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Vol 31 • No 05
$4.99
October 2018
How to Read the Clouds p. 88
Handy Halloween Hints A Father’s Haunting Goodbye
Fighting Fast Fashion
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SHERWOOD PARK, AB Festival Place October 10 - 13
LLOYDMINSTER, AB / SK Vic Juba Community Theatre October 14
FORT MCMURRAY, AB Keyano College Theatre October 18 - 21
PICTOU, NS Decoste Centre of the Arts November 6
SYDNEY, NS Highland Arts Theatre November 7
HALIFAX, NS, Rebecca Cohn Auditorium November 9 - 10
SAINT JOHN, NB Imperial Theatre
SUMMERSIDE, PEI Harbourfront Theatre November 14
RIVERVIEW, NB Riverview Arts Centre November 15
FREDERICTON, NB Frederiction Playhouse November 16
November 13
www.buddywasisname.com/tour-dates
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life is better Published monthly in St. John’s by Downhome Publishing Inc. 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3 Tel: 709-726-5113 • Fax: 709-726-2135 • Toll Free: 1-888-588-6353 E-mail: mail@downhomelife.com Website: www.downhomelife.com Editorial Editor-in-Chief Janice Stuckless Assistant Editor Elizabeth Whitten Special Publications Editor Tobias Romaniuk Art and Production Art Director Vince Marsh Graphic and Web Designer Cory Way Graphic Designer Jeff Cave Illustrator Mel D’Souza Illustrator Snowden Walters
Warehouse Operations Warehouse Operator Josephine Leyte Distribution Sales & Merchandising Joseph Reddy Sr. Customer Service Associate Sharon Muise Inventory Control Clerk Heather Lane Warehouse Associate Anthony Sparrow Retail Operations Retail Floor Manager, Water Street Jackie Rice Retail Floor Manager, Avalon Mall Carol Howell Retail Floor Manager, Twillingate Donna Keefe Retail Sales Associates Crystal Rose, Emma
Advertising Sales Senior Account Manager Robert Saunders Account Manager Barbara Young Marketing Director Tiffany Boone
Goodyear, Ciara Hodge, Jonathon Organ, Megan Thomey, Nicole French, Elizabeth Gleason, Janet Watkins, Melissa Wheeler, Drew Ennis, Rebecca Ford, Darlene Burton, Natalie Engram, Erin McCarthy
Finance and Administration Senior Accountant Karen Critch Junior Accountant Marlena Grant Operations Manager Alicia Brennan Operations Manager, Twillingate Nicole Mehaney
Subscriptions Sr. Administrative Assistant Amanda Ricks Customer Service Associate Michelle O’Toole Founding Editor Ron Young Chief Executive Officer / Publisher Grant Young President Todd Goodyear Chief Financial Officer Tina Bromley
To subscribe, renew or change address use the contact information above. Subscriptions total inc. taxes, postage and handling: for residents in NL $39; AB, BC, MB, NU, NT, QC, SK, YT $40.95; ON $44.07; NB, NS, PE $44.85. US and International mailing price for a 1-year term is $49.00.
Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement #40062919 The advertiser agrees that the publisher shall not be liable for damages arising out of errors in advertisements beyond the amount paid for the space actually occupied by the portion of the advertisement in which the error occurred, whether such error is due to the negligence of the servants or otherwise, and there shall be no liability beyond the amount of such advertisement. The Letters to the Editor section is open to all letter writers providing the letters are in good taste, not libelous, and can be verified as true, correct and written by the person signing the letter. Pen names and anonymous letters will not be published. The publisher reserves the right to edit, revise, classify, or reject any advertisement or letter. © Downhome Publishing Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.
Printed in Canada Official onboard magazine of
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102 berry time
Contents
OCTOBER 2018
46 Son of a Critch Comedian Mark Critch explains how, in writing his memoir, he got to be a kid again. Stacey Seward
60 What if the Doctor is Out? Linda Browne investigates other options to health care open to most people in the province.
60 health help
www.downhomelife.com
84 Farm and Farmers Markets Roundup A province-wide guide to farm-to-table shopping
102 Readers’ Best Berry Recipes Tasty treats featuring wild NL berries – plus a bonus rhubarb recipe!
October 2018
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Contents
OCTOBER 2018
homefront 10 I Dare Say A note from the editor 11 Contributors Meet the people behind the magazine
12 Letters from Our Readers A reader’s plea for help, a monument to crash victims, and mural memories
22 Downhome Tours Explore France
24
strange but true
with Downhome
24 That’s Amazing Wild news from around the world
26 Life’s Funny Soup from Scratch Vera Mullins
27 Say What A contest that puts words in someone else’s mouth
28 Lil Charmers Pumpkin Patch Kids
26
serving up laughs
30 Pets of the Month All Hallows’ Pets 32 Blast from the Past Remember Halloween Kisses?
33 Halloween Hosting Check List 36 Poetic Licence Sea Dog Doreen Parmiter Canning 38 Reviewed Denise Flint interviews Maura Hanrahan and reviews her latest book, Unchained Man: The Arctic Life and Times of Captain Robert Abram Bartlett. 4
October 2018
30 critters in costume
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66
life in pictures
40 What Odds Paul Warford closes a chapter
42 In Your Words One Final Visit Ed Power
features 50 Fighting Fast Fashion This young entrepreneur wears his environmental activism on his sleeve. Elizabeth Whitten 54 Newfoundlanders By Choice Three couples who weren’t born in NL, but have made a life here, and made a difference. Marie-Beth Wright
50 eco fashion
www.downhomelife.com
66 Sure Shots Featuring photographer Harry Bryan
explore 82 What’s on the Go Exciting events happening in Atlantic Canada October 2018
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Contents
OCTOBER 2018
88 sky signs
88 Get Your Head in the Clouds How to forecast the weather by reading the sky Tobias Romaniuk
92 On the Road to Little Paradise G. Tod Slone
food and leisure 98 Everyday Gourmet Pickled Mushrooms Andrea Maunder
112 Stuff About What does a breakfast cereal, Canadian singersongwriter Neil Young and Star Wars have in common?
98
quite the pickle
114 Down to Earth Gardening on a Tight Budget Ross Traverse
reminiscing 120 Flashback Classic photos of people and places 121 This Month in History Fairy lore’s place in the courts 6
October 2018
114 frugal garden
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122 harvest hiccup
122 Visions & Vignettes Gnat, do you mind … Harvest Scoffs? Harold N. Walters
126 Goats of New Perlican A walk with goats, with resident Ron Peddle Terra Barrett
About the cover This blueberry cheesecake is one of 10 irresistible recipes for wild NL berries you'll find in this issue – plus a bonus one for rhubarb! – sent to us by readers. Recipes start on page 102.
Cover Index How to Read the Clouds • 88 Mark, My Words • 46 Rerooted • 54 Berry Bake-off • 102 Handy Halloween Tips • 33 A Father’s Haunting Goodbye • 42 Fighting Fast Fashion • 50 www.downhomelife.com
130 A Close Call John Gillett has spent a lifetime on the water, but this one daytrip to get a few turrs is the near tragedy he’ll never forget. 134 Between the Boulevard and the Bay The Execution of John Byng Ron Young
136 Mail Order 142 Real Estate 143 Marketplace 148 Puzzles 160 Photo Finish October 2018
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A young NL entrepreneur battles fast fashion with a new clothing line – on p. 50
Our Iceberg Photo Contest closes October 31. Submit yours to downhomelife.com/icebergcontest
8 October 2018
What do Neil Young and Star Wars have in common? Find out in “Stuff About” – on p. 112
Enter to win a one-year household membership to The Rooms October 10-24 at downhomecontests.com.
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Submission Guidelines and Prize Rules Be a Winner!
Every reader whose photo, story, joke or poem appears next to the yellow “from our readers” stamp in a current issue will be awarded 20 Downhome Dollars.*
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
In January 2019, a panel of Downhome staff will select the top submissions published in 2018, which will be put to a public vote on DownhomeLife.com in early 2019. The submission with the most votes will win an iPad mini and a 3-year subscription to Downhome magazine.
*One 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. www.downhomelife.com
October 2018
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i dare say
“We should have seen a sign.”
Todd Young photo
That could have been a bumper sticker for our recent honeymoon on the Northern Peninsula. It was almost comical. “Are we getting close, honey?” “The map says it’s around here, but I haven’t seen a sign. Did we miss it?” Squinting at a sign in the distance, trying to decipher it by the length of words (still too far away to read): “Is that it?” By the time we’re close enough to read it, we’re next to it. “That’s it! Turn! Turn now!” Travelling on an 80 km/h highway, we blow right past it. This happened at least once a day. Another day we were on a footpath through an old-growth forest. The trail entrance was clearly marked. However, after we crossed a river our path suddenly branched off in three directions with no trail sign posted. As we were considering going back the way we came, we glanced down and saw an arrow scratched into the earth. It was either the right way to our destination or we were being lured to our death. We shrugged and took it, hoping for the best. Then there was the sign for the moose “exclosure” that we thought was an “enclosure” and I threw a fit, refusing to follow the trail through what I thought was a moose pen! A passing hiker pointed out the difference, but an explanation on the gate would have been really helpful. And hiking down from Gros Morne too late in the day, racing against twilight, trail signs would have offered some comfort and encouragement. Overall, we had a lot of fun adventures camping, biking and hiking in Gros Morne and L’Anse aux Meadows. And for that we have all the signs – beautiful photos, funny selfies and wonderful memories. What are your best stories from this past summer? Turn to page 9 for ways to contact us and have your adventure appear in Downhome. Thanks for reading,
Janice Stuckless, Editor-in-chief Janice@downhomelife.com 10 October 2018
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Contributors
Meet the people behind the magazine
Ed Power
Terra Barrett
Retired teacher Ed Power has lived in Grand Falls-Windsor, NL, his whole life. For more than 30 years, he taught at St. Michael’s high school – the same high school he attended as a student! As someone who enjoys writing and sharing stories, Ed has been a Downhome contributor for years. In this issue, Ed shares his mother’s account of a ghostly goodbye from his grandfather that happened decades ago (you can read it on p. 42). His mother waited years before she shared this particular story with her children, though. “She never told us at that particular time. She might have told some of the older ones in the family,” he says. It seems like every family in Newfoundland and Labrador has a ghost story they pass down, a superstitious trait Ed attributes to our English and Irish roots. “That is an important thing in Newfoundland because…a lot of oral traditions pass down through the years and that’s the only way we found out about them.” The story of a loving father reaching out from beyond might have been lost otherwise.
When Terra Barrett was growing up, one of her favourite things was listening to her nan tell rhymes and little riddles. “And so when I went to MUN and found out that I could get a degree in that, that was something I was all about,” she says. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Folklore from Memorial University and then continued on to the Masters in Public Folklore program. Soon after graduating in 2016, she started working for the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador. Terra also works on the Collective Memories Project, where seniors are interviewed and their stories are archived. They’re then shared on the website Collectivememories.ca. On p. 126, New Perlican’s Ron Peddle tells the story of the goats his family kept when he was growing up. Terra recently visited the town for Heritage Day and says there are still goats about. “So it is a different time and a different place, but you certainly can see traditions continuing on today,” she says.
www.downhomelife.com
October 2018
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Clarenville School Reunion
On August 3-4, the 1978 graduating class of Clarenville Integrated high school celebrated its 40th Reunion. Friday night started with a tour of the school, at the end of which Doris Hiscock Curtis was presented with a class photo, which we never had before, to be hung on the wall of the school. Afterwards we had a meet-and-greet at the Lions Den, where we rekindled our friendships and memories. A beautiful video was shown and a memorial video was played for our deceased classmates and teachers. The reunion cake was cut by our class of 1978 king, Blaine Vey, and queen, Norma Baker. Saturday afternoon, Cynthia Layden Barron arranged a photo scavenger 12 October 2018
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hunt, which included landmarks of Clarenville and Shoal Harbour. Then we had to answer questions about communities on our bus routes. In the end, team Furlong/Abbott, The Fabulous Four, won the grand prize. Our dinner and dance was held at the Clarenville Inn. After some speeches, the grads danced to their theme song, “Hold On” by Dan Hill, followed by “Paradise by the Dashboard Light” by Meatloaf. We were all 17 again! The reunion committee – Doris Hiscock Curtis, Wendy Keel Scurrey, Cynthia Layden Barron and Cathy Bailey Reid – would like to thank all those for coming and all those who helped make this weekend so much fun. Clarenville Integrated High Reunion Committee Via email
Here (left) is a photo taken of the Class of ’78 during their recent high school reunion.
Search for Father’s Accordion I live in Tatamagouche, NS, and within the last few years have found out that my birth father was from Isle aux Morts, NL. Finding him meant I learned a bit about my grandparents, including that my grandfather (Nathan Walters, Sr.) made a goodly part of his living by playing the accordion for weddings, dances and other events. When he died in the 1980s, he left two or three of the accordions behind. I am a bit musical; I direct a large choir and play several instru-
ments, and I have always been drawn to the accordion...maybe my grandfather is why. I would be so thrilled to be able to find one of his accordions. Heather E. Smith Tatamagouche, NS
Anyone with information for Heather may contact her via email at: maboupiper@gmail.com. Good luck in your search, Heather, and if you do gain possession of one of your grandfather’s accordions, please send us a photo of you with it!
Comfort & Style Enjoy complimentary WiFi, parking and hot breakfast daily! Plus, mention this ad upon check-in for a free room upgrade!*
CALL (709) 722-5540 *Subject to availability
199 Kenmount Road, St. John’s, NL
www.downhomelife.com
October 2018
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find corky sly conner Hidden somewhere in this issue is Corky Sly Conner.
Can you find him? Look carefully at all the photographs and in the text of the stories. If you spot Corky, send us your name, address and phone number, along with a note telling us where he’s located. Your name will be entered in a draw and the winner will receive a coupon worth 25 Downhome Dollars redeemable at our store, or through our website.
Send your replies to: Corky Contest
Congratulations to Christine Nelder of Stewiacke, NS, who found Corky on page 91 of the August issue.
43 James Lane St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3
mail@downhomelife.com www.downhomelife.com *No Phone Calls Please One entry per person
Deadline for replies is the end of each month.
Is this Sam Short? I’m looking for help from your readers. My grandfather, Sam Short, lived in South Brook, NL. He lost his left hand in a sawmill accident. In this photo, it looks like the man on the right might possibly be missing his left hand. Can anyone tell me if this is Sam Short? Shirley Parsons St. John’s, NL
If anyone can positively identify Sam Short, or the other gentleman in this photo (right), please email us at editorial@downhomelife.com, or write to Downhome, 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3. We’ll print the helpful responses.
14 October 2018
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St. Anthony Arena In the August edition of your great magazine, Mr. Percy George wrote that he and some friends travelled to St. Anthony, where they proceeded to drive out on the government wharf and take a picture of the newly build artificial ice arena. What Mr. George actually took was a picture of the Fishery Products fresh fish processing plant, and it was taken from the American wharf built by the Americans who were occupying a radar site in St. Anthony at the time. Here’s a photo is of the artificial ice arena that looks much like it did when it first opened in 1964. Charles Reardon St. Anthony, NL
Thank you for the photo, Charles, and for setting the historical record straight.
www.downhomelife.com
October 2018
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Happy But Sad My husband Nick and I have once again returned from a vacation (six weeks this time) in Newfoundland, and I’m happy but sad. I cannot count the ways Newfoundland and its people and places have touched my heart. In 2012 and 2015, we drove our RV down from Ontario for two months, staying in RV campgrounds. This year we flew to Deer Lake, rented a car and stayed at either cabins or B&Bs. All of our stays were so charming and clean – and, of course, everyone was so helpful and kind. We visited people from our 2015 stay, such as Gerald French from the Crow Hill RV Park in Brigus. Gerald arranged a cod fishing trip for us with his nephew and family, which was so much fun. They made us feel so welcome. We stopped in Green Island Cove and visited Nita Hughes and her husband Kirby on our way to St. Anthony. Nita had not only made us jam and mailed it to us in Ontario (after just meeting us in 2015 when we stopped for gas), but also ordered us a subscription to your great Downhome magazine. This year, Nita and Kirby invited us for lunch. This is what I mean about the kindness of people in Newfoundland. There are so many outstanding places to stay while visiting. To name just a few: Cupid’s Haven B&B in Cupids; Inn at the Cape in Cape St. George; Celtic Rendezvous in Bauline East; Mom’s Place in La Scie; Captain Cook B&B in York Harbour. Anyone who loves whales, icebergs, puffins, hiking, great food and super nice people should add Newfound16 October 2018
Found on Facebook Sylvia Payne-Gould Summer in Port au Choix can’t get any better for young Cole Rumbolt, who loves being out in boat on nice summer days like his late grandfather Henry Payne did as a young boy growing up in Newfoundland.
land to their bucket list. Meanwhile, Nick and I will once again dream about maybe, just maybe, making one more trip to our favourite place. Sharron & Nick Bedard Chelmsford, ON
Thanks for your letter. No doubt your Newfoundland friends were happy to see you return and sad to see you go. 1-888-588-6353
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RECENT TWEETS Remembering Neighbourhood Stores I grew up on the west coast of Newfoundland in a little town called Gallants. Mrs. Mable Samms had a general store there, which sold everything from groceries to clothing to toys. It was awesome going there at Christmas time, when there were all kinds of toys, dolls, candy and fruit. She was a beautiful person. I loved going there.
Stan Collins @stan_sdcollins Whale art on the beach in Kings Point done by some creative artisan.
Marion (Miesseau) Pollari Via email
Fond memories of corner stores and outport general stores keep pouring in since we first published our Facebook friends’ comments about them in the August issue. Continue sending us your stories and we’ll keep publishing them! See page 9 for easy ways to submit your stories, photos and ideas.
The Getaway Vehicle On a beautiful sunny day on August 11, 2018, in the little community of Grey River, NL, Brandon Warren was preparing to marry Rhonda Savory when he and his groomsmen decided to have a little fun before the ceremony. Brandon is the one “driving” the snowmobile and behind him are his groomsmen: Gary Lushman, Jarvis Warren, Gavin Lushman, Shannon Young, Tommy Young and Nathan Warren. Thank you to Cavalle Young for capturing this amazing moment. Warren Lushman Via email 18 October 2018
Congratulations to Brandon and Rhonda Warren. Soon enough you’ll be trading in those fancy suits for snowsuits! 1-888-588-6353
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Monument to NL Victims While in Saskatchewan searching for my grandfather’s homestead in Antelope, I came across this memorial dedicated to the victims of an accident on the TCH on May 28, 1980. Many of the victims and survivors were from Newfoundland, employed by the CPR Prairie Region Steel Gang. There may be relatives and survivors of the CPR crew who are not aware of this memorial to their loved ones. Larry R. Pasch Abbotsford, BC
That was a terrible three-vehicle crash, involving a car and a tanker truck carrying liquid asphalt that rear-ended the bus carrying the workers. Only eight of the 30 workers survived – of the 12 fatalities from Newfoundland and Labrador, 10 were from the Burin Peninsula. A memorial to the victims is also located in Rushoon, NL, where it was unveiled on the 30th anniversary of the tragedy in 2010.
Dear readers,
Would you like to comment on something you’ve read in Downhome? Do you have a question for the editors or for other readers? Submit your letter to the editor at DownhomeLife.com/letters or write to us at 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3.
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homefront Downhome Tours...
France
A Saintly Stop
Irene O’Brien of Kentville, NS, stops by Mont Saint-Michel on France’s northwestern coast. Located on a tidal island, Mont Saint-Michel is in the northern region of France known as Normandy. It has been a monastery since the eighth century and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Medieval pilgrims nicknamed it “St. Michael in peril of the sea.”
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Where Once They Stood Master Corporal Chelsea Burden pays her respects at this key stop on the Trail of the Caribou. When the 2803 Royal Canadian Army Cadets from Fort McMurray, AB, visited Europe to commemorate the 70th anniversary of VE Day, they visited the Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial. This spot commemorates the Newfoundland soldiers who lost their lives during the First World War. Photo courtesy Michelle Burden
Towering Over Tourists
When Joan Avey of Edwardsville, Kansas and Marian Grekul were visiting Paris, France, they took along a copy of Downhome with them. Here’s Marian posing in front of the Eiffel Tower. The Eiffel Tower is an iconic symbol of France and was built in time for the 1889 World’s Fair. At 324 metres, it’s the tallest structure in Paris and was once the tallest man-made structure in the world. It held that distinction until New York City’s Chrysler Building was completed in 1930. www.downhomelife.com
October 2018
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homefront
That’s
AMAZING Wild news from around the world
Doggone Retirement
Luke the Golden Lab mix started off as a stray in St. John’s, NL, but the RCMP saw something special in the wayward pup and adopted him for police service dog training. In his nine years on the job as a Narcotic Detection Dog, Luke followed his nose to find $5 million in drugs and cash. When he recently hung up his police collar, he was given a retirement party fit for a hero.
New Moons
Scientists recently announced the discovery of 12 additional moons around Jupiter, which means the planet now has a total of 79 moons! The new moons aren’t very big, though, just one to three kilometres in width.
Bygone Bread
Archeologists in northeastern Jordan have dug up the oldest piece of bread ever found. It looks like pita bread and was made in a stone fireplace around 14,500 years ago. The discovery means people were making bread thousands of years before farming had been invented.
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Faux Fish
Fish meat grown in a laboratory might be coming to your dinner table in the next year. American company Finless Foods is currently awaiting FDA approval to sell its man-made animal protein that can serve as a substitute for meat.
On Your Marks...Get Set...Slow!
This past July, crowds cheered in Congham, England, for the annual World Snail Racing Championships, held since the 1960s. More than 150 competitors lined up for this year’s race, for which snails are lined up in a circle and have to race to the outer ring 33 cm away. The slow-paced event typically lasts several minutes. The prize, fit for a snail, was a cup filled with lettuce leaves.
Record Restraint
The Guinness World Record for swimming with hands and feet tied while fully wrapped inside a sack has been claimed by a Bulgarian. The 64-year-old man “swam” 3,380 metres in Macedonia’s Lake Ohrid, a journey that took him about three hours.
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October 2018
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homefront life’s funny
Soup From Scratch My sister Bridget, who was only 12 at the time, always wanted to make soup, but my mother wouldn’t let her because she was afraid she’d burn herself on the wood stove. One day while Mom was gone to the hospital, Bridget decided to go ahead and put on a pot of soup. When Mom got back she was a little miffed with Miss Bridget. But when we sat down for a meal of her soup, it was delicious. After a few spoonfuls, though, Mom said, “Bridget, there’s peel on this turnip. You must have not peeled this slice of turnip.” She looked at Mom and said, “You have to peel turnip?” Good soup, but none of the vegetables were peeled. Vera Mullins Harbour Breton, NL
Do you have any funny or embarrassing true stories? Share them with us. If your story is selected, you’ll win a prize! See page 9 for details. 26
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“Then this lady kept kissing me, saying I smelled so good…” – John McDonald
Say WHAT?
Downhome recently posted this photo (taken by Janet Bungay) on our website and Facebook page and asked our members to imagine what the baby might be saying. John McDonald’s response made us chuckle the most, so we’re awarding him 20 Downhome Dollars!
Here are the runners-up: “I know, I couldn't believe it either! They’ll do anything you want if you just cry long enough.” – Kathy Crawford “You have about one minute to get out of here before I fill my diaper.” – Gerald King “Stop looking at me like that...bald is beautiful.” – Dianne McIssac Johnstone
Want to get in on the action? Go to www.downhomelife.com/saywhat
www.downhomelife.com
“Like” us on Facebook www.facebook.com/downhomelife
October 2018
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homefront lil charmers
Pumpkin
Patch Kids The Princess and the Pumpkin
Cassie Thorne has the best seat in the land, atop a pumpkin that weighs 819 lb! Joyce Meade Port aux Basques, NL
Extra Happy Halloween Four-month-old Tiffany just got home from the hospital and is eager to celebrate her first Halloween! Megan Coish Corner Brook, NL
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Gourd-geous Little Guy Owen is all smiles while his parents snap his photo amongst the pumpkins. Marylou Harris Nain, NL
Pumpkin Picker Picking the perfect pumpkin is hard work, but Liam found a keeper. Stephen & Dana Bonnell Belleville, ON
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homefront
pets of the month
Dog Friendly Decor Uncle Casey (left) and seven-month-old Sophie show off their specially designed pumpkins. Danielle Power Grand Falls-Windsor, NL
All Hallows’
Pets
Trading Paws for Claws Meika the dog-lobster is ready for the trick-or-treaters to arrive! Shannon Mitchell Marystown, NL
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Joke’s on You Buddy, in his clever disguise, is this family’s little practical joker. Joyce Simms Burgeo, NL
Halloween Huckster Macaroni-Sky clowns around for the camera. Meghan Anderson Conception Bay South, NL
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homefront
Remember...Halloween Kisses? Did you know that handing out factory-made candy on Halloween didn’t catch on until the 1960s and ’70s? Prior to that, trick-or-treaters would likely get homemade sweets, coins or toys. But once those “bought” candies caught on, they never really let go. For most adults, there are candies that stand out in our childhood memories that will show up in our kids’ treat bags again this year. Two staples are Molasses Kisses and Candy Corn. Kerr’s Molasses Kisses are those individually wrapped taffy candies that people seem to either love or hate, and according to the company’s website, they’ve been selling them hand over fist for more than 75 years! Candy Corn has been around since, believe it or not, the 1880s. Originally it was marketed as a treat called “Chicken Feed.”
We asked our Facebook friends what Halloween treats they most and least looked forward to getting in their day. Here’s what some said: “Least favourite was the molasses candy and favourite thing was Hawkins cheesies.” – Lisa Grandy “My favourite treats were the mini Oh Henry! bars, but hands down, my least favourite was Thrills gum! That stuff tasted like soap.” – Kim Lecompte “Hated getting apples. A bag of chips (back in the day) was a real treat!!” – Judy Forward “We had a neighbour when I was growing up in St. John’s who gave the best chocolate. Mr. Grace’s was the first house we would go to. He was a big, jolly man. He smoked cigars.” – Joanne Greene Delph “Those molasses kisses were the worst things in my Halloween bag.” – Karen Hogan 32
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homefront
Reminders to make your home safe r for all those trick-or-treaters! When hanging up Halloween décor, make sure it’s secure and won’t blow off and hit anyone. Don’t leave lit candles next to any pap er decorations. Better yet, use plastic, flameless candles inst ead of the real thing. And if you set a pumpkin on the porc h, an electric candle or glow stick can cast a spooky glow. Have your porch brightly lit. You don ’t want trick-or-treaters tripping over any spook-tacular deco rations because they couldn’t see them in the dark. Clear the path to the front door of any obstacles and sweep awa y any leaves from the pathway. Plenty of kids are going to be knockin g on doors and ringing bells tonight. Some pets find this stre ssful or make a run for the open door. Maybe keep them in the back of the house or basement for this one night. So many kids have peanut allergies thes e days, but it shouldn’t take away from their Halloween fun. Check the labels of the candy you buy to hand out. Some even boldly declare on the package: “peanut free.” Before you hand out any candy to eage r trick-or-treaters, check to make sure the wrappers have n’t been opened. Kids shouldn’t eat any candy that may have been tampered with or damaged at the factory.
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Kylie Goodyear photo
We’re going to award one photographer $100 worth of canvas printing, plus bragging rights, for the best iceberg photo we see! We are looking for the biggest, most dramatic, wildest shaped, best composed, most impressive iceberg photo in your collection, from this or any iceberg season. Submit your high-resolution photo and tell us where and when it was taken, and by whom. Only send us photos that you own or have express permission to enter into this contest.
Enter online: www.downhomelife.com/icebergcontest Deadline: October 31, 2018
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homefront poetic licence
Sea Dog
By Doreen Parmiter Canning Springdale, NL
At eighty-three he went to sea, Sittin’ in “The Doghouse.” Young at heart...sixteen smart, He skimmed across the waters. His face all rugged from his years, We know he’s in his realm. And once again he is in control ’Cause he’s sitting “at the helm.” The rugged coastline stretched ahead, The waters leaped and glistened. He hugged the shores and cut real close, He knew this land...we listened. While memories flooded through his mind, His tongue between his teeth. He’s forgotten about “these tired old legs,” And yes, his swollen feet. Every inlet and each bay...a story he’d relate, We listened so we could recall, and someday we’d repeat A smile on his tired old face, then widens with a grin He’s happy now, he shouts with glee and calls out o’r the wind “Faster horses, younger women, Stronger whiskey, more money!” We all laugh...because we know Old Sea Dog sails again. Submitter’s Note: This poem was written in 2004 on a boat trip with my brother, Lee Parmiter, and my father, Wes Parmiter, in Lee's boat, appropriately named The Doghouse. My sister, Karen Parmiter, and I had the pleasure of joining them at Beachside, Green Bay. It was the last leg of their week-long excursion around the bay – speeding from Beachside to Point Leamington on a beautiful summer day, with Dad at the helm telling stories as he flew. Dad passed away in 2015, but the memories linger.
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homefront
reviewed by Denise Flint
Unchained Man: The Arctic Life and Times of Captain Robert Abram Bartlett Maura Hanrahan Boulder Publications $21.95 Historical writer Maura Hanrahan’s latest volume, Unchained Man: The Arctic Life and Times of Captain Robert Abram Bartlett, is not a traditional biography of a great man. It’s lacking a lot of basic biographical details laid out in a chronological manner, and the book opens with an assumption that the reader is already familiar with who Bob Bartlett is. It doesn’t tell us that Admiral Peary left Bartlett behind when he struck out for the North Pole, for example, but it does discuss the circumstances surrounding that decision. The same holds true for the sinking of the Karluk. Instead, it is a deeper study of exactly what it says in the title – Bartlett’s life and, especially, times. Unchained Man, with its examination of what drove the inner man and its emphasis on the important role of indigenous peoples in Arctic exploration, is very much a product of the 21st century. But it is not judgemental. It doesn’t fault early white Arctic explorers for being products of their time. Nor does it condemn those times. Instead it simply studies them, to try to get a deeper, but always contextualized, understanding of the people and the world they inhabited. As a result, it sidesteps the all-too-common smugness that can sometimes infect such works and the self-congratulatory implication that modern people are somehow more enlightened and, therefore, “better” than those who lived before us. A scholarly examination for the general reader, Unchained Man is an interesting addition to the study of northern exploration and the early 20th-century culture that extolled it.
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Q&A with the Author Denise Flint: What made you decide to write about Bob Bartlett? Maura Hanrahan: I guess my interest started when I was 10 years old and we spent part of the summer holiday in Brigus. There’s a statue commemorating Bartlett, and I read that and started hearing all about him. My father took me to visit Jim Hearn, who knew Bartlett, and I grew up hearing about this captain with mythic status. As an adult I wanted to know what shaped his personality and go deeper beneath the surface from the cardboard cut-out figure we knew so well. DF: The story of Bob Bartlett is somewhat familiar to most Newfoundlanders. Did you learn anything that really surprised you? MH: One of the things that struck me was the contrast between Bartlett’s public persona, which was very outgoing – he was very conscious of his reputation as a hero and explorer – and what I understood as his personality, which was much more introverted and maybe lonely. DF: Where are the Bob Bartletts of the present day? Is there room for them in the modern world? MH: Well, I don’t think there’s room for anyone to be “discovering” things anymore because the white explorers weren’t discovering anything, but there’s room for learning about the Arctic and its really crucial place in climate change. I was in Greenland a few years ago, and I was there in April for a week and it was 20 degrees, and I learned that wasn’t a shocking incident. It was shocking to see the effects first www.downhomelife.com
hand. Protecting the Arctic has to be a priority. DF: You talk in the book about how one-sided accounts of Arctic exploration are. Do you think the indigenous side of the story will ever be properly told? MH: I think we’re beginning to tell it, especially since they found the ships of the Franklin Expedition. The Inuit have been very vocal about their role. After working with Inuit for several years, people bring up how Inuit people saved [early white explorers’] lives. They sewed for them and taught them how to hunt. None of the story would be told without them because there would be no story. DF: Your title is a reference to a contemporary’s description of Bob Bartlett. Do you believe he was an “unchained man”? MH: No, I don’t. I use the title ironically. That was [journalist] Phillip Gibbs, and Bartlett cultivated this image of himself as different and separate to raise funds, and when he spoke to Gibbs he seemed to have a disdain for city life and was in tune with nature. I do believe the Arctic was the place he was most unchained, but he had his demons and was not unchained at all, both in his inner life and the outer life. I came to see he was different from me, from a different time and a different culture, but I came to admire him very much. The more [I] got to know him, the more human he became and the more time I wanted to spend with this character. October 2018
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homefront what odds
now i’ve gone and done it By Paul Warford
If you’d told me This time next year, you’ll find me in the I’ve spent the last year working towards when I was a archives. a master’s thesis in creative writing at Memorial ruddy-cheeked, University, fashioning a memoir alongside my to be submitted to the department and school-aged lad supervisor pored over and adjudicated by eyes I’ve never that I’d finish a met. Nerve-wracking! I’d never written a commanuscript before, and I guess I wasn’t sure short book one plete I could, but I have. day, I probably If you’d told me when I was a ruddy-cheeked, lad that I’d finish a short book one would have school-aged day, I probably would have believed you. But if believed you. you’d told me I’d finish the last pages in Green’s Harbour, I probably would’ve said, “Huh? Green’s Harbour? Where’s that?” Now I know the turns and exits to get to Green’s Harbour, and the potholes to avoid along the way. I can tell you it’s secluded there, where even the cellphone reception seems to be operating on wavelengths from 1999 rather than 2018. My parents keep their RV there in the summers, and when I told them I yearned for isolation, my mother suggested I camp out – no Internet, no wife or dog, no visitors. So, that’s what I did, and for the most part it was just as Mom described. I did have a squirrel visit me inside the motorhome on my last morning there, but that doesn’t count because he certainly wasn’t invited. I herded him out through the camper door using the baking sheet that had served up my snack of McCain french fries the midnight before – but that’s another story. Anyway, it seems I’ve done it. I sent my little piece of writing to the Memorial University witch doctors who are on hand to grade and approve such works, and they’ve given me a unanimous thumbs-up. Everyone close to me is relieved. I’m
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relieved. The official parties read it, critiqued it, said it needs work, but agreed they don’t need to read it again. That’s the clincher, here. This means I can take their suggestions, make my alterations, send it back to the school, and then they’ll stamp it with the seal and toss it into the bin with all of the other successful thesis candidates, where it will stay until the school is ash and dust (a long time off, I hope). With the proper credentials and requests, you’ll be able to access my memoir, open it and read the whole thing. Of course, there’s no reason for any student or alumnus to do such a thing unless I ask them to, but it’s still a charming thought. It’s a different sort of publication than I’m used to within these glossy pages. So, like I said, next year you’ll find me in the archives. My wife Andie is very excited for the convocation. Left to my own devices, I’m not sure I’d bother to go. I attended my graduation ceremony at Acadia University on a shining day in May 2004, and I get the impression that if you’ve seen one university convocation, you’ve seen ’em all: a ceremony of impressive formality with speeches, addresses and perhaps a flag-bearer or two. The highest-ranking Memorial officials will sit onstage wearing elaborate hats they only don for one week of each year, when thousands file into the…actually, I’m not sure which building it’s in. Remind me to look that up. Anyway, all the proud parents and prouder grand-
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parents file in, sit and wait. After singing the Ode to Newfoundland, they listen to the speeches, then watch each and every student – probably two or three hundred in total – walk across the stage and pose with their degree in turn. Finally, the right name will be called and that’s when they get their camera ready. A nice day for everyone, and after the enlightened students have thrown their hats into the air, graduates rejoin their families to pose for another picture or two in front of the nearest maple trees. Then it’s time for Jungle Jim’s because everyone is talking about how they’re “starving.” I can’t wait because I have no choice. Mom says I’m doing this and Andie does, too, and I guess that’s okay. “It’s a major accomplishment,” they remind me while I joke around and say they can go without me and fill me in on the details later. Maybe it is a major accomplishment. To be honest, I’ve spent so much time in school, I don’t get as excited about graduation as I used to… But I’ll never forget my time spent in that RV park among the sleeping retirees at two in the morning, when the only sound was the clack of my keyboard. Paul Warford began writing for Downhome to impress his mom and her friends. He writes and performs comedy in Eastern Canada. Follow him on Twitter @paulwarford
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homefront in your words
One Final Visit By Ed Power Grand Falls-Windsor, NL
Séances, mediums and crystal balls
are terms often associated with attempts to communicate with the dead. Scores of unsuspecting grieving widows and widowers have paid large sums of money in hopes of contacting their departed loved ones. Quite often they are completely disillusioned and have to continue their search for peace of mind elsewhere. There are those, however, who have strong reason to believe that such communication is quite possible, but it depends on the will of those from beyond the grave. This strange and unexplainable – but true – story supports that theory. My mother had a very close relationship with her father. They spent many hours together talking about his life as a sailor and the plans he had for his family. He often told her of strange happenings at sea, and, being a deeply religious man, he strongly believed that God permitted deceased loved ones to communicate in some manner with those left behind. Such stories had a lasting effect on my mother, and the impression remained with her to her dying day, especially as it related to her own father’s death. Grandfather was a strong and healthy individual and enjoyed life to the fullest, despite the affliction that plagued him in his later years. He devel42
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oped cataracts on both eyes and, being too strong willed to have corrective surgery, he went completely blind. Despite the setback, he maintained a pleasant personality and continued to sit and talk with Mother, thinking of her as his little girl, even though she was now married with children of her own. At the same time, he showered a great deal of love on his grandchildren and would often visit us just before bedtime to tell us stories and help tuck us in for the night. As was the custom in those days, Grandfather’s home and our own were side-by-side, separated only by a small picket fence, making the frequent visits possible. Even though he was blind, he would find his way to our door by carrying a piece of birch wood, which he would use to tap on the fence until he found the gateway. Upon reaching the house, he would tap in the same way along the outside wall until he came to the doorway, where we would run to greet him. He followed this routine well into his remaining 10 years, and the sound became something we eagerly anticipated. During the last six months of his life, Grandfather became extremely ill and was eventually confined to his bed. Even then, however, he continued his cheerful manner and often he called for our mother and her children to visit him. She often cautioned us that he was very weak and that his time was drawing near. We sorely missed the familiar rapping on the house and his regular evening visits, and were heartbroken at the thought of losing him. One night in particular, while we were standing around his bed, he told www.downhomelife.com
us how much we meant to him and how we had helped to make his last years happy ones. We could tell by the expression on her face that Mother was very concerned and had resigned herself to the fact that the end was near. We prayed that night that things would work out for the best, and that Grandfather would somehow get well. After we had gone to bed, Mother sat in her favourite armchair and reflected on Grandfather’s condition and how her own mother would react when the time came. After what seemed like eternity, she fell asleep. What happened next is something she didn’t share with us children until years later. She was awakened by the familiar rapping of the piece of birch wood against the back door. She sat up quickly, an eerie feeling creeping over her, and looked at the clock. It was 4:30 a.m. She went to the door, but in her heart she felt that no one would be there. She was right, and found herself staring into the blackness of the night. Hurriedly, she threw her shawl over her shoulders and went quickly to Grandfather’s house. Grandmother was already awake and said she was expecting her. She told Mother what she probably already knew, that Grandfather had died a short time before. One of the last things he had done was to call to Mother and his grandchildren. The rap on the house, even in death, had been his way of communicating that last message of love to those who had been so close to him. For Mother, it was a true token from his final resting place. October 2018
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Advertorial
When you book a stay at the Florian Hotel in
beautiful Forteau, Labrador, be prepared to be treated like family. The Florian Staff go out of their way to provide a memorable experience for every guest.
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The Florian Hotel is more than just a place to stay. Along with innovative culinary offerings, the staff at the hotel can design an unforgettable vacation itinerary, such as hiking, fishing and iceberg boat tours.
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Open since April 2016, the independently owned boutique hotel offers 4-star accommodations. Each room is tastefully decorated, with comfort and quality in mind. Views range from the ever-changing Atlantic Ocean to the large Labrador landscape. At the end of each day, Red Rocks Pub offers a casual space to enjoy food, drinks and good company. The Florian casual fine dining room, open daily in its busiest season from 12-2 and 5-9, serves sumptuous meals made with the finest local ingredients, including seafood landed that very day. Always creative, the kitchen staff prepare a new and innovative dish every day with emphasis on quality and presentation. For an even more catered dining experience, guests can book the outdoor, enclosed gazebo for Dinner by the Sea. Guests get to meet with the kitchen staff in advance to design their menu specifically for their tastes and desires, then dine like the rich in their own private room with a view. So much more than just a hotel, the Florian staff can be your tour guide and vacation planner. If asked, they will design an itinerary just for you, featuring anything from hiking to boating, to salmon fishing in the Forteau region. Their tour packages offer personalized service with every experience – right down to packed lunches for visiting tour buses. Next year, in honour of local Basque heritage, the Florian is launching a unique tour package that includes a visit to the Red Bay UNESCO World Heritage Site and, upon returning to the Florian, a traditional Basque meal. To achieve the finest hotel, dining and touring experience, it takes a hard-working, dedicated staff and the Florian has the best. But don’t take their word for it. Book a stay with them today, and you’ll soon find out the difference between a hotel stay and a Florian holiday.
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features
Aaron McKenzie Fraser photo
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MARK CRITCH HAS LIVED an extraordinary life. His role on CBC’s “This Hour Has 22 Minutes” has brought him to places that few townies could even imagine. He’s reported from Russia, China and a war zone in Afghanistan. In a secret room in the White House basement, where John F. Kennedy’s swimming pool used to be, Mark’s signature is scribbled next to Frank Sinatra’s. Last year, he accompanied the prime minister, on his personal plane, on an official trip to Vietnam. For his first book, however, the 44 year-old writer, actor and comedian decided to write about something closer to home. Son of a Critch is a tremendously funny memoir that recounts the growing pains of Mark’s childhood in St. John’s, NL, during the 1980s and up to the end of Mark’s high school days, when he decided he wanted to be an actor. “I kind of grew up as a little old man,” says Mark. Raised on the outskirts of town (Kenmount Road wasn’t always the bustling strip of car dealerships that we know today), he refers to himself as a “free-range kid.” His father, Mike Critch, a well-known journalist for VOCM in his day, was well into his 50s when Mark was born, and aside from his brother, Mark had little to no interaction with other children until his first year of kindergarten. Prior to that, his best friend and closest companion was Nan. “I felt like an astronaut who’d been knocked off course and landed on a strange alien planet where people had all these customs and I had no idea what was going on, so it takes me through those formative years,” he says. “The more I focused on my childhood, the more I kind of realwww.downhomelife.com
ized how unusual and weird it was, and I started to work through some of that in a way I hadn’t really thought about.” The scenes play out like the script of a comedy movie because the everyday life of a kid can be pretty absurd, Mark says. “If you write through the lens of a kid who doesn’t understand any of what’s going on, it’s just naturally funny, because it’s ridiculous. But it’s truthful.” Of the book-writing process, Mark says, “They kind of chose themselves, the stories, as opposed to me sitting down and trying to be super witty, which I assume is the right way to do it – to know what you’re doing – but I just kind of went down my little path through the woods.” Mark has always been a writer – he began his career at “22 Minutes” in the writing room and had a newspaper column prior to that – but he says that writing a book was a totally different experience. “With a sketch, if you’re not getting a laugh, two laughs, a minute, at least, you’re dying. You’re writing more for the reaction. But with this, it’s longer; you can put more thought into it, be more descriptive, [you] October 2018
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don’t have to worry to myself.” about getting a laugh all Son of a Critch isn’t just a recollection of the time. You want Mark’s childhood expethere to be a few laughs riences. It’s ripe with per chapter, but you tidbits of “townie trivia” don’t have that nagging and stories about the monkey on your back social and political hisgoing: ‘Be sillier! Be tory of Newfoundland funnier! Be quicker!’” and Labrador, along And while the book is with plenty of stories undeniably hilarious, it from the Critch family isn’t without some seritree. Mark has been a ous themes and underlongtime history buff, tones. Mark doesn’t Mark Critch’s memoir, but researching his present St. John’s as the published by Viking idyllic, charming city Canada (Penguin Random family history for the from the tourism com- House Canada), lands in book was a journey of bookstores this month. its own, he says. mercials. He writes Mark didn’t know much about about his St. John’s: the good, the where he came from before writing bad and the ugly, and how it all came the book. The research, he says, was together to shape him into the perone of his favourite parts of the son he is today. whole experience. He learned about The ’80s were a strange time in how his great-grandfather drowned Newfoundland and Labrador, as Mark while fishing, never to be found, and would be the first to tell you. Now a how his son, Mark’s grandfather, “recovering Catholic,” as the book’s would later risk his life to retrieve the back cover describes him, he attended body of a friend who went overboard, a religious denominational school (as not wanting his family to live without did most everybody else at the time), closure like he did, Mark suspects. under the cloud of the Mount Cashel “I was learning a lot about these abuse scandal. He stresses that he had people who I never knew existed,” a great childhood and positive experiMark says. “That was a bit of a reveences with the priests and nuns and lation to me, and I feel like I kind of school, but the aftershock of the news came away from this with a family stayed with him, and he’s had trouble history that my dad didn’t even know trusting people in positions of power about, or very little of it, if at all. ever since. “But really,” he says, “I liked reliv“It’s sort of like collateral damage, ing those years again. It was nice, where the fallout from that really because they say that you can’t go affected our faith at a time when home again, but I kind of feel like I you’re supposed to be developing it, did, in a weird way. I mean, the and I felt like that definitely changed house isn’t there anymore, it’s long how I viewed the world,” Mark says. gone. My parents are gone. So, it was “So I thought not to talk about it nice to be a kid again, for a while.” would be very much disingenuous 48
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RAPID-FIRE Q&A with Mark Critch
Downhome: What do you suppose you might have been in a past life?
DH: If there were a roast of Mark Critch, who would be first in line to come at you?
Mark Critch: In a past life, I think I would have been a deserter of some kind, in some kind of a military thing. It could have been anything – it could have been an army deserter, or maybe somebody who just jumped [off] a ship and swam to shore. I think something cowardly.
MC: First in line to come at me would probably be either Shaun Majumder or Danny Williams.
DH: What’s your favourite Newfoundland expression? MC: “Who knit you?” DH: If you could have a dinner date with anybody, living or dead, who would it be and where would you go? MC: I would have dinner with Jesus, and we’d go to Raymond’s restaurant downtown, and we would just order some water and a breadstick. DH: What’s your drink of choice? MC: A Manhattan, if I can, but a rum and Coke at the cabin. DH: If you weren’t living in St. John’s, where would you be? MC: Trinity. www.downhomelife.com
DH: Choose three bands for your dream concert lineup. MC: Three bands for my dream concert lineup…. I would have the Beach Boys, the Dardanelles and Joan Morrissey. DH: What’s your favourite part of town? MC: My favourite part of town is Water Street. DH: What’s an instrument you’d like to play? MC: The mandolin. DH: What’s your guiltiest pleasure? MC: My guiltiest pleasure is hiding in the bathtub. DH: If you weren’t a comedian/writer, what would you be at? MC: I would be a reporter for the Downhome magazine. October 2018
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of the 200th Royal St. John’s Regatta drew thousands of people to Quidi Vidi Lake. And at 30°C, it was a stifling hot day. The air was filled with the scent of food and the excited sounds of the delighted crowd. Some were there to compete, some as spectators, and others to promote charities or just enjoy the festivities. Trevor Bessette was there, but not on holiday. He was working the crowd from his booth, trying to raise awareness and support for his unique clothing line, Seaside Apparel.
Charlotte Leese photo
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Behind their trendy designs, fun colours and comfy fits, these t-shirts and hoodies are the products of a deep-rooted philosophy – sustainability. The clothes are environmentally friendly, made from recycled plastic bottles as well as cotton scraps that would otherwise have been tossed in the trash. Reducing waste is something that was top of mind for Trevor, a 21-year-old Memorial University student, when he started this company a year ago.
Nethmini Hapuarachchige photo
“Sustainable consumption is what it’s really about,” he says, “but it started off initially as a furniture brand, actually.” In 2017, he had just moved into a new place and needed a table, but instead of heading to a store he went out back and saw a broken fence. With his landlord’s permission, Trevor used that wood to build a makeshift table that didn’t look too bad. “And I kind of fell in love with the idea of taking old materials and giving them new life,” he says. 52
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Soon after, Trevor started looking into fast fashion: trendy clothes that are produced extremely cheaply, making them easy to discard at the end of the season when they are no longer in style. It encourages overconsumption and contributes to plastic pollution. “Now it’s, ‘Oh well, a T-shirt costs $10 and jeans cost $20: I may as well throw out this old pair and get a new pair.’ And along with that, the trends are coming out with new styles
Colin Leese photo
almost every week, so that people feel like they need to buy new things,” Trevor explains. He’d rather use high quality materials that cost a bit more but are meant to last, which will encourage people to mend their clothes rather than toss them in the trash. Also cheap clothing is often made by poorly paid people in unsafe working conditions. In preparation for launching his Seaside Apparel line, Trevor sketched out the lighthouse logo, bought thrift-store shirts and paid a 1-888-588-6353
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Charlotte Leese photo
local company to print sample tshirts with them. Next, “I found a company in North Carolina that was able to create the fabrics [from recycled plastics], and then the garments are cut and sewn in co-op manufacturing facilities in Haiti and Guatemala, which is great ’cause it gives employment down that way and fair wages,” he says. Trevor calls Seaside Apparel a social enterprise, which he describes as neither for-profit nor non-profit.
MUN student Trevor Bessette (above) launched a social enterprise around clothing made from recycled plastic (examples left and middle).
Instead, it’s in the middle, where the business needs to make enough of a profit to do green initiatives, like clean-up drives and recycling promotions. (For example, a portion of the profits made on Regatta Day will be used to buy recyclable bags, trash bags and gloves to use in a clean-up initiative.) “The business is based around/created to serve the purpose of sustainable consumption, helping people and the planet every step of the way. At the core of our values is protecting www.downhomelife.com
the planet, but also protecting the people who are creating the products in the first place,” he explains. In the next year he hopes to launch the Take Back Program, which recycles used clothing. “So I want to get, take back, those textiles at the end of their life and then upcycle them into new products and do that whole thing where you’re giving new life once again.” Seaside Apparel’s zero-waste philosophy goes beyond the recycled material in the clothing. Trevor uses recycled cardboard boxes, paper bags, paper tape and even seed paper, which has seeds embedded in the paper that, if planted in the garden, will grow flowers that attract bees. Currently Seaside Apparel is only sold online at Seasideapparelnl.com or at pop-up shops like the one at the Regatta. So far, orders have come in from as far away as British Columbia and the United States. At the moment, Trevor is completing his Bachelor of Business Administration at MUN, but last year he was an Earth Sciences major before switching, and now he merges his interests in business and the planet. While he’s running the business on top of his studies, once he graduates he’d like to work on it full-time. “I’d like to be able to live off a meagre salary but be making a big difference in my province – that’s the ultimate goal,” he says. Trevor also hopes to bring more of the manufacturing side of the business to Newfoundland and Labrador, saying, “It’s definitely something I have on my mind and it’s a future goal and an important one I’d like people to know. I’d like to be able to bring jobs here to the province.” October 2018
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features
Meet three couples who weren’t born in Newfoundland and Labrador, but have made a life here and, in doing so, have made a difference. By Marie-Beth Wright
In a province with an in-migration deficit for all but eight of the past 25 years and where many immigrants stay less than five years before moving on, these families buck the trend. The Dempseys, Matthewses and Jacksons were all come-from-aways at one point, but they belong to Newfoundland and Labrador now.
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The Dempseys Jim and Catherine Dempsey, natives of Vancouver Island, BC, were drawn here in 1982 by pre-oil research and development, Jim’s field of work. At the time, Catherine was expecting their second child and likes to say, “Our son was born near Mile Zero in Victoria, our daughter at this Mile Zero.” Catherine’s initial memories include arriving in St. John’s in March, with snowbanks obliterating the view from their taxi; conflicting dialects of new moms in the hospital; and the babysitting co-op she started with other CFA mothers while Jim worked at sea. She recalls adjusting to not being able to find some of her favourite products and brands in local stores and trying to follow directions from locals that referred to long-gone stores or landmarks. The first Christmas, the daily newspaper’s “Letters to Santa” led to some confusion for its mentions of leaving syrup and cookies for Santa. Unaware of Purity products, “I thought they were talking about maple syrup,” Catherine confesses. “You realized you were not in Kansas anymore.” The Dempseys enjoyed discovering their new province. From visiting places like Twillingate, Port aux Basques and St. Anthony, they gained an affinity for (above) Catherine Dempsey tends to her honeybees, making sure they have an adequate food supply. (left) Jim Dempsey, president of the Wooden Boat Museum, at a MUN Library reception for the recent presentation of the Marcus French Rodney. www.downhomelife.com
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spongy bogs, wind-whipped trees and clear night skies. “Rocks change colour with the seasons,” Catherine learned, “and people were friendly, summers precious.” Everybody either knew each other or were related. “You couldn’t be critical,” she jokes. “You’re sure to insult somebody’s relative.” When the economy headed into a downturn in 1988, the Dempseys decided to ride it out rather than move again. They had become Newfoundlanders by choice. Catherine gravitated to the not-forprofit world, fundraising for Transition House and Planned Parenthood; for 21 years, as Executive Director of the province’s Historic Sites Association, she promoted the unique culture. “We supported heritage projects and craftspeople by selling Newfoundland crafts that embodied our heritage,” says Catherine. Jim, meanwhile, took his career in a new direction in 1993, and launched Cormorant Ltd., contracting his offshore environmental expertise and ultimately employing other Newfoundlanders. The true litmus test came with retirement. They are still here! Extended family live in British Columbia, connected by social media and visits. Their daughter has relocated to PEI, but their son is a rocksolid Newfoundlander, active in the arts community. In retirement, Jim is steeped in outport culture and traditional skills as chair of Winterton’s Wooden Boat Museum. Catherine’s new dedication is beekeeping. As president (“queen bee”) of the provincial association, 56
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she says, “Beekeeping is a growing interest; with fewer pesticides employed, honey bees are bred for our climate, and farmers’ fields and open terrain offer excellent forage.” Catherine is planning a children’s book about bees. Looking back over their life and their big move across the country in 1982, the Dempseys seem more than content with how things played out. In fact, says Jim, “without relocating from British Columbia, life would have been static, lacking challenges and novelty.”
The Matthewses In 1967, Kathleen (Kay) Matthews, her husband Keith and their two toddlers left their UK home and crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Keith had been recruited by Memorial University. Years before, Kay had moved from her native Northern Ireland to England at age seven, so integrating into a new society was not new. “Where’s Newfoundland?” she asked when her husband proposed moving there to study the history of the West of England Newfoundland Fisheries, his doctoral thesis. Over the next two years, Keith did groundbreaking work preserving Newfoundland’s maritime history. When their committed time was up, Keith announced, “We’re not going back!” A West Country man himself, he had found his niche and was in love with the place. The local dialects sounded familiar to him, and his research was invigorating as he explored the connections between the Old and New worlds. Keith was instrumental in 1-888-588-6353
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Kay Matthews (right), with fellow chorister, Brenda, from La Rose des Vents, taking a pause prior to performing in Podium on the Edge’s opening Gala in June 2018.
creating the Wessex Society of Newfoundland and having British records of fishing families transferred to Newfoundland. While the family still spent summers back home in England, returning to Newfoundland was never bittersweet for they were putting down deep roots and viewing their adopted province as “home.” As Kay explains, “More recent immigrants from the British Isles are no different from most Newfoundlanders – they just arrived a century www.downhomelife.com
or two later.” This concept of kinship was accentuated when a Bonavista Bay man asked her Devon-raised father-in-law one day, “What part of the bay are you from?” While Keith was working with Memorial University, Kay, armed with nursing and midwifery diplomas, easily obtained employment with the Grace Hospital in the 1970s. In a time when Carnation milk ruled infant nutrition, Kay encouraged breast feeding and natural deliveries. She also helped found a successful October 2018
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child care centre and for many years, on top of her day job, she volunteered her prenatal and breastfeeding education services to new and expectant mothers. In 1984, Keith passed away. Being a young widow with four children, Kay updated her credentials and joined the staff of MUN’s School of Nursing. She was sought worldwide for her expertise in infant nutrition and healthy mothers. In Nigeria and Ghana, she implemented the MaterCare model of rural maternal care and led a CIDA project from MUN’s School of Nursing, training community health nurses in rural Indonesia. Kay has chosen to stay in Newfoundland and Labrador since retirement, as 50 years of friendship, social ties and family connections keep her firmly planted on the Rock. Kay embraces the open spaces, clean air and myriad activities, including golf and choral performance. Retirement for her also means time to volunteer with her parish food bank and Grannies for Africa.
The Jacksons Laura Dexter and Lawrence (Laurie) Jackson met in Yellowknife, YK in 1966. Laura was a young journalist from Nova Scotia hired as editor at News of the North. Laurie was a journalism student from Alberta. These soulmates began travelling together, working with native peoples and strengthening community development. An Information Canada initiative, “Reaching the Unreached,” in the early ’70s brought them to the Labrador coast, where 58
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they liaised with fishers, encouraged municipal development and heard frequent complaints on how the Island took its vast northern region for granted. From there, the Jacksons took up positions as field workers for MUN Extension Services, based in Forteau. Laurie was hired to work on the Royal Commission on Labrador and was a key player with Extension Services until 1984. Laura worked part-time on encouraging nutritional advances, preschool development, summer arts programs and quality handicraft production. She recalls women bringing their toddlers to their preschool by snowmobile. Laura says, “Years later I ran into a woman in St. John’s from Postville, who told me a preschool took root from seeds of information I gave her and her friends during an impromptu meeting at the community airstrip.” Laura’s part-time outreach career turned into full-time work with Continuing Education/MUN Extension in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. From this new post, Laura visited Innu communities and northern towns like Nain and Makkovik. She also volunteered with Canadian Parents for French. By this time in their lives, Newfoundland and Labrador had become home for them. Even more so for the three children they were now raising – all proud Labradorians. The family had become northern livyers. In 1990, Laurie took a job as scientific writer with the Department of Fisheries in St. John’s, though leaving Labrador was an emotionally 1-888-588-6353
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Laura Jackson (centre) with her colleagues (l-r) Yamuna, Kaberi, Shamila, Molly and Keerthika, during a meeting of the Multicultural Women’s Organization of Newfoundland and Labrador.
difficult decision. Before he passed away in 1998, Laurie wrote a children’s book about icebergs called Castles in the Sea. Published in 2000, it received accolades for his writing. In his memory, his family established the Arts NL Lawrence Jackson Writers’ Award. After the move to St. John’s, Laura begin a near 20-year career with Protected Areas Association, focusing on dune preservation, endangered wildlife, marshlands and parklands. Now retired, Laura still exhibits the values and commitment to society that she and Laurie brought to their www.downhomelife.com
adopted province a lifetime ago. Multicultural issues, the Status of Women, the Native Friendship Centre and rural enrichment still hold important places in her heart. She and her two daughters have no plans to leave Newfoundland and Labrador. “With music, storytelling, warm friends and commanding vistas, the landscape – both geographical and cultural – grows on you,” she says. Life is slower, distances are manageable, there is a vibrancy of expression and personal connections; it comes from a lifetime forging the fabric of your new society. October 2018
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features
Having a family doctor is a wonderful thing, but it is not the only way to get advice or treatment for non-emergency issues. Linda Browne investigates the other avenues to health care open to most people in the province. 60
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Picture this:
You wake up one morning after a lousy night’s sleep. Your throat feels like you’ve swallowed a handful of thumbtacks and your nose is running faster than sprinter Usain Bolt. You grab a packet of tissues and cough drops and hope for the best, but after a day of serenading your coworkers with a symphony of sneezes and wheezes, your condition worsens. What do you do? If you’re lucky, you can simply ring up your family doctor and make an appointment. But for many folks, that isn’t an option. According to Statistics Canada, 15.8 per cent of Canadians aged 12 and over (about 4.8 million people) reported not having a regular health care provider in 2016 (with more males than females going without). That number is higher in the Aboriginal population, at 19.2 per cent. In Newfoundland and Labrador, in 2014, 10 per cent (about 50,000 people) did not have a regular family doctor. However, recent polling commissioned by the Newfoundland and Labrador Medical Association (NLMA) shows this number could be as high as 13 per cent. The NLMA also states that while there are 592 family physicians practising in the province, not all are full-time – some work part-time, some are locums (physicians who temporarily fill in for others), while others are semi-retired or engaged in teaching or research. Some work in private clinics, while others work in hospitals. Those without a regular GP often turn to walk-in clinics or face long waits in the emergency room, often for things that aren’t urgent; others, depending on their situation, may forgo seeking care altogether. While having a family doctor who follows your health throughout your life is ideal, you need not suffer poor health because you don’t have one. There are a number of healthcare practitioners who, in addition to GPs, you can turn to for frontline care. Here, we examine a few.
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Pharmacists You’ve likely visited your friendly neighbourhood pharmacist
many times to have a prescription filled, but their services go far beyond that. Pharmacists work collaboratively with other healthcare providers and for many folks, they are often the first healthcare professional they encounter in the chain.
“Pharmacists and pharmacies are uniquely positioned on the frontlines of our healthcare system. Pharmacies are located in communities in every region of our province and are often the heart of our smaller communities. They are conveniently located and most are open on evenings and weekends,” says Jennifer Collingwood, executive director of the Pharmacists’ Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. “Patients have more interactions with their pharmacist than they do with any other health professional. Yet the system is not using pharmacists and pharmacies to their full capabilities.” In addition to offering advice on how to deal with common symptoms, while keeping in mind other medications or pre-existing conditions, pharmacists can prescribe treatment for a host of minor ailments – everything from acne, eczema, callouses and cold sores to indigestion, hemorrhoids and menstrual/muscle/joint pain, just to name a few. Pharmacists also have the authority 62
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to administer drugs/immunizations by injection, and to initiate prescription and non-prescription smoking cessation aids (these services aren’t publicly funded). Other services include medication reviews, flu shots, therapeutic substitutions (substituting a prescribed drug with a different drug that has a similar therapeutic effect) and ensuring proper use of antibiotics. Coverage for these services is available to clients of the Newfoundland and Labrador Prescription Drug Program (NLPDP). Pharmacists also offer emergency prescription refills. Collingwood says pharmacists would like to see these services universally funded some day. “Imagine the increase in uptake if everyone, regardless if they were on the provincial drug plan or not, could go into their pharmacy and have a vaccination or a flu shot administered or a minor ailment treated at no out of pocket cost,” she says, adding this could free up emergency rooms for their proper use – treating real emergencies. 1-888-588-6353
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Ellisa Sinnicks-House, a nurse practitioner, runs Livewell clinic in Corner Brook.
Nurse Practitioners Like pharmacists, nurse practitioners (NPs) work with other
healthcare providers and play a vital role in the healthcare system. NPs are registered nurses with additional training and experience (providing many of the same services as a GP), which allows them to diagnose and treat illnesses, order and interpret tests, prescribe various medications and perform medical procedures, in addition to teaching about healthy living, disease prevention and how to manage chronic illness. They can also refer patients to specialists when necessary. According to the Newfoundland and Labrador Nurse Practitioners Association (NLNPA), there are currently more than 4,000 NPs in Canada (the majority of which are in Ontario) and around 150 in Newfoundland and Labrador (a list of which can be found on the Association of Registered Nurses of Newfoundland and Labrador’s website). NPs work in a variety of settings including community clinics, healthcare centres, physicians’ offices, patients’ homes, nursing homes, outpatient clinics, emergency rooms and NP-led clinics, and you do not need a referral to see one. They work in salaried positions or, if they have their own practices, bill patients directly, as their services aren’t covered by Medicare (including MCP). “We have had, over the years, multiple discussions with the Department of Health to try to change that,” says Ellisa Sinnicks-House, president of the Newfoundland and www.downhomelife.com
Labrador Nurse Practitioners Association (NLNPA). There have been instances in which private health care has paid for NP visits, she adds, but sometimes insurance companies aren’t aware of the work NPs do. Sinnicks-House, an NP since 2002, opened her own clinic, Livewell, in Corner Brook in 2013. She offers everything from medicals and women’s wellness exams to immunizations and more. She says while many of her clients don’t have a GP, some do but will still access her services when they can’t get an appointment with their regular healthcare provider for an urgent issue. She adds that outpatient clinics are not the appropriate place for things like annual check-ups and chronic disease management – services which NPs can provide. “There’s a lot of people in this province, I think, who are overwhelmed with not having that level of service and desperate to find an option.” October 2018
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Kathleen Mercer, a licenced naturopathic doctor, operates a clinic at Winterholme Wellness Center & Spa in St. John's.
Naturopathic Doctors When people hear the word “naturopathy,” acupuncture needles and herbal remedies often come to mind. And while these things may certainly be used in a naturopathic doctor’s practice, the field encompasses much more. According to the Canadian Association of Naturopathic Doctors (CAND), naturopathic medicine aims to harness the healing power of the body and takes a holistic approach, looking at all aspects of a person’s life while getting to the root cause of their complaints (rather than just treating symptoms). Naturopathic doctors (NDs) use natural therapies – such as botanical medicine, homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine and lifestyle counselling – for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease. There are more than 2,400 NDs practising in every province and all but one territory of Canada. They are licensed or regulated in British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario. Kathleen Mercer is one of a handful of licensed NDs practising in Newfoundland and Labrador. She works out of the Health For Life Naturopathic Medical Clinic at Winterholme Wellness Center & Spa in St. John’s. An initial appointment at her clinic, which includes a physical exam, lasts about 90 minutes and covers everything from the patient’s lifestyle and health history to sleep64
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ing habits and nutrition. She also takes phone, Skype and FaceTime appointments when necessary. “We look at things from a Western perspective, but we also look at things from an Eastern perspective, using Chinese medicine,” she explains. Mercer says patients come to her seeking treatment for a range of issues, everything from eczema, arthritis and chronic headaches to depression and hyperactivity. She says NDs work in complement with, and not contrast to, standard medicine. “Sometimes people come to see us and they think, ‘Oh, you’re going to get me off all my medications,’ or ‘You don’t think that I should do chemotherapy’ or something like that. And that’s a big myth. We look at everything that people are taking and their treatment plans that are put forward by other physicians and work with it,” she says. Some patients have a GP and see a naturopath for a second opinion. While naturopathic medicine is not covered by any of the provincial health plans, it is covered by most private health insurance. Visits with an ND don’t require a referral. 1-888-588-6353
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811 HealthLine Established in 2006, the HealthLine is a free and confidential service, staffed by experienced registered nurses (located in call centres in St. Anthony, Corner Brook and Stephenville), that offers health information and advice simply by dialling 811 on your phone. It is available to all residents of the province, 24/7 year-round, and handles all matters of enquiry. People can call for advice on how to deal with a range of symptoms – everything from diarrhea and dizziness to reflux and swelling – or get answers on health issues at all stages of life (whether it’s questions related to post-surgery, pregnancy, prostate cancer, contraception, anxiety, Alzheimer’s disease or anything in between). The HealthLine can also connect callers with mental health and addictions services and, with their consent, will call back to check in on them. The HealthLine is not intended to replace physicians (the nurses do not make diagnoses, write prescriptions or order medical tests). This past April, the HealthLine rolled out Dial-a-Dietician, giving callers access to free advice, as well as tips on healthy eating and nutrition, from a registered dietician. This service is available by calling 811 (9 a.m. - 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. - 4 p.m., Monday to Friday) or by filling out a form on the HealthLine’s website. John Haggie, minister of Health and Community Services (and a retired surgeon), says the HeathLine is well utilized, with about 3,000
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calls coming in each month. “It’s become a one-stop shop for a whole pile of things really and it’s been very useful,” he says. “Our mantra is if you’ve got someone who’s acutely unwell in front of you, then 911 is the number to ring. But if you’re concerned about a health issue that you feel will not wait for a routine appointment with a family doctor, or you have difficulty getting in to the local clinic, 811 is your option.”
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features
sureSHOTS
Featuring photographer Harry Bryan
If one photo is worth a thousand words, Harry Bryan has crafted more than two million words in his nearly eight years of posting “Picture of the Day” on Facebook. The daily challenge has not only cheered his Facebook followers, but it has also given him plenty of practice in what was a relatively new hobby. The Ontario native and his wife, Sue, moved to Newfoundland and Labrador in 2010. They wanted to experience a different part of Canada in their retirement. “We looked at over 30 houses from Ferryland to Twillingate and finally decided on 66
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Ferryland. We think we made a great choice, not only for the location, but for all the welcoming people along the Southern Shore,” Harry says. The couple has become heavily involved in the local arts scene, and Harry himself was elected deputy mayor in 1-888-588-6353
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the last election. “My introduction to photography came when three things converged: a very nice camera that was given to me as a gift by the people I worked with at my retirement party, moving to a beautiful location, and the fact there was no snow in Ferryland on January 1, 2011,” says Harry. His mainland friends had been goodnaturedly teasing him about the rough winters he’d face in Newfoundland. When New Year’s Day came with a ton of snow for Ontario www.downhomelife.com
and none in Ferryland, he took a photo of his snowless view and posted it to taunt his snowbound buddies upalong. That was his first “Picture of the Day” and he kept it up for the entire year. Then it rolled into the next, and the next, and is still rolling on with no signs of stopping. “What I like most about Picture of the Day is that it forces me to go out on a daily basis to take pictures, no matter what the weather or conditions,” Harry says. He has selfimposed rules for it: the photo posted October 2018
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to Facebook must have been taken that day, it must have no people in it and it must show something outside (even if it is shot through a window). He also tries not to repeat an image. “I like to shoot almost anything, from the beautiful to the bizarre to things that are funny,” Harry says. One of his favourite photos, while not technically the best, is a freaky shot of a crow and an eagle in flight. From Harry’s angle, it looks like the two birds merged and the body of the crow forms one of the eagle’s outstretched wings. Like many photographers in relationships, Harry has a patient spouse. “There are many times she would just like to get home from wherever we are, but if I see something along the road I have to pull over, get out and take pictures. When I first started, a lot of people passing by would stop to ask if we needed help. The people around Ferryland are used to me now, and just give me 68
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a wave and keep on going.” Harry’s current camera is a Nikon D5200 with a Nikon 18-300 mm lens. It’s a replacement for one he lost to the sea in a classic case of Murphy’s Law. In May 2015, there was an iceberg near Goose Island that Harry wanted to get a picture of from his kayak. Ordinarily, if he took his good camera on the water, he’d wrap it in plastic and put it in a waterproof bag. “This time, of course, I didn’t,” Harry recalls. He paddled out, got his shots and returned to shore. That’s when his day went sideways. “I landed my boat, stood up with my camera over my shoulder, had one foot in the kayak and one foot out when a wave hit the back of the boat and I fell backward into the ocean.” His camera was ruined, but not all was lost. The photos he took survived the day (see one of them above), and Harry had an excuse to buy a new camera. 1-888-588-6353
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Are you an amateur photographer with a great portfolio? Would you like to be featured in an edition of Sure Shots? Tell us a bit about yourself and send us a few sample photos by emailing editorial@downhomelife.com (subject: sure shots). www.downhomelife.com
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Advertorial
For 50 years,
Carol Auto Ltd. has been the trusted Ford dealership in Labrador City. They sell from a large inventory of new and used vehicles, and they service what they sell. With a team of 43 employees, Carol Auto serves Labrador City, Wabush, Churchill Falls, Happy Valley-Goose Bay and Fermont (QC), helping customers find the best vehicle to suit their lifestyle. The story of this successful business began decades ago with Robert Cayouette.
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After 50 years, Carol Auto is still a family run business. Co-owners Michel (left) and Mario Cayouette (right) strive to continue the tradition of outstanding customer service established by their father Robert (centre) who founded the company in 1968.
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It had been Robert’s longtime dream to own a Ford dealership, and in 1968, he saw his opportunity. Labrador City was a growing mining town in those days, with a lot of promise for the future. But opening a business there was a gamble, as it meant Robert would have to move his family from Quebec to a place where they knew no one, and where they didn’t even speak the language, and start from nothing. At the time, the family had been living in Sainte-Justine, Quebec, a small French community with a population of about 3,000, located 130 kilometres south of Quebec City. “When he came up here, it was not something that my grandparents really appreciated because he was bringing the family far away. And he had a language barrier, too, at one point, since French was his main language. So he learned English, probably within six months when he was here,” says Robert’s son, Michel Cayouette, who now co-owns the business with his brother Mario. It helped that Robert also quickly fell in love with the community. Fortunately, the risk of launching the business paid off, and throughout the ’70s Carol Auto thrived. The recession took some wind out of the company’s
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Carol Auto mascot Blair the Bear is a common sight around town, often helping to raise funds for local charities.
sails in the ’80s, as it did for many businesses at the time. But Robert believed in the town and the industry and kept going. “He really served the community; he believed in the community. He stuck around for the community and I think that’s a big factor in their longevity,” Michel says. The two brothers joined their father’s company in 1993. Robert passed away in 2011, but not before he saw his business thrive under the leadership of his sons. And like Robert did all those decades ago when he started Carol Auto, Michel now dreams of handing down the business to his son and nephew someday. His
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son is already working with him. In addition to straight-up hard work and dedication, a key to their success has been community involvement, such as sponsoring events like Cain’s Quest Snowmobile Endurance Race. “Also during Christmas we raise money for the local food bank, and the employees have Jeans Day. Every Friday, employees pay $1 to wear jeans to work, and at the end of the year Carol Auto will match the amount raised and it is remitted to a charity of the employees’ choice,” Michel says. Carol Auto is also home to Blair the Polar Bear. Throughout the year, this lovable mascot pops up at various
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events around town, like the recent Labrador West Regatta that took place in July, where the company raised $1,952.75 for a local the food bank. To celebrate their 50th anniversary year, Blair will be popping up around town at surprise locations. They’ve also launched an initiative to give back to the community, handing out gift cards, food, as well as other prizes at various events throughout the region. For instance, they were at the recent MADD parade giving out loot bags. From the community engagement to the customer service, it was all a labour
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of love to their father, Michel says. “For my father, that was his baby – that’s what he called it. He was proud of what he’d accomplished. In particular, my father loved the people here, loved the interactions, plus the employees, too,” Michel says. “So the success of the business is not just the public, it’s also within the organization, who’s working for us. We’ve got dedicated, engaged people,” which has helped ensure the business thrives. “We want to maintain the business that we have. It’s a pride for us. We want to see the success keep on going and keep serving the community.”
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GREAT EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES
SERVING THE COMMUNITY FOR 50 YEARS ~1968-2018~ Carol Automobile Ltd. 55 Avalon Drive, Labrador City
709 944–2000 1–800–563–5555 www.carolauto.com
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life is better Colours of Burin Jim Costello, Mount Pearl, NL
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explore
what’s on the
Go
Various locations October 10-20 Folk trio The Once have a new album, Time Enough, and will be performing songs from it, along with fan favourites, at Arts and Culture Centres across Newfoundland and Labrador in October before taking their music to stages across Canada. theonce.ca
Twillingate October 10-14 Celebrate the Newfoundland and Labrador music scene with live performances by some of the best local musicians at this year’s Music NL week, an annual conference and festival of concerts, workshops and an awards show. If you’re a music lover looking for a reason to explore Twillingate, this is it. musicnl.ca
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St. John’s October 12-13 Cider is wonderful, and more cider is more wonderful. So a room full of different types of cider and cider lovers must be the most wonderful thing. If you’re saying an emphatic “yes” to yourself as you read this, then you need to know about CiderFest, being held this year at the Royal Canadian Legion in Quidi Vidi. ciderfeststjohns.ca 1-888-588-6353
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Gander October 13 The wunderkind of the Canadian country music scene, Brett Kissel, has built on his Alberta home turf fanbase to become a national name. He’ll be making a stop at the Joseph R. Smallwood Arts and Culture Centre in support of his new album, We Were That Song. artsandculturecentre.com/gander
St. John’s Tuesdays at Lunchtime Get your caffeine fix with a side order of traditional music at Rocket Bakery during their weekly Traditional NL Kitchen Party Music Experience. The entertainment is free and informal – a group of musicians gather around a table and play some of their favourite folk tunes, just like they were in their own kitchen at home. rocketfood.ca
Corner Brook Saturdays
Mount Pearl October 17-21 It’s (almost) the most wonderful time of the year, at least inside the Glacier Arena, where the annual Christmas at the Glacier show brings together loads of vendors for all your gift shopping needs. The show, now in its 25th year, brings together local craftspeople and small businesses to provide you with gift ideas for nearly everyone on your list. cgientertainment.ca
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Started by Kinder Castle as a way to get kids out of the house while also offering adults a way to meet other parents, Crafternoons embrace imagination-fuelled play by making use of the shop’s collection of capes, costumes and toys. Parents are expected to remain in the shop while their children play, leading to new social experiences for both the young and not-so-young. kindercastle.ca
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Labrador Farmers Market Happy Valley-Goose Bay
This outdoor market in Kinsmen Park runs Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon, weather permitting, with a season that stretches into midor late October. In addition to a selection from local vegetable producers, you can expect to find jams and jellies, baked goods, Filipino food and handmade goods.
Noah’s Ark Petting Barn Happy Valley-Goose Bay
Labrador’s only petting farm has a robust vegetable garden, too. They sell their produce directly to the public at the farm and at markets. Contact them through their Facebook page to find out how you can get a big bag of veggies in the Big Land.
West Wonderful Fine Market Corner Brook
The Royal Canadian Legion on West Street in Corner Brook transforms into a food and craft wonderland every Saturday until October 27, 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. The market features local baked
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goods, locally roasted coffee, and products from local artisans and craftspeople.
Riverbrook Farms Corner Brook
Each Saturday this farm opens to visitors for market day. An honest-to-goodness working farm, you can be sure the vegetables you’re buying here – turnips, lettuce, carrots and more – are as fresh as possible, since they were grown within walking distance of where you’re buying them.
Howell’s Farm and Market Norris Point
You can visit with the goats, chickens and ducks at this family farm while picking up your weekly supply of fresh vegetables, preserves and herbs. Tucked away in the heart of Gros Morne National Park, Howell’s Farm makes for a great family day trip.
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Central Campbellton Berry Farm market Campbellton
Gros Morne Farm and Market Norris Point
This new farm grows vegetables using organic and no-till farming methods, and sells them at their onsite market. The farm also offers a veggie box service; for example, a box of fresh goods might contain zucchini, baby squash, tomatoes, celery, lettuce and more.
Long known as the go-to spot for picking strawberries, the Campbellton Berry Farm has expanded this year to include a market featuring berries, vegetables and even a selection of locally sourced meats. The market is open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on days the farm is open through October.
Grand Falls-Windsor Farmers Market Grand Falls-WIndsor
The Wells Farm grows a wide variety of vegetables: this past summer saw crops of lettuce, kale, broccoli, potatoes, cabbage, turnip and more. The market is open Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. until November.
Held on High Street under tents, this outdoor market is a good place to connect with central region food producers. Honey producers, vegetable growers, cheese makers, jam and jelly preservists and more can be found here each Saturday between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. until the end of October.
Cormack Farmers Market
L A Farms’ Mobile Market
Wells Farm Market Robinsons
Deer Lake
Part flower shop, part market, it’s the place to go if you need a dozen roses or a baker’s dozen of something else. Customers rave about their jams, fresh breads and meat selection. 86
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Gambo
It’s easy to find L A Farms’ mobile market: just head to Joey’s Lookout on the TCH near the Gambo exit. The market is open from July to October, seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. From August to 1-888-588-6353
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October they can also be found on Airport Blvd. in Gander, Fridays and Saturdays, 11 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. They sell eggplants, lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, fruit and more.
Eastport Organics Eastport
The fresh, salty ocean air and the kelp that washes up on shore both help make the produce from Eastport Organics a special thing. Whether you’re looking for some fresh vegetables for your camping supper while staying in nearby Terra Nova National Park or just looking for something to bring home, stop by their onsite market.
Leamington Farms Point Leamington
Open all year-round, Leamington Farms’ market operates Tuesdays and Wednesdays, 9 a.m. – 3 p.m., selling things like ham, bacon and pork cuts from their own farm on Pleasantville Road.
East St. John’s Farmers’ Market St. John’s
The popular St. John’s Farmers’ Market has moved into a spacious new location on Freshwater Road. On Saturdays they’re open 9 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Wednesdays 2 p.m. – www.downhomelife.com
8 p.m. There you can pick up things like honey, homemade marshmallows, crepes, veggies, seafood and locally made art.
Lester’s Farm Market St. John’s
Located on 173 Brookfield Road, Lester’s Farm Market is open daily from May to October, 10 a.m. – 6 p.m. In November and December, the hours are slightly reduced, then in the new year they open every Thursday to Sunday until they run out of their harvest. The market is 2,000 square feet and filled with fresh veggies, plus meat, breads, seeds and gardening supplies.
Some Good Market Brigus
Some Good Market has been around since 2012 and takes up residence at Brigus’ Academy Hall on South Street. This fall they’re open Sundays until October 7, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. Admission is free with a food bank donation, and inside you’ll find locals selling everything from artwork and potted plants to ice cream and fresh produce! October 2018
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Looking at the clouds
can be a fun way to pass the time with a young one – “Oh look, there’s a unicorn! Over there is a dragon, and that one looks like a bear!” – but clouds also give clues to what the future weather will be, if you know what to look for. It may not save your life, but it might help you plan your outdoor adventures. And it can make a cool parlour trick to impress your kids and maybe your friends. With this guide and your own skills of observation, you, too, can look up at a blue sky with wispy clouds floating by and say with confidence, “Yup, it’s gonna rain tomorrow.”
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Fluffy Shapes Cloud Type Cumulus
These big, puffy clouds are the ones that morph into interesting shapes and animals, relying on the power of our imaginations. If they are just gradually moving across the blue sky, the weather will likely remain fine for a day or so. If you notice the tops of these fluffy clouds getting bigger, and puffing higher and higher in the sky over the day, it’s a sure sign of a storm to come.
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Mare’s Tails Cloud Type Cirrus
If you look up and see a horse’s tail high in the sky, you should know the blue sky is not going to last. These upturned, wispy clouds are called mare’s tails because they look like a horse’s tail with the hair blowing up in the breeze. You’ll notice several of these clouds in the sky at once. The clouds will be high in the sky, in the upper layers of the atmosphere. Folk wisdom says rain will come the day after you see these clouds. Of course, it’s not a strict timeline, but you can expect rain within 12-36 hours. If those high up, wispy clouds are not a pronounced mare’s tail in an otherwise blue sky, it’s fair weather ahead. In other words, the clouds don’t mean anything today.
Mackerel Scales Cloud Type Cirrocumulus
Mackerel scales are large, flat clouds that appear together like fish skin. If seen high in the sky, rain is likely to come within the day. If seen with mare’s tails, rain within 12-36 hours is almost certain. Why? Because these types of clouds tend to signal an approaching front or low-pressure system. 90
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Anvil Head
Cloud Type Cumulonimbus incus
Those white puffy clouds can throw a wrench into your future outdoor plans if you see them transform into the shape of an anvil. If that happens, you can be sure a storm will arrive within a day. Look at the direction the point of the “anvil” is facing – that’s the direction the storm is heading.
Sheets of Cotton Balls Cloud Type Altocumulus
When the morning clouds are hanging lower in the sky and resemble a whole bunch of cotton balls close together in large sheets and thick enough to block the sun, there’s a good chance you’ll be getting rain or stormy weather later in the afternoon. On a warm summer morning, they mean a likelihood of afternoon thundershowers; otherwise, potentially unsettled weather of some kind is on the way. www.downhomelife.com
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This summer I returned to Newfoundland and Labrador to continue my discovery of hard-to-reach outports and abandoned villages that haunt my imagination and lure me – and my camera – in. Today’s destination: Little Paradise, Placentia Bay. I arrive by car at Petit Forte, where I will take the ferry to South East Bight. I chat with the skipper, who mentions that only 60 people live there now with two teachers. He adds that there’s a trail to Little Paradise and Great Paradise. Well, that’s a plus! Three outports instead of one. There are only four passengers on the MV Norcon Oceanus this morning for a ride that costs just $2.50.
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In South East Bight, 30 minutes later, a large sign indicates the two paradises are six kilometres away. Well, I can walk that. So, I ask a guy which way, and he points down the long, concrete quad road, then spews out a load of incomprehensible directions. At the schoolhouse, where no one is around but the door is unlocked, I fill up my little plastic bottle with water. Near the last house
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Half Way Pond
before the barrens, a sign indicates the direction on the dirt pathway and I set off. It is a silent, beautiful walk – just the sound of my feet crunching over the rocky gravel. Through the barrens, up and down over hills, I wander, past isolated ponds here and there. I note the scent of thyme, then pine. It’s a long trek. I think now and then about bear possibilities. I’d bought bear spray. But it was in the car…of course! Finally, I arrive at a sign: Half Way Pond. Only halfway? I continue. Then another sign: 3/4 Rock. From the rocky path, I trudge up a muddy quad path and onwards into marshy territory. Here the path has dissolved and I don’t know which way to go. I sure as hell don’t want to be “lost in Paradise.” After traipsing around in circles, I notice a quad curve in the mud, so I follow the black ruts down a trail surrounded by thickets. Then bingo! A cement foundation! I look down towards the vast open cove and an old dilapidated house. Looking around I notice only about eight houses in total and a large fish plant with the door wide open. I enter the plant and take a look around at a jumble of lobster pots, rope heaps and crab traps. I walk 94
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What was thought to be Great Paradise, turned out to be Little Paradise, clarified by two local residents met on the trail.
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around, examining the houses one by one. Nobody’s in paradise but me – such beautiful solitude. On the way back up the hill, I notice a footpath heading up a steeper hill. Evidently it leads to the other side of the long cliff, which, I assume, separates Great Paradise from Little Paradise. So I take the path and end up in Little Paradise. At least, that’s where I think I am. I take tons of photos, then head back towards South East Bight. A bit past 3/4 Rock, a dog suddenly appears, barking up a storm. Two quads are parked atop a hillock next to a man and woman. “He won’t bite!” says the guy. “Diego’s a nice dog.” These friendly folks are Glen Ward and his sister Cynthia. After I tell them where I’d been, Glen informs me I wasn’t at Great Paradise at all, but only at Little Paradise. “You must have taken the old path because the new path has a bridge, then a sign: Little Paradise/Great Paradise,” he says. He invites me to hop on the back of his quad and off we go on to the Road to Hell, the bumpiest ride I’ve ever experienced, my arse bouncing endlessly up and down on a metal rack. I hold on for dear life. Finally, we arrive at the sign that, sure enough, I hadn’t seen. Glen turns right and off we go into mud holes and over boulders to Great Paradise. He stops atop a hill, and laid out below is Great Paradise. But I’m now too beat to walk down and explore, so Glen brings me back to the sign and bridge. Glen says they have to check on their brother’s boat, docked in Little Paradise, but on the way back he says he’ll pick me up and give me a ride to South East Bight. Nice! So, I begin walking back…and www.downhomelife.com
the more I walk, the more I think, maybe I don’t want to sit on that quad again. Somehow, I beat them back. I lie on the ground for a while recuperating before exploring the community until the ferry returns. On the ride back to Petit Forte, I get a delightful and welcome surprise. The ship’s cook, Gilbert Hickey, approaches me, the only passenger on board, and says, “You want to eat dinner with the crew?”
The crew of the MV Norcon Oceanus share a meal with the author (left). Almost before I can answer, he holds a plate of fried chicken, salad, crab salad and fries in front of me. And so I eat. Then he brings me his homemade cake topped with what he calls, I think, New Brunswick Moose chocolate chip ice cream. Then he makes me a “Newfoundland tea” – super hot. I return to the passenger area with my tea to read, and to relax and eventually snooze a bit. To top off my day, Gilbert walks over and hands me a new Molson’s cap. What a grand experience! Coming from Massachusetts, I’m not used to such hospitality and friendliness. I know I’ll be back again. Already, Great Paradise is beckoning… October 2018
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food & leisure the everyday gourmet
Pickled
Mushrooms 98
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the everyday gourmet By Andrea Maunder
Andrea Maunder, locovore, wine expert and pastry chef, is the owner and creative force behind Bacalao, a St. John's restaurant specializing in "nouvelle Newfoundland" cuisine. www.bacalaocuisine.ca
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I adore
pickled foods and bright, zesty flavours. My mother tells me when other toddlers at birthday parties were going for cheese sandwiches, I was stealing the pickles from the adult platters. And it wasn’t Christmas morning for me without my stocking stretched around a gallon jar of pickled pork hocks or tongues from Warren’s Meat Market. Mushrooms are one of those foods, being subtle in their own flavour, that pickle extremely well – and quickly. They are gorgeous to adorn a charcuterie platter when entertaining and delicious on a burger or sandwich, and they add a wonderful zip as a garnish to dishes such as alfredo pasta, roasted chicken or pork. I recently used them to garnish Pad Thai. Try them alongside panseared scallops; the sweet richness of the scallop and the earthy brininess of the mushrooms work beautifully together. This summer turned out to be a good year for local wild chanterelle mushrooms, so I pickled a bunch. They’ve been a popular item at my booth at the St. John’s Farmers’ Market! You can pickle any kind of mushroom, wild or cultivated – and
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you can mix them up for lovely colour and flavour combinations. (Tip: They make lovely hostess or Christmas gifts.) The following recipe is just a guideline. Customize the pickling liquid to your taste; add your favourite herbs or spices, and alter
the ratio of vinegar to water to be more or less acidic. You could even add a few chili flakes or a small fresh or dried Thai chili to each jar to spice things up. I use lighter vinegars, so the colour of the mushrooms isn’t altered, but make your mushrooms your way!
Pickled Mushrooms 3 lbs mushrooms 3 cups white, cider or white wine vinegar (brown, red wine or balsamic alters colour) 1 1/2 cups water 1 tbsp kosher salt (or to taste) 1 tbsp white sugar (or to taste) Bay leaves, 3 to simmer in the pickling liquid plus one for each jar Garlic cloves, 3 to simmer in the pickling liquid and 1/2 clove per jar
Whole black peppercorns, 1 tsp for the pickling liquid and 5 or 6 for each jar Fresh thyme (I used lemon-thyme) or rosemary, a couple sprigs to simmer in pickling liquid and a small sprig for each jar (use more if thyme, a little less if rosemary) Allspice berries, 1-2 per jar
Preheat oven to 250°F. Place five 250 ml mason jars (or ten 125 ml jars) on a baking tray in oven to heat and sterilize. Place flat lids and rings in a pot of water and bring to a simmer on the stove. Prepare pickling liquid. Combine vinegar, water, salt, sugar and seasonings and bring to a boil. Simmer gently 4-5 minutes to meld the flavours. Taste the pickling liquid and adjust to taste with more vinegar or water, salt or sugar etc. Meanwhile, trim off stem ends and rinse mushrooms to remove any dirt. Leave small ones whole and cut larger ones into 1-inch pieces. Add mushrooms to pickling liquid. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to simmer for 10 or so minutes until tender. Remove jars from the oven and drop into each jar: 1 small bay leaf, 1 slice of fresh garlic, 5-6 peppercorns, 1-2 allspice berries and small sprig of thyme or rosemary. From the pot of pickling liquid, use tongs to remove the bay leaves, garlic cloves and herb sprigs. Ladle out the mushrooms to fill the jars 3/4 full. Strain remaining pickling liquid into a large measuring cup; use it to top up each jar, leaving an inch of headspace in larger jars, a half-inch in smaller ones. Wipe jar rims clean and place on lids. Process for 10-15 minutes in a big pot of boiling water to seal the jars. If you find you don’t have enough pickling liquid, simply mix a little more vinegar with water to taste and bring to a boil to top up the jars. Makes about five 250 ml jars (or ten 125 ml jars). 100
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readers’
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A favourite pastime in Newfoundland and Labrador is berrypicking. Our land is carpeted with colourful, juicy, sweet wild berries every summer and fall – who could resist? Right up there with berrypicking is the pleasure of making berry-filled delights, and cooks are always looking for new ideas. The following are some tested and loved recipes shared by our readers. These should keep you in sweet treats until berrypicking season rolls around again!
Blueberry Coffee Cake Submitted by Alisa Kettle
Streusel Topping
Cake
6 tbsp brown sugar 1/2 cup flour 1 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp salt 4 tbsp cold butter
1/2 cup soft butter 3/4 cup sugar 2 large eggs 1 1/2 tsp vanilla 1 tsp lemon zest 2 cups flour 2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup milk 2 cups frozen blueberries
Preheat oven to 375°F and grease a 9" square pan.
Streusel Combine brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt in a small bowl. Using fingers, mix until no big lumps of brown sugar remain. Cut in butter. You want this in a crumbly state. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Cake In a medium bowl and using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy, around 2 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl each time so everything is worked in. Beat in vanilla and lemon zest. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to wet mixture, alternating with milk. Beat on low speed when combining. Use a spatula to lightly fold in blueberries. Pour batter into pan. Add cold streusel topping over top of batter, covering it completely. Bake 35-45 min. (start checking for doneness at 25-30 min. as oven temperatures vary). Test doneness with toothpick in middle of cake – it should come out clean. www.downhomelife.com
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Blueberry Grand Marnier Preserves
Partridgeberry Slush
Submitted by Roslyn Dominey
Submitted by Sherry Riggs
5 1/2 cups cleaned and stemmed blueberries 1/2 cup water 2 tbsp lemon juice 7 cups sugar 2 pouches liquid fruit pectin 1/4 cup Grand Marnier liqueur
8 cups partridgeberries 8 cups water 1 can pink lemonade concentrate 1 can orange juice concentrate 2 tbsp lemon juice 8 cups water 2 cups sugar Vodka, between flask and 26 oz (375 ml – 750 ml), according to desired strength
In a large saucepan, add berries, water and lemon juice. Let stand 10 minutes. Add sugar; mix well. Place over high heat and bring to a full boil. Boil hard for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and immediately stir in pectin and liqueur. Skim off foam with metal spoon. Continue stirring and skimming for 5 minutes. Let cool slightly to prevent floating fruit. Pour quickly into sterilized jars, cover with new lids and seal. Yield: 8 cups
Boil berries in 8 cups water. When berries are boiled down, strain through fine strainer to remove berry skins and save all the juice (squash juice through strainer with a spatula or spoon). Discard pulp. Let juice cool and add the remaining ingredients. Put in freezer overnight. Stir again in the morning to mix vodka throughout. Takes approximately 2 days to freeze. Serve mixed with ginger ale or 7-Up.
Partridgeberry Crumble Submitted by Alice Smith 1 cup all purpose flour 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 cup rolled oats 1/2 cup butter 1 1/2 cups partridgeberry jam
Preheat oven to 350°F. Combine flour, brown sugar and oats. Cut in butter until it resembles coarse meal. Press half of the mixture into 8" x 8" pan. Spread partridgeberry jam over crust. Cover with remaining crumbs. Bake for 35 minutes or until golden brown. Let it cool, then cut into squares. Serve with whipped topping or ice cream. 104
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Blueberry Cheesecake Submitted by Alice Smith
Crust
Cheese filling
Blueberry topping
2 cups graham cracker crumbs 1/2 cup soft butter
8 oz cream cheese 1/4 cup white sugar 2 tsp vanilla 1 pkg Dream Whip, prepared
6 cups blueberries 1/2 cup sugar 1/4 cup custard powder mixed with 1/4 cup water
Crust Combine graham crumbs and butter and press mixture into a 9"x 9" pan. Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let crust cool.
Cheese Filling Soften the cream cheese. Gradually beat in sugar and vanilla until smooth and creamy. Prepare Dream Whip according to package directions and mix into cheese filling. Spread cream cheese filling over cooled crust. Blueberry Topping Cook berries and sugar over low heat, until berries soften and it takes on a thin jam texture. Stir in custard powder-water mix and cook until jam thickens. Remove from heat and cool before spreading over cream cheese layer. Place cheesecake in the fridge for a few hours to set. Slice and serve.
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Old-Fashioned Blueberry Cake Submitted by Marie Caines 1 1 1 1 4 1
cup white sugar cup butter egg cup molasses cups flour tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 1/4 cups milk 2-3 cups fresh blueberries
Preheat oven to 325°F. Cream together the sugar, butter and egg. Add molasses and mix well. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, cinnamon and milk. Combine well. Fold in 2-3 cups of blueberries. Pour batter into a greased bundt pan. Bake at 325°F for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until toothpick poked near the centre comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cake cool for about 20 minutes. Delicious on its own, or served with custard or hard sauce.
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Blueberry, Partridgeberry & Bakeapple Party
Blueberry Meringue Cookies
Submitted by Yuvadee Feltham
Submitted by Sherry Riggs
First Layer
3 tbsp butter 1/3 cup white sugar 2 egg yolks 1/4 tsp vanilla 1 cup flour 1/8 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 1/4 cup milk
12 Purity Cream Crackers 1 packet orange jelly powder 1 cup boiling water 1 can mandarin oranges
Second Layer 3 tbsp custard powder 3 cups milk
Top Layer
Topping
250 ml Nutriwhip 2 cups blueberries, partridgeberries and bakeapples
2 egg whites 6 tbsp sugar 1 cup fresh blueberries
In a 9" x 7" x 3" dish, place two layers of cream crackers. Combine jelly powder, boiling water and mandarin oranges, and pour over crackers. Put dish in refrigerator to chill. Cook custard powder and milk in a pot on the stove until custard thickens, then let cool before pouring over the cracker layer. Mix Nutriwhip according to the directions and spread it over the custard layer. Top with berries. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.
Separate two eggs. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg yolks and vanilla; combine well. Add flour, baking powder, salt and milk; mix. Pour batter into greased 8" pan and bake at 350°F for 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool. Topping: Beat egg whites and sugar into a meringue with stiff peaks. Fold in blueberries. Spread over baked cake. Bake at 300°F until meringue is light brown. Let cool. Cut into small squares to serve.
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Partridgeberry Squares Submitted by Paulette McNeil 1 1/2 cups white sugar 1/2 cup butter 2 eggs 2 tsp vanilla 2 cups flour 2 cups fine coconut 1 cup skim milk 1 1/2 cups partridgeberries 1 tub cream cheese frosting
Cream sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla. Add flour and coconut, mixing together with milk. Stir in berries. Spread batter into a 9" x 13" greased pan. Bake at 350°F for 30-45 minutes (oven temperatures vary). Ice with 1 tub of cream cheese frosting. (No, there is no baking powder required for this recipe.)
Bakeapple Crumble Submitted by Judy Hotton
1 1 2 1 2 1
quart (1 L) bakeapples cup sugar cups flour cup butter cups rolled oats tsp cinnamon
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Boil bakeapples in just enough water to cover them until softened and thickened. Add sugar. Combine remaining ingredients in a bowl. Cover bottom of greased 9" x 9" pan with half of crumble mixture. Cover with cooked bakeapples and top with remaining crumble mixture. Bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes or until browned. Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream. 1-888-588-6353
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life is better Sunset in Mainland Deborah Symonds, Cape St. George, NL
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food & leisure stuff about
Harvest Demeter is the Greek goddess of the harvest, who rules over grains and the fertility of the earth. An ancient harvest festival, Thesmophoria, honoured Demeter and her daughter Persephone and was exclusively attended by adult women. The working title of Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi was “Blue Harvest.” The producers of the 1983 film, the final movie in the original trilogy, wanted to keep the filming a secret. “Blue Harvest” was also the name of the season 6 opening episode of “Family Guy,” when Peter tells the Star Wars story during a power outage.
On August 4, 2018, a group of farmers near Winkler, Manitoba broke the Guinness World Record for simultaneous harvesting. A line of 303 combines continuously harvested the same wheat field for five minutes to break the old record of 244 harvesters, set in Saskatchewan in 2012. The event raised funds for Children’s Camps International.
Canadian singer-songwriter Neil Young’s fourth studio album was titled Harvest Moon. It was the best-selling album in the United States in 1972, the year of its release.
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Often churches will give thanks for a bountiful crop and help feed the community with a harvest table, for which parishioners donate their homegrown and homemade goods. A harvest table is also a wooden table with hinged leaves, meant for seating a crowd for a feast.
In 2016, the first crop of canola was successfully harvested in Newfoundland and Labrador. It was part of a million-dollar experiment to grow the lucrative oilseed variety near Pasadena on the west coast.
The full moon that rises closest to the date of the fall equinox is called the harvest moon. The next full moon after that is the hunter’s moon.
Quaker, the brand that makes Harvest Crunch and other breakfast cereals, dates back to 1877. www.downhomelife.com
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food & leisure down to earth
Gardening on a Tight Budget 8 tips to keep your costs down By Ross Traverse
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Years ago our ancestors in Newfoundland and Labrador grew their own vegetables and flowers without having to buy anything except some seed and a few basic tools. That can still be done today, as long as you have the space, patience and basic know-how to do it. Here are some tips to help reduce the cost of gardening, while profiting in produce and enjoyment.
1
Improve your soil for free.
You need three basic ingredients to improve the soil for growing plants outside. They are: organic matter, plant nutrients and agricultural lime. Like our ancestors, we are still fortunate enough to have natural, local ingredients for this. Compost made with seaweed (kelp) and/or fish offal can supply the basic nutrients for healthy growth without the use of commercial fertilizer. Seaweed and fish offal compost can also do the job of agricultural lime and neutralize the acidity in soil. Kelp can be applied directly to the garden by burying it in a trench or bed. Local barnyard manure is also an excellent source of organic matter and plant nutrients. Homemade compost from garden waste, on the other hand, may not be sufficient to provide enough nutrients for healthy growth for the entire growing season.
2
Grow from seed. Consider this: a dozen small plants of lettuce may cost you $3 to buy, whereas a $3 packet of seeds can produce several hundred plants. If properly stored in a cool, dry place, extra seed will last several years. Some flowers, like calendula, nasturtiums, cosmos and sweet peas, can be grown by planting the seed in the flowerbed in the spring. Many perennials can be grown from seed by planting in a flowerbed and then transplanting them the next spring into their permanent location. Seed from existing plants can be collected in the fall and then sown in the spring, so you don’t even have to buy the seed.
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3
Overwinter your bulbs. You can save money in the long run by growing tubers and bulbs that can be stored over winter and then replanted in the spring. For example, dahlia tubers can be grown and divided year after year to produce many plants. Geraniums and tuberous begonias can be overwintered inside and then planted outside in the spring.
Use what Mother Nature gave you.
4 Multiply your shrubs. You can propagate new shrubs from existing ones by a technique called layering, where a branch attached to the existing shrub is pinned to the ground and part of it is covered with soil. The tip of the branch is left above the ground. Roots will develop on this branch so that early the next spring it can be separated from the mother plant and replanted as a new bush. Even rhododendrons can be propagated this way. There will be no damage to the existing rhododendron, so several new plants can be rooted at the same time.
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5
Many native trees and shrubs make excellent specimens for landscaping – and they’re free for the taking! Local white spruce is one of the best evergreens to transplant: beautiful standing alone or planted together as a tall, evergreen hedge. They are easily pruned into different shapes. Shrubs like the native red osier dogwood can be used to stabilize steep slopes, while native blueberry and partridgeberry plants make excellent ground covers. All native trees and shrubs are best taken from an exposed area, where they’ve hardened to the environment, and transplanted in the spring. And when developing a house lot, save a fortune on lawn care by sparing the native vegetation and using it in your landscaping. Native vegetation is easy and cheap to maintain, whereas grass requires lime and fertilizer, plus energy for mowing. Local stone from your own site can be reused for retaining walls or pathways.
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Get greenhouse benefits without the cost.
6
The cold frame is one of the most useful features for gardeners. It can be used for starting seeds and cuttings in the spring, for hardening off plants for outside planting, and for growing warm season crops like tomatoes and cucumbers during the summer. It is also used to store container plants during the winter. It saves money because you get many of the advantages of a greenhouse without the expense of one. A cold frame is a boxlike structure with a sloping plastic or glass cover (you can even recycle old glass windows). Construction plans are easily found on the internet. Frost protection in the cold frame can be provided with an electric heating cable or light bulbs.
7 Why buy materials you can get for free? Cargo pallets, free for the taking at many warehouses and stores, can easily be turned into compost bins or a fence around a small vegetable garden to keep out rabbits. Discarded lumber wrapping from a lumberyard can be used to smother out weeds or as a mulch between rows of raspberries. Plastic food containers can be reused to start seedlings. Recycled fish boxes, buckets and other plastic containers are popular for growing vegetables on a small scale (just make sure the containers have large drainage holes in the bottom).
8 You don’t need fancy, expensive gadgets. You only need a few basic tools to do most of your gardening work: a fourpronged digging fork with a long handle, a flat-bladed garden hoe, a trowel, a rake, a shovel, a pick, pruning shears and a pruning saw. It pays to buy the best quality tools you can afford, but some of that cost can be saved by buying secondhand at flea markets or garage sales, or by shopping classified ads.
Ross Traverse has been a horticultural consultant to gardeners and farmers for more than 40 years. downtoearth @downhomelife.com
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with Ross Apple Tree Fungus? Q: My apple tree (yellow transparent) has a lot of greenish-yellow fungus on the bark this year. How do I treat that? Also, what should I use for fertilizer, and when? – Kevin A: The greenish yellow growth on the trunk of your apple tree is probably lichens. This is not harmful to the tree, so I would leave it alone. Your apple tree can be fertilized in the spring with a general-purpose fertilizer like 10-10-10 or a similar ratio. You should mulch around the base of the tree with compost, grass clippings and/or seaweed. This will prevent weed competition and supply nutrients to the tree to stimulate good healthy growth.
Rose Bush Care Q: Some years ago, this lady gave me a very small rose plant that she was lucky to grow from her bigger one. I planted it near my front step and this little plant developed into the most beautiful rose bush. Every summer it’s covered with tiny pink roses. Come spring every year I prune it, clear up all the old leaves around it and give it some fresh kelp. But this spring I have been away a lot, so this week I was anxious to get back at it. I was disappointed to find a lot of dead stems looked greyish and dull; only two branches have good signs of life (green) coming. Am I over anxious? Normally by this time of year it’s fuller with lots of signs of life. Is it too late to prune some dead branches? Also, I’m wondering how to take a sprig of this rose bush to give to someone else to transplant. Seems like it’s all attached and I don’t want to rip it all up. – Agnes Careen A: Agnes, sometimes you get winter kill on roses depending on the winter weather conditions. Dead branches should be pruned out. Some of the good branches can be layered to produce more growth. This technique involves pinning the branch to the ground with soil and leaving the top sticking out. The branches will root this year, giving you a stronger plant next year. You can also produce new plants using this same technique and then separate the rooted branch from the mother plant next spring. 118
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How to Move a Burning Bush Q: I have a Burning Bush in my garden. It’s been there 15 years and turns a very vibrant colour in the fall. It’s too close to the house now as it is very large, about five feet wide. Can I move it now? It’s starting to turn green. What location is best for it, and what should I add to the soil when I move it? Should I tie it up or put burlap around the branches before digging, to protect the branches from being broken? I would appreciate all your help and suggestions on this. – Norma Vey A: Norma, the best time to move a shrub like Burning Bush is early in the spring, as soon as a ground thaws out and before the new growth starts. It is a little risky to dig up this large shrub, so you could leave it in its present location and just prune it back early in the spring. You can cut it back about halfway, and then prune it on a regular basis to keep it at the size you want. If you do have to move it, you should try and get a tarpaulin or a sheet of heavy plastic underneath the root ball so you can easily move it without breaking the roots. It is a good idea to tie the branches together so you don’t damage the branches.
Got a gardening question for Ross? Email him anytime at downtoearth@downhomelife.com
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reminiscing flashbacks
Corner Brook Baby William Herdman proudly holds his two-year-old son, Robert, in March 1927. Born on November 21, 1925, the submitter claims Robert was the first baby born in Corner Brook’s new hospital. Susan Herdman, Lincolnton, GA, USA
Got Milk? This is an old photo of the submitter’s brother, Gerald Noseworthy. He was about 14 months old in 1941, and he might have been waiting for the milkman. The photo was snapped by their father, Percy. Herb Noseworthy Grand Forks, BC
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First Communion Reunion Shirley Birmingham found this photo amongst her sister-in-law’s collection. It’s the photo of family friend Doreen Lang at her First Communion. Shirley’s hoping to get in touch with Doreen’s family and return the photo. If you know them, email editorial@downhomelife.com or call 1-888-588-6353 and we’ll put you in touch with Shirley. Shirley Birmingham St. John’s, NL
This Month in History Fairy lore has a strong place in Newfoundland and Labrador culture, but it once had a place in the courts as well. According to the NL history website Archivalmoments.ca, on October 1, 1880, John Ebbs was in a St. John’s court to get 13 days worth of garnished wages back from his employer. He hadn’t worked those days, but he had a reason for his absence: Ebbs claimed he’d been taken by the fairies. Before the judge, Ebbs told the story of how he’d been on his way to work when he saw a funeral procession, lost his senses and was “carried away by the fairies.” Meanwhile, his employer argued Ebbs wasn’t owed the money because he did miss work. In the end, the judge felt fairies was a plausible reason for missing almost two weeks of work and ordered the employer pay Ebbs the missing wages.
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reminiscing visions & vignettes
Gnat, do you mind…
Harvest Scoffs? Another wild adventure with two young scalawags in an imaginary, yet typical, outport of a bygone era By Harold N. Walters
“Wince, me ol’ cock,” said Uncle Pell, “your inventions don’t always work out well.” “I guarantee this one will,” said Wince with conviction. “It will revolutionize our annual harvest scoff.” “If it works like you say, I s’pose it will save the women a lot of time cooking,” said Aunt Hood. “’Specially getting all the grub cooked at the same time.” The crowd of men and women and their youngsters, gathered in Uncle Pell’s shop to plan Brookwater’s annual harvest scoff, nodded – albeit with skepticism. Her knitting needles magically transforming a ball of yarn into a 122
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worsted sock, Aunt Sissy Hatt, the Brookwater witch, looked on and smiled. “Build your machine, Wince my son,” she said. “It’ll be a wonder, I’m sure.” Then she leaned across to Harry and Gnat on their butter-box roost, winked and said, “It’ll be something to see, eh b’ys?” Traditionally, in harvest season, Brookwater folk held a time in the schoolhouse. Since the stove in the 1-888-588-6353
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schoolhouse kitchen couldn’t accommodate all the grub, every oven and stovetop in the village was utilized. Meats and potatoes, turnips and carrots, cabbages and beets were distributed among the households, all hands cooked, all day. In the evening, after moonrise, folks lugged steaming roasters and boilers and mismatched supplementary pots to the schoolhouse. In Uncle Pell’s shop, Wince Cody repeated that his invention would shatter tradition: “There’ll be no need for the women to be cooking all day. Everything will be cooked at the same time, outside in the schoolyard, under the harvest moon.” No wonder Aunt Sissy’s knitting needles clicked with excited anticipation. No wonder Old Man Farley spit ’baccy juice in the woodbox and scowled. No wonder Harry and Gnat trotted after Wince when the meeting ended, asking, “What’s you goin’ to build, Wince?” No wonder the harvest moon, lolling half-asleep in its orbit, perked up its ears when it heard Brookwater’s plans for a scoff. In the following weeks, Wince collected and sorted the materials he needed for his All At Once Cooker. Harry and Gnat – willing apprentices and wily scavengers – helped. From a scrap pile behind Harve Hinker’s stable the boys scavenged three steel rings: the rims of rotted wagon wheels, one slightly larger around than the others. From the shell of Mr. Butt’s abandoned kipper factory, they hauled an iron shaft sporting well-rusted gears and subsidiary cogs to Wince’s garden. With permission, they borrowed the spare drive belt for Brookwater’s sawmill. 1-888-588-6353
Meantime, Wince spent most of the time inside his shed, grinder and blowtorch and sledgehammer in constant use. He fashioned gimbals. He welded angle iron. He banged bolts into steel. Harvest time approached. Frost wilted the stalks in Brookwater’s potato gardens. Other than the evergreens, all the trees had donned their fall finery. Readying itself for the Big Night, the harvest moon daily practised its pumpkin imitation before showing it face above the horizon. Considering possible finishing touches, Wince sized up the contraption lashed to the flatbed of his truck, ready to haul to the schoolyard. Hoisting his cap and scratching his flattened hair, he said to his young henchmen, “B’ys, I ’low a couple of lengths of funnel will finish ’er off.” “I knows just the place to get some,” said Harry. “I ’low,” said Gnat. (Old Man Farley didn’t realize the two new sections of stovepipe he’d bought – but not yet attached to his shed’s pot-bellied stove – had gone missing until he saw them stogged with freshly-dug potatoes and reflecting the orange glow of the harvest moon.) On the day of the Harvest Scoff, Wince drove his truck to the school and, with half a dozen men helping with the lifting, off-loaded the All At Once Cooker in the centre of the schoolyard. Harry fancied the machine vaguely resembled the skeleton of a train engine…if a steam engine had tangled with a gigantic gyroscope like the one pictured in The Great Big Book of Gadgets. “’Tis a marvelous rig, Wince,” said October 2018
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Harve Hinker, laying his hand on a…a gimbal?…and giving it a test shake. “Mind, that’s delicate,” said Wince, removing Harve’s hand. All day folks prepared for the Harvest Moon Festivities. A barrel of potatoes stood beside an open end of stovepipe riveted to Wince’s cooker. Peeled carrots and turnips floated in vats hanging inside the cooker’s belly. The schoolhouse’s kitchen stove baked pies flat out, its only duty this fall, except for keeping half a dozen tea kettles boiling on its dampers. Women scurried like coopy hens attending to kettles and pies. Time duckish, Wince had two heavy-horsepower generators straining to power his cooker, whose gyroscope parts commenced to waggle. “Now we get to light the fire,” said Harry, nodding at the architecturally stacked kindling and split wood assembled broadside to the cooker’s welded middle. “I ’low,” said Gnat. At Wince’s signal, Harry and Gnat squat down, struck matches and ignited the shavings at the bottom of the pile. Using an iron rod, Wince hooked an arced section of a redesigned cartwheel rim and swung it away from the cooker like opening a door. “Skivver on the meat,” Wince said. Old Man Farley took charge. Accepting a bounty of meats from a brigade of hands, Old Man Farley skivvered chickens and ducks, moose meat and mutton, rabbits and partridge unto the cooker’s spit. The stylistic rotisserie fully loaded, Wince latched it securely, and watched it oscillate and swing out and rotate at roasting height above 124
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the growing fire. Satisfied the pots were boiling and the meat was broiling, Wince nudged Harry and instructed, “Start loading the spuds.” Like artillerymen loading cannonballs, Harry and Gnat stogged potatoes into the stovepipe. Wince closed a switch and – to insure a slow and perfect roast – the cunningly positioned stovepipe tick-tocked through the flame like a grandfather clock’s pendulum. The harvest moon peeped over the Crow Cliffs’ brow and, realizing Brookwater’s celebrations had begun, scravelled into the sky. The orange moon was the size of the giant pumpkin Old Man Farley once grew, and it, surrounded by a gallery of stars, made the October sky above Brookwater look like a painting tacked on a museum wall. In Brookwater’s schoolyard, a gallery of folks sat on a half-circle of chairs arranged in front of Wince’s magnificent machine. Despite the obvious presence of an ingenious industrial invention, the scene appeared a smidgen primitive – a tad pagan even. Harry stood alongside Aunt Sissy Hatt, who sat knitting at the end of a row of chairs. “Dandy rig,” she said, stabbing Harry with a needle. “’Tis, Aunt Sissy,” said Harry, pleased to see Wince’s cooker chuffing and rattling like the steam engine it faintly resembled. “’Twill be heard of far and wide,” said Aunt Sissy. “I ’low,” said Gnat. “’Twill,” said Aunt Sissy, waving a knitting needle in the direction of the All At Once Cooker… …a knitting needle kinda like a 1-888-588-6353
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witch’s wand, thought Harry. Suddenly, the gallery in the schoolyard gasped as the cooker emitted an ear-splitting screech and a pair of gimbals groaned and slouched as if their innards had shattered. Boilers that balanced like weigh-scales lurched and swayed off kilter. The gyroscopic spit wobbled like a toppling spin-top. The double-funnels, plugged solid with baking potatoes, skidded lopsided and one end dropped directly into the fire. “Heavens!” said Aunt Hood from the middle of the front row, just as Wince’s two generators revved into overdrive and rivets blasted from the cooker’s frame like .22 bullets. Wince dove into nearby bushes. Chairs clattered as people fled. Parents snatched up babies and small children, and scurried away like frantic ants abandoning a kicked 1-888-588-6353
emmets’ nest. The gallery of stars huddled against the moon’s cheeks, seeking protection. The moon itself shrivelled like a blighted turnip. Harry and Gnat tugged at Aunt Sissy to scravel. Eyes sparkling, Aunt Sissy folded her knitting and lodged it inside her knitting bag just as there was a GREAT BIG BANG. Mind the time Wince’s cooker exploded, Gnat? Next day, folks in Horse Cove found scraps of roasted meat on their roofs and doorsteps. And the crowd in Bun Town swore it rained baked potatoes in the middle of the night. Harold Walters lives in Dunville, Newfoundland, doing his damnedest to live Happily Ever After. Reach him at ghwalters663@gmail.com October 2018
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reminiscing
Collective Memories
Goats of New Perlican
A walk with goats, with resident Ron Peddle. By Terra Barrett
“I would say there must have been at least 200 goats in New
Perlican,” says Ron Peddle, thinking back to his younger days. Born in England to a war bride, Ron moved to New Perlican, where his father was from, at the age of seven. He grew up in the community, which meant he also grew up alongside the stubborn goats. “We had two goats. We had Abel and Cain, and that’s what they called them,” he recalls. “One was a little bit smaller than the other one, and Dad loved animals – he fed them well. A tub of oats every morning and a bit of hay, and then you would get them ready and you would go in the woods then.” He describes hooking the littlest goat up to the wood sled, “the horncat they used to call that,” Ron says. “He was alright going in
because they never had no load on the slide, but coming out, when you get a load, the little one used to slack back a bit, right? So the other one had the load and the old man used to get some mad, b’y,” he laughs. “My dad used to be some mad, so one day he jumped off the slide. He went up, he runned up, and grabbed the goat by the head and bit his ear...and after that as soon as he would get off the slide and walk towards the goat, [the
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Ron Peddle of New Perlican.
Terra Barrett photo
goat] would stretch right out, b’y; he would almost bust the line trying to haul fast.” Although the goats would haul firewood out from the woods, they were less inclined to bring it up the hill to Ron’s childhood home. Goats are notoriously stubborn, but they can be lured by food. “They’ll eat anything,” Ron says. “They’ll come down and eat stuff off the clothesline, if you’re not careful…They’ll eat almost any kind of weed. They’ll clean your vegetable garden out in a few minutes, if you are not careful.” His mother learned that the goats really enjoyed one particular brand of sweets, so she trained them to haul the wood up the hill for a rewarding snack of Girl Guide cookies! In order to keep the goats out of the gardens, residents would yoke the goats. “Years ago they used to put collars on them so they wouldn’t get into gardens, but that’s illegal
[now],” Ron explains. Once yoked, the goats were allowed to run free during the spring and summer, and the young boys were tasked with rounding up the goats and bringing them back to their barns for the fall and winter. “See years ago they let everything go, all the animals were let go. As soon as the weather breaks they were gone. Then in the fall you would go looking for your animals,” Ron says. “Now with sheep, they used to have a bit of paint on them so you could know your sheep, but the goats – I mean, everybody knew the goats pretty well.” Although Ron left the community during his time working on boats and in the Coast Guard, he has since returned home and established his own herd of goats. Ron’s goats can be seen in his backyard or eating the weeds in the old St. Augustine’s cemetery in New Perlican.
The Collective Memories Project is an initiative of the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador to record the stories and memories of our province. If you have a memory of old-time Newfoundland and Labrador to share, contact Dale Jarvis at ich@heritagefoundation.ca or call 1-888-7391892 ext 2 or visit www.collectivememories.ca. 1-888-588-6353
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The morning of Saturday, October 30, 1971, was calm and cool; wood smoke from the chimneys was drifting slowly straight up in the air as I walked down the wharf towards a small fishing boat. Dawn was just breaking, showing a blood red sky towards the east, as Clarence Oxford, my good friend and neighbour, and I slowly left the dock at Gillesport on Twillingate Island, Newfoundland, for a morning of hunting turrs, a Newfoundland delicacy. I was always taught to caution a red sunrise, as it was a bad weather breeder, usually rain and high winds. I knew the forecast wasn’t good, but the weather was not supposed to turn bad before evening. We knew we were pushing the envelope, but we only had a small window of opportunity. I was only in Twillingate for the weekend. I was in trade school in Grand Falls-Windsor then, taking an electrical course, and my wife Linda and our two children, Sherry and Richard, were living with me there in a rented basement apartment. Saturday was our only day to hunt as it was illegal then to hunt on Sundays, or that’s what we were told and we observed.
Clarence and I were in good spirits when we killed our first turrs just a few miles from land. The water was shiny calm and the reflection of the black and white birds illuminated off the water like a mirror. But something didn’t seem right. Turrs usually didn’t fly when there was no wind, but this day there were flocks of them flying towards land. I was told later by a old fisherman that it’s what seabirds do when they sense www.downhomelife.com
a big wind coming. Clarence was at the engine, a 15 hp outboard motor, and we idled off from the land killing birds as we went. Every once in a while, a light wind from the southeast would ruffle the surface of the ocean. We never saw another boat of hunters, but we saw a few small boats fishing for cod early in the morning and waved to them as we went by. Gus Pelley and his son Edwin were setting trawls on October 2018
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the Gull Island ground, and Harvey Pelley was hand-lining cod on a fishing ground called Bradley.
The first sign of trouble
We were about seven miles off Twillingate’s Long Point when, right out of nowhere, a strange feeling came over me and a thought came in my mind to turn around and head back. This never happened to me before nor since. The thought was so strong that I turned to Clarence and said we had enough birds and maybe we should head in. Clarence headed us back towards land. We may have gone a mile when the engine gave out; the drive shaft had twisted off. I put out the paddles and started rowing. By this time wind was starting to blow and all the calm water was gone. Clarence put a rubber jacket on a dip net – a signal of distress – and raised it high, hoping the lighthouse keeper would see us. (I knew, but didn’t tell Clarence, that it was unlikely anyone would see us from land unless we were reported missing, and the lighthouse keepers would be scanning the ocean with a telescope.) I was sitting down on the seat pulling the oars, and Clarence was standing and helping me by pushing the oars. We were about six miles off and making good headway. I was in my 20s and didn’t mind rowing, but Clarence was in his 40s and it was a little harder on him. Gradually the wind picked up from the southeast, whitecaps were starting and squalls of wind would hit our little boat. Minutes went by and we did not talk. 132
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Reality was sinking in, especially when we crossed a tide rip and the head of the boat dipped and the back of the boat dipped and water poured into the boat. Two hours went by and we were making very little headway. Clarence was getting discouraged as he bailed water, saying we were done for and how his poor old mother was going to take it if he was lost because she had already lost one son to the sea. Clarence’s brother, Harry Oxford, was lost overboard in a late November gale in 1940, eight miles off Cape Race aboard the sailing schooner Grace Beohner. He and another crewmember, Frank Guy, were lashing cargo that had come loose on deck in the storm. Both men were washed overboard, but Frank got washed back aboard. Harry didn’t and his body was never found. Blood was starting to squeeze out between my fingers. My hands were not as calloused as they were when I was a teenager and spent nearly every day rowing a punt around Jenkins Cove. Clarence told me he took a mark on the land and we were being pushed farther from shore. Our signal flag was like a sail, dragging us back, but Clarence wouldn’t take it down, still believing someone would see it and save us. We decided to try and get within seeing distance of Gus and Edwin, who would now be hauling back their trawls. But within 15 minutes we were exhausted. Things were looking very grim for us. Water was coming over the sides of the 16-foot boat and Clarence was slowly bailing it out. I stood up and dipped my 1-888-588-6353
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John Gillett (left) and Clarence Oxford hands in the ocean, washing off the blood and letting the cool water ease the pain in my hands that were now gone crooked and stiff.
Last chance for rescue
I glanced up towards the west and spotted a boat in the distance. With new vigour and optimism we gave everything we had to the oars. This could be our last chance for rescue. As the boat got closer, we saw it was a trap skiff towing a speedboat. Clarence waved the coat signal and I fired the guns to get their attention. They turned towards us...then turned sharply away. I started firing the guns again and Clarence was waving www.downhomelife.com
the coat and shouting, though I doubt they could hear him. The skiff continued to the east and away from us, then they started shooting. They had seen a big flock of birds on the water and went to get them before coming for us. Finally the skiff headed back for us. What a relief when it pulled up alongside! The skiff belonged to Roy Anstey, a cod trap fisherman from Purcells Harbour on the eastern side of Twillingate Island. The other men were Roy’s cousin, Steward Bastow from St. John’s, and Steward’s friend, John Johnson. We were very lucky that day that Roy and his friends came to our aid. October 2018
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reminiscing
between the boulevard and the bay
The Execution of John Byng By Ron Young
An appeal to As a former British colony, Newfoundhistory is dotted with marks left on it by the King, who land’s events happening all over the world, wherever could have the British were fighting and/or settling. Often, intervened, was Newfoundland shows up in the notes on historically significant men and women. John Byng, also made, but high-ranking Royal Navy officer, is one such he refused to character. in Bedfordshire, England, John Byng was save Byng. theBorn fourth son of Rear Admiral Sir George Byng. John joined the Royal Navy in 1718, at the age of 13. He rose quickly through the ranks (possibly because of his influential father). In 1723, at age 19, he was made a lieutenant, and at 23, rose to become captain of HMS Gibraltar and served a number of years in the Mediterranean. In 1742, he was appointed Commodore-Governor of the British colony of Newfoundland. He remained governor until he was promoted to Rear Admiral in 1745. Two years later he was promoted to the rank of Vice-Admiral and was made Admiral in 1756 – right before he was sent on what would be his final mission. The Seven Years War, which began in 1756, saw England and France at odds with each other. That spring, Admiral Byng was sent to the Mediterranean to guard the British island of Minorca from French attack. Byng reluctantly accepted, even though his ships were undermanned, in bad repair and leaked. On May 8, Byng headed for Minorca to do his best, which wasn’t nearly enough. Unbeknownst to Byng, the French got to Minorca before he did, landing 15,000 troops on the western shore of the island. The French quickly spread out to occupy the whole island.
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On May 19, Byng’s fleet of 10 ships arrived off the east coast of Minorca. He tried, unsuccessfully, to communicate with Fort St. Philip on the island. Before Byng could land any soldiers, the French fleet appeared. In the ensuing battle, Byng’s fleet sustained damage and a number of his men were wounded or killed, while the French fleet sailed away without a scratch. After remaining near Minorca for four days without being able to reestablish communication with Fort St. Philip or sighting the French, Byng realized there was little more he could do without having badly needed repairs done to his ships. The nearest port available for carrying out repairs and landing his wounded men was Gibraltar. Byng’s plan was to sail there, repair his ships and collect extra forces before returning to Fort St. Philip. Once reinforcements arrived, Byng began preparation for a return to Minorca to relieve the garrison. However, before his fleet could sail, another ship arrived from England with further instructions. They relieved Byng of his command and took him back to England, where he was placed into custody. The Admiral was charged with a breach of the Articles of War, which had recently been revised to mandate capital punishment for “officers who did not do their utmost against the enemy, either in battle or pursuit.”
1-888-588-6353
Admiral John Byng He was found guilty and sentenced to death by firing squad. There were protests to this sentence, but they were ignored. An appeal to the King, who could have intervened, was also made, but he refused to save Byng. On March 14, 1757, John Byng was taken to the quarterdeck of HMS Monarch and executed by a platoon of marines. Ron Young is a retired policeman, published poet and founding editor of Downhome. ron@downhomelife.com
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GREAT GIFT IDEAS! Sherpa Fleece Throws - 50" x 60" - $39.99 each
Newfoundland Pictorial Map
#75516
Newfoundland Flag
#75518
Mistress of the Blue Castle: The Writing Life of Phoebe Florence Miller Vicki Sara Hallett #75903 | $24.95
Any Mummers ‘Lowd In
#75515
Cops in Kabul: A Newfoundland Peacekeeper in Afghanistan - William C. Malone #75895 | $24.95
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Reviewed on pg.36 Traditional Newfoundland English - R. A. Bragg Updated and Expanded #75827 | $13.95
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Unchained Man: The Arctic Life and Times of Captain Robert Abram Bartlett - Maura Hanrahan #75486 | $21.95
PRICES IN EFFECT FOR OCTOBER 2018
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FOR MORE SELECTION VISIT: www.shopdownhome.com
Numbers in Newfoundland - Bonnie Jean Hicks #75941 | $9.95
Operation Wormwood: A Newfoundland and Labrador Crime Thriller Helen C. Escott #75835 | $19.95
Coasters - Newfoundland Labrador Row Houses Corked back, Pkg of 6
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back
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Ceramic Trivets Corked Back - 6.25" x 6.25" A. Mummer’s Kitchen Party B. Mummer’s Afloat C. Mummer’s Sleigh Ride D. Mummers Come A Knockin’
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Ceramic Coasters Assorted Corked Back, Pkg of 4
Lumberjack Mittens Froze #60904 | $21.99
#75902 | $12.99
Lumberjack Ladies’ Socks - Froze #58907 | $21.99
2019 Calendar Newfoundland Artwork Ed Roche
2019 Calendar - Images of Home - Tish Walsh
13.5" x 12"
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#75845 | $15.99
TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353
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GREAT GIFT IDEAS!
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Newfoundland Chocolate Company Smiling Land Wildberry Chocolates, 200g
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Milk Chocolates Assorted, 200g
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Purity Goodie Box #23155 | $45.99
Liqueur Chocolates, 200g
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PRICES IN EFFECT FOR OCTOBER 2018 *** For larger parcels please call for quote
Newfoundland Chocolate Company Lighthouse Dark Chocolates, Assorted 200g
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FOR MORE SELECTION VISIT: www.shopdownhome.com
Santa's Sleigh is on its way to Newfoundland: A Christmas Adventure Eric James/Robert Dunn #60835 | $17.95
Lumberjack Toque - Adult - Yes B'y #73270 | $19.99
Indigena Bath Bombs $7.00 each Blueberry #61639 Partridgeberry #61636 Bakeapple #61637
Santa is Coming to Newfoundland - Steve Smallman #53807 | $12.99
A Newfoundland and Labrador Christmas Wish - Necie #57326 | $16.95
Toque - The Rock &  Map #59327 | $16.99
Toque - Newfoundland -
Indigena Townie Beard Balm #61640 | $9.99
Royal Blue w Pom pom
#61222 | $12.99
Indigena Bath Crystals $7.00 each Post Workout #61632 Sea Goddess #61633 Bikini Babe #61630
TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353
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GREAT GIFT IDEAS!
Dark Tickle Tin Tea 40g - $13.39 each Bakeapple #11874 Partridgeberry #11875 Blueberry #11876
Downhome Pease Pudding Kit contains a pease pudding bag, split peas and recipes
Purity Raspberry Syrup 710ml #15358 | $5.25
350g #18709 | $5.99
Summer Savoury - Bottle 60g #34177 | $7.99
28g #34176 | $3.49
Purity Jam Jams
Summer Savoury
#35874 | $3.29
Dark Tickle - Gift Box Jam 3x57ml - Partridgeberry, Bakeapple and Wild Blueberry
#47531 | $21.99
Dark Tickle - Gift Box Jam 2x57ml - Partridgeberry & Bakeapple Sauce 2x135ml - Partridgeberry & Bakeapple
#50223 | $33.99
PRICES IN EFFECT FOR OCTOBER 2018 *** For larger parcels please call for quote
Dark Tickle - Gift Box Jam and Pickles 6x57ml - Partridgeberry, Bakeapple, Wild Blueberry, Crowberry, Squashberry Jam and Rhubarb Pickles
#50224 | $42.99
Item #
Description
Central and Western Canada. 2-3 weeks USA. Guidelines set by Canada Post.
Delivery Time 3-5 days NL, NS & NB. 7-10 days
isfied, please let us know. We will exchange any item in resaleable condition. Sorry, no returns on earrings, books, CDs or DVDs. If you do not receive your order or it is damaged upon delivery, please let us know within 3 business days. Overnight delivery available: please call for details. Product prices and shipping costs may be subject to change without notice.
Service Guarantee If you are not completely sat-
Qty.
Colour
TOTAL
*
Tax (your provincial sales tax )
USA add 15% (+ Shipping)
Shipping & Handling
SUB TOTAL
Size
$15.00
Price
*
NL, NS, PE, NB 15%; ON, 13%; BC, AB, NT, YK, NU, SK, QC, MB, 5%
Please make cheques payable to Downhome Incorporated and send to Downhome, 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL A1E 3H3 Toll Free: 1-888-588-6353 • Fax: 709-726-2135 mailorder@downhomelife.com • www.shopDownhome.com
*
Card #: ___________________________________ Expiry Date: _____ /_____
Payment Info : ❒ Visa ❒ Amex ❒ MasterCard ❒ Cheque/Money Order
Gift Card to read: _________________________________________________
City: __________________________ Province: _____ Postal Code: ________
Address: ________________________________________________________
Send Gift to:_____________________________________________________
Gift Service Information
Telephone: _____________________ E-mail: __________________________
City: __________________________ Province: _____ Postal Code: ________
Address: ________________________________________________________
Send to: _______________________________________________________
Please complete your order form carefully. Please send this form along with payment to the address at bottom, or fax to 709-726-2135.
Shop online for more selection Visit: shopdownhome.com
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Discount Storage St. John's, NL Business for Sale 38 Main St., Twillingate, NL Turn key operation • Excellent location Building and contents going together Reason for selling - owners retiring
8x20 unheated storage units. 709-726-6800
For more info call Woodrow 709-571-2195
FOR SALE
FOR SALE Kings Point Diner & Pub Springdale, NL
$249,000 Lot: 255 ft. Wide by 224 ft. Deep • 2 Level Building, each 2,900 sq. ft.
Nan’s Pantry • Gander Mall $149,000
709-235-9113
cd.osmond@nf.sympatico.ca
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Formally known as Budgell’s Motel, this three-room motel is a local icon and part of King’s Point history. Room to grow, well positioned for tourist industry growth. Improvements and additions made since 2008 include: a new metal roof, complete pex plumbing, completely renovated kitchen, completely renovated Event Area, all new pressure treated decks, completely renovated dining room and more!
Call Corey 587-343-3302
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Own a cabin on Salmonier River! 3A Main Road Mount Carmel $50,000 obo See video, photos and property info at:
www.RiversideDream.ca
MLS® #1175058
Randy Matthews Realtor® Sutton Aurora Realty
Call or Text: 709-986-4663
PRIVATE SALE BY OWNER
Town Square, Gander Building, Both Levels 3400 Sq. Ft. Total 709-221-8757 or 709-424-0757
f.tizzard@nl.rogers.com
(709) 726-5113 1-888-588-6353
advertising@downhomelife.com
Marketplace Marketplace Information Prices start at $50 for a 1 column x 1 inch colour advertisement. This size fits approx 20 words. The smallest size of advertisement with a picture is $100.
(709) 726-5113 Toll Free: 1-888-588-6353 Makes a Great Christmas Gift! Newfoundland Gold & Silver Rings Silver Rings • $120 Gold Rings: Mens - $599.99 • Womens - $410 gwgoulding@rogers.com (905) 725-4442 Visit: homepridejewellery.com
November 2018 Ad Booking Deadline • September 28, 2018 www.downhomelife.com
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Marketplace Movers & Shippers Moving you from Ontario and Newfoundland... or any STOP along the way!
DOWNEAST CONNECTION 709-248-4089 905-965-4813
Hawke’s Bay, NL (collect calls accepted) downeastconnection@yahoo.ca
A&K Moving Covering all Eastern & Western Provinces and Returning Based from Toronto, Ontario Discount Prices Out of NL, NS & NB Newfoundland Owned & Operated
SAMSON’S MOVING Let our Family Move Your Family Home
Newfoundland, Ontario, Alberta and All Points In Between Newfoundland Owned & Operated Fully Insured, Free Estimates Sales Reps. in Ontario and Alberta
A Family Moving Families Professionally and economically
35 Years in the Moving Industry
Coast to Coast in Canada Fully Insured Newfoundland Owned & Operated
Andy: 416-247-0639 Out West: 403-471-5313
Call Jim or Carolyn - Peterview, NL 709-257-4223 709-486-2249 - Cell samsonsmovers@yahoo.ca www.samsonsmovers.ca
Clarenville Movers
FIVE STAR SERVICE
aandkmoving@gmail.com
Local & Long Distance Service Your Newfoundland & Alberta Connection Over 30 years Experience Toll Free: 1-855-545-2582
709-545-2582 Cell: 709-884-9880 Tel:
clarenvillemover@eastlink.ca www.clarenvillemovers.com
Contact: Gary or Sharon King
Toll Free: 1-866-586-2341 www.downhomemovers.com
Without The Five Star Price! ★ Local & Long Distance Moves ★ Packing
Voted CBS Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year
★ Door-to-Door Service Across Canada ★ Replacement Protection Available ★ NL Owned & Operated
MOVING INC. 709-834-0070 866-834-0070 fivestarmoving@outlook.com www.fivestarmoving.ca
Over 25 Years Experience in the Moving Industry 144
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life is better Fall foliage in Swift Current Margaret Martin, Lords Cove, NL
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puzzles The Beaten Path 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 will spell out the name of the above place name in letters that get smaller in size.
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Last Month’s Community: Harbour Le Cou 148
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Sudoku
from websudoku.com
Skill level: Medium
Last month’s answers
?
Need Help
Visit DownhomeLife.com/puzzles for step-by-step logic for solving this puzzle
www.downhomelife.com
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Downhomer Detective Needs You
A
fter 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: • Puffin photographer’s dream • Root Cellar Capital of the World • Home of the Sealers’ Memorial • Hosts annual Roots, Rants and Roars culinary festival • Shooting Club has a replica WWI trench
Last Month’s Answer: Witless Bay
Picturesque Place NameS of Newfoundland and Labrador
by Mel D’Souza Last Month’s Answer: Back Harbour 150
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In Other Words Guess the well-known expression written here in other words.
Last Month’s Clue: Mine own sibling’s guardian In Other Words: My brother’s keeper This Month’s Clue: Terrified to expiry In Other Words: __________ __ _____
A Way With Words WORKING TIME
Last Month’s Answer: Working overtime
Rhyme Time A rhyming word game by Ron Young
1. A fedora for a feline is a ___ ___
This Month’s Clue
2. A hag swap is a _____ ______
WAT(DISSOLVE)ER
3. A break from fall raking is ____ ______ Last Month’s Answers 1. fat rat, 2. like a hike, 3. lighter fighter
ANS: ________ __ _____
Scrambled Sayings
by Ron Young
Place each of the letters in the rectangular box below into one of the white square boxes above them to discover a quotation. Incomplete words that begin on the right side of the diagram continue one line down on the left. The letters may or may not go in the box in the same order that they are in the column. Once a letter is used, cross it off and do not use it again.
A E D A A F D C H E R E F P M I L E I I R I L O I N Y V O V R N P
L E A A A L A C E A M A E N E D O N E I H E N G E R Y D P R L T H I W H N S S Y V M
Last month’s answer: Complainers change their complaints, but they never reduce the amount of time spent in complaining. www.downhomelife.com
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Rhymes 5 Times Each answer rhymes with the other four
1. disguise 2. chore 3. inquire 4. bottle 5. savour
___________ ___________ ___________ ___________ ___________
Last Month’s Answers: 1. bowl, 2. soul, 3. troll, 4. droll, 5. poll
STUCK? Don’t get your knickers in a knot! Puzzle answers can be found online at DownhomeLife.com/puzzles
Tangled Towns by Lolene Young Condon and Ron Young
Sound out the groups of words below to get a familiar expression. For best results sound the clue words out loud!
1. TALIWELTING 2. MUDSFORMER
Watt Sap Inning _____ _________
3. REDLURL
Thud Ham Itches Stun ___ ______ __ ____
5. BRAFAKIN
Last Month’s 1st Clue: Hits Release Add Answer: It’s really sad Last Month’s 2nd Clue: Dawn July Tomb He Answer: Don’t you lie to me
A
Unscramble each of the five groups of letters below to get 5 Newfoundland and Labrador place names.
nalogical
A
4. VINEWELL
Last Month’s Ans: 1. Stephenville, 2. Aquathuna, 3. Boswarlos, 4. Piccadilly, 5. Kippens
nagrams
Unscramble the capitalized words to get one word that matches the subtle clue. 1. CUT ME SO – Clue: clothes that fake the man 2. A COKE FOB – Clue: leader in followers 3. OVEN PEEL – Clue: takes a licking 4. TIDY CON AIR – Clue: where everyone goes to find meaning 5. NINE VET MORN – Clue: the greener the better Last Month’s Ans: 1. hurricane, 2. lighting, 3. sunrise, 4. hospital, 5. ambulance 152
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Four-Way Crossword F o re Wo rd s • B a c k Wo rd s • U p Wo rd s • D o w n Wo rd s By Ron Young
Unlike regular crosswords, in Four-Way Crossword each letter is not necessarily related to the letter in the adjacent row or column, but is part of one or more words in some direction.
1-3: decay 1-91: think over 2-22: paddle 3-33: ensnare 4-44: irritate 5-7: ignited 5-75: also 7-47: preference 7-57: sampled 10-1: respirator 10-100: spiteful 11-14: make 16-46: note 19-16: froth 19-49: enemies 21-25: grump 21-51: dupes 22-24: sought election 22-25: status 22-52: behind 27-7: reclined 28-30: charged particle 30-26: racket 33-35: Edgar Allan 33-36: ode 40-37: gouge 41-44: dark blue 43-41: vehicle 43-73: blowhole 45-47: suffering 45-75: intelligent 51-81: team 56-26: eternal city 56-52: big brook 58-8: hammertoe 58-38: baked item 60-51: taximen 60-58: truck front
www.downhomelife.com
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62-92: finished 65-62: soil 68-70: baby 70-65: adds 73-93: beverage 76-74: born 76-79: close 77-79: auricle 82-85: tidy 83-85: devour 87-85: shack 87-89: torrid 91-71: crimson 91-96: rationality 91-100: logical 94-96: offspring
96-76: sister 96-98: capture 97-57: forwards 98-68: ship 100-97: Napoleon isle Last Month’s Answer 1
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ACC BAA S P L O I L LR I UGN TRG EON L WA YL S
E L ER GALA UGN I HEAT GLOO A BMR TOON E WO N S HRO UORE
10
AT E RMN TUO ART HC S A I D S RN TC I E LR NEG
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The Bayman’s
Crossword Puzzle 1
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ACROSS 1. mafia 3. “Come get ___ duds in order” 4. “___ la la” 5. “In a leaky punt with a ______ oar ’tis always best to hug the shore” 8. it wasn’t (colloq) 13. crude 14. wheat 15. boat hitching post (colloq) 17. “As old as Buckley’s ____” 18. small pie 21. Justice of the Peace (abbrev) 22. Parson’s Pond (abbrev) 24. “Oh __ nerves is rubbed right raw” 25. leave out 26. “I snared my first rabbit when I was 11 and after _ ___ __ I cried” (3 words) 29. force open 31. quilt 33. Great Big ___ 35. him (colloq) 36. lazy as a cut ___ 37. portion of corn 38. munching 39. registered nurse (abbrev) 41. Mile One ______ – St. John’s entertainment venue 43. a showoff (2 words, colloq) 46. ___ Bonaventure, NL 48. seine 49. where Sally sells seashells
10. Organ Island (abbrev) 11. “Last year I lent a hand to haul the boats ____ the land” 12. linnet 14. “What’s on the __?” 16. mainland Canada (colloq) 19. friend in St. Pierre et Miquelon 20. Red Islands (abbrev) 23. pirate Gilbert ____ of Carbonear legend 27. fish marker 28. “we tried not to spoil her, but _____ her as I should” 30. Come Home ____ 32. tuckamores 34. “___ enough for to do him all week” 35. door to a cod trap (colloq) 40. Native American tribal nation 42. National Railway Equipment (abbrev) 44. Thin as __ eggshell 45. type of medical scan 46. “__ flies on you” 47. “Until __ see bottom inside the two sunkers”
1
2
C
O
D
H
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U
G
ANSWERS TO LAST MONTH’S CROSSWORD
3
M
O
B
M
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Y
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4
DOWN 1. “Long ___ ____ ___ __ ____” (5 words) 2. “Like a _____ _____ in the fits” (2 words) 6. short, thin stick (colloq) 7. overhead train 8. Lady and the _____ 9. animal trap placed underwater (2 words)
J
R 5
13
G
14
E
7
O N
19
E
8
U
9
G
S 20
T
C 26
R
R
S
O
A
D
R 21
A
36
O
E
P
A 17
A 23
E
E
N
N E
T
O
M
24
D
A
A
I
X
R
E
N
N 32
O
34
T
E
D
35
P
G
S
T
38
P S
12
S
31
W
37
L
11
R
28
F
L
39
E
V
30
E
E
E 22
R
W
45
10
T
27
33
K
S
16
29
R
N
15
A
18
G
6
Y
25
O 40
E
46
A
W
E 41
T
C 42
O
R
47
I
T
E
M
43
D 48
50
L
www.downhomelife.com
A
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44
H
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49
O
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51
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October 2018
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DIAL-A-SMILE © 2018 Ron Young
Pick the right letters from the old style phone to match the numbers grouped below and uncover a quote which will bring a smile to your face.
__ 43
___ 946
___ _ _ 925 3 7
_____ 92967
___ 255
__ 87 _ __ 3 29
____ _ 3275 9
’
____ 5664
Last Month’s Answer: All you need is love. But a little chocolate now and then doesn't hurt.
©2018 Ron Young
CRACK THE CODE
L
Each symbol represents a letter of the alphabet, for instance =R Try to guess the smaller, more obvious words to come up with the letters for the longer ones. The code changes each month.
_ _ _
J7 O
_ _ _ _
0 O HJ
_ R _ _ _ R _ _ _ _ _
pLO p iLi J; Zk _ _ _ _ R R _ _
JZb ZLLZz _ _ _ R
KZfL
_ _
;H
_ _ _ _
0 O HJ
_ _ R RZL _ _ _ _ _
x Z ;k m _ _ _ _ _
JZ x i K
Last Month’s Answer: The wise does at once what the fool does at last. 156
October 2018
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© 2018 Ron Young
Food For Thought
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.”
groove =
pitch
_ _ _
vf}
closest = _
_ _ _ _
triumph =
xtte
_ _ _ runs = _ _ V `x no
_ _ _ _ _
sYsvK
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
[ttekso} _ _ _ _ _ _ _
Ykp}VvK
rings out =
_ _ _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
tb kxK
`
_
p[k b so
_ _
ko
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
eKo` ft p}kVttx’ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
n[s}[sv _ _ _ _ _
te b k}
_ _ _
KVf
_ _
k}
_ _ _ _
ntt} _ _
Vv
_ _
}V
_ _ _
tV}
Last Month’s Answer: When your values are clear to you, making decisions becomes easier. www.downhomelife.com
October 2018
157
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Different Strokes
Our artist’s pen made the two seemingly identical pictures below different in 12 places. See if you can find all 12.
ERN AND COAL BIN IN ST. JOHN’S HARBOUR
Last Month’s Answers: 1. Boats; 2. Shed door; 3. Tawt; 4. Outboard motor; 5. Life jacket; 6. Leg; 7. Window; 8. Cap; 9. Codfish; 10. Roof; 11. Boulder; 12. Steering wheel “Differences by the Dozen”- A compilation of Different Strokes from 2002 to 2014 (autographed by Mel) can be ordered by sending $9.95 (postage incl.; $13.98 for U.S. mailing) to Mel D’Souza, 21 Brentwood Dr., Brampton, ON, L6T 1P8.
158
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HIDE & SEEK PLACES TO LIVE
The words can be across, up, down, backward or at an angle, but always in a line.
APARTMENT BOAT BROWNSTONE CABIN CITY COMMUNE COMMUNITY CONDOMINIUM CONTINENT COTTAGE COUNTRY
G T L G A A V S N J T N D P A V M N
Last Month’s Answers
N O I S I V I D B U S Z S S O G K E
A O G F Z C B C E D K F B W Z V N T
P O T X A A O Q U G Z R O X K T Z J
A W P B S T Y R E L O Q F D D M C H
R U I G T B O S K W Q C A J K I P B
T N S A Z R U C N C G Y R H Y E Y N
M O G Q X O Z S P O N J D O J S B I
www.downhomelife.com
PROVINCE STATE SUBDIVISION TOWNHOUSE TRAILER TREEHOUSE VILLAGE
DUPLEX FARM HOUSE MANSION NEIGHBOURHOOD OUTPORT PLANET
E E H I H M T A S U R F E P E U F Y
N B Z N C O N T I N E N T F T O I X
T S W I N G H Z R T R O Z R T H O T
X O Z E E L M E D R Z I M X M E Y Q
T E J Y Y T L E O Y Y G B D K E N I
H A J R X E W R Y E M W O R O K W I
S G L T L I K C O D O U T P O R T B
I C O O J O Z E E E N T T O N G X O
T O M A T O F B G A A I C A I G B R
V T I P A Z J W H I U S B O A T R L
K E S B H E R H J T C J U Z O J A C
O A D B N Q Q H O H H V C F N O H A
M C A R U Q U D R I M W Z W X O B Z
C E L N M O Z W O C Q K U T M O S R
C U E E H S Q K C J E A M A G M U R
E U T T B D F C U I O A I V E V G Y
D L J T B V E Z E N S S B O K R O O
S Q K F T J E A U C Y T E E Z Y U T
G C I Z E S W X O J Z H N E A O P L
T S V S O Y W S A C E E R W V T C X
Y U E N V X F N D M C H P E I Y D V
R D R R L E E K W M H H G V T K G O
A J N N V Y L O B M L Y G S X K W D
E P Y N C L K X W T P A I W F V R O
W C Q N I R T A F G B G V N K H W Y
L M H I I K K R H R M H I M I S K U
O R U P I P E H X B D F R P I M Y Q
L E B T M F S T A H C A N I P S A N
L L O M V M C G G A Y U R M J O M E
F P Z W T I H C A B N R R N C F S Y
I P N J D E S S S W Y H O S P H Y R
I P U O X O O E I F E P N I E P N A
L E C A E P L Q A E X A C R R F K O
U P R Y V N E A D U O S Y A D A M E
V E S C B M R D E H X Z B I C A D U
A S L N D V I R E X Q V I P T K F Z
C J U P A M V Y C K G S M F E Q P H
K T E F E Y E P N V J O Y Z T E Z W
S U G A R A P S A X Z G C C Q R M F
Y R E L E C F F L U B R O C C O L I
W E N U M M O C A O H U R E K Y H C
October 2018
Y Q Z T E N A L P X C G K L V L J X 159
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photo finish
Land O’Plenty Pumpkins
While exploring the Conception Bay South coastline, the submitter snapped this ethereal and slightly spooky sight. David Brophy Conception Bay South, NL
Do you have an amazing or funny photo to share? Turn to page 9 to find out how to submit. 160
October 2018
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