Downhome July 2024

2407-Cover-NL_0609-Cover-NFLD 5/23/24 3:21 PM Page 1

$4.99 July 2024

Vol 37 • No 02

Filmmaker Christian Sparkes The Art of Rug Hooking Lighthouse Lore of Point Riche

2407-Cover-NL.e$S_0609-Cover-NFLD 5/23/24 3:09 PM Page 2

2407_TOC_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 1:22 PM Page 1

2407_TOC_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 1:23 PM Page 2

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 Dillon Collins 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 Retail 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, Destinee Rogers, Amy Young, Emily Snelgrove, Brandy Rideout, Alexandria Skinner, Colleen Giovannini, Rachael Hartery, Julie Gidge, Drew Oliver, Kaitlan Lewis, Emma Luscombe, Rebecca Pevie, Morgan Powless

Finance and Administration Accountant Marlena Grant Accountant Sandra Gosse

Subscriptions Customer Service Associate Lisa Tiller Founding Editor Ron Young

Operations Manager, Twillingate Nicole Mehaney 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

2

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

2407_TOC_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:55 PM Page 3

70 hallowed ground

Veterans Affairs Canada

Contents

JULY 2024

44 Pain & Beauty Inside Kellie Loder’s raw and real new album Transitions.

Dillon Collins

58 Loggers Shattered Dreams A tragedy in 1941 involved several Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit (NOFU) members.

Lester Green

Sandra-Lee Layden photo

70 Tread Softly Here

www.downhomelife.com

44

A tour of the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial Nicola Ryan

90 Todd’s Table BBQ Whole Chicken

authentic

July 2024

3

2407_TOC_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 1:23 PM Page 4

Contents

homefront

8 Between the Lines A note from the Editor

10 Letters From Our Readers

JULY 2024

14 far east

Memories of Confederation and a Family Tribute

14 Downhome Tours Indonesia 16 Why is That? Why are beer bottles usually made of brown glass? Linda Browne

18 Life’s Funny Got Your Goat Orville Cole

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

20 Lil Charmers Making Waves 22 Pets of the Month Summer Fun 24 Reviewed Denise Flint reviews Rage the Night by Donna Morrissey

26 What Odds Paul Warford’s escapades with Puss

28 Fresh Tracks Wendy Rose reviews Garbage Street by Mick Davis & Thin Love

22

one cool cat

30 Adventures Outdoors Hope for the Humber Gord Follett

36 The Labrador Current Discovering The Dreamers Nathan Freake

40 Downhome Expo Recap 4

July 2024

36 dream time 1-888-588-6353

2407_TOC_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 11:12 AM Page 5

64

behind the lens

features 50 Stitch by Stitch Fibre Artist Michelle Churchill’s creativity is bursting at the seams. Nicola Ryan

50 fibre art

64 Beyond The Tide A look behind the lens with local filmmaker Christian Sparkes. Dillon Collins

explore 78 Lighthouse Reflections at Point Riche Phil Rumbolt recalls his family’s time as lighthouse keepers. Kim Ploughman

78 a family legacy

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

5

2407_TOC_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 1:23 PM Page 6

Contents

JULY 2024

94 great for bbq

home and cabin 84 Stuff We Love Get Active Nicola Ryan

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

94 Downhome Recipes BBQ Must-Haves

102 Down to Earth Rooting for Success Kim Thistle

6

July 2024

84 step outside

1-888-588-6353

2407_TOC_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 3:27 PM Page 7

114 keel hauled

reminiscing 108 Flashbacks Classic photos of people and places.

109 This Month In History Unveiling the War Memorial

110 Visions & Vignettes About the cover As tranquil and picturesque as it is rugged and imposing, Bonavista Bay is a gem of Newfoundland and Labrador, one that has been embraced by artists looking to promote its brilliance. Scenic outport community Keels – which was recently spotlighted in the Christian Sparkesdirected film The King Tide – is captured in all its splendour on our cover.

Cover Index Pain and Beauty • 44 Tread Softly Here • 70 Filmmaker Christian Sparkes • 64 The Art of Rug Hooking • 50 Lighthouse Lore of Point Riche • 78 www.downhomelife.com

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

114 This Month in Downhome History 118 In Your Words Skinny Dippin’ Mike Perkins

124 Puzzles 136 Colouring Page 138 Classifieds 140 Mail Order July 2024

7

homefront_1_Homefront - Letters 5/23/24 11:22 AM Page 8

between the lines

Transitions, Traditions & Reflections As I’m writing this we are weeks removed from the 10th annual Downhome Expo. Yes, we work well ahead here at Downhome, crafting – what we hope are – timeless tales and evergreen content that will resonate with readers for weeks, months and years after pen stroke or keyboard click has come and gone.

For your humble narrator, it was my first Expo as part of the Downhome family and editor-in-chief. I’m a shy cat by nature, reserved if not unintentionally standoffish at baseline, so I wasn’t sure what to make of three straight days of face time with not only the eager masses, but direct interaction with you, our readers. The end result was an eye-opening and overwhelmingly positive experience that reinforced my belief in not only the power of print media, but of storytelling. Time and time again, you, dear readers, shared with me and assistant editor Nicola the importance of what we do, the lifeline to home that Downhome has become. Whether you’re near or far, Downhome is a slice of Newfoundlandia, a catch-all of themes and experiences, the proverbial smorgasbord that’s something for everyone. As we barrel head on into summer we’re serving up more of the eclectic, balanced and authentically homegrown content that you demand. Transitions, traditions and reflections are at the heart of our July 2024 issue.

Enjoy, and thank you.

Dillon Collins, Editor-in-chief

8

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

homefront_1_Homefront - Letters 5/22/24 3:57 PM Page 9

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 Melvin Patey of Clarenville, NL, who found Corky on page 53 of the May issue!

*No Phone Calls Please. One entry per person

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

9

homefront_1_Homefront - Letters 5/23/24 11:50 AM Page 10

A Family Tribute

Pictured is my great uncle, Private James Ellsworth, who voluntarily went overseas with the 1st Newfoundland Regiment. On November 4th, 1915, he was killed at the age of 26. On April 10th, 2024, Rodney had the opportunity to visit the grave of his great-great uncle while working in Turkey. He took a nine-anda-half-hour round road trip to Azmak Cemetery in Suvla, Turkey and placed a Newfoundland flag on his headstone. So glad and thankful that he had the opportunity to do this. “Lest We Forget.”

Cindy Russell via Downhomelife.com

Thank you very much for sharing your family’s military history with us Cindy.

We honour the sacrifice and courage of our brave servicemen and women in the military yearlong here at Downhome, with July being especially important as we tip our collective hats to those who fought and died at Beaumont Hamel (for more on Beaumont Hamel see page 70). Readers interested in sharing their own stories or family lineage are welcome to contact us at editorial@downhomelife.com or online at downhomelife.com.

10

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

homefront_1_Homefront - Letters 5/22/24 1:40 PM Page 11

Memories of Confederation

The referendum was all the news during my time there, 1947-1949.

There are three occasions that I remember well. One night, a crowd of delegates – anti-Confederation – gathered near the CLB Armoury on Harvey Road and marched to Government House to show their displeasure to the government/ Governor at that time.

Nothing happened, but I remember the lights being dimmed, the Governor returning to his office and all others to their rooms. I also remember shortly after the singing a gala dinner was served. Among those attending were Prime Minister Saint Laurent, Yousef Karsh, the noted photographer, Joseph Smallwood, Cabinet ministers and Sir Albert Walsh, our first Lieutenant Governor.

Lastly, I remember the staff shaking hands with the Governor and his

Your last Downhome (Feb 2024) re.

75 years of Confederation evoked a flood of memories for me. In September 1947 – on a foggy, misty night with my little suitcase – I walked up the lane to Government House. I was 16-years-old. I was let in, introduced, given my uniform and shown to my room.

The next morning I was on duty in my charcoal grey uniform, black stockings and cream-coloured headband (British). I was taken to the dining room by the girl I was to be working with. Two were responsible for the dining room from flowers for the table (fetched from the hot house adjoining) to table settings and presentation of food.

I met the Governor, Sir Gordon MacDonald, Lady MacDonald, daughter Glenys and son Kenneth.

Download the Shell App today!

SAVE

CAA MEMBERS ALWAYS SAVE AT SHELL Get a CAA membership for only $30 and start saving today!

1

3¢/L

on fuel*

*Conditions apply. Offer available at participating Shell locations. 1 Everyday memberships cost $29.95 plus applicable fees. ® CAA trademarks are owned by, and use is authorized by, the Canadian Automobile Association. Shell EasyPay is a trademark of Shell Brands International AG. Used under license by Shell Canada Products.

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

11

homefront_1_Homefront - Letters 5/22/24 1:40 PM Page 12

family as they left to board the ship that took them home to England. On a personal note, I wonder if there are other survivors of that time. Family members? I would love to hear from them. I remember them all. It may appear that I was a waif from the streets and just wandered in.

My cousin John (now deceased) let me out at the gate. He was not allowed to enter the grounds. Those days one did not get a job looking in the want ads or online, mostly by word-ofmouth. I had no interview, just a chest x-ray. I had to start somewhere, so I

picked the biggest and nicest house in the land!

Marguerite Hodder Dartmouth, NS

Thank you very much for this blast from the past Marguerite. We deeply enjoyed revisiting the anniversary of Confederation and we hoped it stirred up some nostalgic feelings for quite a few of our readers. If any of you have any personal memories, experiences, questions or insights please let us know at editorial@downhomelife.com or online at downhomelife.com.

Downhome Love I know this is a bit late, but please excuse me – I will be 91 in August ’24!

In November 2023 (issue of Downhome), page 104, the picture “Setting Sail” shows my cousin Arthur Wilcox of Heart’s Content – front row on the right wearing his hat.

I love the Downhome magazine and read every article. Newfoundland has so very much history and congrats to you for keeping much of it alive.

My father’s image is in the 100 Portraits on page 69, modelled by his grandson (my nephew) Robert Parsons. Please continue to do what you do so well.

Eileen Elms Gander, NL

A very happy early birthday to you Eileen. We sincerely appreciate your readership and the kind words! Newfoundland and Labrador is indeed a well of rich and fascinating history.

We’ll keep striving to tell new stories and shed some light on those forgotten tales.

12

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

homefront_1_Homefront - Letters 5/22/24 1:40 PM Page 13

homefront_1_Homefront - Letters 5/22/24 1:40 PM Page 14

homefront Downhome tours...

Indonesia

Malioboro Market The Kenny family - Martin, Yessy, Mike and Clare - pose between two traditional Javanese warrior guards near the famous Malioboro Market in Jogjakarta. Jogja, as it is known to the locals, is Yessy’s hometown. Martin is a member of the Canadian Armed Forces currently serving at National Defence HQ in Ottawa.

Located in the heart of Jogjakarta, Malioboro Street was once the ceremonial avenue for the Sultan to pass through on the way to his palace.

Now, Malioboro Street is crammed on each side with kiosks, department stores and markets selling traditional Javanese fabrics, artwork, souvenirs and food. Head to one of the many stalls to pick up some batik – a type of intricately dyed fabric with origins in Java tracing as far back as 2,000 years ago.

14

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

homefront_1_Homefront - Letters 5/22/24 1:40 PM Page 15

Ubud Monkey Forest “The copy of the Downhome that travelled with us was on 14 airplanes, several boats, an overnight bus and too many taxi and tuk tuk rides to count. Needless to say, it’s a little worse for wear much like ourselves after nine weeks!” writes submitter Faye Luppe.

The Sacred Monkey Forest Sanctuary is a nature reserve and temple complex in Ubud, Bali. Dating back to the 14th century, this dense swath of jungle officially houses three holy temples and is home to over 1,260 long-tailed macaques, believed to be symbols of harmony between humans and nature and are considered sacred guardians of the temples.

Besakih Great Temple Long-time subscribers Nancy Bergeron and Darren Way toured Bali with Downhome, including the Besakih Great Temple on the slopes of Mount Agung – the largest and most sacred volcano on the Balinese Island.

Mount Agung is a majestic stratovolcano, towering at an impressive 3,142 m (10,308 ft) above sea level.

It forms part of a chain of volcanoes that make up the backbone of Bali. Traditionally, the Balinese believed that Mount Agung is the abode of the gods and the axis of the universe. It erupted in 1963, causing major devastation on the eastern part of the island, but remarkably, Pura Besakih, the holiest temple of Balinese Hinduism perched high on its slopes, remained relatively untouched. www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

15

homefront_1_Homefront - Letters 5/23/24 11:50 AM Page 16

Expert answers to common life questions.

By Linda Browne

Why are beer bottles usually made of brown glass?

There’s nothing like basking in the sunshine on a hot summer’s day and hearing that satisfying “psst!” as you pop the top of an ice-cold beer.

As you toss your head back to take those first few swigs and the sunlight bounces off the bottle, you might’ve pondered why the glass is so dark to begin with (depending on the brand you’re enjoying). Turns out there’s a perfectly practical reason for this, and it has to do with the fact that sunlight and beer (unlike rum and cola) don’t mix well. U.K.-based chemistry advisor Andy Brunning (who’s also the creator of the excellent Compound Interest blog) sheds some light on the subject in his book, Why Does Asparagus Make Your Wee Smell?, which answers an array of questions related to food and drink.

Many beers come in dark glass bottles or opaque cans, he says, not for reasons of aesthetics, but science.

“You might not think of beer as something that can easily go off, but the darkened glass bottles or cans are essential to prevent a process that accomplishes exactly that,” Brunning 16

July 2024

writes, offering a quick chemistry lesson as he dives deeper.

To make beer, you need hops, which are “an essential contributor to the flavour and bitterness of beers. During the brewing process the alpha acids in the hops degrade to form a very slightly different set of compounds, isomerized alpha acids,” Brunning explains, noting that these are largely responsible for the bitter taste of beer, and play a role in it going off.

When light hits beer, it kick-starts a process, Brunning continues, “that causes the reaction of some of the isomerized alpha acids with another compound found in beer, riboflavin, which produces a compound called 3methyl-2-butene-1-thiol, or MBT for short.”

According to the website “beer sensory science,” which helps people better understand the science behind beer flavour, MBT is so potent it only takes a little to ruin your beverage, 1-888-588-6353

homefront_1_Homefront - Letters 5/22/24 1:40 PM Page 17

stating “If you drink your beer from a pint glass on a sunny patio you may notice this flavour by the time you reach the bottom of the glass – that’s how quick this problem can arise.”

You might’ve heard of “skunked” beer before. That’s because MBT is similar in structure to some of the compounds found in the spray of those furry little stinkers, Brunning explains, “and has a similarly unpleasant odour...and due to the involvement of light in the process, beer affected by it is commonly known as ‘light struck’.”

However, when it comes to skunking, he says, it’s specific portions of light that starts the process, particularly blue light “with wavelengths between 400 to 500 nanometres” and ultraviolet light “with a wavelength below 400 nanometres.”

While brown bottles block both these wavelengths, Brunning writes, green bottles only block UV light, while clear bottles don’t block either – making brown bottles the superior choice for anyone wanting to avoid skunked brew. However, he adds, “In

some beers, a small amount of skunking is actually considered to be part of the flavour, though obviously too much can still be a bad thing.” (It’s worth noting, however, that this seems to be the exception. The website Brewer World states that “In reality, skunked beers are flawed and no brewer would want to see their beer smell or taste that way,” adding that for certain beers, like Corona and Heineken, the clear and green bottles are more of a marketing choice. The website also mentions that the clear-bottled Miller High Life from Miller Brewing Company skirts the skunking issue “by using specially formulated hop extracts that are resistant to UV light and hence, fail to release 3-MBT.” Other beers, Brunning adds, use very small amounts of hops, “hence minimizing the isomerized alpha acid content of the beer.”

So the next time you’re enjoying some fun in the sun, consider sipping your glass of beer in the shade of a tree to minimize that funky, skunky flavour.

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

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

July 2024

17

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 11:54 AM Page 18

homefront life’s funny

Got Your Goat When I was a boy in rural Newfoundland, goats roamed freely. Most people had their vegetable gardens fenced in to keep the goats out. Also, most goats wore a triangular “yoke” to prevent them from getting through any gaps in the fencing. One day, a car from “away” was going through our town, and the obviously distracted driver lost control. His car crossed the shallow ditch and broke through a neighbour’s cabbage garden fence. Upon hearing the commotion, the owner came out, and seeing the car partway through his fence, spoke to the driver and said: “Sir, you wants a yoke on she.”

Orville Cole Dartmouth, NS

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.

18

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:05 PM Page 19

z, “Jumpin Jee ed ch gettin’ smoo s!” in t’day b’y ith Joann Sm – Tammy

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

Here are the runners-up: I think I died and went to heaven! - Fern Bill Maurais Oh Lordy! The Screech done kicked in! - Kelly Anderson-Lessard Thank God, I’m finally a Newfoundlander! - Darlene Lane

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

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

19

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:05 PM Page 20

homefront lil charmers

Fresh Fish

Harlow’s first taste of the Atlantic Ocean was a fishy delight!

Joyce Rodgers Hant’s Harbour, NL

Making Waves Catch of the Day! Logan hooked this beauty on his very first fishing adventure.

Janice Keats via DownhomeLife.com

20

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:05 PM Page 21

Happy Adventure Aislin discovers a trove of treasures along the shore.

Amanda Pauley Barrie, ON

Washed Ashore Baby June snoozes in the gentle ocean breeze.

Georgia Drake via DownhomeLife.com

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

21

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:05 PM Page 22

homefront pets of the month

Cool Dude

Fritz is spreading the summer vibes!

Shelley Hippern via DownhomeLife.com

Summer Fun Island Time Phoebe the Boston terrier soaks in the sunshine by the harbour.

Abby Slaney via DownhomeLife.com

22

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:05 PM Page 23

Surf ’s Up! Life’s a beach for Bella on the paddleboard.

Jackie Clayton Portugal Cove, NL

Salty Dog Pint-size Jalee sports her Sou’wester.

Delilah Robar North Harbour, NL

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

23

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:05 PM Page 24

homefront

reviewed by Denise Flint

Rage the Night

By Donna Morrissey

Penguin Random House Canada $24.95

Roan is at a crossroads in his life. An apparent orphan and prodigy of Dr. Wilfred Grenfell, he has been groomed to take his place beside Grenfell as a medical man on the Northern Peninsula and along the Labrador coast. But something is missing in his life. A mysterious interaction sends him on a quest to discover his true heritage and Roan finds himself on a sealing ship headed for disaster.

Donna Morrissey knows how to spin a yarn and she’s proven it in spades with Rage the Night. The book gets off to a bit of a slow start.

The reader isn’t quite sure who Roan is or why he needs to take the path he does. However, it soon pulls you into his world and quest and you never look back.

Most Newfoundlanders will know what’s about to occur the moment he boards the sealing ship Newfoundland, at least in the broad strokes.

But foresight is irrelevant. Morrissey gives the reader a visceral experience that makes any prior knowledge the reader has about the sealing disaster irrelevant. You are there, on the ice with Roan and the others living it in what almost seems like real-time.

One particularly attractive feature of the book is the fact that the men on the boat, at least the regular swilers, are decent human beings. They aren’t perfect but do their best and generally look out for each other.

Morrissey has done them, and the real men of the Newfoundland – both those who lost their lives and those who returned – justice.

24

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:05 PM Page 25

Q&A with the Author Denise Flint: How careful do you have to be when writing about something that’s so much a part of the Newfoundland psyche as the sealing disaster?

Donna Morrissey: Very, very careful. That’s why I made up my characters and didn’t base them on any real characters except for Kean and Grenfell. I was really apprehensive about writing this book in the beginning, but it was in my psyche for a long time. I read Left to Die by Gary Collins and in his book he was talking to Cecil Mouland, the last survivor of that tragedy, and Cecil had told him the whole story and his last words to Gary were ‘Don’t let our story die, just keep our story alive’ and then I called Gary and he was just so encouraging. A big warm-hearted Newfoundland man, and he kind of mentored me.

DF: The book is framed with an angel and a devil from Newfoundland history. When writing about iconic figures, is there a lot of pressure to conform to people’s beliefs about them?

DM: I never looked at it that way before. I’m conscious of it but I knew so little about them, so I basically went with what I read and what other people said, like interviews Cassie (Brown) did with the men, and the Grenfell figure. There are mixed reviews about him.

DF: How close do you get to your characters? Are they real people?

DM: They become very, very, very

finish the book. You don’t see them for a while and you pick up a book and it’s like people you haven’t seen in years. I get very attached.

DF: Is Roan based on a family member or a family member’s experiences?

DM: He was inspired by my uncle whose mother died when he was a baby and he was put into the orphanage in St. Anthony. It caught my imagination.

When he was 16 he returned home and I wanted to paint the picture of what it was like to be sent away and return. I was caught by that.

DF: This book is set at a time that’s now beyond living memory.

Does that make it easier or more difficult? Why? DM: I think it probably makes it easier because you’re not going to have anyone calling you out and contradicting you. There’s definitely that feeling of a certain degree of safety and I feel that you’re not going to be slighting or hurting anyone because they’re not there to feel it.

But you feel the spirit and your characters are as real as if they walked the ice and you want to represent them as clearly and as best you can. You owe them that.

DF: You’ve been called ‘A Newfoundland Thomas Hardy’ by the Globe and Mail. How do you feel about that? Is it valid?

DM: I don’t feel any connection whatsoever to the great Thomas Hardy, but my ego loved the compliment.

real. You grieve them when you www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

25

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:05 PM Page 26

homefront what odds

file under “puss”

By Paul Warford

In the photo on the box was a cat sitting in this drawer as calm as the Dhali Lama, waiting to be slid into place and locked up tight.

26

July 2024

Since I was a youngster I’ve had a fascination with the animal facts that nature throws at us; a cheetah can run at highway speeds of 120km/h; the platypus is one of the few venomous mammals on the planet.

However, I’d never really bothered to learn about the domestic feline, and it’s a fascinating animal. My cat, Puss (AKA “Gillian Anderson”), has over 30 muscles in her ears to track her prey. I’ve come to notice that she’ll point them in the direction of the laser pointer when I flash it in front of her on the carpet.

The domestic feline will hide injuries. Unlike a dog, which will seem immediately out-of-sorts when it’s not feeling well, a cat will hide its discomforts from you. Cat owners will be well aware of this, but I was never a cat owner. The information dawned on me like a sunrise. Of course, a feline wouldn’t show its injuries because that would display vulnerabilities to predators. Dogs work in packs, cats work alone, so it’s obvious when you think about it.

Upon learning this I felt a flush to my cheeks and a tension in my chest as I thought of Puss and the growing knots along her back and sides, their near-dreadlock tightness. Moments later, I learned that the epidermis of the domestic feline is minimal. Again, unlike dogs who have a bit of a hide to them, cats have a very thin skin.

The sense of urgency to what I thought would be a straightforward chore culminated in fantastic images of crimson blood staining her snow-white fur. I had tried to take her to the groomer a few times, but being new to cats means being new to cat carriers. Dogs will follow you wherever you’re going, whether that’s in a car or out the side of a Cessna with parachutes strapped to your back. I’d taken this 1-888-588-6353

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 11:26 AM Page 27

for granted as a dog owner. Cats will fight you to their last fibre rather than leave the home you’ve provided them.

Enter the cat carrier: a quick replacement I’d sourced at Wal-Mart after discovering my own was absent from the shed where I’d stored it.

However, unlike the traditional design you’re picturing in your head, I was forced to buy something akin to a file cabinet, with a drawer that you’re meant to “slide” closed. In the photo on the box was a cat sitting in this drawer as calm as the Dhali Lama, waiting to be slid into place and locked up tight.

I got the drawer to slide closed minus about three inches of space.

Puss forced her head through this gap, followed by the remainder of her slinky body. I caught her tail in my fist but quickly loosened my grip, fearing I’d damage it (the domestic cat is the only feline to walk whilst its tail is erect). Still seated on the floor in front of the carrier, I rotated to my left and gripped her, with both hands, about her middle. She dug the claws of both front paws into the carpet and held them so tightly that they lifted from the floor as I picked her up.

By this time, she was thrashing with monumental strength for such a small animal and soon wriggled free.

And that was that. Once this has happened, your attempts are done for the day; the cat isn’t going to come near you for hours. I had no choice but to call Classy Clips and say we wouldn’t be by.

(Fitting this story in the allotted www.downhomelife.com

space is as hard as it was to fit Puss in her prison.)

To quickly conclude: I booked a fresh appointment, enlisted the help of the most fetching woman to come out of Port aux Basques, and between us we got her loaded into a better carrier I’d borrowed. She didn’t trust herself to close the gate effectively, so this became my job while she cornered Puss in the kitchen and threw a blanket over the cat, forcing it into the container, like a wildlife wrangler stuffing a Florida gator into a plastic 55-gallon garbage can. Then I closed the gate. Things got easier from there.

After months of asking for opinions, advice, solidarity—any information I could use to help my cat, the groomer made the whole process look so easy that I felt ridiculous. She reached into the carrier with her bare hands, hauled Puss out, held her down, and switched on the whirring clippers.

Within minutes Puss was done and ready to head back home, albeit a little patchier than she’d been when we got there.

“What’s the moral of this story?” you may be asking. I’m not sure it has one, but if I were to guess, I’d say it’s, “Brush cats regularly and never trust the picture on the box.”

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 July 2024

27

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 11:54 AM Page 28

fresh tracks

new music talk with Wendy Rose

Garbage Street

Mick Davis & Thin Love FOR LOVERS OF LOCAL ROCK AND ROLL, Mick Davis’ name is a

familiar one. Whether it’s from his time with internationally acclaimed rock group The Novaks, or from his many years as a solo artist, Mick’s music has been capturing audiences locally and across Canada since the early 2000s.

Fans on social media have remarked that should Mick put out a “Greatest Hits” compilation, it would have to be a box set to fit all his incredible music.

This year, fans are treated to another collection of tasty tunes, with the release of Mick Davis & Thin Love’s Garbage Street.

The record begins with “Kids,” with solo acoustic guitar swiftly inviting guitar, drums, and bass to join. On top of guitar and singing, Mick also plays piano and harmonica and adds percussion with handclaps on this album.

In the second verse of “Kids,” Mick namedrops one of his biggest musical inspirations – “Well, Bobby Dylan, he was your pet, and when I’d sing for you, it was as close as you could get,” he sings, acknowledging his similar vocal stylings to the renowned

28

July 2024

folk-rock legend.

On “Vibrations,” the band continues to deliver its smooth rock/pop blend, with Jill Porter providing gorgeous backing vocals on the final choruses.

The album’s title track, “Garbage Street,” comes in third, with drums immediately hooking the listener on this energetic rock and roll song.

“Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, wee,” Mick sings repeatedly, these vocalizations reminiscent of the early days of rock – think Chuck Berry or Little Richard. I can promise that within seconds, and throughout the rest of the song, you won’t be able to stop your head from bobbing along with this instant classic.

Mick Davis & Thin Love slow it down on “Summer Came,” a soft and light love song.

Always a storyteller, Mick’s lyrics mention The Fat Cat Blues Bar, a now-defunct local haunt – “I met my 1-888-588-6353

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:05 PM Page 29

bride at the Fat Cat, well, she looked in my eyes, and that was that,” he sings, subtly telling the origin story of what would become a longtime marriage to his beloved wife.

Flipping over to the B-side, the record continues with “We Had A Little Party,” a classic country/folk song with twangy acoustic guitar and an ambitious rhyme scheme. The lyrics on the first chorus include

On “Because It Pleases Me,” the band continues to deliver their catchy rock and roll, with one certain guitar riff working its way deep into your ears and chugging us through this track. Like the rest of this record, this song is just over two minutes long, hearkening to the age of the golden oldies, when a 45 RPM record couldn’t accommodate songs over three minutes. While musicians of

rockin’, knockin’, lockin’, poppin’, stoppin’, and moppin’. With its classic old-school vibe, this track makes me want to dance around at a sock-hop, or at the very least dance around my living room, hoping my energetic bouncing won’t make the needle jump on this awesome record.

We get back to a more modern pop/rock sound on “If You Really Wanna Know,” which features some tasty blues-inspired guitar riffs.

Overall, the song is reminiscent of “Substitute” by The Who. Take a listen to both tracks back-to-back and see if you can hear some of the similarities!

the past would write shorter songs to encourage more radio play, Mick’s punchy rock songs encourage listeners to hit the repeat button.

The album wraps up with “Sunday Blues On A Saturday Night.”

Harmonica is a lovely addition to this track, creating a Neil Young “Harvest Moon”-era atmosphere. This slow jam is the perfect closer to 2024’s Garbage Street.

Don’t let the title fool you – “garbage” isn’t a close synonym to any words that one could use to describe Mick Davis & Thin Love’s latest record.

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

29

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 12:24 PM Page 30

Q&A with the Artist Wendy Rose: Let’s start by introducing you and Thin Love to our readers!

When and where did you start playing with your fellow bandmates?

Mick Davis: Thin Love was originally

intended as a live outfit. Between 2014 and 2016 I made four albums at home on my own and I needed a band to perform the songs live.

Eventually, I brought the group into the studio and recorded the albums, Touch the Moon (2018), Education Week (2022), and this year’s Garbage Street. We’ve seen a few lineup changes over the years and a lot of young men heading West! But since 2020 it’s been Jill Porter (guitar, vocals), Craig Follett (bass, vocals), Allan Brake (drums), and myself (lead vocal & guitar). This lineup is for keeps.

WR: You, Craig, and Allan have been playing together for many years…

What inspired you to add guitarist and vocalist Jill Porter to your boy band?

MD: I’ve known Jill for 25 years and we have sung together many, many times over those years. Jill took some time to raise her child. When she was ready to roll again, I wanted her in my band. We were born to sing together. I believe that. Very strong, funny woman. Does not bat an eye at hanging with dudes. She can take care of herself.

WR: We’d love to hear about the creative process behind Garbage Street.

For example, what came first, the music or the lyrics?

MD: The bulk of these songs were

written between the recording sessions in a frenzy of creativity that lasted from about May to December 2023. Many times it’s just an idea of a song that I toss around in my head when I’m walking or doing the dishes. It can’t be rushed. Eventually, a little voice says, “Pick up the guitar... go, now,” and it all spills out.

I’d record an acoustic guitar/vocal phone demo for the band, and send it to them on a Friday. On Monday, we’d record the track, usually within one to three takes. No rehearsal.

We’ve become great mates over the last few years and it shows on this new album.

WR: What’s in store for Mick Davis & Thin Love for the rest of 2024?

MD: Well, we begin with our album

release shows, and then we open for Big Sugar and Bush at Iceberg Alley (June 23rd in St. John’s).

Next, we play the Newfoundland and Labrador Folk Festival’s Saturday night afterparty, again at The Ship, following Emmy Lou Harris’ performance in the Park. And we look forward to promoting our new album, getting it to all the ears we can.

Mick Davis & Thin Love’s Garbage Street is available now on digital and physical formats!

30

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

homefront_2_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 12:24 PM Page 31

life is better Calm evening in Trinity, NL Mark Gray Bonavista, NL

homefront_3_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:25 PM Page 32

homefront

adventures outdoors

The author casts a bomber on the Lower Humber River Scott Grant photo

Hope for the Humber

By Gord Follett

Ever since last August, I’ve been hoping and

praying that what many anglers considered a disaster of a 2023 salmon season on the Lower Humber River, was just a ‘blip’ – a temporary movement in statistics, according to the Oxford Dictionary – and that things would be back to normal in 2024.

“Worst I’ve ever seen,” was the consensus of veteran anglers I spoke with last summer. I spoke to quite a few, some of whom have been fishing the Lower Humber for more than 40 years.

Despite cautions from fishing buddy Lenny Boone of Corner Brook that there was “nothing showing, not a fish to be seen,” I made two, five-day bookings at my preferred motel on the river, one in July and another in August. Both times I headed back home to Mount Pearl, some 700 kilometres away, after three frustrating days. Those were long, lonely and costly trips.

32

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

homefront_3_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:25 PM Page 33

Lenny Boone releases a Humber “large” during the 2022 season Gord Follett photo

Between those two west coast journeys, I drove 840 kilometres – one way – to the Torrent River in Hawkes Bay on the Great Northern Peninsula. This time, I stayed for only two days before turning around because water levels were higher than I’d ever seen in my 24-25 years of fishing there. Although water levels did eventually drop to fishable conditions sometime after my departure, only 901 salmon entered the Torrent in 2023, at least up until the counter was closed in early September, compared to 3,503 the previous year and a 2017-2022 ‘generational’ average of 4,187.

Despite my love for salmon fishing, spending approximately $4,300 over three trips without hooking a single fish was an extremely tough pill to swallow. But even more concerning was that my two favourite Newfoundland salmon rivers experienced such pitiful returns last year, or at least until I finally hung up the rod in late August.

From last October until May of this year, I asked several knowledgeable anglers about their 2023 seasons on Newfoundland’s west and southwest coast rivers, with a particular focus www.downhomelife.com

on the world-class Humber.

The plague industry-known as salmon aquaculture was one of the more common responses as to why we weren’t seeing as many wild fish, along with seals and unknown factors at sea. But I was surprised to hear so many mention “warm water,” and they weren’t talking strictly about the actual rivers.

Ocean temperatures were a couple of degrees higher than normal, which is a truly frightening thought. While I’m not one of those global warming and climate change extremists, the temperature of our Atlantic Ocean is concerning, not just for salmon, but every creature in it.

With another trip, possibly two planned for the Lower Humber this summer, my biggest fear was that it would be a repeat of 2023. Or worse.

No! No, it can’t be, I tried to convince myself in February while booking River’s End Motel for a week in late July. Without much reason, I remained optimistic about the coming and following seasons, thinking perhaps the river and ocean temperatures cooled last October and November, and that thousands of salmon went up the Humber and July 2024

33

homefront_3_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:25 PM Page 34

Seconds after this photo was taken in 2021, angler Scott Grant hooked a 15-16 pound salmon.

Gord Follett photo

Torrent when nobody was on the water. (Another reason for DFO to have counters on more rivers and leave them open/operating longer, at least until early November.)

Then a ray of hope came in the form of a CBC news story from Nova Scotia (May 8, 2024). The headline read, “Waters off Scotian Shelf are cooling, but scientists can’t say for how long,” with the subhead, “Lower temperatures have scientists wondering if decade-long warming trend is over.”

“Yes!” I screamed as my wife walked by my home office. The piece

by Paul Withers explained that the slight climate reversal has scientists asking if this is the beginning of a return to previous norms.

“We did see a continuation of the trend that we observed in 2023, which was the temperatures are actually returning to normal or even below normal conditions in some

areas. It’s getting cooler,” said Lindsay Beazley, a Fisheries and Oceans biologist and operational lead for the Maritimes Region Atlantic Zone Monitoring Program.

One explanation for the reversal, the story continued, is that colder, oxygen-rich water is making its way farther south again.

“In the past, less Labrador current water was coming around the tail of the Grand Banks and the Gulf Stream water was moving onshore and producing warmer water,” said ocean climate scientist Dave Hebert.

“It appeared last year that the Labrador current was returning to normal. We’re hoping that it’s not being cut off at the tail of the Grand Banks like it has been in the past, and we’ll get back to cooler temperatures, fresher water at depth,” he said, cautioning that the answer won’t be known for a few years.

Fingers crossed.

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.

34

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

homefront_3_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:25 PM Page 35

homefront_3_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:25 PM Page 36

homefront

the Labrador Current

Discovering the Dreamers

By Nathan Freake

In unfamiliar territory, surrounded by strangers, Tanea Hynes’ heart sank when her laptop was stolen in the bustling streets of Belgium. The laptop, of course, was replaceable. The years of work – the countless hours spent editing, cultivating, and creating – were not. For an artist, the hard drive holds more than just files; it contains livelihoods, careers, and creations that can be found nowhere else but in the artist’s soul.

36

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

homefront_3_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:25 PM Page 37

something that stands today as a token of her early success). Looking back, I was a proud friend, but I never truly understood the talent that she posessed. I remember questioning how she’d manipulate images to create something so unique, and – more than anything – spellbinding. She’d simply shrug. A magician never reveals their secrets.

She explains that most of her early work was created without any frame of reference or artists to glean inspiration from, which perhaps is what makes it so unique. When we were young we’d geek out about certain artists and bands whose lyrical concepts, musical style, and sound deviated from the norm. It was those musical excursions that sparked ideas and wonder. For Tanea, obscure lyrics and odd concepts infused with unique sounds inspired within her a need for visual representation. For a kid whose surroundTanea’s book, Workhorse, captures ings were trees, snow, aspects of her childhood home. and ore dust, these concepts would stir up that sense of Growing up, Tanea and I were wonder deep inside an artist’s soul. great friends who shared similar Anything outside our isolated artistic outlooks, but despite our landscape and worldview was artistry, it was clear that she wasn’t foreign, other-worldly, and captjust interested, she lived it. She was ivating – just like each original piece an artist, while I was an enthusiast. that she created.

When we were both in middle school, After her release of Workhorse, a Tanea’s work was selected for display self-published book surveying and at The Rooms in St. John’s. (I still deconstructing aspects of life and the cherish the silver yo-yo that she mining industry in Labrador West, brought me back from her trip – As a kid growing up in Labrador City, Tanea Hynes was a standout. In a mining town, with much of its culture predominantly surrounding ice hockey, cabin life, and snowmobiling, she found her footing in photography and abstract visual art at a young age, propelling herself into early recognition within the arts community in Newfoundland and Labrador. An artist with an eye for the uncanny and profound, Tanea’s work has always made one pause and reflect.

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

37

homefront_3_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:25 PM Page 38

Tanea found her footing in photography and abstract visual art at a young age, propelling herself into early recognition within the arts community in Newfoundland and Labrador. things began to sprout. There was a brief period before graduating from NSCAD University when Tanea had wondered how she might make it as an artist, questioning if there was any point in pursuing her passion at all.

An artist’s life is often a constant push-and-pull of maybes and I-hopeso’s, with lucky breaks hard to come by, but Workhorse was the project that finally broke the surface.

The book blends aspects of her childhood home and the places she worked and lived. It features stark and sublime depictions of the lives of steelworkers, chronicling their triumphs and hardships, hopes and dreams, shortcomings and successes.

It’s a commentary on a place she can’t help but feel fondness for.

Home, after all, will always be home.

It’s a wonder to think that the place that was once an amalgam of trees, snow, and ore now inspired the work she would be so rightfully recognized for.

Today, the magic lives on. Bringing her art across waters to be viewed by 38

July 2024

European eyes is something that Tanea is indescribably excited about.

The theft of her laptop in the streets of Belgium sparked support from home, as many stepped up to help in her time of need to keep her dream alive.

It takes a community to raise a child, a child to dream, and a dreamer to be an artist. Through hard work and time, Tanea is well on her way to deepening her influence, not only in the community of Labrador City and the province of Newfoundland and Labrador, but across Canada, and into the far reaches of countries she had only once dreamed of visiting.

You can find and follow Tanea’s work at tanea-hynes.com

Nathan Freake is a writer and educator from Labrador City.

For any inquiries, you can reach Nathan at thelabcurrent@gmail.com 1-888-588-6353

homefront_3_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 9:03 AM Page 39

Dennis Flynn photo

homefront

Dennis Flynn photo

homefront_3_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:25 PM Page 40

Dennis Flynn photo

40

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

Dennis Flynn photo

homefront_3_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:25 PM Page 41

Dennis Flynn photos

There were memories made and smiles aplenty at the 10th annual Downhome Expo this past May. Thousands of patrons flocked to the Mount Pearl Glacier to sample the wares of dozens of vendors and the largest marketplace in Newfoundland and Labrador, meet the adorable Newfoundland ponies, and have their picture taken with the affable Downhome mascot, Salty Dog. Kids of all ages took their chances with our giant Plinko board and Expo 200, while three lucky winners walked away with flights courtesy of PAL Airlines from our Air Expo game!

Despite wet and foggy weather spirits were high, as the Downhome team pulled off one of the most successful Expo events in company history. A very special thank you to all the vendors, patrons and staff, who helped make Downhome Expo 2024 a smashing success!

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

41

homefront_3_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:25 PM Page 42

Agnes Hart Deborah Pate Pansy Skinner Susan Kennedy Jim Vey Ben Adams Osman Myron Hinchey Gert Daniels Gerry Locke

Dennis Flynn photo

Door Prize Winners

Dennis Flynn photo

Congratulations to all our Prize Winners

Cornhole Winner Adam Nichol

PAL Airlines Air Expo Winners Krista Farrell Robin Dillon Leah McBreairty

Dennis Flynn photo

42

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

homefront_3_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:25 PM Page 43

Dennis Flynn photo

Dennis Flynn photo

Dennis Flynn photo

Year at the See You Next po ownhome Ex 11th Annual D

5 May 2-4, 202

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

43

40_KellieLoder_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:32 PM Page 44

features

INSIDE KELLIE LODER’S RAW AND REAL NEW ALBUM TRANSITIONS

By Dillon Collins

OF THE MANY THINGS that can be said to describe NL’s own Kellie Loder, nobody can dispute the raw authenticity of the Juno awardnominated singer-songwriter.

That realness shines on Kellie’s long-awaited fourth studio album Transitions, the Badger native’s first full-length release since 2018’s lauded Benefit of the Doubt.

“I mean, for me, it feels like yesterday. I feel like I’ve been playing these songs on the new record for a long time. I just feel like these songs must be already out, you know? So when 44

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

40_KellieLoder_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 3:28 PM Page 45

Brody White photo

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

45

40_KellieLoder_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:32 PM Page 46

Raw, real, and refreshingly vulnerable, authenticity is the hallmark of the Kellie Loder experience. the record came out, it felt like a record release for sure, but it felt like, oh, this is just too long coming,” Kellie says of their much-anticipated release six years in the making.

“It’s about time these were out in the world. I’m really gonna try to not have another six years in between this one and the next one (laughs).

It’s not for lack of having songs. I got enough songs for ten records, it’s just the time and the money. It really takes an emotional toll, for sure, when you’re making a record. And you’re not always ready to do it.

You’re not always ready to say the things you want to say. I’m happy that I did this time.”

Kellie’s heart has always sat 46

July 2024

proudly displayed on their sleeve. It’s a character trait that has come to define one of Newfoundland and Labrador’s preeminent poets, of giving their all – mind body and soul – in both the live performance and creative process.

Take the weighty single “When It Comes to You,” a love letter to an old flame renewed, which Kellie penned during the heights of the pandemic.

“I had reconnected with this old flame and I sound like I’m 80 years old when I say that (laughs). I reconnected with an old lover and I felt the exact same way I had before.

It was like nothing seemed to change when it came to her. So it was an easy song to write.

1-888-588-6353

40_KellieLoder_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:32 PM Page 47

“Very rarely will I perform something that still hits a nerve. I will have healed substantially before I perform it regularly.”

Tapping into the everyday is part of what has endeared Kellie to a legion of followers from this corner of the nation and beyond, earning the ECMA, SOCAN and MusicNL winner a runner-up slot on the sophomore season of Canada’s Got Talent.

“A lot of the time people will say,

It’s sort of like the default.

Sometimes I feel very misunderstood in life because of that, because I just can’t stand small talk with people. I just want to dive right in. I’m like why play in the kiddie pool when you can swim in the deep end right away?”

Co-writing with household names such as Alan Doyle, Steven Page, The Good Lovelies, and Grammy awardwinning musician and producer,

how do you find it so easy to be that raw and that vulnerable and I just say I don’t know, I always have. Even in conversation, I tend to tell too many people, too many things about my life because I want to find relationships with people and how you find a relationship is to share,” Kellie explains.

“It’s never been difficult for me to tap into the deepest parts of me, ever.

Greg Wells, Kellie’s songs and fresh and honest live performances – which include their biggest run of home-province showcases to date in 2024 – have earned widespread acclaim, though Kellie admits some nerves still persist.

“I still get nervous. I still have thoughts of not measuring up. I think it’s all normal and human to have those thoughts and sort of like that

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

47

40_KellieLoder_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 3:46 PM Page 48

self-critique that just doesn’t shut up.

But the self-critique has definitely gotten quieter as I’ve proved it wrong over and over again. It’s there, but it’s not screaming at me anymore or as bothersome. And I do trust my abilities. I wouldn’t have nearly a thousand people show up to see my show if I wasn’t doing anything good.

“You kind of have to look at those things, those facts and the proof is in

sound and vision.

“I think a lot of the stuff that doesn’t feel authentic, it’s not massaged and maybe it’s a lack of maturity. A lot of people said this is the most mature-sounding album.

There are songs on the last record that I can’t even listen to.

“I can’t pretend to be an artist that’s just going to sing for the sake of singing. I just don’t want to do it.”

the pudding. Well, they wouldn’t show up for me because they felt bad for me. They’re going to buy a ticket because they enjoy what I do and they enjoy being entertained. And you have to believe that.”

Raw, real and refreshingly vulnerable, authenticity is the hallmark of the Kellie Loder experience.

“I’ve definitely had some eye-roll moments,” Kellie jokes of their journey to hone in on a definitive

Coming full circle to the relevant nature of Transitions, an album released following immense periods of growth and change in the world of Kellie Loder, we probe the architect of soon-to-be classic cuts “The Month of May” and “Can’t Go Back” as to the overwhelming feeling surrounding their most emotionally resonate offering to date.

“Pain. Pain, it’s necessary, but it sucks. I don’t know, I don’t think we can actually be the same person all of

48

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

40_KellieLoder_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:32 PM Page 49

our lives. It doesn’t work like that.

We’re always changing. There are growing pains and there are relationships that end and new ones that begin. And it’s all painful, but also can be beautiful. It’s both. It’s pain and beauty.”

www.downhomelife.com

Kellie Loder’s Transitions is available now in physical and digital formats. Head online to kellieloder.com for a complete list of tour dates, including NL stops at the Food, Fibs & Fiddles Fest in Gunners Cove.

July 2024

49

46_RugHooking_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:37 PM Page 50

features

50

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

46_RugHooking_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:37 PM Page 51

Michelle Churchill’s hooked rugs are

so vibrant they seem to leap from their frames.

Whales splash in swirling blue waters and waves roll upon rocky beaches. Inquisitive puffins peer from their perches. Sunsets paint the skies in brilliant shades of golden yellow, coral and vermillion. Her home workshop is similarly overflowing full of projects and materials that there’s barely room to turn around. She’s fun and engaging as she speaks about life as an artist from her home in Mount Pearl. Michelle’s creative energy can’t be contained, and she’s always working, determined to expand her horizons and go bigger and bolder.

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

51

46_RugHooking_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:37 PM Page 52

“I’ve always been an artist. I did art in school and then I went into printing, graphic design, painting and digital photography. There’s always been some aspect of art that I’ve always dabbled in,” Michelle says. “My grandmother did rug hooking. I probably picked everything up from her,” she adds, joking about how her grandma would cut up clothes to add to the cosy flannel quilts. An introduction to rug hooking class at the Anna Templeton Centre led Michelle to try her hand at fibre arts.

“I started by doing the traditional method of cut strips, but I couldn’t find the wool anywhere,” she says 52

July 2024

with a laugh. “So I went in one day and decided, ‘I’m just going to rip up my husband’s t-shirts!’ He has a lot and I wanted him to go get new shirts anyway. I went in, took a pair of scissors, and that was it!”

Michelle’s creative talents now include rug hooking, felting, punch needling and embroidery – traditional crafts that she interprets with her own spin.

“It’s just such a traditionally folksy type of thing to do and it really is woven into our heritage. I love the aspect of doing something that’s old, but making it new with different techniques and my own vision to it,” she says.

1-888-588-6353

46_RugHooking_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:37 PM Page 53

avocados, turmeric, sun bleaching, ice baths, flowers and roses and doing a little eco-printing on the side.

I have bottles of experiments everywhere!”

Recently, Michelle’s been busy teaching, crafting and collaborating.

She was honoured with the 2023 Arts and Letters award in Senior Visual Art for her hooked rug piece ‘The Fury’ which depicts a mythical nautical scene. She’s spent time working with other artists, writers and musicians at the creative Artistry program at the Stephenville Theatre Festival, and she’s working on wearable pieces of art, part of the Engulfed 2024 fashion show and exhibition.

Currently, the work Michelle is developing is all about Newfoundland culture, showcasing the island’s traditional way of life. It’s based on colour, beauty, strength, humour and ruggedness, she notes. Her work uses rug hooking, punchneedling, felting techMichelle’s creative talents include rug niques and other elehooking, felting, punch needling and ments for texture. Her embroidery – traditional crafts that bold bright pieces make she interprets with her own spin. an impact on the viewer.

“I want to represent the colourful I’ve used curtains, my daughter’s people that we are by the images I onesies, anything that I can get my create and the strength of those hands on for texture and for colour, I images,” she says. cut it up. Then I started dying my Despite all her successes, Michelle own wool. And I started doing that still longs to spread her wings and more naturally, because I don’t like dive into new creative endeavours. using chemicals. So I started using True to her Newfoundland roots, Michelle uses hand-dyed wools, recycled clothing, stones, wood and other natural elements in her works.

“I just started using what I had,” she says. “The whole idea of sustainability – using what you have.

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

53

46_RugHooking_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:37 PM Page 54

Michelle was honoured with the 2023 Arts and Letters award in Senior Visual Art for her hooked rug piece ‘The Fury’ “I’d love to do a collaboration,” she says. “It really challenges me. The idea is growth as an artist, because you can’t just do, in my opinion, the one thing over and over, time after time, you know. You always want to put yourself out there and try things that you wouldn’t normally do just to see if you can do it. It changes your perspective ... The whole idea is this

54

July 2024

whole journey of growth. And I’m always changing. I know that if I look at things that I’ve done five years ago, even two years ago, I’ve completely changed.”

A career as a successful, working artist is no easy feat to achieve though. “I would love to be a recognized artist and actually make a living from this,” Michelle says,

1-888-588-6353

46_RugHooking_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:37 PM Page 55

noting that she manages to squeeze crafting in around managing a fulltime day job and a busy household full of pets and kids.

“Three o’clock in the morning, I’m up,” she says, adding jokingly, “I don’t do this for the money, that’s for sure. I’m what you’d call a starving artist! It’s ok, it’s all good.

“It’s hard to put your name out there,” she continues. “Other than trying to do the online stuff, Facebook and Instagram and places like that. I’d love to have my own show. I’d love to have the funding.

There’s only so far you can go being a starving artist if you want to go bigger or better. I want to do so much more and I’m limited. And I don’t like, as an artist, to be limited.

“I’m trying to stay within my own means, and I’m trying to make do with what I have, but I’d love to have

www.downhomelife.com

the opportunity to go much bigger. I would love to be able to do a mural.

Like a wall size!” she says, describing 3D sculptural techniques she dreams of working on. “If I had the means, I’d be renting the QV artisan studio so I could do things like that – anything can happen!”

For now, Michelle’s busy creating incredible art that’s a joy to behold.

“Next year, the Engulfed show is going on tour,” she says. “They’re going to be in Montreal doing a fashion show so my work will be displayed there. Then when it comes back here, I think it’s September 2025, [it will be] down at the Craft Council. So there’ll be a show.”

Check out more of Michelle’s work: facebook.com/churchillcrafts etsy.com/shop/hookbydesigns

July 2024

55

homefront 38_47_Homefront 2 9/27/23 4:05 PM Page 46

homefront 38_47_Homefront 2 10/26/23 5:08 PM Page 47

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.

56_Loggers_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:41 PM Page 58

features

A tragic accident overseas rocks the southwest coast of Newfoundland in the summer of 1941.

BY LESTER GREEN

58

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

56_Loggers_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:41 PM Page 59

FOR SEVERAL NEWFOUNDLAND FAMILIES,

news of the tragedy that occurred on Deeside Road, Scotland, on July 5, 1941, involving several Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit members, was overwhelming.

Communications were slow during this time, and the exact dates that families received confirmation about the accident resulted in shattered dreams for two families on the southwest coast of the island.

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

59

56_Loggers_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:41 PM Page 60

In the fall of 1939, Charles Short and Cecil White were aware of troubles overseas. Both were married with families and chose not to enlist with any armed forces. They also knew of the recruitment by the newly formed Newfoundland Overseas Forestry Unit (NOFU), but decided to refrain from enlisting with the initial 2000 loggers that travelled overseas.

In the spring of 1940, NOFU began a new recruitment to replace loggers returning home because of the expiration of their six-month contract. Other NOFU members overseas renewed their contracts.

The British government was also concerned by the number of loggers leaving NOFU and enlisting with one of the three British armed forces.

Decisions by the men not to renew or enlist in other armed forces created a shortage of loggers that could affect the ability of the Forestry Unit to harvest logs for pit props and other building materials.

Records show that both loggers enlisted with NOFU when it started its recruitment for an additional 1,000 loggers. Cecil was given NOFU #2547, while the number assigned to Charles was NOFU #2557. Condition

Cecil White of Grand Bay (right) and Charles Short of Cape Ray (below) enlisted in the Newfoundand Overseas Forestry Unit in 1940

60

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

56_Loggers_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:41 PM Page 61

number 8 of their contract authorized the Department of Natural Resources to require half of their salaries to be paid to their families.

The Duchess of Richmond’s ship manifest lists Cecil and Charles as NOFU members destined for Edinburgh. Recorded memories of other loggers onboard the ship recall that the Newfoundland loggers were ferried across the Cabot Strait to North Sydney, where the men gathered to take the train to Montreal. Two hundred and three loggers gathered on the docks in Montreal and awaited orders to board the Canadian Pacific ship Duchess of Richmond.

The manifest records stated that the ship set sail on July 08 under the escort of a convoy of ships and docked at Liverpool on July 19, 1940, where the loggers waited a couple of days for arrangements to Scotland. They were taken by train to their first camp at Kildrummy on Aberdeen shore.

The information described below is based on several British and Newfoundland newspaper articles, the registry of deaths in the County of Aberdeen, Scotland, and family recollections of the incident.

On the night of Saturday, July 5, 1941, several Newfoundland loggers were offered a return ride in the back of a lorry to their logging camp at Dalmachie, Ballater, from Deeside, Scotland.

The driver, a NOFU logger, offered rides to loggers from the same camp and included Matthew Herriet (#2548) and Gordon Walters

(#2554) of Isle aux Morts, Hector Rendell (#1775) of Port Rexton, Dominic Leonard (#1541) of Southern Harbour, John Armstrong (#0722) of Little Bay, Norte Dame Bay, Charles Short (#2557) of Cape Ray, and Cecil White (#2547) of Grand Bay. The men had consumed alcohol and gladly accepted the return ride to their logging camp. British newspapers that covered the accident noted that on July 5 on the South Deeside Road, opposite Pannanich

British newspapers that covered the accident noted that on July 5 on the South Deeside Road, opposite Pannanich Quarry, the driver drove a motor lorry in a culpable and reckless manner…

www.downhomelife.com

Quarry, the driver drove a motor lorry in a culpable and reckless manner while under the influence of alcohol, causing eight of the passengers on the lorry to be thrown to the ground, injuring five men.

Charles Short was killed, while Cecil White was so severely injured that he succumbed to his injuries on the morning of July 6.

On September 6, 1941, the Newfoundland Weekly featured the news under “Two Newfoundland Loggers Killed in Scotland”. The article identified the men, including the driver. The lorry belonged to NOFU and was proceeding back to the camp. It noted that the driver was placed under arrest.

July 2024

61

56_Loggers_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:41 PM Page 62

The camp was closed so that all men could attend (the funeral) and the coffins were draped in the Newfoundland flag.

On Saturday, October 4, 1941, The Aberdeen Evening Express announced charges of culpable homicide were laid against the lorry driver, with the case to be tried on October 14 before the High Court at Aberdeen.

In Scotland, culpable homicide is committed when the accused has caused loss of life through wrongful conduct but where there was no wicked recklessness or intention to kill. It’s an offence under common law like the England and Wales offence of manslaughter.

The Evening Telegraph and Post, October 5, 1941, headline “Two Killed in Lorry Smash – Driver on Homicide Charge”, noted that the driver of the lorry pleaded not guilty to the charge of culpable homicide.

The injuries to Charles Short and Cecil White when thrown to the ground and injured were so severe 62

July 2024

that both died. The article stated that the date of October 14 was set for the trial.

The Aberdeen Evening Express covered the court case and published the headline “Deeside Lumberjack Gets 15 Months”. It was the first case before the court that morning, with the Deeside lumberjack, James Crockwell, charged with the deaths of two passengers and sent to prison for 15 months.

The lawyer representing noted that the driver, a 22-year-old Newfoundland lumberjack, had come to help in the war effort. While driving the lorry on July 5 into Ballater, he brought several people, including one who was returning to Canada.

They had several refreshments in the village. The driver offered lifts to those going the same way back to the camp and now regrets what happened on the night of July 5.

1-888-588-6353

56_Loggers_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:41 PM Page 63

The Judge, Lord Mackay, said, “I have no doubt you have suffered much, but the result of your action was very serious. It endangered several people, although most escaped with minor injuries. I must impose a fairly severe sentence – 15 months imprisonment.”

A description of the funeral for Charles Short and Cecil White was a challenge to locate, but on page 7 of the August 23, 1941, issue of the Evening Telegram, the headline reads “Two Newfoundlanders Lose Lives in Scotland”.

A letter, now a precious memento, was sent to Mrs. Cecil White dated August 2, 1941. It gives details of the accident, along with a description of the funeral regarding those in attendance. The camp was closed so that all men could attend and the coffins were draped in the Newfoundland flag.

In addition, a historical photo, courtesy of Eric Beckett, provides a

www.downhomelife.com

visual of the funeral to help permanently record this tragic loss.

The letter written to Mrs. Cecil White describes the accident, noting that her husband’s remains were placed in the care of the Episcopal Church in Ballater. His coffin, covered with the Newfoundland flag, rested at the front Altar.

The article ends with notable words, “Arrangements have been made to have suitable headstones erected.”

Today, a visitor to the Tullich Old Churchyard cemetery in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, would discover that the arrangements were completed, and headstones mark the gravesites number 302 and 303.

Charles Short and Cecil White, two Newfoundland loggers, whose dreams of returning to their families were shattered, rest in eternal peace, with the background to the graveyard being the tree-covered hills where they once worked.

July 2024

63

64_Christiansparkes_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:45 PM Page 64

features

BY DILLON COLLINS

A look behind the lens with local filmmaker Christian Sparkes

64

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

64_Christiansparkes_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:45 PM Page 65

IT’S SPRING OF 2024.

Cineplex Theatres in St. John’s boasts the world’s biggest blockbusters. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is sweeping the nation. The Fall Guy with your Kenemy and mine Ryan Gosling and everyone’s not-so-secret crush Emily Blunt is charming audiences. And writer/director Christian Sparkes has not one, but two films screening at his hometown multi-plex.

Scene from The King Tide

“It’s interesting,” Christian says during a oneon-one with Downhome following the theatrical release of his eerie thriller The King Tide and resettlement-focused-drama Sweetland, both shot in Newfoundland and Labrador. “In some ways, it’s very exciting because I grew up watching films in the theatre at the Avalon Mall and at Sobey’s Square. To have your own film play there and to see it on the marquee and have friends and family go see it is very exciting. But at the same time, I’m always kind of looking to the next ones.” www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

65

64_Christiansparkes_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:45 PM Page 66

Filmed in Keels, Christian explores the darker more gothic side of province.

The King Tide stars Clayne Crawford, Alix West Lefler and Frances Fisher.

Christian – a jack of all trades in the business who has had a hand in directing, writing, producing and editing – rose to prominence following the release of his gothic fairytale Cast No Shadow and gritty crime drama Hammer, once again finds himself drawn to compelling stories centered around isolation.

In The King Tide, starring Clayne Crawford, Alix West Lefler and seasoned thespian Frances Fisher, an idyllic island village is disturbed 66

July 2024

following the emergence of a landwashed child with mysterious powers. Christian masterfully holds a dark lens to island living, capitalizing on the rugged complexities and thrilling possibilities at his disposal.

“The kind of darker, more gothic side of Newfoundland has always held a special appeal to me,” he says of the production, shot in Keels, which The Hollywood Reporter called “effectively eerie and insightful.”

1-888-588-6353

64_Christiansparkes_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:45 PM Page 67

“I just gravitate towards slightly darker, more melancholic material and film in general. Like the artwork of Blackwood, and even the writing of a lot of Crummey is fairly stark in representing the texture and how difficult it is to live and survive in Newfoundland, both in the past and in the modern day. For whatever reason that kind of darker or slightly fairytale aesthetic has always really appealed to me.”

resettlement in a beautiful way that resonated with me. I really identified with the character of Moses (Sweetland). There’s a lot of change going on in the world, and I’m kind of resistant to it. I don’t necessarily always want to change. I like living the way I live, and I’m sometimes resistant to adapt. Moses, his struggle resonated pretty clearly with me. And the writing was just so beautiful.”

Alix West Lefler as Isla in The King Tide In Sweetland, an adaptation of Michael Crummey’s award-winning novel of the same name starring Mark Lewis Jones and Newfoundland’s own Sara Canning, Amelia Manuel and Mary Walsh, the death of a community is at the heart of one man’s struggle against the extinction of everything he holds true.

“Sweetland in particular is kind of the quintessential modern-day rural Newfoundland story. And most of Canada doesn’t know anything about it,” Christian shares of the emotionally resonant piece which will likely cut to the core of many islanders. “I think Crummey found a simple story to illuminate the idea of www.downhomelife.com

From an artist who has operated on a micro-budget, to having his films screened at the Atlantic International Film Festival and the much-hyped Toronto International Film Festival, Christian is as big a proponent of supporting his home province as anyone. Indeed, most of his projects are shot and based – in actuality or spirit – in Newfoundland and Labrador.

“It’s always exciting to bring outsiders in and show off your home, especially people that have never experienced the rugged landscape and beauty of Newfoundland,” he says proudly. “I take pride in casting local actors when I can and when July 2024

67

64_Christiansparkes_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:45 PM Page 68

they’re right for the roles, of course, but I don’t feel beholden to that. I want the best performer that I can possibly get for the role.”

More times than not of late, the standout performer in a Christian Sparkes feature has been a child

and understand acting, or at least present that way, I often have to say very little to these kids. So it’s really about being thorough with the audition tapes and seeing as many kids as you possibly can to find the right ones.”

Scenes from the film Sweetland starring Mark Lewis Jones and Mary Walsh

actor. Alix West Lefler, playing the pivotal role of Isla in The King Tide, and the previously undiscovered Cali Turner in Sweetland, are showstealers in their respective roles.

“They say don’t work with children.

I don’t find that to be true. That hasn’t been my experience,” Christian boasts. “In a way, if you find the right child actor, I will say it’s oftentimes easier than working with adults because they don’t overintellectualize the material. They just operate on instinct. And if they instinctually understand the story 68

July 2024

Enjoying the fruits of his labours with two critically acclaimed feature films making their way into cinemas at home and across the country, Christian Sparkes is hesitant to rest on his laurels. On the contrary, there’s work to be done and more than a few stories left to tell.

In a sneak peek with Downhome, Christian peels back the curtain into three of his upcoming projects, one of which is a film set in the 1990s that delves into the Jordan era of the NBA, where grunge music and counterculture fashion reigned supreme.

1-888-588-6353

64_Christiansparkes_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:45 PM Page 69

“It’s very much about basketball fandom in the 90s, in the Michael Jordan era when Pearl Jam and Nirvana were on the radio. And it’s all about growing up in that era and a love of basketball, music and culture at that time. It’s three brothers and it’s all about one weekend of three dissecting stories, soundtracked with all the best tracks from that era and all kinds of pop cultural references.”

From there Christian pivots to more high-stakes fare with an adaptation of a thrilling David Adams Richards novel.

“It takes place down in Mexico. It’s about a jailed heiress, from a very wealthy Canadian family who gets accused of the murder of a young Mexican boy. And it’s about multiple layers of power, corruption and religion down in Mexico City. It almost has echoes of Soderbergh’s Traffic. It’s a very ambitious, multilayered story.”

Finally, Christian delves back into the world of Michael Crummey, cowriting with the lauded local author and collaborator Charles Picco on a new folk horror script titled Sea Change.

www.downhomelife.com

“That takes place in the early 1800s in Newfoundland about conjoined twins who get separated and weave a dark spell upon their parents and their town. So that one will be the

most pure horror and really wild and perverse. It’s a really exciting cinematic story that we have a great draft of.”

Diverse, dynamic and driven, watch out for Christian Sparkes as a new name in Canadian cinema.

July 2024

69

70_BeaumontHamel_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:53 PM Page 70

explore

A tour of the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial

By Nicola Ryan 70

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

70_BeaumontHamel_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:53 PM Page 71

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

71

70_BeaumontHamel_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:53 PM Page 72

When I first went to work at Beaumont-Hamel,

it was the winter season and the weather was drizzly and cold.

It reminded me of home in Newfoundland. The foggy paths through the trenches were deserted at that time of year. The only sound was the raindrops pattering on spruce branches.

Spring though, was warm and sunny. Soon the old shell holes were covered over in lush grass, kept tidy by nibbling ewes and lambs. Birds sang in the trees and flowers bloomed by the headstones in the tiny cemeteries. Visitors arrived, mostly Brits and Aussies touring around the battlefields, and everyone would always say, “It’s so peaceful here.” Come with me on a short tour of Newfoundland’s cherished memorial park.

The Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial is located in northern France. It’s 9km north of the town of Albert, where we lived, or a short drive through farmland and villages.

Part of the Western Front during the First World War, the site preserves the battlefield terrain and welcomes approximately 230,000 visitors each year.

Lieutenant-Colonel Father Thomas Nangle, former Padre of the Newfoundland Regiment, led commemorative efforts after the war. He was appointed as Newfoundland’s representative on the Imperial War Graves Commission in July 1919.

By 1921, after negotiating with 72

July 2024

some 250 French landowners, Nangle secured the purchase of more than 30 hectares (about 75 acres) of the ground over which the Newfoundland Regiment made its heroic advance on the morning of July 1, 1916. It serves as the principal memorial to all Newfoundlanders who served in the Great War in France and Belgium.

The preserved battlefield landscape retains significant evidence of the war, including the Allied trenches occupied by the Newfoundlanders, shell craters, tunnels, dugouts and the German lines. It’s not unusual to spot rusty screw pickets or barbed wire in the grass. In the spring, 1-888-588-6353

70_BeaumontHamel_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:53 PM Page 73

The outline of trenches and battle damage can still be seen on the preserved battlefield at Beaumont-Hamel

Veterans Affairs Canada

unexploded ordnances frequently turn up in the area when farmers plough the fields.

Landscape architect Rudolph H.K. Cochius, a native of the Netherlands living in St. John’s, supervised the establishment of all of Newfoundland’s overseas memorials.

Now known as the Trail of the Caribou, they’re located at Beaumont-Hamel, Gueudecourt, Masnières, Monchy-lePreux, Courtrai and Gallipoli.

Cochius incorporated touches from home into his designs. At BeaumontHamel, more than 5,000 trees native to Newfoundland, including spruce, dogberry and juniper, were planted along the boundaries of the site. www.downhomelife.com

It was decided that each memorial would have a bronze Caribou fashioned by British sculptor Basil Gotto. Gotto based his design on a famous photo, Monarch of the Topsails, by well-known Newfoundland photographer, S.H. Parsons. The caribou was considered the national symbol of Newfoundland at the time and was the emblem of the Newfoundland Regiment.

At Beaumont-Hamel, the caribou stands on a high mound created close to the location of the headquarters dugout of the 88th Brigade. Its head held high, it faces the direction of the former foe – the German front line.

July 2024

73

70_BeaumontHamel_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:53 PM Page 74

(Above) Opening day of the memorial in 1925.

(Right) Sculpter Basil Gotto based the iconic caribou statue at the memorial on a famous photo, Monarch of the Topsails.

Rocks and shrubs native to Newfoundland encircle the mound.

Three bronze tablets bear the names of 820 members of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Newfoundland Royal Naval Reserve and the Mercantile Marines who gave their lives and whose final resting places are unknown.

Cochius included an avenue of trees in the site’s design, drawing attention to the Hawthorn Crater in the distance at the northern end. In July 1916, following seven days of ineffective bombardment, German 74

July 2024

troops were alerted to an imminent attack when an extremely strong mine – Hawthorn Mine – was detonated.

That morning in July, as the Newfoundland troops headed into a hail of machine gun and artillery fire, it was said that many of them tucked their chins in, almost like they were walking into the teeth of a blizzard back home. Halfway across No Man’s Land, the ‘Danger Tree’ marked an area of particularly heavy fire and intense casualties. Today, a replica of the original plum tree stands as a 1-888-588-6353

70_BeaumontHamel_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:53 PM Page 75

Plant life native to Newfoundand and Labrador surrounds the caribou monument.

At its base is a bronze plaque with the names of the fallen who have no known graves.

Veterans Affairs Canada

symbol of both deva-station and resilience.

Within the site’s boundaries, close to 1,000 men were killed or died on that one fateful day in July. There are also three Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemeteries located at Beaumont-Hamel: Hawthorn Ridge Cemetery No. 2, Hunter’s Cemetery and Y Ravine Cemetery. Almost 700 casualties are buried or commemorated at these sites.

The Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial was officially www.downhomelife.com

dedicated on June 7, 1925, by FieldMarshal Earl Douglas Haig, Commander of the British Expeditionary Force during the Battle of the Somme. The site was declared a National Historic Site in 1997 and, with the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, remains one of only two such locations outside of Canada.

The Battle of the Somme raged until November 1916. On November 13, 1916, the 51st (Highland) Division achieved a major victory at Y Ravine, where their memorial now resides.

Company Sergeant Major Bob July 2024

75

70_BeaumontHamel_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:53 PM Page 76

Veterans Affairs Canada

The 51st (Highland) Division is remembered at Y Ravine.

Rowan of the Glasgow Highlanders was used as the model for the kilted figure atop the memorial.

The visitors’ centre was opened on July 1, 2001. It’s designed to evoke

76

July 2024

traditional Newfoundland fishing rooms. The information inside, presented in English, French and German, covers the history of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment from

1-888-588-6353

70_BeaumontHamel_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 3:29 PM Page 77

its formation in 1914 to the end of the War. It’s staffed by Canadian students like me.

I spent many hours at BeaumontHamel. I studied the faces of the Blue Puttees in the photos at the visitor’s centre; they looked like guys I knew.

Outside, I’d think about those young soldiers, far from home, lost but not forgotten, as I lingered under the trees. At the site’s entrance, inscribed in bronze is an epitaph composed by English poet John Oxenham. From memory, I can still recite it:

“Tread softly here! Go reverently and slow!

Yea, let your soul go down upon its knees.

And with bowed head, and heart abased, strive hard to grasp the future gain in this sore loss!

For not one foot of this dank sod but drank its surfeit of the blood of gallant men, who, for their faith, their hope, for life and liberty, here made the sacrifice – here gave their lives and gave right willingly – for you and for me.”

A replica of the ‘Danger Tree’, halfway across No Man’s Land where some of the heaviest casualties occured.

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

77

76_PointRiche_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 2:59 PM Page 78

explore

78

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

76_PointRiche_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 12:12 PM Page 79

Kim Ploughman reminisces with Phil Rumbolt about his family’s legacy caring for the Point Riche beacon

Lighthouses

shine light and hope to mariners upon stormy seas, but they are also keepers of stories which guide and nurture hearts.

While lighthouse keeping may come from a bygone era, Phil Rumbolt’s fond memories and stories are tied to his family’s time as lighthouse keepers “out on the point.”

For Phil, that special portal is the Point Riche Lighthouse, two kilometres from his hometown of Port au Choix, a vibrant fishing community.

Indeed, even decades later, it’s a magnetic place that still beams balm and calm to this octogenarian. www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

79

76_PointRiche_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 11:43 AM Page 80

Phil Rumbolt (left) was just 13 when he went to live with his grandparents Maggie and Joseph Breton (above), the caretakers of the Point Riche lighthouse.

Port au Choix has a deep past.

Starting nearly 6,000 years ago, at least four different Indigenous peoples were drawn to this area – not by any lighthouse, but by the rich sea resources and as a sacred burial ground.

By the 1500s, long after the native people’s disappearance, Europeans started arriving on these shores. It wasn’t until August 1871 that a lighthouse was erected on the land with a sweeping panoramic view of the Strait of Belle Isle. The wooden tower burnt down and was replaced several years later in 1892 with a “pepper pot” style light.

Point Riche would eventually become the western end of the 80

July 2024

French Shore, which guaranteed fishing and occupancy rights to the French in Newfoundland until 1904.

The lighthouse on these limestone barrens is now part of the Port au Choix National Historic Site, designated in 1970 for its distinction as one of the most fascinating archeological finds in North America.

Phil explains that his ancestors started tending the lighthouse in 1881, when Quebec’s Ferdinand Lemieux became keeper of the lighthouse and fog-gun, at a salary of $400 per annum. Phil was just 13 years old when he went to live with his grandparents, Maggie and Joseph Breton, at the keeper’s house at Point Riche. It wasn’t long before 1-888-588-6353

76_PointRiche_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 11:43 AM Page 81

he immersed himself in the work and bonded dearly with his grandparents.

“I would carry water for Gram in gallon paint cans, and help Pop turn over the hay, and wheel it,” he explained, noting that in the evening his prime chore was to gather landwashed wood pulps down on the beach. “The beaches were right full of the pulp wood that were lost off the nearby sawmill boat in Hawke’s Bay.” He delighted in helping his grandmother tend to the chickens, eggs and hens, and catch rainwater from the shute around the house for drinking. He often carried kerosene for his Pop up to the red lantern room atop the octagonal tower, where the all-important light awaited its refuelling.

Phil becomes quiet for a moment.

“I has memories of all of that stuff…,” he professes.

While there was “always something to do,” not all life at Point Riche was work. Every week, four or five people would come from Port au Choix and engage in one of their favourite pastimes, poker. He recalls his Pop making blackberry wine in 24-gallon jugs for such occasions, laughing that

www.downhomelife.com

Phil recalls that the point was teeming with wildlife. Today caribou are a common sight in Port au Choix “I would sneak a scatter bit, myself.”

While his grandparents would “give it up,” in 1958, Phil’s connection to the lighthouse would endure. His parents, Lawrence (Laud) and Mildred moved out to Point Riche with their ten children.

While he admits there was not “much rest in those times,” lighthouse life continued to be majestic to Phil. He looked after horses, cattle and sheep.

With a keen memory, Phil harkens back to berry picking in the fall and falling in love with the wildlife,

July 2024

81

76_PointRiche_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 11:45 AM Page 82

Phil presents his grandson Colby Burke with a kerosene lamp recovered for the original lightkeeper’s home. The lamp once belonged to Phil’s great-great-great grandfather. including the birds nurturing their nests. “There was lots of life at the Point…” he recalls.

At night, on these windswept shores, a favourite activity was watching the big ships crossing the Straits between Point Riche and Labrador, likely departing the St. Lawrence seaway to sail to Europe.

The lighthouse keepers and their families stayed at Point Riche, summer and winter.

“There were some cold and bad winters,” says Phil, recalling burning coal shipped in sacks from Prince Edward Island.

Things began to shift in Point Riche by 1969. With changing times, an automatic flash of light replaced the traditional light.

82

July 2024

When Phil’s parents left that year to return to Port au Choix, no other families lived at the lighthouse. It was the end of a majestic era. The red and white tower was now a solitary beacon piercing the night sky on the rocky headland.

Decades later, Phil’s personal life took a tragic turn when his wife Mary, a teacher, passed suddenly in 1990 of an aneurysm. He would raise his two young sons and daughter alone.

The following year Phil’s childhood home at The Point burned down. He recalls that his grandmother Maggie was still living. “We didn’t have the courage to tell her,” he shares.

Phil’s grandmother lived in a small bungalow in a nearby field until she 1-888-588-6353

76_PointRiche_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 11:44 AM Page 83

was 96 years old. He tried to salvage lighthouse artifacts from her home when she passed.

One item he safeguarded was a kerosene lamp that belonged to his great great-great-grandfather, Ferdinand Lemieux.

In 2021, he gifted the 164-year-old lighthouse lamp to one of his

grandsons, Colby Burke. Stamped in 1860, the antique lamp spanned five different lighthouse keepers, from 1881 to 1969, all in the same family.

Colby is the eighth generation of the family lineage to hold this special family heirloom.

Phil expresses confidence the lamp is in good hands. “He’s taking good care of it and appreciates it.” www.downhomelife.com

Lighthouses are traditionally seen as beacons of hope and security. For Phil, five generations of his family kept the light at Point Riche, so it is settled into his ancestral genes, bloodline and memory.

Fifty-five years later, this lighthouse keeper’s son returns to Point Riche often, both physically and in memory. On Sundays when the weather is good, Phil drives out to The Point. He’ll sit there for hours, with the nearby stone remains of his family’s home and an outhouse nostalgically reminding him of his youth.

Phil reflects on his childhood in Point Riche: “These were different times. We had cow paths for roads, no electricity and no phones,” he recalls.

“These were poor times… but we didn’t look at it that way.

“I fell in love with Point Riche,” he adds. “It was a magical time out on The Point. It was like a new world out there.”

For this man with a keen memory, decades later it still holds sentimental value. “It’s near and dear to me. I have lots of memories and dreams from out there… there’s something about it.”

Phil still keeps a light on for the Point Riche lighthouse. From his Manor in Port Saunders, nearly 10 kilometres away, he can see the Point Riche light, still beaming its light to his memories, heart and soul.

July 2024

83

84_stuff_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:11 PM Page 84

HOME and Cabin

stuff we love by Nicola Ryan

Get Active SPRING IN YOUR STEP Designed with overnight hikes and backpacking in mind, Lowa Renegade hiking boots have cushy polyurethane midsoles that offer comfortable support even if you’re carrying a heavy load. A special rubber outsole helps with traction even on rocky or dusty trails and waterproofing will keep your toes snug and dry. theoutfitters.nf.ca

RIDES LIKE A DREAM An electric bike is equipped with a motor to assist you when you’re pedalling – something that would never go astray with the hills around here. Go farther with a fast, lightweight and practical Pedego Electric Bike – we like the sleekness of the Avenue commuter style.

The state-of-the-art 500-watt motor is powerful and efficient and the high-tech battery is both lightweight and long-lasting. pedegoelectricbikes.com 84

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

84_stuff_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:11 PM Page 85

FISHING FOR COMPLIMENTS Anglers will appreciate a waterproof pack like this one from Fishpond.

The Thunderhead Lumbar gives you a comfortable, simple way to organize all your gear – from your flies, camera and fish-finder to your peanut butter and jelly, all of which need to stay dry. A TRU Zip waterproof and submersible zipper makes an airtight closure system, just in case. atlanticrivers.com

BUG OFF They say the nippers really come out after Canada Day, and we’ll never head out to the backwoods without a light bug-resistant jacket. The Compac Bug Jacket is made of 100% polyester mesh and features a zippered head and face opening. An elasticized waistband and ribbed wrist cuffs will keep mosquitoes and blackflies out.

Who cares if you look like a mobile screened-in porch? Everyone else will be busy scratching their bites. theoutdoorsupplystore.com

SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED Gym aficionados will appreciate a good shaker bottle like this 24oz TR Hypercharge from Nike. Sleek, stylish, BPA-free and always ready to shake things up—literally.

It’s got a built-in whisk-ball to mix your protein powder into a smooth elixir and a fliptop spout with a leakproof seal. It’s your trusty sidekick while you get swole. www.sportchek.ca

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

85

88_marie_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:13 PM Page 86

HOME and Cabin

Ask Marie Anything Interior designer Marie Bishop takes your questions

Q. I’d like your thoughts on how to create some outdoor living spaces in my garden. I’m not a huge fan of a formal manicured lawn and meticulous flower beds. I like spaces that feel natural and more casual for outdoor gatherings. Any ideas?

Thank you for that question. I love creating outdoor

spaces, and the more natural the better. The more we learn about our environment and the ways we can help maintain a healthy one, the more obvious it becomes that we need to take care and pay attention.

86

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

88_marie_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:13 PM Page 87

Slightly off-topic, but I’d suggest watching a movie called Dare to be Wild. It’s based on the true story of Mary Reynolds, an Irish landscape designer who wholeheartedly promotes creating ‘natural spaces’ and in 2002 was the youngest contestant to win the Gold Medal at the Chelsea Flower Show in England for her unconventional display of the beauty found in our natural environment. Quite an accomplishment, and worth the watch for inspiration.

Summer is my absolute favourite time of year.

The early sunrises, being outside, long days, getting my hands into the soil, watching things grow and especially creating places where friends and family can gather. I love a shady area to enjoy a good book, sunny spaces to soak up the rays, or those where the grandkids can make mudpies or kick a soccer ball around.

Having a variety of outdoor areas to accommodate our needs is important.

For starters, a quick and simple way to add visual appeal and ambiance to your property is with lights. Whether they’re solar-powered ones in the ground or electrically powered sets strung through trees, on the fence, the lattice walls of the patio or on the eaves of your house, they will immediately create a festive, warm glow while you enjoy the summer evenings. The vintage LED lights available in most building supply stores are great. The ones Costco has are probably the best investment. Each set is 50 feet long with 24 vintage LED bulbs that last for years. In addition to the lights you could add some Chinese lanterns, usually available at any of the dollar stores and they look magical. www.downhomelife.com

A quick and simple way to add visual appeal and ambiance to your property is with lights.

July 2024

87

88_marie_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:13 PM Page 88

Think of your outdoor spaces as task-specific, such as a place to prepare and enjoy a meal, or a lounge area for reading and relaxing.

In the same way you use your indoor spaces, think of your outdoor spaces as task-specific. That includes a place to prepare a meal, to sit and enjoy a meal, a lounge area for reading and relaxing, and a play area if you have little ones or littles who visit regularly.

First of all, define the areas where these spaces work best. The cooking area will be closest to the house for practical reasons, with the eating area not far from that. Outdoor rugs will help designate and separate specific areas. The other spaces can be placed where they make the most sense in the garden. For instance, tall birch or maple trees offer welcome shade in the heat of the afternoon sun, which is the ideal place to set up a bistro set or your favourite loungers extending the invitation to enjoy some friendly conversation over a cool beverage or relax with a good book.

If your trees aren’t quite tall enough to offer shade, purchase a colourful sun umbrella. Be sure to measure the area beforehand, and the bigger the better, as long as it fits the space.

88

July 2024

Adding a trellis or arbour at the entrance, especially if there’s a slightly curving trail of stone or paver tiles leading to it, instantly creates a visual invitation to explore the wonders beyond. It’s a great place to plant flowering climbers such as Honeysuckle or Climbing Hydrangea.

In the short term, using large planters full of colourful, long-lasting annuals will instantly create eye candy for a summer vibe.

I think it’s the experience of every Newfoundlander, that nothing creates an evening gathering quicker than a fire pit. Whether it’s fueled by wood or propane, on the deck or by the pond, it’s the place to gather as the sun sets. If you have the space to create a conversation area around a firepit it will be a critical element to your overall garden design.

Ample and comfortable seating is key for an enjoyable and memorable evening. I guarantee it will be wellused and well-loved.

In terms of accessorizing your outdoor living spaces, make them inviting, colourful and cozy with toss 1-888-588-6353

88_marie_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:13 PM Page 89

cushions and a basket of throws nearby to ward off the evening chill.

Add some small tables for drinks and snacks, and even the addition of birdhouses and planters can create a visually interesting area where you could add a few chairs.

For the more natural or rugged areas in your garden, you could create a land of the magical unknown for the little ones to explore. Setting up a small tent will invite creative play and offer shelter from the sun and rain.

Whimsical features like wind chimes, fairies, mushrooms or a birdbath bring it to another level. This is also a great place to add a wooden or stone bench, a place for quiet contemplation.

To expand on the natural beauty of this area, you may want to sew a few

packs of wildflower seeds or plant some blueberry, raspberry or gooseberry bushes. These are all fairly fast, perennial growers, attract all kinds of pollinators and produce colourful, flavorful berries. Win/win.

For all of us here in this northern climate, outdoor spaces are critical for our health and well-being. They recharge our batteries, allow us to absorb the wonderful energies in nature, enable us to listen to the birdsong and hear the children’s laughter and squeals of joy.

These places inspire us to stop a nd rest in the sun, chat with a neighbour and soak in every single minute of summer pleasure. These areas encourage us to love our outdoor space.

Natural or rugged areas of your garden can be made into magical realms for little ones to explore.

Ask Marie Anything!

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

July 2024

89

96_ToddsTable_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:15 PM Page 90

HOME and Cabin

Todd’s table

BBQ Whole Chicken 90

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

96_ToddsTable_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:15 PM Page 91

early spring – well it honestly wasn’t Todd’s Table In much of a spring here on the eastern part of the

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

1-888-588-6353

rock – I always look forward to that first BBQ. The desire to have that first grilling experience is usually prompted by the delicious smell of searing protein coming from some deck or shed in the neighbourhood. Yes, grilling or BBQ activities are often associated with summertime but the smell, flavour and taste of that grill at least makes you feel like summer is just around the corner.

I have tried just about everything on a grill over the years from the common proteins like steak, pork, chicken, fish, turkey, duck, sausage etc. You name it I’ve grilled it. Vegetables on the grill is another example of “if you can cook it in the house, try it on the grill”: potato, peppers, asparagus, zucchini, carrot, turnip, even beet, and the list goes on.

Even on cold early spring days – or winter days for that matter – it’s always a treat to fire up the old BBQ for a taste of summer.

When summer hits and I’m able to spend more time outside the house and more time cooking with the grill or smoker, I like to experiment with the longer cooks. Something delicious that takes a little more time to prepare than a burger, wings or a quickly seared steak.

One of my favourites is the whole chicken. Yes, you can cook a whole chicken on the grill and trust me, it’s amazing!

July 2024

91

96_ToddsTable_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:15 PM Page 92

BBQ Whole Chicken 1 whole chicken 2 tbsp olive oil 2-3 tbsp of your favourite dry rub, or make your own

I often make my own dry rub by simply mixing a combination of spices that I like. For example, course kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper, ground/crumbled savoury and smoked paprika. You can experiment with this, but if you stick to what you enjoy you can’t go wrong. Remember it’s your grill, your chicken and you can make the taste and flavour however you choose!

Set the chicken on a cutting board and pat it dry inside and out with paper towels. Rub olive oil all over the outside and inside of the chicken.

Take the rub mixture and sprinkle the entire inside and outside of the bird. Place the chicken on a plate, wrap loosely with foil and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to let the seasonings absorb.

After about 15 minutes, light the 92

July 2024

1 set of long-handle tongs or clean rubber oven gloves for turning the chicken 1 instant read meat thermometer

grill, close the cover and turn the temperature to high. Give it about 10 minutes to burn off the remnants of your last cook and give the racks a rub over with a cleaning tool. Tip: I never use a wire brush, only a wooden grill scraper.

Get the chicken out of the fridge and let’s start cooking. You may have jumped ahead and thought to yourself, that chicken will catch on fire once it starts to drip fat down on that hot flame. You are absolutely correct. To avoid the flame up, turn off the center element and leave the other two on high.

Take the chicken and place it breast down on the part of the grill where the burner is turned off. Close the lid of the grill and relax. By doing it this way, there will be no fire and the other burners will create enough heat that will circulate under the cover 1-888-588-6353

96_ToddsTable_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:15 PM Page 93

and cook the chicken perfectly. It’s called the “indirect heat method.” This works great when grilling chicken wings as well.

The advantage to this method is not only for even cooking but you don’t have to worry about the food being burned to a crisp and you can do something else while waiting like mow the lawn or wash the car.

Watch the temperature of the grill and adjust if necessary to maintain approximately 375 F. After about 30 minutes flip the bird to breast up and continue cooking, remembering to check the doneness temperature about an hour into the cook. The chicken is fully cooked when the internal temperature reaches 165 to 170 degrees. This may take about an hour and a half or so.

Remove from the grill, tent loosely with foil and let it rest for at least 15 minutes.

Cut up the chicken and serve with your favourite side(s).

Happy Grilling!

1-888-588-6353

Todd’s Tips Use your favourite spices to make that dry rub your own signature taste that you will enjoy.

Make sure you entirely cover the whole of the chicken inside and out with the rub.

Maintain a steady temperature on the grill so the chicken cooks evenly.

Last but not least, always cook with confidence. If I can do it, so can you.

July 2024

93

100_DHRecipes_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:19 PM Page 94

HOME and Cabin

downhome recipes

Guarding the Grill Sick of grilling yet? We know we aren’t! We here at Downhome will take any excuse to soak up some sun and spend those ever-waning warm months BBQ-side. Whether it be pork, seafood, chicken or beef, the grill’s siren song is bewitching to all those who know her tune. With that in mind, Downhome has assembled a handy dandy list of BBQ must-haves to make your summer soiree a hit.

Grilled Lobster Tails 1 tbsp lemon juice 1/2 cup olive oil 1 tsp salt 1 tsp paprika

1/8 tsp white pepper 1/8 tsp garlic powder 2 (10 oz) rock lobster tails

Gather all ingredients. Preheat the grill to high heat and lightly oil the grate. Pour lemon juice into a small bowl; slowly whisk in olive oil.

Whisk in salt, paprika, white pepper, and garlic powder until combined.

Split lobster tails lengthwise with a large knife, then brush the flesh with some marinade. Place lobster tails flesh-side down on the preheated grill and cook, turning once and basting frequently with marinade, until opaque and firm to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes. Discard any remaining marinade. Yields two servings.

94

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

100_DHRecipes_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:19 PM Page 95

Antipasto Pasta Salad 1 pound seashell pasta 1/2 pound Asiago cheese, diced 1/4 pound Genoa salami, chopped 1/4 pound pepperoni sausage, chopped 3 medium tomatoes, chopped 1 medium red bell pepper, diced 1 medium green bell pepper, chopped 1 (6 oz) can black olives, drained and chopped 1 (.7 oz) package dry Italian-style salad dressing mix

Dressing: 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar 2 tbsp dried oregano 1 tbsp dried parsley 1 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese salt and ground black pepper to taste

Salad: Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add shell pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender yet firm to the bite, about nine minutes. Drain, run under cold water to cool the pasta, and drain again.

Transfer drained pasta to a large bowl. Add Asiago, salami, pepperoni, tomatoes, bell peppers, and olives. Sprinkle dry dressing mix over top and stir until ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Dressing: Whisk oil, vinegar, oregano, parsley, Parmesan, salt, and pepper together in a small bowl. Cover and set aside until ready to serve. When ready to serve, pour dressing over chilled salad and mix until well combined. Yields 12 servings.

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

95

100_DHRecipes_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:19 PM Page 96

Cucumber Watermelon Salad 1 cup sliced red onion, cut lengthwise 3 tbsp lime juice 15 cups cubed watermelon 3 cups cubed English cucumber

1 (8 oz) package feta cheese, crumbled 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro cracked black pepper, to taste sea salt, to taste

Gather the ingredients. Place red onion slices in a small bowl; pour over lime juice. Allow onions to marinate while assembling the salad. Gently combine watermelon, cucumber, feta cheese, and cilantro in a large bowl; season with black pepper. Toss watermelon salad with marinated onions and season with sea salt just before serving. Yields 15 servings.

96

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

100_DHRecipes_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:19 PM Page 97

Jerk Chicken Wings 1/4 cup fresh squeezed orange juice 2 tbsp lemon juice 2 tbsp lime juice 1 tsp salt 2 tsp ground black pepper 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme 1 tbsp chopped garlic 1 tbsp chopped fresh ginger 1 habanero pepper, seeded and chopped (use gloves)

1 tbsp curry powder 1/2 tsp ground allspice 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 1/2 cup vegetable oil 12 large chicken wings, tips removed and wings cut apart at the joint

Mix together the orange juice, lemon juice, lime juice, salt, black pepper, thyme, garlic, ginger, habanero pepper, curry powder, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon in a bowl. Whisk in the vegetable oil. Pour 3/4 of the marinade into a resealable plastic zipper bag, and place the chicken wing pieces into the bag. Squeeze out any air, mix the wing pieces with the marinade, and refrigerate from 4 to 12 hours. Place the remaining 1/4 of the marinade in a small bowl, and refrigerate until grilling time. Preheat an outdoor grill to medium heat, and lightly oil the grate. Remove the wing pieces from the bag of marinade, and discard the used marinade. Sprinkle the wings with salt and pepper to taste, and sear on the hottest part of the grill until the wings begin to brown, about four minutes per side. Move the wings to a less-hot part of the grill, baste with the unused portion of the marinade, and close the grill. Grill until the wings are golden brown, show good grill marks, are no longer pink in the center, and the juices run clear, 10 to 15 more minutes. Baste again with marinade and turn after five to eight minutes. Yields 12 wings.

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

97

100_DHRecipes_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:19 PM Page 98

Grilled Salmon 1 1/2 pounds salmon fillets lemon pepper to taste garlic powder to taste salt to taste

1/3 cup soy sauce 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup water 1/4 cup vegetable oil

Season salmon fillets with lemon pepper, garlic powder, and salt.

Stir soy sauce, brown sugar, water, and vegetable oil together in a small bowl until sugar is dissolved. Place fish in a large resealable plastic bag; add soy sauce mixture, seal, and turn to coat. Refrigerate for at least two hours. Preheat an outdoor grill to medium heat and lightly oil the grate. Place salmon on the preheated grill, and discard the marinade. Cook salmon until fish flakes easily with a fork, about six to eight minutes per side. Yields six servings.

98

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

100_DHRecipes_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:19 PM Page 99

Grilled Pork Loin 3 tbsp honey 3 tbsp soy sauce 3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 2 tbsp brown sugar 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 tsp ketchup

1/2 tsp ground ginger 1/2 tsp onion powder 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper 2 (6 oz) thick-cut boneless pork loin chops

Whisk honey, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, garlic, ketchup, ginger, onion powder, cinnamon, and cayenne pepper together in a bowl. Pour 1/2 of the marinade into a large resealable plastic bag; add chops, coat with the marinade, squeeze out excess air, and seal the bag.

Marinate in the refrigerator, turning occasionally, for four to eight hours.

Refrigerate the remaining marinade in the bowl. Preheat an outdoor grill to medium heat, and lightly oil the grate Remove pork chops from marinade and shake off excess. Discard the marinade from the plastic bag.

Grill chops on the preheated grill, basting with some of the reserved marinade until meat is browned, no longer pink inside, and shows good grill marks, eight to 10 minutes per side. A meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of a chop should read at least 145 degrees F (63 degrees C). Pour the remaining reserved marinade into a saucepan over medium heat, bring to a boil, and reduce heat to a simmer. Cook marinade until slightly thickened, about five minutes, stirring constantly; serve sauce with chops. Yields two servings.

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

99

100_DHRecipes_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:19 PM Page 100

No Bake Lemon Cheesecake 3 cups graham cracker crumbs 1/2 cup butter, melted 1 tbsp confectioners’ sugar 1 (3 oz) package lemon flavored gelatin mix 1 cup boiling water

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened 1 cup white sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 (5 oz) can evaporated milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, butter and confectioners’ sugar. Mix well and press into the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Turn off the oven. Dissolve lemon gelatin in boiling water. Let cool until thick, but not set. In a large bowl, beat cream cheese, white sugar and vanilla until smooth. Set aside. In a separate bowl, whip evaporated milk until thick and stiff peaks form. Pour in lemon gelatin and keep mixing until well blended. Fold in cream cheese mixture. Pour filling into the crust. Chill in the refrigerator for at least three hours before serving. Yields 1 - 10 inch round pan or 9x13 inch pan.

100

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

100_DHRecipes_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 3:48 PM Page 101

Chocolate Fudge Pops 1/2 cup white sugar 2 tbsp cornstarch 2 tbsp cocoa powder 2 1/2 cups whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tbsp butter 1/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Combine sugar, cornstarch, cocoa powder, and milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and stir until thick, about two minutes. Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and butter. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and refrigerate until cool, approximately 20 minutes.

Stir chocolate chips into the cooled chocolate mixture. Pour into moulds and freeze until firm, about four hours. Yields eight servings.

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

101

108_Down_to_Earth_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:29 PM Page 102

HOME and Cabin

down to earth

102

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

108_Down_to_Earth_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:29 PM Page 103

Rooting for Success

BY KIM THISTLE

‘I have a tree that won’t grow.’ That was one of the most frequent comments we received in the years we were in business. Sigh. There are so many answers to this question.

My first response to customers has always been to be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day. Often when a tree is planted it’s expected to grow and thrive by the end of summer. Wrong. Trees don’t do that. If they do, you have a bigger problem.

The first thing a plant needs to do is anchor itself, meaning it wants to send out roots. It will spend at least the first summer doing this resulting in very little top growth. The root system will hold your tree in place and seek water and nutrients to feed itself for its lifetime. This takes energy. A lot of energy. Plants are not great multi-taskers. They can’t send out roots, leaves, flowers and new growth all at the same time. They need to take baby steps. They must begin by establishing their root system, the part we don’t see. Many become impatient and over-fertilize with the incorrect fertilizer to get the desired new growth. Wrong move! I have seen many a tree that was overfed resulting in poor health and eventual death.

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

103

108_Down_to_Earth_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:29 PM Page 104

When plants are purchased from a nursery they are usually in pots and the roots have been confined within that space.

It’s important to loosen the roots and spread them out to disrupt this circular pattern that they have adapted.

When plants are purchased from a nursery they are usually in pots and the roots have been confined within that space. If you notice when you remove your tree that the roots are growing around the outside of the soil ball where they meet with the walls of the pot, the plant is ‘root bound’ or ‘pot bound’. It’s important to loosen the roots and spread them out to disrupt this circular pattern that they have adapted. Don’t worry if you tear a few. This will stimulate new root growth. Skipping this step may make or break the establishment of your new, very expensive tree.

To plant a new tree or any plant, start by mixing about one-quarter to one-third of the compost with the native soil that you have removed from the planting hole. It’s key that the tree adapts to the soil that you have in your garden. If you replace the existing soil that you have removed from the hole with a 104

July 2024

purchased soil the roots will often grow in a circular motion within that new soil, the same as if it were in a pot. The roots will not seek out the older garden soil and your tree will not anchor itself with new roots. You may find it will do great for a few years and then decline and die. When you dig it up, you will find spiralling roots that have not ventured out to the surrounding garden soil.

If you are intent on fertilizing that first year, use a product that has a higher second number (such as 1052-10) in the formulation. This represents phosphorous, the element that produces strong roots. Only use this once or twice and only if you are watering your tree regularly. I prefer organic products such as bone meal, soil activator or mycorrhizal fungi.

Unlike chemical fertilizers, these products won’t burn and they improve your soil health while promoting growth.

1-888-588-6353

108_Down_to_Earth_0609 index.qxd 5/22/24 3:30 PM Page 105

Chemical fertilizers should be used sparingly. If overused, these fertilizers can burn roots as well as create a buildup of salts in your soil which prevents the roots from taking up water. These fertilizers are also harmful to soil microorganisms that are necessary for healthy trees. If you have a plant or tree that’s not

the middle of their front yard. The same yard where they want nice green grass. The high nitrogen (the first number in the fertilizer formulation) encourages green growth, not root growth. This goes against what you just learned about the importance of a good root system. High nitrogen also promotes

Garden centers that sell plants – and not screwdrivers and bedsheets – usually know their stuff.

They will give you good advice on what to buy for your situation and provide the guidance you need for a favourable outcome. thriving, check your fertilizing regime. Perhaps you are guilty of overfeeding. If you feel this may be the problem, water your tree heavily to leach the soil of fertilizer and salts build up and discontinue the fertilizing program.

Often trees are just planted in the wrong spot. It could be too wet or dry, not enough sunlight or too much, or you could have a pH issue.

When I have a plant that’s not thriving, I dig it up and move it. Nine times out of ten that darn thing will adapt to the new spot quickly and take off within a couple of years.

Plants are a bit like Goldilocks. They have to find the spot that’s ‘just right’.

Are you fertilizing your lawn with a high-nitrogen fertilizer? Homeowners generally plant a new tree in

lush green leaves that are a feast for insects. They thrive on this soft growth. Now, not only do you have a new tree that can’t root out but every insect in the neighbourhood wants to feed off the new kid in town. If you do fertilize your lawn, avoid going anywhere close to the drip line of the tree. The drip line is the outermost circumference of the tree canopy.

Lastly, the most important factor to success is where you purchase your new plant. Garden centres that sell plants – and not screwdrivers and bedsheets – usually know their stuff.

They will give you good advice on what to buy for your situation and provide the guidance you need for a favourable outcome. The last thing a small garden centre wants is to see a plant come back dead. Their success lies within your success.

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

July 2024

105

108_Down_to_Earth_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 3:49 PM Page 106

108_Down_to_Earth_0609 index.qxd 5/23/24 3:49 PM Page 107

life is better Guiding light in Port de Grave Brian Gough Upper Island Cove, NL

104_Flashbacks_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:37 PM Page 108

reminiscing flashbacks

Postcards from the Past This postcard is one of a variety sent by the submitter’s grandfathers, William Herdman and Percy Tipping, as they toured Europe during the Great War. Susan Herdman Lincolnton, GA, USA

Church Lads Brigade Five-year-old Hezekiah Robert Gosse, born January 1, 1912, in Whitbourne, NL, is pictured in his Church Lads Brigade uniform in 1917.

Bradley Myrick via DownhomeLife.com

108

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

104_Flashbacks_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:37 PM Page 109

Royal Newfoundland Regiment “This is a picture of my husband’s grandfather taken during the First World War,” writes the submitter. “Joseph Breen is fourth from the left of the picture in the second last row.”

Brenda Breen via DownhomeLife.com

This Month in History On Tuesday, July 1, 1924, a crowd of around 20,000 citizens gathered in St. John’s for the formal unveiling of the National War Memorial, a project spearheaded by the Great War Veterans’ Association and the Newfoundland Patriotic Association.

Among the attendees were members of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel Thomas Nangle, and Field Marshal Earl Douglas Haig. The monument’s figures representing the Royal Naval Reserve, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Mercantile Marine and the Newfoundland Forestry Corps, were designed by sculptors Ferdinand Victor Blundstone and Gilbert Bayes and cast in bronze by E.J. Parlanti. An article in the Evening Telegram stated the memorial “fittingly commemorated the glorious sacrifice made by those Newfoundlanders who laid down their lives for King and Empire in the Great War. It rests now… a shrine which generations of Newfoundlanders will venerate as a vital reminder of the price which was paid by so many of their compatriots.”

1-888-588-6353

July 2024

109

106_vv_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:38 PM Page 110

reminiscing visions & vignettes

Gnat, do you mind…

Keel Hauling

By Harold N. Walters

Harry and Gnat lay belly-down on the Government wharf watching the conners swim among the pilings and mooring lines.

Uncle Sim’s green punt sat on the flat-calm water like a drawing, its hull crisp and clear and brightly coloured.

As lazy as Tom and Huck lounging on the banks of the Mighty Mississippi, the boys watched the conners until a breeze crinkled the surface of the cove and they no longer could see the bottom. The morning lops tickled Uncle Sim’s green punt and patted its tummy until it started to dance a jig.

The boys flipped from bellies to butts and dangled their legs over the wharf. The breeze freshened and the bow of Uncle Sim’s green punt jerked like a fish trying to escape a hook.

“Mind that movie we saw last week?” Harry said.

110

July 2024

“I do,” said Gnat.

One night the week before, a group of Brookwater boys had hiked to Horse Cove where the local merchant had converted an empty herring factory into a dockside theatre. The movie was an old one — Mutiny on the Bounty starring Clark Gable and an English actor called Charles Laughton. Despite the fishy smell of the venue, all hands agreed it was a gem-dandy movie. Almost as good as a Western.

“That Captain Bligh was a miserable bugger.”

“Not fit to know.”

1-888-588-6353

106_vv_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:38 PM Page 111

“First tell us the worst part of the “Fletcher Christian was good movie,” Harry said. though.”

“That’s easy,” said Moe. “When Gnat didn’t answer. Their feet Captain Bligh had buddy keel wagging, both boys admired Uncle hauled.”

Sim’s green punt, the most vividly “Think you could hold your breath painted boat in the cove. long enough for us to haul you under Harry broke the silence. “We could Uncle Sim’s punt?” act out parts of that movie.”

“I know I can.” Moe knew Harry’s “We could.” Gnat agreed. There question was a dare, but he accepted hadn’t been much bay-boy excitehis brother’s challenge. ment since the trip to Horse Cove.

“Uncle Sim’s punt could be the Bounty,” Harry said.

“First tell us the worst part Just then there was a noise that sounded like the littlest of the movie,” Harry said.

Billy Goat Gruff trip-trapping “That’s easy,” said Moe. onto the wharf’s decking.

“What’s yous at?” Moe, “When Captain Bligh had Harry’s younger brother, ran buddy keel hauled.” out over the wharf and braked “Think you could hold your behind Harry and Gnat.

“We’m going to act out the breath long enough for us to Bounty.” Moe had tagged haul you under Uncle Sim’s along to Horse Cove, so he knew what Harry was talking punt?” about.

Many windows in Brookwater had “Can I have a part?” a view of the cove. Without a doubt A worm turned in Harry’s noggin though, the view from the window as he considered his little brother’s over Aunt Mary Ginn’s kitchen sink request. Perhaps the worm was a won the prize for Best Ocean View. distant cousin to the marine worm Up to her elbows in soap suds, that had crawled into Captain Bligh’s Aunt Mary saw three pirates, at that brain and caused him to be as wicked distance no bigger than gnomes, tow as the Old Boy. Uncle Sim’s green punt into the “Sure, you can. And I know the wharf and scramble aboard. perfect part for you. If you’m up for On board Uncle Sim’s green punt, it.” Harry wasn’t opposed to putting Harry looped the oars over the thole his little brother in harm’s way, pins. Gnat sat aft fiddling with a coil especially if it added drama to of rope. Parked in the bow, Moe lackluster play. faced forward like a pup with his Gnat noticed the tone of Harry’s snout sniffing the wind. He was on voice, sensed the wiggling worm, and the verge of panting. He was that knew mischief was spawning. eager to begin reenacting a scene “What? Tell me.” Moe was rearing from Mutiny on the Bounty. to go.

1-888-588-6353

July 2024

111

106_vv_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:38 PM Page 112

Harry pulled the oars through the crayon-blue water, and Uncle Sim’s green punt hauled away from the wharf. While rowing across the cove, me buckos discussed their Bounty roles. Harry outlined Moe’s part.

“You’ll pretend you’m shuffed, but you’ll have to jump overboard. That way you won’t beat your brains out on the stem.”

Gnat picked up the directions. “Me and Harry will have ropes tied on to you. When you go in the water we’ll have lines over each gunnel. We’ll move to the stern and tow you under the keel and you’ll surface behind the punt.”

“Make sure you kick away from the keel, or you’ll get scrope up on the barnacles,” said Harry.

Uncle Sim’s green punt sliced through the saltwater, its bow pushing forward like a high-floating seabird. As fine as the punt looked, only imaginative youngsters could picture it as the British merchant ship Bounty.

After ten minutes of rowing, Harry shipped the oars. Uncle Sim’s green punt settled in the sea becalmed in the lun of the Big Head… … directly abreast of Aunt Mary Ginn’s kitchen window.

“Let’s get you rigged up.” Harry beckoned and Moe moved nimbly from the bow and stood between Harry and Gnat.

“Hold up your arms.” Gnat shook out the rope in his hand. He looped it underneath Moe’s arms and around his shoulders and secured it with a sailor’s knot.

“That’s it.” Gnat finished with the binding rope. He’d harnessed Moe, chest and shoulders, with two 112

July 2024

lengths of rope trailing like reins.

While Gnat held one tow line, Harry picked up the other. Knowing his part, Moe moved to the bow, hitched like a pony.

“Okay,” said Harry, “Moe is the starving sailor who stole a slice of bread and brutal old Captain Bligh is going to punish him.”

“I ‘low,” said Gnat.

On stage aboard Uncle Sim’s green punt, the trio of novice saltwater thespians prepared to hit their marks.

“No. Please Captain, no.” In character, Moe recited his lines and braced for action.

Gnat clambered to the bow and grasped Moe’s arm, pinioning the accused sailor.

“You stole from the larder,” said Harry Bligh. “You shall be taught a lesson.”

“Please Captain, no. I was starving.” A sailor condemned, Moe begged for mercy.

Gnat helped Moe straddle the stem and balance there awaiting his sentence.

Still up to her elbows in soap suds, Aunt Mary Ginn spoke over her shoulder to Uncle Rube. “I wonder what devilment them young forkeytails is up to today.”

Wobbling on the stem of Uncle Sim’s green punt, Moe waited for his cue.

Despite the worm boring in his noggin, Harry showed a smidgen of fraternal concern before casting his brother into the sea. He offered Moe a last chance to change his mind about his risky stunt in their nautical spectacle. “Don’t jump if you’m not sure you can hold your breath.”

1-888-588-6353

106_vv_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:38 PM Page 113

“I’m all set.” Moe teetered with one hand lodged on top of Gnat’s crowwing hair to steady himself.

“Okay then,” Harry said and, like Jekyll to Hyde, he shifted back into his Captain Bligh persona.

Puffing up like the tyrannical sea captain, Harry bawled out the unfortunate sailor’s sentence loud enough to frighten the gulls bobbling alongside the punt into flight. “Keel haul that man.”

Moe stepped off the stem ...

Splash. … and sank from sight.

After allowing Moe time enough to swim underneath the keel, Harry and Gnat grabbed the tow ropes.

Clambering over thwarts, they moved aft as fast as they could, both ropes taut. Less than a minute passed before they stood in the stern,

leaning over the transom watching for Moe to clear the keel.

“My blessed Saviour,” Aunt Mary Ginn said when she saw Moe fall overboard. “Rube, one of them b’ys is drowning.”

She clapped one soapy hand to her bosom. Her other hand reached towards the cupboard for her nerve pills. Her fingertips failed to grasp the tin of tablets because, as she’d famously done before, Aunt Mary flopped flat on the kitchen floor.

Mind that Bounty adventure, Gnat? Aunt Mary didn’t see Moe grinning like a polliwog when we hauled him aboard Uncle Sim’s green punt. At that point, Uncle Rube was patting her cheek to revive her.

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

1-888-588-6353

July 2024

113

110_DHHistory_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/23/24 12:16 PM Page 114

reminiscing

For over 35 years, Downhome Magazine has been at the heart of all things Newfoundland and Labrador. A comforting, familiar and constant presence in our province’s media climate, Downhome has been a name synonymous with ‘home’ for over three decades and counting. In this Month in Downhome History, we dive through our archives to give readers snippets of days gone by, highlighting major events, unique facts and the stories that matter to our readers.

July 1989 Volume 2 • Number 2

First Provincial Court Judge in Newfoundland

By Ron Young

Kendra Goulding has been appointed as a judge to the Provincial Court in Grand Falls.

Kendra, a Grand Falls lawyer, is the first woman to be appointed as a Judge to the Provincial Court in Newfoundland.

Goulding said that she, along with many other legal practitioners, had been interviewed by the Judicial Appointments Committee in mid-April, but she had no idea that she was being seriously considered until she was actually appointed.

Goulding has worked as a federal crown prosecutor for the past four and a half years.

Apart from being a senior partner in the firm Goulding-Boyd, Kendra is a director of Newfoundland Hydro, the Newfoundland Medicare Commission and a chairperson of the Central Business Development Committee.

114

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

110_DHHistory_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:40 PM Page 115

Goulding graduated from Grand Falls Academy in 1974. She received her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Ottawa in 1980 and was called to the Newfoundland bar in the same year.

Giant Water Bug Found in Windsor The Nor’wester

Do bugs take vacations too? It appears so.

Last week this scary creature, pictured here, was found by Mike Butler of Wuthering Drive, Windsor. Butler took the insect to the Department of Agriculture, who promptly identified it as a giant water bug, the largest of the tree bugs.

Normally, the bug is found in southeast North America.

Measuring almost two-and-a-half inches, the bug feeds on insects and sometimes even eats tadpoles or small fish, killing their prey with a poison secreted as they bite. The bug is attracted to lights.

Butler found his cat playing with the bug. After calling the Department of Agriculture, Butler kept it long enough to show off his find. He later released the bug.

July 1994 Volume 7 • Number 2

Beothuk Site Found in Bottle Cove Four hundred years before Captain James Cook set foot in the Bay of Islands, the first inhabitants fished and hunted seals from the shore around Lark Harbour.

These were Early Little Passage Indians, ancestors of the Beothuks. They were nomadic people who depended on hunting and gathering for survival.

Their movements were largely seasonal. They relied heavily on coastal resources in summer and fall, but they moved inland prior to winter to hunt caribou and to escape the cold and wind.

1-888-588-6353

July 2024

115

110_DHHistory_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:40 PM Page 116

Evidence of their existence in the Bay of Islands was confirmed recently when archaeologist Laurie MacLean visited Lark Harbour.

Acting on a request from the South Shore Development Association and the Newfoundland Historic Resources division, Mr. MacLean investigated an area in Bottle Cove where stone tools had been found in the early 1970s by a local resident.

During his two-day visit, Mr. MacLean scratched around and identified a number of other Indian artifacts, including partially finished tools made from stone.

Reprinted from The Humber Log. Used by permission.

GANDER - Gander has declared its intention to be the home of a Hockey Hall of Fame. Deputy Mayor Claude Elliott said the town approached the Newfoundland Amateur Hockey Association to set up an area in Gander Gardens displaying some pictures from years gone by. But that seed of intention has grown to become a Hockey Hall of Fame.

Reprinted from The Gander Beacon. Used by permission.

July 1999 Volume 12 • Number 2

Crocker Elected to Softball Hall Heart’s Delight native Ross Crocker has been elected to the Canadian Softball Hall of Fame. He is the eighth Newfoundlander to be so recognized.

A member of the provincial and St. John’s softball halls of fame and a member of the Newfoundland and Labrador Sports Hall of Fame, Crocker was voted the province’s best male softballer for the first 25 years of the game within Newfoundland and Labrador.

Twice St. John’s male athlete of the year, he displayed his versatility by playing every position during his 17 national championships, at which he won four individual awards.

Crocker, player Len Beresford and builder Dee Murphy will be inducted into the national Hall during Softball Canada’s annual meeting in Halifax in mid-November.

Players Marg Davis and Patti Polych and builders Duey Fitzgerald, Vince Withers and Gus Walters have already been inducted.

116

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

110_DHHistory_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/23/24 12:16 PM Page 117

The Ghost Ship of Hall’s Bay At one time, a phantom schooner could be seen in Hall’s Bay. It would sail from Long Island, right to the dock at South Brook. The ship seemed as solid as the ground you walk on. In fact, one person watched it dock and started toward the dock to help the deckhands tie it up. As he neared the dock, the ship mysteriously disappeared.

It is said that a schooner from Long Island is the ghost ship. This schooner, the Stanley Parsons, skippered by Sid Parsons, made frequent trips back and forth to St. John’s. While coming back and forth to St. John’s on December 12, 1932, the Stanley Parsons was lost in a storm. None of the seven crew members survived.

June 2004 Volume 17 • Number 1

Celebrating Service The Vera Perlin Society is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. The charitable group, which offers services to people with developmental disabilities and their families, was presented with $25,000 in donations during a recent celebration in St. John’s.

Close Call for Screech The Liquor Control Board of Ontario has reversed its decision to pull Newfoundland Screech from its stores, thanks in part to Ontario deputy NDP leader Marilyn Churley, who was born in Old Perlican and grew up in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. The feisty Churley pleaded with the Board to restock its shelves and was even prepared to offer Premier Dalton McGuinty a free taste of Screech in the legislature when the decision was reversed.

1-888-588-6353

July 2024

117

118_skinnydippin_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:42 PM Page 118

reminiscing

It was the summer of 1953

and St. John’s, Newfoundland was as safe a city as you’d find anywhere in the world. My mother gave me the liberty to roam and seek adventure.

My chum Bob Windsor and I chose to see what could be found on the Waterford River at Bowring Park. There were several well-known statues in the park, especially the Caribou commemorating the gallantry of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment at the Battle of the Somme in 1916. Bob and I joined others looking for rumoured swimming holes on the river.

We came upon several boys who were diving and swimming in a superb spot. The pool was about 30 feet across, deep enough for diving, and was fed by a waterfall, about 10 feet high. Next to the waterfall was an outcropping of rock, perfect for diving and along one side of the pool was a large rock, ideal for resting and warming in the sun. Next to the river was a tree-covered ridge along which ran Waterford Bridge Road bordered north by a pasture, surrounded by a barbed wire fence. We doffed our 118

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

118_skinnydippin_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:42 PM Page 119

clothes, hung them in the trees and joined the other naked boys.

We were having a grand time – diving, jumping and laughing. After a couple of dives, we would lie on the big rock to get warm and discuss important topics – hockey and baseball. After getting warm we’d run up to the diving rock and leap back into the pool.

We’d been at it for about an hour, when we heard some giggling in the trees, near our clothes. We instantly stopped and turned towards the spruce tree. Girls! Girls? What were girls doing here? Near our clothes?

Then it became obvious.

Laughing at us, they jumped up and ran up the hill, each with an armful of our clothes. In unison, we shouted, “They’ve got our clothes.

Get ‘em!” We swam and ran to where our clothes were (or once were) but

1-888-588-6353

didn’t get far into the forest.

The sharp, dry spruce needles were waiting for our soft, shoeless feet.

The forest rang with whooping and bellowing as we hopped on one foot, then the other and finally on neither.

Picking needles out of our tender backsides and between our toes became the number one priority.

Finding an odd shoe or two, some of us hobbled up the hill, past branchimpaled shirts and underwear until we gained the top. Down the road ran six or seven girls, laughing and throwing clothes in the air. Some of us began pursuit but after a few feet, we stopped and looked around.

There we were, standing stark naked in the middle of the road.

Quickly we assumed the Adam and Eve stance, with hands across our loins, as we retreated into the forest.

The girls turned, still laughing,

July 2024

119

118_skinnydippin_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:42 PM Page 120

shouted some taunts and casually strolled away. What could we do?

An hour or so later we had retrieved about half the clothes. The girls got the rest. We exchanged our finds until we had our own. I had my shoes, underwear and a T-shirt, but my pants were nowhere to be found. It was a sad little band of half-naked aquanauts that set out for home. In our shame, we skulked along back streets and as we progressed, some dropped out as we neared home. Eventually, we emerged onto LeMarchant Road and could no longer disguise our distress.

Traffic slowed down and windows were suddenly filled with gawking faces. Hadn’t anyone ever seen barebottomed boys before?

I pretended nothing was wrong as I pushed along, pant-less. We had gotten about three blocks, near Mercy Hospital, when we were stopped by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Oh no! We all knew we were going to jail when that big black RCMP patrol car pulled up.

The stern Mountie rolled down his window and beckoned to us. “Boys, what have you been doing? Where are your clothes?” he demanded. We all looked at one another, not sure what to say. If we said the wrong thing we might be jailed for years. Finally, somebody spoke up and said, “Well, we were 120

July 2024

swimming and some girls came and…” He didn’t finish the sentence before the two Mounties began to giggle. The Mountie rolled up his window as the pair burst out laughing and drove away. Holy Smokes! We were not going to be

arrested after all. We continued on our weary and shameful journey.

Fortunately, I dropped off a few blocks later in front of my house. I watched as the few souls moved on, followed by hundreds of stares.

I quietly opened the front door and 1-888-588-6353

118_skinnydippin_0609 Home Front.qxd 5/22/24 3:42 PM Page 121

looked around. I was in luck! Mom wasn’t home. With carefree joy, I skipped up the stairs only to be confronted, at the top, by our thricea-week maid, Marie. She was from Torbay, resembled a much younger Mrs. Doubtfire and though a tireless worker, she was without humour. We didn’t get along very well, mostly because I had a smart mouth and was not overly kind to her. She looked me over and then asked, in her distinct

flannel-lined jeans from Montgomery Ward. I admit they were warm, but I had become known as ‘flannel boy’ among my schoolmates. Some girl had done me a great favour in filching those embarrassments. I gave Mom some excuse and, wonder of wonders, she bought it. ‘Flannel boy’ faded from the lexicon of my mates.

The girls? I often thought that a girl named Maryann, a schoolmate, was

She looked me over and then asked, in her distinct Irish brogue, “Where might your trousers be, then, Master Perkins?” I tried explaining but it was useless. She retorted, “Oh! I think your mother would be interested, don’t you wonder?”

Irish brogue, “Where might your trousers be, then, Master Perkins?”

I tried explaining but it was useless.

She retorted, “Oh! I think your mother would be interested, don’t you wonder?” I pleaded with Marie and we finally came to an agreement.

I swore I would not sass her anymore and would even make my bed and not put dead worms and insects on my windowsill. Her agreement was conditional; my behaviour must improve.

I was on my best behaviour with Marie from then on. Even my mother noticed it and likely wondered why.

A few days later, Mom commented that she’d not seen my flannel jeans and wondered where they were.

Now, I hated those jeans. My mother, thinking she was doing me a favour to keep me warm, had ordered 1-888-588-6353

behind the ambush. She lived along Waterford Bridge Road, not far from the park, and was a mischievous sort.

When school began a few weeks later, I told her I would get even. It was a poor choice of words, and my less-than-diplomatic approach didn’t get far either.

She quickly threatened, “Try anything with me and I’ll tell every girl in our form what you look like naked!” That ended any of my schemes of revenge. Though, as I reflect, I’m sure by that time she had already spread the word about what naked Mike and Bob looked like.

In any case, my skinny-dipping adventures came to an end, as I realized that girls – being cunning and sneaky – would surely ruin future adventures in any pools near St. John’s.

July 2024

121

DH_subAdDPS-3_0609 Home Front.qxd 3/22/23 3:27 PM Page 122

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

Free WALL CALENDAR Free EXPLORE TRAVEL GUIDE 2 Issues INSIDE LABRADOR †

††

†††

}

All for just

$42.99 + applicable taxes

12 issues for $42.99* or 36 issues for $107.99*

Save up to $120 when you sign up for 3 years!

Delivered with December’s issue. ††Delivered with June’s issue. Canadian mailing only. ††† Delivered with a spring and fall issue. *Plus applicable taxes

†

Tony McGrath photo

DH_subAdDPS-3_0609 Home Front.qxd 3/23/23 2:28 PM Page 123

Sign me up for a Downhome subscription Name:____________________________________________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________________________________ City:__________________________________________ Prov/State: ____ Country: _______________ Postal Code: ____________________

Phone: (

) _________________________________

E-mail: __________________________________________________________________________ ❏ Cheque Enclosed*

❏ Credit Card

❏ Invoice Me

❏ I would like to send a subscription as a gift.

❏ Moving?

Update address below.

Please send Downhome magazine to who I have listed below.

Card#:_______________________________________________________ Expires: ______ /______ Name:____________________________________________________________________________ Address:__________________________________________________________________________ City:______________________________________ Prov/State:_________ Country: _______________ Postal Code: ____________________

Phone: (

) _________________________________

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

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:44 PM Page 124

puzzles

The Beaten Path

Janet Pye 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.

R

M

J

E

H

A p

H

S S

T

G V

U

m

L L M

T S L U M V x O Q G S A E S p E S M J m p m V R x H S J B T S M G Q T A Y m Q U A A L H J E U T m G S S x T H m M T D L R p M G m x

Q

H

H

H

Last Month’s Community: Deer Lake 124

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:44 PM Page 125

Sudoku

from websudoku.com

Last month’s answers

?

Need Help

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

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

125

Rebecca Barker photo

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:45 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: • This area used to be known as Acadian Village • It was named for the offspring of an early non-Indigenous settler • It was a strategic US airbase in WWII • Its runway was approved for space shuttle landing • It’s home to a long-running theatre festival

Last Month’s Answer: Lewisporte

Picturesque Place NameS of Newfoundland and Labrador

by Mel D’Souza Last Month’s Answer: North West River 126

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:45 PM Page 127

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

Last Month’s Clue: That woman is sensing being beneath the climate In Other Words: She is feeling under the weather

This Month’s Clue: There exist a plethora of aquatic creatures in the briny depths In Other Words: _____ ___ ______ __ ____ __ ___ ___

A Way With Words HIGH HIGH HIGH

LOW LOW LOW

Last Month’s Answer: Highs and lows

This Month’s Clue

Rhyme Time A rhyming word game by Ron Young

1. A trendy journey is a ___ ____ 2. An undisciplined kid is a ____ _____

HA / LF

3. A freshwater fish’s scowl is a _____ ____

Answer: ____ ___

Last Month’s Answers 1. summer bummer, 2. fish dish, 3. way to pay

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.

’ H A E D E A H A H A A O S E E R E A E C A E E I S E M H I S W E Y O T Y T H E U P B O E L H E M T H N W T Y W Y W U U Y O Y E R P O M T T Y T T T T T

Last month’s answer: Always be a first-rate version of yourself instead of a second-rate version of somebody else www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

127

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:45 PM Page 128

Rhymes 5 Times Each answer rhymes with the other four

1. gallop

____________

2. enjoyment

____________

3. stupefy

____________

4. loaf

____________

5. rifle

____________

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

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

Last Month’s Answers: 1. carry, 2. marry, 3. hairy, 4. scary, 5. fairy

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. HALTERON

For best results sound the clue words out loud!

2. ELEVBUEL

Egg Hood Sore Solve Eye Burr _ ____ ______ __ _____ Sue Pans Owl Hid ____ ___ _____ Last Month’s 1st Clue: Ease Turns Tan Dirt I’m. Answer: Eastern standard time. Last Month’s 2nd Clue: Dawn Bees Hutch Ape Egg. Answer: Don’t be such a pig.

3. SANMORN VCOE 4. TRAMEN 5. ARIF VENAH Last Month’s Answers: 1. Gander Bay, 2. Horwood, 3. Boyd’s Cove, 4. Chapel Island, 5. Summerford

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

1. I MUM ULNA ~ Clue: it foils everything it touches 2. INK PAN ~ Clue: it can wipe that gook right off your face 3. ART BITES BY ~ Clue: they stay in so you can go out 4. ALL OVEN ~ Clue: a novel idea for short attention spans 5. SMOG HUT ~ Clue: a critical development in a criminal case Last Month’s Answers: 1. vacation, 2. stowaway, 3. graduation, 4. lobster, 5. compass 128

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:45 PM Page 129

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: female 1-10: fiancee 1-31: grandmother 1-91: record player 3-33: lease 5-10: pal 8-10: finish 14-11: don 15-11: avow 15-18: dines 18-20: litigate 19-39: vase 22-52: nobleman 23-27: in no manner 25-27: to what extent 27-30: skin blemish 29-9: race 28-48: behave 29-27: uncooked 31-51: swab 33-53: draw 38-33: undercover 38-35: inlet 41-46: ancestry 41-50: conceiver 42-44: outfit 44-4: roar 44-46: potent potable 44-94: car place 48-78: melody 50-30: rodent 50-48: decay 51-56: satisfy 52-56: let 52-92: loaded down 53-83: whirlpool 55-85: dispatched 59-57: furrow www.downhomelife.com

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

21

22

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30

31

32

33

34

35

36

37

38

39

40

41

42

43

44

45

46

47

48

49

50

51

52

53

54

55

56

57

58

59

60

61

62

63

64

65

66

67

68

69

70

71

72

73

74

75

76

77

78

79

80

81

82

83

84

85

86

87

88

89

90

91

92

93

94

95

96

97

98

99

100

59-79: stool pigeon 61-91: sharpen 64-94: fury 66-63: cattle group 68-8: crackpot 68-48: cashew 70-64: mountain lion 70-100: add asphalt 71-73: uneven 73-75: actor Duryea 76-46: at that time 79-76: exam 83-81: yearning 88-85: pork chop 90-88: vigour 91-95: go into 91-100: endeavor

96-66: walkway 97-67: remainder 97-100: ascend 99-97: knight’s title 100-10: condensed Last Month’s Answer

EQUA TOR I A L L UNGE T A E B I B I T ARAN T UQ A ED I MEGE T U E T A N I MU L L I CU E NNORUOD I T RU EHE R B A T A B N E T A E R T OME H T A P O P E N E L L A F N WO D July 2024

129

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:45 PM Page 130

The Bayman’s

Crossword Puzzle 1

3

2

by Ron Young

4

5

6

7

8

9 17

21 25

10

13 19

22

23

26

14

24 28

33 37 44

48 51

38

34 39

45

40 46

49 52

July 2024

16

20

27

32

43

15

30

36

130

12

18

29 31

11

35 41

42

47 50

53 1-888-588-6353

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:45 PM Page 131

ACROSS 1. a scatter ___ – not many (colloq) 3. ___ West – early style of life vest 5. cure (esp. hide) 6. “I’m so hungry I could ___ the arse off a low flying duck” 8. cram (colloq) 10. baton 13. overhead 17. cod’s backbone (colloq) 20. lonesome as a gull __ a rock 21. “It’s the 24th of May and we likes to get away, up in the woods or goin’ ___ the bay” 22. boy 23. angry 25. Coal Bin’s buddy 27. short for Margaret 28. ___ to Newfoundland 29. battery size 30. pub crawl 31. not fresh 33. lies 34. for example (abbrev) 36. Ontario (abbrev) 37. Pa’s mate 39. wind direction (abbrev) 41. “When I’m __ I can’t get down” 43. raise 46. have aplenty 48. young harp seal 50. Durrell’s Arm (abbrev) 51. “Oh __ nerves!”

52. Department of Environmental Protection (abbrev) 53. “Michael, row the boat ______” DOWN 1. “When the little boats go out to sea ____ ___ _____ __ Newfoundland” (4 words) 2. “We never went to steal the sheep, __ _____ __ _____ ___ calf” (5 words) www.downhomelife.com

4. Alcoholics Anonymous (abbrev) 7. “What’re ye goin’ __ tonight?”

9. “__ to grass and let the cows eat you” 10. British North America (abbrev) 11. count 12. Trinity Bay (abbrev) 13. nears 14. gamble 15. empty 16. finished 18. arm bone 19. intimidates 24. twine 26. rodent 27. major 30. Bishop’s Falls (abbrev) 32. “I’d throw him __ anchor” 35. rifle 37. 1.6 kilometres 38. as soon as possible (abbrev) 40. dumb bird 42. public display of affection (abbrev) 44. foolish as ___ socks 45. trademark (abbrev) 47. United Arab Republic (abbrev) 48. exist 49. Eastern Arm (abbrev) H B ANSWERS O A R TO LAST R I S I N MONTH’S E B CROSSWORD S E A T A G I T B A L L I C A T T E R N M A N E N E M Y L A G R A N D L A K E I M E T E G E S S K N A V E R OW B O A T A R G U E N E N D B R A N N E M A L L N A R N D E B E O L D R I G S R B E A S Y A S V A T T N T S M O K E M O R E July 2024

131

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:45 PM Page 132

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.

___ 968

____ _ 6383 7

___ 786

_ __ _ __ 8 44 6 47

__ 63 ___ 226

__ 46

___ 688

_ ___ 8 428

_____ 97664

Last Month’s Answer: Your bank account can be overdrawn, but it can never be overfilled.

©2024 Ron Young

CRACK THE CODE

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

_ _ _ _

L\z i _ _

mA

_ _

Km

S _ _ _ _ S S, K 7H HzK K

_ _ _ _ _

m \zOz _ _

iA

_ _ _ _ S H A DzK

_ _ _ Q Oz

S _ _ _ _ _ _ _ S K\ A O m H 7 m K

Last Month’s Answer: If you’re going through hell, keep going.

132

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:45 PM Page 133

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.”

songbirds = _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ i V c VIYo l

_ _

fodder = _

nV`

liberty = _ _

sell = _ _ _ _

po c v

student =

_

_ _ _

bosom = _ _

_ _

w y w Y]

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

VIo

_ _

_

l i VI`

_

_

_

_

_ _ _ _ _

_ _ _

y

`q

_ _ _ _

_

_ _

_ _

_ _ _ _

_ _

wIol o c tl _ _ _ _ _ _

_

yl o

do i V

_ _ _ _ _

Io poV] _

_ _

dIoV l t

nV c vaVvo

tno `

_ _ _ _ _

}Ioo vqa

_ _ _

_

_

_ _ _

n V po

tqq

_ _ _

_ _ _

_

ay i n }Ioo

_ _

tnVt

_

tYao

Last Month’s Answer: Maintaining spirituality and humanism are the keys to success. It’s a balance. www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

133

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:45 PM Page 134

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 SHUCK SCALLOPS

Last Month’s Answers: 1. Sliding door, 2. Lobster trap, 3. Rope, 4. Leg, 5. Number, 6. Stay, 7. Tawt, 8.Window, 9. Fence, 10. Shed, 11. Strouter, 12. Outboard motor “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

134

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:45 PM Page 135

HIDE & SEEK ICE CREAM FLAVOURS

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

BLUEBERRY BUBBLEGUM BUTTERSCOTCH CHOCOLATE CHERRY

COFFEE GRAPENUT HOOFPRINTS MAPLE MATCHA

NEAPOLITAN PISTACHIO STRAWBERRY VANILLA WATERMELON

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

Last Month’s Answers

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

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

135

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:45 PM Page 136

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.”

136

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

2407_Puzzles_1701-puzzles 5/22/24 3:45 PM Page 137

www.downhomelife.com

July 2024

137

2407Mktplace_0609 Marketplace.qxd 5/23/24 8:51 AM Page 138

Not intended to solicit properties currently under contract

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

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

Book your ad in Marketplace 709-726-5113 • 1-888-588-6353 advertising@downhomelife.com

138

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

2407Mktplace_0609 Marketplace.qxd 5/23/24 8:51 AM Page 139

HICKMAN’S HARBOUR, NL • WATERFRONT 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom, 1,700 sq. ft. split level on private 1.4 ac. lot in picturesque Hickman’s Harbour, Random Island. Property features a 16' x 20' shed, paved driveway and waterfront with stage and wharf. A perfect summer or retirement home - just a 40 min. drive to shopping, services and hospital in Clarenville. $219,000 Contact Fred Denty: 709.427.6371 realtor.ca • MLS# 1272362

Movers & Shippers Announcements Ontario to Newfoundland and All Points in Between

A Family Moving Families Professionally and economically Coast to Coast in Canada Fully Insured Newfoundland Owned & Operated

Contact: Gary or Sharon King

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

905-424-1735

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

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

Movers & Shippers

A&K Moving

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

Call Today!

709-726-5113 Toll Free: 1-888-588-6353 Email: advertising@downhomelife.com www.downhomelife.com

Covering all Eastern & Western Provinces and Returning Based from Toronto, Ontario Discount Prices Out of NL, NS & NB Newfoundland Owned & Operated 35 Years in the Moving Industry All Vehicles Transported

416-247-0639 AWKmoving@gmail.com

Send a birthday greeting today!

Call 1-888-588-6353 to book your announcement July 2024

139

2407_Mailorder_Mail order.qxd 5/23/24 8:16 AM Page 140

GREAT GIFT IDEAS!

Better Safe than Sorry

Nan’s House

A Sgt. Windflower Mystery - Mike Martin

- Jillian McCarthy

Called By Mother Earth Greg F. Naterer

#88334 | $18.95

#88267 | $24.95

The Wind has Robbed the Legs off a Madwoman: Poems - Agnes Walsh #88296 | $19.95

Message in a Bottle Ocean Dispatches from a Seabird Biologist - Holly Hogan

Four Seasons: The Art of Ed Roche - Ed Roche in Conversation with Reg Sherren

Dayboil: A Play

Cooking up a Scoff

Fatback & Molasses - A

- Sharon King-Campbell

- Traditional Recipes of Newfoundland and Labrador

Collection of Favourite Old Recipes from NL

#88587 | $24.95

#88295 | $18.95

#88561 | $32.95

#79297 | $14.95

#88579 | $34.95

#2313| $9.95

ORDER ONLINE: www.shopdownhome.com

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

2407_Mailorder_Mail order.qxd 5/23/24 8:16 AM Page 141

MORE SELECTION ONLINE www.shopdownhome.com

Pinch to Grow an Inch Lobster Onesie

Pinch to Grow an Inch Crab Onesie

Don’t Moose With Me Onesie

#86293 | $14.99

#86283 | $14.99

#86301 | $14.99

Duck, Duck, Moose Onesie

Butterfly Kisses Onesie

I Believe Unicorn Rainbow Onesie

#86266 | $14.99

#86270 | $14.99

#86278 | $14.99

May The Forest Be With You Onesie

Stud Puffin Baby Bib

Stud Puffin Baby Bib

- 6, 12 18 Months

- 6, 12 18 Months

- 6, 12 18 Months

#64865 | $14.99

- 6, 12 18 Months

- 6, 12 18 Months

#47821 | $9.99

TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353

- 6, 12 18 Months

- 6, 12 18 Months

#86313 | $9.99

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

2407_Mailorder_Mail order.qxd 5/23/24 8:16 AM Page 142

GREAT GIFT IDEAS!

Carnation Milk Ornament

Purity Lemon Creams Ornament #79664 | $6.99

#85152 | $9.99

Purity Hard Bread Ornament

Fussels Cream Ornament

Purity Jam Jams Ornament

Newfoundland Screech Ornament

Tetley Tea Ornament

Vienna Sausages Ornament

#79659 | $6.99

#79669 | $6.99

#79670 | $6.99

#79658 | $6.99

#79668 | $6.99

Big Stick Ornament

#79666 | $6.99

#79657 | $6.99

ORDER ONLINE: www.shopdownhome.com

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

2407_Mailorder_Mail order.qxd 5/23/24 8:16 AM Page 143

MORE SELECTION ONLINE www.shopdownhome.com

Plush Puffin with Sou’ Wester - 9" #64669 | $16.99

Plush Newfoundland Dog w/Bandana - 10" #43618 | $22.99

Plush Moose with Baby - 9" - Moose Hugs

Plush Big Eye Moose - 6" #53825 | $7.99

Plush Beanbag Puffin - 3.5" #74903 | $6.99

Plush Newfoundland Dog w/Ribbon - 8" #56143 | $15.99

Plush Puffin with Ribbon - 7" #87027 | $14.99

Plush Puffin - 4.5" #82854 | $11.99

Plush Penny Puffin - 12" #56834 | $27.99

TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353

From Newfoundland

#40530 | $19.99

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

2407_photo Finish_0609 Photo Finish 5/23/24 9:21 AM Page 144

photo finish

On Top of the World

A magnificent view from the Tablelands in Gros Morne National Park.

Julie Baggs Burgeo, NL

Do you have an amazing or funny photo to share?

Turn to page 9 to find out how to submit.

144

July 2024

1-888-588-6353

2407-Cover-NL.e$S_0609-Cover-NFLD 5/23/24 3:09 PM Page 3

2407-Cover-NL.e$S_0609-Cover-NFLD 5/23/24 3:09 PM Page 4