offered, what questions I should ask and what should I expect to pay?

I have found there is a lot of curiosity around this whole topic. First of all, there is some confusion around those two labels.

Interior designers and interior decorators are not always mutually inclusive. Generally speaking, an interior designer is someone who is very involved in the creative process of the 92

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project and can take it from planning to completion.

They are able to produce floor plans that include electrical, lighting, furniture and cabinetry layouts, as well as choices for windows, doors and hardware etc. They also supply colour boards specifying paint, wallpaper, wood finishes, window coverings, furniture and accessories. Occasionally the interior designer also becomes the project manager. Knowing all the trades involved in a new build or renovation, and the order in which the work needs to be done, gives the designer a great perspective on keeping the project on track.

An interior decorator, on the other hand, is usually responsible for the more cosmetic side of the project, namely lighting, floor and wall finishes, furnishings and accessories. So, you see, a designer is also a decorator, but a decorator isn’t always a designer.

With that in mind, you need to decide how much help you actually need with this upcoming renovation.

If you are not well versed in the construction world and feel totally overwhelmed by the whole idea, then a designer is your best bet. If you have a knowledgeable contractor who has reliable tradespeople, and you have a solid idea of what needs to be done – or at least what you want the end result to look like – then a decorator to help you with the finishes and colours is probably a good fit.

Whichever route you go, you will need to discuss the scope of work with your designer or decorator. Generally speaking, there is no charge for the initial visit to www.downhomelife.com

An interior designer is someone who is very involved in the creative process of the project and can take it from planning to completion.

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Next, you’ll need to know what services will be included. I suggest you spend a little time on this one to determine whether drawings, renderings, electrical and plumbing plans are part of the scope of work. determine exactly what the job is and what it involves. But this meeting is critical for you to determine if this person is a good fit for the job you’re planning. Communication is key here for both parties, so ask lots of questions.

From your perspective, you need to have a solid vision of what it is you want. I assume you’ve probably been thinking about and studying the renovation possibilities for a while, which means you have at least some idea of what needs to change and how you picture the end result. During this process you may have come to understand your own sense of style and design: the colours you are most comfortable with, the style of 94

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furniture you are most attracted to, and the overall aesthetic you are trying to achieve. It’s really helpful if you’ve created a vision or mood board, either on Pinterest or Instagram, or on paper. It could even be as old school as clipping magazine pages and keeping a file of those images that, for one reason or another, appeal to you. This is a wonderful guideline for you and your designer throughout the process.

So, back to finding someone who’s the right fit for the job. There are some basic questions you need to ask during that first meeting, and usually through the course of the conversation most of these areas will be covered. But it helps to have a checklist 1-888-588-6353

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written down to make sure nothing is left out.

First of all, I think it’s important to know what the designer’s philosophy is. What is their biggest motivator?

Is it a passion for design, the joy of creating, the social aspect? Or is it financial? It could be all of the above.

This will help you understand the person you’ll be working with over the next weeks and months.

I have to admit, I find the whole process very rewarding, bringing something from a creative thought to reality. My personal philosophy: when someone’s space nurtures and comforts them, I believe they are better people in the world. So my aim is to help my clients create a space they love so they are at peace when they are at home.

Next, you’ll need to know what services will be included. I suggest you spend a little time on this one to determine whether drawings, renderings, and electrical and plumbing plans are part of the scope of work.

The relationship between the designer and contractor is a critical one, and the more information the contractor has on a detailed drawing and explicit side notes, the less chance of a misunderstanding and a costly mistake.

The third question, sometimes with the most tangly answer, is “How much do you charge?” I wish the answer could be straightforward, but it usually isn’t. If the scope of work is minimal, such as paint colours and window treatments, you can expect to pay an hourly rate. This can range

from $50 to $100 per hour, depending on the designer. If it’s a long-term renovation, a contract price can be negotiated with payments made on a monthly or biweekly basis. An experienced designer should be able to estimate how long the job will take, as long as there are no unforeseen delays or unexpected surprises once walls are removed.

In any case, the cost is an area you should feel comfortable with. It will help if you have a budget in mind, not only for the entire project, but for the design fees as well. You could let the designer know what your budget is for their fees and ask if they can work within that budget.

Other items you should clarify are: when they are available to start, what needs to be done first and the schedule moving forward. It’s also beneficial to everyone if you have an end date in mind. They may not hit that target, but it’s something to aim for.

If they can provide referrals for similar projects to yours, this will give you a good sense of their capabilities.

Also be sure to check out their website and social media profiles.

A renovation is a disruption to your daily life, for sure. But if you put the time into the planning stage and have as many items – such as flooring, light fixtures, appliances etc. – on hand or in storage as possible, this will minimize delays and eliminate unnecessary bumps in the process.

I wish you well with your upcoming project and hope you find someone who’s a good fit for the job, someone who will help you love your space.

Ask Marie Anything!

Got a design question for Marie? Email editorial@downhomelife.com. www.downhomelife.com

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Here are 4 ways to stretch your grocery money and reduce food waste

1

Even if you only go through a litre of milk a week, buy the 2 L cartons for the better price. Freeze milk in cleaned out, recycled 500 ml bottles (eg. water or sports drink bottles). Move one from the freezer to the fridge the day before you need it. Once thawed, just shake it well and it’s just like the day you bought it!

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2

When eggs go on sale, buy extra. You can freeze eggs in portions to use later. You can’t freeze them whole, but crack them and whisk them in two-egg portions, perfect for baking or making scrambled eggs. Pour the portions into resealable plastic bags and lay them flat in the freezer so the bags can easily stack. When you need eggs, thaw the bag under warm running water. Use eggs the same day you thaw them; they don’t keep any longer than that.

3 4

Don’t throw out overripe bananas! And look for stores to sometimes sell off their blackened bananas for cheap. Freeze them whole. When thawed, they’re easy to mash into cake and muffin recipes or smoothies.

(Baker’s tip: You can use one medium banana to replace 1 large egg or 1 cup of butter or oil in most baking recipes.)

Save your stale bread. As long as there’s no mould on it, you can grind your stale bread and/or loaf ends in a blender and freeze it in a resealable bag, or freeze the slices whole and grate them later (it’s easier to grate when it’s frozen stiff), to make dressing (stuffing) or casserole toppings such as for macaroni and cheese.

Got any money saving tips or handy kitchen hacks?

Share them with the rest of us!

Email your tips to editorial@downhomelife.com, or write to Downhome, 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3. www.downhomelife.com

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Todd’s table

Corn Chowder 98

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most typical January days in Todd’s Table Like Canada, and certainly in Newfoundland and

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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Labrador, the weather is cold and, if nothing else, unpredictable. Yes, we’ve had our mild stretch of January days, but they’re always tagged “unseasonal.” Generally, the weather in January is cold, windy and snowy. And as I get older, I honestly dislike January more every year. I keep saying I just want to get home after work and get in the kitchen – a.k.a Todd’s shed kitchen – where I can catch up on the news and sports, and enjoy the pleasure of preparing a meal.

Maybe I’m a broken record when it comes to soups and stews, but nothing, in my opinion, satisfies quite like a good, hot bowl of soup on those cold days and nights. I try new soup recipes from time to time, and I happened to get a glimpse of corn chowder recently and realized that I’ve never cooked corn chowder. As a matter of fact, I can’t remember ever eating corn chowder. But there was something about that photo of it that made me crave something I had never tasted.

So, corn chowder it is! Off I went to gather the ingredients on a sunny Saturday morning in late fall. I hit up all the vegetable trucks and farmer’s markets in my area, but was so disappointed to strike out on the corn in husks. I had to settle for supermarket corn on the cob, freshfrozen and already shucked. Oh well, the soup won’t know the difference, I guess.

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Corn Chowder 1 tbsp butter 4 strips bacon 1 medium onion, chopped 2 medium carrots, peeled and diced small 2 stalks celery, diced small 4-6 ears of corn, remove kernels, save cobs

1 bay leaf 1 1/2 cups chicken stock 3 cups whole milk 2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced (optional) Kosher salt to taste Ground black pepper to taste 1 tsp fresh or dried thyme leaves

Prepare the corn cobs by standing each cob on its end on a cutting board. Use a large knife to carefully slice the kernels off the cobs. Save the cobs and set the kernels aside. (If you bought frozen cobs, remove them from the freezer and thaw them ahead of time.)

Slice the bacon into 1/2-inch pieces. Add them to your large chowder pot with the butter and cook until bacon is crispy (4-5 minutes).

Remove bacon and set aside. The bacon fat and butter will add great flavour to the soup. (Bacon makes everything taste better, as far as I’m concerned.)

Add to the pot the chopped onions, carrot and celery. Cook for 5-7 minutes over medium heat until vegetables are tender.

Add the chicken stock. Break the cobs in half and add to the pot; cooking the cobs will release lots of flavour. Add the bay leaf and bring everything to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover the pot and cook for about 15 minutes.

Add the potatoes if you are using them. Stir in the salt, pepper, whole milk and thyme, and continue to simmer on low heat for another 10 minutes.

Discard the cobs and the bay leaf.

Add the kernels and simmer until the potatoes are tender. Be careful not to scald the milk, so choose the lowest temperature setting possible. Taste the chowder at this point to see if you need more salt or pepper.

I like to purée about 25 per cent of the contents of the chowder. You can do that right in the pot with an immersion blender, or transfer about a quarter of the chowder to a blender.

Make sure the blender top is secure and be careful of hot splatter. Return blended portion to the chowder pot, stir well and serve. Garnish each individual bowl with crispy bacon.

Enjoy! Makes 6-8 servings

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Todd’s tips Be careful removing the kernels from the cobs. If you’re concerned about injury, use frozen or canned kernels. It won’t be as flavourful, but it’s an option.

Be aware of the heat after you add the milk, to avoid scalding.

Always, always cook with confidence.

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life is better Golden skies in Labrador City Keith Fitzpatrick, Labrador City, NL

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downhome recipes

Soups On! After an afternoon of playing in the snow, or shovelling the driveway – again!, nothing warms you up better than a steaming bowl of homemade soup.

Carrot Soup 1/4 cup butter or margarine 2 medium onions, chopped 1 garlic clove, minced 3 medium potatoes, diced 4 medium carrots, diced

5 cups chicken stock 1 bay leaf 1/4-1/2 tsp thyme 1/4 tsp pepper

Melt butter in large saucepan. Add onion and garlic; sauté until clear and soft. Add remaining ingredients, using 1/4 tsp thyme. Bring to a boil; cover and simmer until vegetables are tender. Discard bay leaf. Taste and add more thyme if desired. Purée hot soup in batches in a blender (careful of the splatter), or use an immersion blender in the pot. Serves 6-8.

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Broccoli Soup 3 cups chicken broth 4 cups fresh broccoli, chopped 1 cup chopped celery 1 cup chopped carrots 1/2 cup chopped onion 6 tbsp butter or margarine

6 tbsp flour 2 cups milk 1 tbsp minced fresh parsley 1 tsp onion salt 1/2 tsp garlic powder 1/2 tsp salt

In dutch oven or soup pot, bring chicken broth to a boil. Add broccoli, celery and carrots; boil for 2-3 minutes. Drain pot, carefully reserving liquid, and set vegetables aside. In same pot, sauté onion in butter until tender. Stir in flour to form a smooth paste. Gradually add the reserved broth and milk, stirring constantly. Bring to a boil and stir for 1 minute.

Add vegetables and remaining ingredients. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Serves 6-8.

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Bean and Bacon Soup 1 lb dried navy beans 8 cups water 1 lb bacon 2 onions, finely chopped 2 stalks celery, finely chopped 5 tsp dried chicken bouillon

4 cups water 2 bay leaves 1/2 tsp ground black pepper 1/8 tsp ground cloves 1 (16 oz) can diced tomatoes

In a large pot, add beans and 8 cups of water. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat and let sit for one hour. Drain beans and set aside.

In the same large pot, cook bacon until crispy; remove and coarsely chop the bacon, and set it aside. Add onions and celery to the bacon grease in the pot and sauté until soft. Add chicken bouillon, 4 cups of water, drained beans, bay leaves, pepper, cloves, bacon and the can of tomatoes including juice. Simmer for 2 hours until thickened slightly and beans are tender. Remove bay leaves before serving. Serves 6.

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Chicken and Rice Soup 1/4 cup butter 1 small onion, diced 1 small carrot, diced 2 stalks celery, including leaves, diced 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 sprigs thyme, chopped

3/4 cup long grain rice, rinsed and uncooked 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, chopped 5 cups chicken stock 1/2 cup green peas

Melt butter in a saucepan. Add onion, carrot, celery, garlic and thyme.

Cook until onions are translucent. Add rice and chicken, and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add stock and bring just to a boil; reduce heat immediately and simmer for about 15 minutes. Add green peas just before serving. Serves 4-6.

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Hamburger Soup 1 lb lean ground beef 4 onions, diced 2 stalks celery, diced 2 large carrots, diced 2 bay leaves 1 cup elbow macaroni salt and pepper, to taste

10 cups water 3 tbsp beef bouillon 1 (796 ml) can diced tomatoes 1 can tomato sauce 3 tsp chili powder 2 tsp basil

Brown meat with onions, celery and carrots in soup pot. Once meat is browned, add remaining ingredients. Simmer until done. Serves 6.

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Hearty Minestrone Soup 3 slices bacon, chopped 1 onion, chopped 1 carrot, chopped 1 stalk celery, chopped 1 1/2 cups cabbage, chopped 4 cups water 3 cans chicken broth 1 large can diced tomatoes, with liquid

1 cup mini pasta shells 1 can red or white kidney beans, drained and rinsed 3 cloves of garlic, minced 2 tbsp Italian parsley, chopped (fresh or dried) Parmesan cheese, grated

In a large soup pot, cook bacon until crisp. Add onion, carrot, celery and cabbage. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Stir in water, broth and tomatoes with liquid; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 15 minutes. Stir in shells and cook, uncovered, 15 minutes longer. Stir beans, garlic and parsley into soup and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese. Serves 6-8.

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down to earth

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Putting the Joy in January

BY KIM THISTLE

Some of us, especially gardeners, find winter a bit confining and yearn for the longer days of spring and summer to get our fingers back in the dirt. Here are some things we can do to keep our sanity when the days are short and the ground is frozen.

Plan your garden Plan your garden beds for the coming season. Take into account the types of plants you will grow, crop rotation, and structures such as fencing for beans and peas.

If you have a small area, consider more vertical growing. Plan those areas now and spend the winter building some teepees or trellises. Get them done now during the slow months and you’ll be a step ahead when you plant your peas or beans. Those babies grow so fast that I find I am already 10 steps behind if I don’t have their supports ready to go. And don’t forget peonies!

If you don’t get the support around those within a week of them poking through the ground, chances are you are going to beat them up trying.

Are you planning to extend your garden season next year? Coldframes are the ideal way to do this, and winter is a great time to plan and build them so that they are ready for spring installation. A little research before beginning this project wouldn’t hurt. www.downhomelife.com

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Stay in Shape Gardening is very physical. Pushing that wheelbarrow, shovelling dirt, and squatting for hours on end to plant and weed can be a workout. The Netflix documentary Blue Zone explains how those day-to-day movements of living a “close to the earth” life will keep you in the game for longer. So what do you do when you can’t garden for weeks on end? Develop a winter routine of squats, stretches and lifting. Sign up for a yoga class. Yoga is the cure-all for everything; it will heal your body and mind.

Sharpen Your Tools

Gather Seaweed

Disinfect, sharpen and oil your tools.

Most gardeners don’t make this a priority, but weeding with a dull hoe is like trying to cut the Christmas turkey with a popsicle stick. You will be astounded at the ease to which you can weed with a sharp tool. And don’t neglect your pruning shears.

Pruning branches with dull shears does more damage than pulling the branches off with your teeth.

You can always gather seaweed for composting. Any day of the year is a good seaweed day… especially after a good onshore wind. And who doesn’t love a day at the beach?

Indoor Gardening Maybe you have some indoor plants that need dividing and repotting.

That’s an activity that will get your hands dirty and fill that need for soil under your fingernails.

Get creative and make some macrame plant hangers for those hanging plants that are sitting on your windowsill.

Wash and sterilize your seeding trays and pots.

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Research and Relax Is it a particularly blizzardy day? Curl up on the sofa with a blanket and read The Lost Garden by Helen Humphreys or The Year-Round Vegetable Gardener by Niki Jabbour.

Get a large mason jar and some cheesecloth, and grow yourself some alfalfa sprouts. You don’t have to stick with alfalfa, either. There are tons of sprout varieties to try, and they are all delicious!!

Construct a vermicompost. Don’t know what that is? It’s a type of composting that you can do year-round inside your home. All you need is a large plastic tub with a cover, some newspapers and a handful of red wiggler worms. There are dozens of sites online that will give you complete instructions.

Are the children home from school and driving you batty? Make some hot chocolate and break out Frances Hodgson Burnett’s The Secret Garden. It ranks right up there with Narnia.

Have you been meaning to revamp your perennial garden to one with blooming flowers all year-round?

Now is the time to research what blooms when and design a bed with continuous bloom. Don’t forget to check out the colours to be sure that complimentary colours bloom together.

Get some grow lights and start some seeds inside. Things like onions and pansies are long season plants and need to be started in March. That should help to scratch the itch.

Grow some ginger indoors. Now is the time to look for healthy, firm roots at your local grocery store.

Look for swollen buds on the tips: these are the ones that are ready to sprout. Ginger is so easy to grow inside – and once you have eaten it fresh, you will never be able to stomach the store-bought stuff again.

Make your own seed tapes for those tiny seed that are so difficult to plant.

There are all kinds of websites that give step-by-step instructions.

If all else fails, grab your skis or snowshoes and get outdoors and enjoy the winter. Every day is a gift.

Kim is a horticultural consultant, a retired garden centre owner and a dedicated garden enthusiast!

Got a question for Kim?

downtoearth@downhomelife.com www.downhomelife.com

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reminiscing flashbacks

Sweet Skiers Joan Tipping and a friend hit the slopes near Deer Lake in the winter of 1945.

Susan Herdman Lincolnton, GA, USA

Carter Family John Wallace and Reta Carter pose with their children – Alman, Harold and Viola – in the winter of 1941 or ’42.

Karen Simon Margaree, NL

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Classic Cars

Cars are parked in the snow at the Ernest Harmon Air Force Base in Stephenville in 1953.

Steve Adam Rossville, GA, USA

This Month in History Operations to extract the rich mineral deposits beneath Conception Bay began in the summer of 1895, and soon the Wabana mine on Bell Island was the largest producer of iron ore in all of North America. The mine’s ore was highly sought after, feeding the giant steel mills of Sydney, NS, and playing a crucial role in the steel production needed for the war efforts.

By the middle of the 20th century, the emergence of new technologies and markets affected the prominence of the Bell Island mines. On January 1, 1950, the first of the mines was shut down, leaving three in operation. The other mines were shut down in 1959, 1962 and April 1966. At the time of its closure, Bell Island was Canada’s longest continually operating mining project, and more than 78,000,000 tons of ore had been shipped to Canada, the United States, Belgium, Holland and West Germany.

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reminiscing visions & vignettes

Gnat, do you mind…

Sleigh Rides?

By Harold N. Walters

A New Year’s blizzard hammered Brookwater, blew off into the North Atlantic and then, just for badness, doubled back and punched Brookwater with a knockout blow. Of course, Brookwater’s residents had seen blizzards come and go and come again; folks left shovels on their porch roofs so others, those not smothered beneath 15-foot snowdrifts, could dig them out.

Harry and Gnat were among (underfoot mostly) the men who dug into the humongous drift that had completely covered Aunt Chook’s cottage. After they’d shovelled a tunnel like a mineshaft to the porch, Wince Cody climbed down, prised open the door and found Aunt Chook inside, cocooned in blankets and froze half to death. Wince lifted her into his arms and, all hands trailing, carried her to Uncle Pell’s shop, the closest place with a roaring fire 114

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and a red-hot funnel.

When Aunt Chook thawed out, she thanked her rescuers. “That wudden a bit of fun. I thought for sure I was going to meet me Maker,” she said shakily. Then she slipped into a lowminded slump.

Harry wasn’t sure of the reason, but seeing Aunt Chook’s sad face made him remember the dustcovered open sleigh shuffed against the back wall of Harve Hinker’s stable. He and Gnat had discovered it 1-888-588-6353

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one day last summer while investigating the whereabouts of a rat they’d seen scurrying inside through a hole in the wall.

Aunt Chook shivered and shook, even after Aunt Hood arrived, elbowed the men aside and chafed the suffering woman’s hands and arms to warm up her blood.

“She don’t look too good,” said Gnat.

“She don’t,” said Harry. “She’s going to need some cheering up when she gets over this ordeal. And I got an idea.”

“I ’low,” said Gnat.

For days, although the sky was as blue as a newborn baby’s eyes, the weather remained crisp and cold and not a single snowflake melted. The snow brigade wholly uncovered Aunt Chook’s house, and women visited her constantly to make sure she was comfortable and not sinking into – as Harry thought about it because he’d read the Classics comic version of Pilgrim’s Progress – the Slough of Despond.

On another frosty morning, Harry and Gnat – being sensibly helpful despite their sometimes less than stellar reputations – lugged yaffles of firewood inside and stogged Aunt Chook’s woodbox.

“How’s you feeling, Aunt Chook?”

Harry asked, dusting wood chips off his jacket.

“Better than I was. I’m still not meself, though.”

“Tell you what. Me and Gnat got an idea about something to perk you up,” he said.

“What’s that? You idden going to sing to me, I hope.”

Ignoring the subtle slight regarding 1-888-588-6353

the universally recognized abrasive nature of his singing voice, Harry said, “No, no singing. Something a thousand times better.”

Supporting Harry, Gnat nodded double-time, yet privately sided with Aunt Chook concerning Harry’s caterwauling crooning.

Being a considerate boy, Harry snuggled Aunt Chook’s knitted shawl around her shoulders. “We’ll be back after dinner,” he told her.

Outside, Harry said, “I wonder if Trafalgar is still in Harve’s stable.”

“I ’low he is,” said Gnat.

Off they went, two gallant young gents, and found Trafalgar snug in his stall. The aroma of steaming manure accompanied Trafalgar’s snorted greeting as he pawed the floorboards and tossed his mane in hopeful anticipation of shenanigans.

Harry and Gnat stroked Trafalgar’s lantern-jawed cheeks. “Yes, b’y, we’m going to have some fun,” Harry said.

Leaving the eager horse, me stalwart buckoes dodged to the dusty sleigh stored against the back wall.

“Let’s haul ’er around and straighten ’er out. Get the shafts lined up,” said Harry. It took a few minutes and some strenuous scoating, but soon enough the old sleigh’s shafts were pointed towards the barn’s big double doors.

While Gnat hauled the harness off its wall hooks, Harry opened the gate of Trafalgar’s stall. Needing no urging, Trafalgar stepped from the stall and backed himself between the shafts.

“You’m the b’y,” said Harry.

The … horse thieves? … struggled to heave the heavy harness over Trafalgar’s back, but they managed.

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Traces attached, halter and reins hooked up, Harry boarded the sleigh while Gnat, on lookout at the wideopen doors, watched to make sure Harve didn’t see them leave the barn.

“I hope Harve is lid down on his daybed having an after-dinner snooze,” Gnat said.

As horse and sleigh slid outside, Gnat scrambled aboard. Seeing the coast was clear, Harry gave Trafalgar

the path and stomped into Aunt Chook’s porch. “Aunt Chook!” he bawled out.

“Gracious sakes!” said Aunt Chook as she opened the door leading from her kitchen. “What’s you going on about?”

“We’m here to get you,” said Gnat, a grin splitting his chops.

Aunt Chook buttoned herself up in several sweaters and a couple of

Through the shop window, Uncle Pell watched Trafalgar trot up the snow-covered road towards Aunt Chook’s cottage, sleigh and boys in tow. “What’s them two young buggers up to now?” Uncle Pell wondered. Puffing his pipe in a chair beside the potbelly stove, Old Man Farley said, “Nothing good.” the gitty-up go-ahead. Trafalgar leaned into his harness, dug in his steel-spiked horseshoes and clipitty-clopped away from Harve’s stable yard.

Through the shop window, Uncle Pell watched Trafalgar trot up the snow-covered road towards Aunt Chook’s cottage, sleigh and boys in tow. “What’s them two young buggers up to now?” Uncle Pell wondered.

Puffing his pipe in a chair beside the potbelly stove, Old Man Farley said, “Nothing good.”

Yet neither man, nor anyone else in Brookwater who happened to notice horse and sleigh and boys pass by, bothered to question the troop. They allowed boys to be … you know.

At journey’s end, Harry guided Trafalgar to a halt with the sleigh broadside to the snowy canyon leading to Aunt Chook’s porch door.

“Whoa,” he said, a bit after the fact.

Gnat hopped out, scravelled down 116

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coats. Then, like the Queen’s footman handing m’lady into her carriage, Gnat helped her into the open-side sleigh and tucked her in with a mouldy quilt that came with the sleigh.

Gnat sat beside Aunt Chook and braced his foot against the side of the sleigh, effectively clamping Aunt Chook into the sleigh’s curved end.

Harry slapped the reins against Trafalgar’s back. There was no need for gitty-up because Trafalgar surged forward as if reacting to a gunshot.

Harness rattled and the jingle-bells fastened to the sleigh’s curled front… well, jingled.

Maybe somewhere in Trafalgar’s DNA was a memory of an ancestor – as in the popular song – dashing through the snow, because he bounded from the road’s beaten path and set his course across grass gardens and potato patches. Gnat, for sure familiar with the old song, yelled 1-888-588-6353

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into Aunt Chook’s ear, “Hang on, Aunt Chook! O’er the fields we go!”

Did Aunt Chook chuckle? Sure, she did. Soon she was laughing all the way… … all the way across the rutted, frozen trenches of Old Man Farley’s potato patch, the sleigh’s iron runners screeching and sparking when they skidded on occasional bare bits of clay. … all the way through Wince Cody’s grass garden, with Gnat shielding Aunt Chook from the clods of snow flung from Trafalgar’s galloping hooves. … all the way around Brookwater cove, Aunt Chook ballyhooing like a youngster at Christmas.

Harry hung on to the reins only to keep them from tangling around Trafalgar’s hind legs.

On the downhill slope of Harve Hinker’s meadow, Trafalgar chuffed like a steam engine, his snorting nostrils pointed arrow-straight towards the rail fence at the bottom. During the blizzard, the north wind had built its most spectacular snowdrift beyond Harve’s fence and across the brook that ran alongside – a stupendous drift the size of a Sahara sand dune… only much colder.

Barely outrunning the sleigh whose shaft had reeved forward past his withers, Trafalgar approached the fence like a champion steed in a steeplechase. Then he did what steeplechase champions do. He jumped.

As horse and sleigh cleared the top 1-888-588-6353

rail, Aunt Chook’s spirits sprouted wings. As horse and sleigh cleared the brook, Aunt Chook’s spirits soared like eagles.

Then, as horse and sleigh and shrieking boys, like wreckage in an avalanche, plowed headfirst into the drifted bank and got upsot, Aunt Chook cheered and slapped her mittened hands together. She may well have said, “Wheeeeeeee!” as the snowdrift foundered and buried the whole kit and kaboodle.

Mind that sleighride, Gnat? For the rest of the winter and well into the spring, Aunt Chook spoke of how the wonderful sleighride Brookwater’s favourite, chivalrous trio had taken her on had cheered her up.

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

January 2024

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reminiscing

ell have lls what might w g career ca re en re G m To lotin t” flight of his pi been the “wildes

When

I was flying for Eastern Provincial Airways (EPA) in the early 1960s, delivering mail in Beavers or charters to all parts of Newfoundland and Labrador, I had a call one day from Bill Brown, the dispatcher, about a very special delivery. He told me I was to co-pilot a Canso with Captain Roy Cooper, chief pilot for EPA, and we were going to Merasheen Islands to deliver four live caribou!

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The Canso is an amphibious WWII airplane used for spotting submarines, for search and rescue, and for other duties. I had never flown one of these before.

On August 20, 1963, I was up bright and early to arrive at the EPA hangar. Capt. Cooper and I did the normal pre-fight checks aboard the Canso. Then wildlife officers came with the live caribou, two male and two female animals. (I think there were six officials and four animals, but it could have been six caribou – I can’t remember for sure. It was 59 years ago!) Once the animals were aboard, everyone settled away for the flight.

We took off for Merasheen Islands, about an hour or so away. Now the writing in my old log book is getting pretty hard to read, mainly because I never took enough time to write in it properly and because it’s just old.

But the first place we landed was a place called Sound Island (I think?).

But it wasn’t suitable to drop off the caribou, so we took off again. We landed next in a small cove with a pebble beach on it, as I remember, and the shoreline had a good place for the animals to get ashore and into the woods.

After we landed, Roy put the wheels down and we gently nudged the beach with the nose wheel. Normally in a Canso you would lower the main landing gear (wheels) and taxi with them down in the water.

The wildlife officers opened the door, one that opened upwards, and took each animal and gently dropped it in the water. Off they swam to the shore and made their way towards 1-888-588-6353

the woods and their new home!

We taxied out from the beach and took off again, headed back to Gander.

Capt.

Cooper turned the controls over to yours truly, as he had to check that the landing gear was in the locked up position, done visually from the main cabin of the airplane.

During the flight, I glanced back in the cabin at one point and saw that the wildlife folks had one of their own hog-tied and lying on the floor! I believe he was a real nice fellow, but you never knew what he would be up to, always tormenting his fellow workers and playing jokes on them.

So they decided to fix him once and for all. After we landed in Gander and taxied to the hangar, they drove their pick-up truck up under the door of the Canso and lowered him down to the bed of the pickup!

They all jumped in with him and off they went.

So this is the story of how caribou arrived on Merasheen Islands on August 20, 1963, to the best I can recall and with the date from my log book. They have since grown into a healthy herd that is still being hunted and providing fresh meat to locals.

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reminiscing

A hair-raising tale out of old Bay Roberts

By Dennis Flynn

THE TANTALIZING SCENTS

of crisp bacon, strong coffee, rich molasses and golden homemade loaves dripping in butter hang in the air at the Mad Rocks Café in Bay Roberts, NL. I smile as only a gut-famished dawn hiker can as I dig into a delicious fried-bread dough confection called everything from a damper devil to a dickie dough, but most commonly a touton.

As proprietor Graham Badcock watches me, he can’t resist a quip: “I was going to offer you a refill on the coffee, but I figured it best to wait until you stopped eating. Safer to stick my hand in the jaws of a great white shark than get between you and that touton. They don’t feed you much up the bay do they, Dennis?”

I’ve been coming here for years, so Graham knows me well enough to torment me without mercy. He also loves to entertain me with stories of old Bay Roberts, his hometown. Today’s topic is, literally, the stuff of legends.

“Do you know the great big spot of barren land well down from The Running Brook, but before Menchions Lane, in the east end of Bay 120

January 2024

Roberts?” Graham begins. “It is kind of boggy and all growed-in with alders these days, but there used to be a great big flat boulder about midway down that long stretch where there are no houses.

We called it the White Rock.”

The boulder isn’t so obvious now, but it was a landmark in the 1950s.

Adults made up stories about it to scare children aware from areas that could endanger them, Graham explains, which might be how there came to be the White Rock Witch.

“Visitors not familiar with the local landscape are not aware, but there are big drop-offs from cliffs not too terribly far from the White Rock. Also, back then there were no 1-888-588-6353

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streetlights; and before lands were drained and ditched properly, there were lots of small ponds and bogs all over rough ground where someone could have a very bad turn and trip and drown if they were not careful,” Graham says. “So older folks always claimed there was some type of bad spirit up there that looked like an old woman. It used to appear dancing on the White Rock while beckoning children and travellers to come join her, enticing them to climb up on the rock with her. Nobody knew for sure who or what she was.

Some thought it was a fairy, and others said it was a restless ghost of a lady haunting the spot where she died. Most people simply called her the Witch and figured if she caught you that would be the end of it for you.”

He continues, “Young fellows testing the courage of their buddies coming on dusk might dare friends to stand on the White Rock and have a dance, or call out taunting the Witch and silly things like that.

Lots of older people claimed they saw or experienced strange things there – and who is to say they didn’t?”

Graham himself had an encounter there, he reveals, when he was a boy.

“I am in my 70s now, but I had a tiny bicycle when I was about 10 or 12 years old. Single speed back in those days and nothing fancy, but I was very active for a little fellow, and I was pretty proud of how I could move along on that bike,” he says.

That night he was riding home from babysitting at his older sister’s house. It was cold, getting dark and

starting to rain, so Graham was pedalling as fast as his legs could go.

“Besides that, I was half-scared of the Witch. So when I got up to the White Rock I never slowed down at all, but took a sideways glance in towards it.

Then all of a sudden! Bamo! Right out of the blue it happened! A great big bolt of lightning hit the White Rock right where the Witch was supposed to stand and lit the whole sky up like daylight!” Graham recalls.

“Here I am still a mile or more from home, by myself, and the Witch is

Breathlessly I ask, “Was it the Witch?

What did she do next?”

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riding a lightning bolt right next to me. I was scared to death, and I had no idea what was going to happen in the next split second!”

Breathlessly I ask, “Was it the Witch? What did she do next?”

Graham didn’t stick around to find out. “I took off on the bike with that much of a start when the lightning flashed that I was home in my parents’ house, up the stairs, out of my wet clothes and hid under the bed covers in my room before the first thunder clap accompanying it even sounded… To this day, I allow that the fastest thing in history that ever travelled down through Bay Roberts Harbour was me on that tiny bike trying to escape the Witch of the White Rock.”

January 2024

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Now more than ever a Downhome subscription is a great value. Not only do you save over $20 off the cover price, you receive: 1 Year (12 issues) OF DOWNHOME

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SIGN GIFT CARD FROM: _______________________________________ * Valid in Canada on a 1-year term. Total inc. taxes, postage and handling: for residents in NL, NS, NB, PE $49.44; ON $48.58; QC, SK, MB, AB, BC, NU, NT, YT $45.14; US $54.99; International $59.99. ** Valid in Canada on a 3-year term. Total inc. taxes, postage and handling: for residents in NL, NS, NB, PE $124.19; ON $122.03; QC, SK, MB, AB, BC, NU, NT, YT $113.39; US $159.99.

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

ORDER ONLINE TODAY! www.joindownhome.com

2401_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 11/22/23 5:01 PM Page 124

puzzles

The Beaten Path

Beatrice Powell photo

By Ron Young

Block out all the letters that are like other letters in every way, including shape and size. The letters that are left over, when unscrambled, will spell out the name of the above community.

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Last Month’s Community: Eastport 124

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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

January 2024

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Darlene Spurell photo

2401_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 11/22/23 5:02 PM Page 126

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: • It’s a tiny settlement in Trinity Bay • Sandwiched between Little Heart’s Ease and Gooseberry Cove • Its name often pairs with “bread” • Earliest English settlers were Moses and Honor Spurrell • The cove was settled around 1845

Last Month’s Answer: Bottle Cove

Picturesque Place NameS of Newfoundland and Labrador

by Mel D’Souza Last Month’s Answer: Labrador City 126

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

Last Month’s Clue: Slumber in angelic calm In Other Words: Sleep in heavenly peace

This Month’s Clue: I am unable to encircle my cranium about the thing In Other Words: __ ____ ____ ___ _____ ________ ___

A Way With Words

FISH

po

nd

Last Month’s Answer: A big fish in a small pond

This Month’s Clue

Rhyme Time A rhyming word game by Ron Young

1. To attempt to soar is to ___ to ___ 2. To grow a plant you ____ a ____

THE BRIDGE IT’S WATER

3. A cosy caterpillar is a ____ ___

Answer: ___ _____ ____ ___ ______

Last Month’s Answers 1. rude dude, 2. yellow Jell-O, 3. knight light

Scrambled Sayings by Ron Young Place each of the letters in the rectangular box below into one of the white square boxes above them to discover a quotation. Incomplete words that begin on the right side of the diagram continue one line down on the left. The letters may or may not go in the box in the same order that they are in the column. Once a letter is used, cross it off and do not use it again.

.

N D O E A N D E H H E H E I I H E M G E H A I I S D O E O H I N G S L L E L E O P L E N H O N P R O T E Y T U R W I T T T T P L W R L I S U R U T T Y O V T Y T L WW T

Last month’s answer: All of us, at certain moments of our lives, need to take advice and to receive help from other people. www.downhomelife.com

January 2024

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Rhymes 5 Times Each answer rhymes with the other four

1. cobra

____________

2. vibrate

____________

3. destroy

____________

4. false

____________

5. steal

____________

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

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

Last Month’s Answers: 1. stocking, 2. shocking, 3. locking, 4. frolicking, 5. mocking

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. DRANG RUBIT

For best results sound the clue words out loud!

2. ADININ ABRHORU

Reed Ooze Peed ______ _____

3. SOER CLEANBH

Dawned Hey Kip Arsenal ____ ____ __ ________ Last Month’s 1st Clue: Us Hide Wall Calf Hay. Answer: A sidewalk cafe. Last Month’s 2nd Clue: Golf Lie Ache Height.

Answer: Go fly a kite.

4. TRUNB SLNAIDS 5. AGREEMAR Last Month’s Answers: 1. Port Hope Simpson, 2. Cartwright, 3. Rigolet, 4. Battle Harbour, 5. Black Tickle

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

1. SIT IN ORANGE ~ Clue: a closure that creates an opening 2. GET MINE ~ Clue: usually all talk, no action 3. FAINT ICINGS ~ Clue: in a word, it matters 4. ARM ME TOO ~ Clue: they’re always in your space 5. VOICES DRY ~ Clue: nothing is found without it Last Month’s Answers: 1. optimist, 2. goaltender, 3. catwalk, 4. symphony, 5. roundabout 128

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

By Ron Young

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

1-4: living 1-10: deadly 1-31: sole 1-91: solitude 3-23: oscillator 5-8: fewer 8-10: foxy 8-78: drench 9-49: LSD Timothy 12-32: carpet 14-17: dock 14-54: boastful 20-17: listen 21-23: Grandmother 26-6: flying insect 26-28: club 34-32: away 35-31: road 35-37: knock 37-7: equals 37-40: cat sound 39-59: cereal grass 40-70: arguments 42-45: stallion 45-49: journal 48-28: furrow 48-45: attack 48-68: rodent 49-69: however 53-23: shock 57-53: water bodies 57-97: fold 60-20: value 60-55: firearm 61-31: longest river 62-32: relax 62-64: pole 65-61: decorate 66-86: aged www.downhomelife.com

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67-64: cargo 69-89: that one 72-92: litigate 74-54: peculiar 75-5: banister 75-45: crewmember 75-71: dwelling 79-76: foot part 80-71: steering room 80-76: round item 81-31: demented 84-64: turf 86-83: office table 87-89: mimic 88-68: house animal 88-86: apartment 91-100: breakup

95-91: sexual assaults 95-100: dole 100-10: interesting 100-80: modern Last Month’s Answer

F A B R I CA TOR A T EO P HRA S E R S N EKA T S I M F AD LO S E T NA E P E AOT R E AR T UR T L E N E CK C P U S ANO S E A HO P AGN I ROB E S AV E I NU F L D EGARUOCN E January 2024

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The Bayman’s

Crossword Puzzle 1

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by Ron Young 4

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44 46 1-888-588-6353

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ACROSS 1. “Wish I hadn’t taken this excursion around the ___” 4. “You only get one shot __ _ shellbird” (2 words) 5. signal 7. “Foolish __ odd socks” 8. Newfoundland and Labrador in Latin 15. mimic 18. debtor’s note 19. “___ off cows wear long horns” 20. deckhands 21. obligation 22. scoff 24. Trinity East (abbrev) 25. “I ___ __ evil, hear no evil” (2 words) 27. cobbling nails 29. opposite NW 30. either 31. A-__ - all good 32. Pa’s mate 34. “Any mummers ’lowed __?”

35. estimated arrival time (abbrev) 37. ___ rummy 39. Bonavista Bay farming community 42. ___ constrictor 43. pine 45. Ocean Ranger 46. resident (colloq) DOWN 1. sea ice ridges (colloq) 2. “Whaddaya __?”

3. armful (colloq) 6. employ 9. a turn on a sleigh 10. unsplit codfish (colloq, pl.)

11. self-operating www.downhomelife.com

12. Bay __ Islands 13. handknit wool sock (colloq) 14. region 15. augmented reality (abbrev) 16. pumpkin eater 17. mama sheep (pl) 20. Church Lads Brigade (abbrev) 23. “Catch any?” (colloq) 26. caribou’s cousin 27. fisher’s workplace 28. “It’s a ____ ___ to Tipperary” (2 words) 29. intelligent 33. nerves of ____ 35. Tibb’s ___ 36. “Stay where you’re to ’til I comes where you’re __” 38. __ a tear – rushing (colloq) 39. modus operandi (abbrev) 40. United Arab Republic (abbrev) 41. Noah’s boat 42. “Tell your mother you won’t __ long” 44. Exploits River (abbrev)

A N D N A ANSWERS D M TO LAST B U N MONTH’S R I O O A N CROSSWORD O U T M H O R S E I S L A N D S S H E A C G C T E B R I M Q A O E N R E A L E S R I D I N G Q I I L U I D T R U E I N G O L A E N T U S P I E D H E R V K D L M I E D R I F TWO O D N B E T O A D R E E E A T E M A N A N P I TWA S R E D A N D R AWN Y S S T K R O C K S January 2024

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DIAL-A-SMILE © 2024 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

____ 4653

___ 968

___ 843

____ 8245

______ 844647 _____ 53276

___ 968

___ 968

___ 269

_ 2

___ 228

__ 29

_____ 53276

______ 226668

_____ 68437

___ 929

Last Month’s Answer: Autumn is a season followed immediately by looking forward to spring.

©2024 Ron Young

CRACK THE CODE Y

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

_H _ N Yy

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ y d x3 t n i

_ _ _ _ _

KD t O i _ H _

N Yy H _ _

Y3 i

_ _ _ _ zy . d

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

i nkky i i

_ _ _

\. d _ _

. N

_ _ tQ

_ _ _ _ H _ _ _ _ d y 3K Y b t n D

Last Month’s Answer: Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.

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Food For Thought

© 2024 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.”

spoil = _ _ _

_ _

thaw out = _ _ _ _

_ _

xv c z [ax]

}[K

bee abode = _ _ _ _ Vdqx

criminal = _ _

teaches = _ _ _ _ _ _

_

_

vx b Kn]a _ _ _ _ _

threw = _

_ _

an]]xv

b xonf

_ _ _ _

_ _ _

aV x }n]a _

_ _

df b o c xfad[o

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_

nb

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

_

_ _ _ _

_ _

xv c z [ad n f[ o _ _

d]

_ _ _

aV x

_ _

df

_

[

_ _

[oo _ _ _

b [zanK]

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

znfqxK][adnf _ _ _ _ _ _ ’ z Vdov]

_

_ _ _

V n}x

Last Month’s Answer: You cannot climb the ladder of success dressed in the costume of failure. www.downhomelife.com

January 2024

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Different Strokes

Our artist’s pen made the two seemingly identical pictures below different in 12 places. See if you can find all 12.

ERN AND COAL BIN VISIT NAN

Last Month’s Answers: 1. Basket, 2. Hair, 3. Package, 4. Cap, 5. Wheel of cart, 6. Ern’s left arm, 7. Christmas tree, 8. Child missing, 9. Ball in cart, 10. Hockey stick, 11. Jacket, 12. Shopper moved “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, 212 Pine St., Collingwood, ON, L9Y 2P2

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January 2024

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HIDE & SEEK

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

BEST COFFEY CRUMMEY DOYLE ENNIS GUY HARRIS HAWCO HIBBS HORWOOD HYNES JOHNSON JONES MAJOR MALONE

MERCER MOORE MORGAN MORRISSEY NOLAN PINSENT

Last Month’s Answers

PITTMAN POWER RUSSELL SEXTON STOCKWOOD WALSH

S D Q C B I R T H D A Y C E F I R E W O R K S V T Q X T U Q R I N K F Y R A S R E V I N N A Y D N Z S O A L S T N E S E R P N E C G N I R E H T A G Z T T D D A T R A D I T I O N Y Y L I M A F V C B P X F S E A Z E Z M N G V D J X Z G N I D D E W D L B S S E C N E F X X R D N S G K O J U X K H U L J T X H D U O C W L O G S N O I T A T I V N I K Y J Z F R Y N G R I N U G W P J G N I G N I S J H K K H C Z A L E K A N D R X I A C F R I J N O W U W D X O I D T L I B T G A I V W K F E B Y S D D Z W R E N L I Z A B R Q I E T V F J Q T Z H A K D U P N U F R L B D A Z F C O K R D Q Q I K Y M Q A I C J C E B O B R L K M Y I N M S A X R Z O T T F O O D A T I H Y I L C V J D S S C U A E W J S D M D X R Q T T T R N O Y Z C M N U N L Q M S E I X H E C M B I R Y Y K O Z F F D I D M V T E E L R O W Y J S X A V W G T N S U F P J X N N H N H G H R V Y V O P Q H N J K S Y L E B D F O Z V T E F C I H H X B

G O G L Z K D N G O R B X L X X H A W C O H J V O H H D D P S J P Q O E Y Y L G I G A Z B K K W D A P G I A K E L N J S V M E D B Y A Y L X E D T O O I Y C N Y N R M T G G W E S T O C K W O O D L Y M T Y A G H O X F E N V U Y U S U H S M C W V L L G T D E O C J M Z X R O K Z W A I E E O B I F W E C M B S M K A H W W M C V K F E X R F T H S L A W J A Y S U M R H E U E X E X Z T W F R S K I N I C R N M I P I U J O K V R V R O A E Z E O I H Y N E S J A Y I K Q R L R E D O N Z Y Y Z Z J M N I V C Z R J U N Q U K C P W H T O R Z F C D M M B N B N E E O G S Q R Q W R B O J I M L K C R O W S F E J D W R Z E P C L X E A O O D X A B U R A A J B E O M O Y R N Q X X N W H I L D V A Z G Z T N L I B R B P P S T I T O C N F A J U D V A V D P B S X G I L A S E M H L Y S Y X F B O S N G N O L A N G J E H Z M U M A R O T A R U S S E L L B M B U L M H T I D B Y M Z N Y Q J H D Y Y Q S I R R A H Q V R G E www.downhomelife.com

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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.”

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www.downhomelife.com

January 2024

137

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January 2024

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GREAT GIFT IDEAS!

Avanimiut: A History of Inuit Independence in Northern Labrador - Carol Brice-Bennett

Word Search of NL: Volume One

Word Search of NL: Volume Two

#85847 | $16.95

#87482 | $16.95

Too Young To Die: Searching for the Boys of Change Islands - Hector M. Earle

Admiral of the Blue: Strug-

The True Story of Eliza Gill - Gary Collins

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#87312 | $21.95

#87313 | $22.95

Desolate

Strange Duty: Speculative

- Carolyn R. Parsons

Tales of The Canadian Military - Dwain Campbell

Fables, Fairies and Folklore of Newfoundland -

#87472 | $29.95

Away from My Island:

#87303 | $24.99

#87304 | $24.99

gle of the Royal Navy for Naval Supremacy - James G. Lynch

Alice Lannon & Mike McCarthy

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The Adversary - Michael Crummey

Impressions of Newfoundland:

#87104 | $35.00

The Art of Ting Ting Chen

My Indian - Mi’sel Joe and Sheila O’Neill

Suliewey: The Sequel to My Indian - Mi’sel Joe and Sheila O’Neill

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#87102 | $16.95

Dictionary of NL

Downhome Four-Way Crosswords - Ron Young

- Ron Young

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2401_Mailorder_Mail order.qxd 11/22/23 5:04 PM Page 142

GREAT GIFT IDEAS!

Carnation Milk Ornament

Purity Cream Crackers Ornament

Tunnocks Caramel Log Ornament

Hawkins Cheezies Ornament

Vienna Sausage Ornament

Fraser Farm Meatballs Ornament

Downhome 2024 Calendar

NL Favourites Fleece Throw

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MORE SELECTION ONLINE www.shopdownhome.com

Butter Me Up! Bib

Boys’ Moosey Eater Bib

Girls’ Moosey Eater Bib

Open Wide! Bib - Green

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Stud Puffin Bib

Crabby When I’m Hungry! Bib

Duck Duck Moose Bib - Green

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#55005 | $9.99

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Duck Duck Moose Bib - Pink #86309 | $9.99

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2401_photo Finish_0609 Photo Finish 11/22/23 5:21 PM Page 144

photo finish

To New Beginnings!

Morning breaks over Gander Bay South Route 330.

Waqas Ali Corner Brook, 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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