Downhome March 2024 by Downhome Publishing Inc

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$4.99 March 2024

Vol 36 • No 10

‘Out Here’ with The Once

The Not So Great Escape

Countdown to Eclipse

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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 Dillon Collins Assistant Editor Nicola Ryan Editor Lila Young

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

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

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

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

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

Finance and Administration Accountant Marlena Grant Accountant Sandra Gosse

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

Operations Manager, Twillingate Nicole Mehaney Founding Editor Ron Young Chief Executive Officer/Publisher Grant Young President & Associate Publisher Todd Goodyear General Manager/Assistant Publisher Tina Bromley To subscribe, renew or change address use the contact information above. Subscriptions 1-Year term total inc. taxes, postage and handling: for residents in NL, NS, NB, PE $49.44; ON $48.58; QC, SK, MB, AB, BC, NU, NT, YT $45.14. US $54.99; International $59.99

Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement #40062919 The advertiser agrees that the publisher shall not be liable for damages arising out of errors in advertisements beyond the amount paid for the space actually occupied by the portion of the advertisement in which the error occurred, whether such error is due to the negligence of the servants or otherwise, and there shall be no liability beyond the amount of such advertisement. The Letters to the Editor section is open to all letter writers providing the letters are in good taste, not libelous, and can be verified as true, correct and written by the person signing the letter. Pen names and anonymous letters will not be published. The publisher reserves the right to edit, revise, classify, or reject any advertisement or letter. © Downhome Publishing Inc. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without permission of the publisher. We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada.

Printed in Canada Official onboard magazine of

March 2024

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40 the fix was in?

Contents

MARCH 2024

40 Tell The Newfoundlanders Greg Malone answers long simmering questions on the 75th anniversary of Newfoundland’s entry into Confederation Dillon Collins

54 Seizing The Moment Rising sports prospect Maggie Connors reflects on her historic debut with the PWHL. Dillon Collins

78 Countdown to Eclipse

54 rising star

www.downhomelife.com

The solar eclipse on April 8, 2024 will be visible across a wide swath of North America and Newfoundland and Labrador. Hilding Neilson, PhD

92 Ask Marie Anything Love your decluttered space. March 2024

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Contents

MARCH 2024

homefront 8 Between the Lines A note from the Editor

10 Letters From Our Readers A nursery rhyme verse, the Winter Classic, and a bundle of birch brooms

14 Downhome Tours Ireland 16 Why is That? Why do sailors use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right”? Linda Browne

18 Life’s Funny Birthday Helper Bonnie Goguen

reading hero

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

20 Lil Charmers Chillin’ Out 22 Pets of the Month Seeing Double 26 Reviewed Denise Flint reviews Isthisanology? by Amanda Bulman and Ruth Lawrence

28 What Odds Paul Warford says

double trouble

farewell to his longtime editor

30 Fresh Tracks Wendy Rose reviews trumpeter Mike Herriott’s Tales Of Tricksters and Vagabonds 34 Adventures Outdoors It’s Ok to Keep Some Trout Gord Follett 38 Submission of the Year Find out the winners for best photo and best story of 2023. 4

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off the beaten path

features 48 The Road to Confederation 75 years ago in 1949, Newfoundland signed up to a union with Canada. Nicola Ryan

60 Sweet Sound of Success From Broadway to hanging with Bowie, Topsail’s Chad Richardson is now helping pave the way for others. Linda Browne

48 the bumpy road

66 Out Here With The Once The Juno nominated folk-trio peel back the layers of their most freeing and personal album yet. Dillon Collins

explore

60 a wild ride

www.downhomelife.com

72 The Navigator’s Way Exploring the history, heritage, and home-grown hospitality of beautiful St. Brendan’s. Dennis Flynn 84 A Nostalgic Excursion Around the Bay Mark Penney March 2024

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Contents

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100

tastes of the emerald isle

home and cabin 90 Stuff We Love It’s Easy Being Green Nicola Ryan

96 Todd’s Table Baked Chicken Todd Goodyear

100 Downhome Recipes Irish Favourites

108 Down to Earth Growing Ginger Kim Thistle

90 get your green on

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114

smooth operator

reminiscing 112 Flashbacks Classic photos of people and places.

113 This Month In History Chesley (Ches) Crosbie

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

118 The (Not So) Great Escape About the cover This vivid photo of a dory was taken in Marystown, NL by reader Jennifer Brushett. The dory is seen by many as a lasting symbol to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians and matches the reflective theme of this issue.

Cover Index Greg Malone • 40 NL’s New Hockey Hero • 54 75 Years of Confederation • 48 ‘Out Here’ with The Once • 66 The Not So Great Escape • 118 Countdown to Eclipse • 78 www.downhomelife.com

How German PoWs made their getaway from a St. John’s internment camp during WWII. Darrell Hillier

124 Puzzles 136 Colouring Page 138 Classifieds 140 Mail Order 144 Photo Finish March 2024

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between the lines

They say that Life is Better with Downhome… Full disclosure, I’m not much for introductions. Truthfully, the feeling-out process in any relationship can always be a touch awkward and it’s best just to plow through the messy bits. My unease at hellos aside, there’s a certain pressure that comes with being the custodian of an institution that means so much to so many. It’s a weight I take on humbly as the new Editor-in-chief of Downhome magazine. And there’s no shortage of mixed emotions. For 14 years outgoing EIC Janice Stuckless sat at the helm of Downhome, operating with a good-natured professionalism and burning passion for this place and its people that’s seldom seen in an industry that chews up and spits out would-be creatives. The reality of replacing a respected and trusted face that has carried the weight of the Downhome name for over a decade is not lost on me, dear readers. I’m fully aware that I’m wearing shoes a touch too big, though in time I’ll hopefully come to grow into the fit. For some personal background, print media has been a constant in my life since I was aware of the world-travelling power of the written word. From comics and magazines, to novels and expansive volumes, reading, and the unmatched nostalgia-driven high of holding a physical copy, is an irreplaceable feeling. I have been immersed in a writer’s world for the entirety of my professional life, navigating Newfoundland and Labrador’s media circus this past decade in a winding and always unpredictable journey that has led me to join the Downhome family. And a family it is. New yet familiar, fresh and innovative, while serving as a decidedly true-to-home reflection of Newfoundlandia, Downhome is a name that evokes a wave of emotions in readers from the tiniest port-of-call to the most bustling metropolis. So here’s my hello and good-to-see-ya. Know that it’s one filled with pride and nervous excitement and that for me —and hopefully each one of you – life is better with Downhome. Dillon Collins, Editor-in-chief 8

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Submission Guidelines and Prize Rules

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

Submit Today! Send your photo, story, joke or poem to

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

Hidden somewhere in this issue is Corky Sly Conner.

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

Send your replies to: Corky Contest 43 James Lane St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3

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

Congratulations to Janet Richards of St. John’s, NL who found Corky on page 84 of the January issue!

*No Phone Calls Please. One entry per person

www.downhomelife.com

March 2024

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A Winter Work of Art The founder of the Isle aux Morts Winter Classic, Victor Lawrence, told me that Downhome had done a story on the event in its February issue. I did a painting of the Winter Classic as a fundraiser and was hoping it might be included in the article or in another section in your magazine. Bernard C. Noel Isle aux Morts, NL

Absolutely beautiful piece, Bernard! We always love seeing art from our readers! Submissions are welcome via editorial@downhomelife.com or Downhomelife.com.

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‘Sleep Baby Sleep’ I sang another verse of this lullaby, “Sleep Baby Sleep,” to my first grandchild, born in 1998. Wow, he’s 26 this year! Sleep baby sleep Thy Father guards thy sleep The angels shake the dreamland tree And from it fall sweet dreams for thee Sleep baby sleep. Connie Ayer

via email

Superhero Readers Wolverine is reading the latest issue of Downhome. We have had a subscription at the library for years as lots of Maritimers live in Cold Lake, Alberta. If you want to add this picture to your magazine, please do! Tanya Boudreau Cold Lake, AB

Thank you for the addition to a reader question from our February issue, Connie! It’s great to see that rhymes and lullabies can be passed down throughout the years across our island and beyond. Have any of our readers experienced a similar trend of a piece of your childhood being shared by strangers? Let us know at editiorial@downhomelife.com or Downhomelife.com.

Too cool! Wolverine is easily the most excellent and awesome of all the XMen, what with his healing powers and razor sharp claws! We appreciate the creativity and your long-time patronage! Keep reading!

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 or write to us at 43 James Lane, St. John’s, NL, A1E 3H3.

www.downhomelife.com

March 2024

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Behind the Birch Broom While browsing through early issues of your magazine I came across an article in the May 2018 edition by Dale Jarvis about birch brooms. This got me thinking about the birch brooms that I used to make in my younger years and were common throughout the island and the Labrador coast. They were not the ones described in the article, though, but the broom of choice for our fishermen and farmers. I have firsthand descriptions of this broom from the Labrador Coast, Baie Vert Peninsula, Fogo Island, Trinity Bay and, of course, my area of Bonavista Bay. The following is from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English: “A birch broom was made by cutting small alder ‘gads,’ binding them together by interweaving other alder gads, trimming off the bottom and driving a handle into this bundle.” I have made a number of those brooms and they are what Newfoundland fishermen and farmers used to keep their workspace neat and tidy. I remember many times in my younger years using it to sweep our barn floor. They were easily made not only with alder twigs, but birch twigs as well, hence the name. In some areas another shrub that I do not know the name of was used. This broom and its construction is certainly part of our heritage that should be preserved.

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This is a picture of the typical Newfoundland birch broom as described in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. I’m wondering how many of your readers remember making and using this broom. Norman Bull St. John’s, NL

Thanks so much for your submission Norman! Do any of our readers remember using a birch broom as described above? Do you have any nostalgic items from your childhood that bring about similar memories? Let us know with your thoughts and photos at editorial@downhomelife.com and at Downhomelife.com.

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homefront Downhome tours...

Ireland

Ring of Kerry Avier Power of Mount Carmel, NL, poses amidst the emerald fields of the Ring of Kerry.

Spectacular County Kerry, the most westerly county of Ireland, has been referred to as ‘The Kingdom’ since the 1st century, when chieftain Ciar of the O’Connor Irish noble dynasty took control of the territory. The Ring of Kerry is a scenic driving route that winds its way 179 km (111 miles) around Kerry’s mystical Iveragh Peninsula, through Killarney National Park and along the rugged coast of the Dingle Peninsula. It’s often called the most beautiful place on earth.

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Dublin “My mother is a Kearney, so a visit to Peadar Kearney’s Pub in Dublin, Ireland was a must on our vacation,” writes Lilly Strang of St. John’s, NL.

This pub’s named for Peadar Kearney (1883 –1942), the Irish songwriter who composed wellknown rebel songs – folksongs that supported Irish nationalism and republicanism. In 1907 he wrote the words to “A Soldier’s Song,” which is now the Irish national anthem. In Newfoundland, early instances of the name Kearney appeared in Harbour Grace and St. John’s some 250 years ago in the late 1770s.

Waterford “Plaque commemorating the thousands of Irish, among whom was one Matthew Dillon from Mooncoin who sailed to Newfoundland (Talamh an Eisc) to work in the fishery. Great to see the place from whence our family emigrated,” writes submitter Tom Dillon.

Irish fishermen were frequent visitors to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland as early as the 17th century. At the height of the cod-trading industry, 200 ships a day would leave the port city of Waterford, packed full of men and supplies. Those who sailed out of Waterford came predominantly from the southeast counties of Waterford, Kilkenny, Tipperary and Wexford and settled near St. John’s and along Newfoundland’s southern shore. www.downhomelife.com

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Expert answers to common life questions. By Linda Browne

Why do sailors use “port” and “starboard” instead of “left” and “right”? The seafaring life is overflowing with colourful words and associated phrases, like “scuttlebutt,” “chockablock,” “in the doldrums” and “three sheets to the wind” (which might happen if you drink too much “grog”), to name just a few. Sailors certainly have a language all their own. So when they use terms like “port” and “starboard” to refer to “left” and “right,” are they trying to be confusing to landlubbers by speaking in some secret code? Turns out there’s a perfectly practical reason for this, and it all has to do with clarity. The U.S. National Ocean Service (NOS), a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), sheds light via its website. These particular terms, the NOS explains, refer to fixed locations on a vessel, unlike “left” and “right,” which seemingly change with the tides. “Since port and starboard never change, they are unambiguous references that are independent of a mariner’s orientation, and, thus, mariners use these nautical terms instead of left and right to avoid 16

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confusion. When looking forward, toward the bow of a ship, port and starboard refer to the left and right sides, respectively,” they state. Since most mariners were righthanded, the steering oar that they used to control their vessels in the early days was placed over the right side of the stern. “Sailors began calling the right side the steering side, which soon became ‘starboard’ by combining two Old English words: stéor (meaning ‘steer’) and bord (meaning ‘the side of a boat’),” explains the NOS. “As the size of boats grew, so did the steering oar, making it much easier to tie a boat up to a dock on the side opposite the oar. This side became known as larboard, or ‘the loading side.’ Over time, larboard – too easily confused with starboard – was replaced with port. After all, this was 1-888-588-6353

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the side that faced the port, allowing supplies to be ported aboard by porters.” While that may be a bit of a tongue

twister, hopefully when someone tells you which direction to face the next time you’re out on the high seas, it’ll be as clear as the water on a fine day.

What does it mean to set things off on the right/wrong foot? There are many instances in life when you want to make a good first impression or start things off “on the right foot,” e.g., during a job interview, a first date, meeting your future in-laws for the first time, or any moment when you really don’t want to muck things up. But the “right” foot also suggests that there’s a “wrong” foot. Which begs this question: Is this your left foot? Alternatively, can your right foot be the wrong one? If you’re left scratching your head, Linda and Roger Flavell have clarified the matter in the Dictionary of Idioms and Their Origins. The left foot, they explain, is indeed the wrong one, and it goes back to how the ancient Romans conceptualized good and evil. “The Romans held that anything to do with the left had evil consequences. The gods guarded your right, but evil spirits hovered on your left,” they write (think about that little angel and devil often depicted hovering above someone’s right and left shoulder respectively). “The Latin for ‘left’ is ‘sinister.’ a word that has lost its ‘leftness’ in English, but retains the ancient meaning of foreboding,” the Flavells continue.

The writer Petronius, they add, encouraged “his fellow Romans to ‘enter a house right foot foremost.’ They were to leave it in the same way.” The Romans, who were quite a superstitious bunch, “lived in such intense dread of the powers of evil that guards were appointed to stand at the doorway to all public places to make sure that the right-foot rule was obeyed,” the Flavells claim. “Augustus is said to have been particularly superstitious in this respect.” They add that the tradition of carrying the bride over the threshold “is thought to have originated in this superstition. It would not do for her to start the marriage off on the wrong foot.” So if you don’t want to end up in divorce court, make sure you don’t put your wrong, i.e. left, foot forward on your wedding night.

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

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

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homefront life’s funny

Birthday Helper My daughter and I were attending a birthday party for an older gentleman friend. She was about five at the time and when it came time to open the presents/ cards she was front and centre passing him the gifts. It was very quiet in the hall and I could see her looking at each card she was passing to him. I didn’t clue into what she was doing until she said loudly “Open this one next, Lewis, feels like it got money in it!” The hall erupted in laughter and I turned quite red. Bonnie Goguen Kingston, ON

Do you have any funny or embarrassing true stories? Share them with us. If your story is selected, you’ll win a prize! See page 9 for details.

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ow “B’ys, don’t kn, but about you twod!” I’m wrecke oney – Mike Mah

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

Here are the runners-up: “Hold on fellas, here comes the big one!” - Lynn Robbins “Look b’ys we’re saved! It’s Gilligan and the Skipper!” - Kelly Dicks “Nutting a little duct tape can’t fix!” - Kimberly Martin

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

www.downhomelife.com

March 2024

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homefront lil charmers

Cool Cuties

Malcolm and Issac pose with ‘Frosty the Fisherman.’ Nicole Mander Bryant’s Cove, NL

Chillin’ Out Treasure Hunting Avery loves to collect sea glass. Claudette Russell Carmanville, NL

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Puddle Jumper Cayson jumps for joy! Megan McLean via Downhomelife.com

In a Pinch Abigail’s the cutest catch of the day. April Hillier via Downhomelife.com

www.downhomelife.com

March 2024

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homefront pets of the month

Seeing Double Joined At the Hip Addison and Jack are canine kin. Jillian Turner via Downhomelife.com

Purr-fect Pair Nemo and Oreo look like long lost brothers. Karley Mews via Downhomelife.com

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Double Delight Penny and Wagz and little Ella and Bailey wait for treats in tandem. Deanne Hussey via Downhomelife.com

Snuggle Buddies Cuddly cuties Strawberry and Maple snooze together. Melissa Edwards via Downhomelife.com www.downhomelife.com

March 2024

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We’re wasting no time preparing for the next Downhome Calendar, . . . and neither should you! Submit your favourite photos of scenery, activities and icons that best illustrate the down-home lifestyle. We’re looking for a variety of colourful subjects – outports, animals, laundry lines, historic sites, seascapes, hilltop views, and so much more – and photos from all four seasons. This is your chance to get in on our most popular reader contest and try to woo the judges into choosing your photo for the 2025 Downhome Calendar. These calendars are seen by tens of thousands of subscribers and displayed all year long.

What are you waiting for? Submit today, using one of these ways:

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

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homefront

reviewed by Denise Flint

Isthisanology? Amanda Bulman and Ruth Lawrence Illustrated by Leon Chung Breakwater Books $19.95

Have you ever wondered what ornithology is? How about

apiology? Or caseology? Even if you know what they are, chances are there are kids in your life who have no idea. Enter Amanda Bulman and Ruth Lawrence, who have written IsThisAnOlogy? The book is designed for middle-grade readers as a fun gateway to learning about various professions. There are interviews with people in the jobs they talk about, lots of interesting facts and even experiments and activities that kids can easily do themselves. The lavish illustrations include both photographs and whimsical watercolour paintings that make each busy page pop. Some of the illustrations are downright strange. Kids will have fun picking out the anomalies. As well as different kinds of pictures, there are different fonts for the various bits of information presented. While this looks good, one of the fonts is quite stylized and difficult to read. I can see this being a problem for young readers. It was for me. The book is based on a TV series of the same name, which might explain the narrator, who’s never introduced but simply turns up in every chapter. I would have liked a small introduction to who she was. Only a smattering of ologies are covered, of course, meaning that this could be a series that continues into several volumes if it’s popular. Let’s hope it does. This book is both fun and informative. (Oh, and caseology, in case you were wondering, is a relatively new term for the study of cheese. I didn’t know that either.)

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Q&A with the Co-Author Denise Flint: How does a co-authorship work? Ruth Lawrence: We literally split

DF: How did you devise the format of the book? RL: I think it’s very different (from

the book up and, interestingly, I did not do marine biology (I wanted to be a marine biologist in high school) because Andie made a good argument for doing it. We liked all the topics we chose. I find that coownership really works whenever I’ve co-authored. I end up in a situation where I don’t know if I wrote it or not when I read it later that’s real co-writing.

the show). When you’re putting it down on a page you’re thinking about how you’re going to keep that interest and the pages turning. As far as curriculum, we challenged ourselves to come up with activities so people could engage with it. It’s harder to do that with TV. The book is a little more comprehensive. One thing we did try to keep is you can watch the tv shows in any order and we took that approach with the book. We told people to skip ahead or back.

DF: How do you know Amanda? RL: Oh my gosh. I don’t know how I met her, but I know when we first got to know each other we were popping up at the same places. She does a lot of things and I do a lot of those things as well. I remember thinking she’s like me, doing it all to try to make a living. During the lockdown, I found myself pitching something to Bell (TV) and the producer asked, ‘Do you have anything else?’ He told me what he wanted and I reached out to Andie and her comedy troupe and she said, ‘Can I pitch a show to you?’ and it was IsThisAnOlogy. I love this idea of presenting the world to kids, so we did six 10-minute episodes and Andie said to me, ‘This is really a book,’ and as soon as the show was over she pitched it.

www.downhomelife.com

DF: What has the reception been? RL: Really positive. I didn’t know what to expect. The first time Andie and I saw the book was at a book fair at a school organized by a passionate reader/teacher who invited us there. She placed the book in our hands and it was the first time we saw it. That was a big moment. We got great feedback. Every time we did a signing we were blown away by how many people came and bought the book. The publisher has done a great job. Then they submitted it for a Yellow Cedar award in the Forest of Reading competition. It came out of nowhere and it was amazing to have that kind of recognition.

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homefront what odds

so long, and thanks for all the extensions By Paul Warford While I will Trying to conceptualize my work for this I find myself dwelling on two faceless never be Hunter month, men I have never met. One is a gentleman, S. Thompson, deceased, by the name of Mr. Scarff. I worked at we do share a his car dealership in Halifax, but he’d already passed on by then and it was in the capable similarity or two, hands of his son, Steve — an astute chief amongst businessman and a great boss. Anyway, I used hear stories about when his father ran things these being a to from the old-timers in sales, who were tendency to work themselves young bucks back when they first right up until started working for Mr. Scarff. They’d laugh and talk about going into his office while he smoked the deadline. cigars and ran numbers on a calculator, with them sheepishly stating that their customer wanted winter tires, or another $500 added to their trade-in value, and would that be possible? I’m not sure how often he would approve these requests, but the fellas said that either way he’d dismiss them forthwith with the barked instructions to “just get the goddamn deal!” I apologize to the Scarff family if this tableau is inaccurate; this is the version of Mr. Scarff I conjured from hearing these stories. I always got a kick out of that image; the cigarchomping boss who didn’t want to know the particulars, they just wanted the job done. The other person I’ve never met who has been on my mind is Jann Wenner. Jann was the founder of Rolling Stone magazine. In its early years, he would hire a lanky, bow-legged sports nut from Kentucky named Hunter S. Thompson. Hunter primarily covered politics and the revolution that American culture was experiencing at that time, and he did so all across the country, with a penchant for submitting his writing late and in sporadic chunks via the “Mojo Wire” (the earliest 28

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iteration of a fax machine), to then be pieced together by a team back at the RS office. All the while Hunter was covering American politicians – when he wasn’t setting off fire extinguishers or skipping hotel bills – Jann was stuck in San Francisco, hoping and praying that Hunter would deliver on-time, if at all. Our fearless editor, Janice, is stepping down from her helm. I’ve been thinking of these two faceless men because over the years I have come to associate both of them with her. While I will never be Hunter S. Thompson, we do share a similarity or two, chief amongst these being a tendency to work right up until the deadline. While I’m no genius as he was (sadly), I sometimes thought of myself as a little Hunter S. Thompson, injecting myself into a story I’ve made up, and then getting it across the goal line at the last possible minute. Meanwhile, here was Janice the entire time, patiently waiting for me to submit what I had cooked up, sometimes having to say, “This isn’t quite right, it needs something else,” while my gut reaction would be, “What?! Isn’t it perfect already?” before re-reading my work and seeing her logic. Just as Jann was a professional, level-headed guide for Hunter, so has Janice been a beacon for me. Hunter would also bring Jann into his writing when Jann probably would have preferred to stay out of it. And this brings us to Mr. Scarff. Over the years, I revelled the chance to insert Janice into my writing, and I liked to present her as this exaggerated, fictional character, like www.downhomelife.com

my Mr. Scarff; a cigar-smoking boss who just wants me to get the damn work in. I loved to write about Janice this way because the reality couldn’t be further from the truth, and I’m a person who operates in ironies. Of course, most of the time, when I wrote Janice into my pieces, she would take herself right back out, but now she’s not my boss anymore so she can’t stop me. Hunter was known for putting himself at the centre of his writing and I do the same thing. Every single month I talk about myself. Have you noticed? Today is no different. I can only describe Janice as she relates to me because I’ve only ever known her as my editor. I don’t know her favourite food, I don’t know her middle name, I don’t know how she operates with the other Downhome writers. What I do know is Janice was a fantastic mentor to me for almost 10 years. She always made me feel like I was worthwhile and that I belonged here. An editor and writer’s relationship is symbiotic; one produces while the other tempers, and in the end each benefit from the effort. The bond is an important relationship, and it’s one I’ve cherished with her. I’m certain I’ll miss it. I’d encourage you all to write Downhome and wish her a fond farewell, as I’m doing now. Thank you, Janice (for everything). Paul Warford began writing for Downhome to impress his mom and her friends. He writes and performs comedy in Eastern Canada. Follow him on X @paulwarford March 2024

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fresh tracks

new music talk with Wendy Rose

Tales of Tricksters and Vagabonds Mike Herriott

MIKE HERRIOTT’S Tales Of Tricksters and Vagabonds sees the

classical and jazz trumpeter look to fictional characters to inspire his latest record. Released in late October 2023, this six-track album is the end product of Mike’s hunt for a topic for his Master’s thesis in composition at York University, coupled with his longtime fascination with the darker cast members found in fiction. On top of composing, producing and recording all six tracks on Tales of Tricksters and Vagabonds, Mike performs all trumpets, flugelhorns, French horns, trombones, electric bass, fretless electric bass, acoustic bass, piano and percussion. Wife Ofra Harnoy joins on cello, with Jacob Slous and Richard Moore trading off on drums, giving this trumpet-focused album a very full sound. The opening track is “Rumpelstiltskin,” with a fun piano intro – younger listeners may be reminded of the fun and plinky Gamecube startup intro –

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but as more instruments join in, we quickly get into a jazzy big band sound. By the one-minute mark, you’re fully engrossed in this layered musical performance, which tells the grand story of one of many tricksters and vagabonds highlighted on this record. Mike’s inspiration for this piece comes from the titular character himself – there’s “something about the way he uses his own cleverness to play games in order to expose the weakness of his prey rather than simply inflict evil deeds,” the liner notes explain. As the song wraps up, the tale ends with an irksome Rumpelstiltskin fleeing the scene after being bested at his own game, his ire reflected by an angry, squealing trumpet. The album’s second track, “Puss, in Boots” not only draws inspiration from the legendary fairy tale, but also from Mike and Ofra’s own feline friends, whose movements 1-888-588-6353

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influenced this boisterous number. Slow, cool trumpet and heavy bass lead us in, reminding listeners of a cat’s sneaky ways – think Pink Panther perhaps, but with that splash of extra sass that only a spoiled indoor cat could possess. “As you listen, imagine any cat you have ever known,” Mike explains. “You’ll smile as I do.”

Another reason to smile is the fact that Mike and Ofra’s own cat makes a physical appearance on this record – Quincy the Bengal was nosing around while Dad was working on photographing elements of the album’s cover art. You’ll spot Quincy peering over a stack of books in the bottom right corner of the jacket. For “Rodion’s Republic,” the featured trickster is Rodion Raskolnikov, the “antihero” protagonist from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment. www.downhomelife.com

In exploring this character’s narcissism, paranoia and madness, Mike gives us a groovy piece with wonderful drumming by Richard Moore. Mike describes “Umble Uriah” as “the least likeable of this little collection” – not for musical reasons, but because Charles Dickens’ Uriah Heep from the novel David Copperfield holds the least amount of redeeming qualities from Mike’s list of “vagabonds.” The ending of this track fades out slowly and softly, paying homage to Dickens’ own ending for this character – seemingly repentant, yet still somehow filled with malice and spite – a lesson unlearned. Fans of The Bard will thoroughly enjoy “Mercutio,” the beloved prankster pal of Romeo Montague. Fiercely loyal and dangerously unafraid with sharp-tongued quick wit, Mercutio is a favourite character for many. Mike and drummer Jacob Slous showcase “in the fluid melody and countermelody, his ability to dance with words and give multiple messages, simultaneously,” the album’s detailed liner notes explain. It’s the shortest track on the album, coming in at six minutes flat, but the pair aptly invoke his mischievous spirit, with time to spare. Shakespeare fans get a twofer on March 2024

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Tales of Tricksters and Vagabonds, with the record’s last track, “Sir Jack,” paying homage to the repeated character of Sir John Falstaff. Mike puts a modern twist on Sir Jack, envisioning him as the kind of man who “could be easily found in some sort of biker bar in middle America,” he explains, describing his version as “a pompous, loud, womanizing drunkard who is, at the same time, loyal to his friends, wise, humorous and generous.” At times feeling like a soundscape of a fun and wild night out on the town, in which one can envision lavish parties and self-indulgent endeavours, this song ends on a different note, with one final trumpet squeal and a low singular note to mark the bitter and tragic ending of Sir Jack.

Q&A with the Artist Wendy Rose: Congrats on the release of Tales of Tricksters and Vagabonds! Can you tell us about the theme or inspiration for this awesomely titled album? Mike Herriott: Thank you! The

original idea for this album came about almost as an experiment in shifting focus in the creative process of writing music. It was the basis of my master’s degree thesis a few years ago: I wanted to explore how different my approach to programmatic composition, using fictional characters, would be from my usual habit of writing in a more impressionistic way about people, places and events in my life. Where an impressionistic representation of a friend or favourite place would be something that conjures up the feelings I have for the subject, taking a programmatic approach, that follows more of a narrative arc, requires that I have not only a sense of the characters themselves but also must endeavour to tell the story somehow. As for the choice of characters, I have always found a fascination with the sketchier characters from fiction.

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Perhaps it’s that each of these characters can, in some way or another, be found in real life, existing as real people. However, when we engage these characters within their respective works of fiction, we are able to experience them from a safe distance; they’re on the page and we can close the book whenever we want. If only it were so easy when encountering these types of individuals in real life! Having said that, they’re not all evil. Tricksters and Vagabonds, they range from Mercutio, who is just Romeo’s fun-loving, witty, and loyal BFF, to Rumpelstiltskin who is just a solid jerk. But each of these characters has something that makes more interesting the stories to which they belong.

WR: Your musical resume is lengthy, with a lot of diversity in medium and genre. In your experience as a multiinstrumentalist working in jazz and classical, how do these two genres relate to one another? MH: Music is a language. I’ve worked

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see all music as being connected. I’m not the first either… look at Duke Ellington with his versions of the “Nutcracker” and “Peer Gynt,” for example. I would have to say that my experience in both worlds – and others – definitely serve to inform me as a composer and improviser, as well as how I approach making music on each instrument that I’m dealing with. Good music is good music. I’ve recorded on country albums, hip-hop projects, salsa and more, and, each time, when the music is good, it becomes easier to become part of it.

WR: Other projects have found you working with a particularly special collaborator – your wife, Ofra Harnoy. What’s it like to share your greatest passion and be able to create musical works with your life partner? MH: It’s certainly not lost on me how lucky I am to be able to share my life and love with the one person who also happens to be my favourite person with whom to make music. Whether it’s in the recording studio, rehearsal room or concert stage, I find every moment we play music together to be a joy and an honour. She’s one of the finest cellists ever to live and she actually likes my music!

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WR: What are your goals for Tales of Tricksters and Vagabonds in 2024? MH: The recording industry has

changed so much over the past decade that it’s almost impossible to qualify goals for an album. It used to be that one would hope to sell lots of product and, at least, pay for the project! Nowadays, I find myself looking at the ultimate bottom line of making music; hoping that it reaches people and holds some meaning for them. I’m working constantly to keep what we generate in our studio in front of people so they at least have the chance to check it out. When someone writes me a message saying how they find what I’ve done holds importance for them in their lives, it’s a huge honour.

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adventures outdoors

Gabe Piercey likes taking a few fish home, though his dad says he gets just as much enjoyment from releasing them. Submitted by Jeff Piercey

It’s OK to Keep Some Trout

By Gord Follett

For a few years until COVID took over the world, I spent one afternoon each week teaching kids in my wife’s after school program in Mount Pearl about various ways to safely enjoy the great outdoors. Wearing life jackets whenever in a boat, preventing and treating frostbite, spin casting lessons, not leaving garbage in the woods, identifying animal tracks... we covered quite a range of topics and I was pleasantly surprised that the K-3 children seemed to be generally interested in what I was showing them... well, for the most part, anyway. They were kids, after all, and their attention span had its limits. One particular topic I discussed a couple of times each year was catch-and-release trout fishing. The majority of younger kids, and even some of the older ones, had no idea what I was talking about when I first men34

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One of many brook trout Gord has released in Labrador over the years. Submitted by Gord Follett

tioned the subject, but once explained, it brought on story after story from the children themselves – all throughout the school year – about catching fish on family outings. Although it’s the younger generation I’m primarily focusing on with this column, it applies to every angler, regardless of age. I wasn’t a fan of catch-and-release until my mid-30s, which is 30 years ago now. I’ve let a helluva lot of fish go since then, particularly in Labrador, which is still home to some of the best brook trout fishing on the planet and where most outfitters either strongly suggest or have strict catch-andrelease policies. After offering the basics of what catch and release fishing was about, I always – always – told the kids it was OK to keep some fish. “I keep trout lots of times,” I said, “because it’s great fun and our brook (mud), brown and rainbow trout are delicious and nutritious.” (Even five and six-year-olds today know something about nutrition.) “But how come you put some back www.downhomelife.com

then, Gordie?” I clearly remember a girl from Grade 2 asking the first time I introduced C&R to a class in 2016 or ‘17. “I let them go so that you, your friends and family, my grandchildren and other people can catch them again when you are bigger and the fish are bigger,” was my reply. “Some people don’t want to keep any fish and that’s OK. It’s up to them,” I continued. “Other people want to take home every trout that they are allowed to keep. That’s up to them, too. But I don’t do that anymore. I’m sort of in the middle. If I go fishing and catch six trout, I’ll take three home with me to cook and put the others back in the water.” I was careful of what I said because even though I was suggesting that C&R was a good thing for the species, I wanted to let them feel ok with whatever decision they decided to make about it today or later in life. From my experience over the years – whether trout or salmon – trying to force the practice on people can backfire and increase tension March 2024

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Winter or summer, a feed of brook trout is tough to beat. John Dyke caught these beauties near St. Anthony. Submitted by Gord Follett

between those for and against catchand-release. We’ve seen it happen many times, particularly when it comes to salmon fishing, and it isn’t a pretty picture. Just about every angler today over 20 started out fishing for trout. It’s less complicated, there’s more places to fish and it doesn’t cost a small fortune to outfit somebody, as it does for salmon fishing. So while our kids and grandkids today are getting involved in trout fishing with a $45 rod and reel combo, $2 spinner and a tub of worms, this is the time to introduce them to C&R. Educate them. I’m willing to bet the vast majority of kids will be proponents of this method of conservation. Let them take a few trout home. Commend them when they put fish back and reiterate that what they are doing is actually protecting

fish stocks. Let’s face it: technology and easier access in recent years have all but eliminated yesterday’s “rewarding struggles,” where we walked and climbed for hours to reach our secret pond or gully, knowing we would be hooking trout “almost every cast.” One of my most satisfying moments with the school kids occurred in September of 2018, just a week after they all returned for another year. One of the Grade 1 boys told me he went fishing near his uncle’s cabin off Salmonier Line one day during the summer and that he caught three trout. “I put two of them back in the water, Gordie,” he said proudly, “but I kept the first one for my mom to cook. And it was really, really good!” These kids are our future guardians of the resource. Let’s try to put them on the right track.

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

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Best Photo Submission Thousands of votes were cast for our annual Best Photo Submission. The year that was 2023 saw some inspiring imagery across our issues, and the competition was steep, to say the least. Mark Gray’s ‘Reflections in Bonavista’ (as seen in our Downhome Moments from the November 2023 issue) captured the public’s attention. A tranquil scene of picturesque Bonavista, Mark’s image is painting-like in its colour-palette and depth. Congratulations to Mark and all those who provided memorable photos throughout the year! We look forward to seeing your shots throughout 2024! 38

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Best Written Submission

Here at Downhome, our contributors understand the assignment when it comes to weaving a compelling narrative that cuts to the heart of readers. Insightful, informative and engaging, our editorial team had a tall-order in whittling down the story that would take top spot for our Written Submission of the Year for 2023. “Scout’s Honour”, a harrowing tale of survival and brotherhood from Mike Perkins, was the unanimous choice. A gripping, nostalgia-tinged page turner, Mike transports readers to the winter of 1952, recalling on the night he almost perished and the best friend who saved his life. Here is an excerpt from Downhome’s Written Submission of the Year, “Scout’s Honour”: The next day was full of fun on the pond and in the snowy woods. There were many trips to the cabin to dry out gloves and boots, and to fill up on hot cocoa. I wanted to stay another day, but as the shadows lengthened, I remembered that Mom said I must return by that evening. I had church in the morning. Bob intended to stay, but said he would go with me to the other side of the pond where the trail linked with the road. His decision saved my life. About 200 yards from the cabin, the trail curved around a spring that fed into the pond. During the summer it was a popular swimming spot. As I led the way on my bike, I skirted the spring along the rocks, but realized too late that the rocks were coated with ice. The bike tires slipped and I went onto the pond where the ice was thin because of the spring. The bike and I went through the ice and straight to the bottom. When my feet hit bottom, I catapulted myself back to the surface. Bob’s face appeared at the top of the rocks and he reached for me. “I’m going back for my bike!” I www.downhomelife.com

yelled. The weight of my soaked clothes drew me quickly to the bottom and I grabbed a tire of my bike with both hands, shoved it above me and then I catapulted. I didn’t get far and I let go of my bike; it didn’t come back down with me. Once more I hit bottom, and with all my strength I pushed off. I came to the surface, but immediately began to sink. I looked up as my face was going under. I saw Bob holding onto a wheel of my bike. He yelled, “Grab the bike!” I don’t know where he found the strength, but soon I was out of the water and onto the snow. I was exhausted, but I rolled in the snow as we’d been taught. Snow acts as a sponge in getting the water off and out of your clothes after you fall through the ice. It was quickly getting dark. Bob said we must return to the cabin, but I said if I returned to the cabin it would be morning before my clothes dried. I had to go home now or my mom wouldn’t let me come back to the cabin for a long time. My 11-year-old logic locked into one course of action: Get on my bike and head home. March 2024

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features

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Greg Malone Answers Long-Simmering Questions on the 75th Anniversary of Newfoundland’s Dubious Entry into Confederation with Canada By Dillon Collins

The word CONFEDERATION carries a weight that still buckles the spine of many who call this island home.

For a generation, it was a wound that never properly healed, a proverbial powderkeg that could dismantle the most civilized gathering or dinner-table banter. A truth wrapped in fiction spun in deception and propaganda that redefined the nature of what it meant to be a proud Newfoundlander. “People suffered because of that propaganda. For years they said, ‘Oh, those ‘stupid Newfies,’ they gave up their sovereignty!’ We didn’t. It’s all a lie.” Such is the opening volley by the always passionate orator and funnymanturned-emancipator of long-buried secrets of Newfoundland-past, Greg Malone. www.downhomelife.com

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Sitting across from the legendary comedian — whose thumb wedged firmly in the eye of Canada’s ‘Newfie’ prejudice through the ahead-of-itstime comedy troupe CODCO — there’s a palpable energy. The old adage of not knowing the war is over applies. For Greg Malone, the war on truth, and one specific truth, has raged for 75 years. On March 31, 1949, Newfoundland entered Confederation as the 10th Canadian province, winning a run-off vote with 52.3 percent support following a referendum that begged the question of whether Newfoundland should return to responsible government as an independent dominion, or join Canada. The referendum, and the means and method by which the die was cast and Newfoundland joined Canada, has been pondered, debated and fought over tooth and nail for the 75 years since, with Greg famously writing a much-lauded, in-depth account of the major players and their backroom dealings. Don’t Tell the Newfoundlanders: The True Story of Newfoundland’s Confederation with Canada, was an atom bomb at the time of its release. Praised by some, reviled by others, the unearthing of long-dormant Newfoundland history thrust Greg into the spotlight as one of our province’s foremost authorities on the Confederation Question. “In the immediate aftermath I had people coming up to me and telling me, ‘Greg, I brought your book out and read it over Mom and Dad’s grave because they would love to have known this because they knew it was a shaft and a fraud and they 42

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could never prove it! They could never get the information.’ And I had more than one person tell me that. I had a lot of people tell me they read it over their parents’ graves,” Greg recounts with Downhome on a wet and windy afternoon in the heart of downtown St. John’s.

Greg Malone’s book had a profound impact on many people. “…I had people coming up to me and telling me, ‘Greg, I brought your book out and read it over Mom and Dad’s grave because they would love to have known this…’ ” reflects Malone. “A lot of people suffered because of that negative propaganda that Newfoundland got and the way it was done. We suffered for many generations. There’s Stephen Harper saying you can’t afford to support a bunch of Newfies lying around on a 1-888-588-6353

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Mackenzie King, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill in 1943.

Don’t Tell the Newfoundlanders outlines, in painstaking chronological detail, the proverbial coup d’etat between the Canadian and British governments to see through thick, thin or any metric in between that Newfoundland finds its way into Confederation with Canada. rock. Here’s our Prime Minister saying that about Newfoundland. He should know that Canada risked their reputation, risked everything to get Newfoundland.” Don’t Tell the Newfoundlanders outlines, in painstaking chronological detail, the proverbial coup d’etat between the Canadian and British governments to see through thick, thin or any metric in between that Newfoundland finds its way into Confederation with Canada. The manoeuverings by select political figureheads were panned by many in the houses of power in both nations and are seen as woefully unconstitutional with decades of hindsight. “There was a huge fight in the www.downhomelife.com

Canadian government between Lester Pearson and his crowd and C.D. Howe and their crowd against how they were doing it. Pearson and all of them said, ‘This is fraud. We’ve got to stop this and we gotta back off and let Newfoundland get their government. Otherwise, we’ll have nothing but trouble the whole way through and dissonance and complaints!’ C.D. Howe and Mitchell Sharp said, ‘No, we’ll never get it more cheaply than now from the British because they don’t care! We’ll never get it more cheaply. And we need the iron ore in Labrador. It’s a boondoggle! It’s a bonanza! We need that! We can’t let them have that. It’s everything we need to develop the St. Lawrence Seaway and the railway. March 2024

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All of it!’ Which they did.” The game, according to the mischievous Malone, was fixed. Newfoundland had no shot of ever achieving independence. Dollar signs flashed in the eyes of the Canadians at the prospect of ‘Big Land’ resources, while Britain – war-weary and cash-strapped – sought to cut the tether that tied them to the windswept island in the Atlantic.

To hear Greg Malone tell it, Joey (Smallwood) was a patsy duped into playing into the hands of infinitely wealthier and more machiavellian men. “When they put out the terms on the ballot paper, the Canadian High Commissioner in St. John’s had a fit,” Greg recounts with no shortage of pageantry. “He said, ‘People don’t know what they’re voting for here! This is all too vague! You’ve got to specify! You’re voting on the terms that Canada sent down! I want it to 44

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include voting on the terms that we had already sent forth!’ and all this kind of stuff. And the British said, ‘No, no, let’s keep it vague, then we can do what we want! We can interpret it as we like.’” The idea that sovereignty could be left to a referendum has been lambasted by experts in the decades since Confederation, with many surmising that there’s zero chance such a happening would cut the mustard today. “Constitutional experts were horrified. That’s not the way to do it. I thought Newfoundland should have joined Canada, and a lot of people who were campaigning for independence thought that, too. But they thought it would be a disaster if we went in under British terms with no representation from ourselves,” Greg admits, lamenting the idea that Newfoundland entered Confederation with Canada blindly and without an ounce of bartering power. “We deserved to get our government back because that’s the constitutional deal. That’s the promise that was made by Britain. We’d get our government back. No other promise, no other government, no other kind of national convention or any other,” he adds, reflecting on Britain installing a Royal Commission in 1933, which subsequently recommended Newfoundland give up its self-government following a financial crisis, further damaging our reputation. “In order to take someone’s sovereignty you have to make them look like they don’t deserve it. They put out a Royal Commission that ran Newfoundland’s reputation into the 1-888-588-6353

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Smallwood’s apocalyptic predictions for Newfoundland’s future shoud it reject Confederation was seen in political cartoons of the era. ground. We didn’t recover from that for 50 years. They said ‘These people aren’t fit for democracy! And so if you want us to give you a hand to pay your debts, we’re going to take your government.’” Modern history has not been kind to the man many see — rightly or wrongly — as one of the chief architects of Confederation: Newfoundland’s first post-Confederation Premier, Joseph R. Smallwood. To hear Greg Malone tell it, Joey was a patsy duped into playing into the hands of infinitely wealthier and more machiavellian men. “He portrayed Confederation in biblical terms. He deliberately portrayed it in biblical terms, like God’s answer to our problems,” Greg says of pre-Conferation Smallwood, adding that reflection tells us that allthat-glittered was not gold for Joey www.downhomelife.com

in the immediate aftermath. “Joey was the salesman of it all, but they didn’t tell him all the stuff they were doing behind the scenes. Joey was a bad businessman… Psychologically, he got it wrong. He never paid attention to the fishery, which he should have done and would have built a solid base like Iceland did on the fishery. We let it go. He was a bad businessman and he was easily guiled by carpetbaggers like John Shaheen and John C. Doyle and all those crazy guys.” A decade and change removed from the work that would demand four years of his life and a great deal of attention after the fact, Greg has had time to ruminate on the longsimmering questions surrounding Confederation. Has his stance on the entire debacle changed in that time? Have March 2024

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Signing the Terms of Union, 1948. Seated are Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent and Sir Albert Walsh. Joey Smallwood can be seen second from right

For many, Canada and Britain, in a backdoor, Succession-esque ploy, pulled off the heist of the century. the years softened the fiery, fighting Newfoundlander? “It’s even stronger, more militant than before,” he shares fiercely of his stance on Confederation. “I’m convinced now that Confederation did not win on the ballot in the numbers, convinced that it did not win. I think it was a slim majority, but it was not for Confederation. It was for independence. That was what the slim majority was for. “If we had gotten our government back and negotiated Confederation, no one could say boo. Our government would have negotiated, and we would have gone to Canada on the terms that we accepted. It’s a good thing. And it would have been a partnership of equals, at least constitutionally. It wouldn’t have been this poor cousin always complaining or having to support this. Canada became so rich when it got Newfoundland from the fishery, 46

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which it gave away for car plants in Quebec and wheat sales from the west. They used that fishery in Newfoundland as a barter with European governments to get what they wanted. And they ran it into the ground in 50 years.” Another prevailing question: would independence have worked for Newfoundland in the long run? Or was Confederation inevitable? “I think after independence we would have discovered that we had a gold mine in Western Labrador and that would have been enough to pay the baby bonus, old age pension … to the population, the package that Canada was just offering to Canadians,” Greg recounts. “We would have been able to afford that. We would have been able to build a country with that one resource, right? Yeah, we would have managed, but I think in time we would have found it convenient to go 1-888-588-6353

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“I think it was a disaster for the fishery, which was the lifeblood of Newfoundland, and I think it was a disaster for the fishery because no one in landlocked Ottawa cared or understood its value.” with Canada on much more equal terms and be part of a larger unit.” The years have hardly dulled the bitter taste of Confederation in the collective mouths of many a Newfoundlander. To a generation, the perceived signing away of any possibility of sovereignty was the ultimate betrayal. For many, Canada and Britain, in a backdoor, Successionesque ploy, pulled off the heist of the century. Names have escaped memory, while some, like that of Joseph R. Smallwood, leave behind a more complicated legacy. Summing up the entire scene — the players, the unwinnable game — is a trying undertaking, even for a national best-selling author like Greg Malone, but try he may. “So much to sum up,” he chuckles. “I think it was a disaster for the fishery, which was the lifeblood of Newfoundland, and I think it was a www.downhomelife.com

disaster for the fishery because no one in landlocked Ottawa cared or understood its value. “When the fishery collapsed, The Globe and Mail talked about it like it was some kind of a joke. This is the largest biomass on the planet, and it’s like a joke to them. If it had been Ontario or B.C. or Alberta, they wouldn’t have talked about it like that. It would have been very serious and not this Newfie joke, right? That Confederation caused us to be the Newfie joke, the way it was done. That’s why we were the Newfie joke because of the way it was done. That’s what we lived under for 50 years until CODCO came along (laughs).” Greg Malone’s “Don’t Tell the Newfoundlanders” is set to be spotlighted in an upcoming sixepisode documentary-style series for Bell Fibe-TV. Release dates and more information to follow. March 2024

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75 years ago in 1949, Newfoundland signed up to a union with Canada.

By Nicola Ryan 48

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Did your nanny have a picture of

Smallwood hanging in her kitchen? Depends on who you ask. It was Pope John Paul II who was tacked next to the Sacred Heart in my granny’s house. Joey and the Pope had equal standing on kitchen walls back then.

The road to Confederation with Canada was a rocky one that polarized Newfoundlanders and gave rise to some of the greatest political scenes and schemes the island’s ever seen. Now, 75 years later, let’s have a look back at some of the fascinating milestone markers on the journey that brought us from colony to Canadian province.

Colony of Dreams The Colony of Newfoundland was first granted representative government in 1832 and responsible government in 1855.

Forging Ahead In November 1869, Premier Frederic Carter called a general election in which the central issue was whether or not Newfoundland should join the Dominion of Canada. No one was much interested, and the idea was forgotten.

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Dominion of Newfoundland In September 1907, King Edward VII declared the Colony of Newfoundland the status of an independent Dominion within the British Empire.

The Clash A riot broke out in front of the Confederation building in St. John’s when ticked-off citizens finally had enough of the shenanigans of the Squires government. The crowd – which had grown to a mob of 10,000 – started chucking rocks. Every windowpane was shattered and the mounted police started cracking

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The National Convention heads. Hooligans set fires and made off with the piano, the alcohol and the sword of the Sergeant-at-Arms. The prime minister narrowly escaped being murdered by dodging down Colonial Street and hopping over backyard fences.

Commission of Government As a result, in December 1933, the Newfoundland House of Assembly voted itself out of existence. A commission government, presided over by a governor who acted on the advice of commissioners appointed by Britain, took office in 1934. The arrangement, which was meant to be brief, lasted for 15 years.

The National Convention After the Second World War, Newfoundland considered its plans for the future. The National Convention, made up of 45 delegates from all regions around the island, first met in September 1946. 50

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On the Air After the National Convention began, the Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland (BCN) placed microphones in the Chamber. The proceedings were recorded on discs in the studio on the top floor of the Newfoundland Hotel and aired nightly at nine o’clock. Everyone tuned in. Those who had no radio of their own went to the homes of their neighbours, and it was common for a dozen or more to crowd into one kitchen for the broadcast.

Paper Chase On October 30, 1946, Ken Brown, president of the Fishermen’s Protective Union, rose in the galleries and gave a booming speech that left no doubt he opposed Confederation. Waving a document around, he cried, “Were I to reveal the contents of this paper, no one in this House or in Newfoundland would vote for Confederation!” before suddenly 1-888-588-6353

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29 Dictators

Smallwood campaigning on the airwaves collapsing from a cerebral hemorrhage. The mystery paper was never recovered.

Scene Stealer October 10, 1947. Anti-Confederates planned a move that amounted to a vote of non-confidence against Chairman Bradley, alleging his delegation’s time in Ottawa amounted to “National Treachery.” Bradley got the scoop from Smallwood and resigned in epic fashion. The room erupted; delegates hurled insults, curses and punches, and Smallwood, delighted, puffed away at a cigarette amid the chaos.

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Smallwood’s motion that the National Convention recommend to the British that Confederation be placed on the ballot in the upcoming referendum was defeated 29-16. Smallwood did what he did best and got on the radio to appeal directly to the people. In just over a week, 1,550 telegrams poured into Smallwood’s apartment on Duckworth Street containing 50,000 signatures on a petition to the governor. Confederation was then included on the ballot.

Picture This Smallwood launched a newspaper, The Confederate, and had John William (Jack) Boothe, awardwinning cartoonist for the Globe and Mail, pen scathing political cartoons. The anti-Confederates created their own newspaper, The Independent.

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The Major Players Joseph Roberts (Joey) Smallwood The Barrelman, first premier of Newfoundland (Frederick) Gordon Bradley Chairman of the National Convention Major Peter J. Cashin Leader of the antiConfederate Responsible Government League Albert Perlin Journalist whose column in the Daily News argued for Responsible Government Chesley Arthur (Ches) Crosbie Leader of the Economic Union Movement Edward Patrick Roche Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. John’s Philip Selwyn Abraham Anglican Bishop of Newfoundland William Lyon Mackenzie King Prime Minister of Canada, 1935-1948. Louis St. Laurent Prime Minister of Canada, 1948-1957.

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First Referendum Three choices were on the referendum ballot on June 3, 1948. Responsible Government as it existed in 1933: 69,400 votes. Confederation with Canada: 64,066. Commission of Government for a period of five years: 22,311. The saga continued, as a second referendum was necessary.

Narrow Escape On Monday, July 7, 1948, over 1,600 people jammed into a meeting at the Church Lad’s Brigade Armory with 2,000 more outside on the road listening to the proceedings over loudspeakers. On the way out, Smallwood was smacked in the head as he tried to pass through a mass of people brawling and escaped on the roof of a car. An article in The Confederate the next day touted the meeting as “the biggest and best political meeting held in St. John’s in 20 years.”

Sister Act A newspaper account in The Sunday Herald (owned by Geoff Stirling, a supporter of the Economic Union), indicated that Roman Catholic nuns had voted for the first time in history. The story was widely circulated by Confederates to all the branches of the Protestant Orange Order in Newfoundland. 1-888-588-6353

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Lucky Day When Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949, the Newfoundland Butter Company earned a special mention in the Terms of Union. It would become Canada’s first margarine manufacturer since it had been illegal until 1948 to sell margarine in Canada. The name was changed shortly afterwards to the Newfoundland Margarine Company.

From Sea to Shining Sea Non-Stop With time steadily ticking down to voting day, Smallwood hit the road in a truck equipped with powerful loudspeaker trumpets on the roof. He headed to Brigus, Cupids and Clarke’s Beach. His voice could be heard for miles. In Harbour Grace, anti-Confederates attempted to drown him out by leaning on their horns. He spoke in Saddle Hill, Carbonear, Victoria, Salmon Cove, Blackhead, Bay de Verde and Grates Cove. He blanketed the south side of Trinity Bay. All in all, Smallwood delivered 56 speeches in two and a half days.

Newfoundland entered the Canadian Confederation “immediately before the expiration of the 31st day of March 1949,” or, one minute before April Fool’s Day, depending on your persuasion.

The Bell Tolls An official ceremony was held on April 1, 1949, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa to welcome Newfoundland into the Confederation. The carillon of the Peace Tower played Arthur Scammell’s “Squid Jiggin’ Ground,” and the province of Newfoundland was launched into the uncharted waters of the future.

Second Referendum July 22, 1948, the fateful results were in. Responsible Government: 71,334 votes. Confederation with Canada: 78,323. Confederation won, 52.3 per cent to 47.7 per cent.

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ct Maggie Connors Rising sports prospe HL. ic debut with the PW reflects on her histor BY DILLON COLLINS

AT ONLY 23 YEARS OF AGE, Maggie Connors grasps the

gravity of the moment more than most. Moments, and the weight of them, will be referenced often throughout Downhome’s conversation with the budding sports star. “It’s been a whirlwind, a lot of emotions,” Maggie says with a smile, beginning a candid Zoom call from the PWHL’s Toronto office. For those unaware of the current movement in women’s hockey, the groundbreaking PWHL was formed in the summer of 2023 from the ashes of the Premier Hockey Federation. Six teams — three in Canada and three in the United States — make up the Professional Women’s Hockey League, which held its historic inaugural game on New Year’s Day before a sold-out, raucous Toronto crowd and a combined viewership of over 2.9 million. www.downhomelife.com

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Heather Pollock/PWHL Toronto Photo

Newfoundland and Labrador’s own Maggie Connors, fresh off a rocksolid campaign with the NCAA’s Princeton Tigers, was named player of the game for PWHL Toronto in a 4-0 loss to PWHL New York. But the score wasn’t the story. “I think you try to soak in the moment because just thinking about it and knowing this is the first-ever professional women’s hockey game and league this season, before the game and leading up to it, you really do try to appreciate and be grateful and thankful for the situation that you’re in,” Maggie shares, remarking on her footnote in sports history. “I was lucky enough to play in the first game with Toronto. You have your veterans and people who are constantly reminding you. They’ve played many years out of university and have kind of been flip-flopping around about where to play and how 56

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to still develop and compete for that next level, and you’re reminded that it’s not just about us. It’s not just about the players on the ice. We’re the ones playing the first game, but it’s so much more than us and so much bigger than us.” Emotions were high pre-and postpuck drop. Tears were shed, smiles were visible from the nosebleed sections, and high-fives and hugs were exchanged between teammates and rivals alike, all soaking in the culmination of a gradual — and at times arduous — journey for women in professional hockey, still battling for equal footing to that of their male contemporaries. The launch of the PWHL, complete with rave reviews for its fast, gritty and passion-laced play, goes a long way to bridging the long-too-wide gap between the sexes in pro sports. “It’s hard not to smile,” Maggie 1-888-588-6353

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remarks. “The moment is just so massive and so much bigger than yourself. At least for me, I was talking about how nervous I was. You just look at the moment that you’re playing in that represents so much and you have so much emotion. It kind of comes in waves throughout the game.

for people that have been long gone from our sport.” Describing herself as an offensive player who “loves to be creative,” relying on her cleverness and deception to generate high-danger scoring chances, Maggie’s ascent to the upper echelon of women’s pro hockey began in earnest in her native St. John’s. Daughter of noted cardiologists Sean Connors and Susan Fagan, and sister to a pair of hockey-loving brothers (Michael and Chris), Maggie dove head-on into the sport from a young age.

“I was playing hockey for as long as I can remember,” Maggie recalls fondly.

“I remember standing on that blueline for the ceremony and you have so many emotions running through your head, and I think the last thing you’re thinking about is the little details of the game at that time, which you will for every other game. But in that moment you’re watching Billie Jean King and Jayna Hefford come on the ice and drop that puck. It’s a huge moment for the little girls watching the TV. It’s a huge moment www.downhomelife.com

“I was playing hockey for as long as I can remember,” she recalls fondly. “It started with my parents having very busy careers and they wanted us all in sports and kind of having that, I guess, social experience. My two brothers were older than me, and I guess they put them in hockey and I followed right behind when I was four. They tried me in figure skating, but I don’t even think it lasted more than a few weeks. I just wanted to do what they did.” As a teenager, Maggie would head Stateside to further her desire to grow in the game. Attending Shattuck-St. Mary’s Prep school, she would win four national championships in five seasons, with three Tier 1 16U National Championships, March 2024

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adding another with the U19 team in 2018. In her senior year, she tallied 75 points in 50 games, scoring 31 goals and 44 assists. Landing with the prestigious Princeton University in 2018, she would go on to have a prolific run in the NCAA with 78 goals and 145 points across 127 games, including a point-per-game pace of 33 points in 31 games in her senior year. The productive campaign, aptly timed with the launch of the PWHL, resulted in her being selected 62nd overall by Toronto in the inaugural PWHL Draft this past September, where she would go on to ink a two-year contract with the club. The timeliness of the blossoming league for Maggie cannot be understated, as the driven and passionate athlete and academic found herself at a crossroads as her time at Princeton drew to a close. “I think it was a huge decision for me last year and a stressful one because if you look at this time last year, there was always the hope of the league and there were the rumblings of one, at least from what I would hear, but it didn’t come to fruition until later in the year and early 2023 and into June when the CBA was signed,” Maggie shares, reflectively. “Last year I was kind of thinking that I love hockey, I’m not ready to be done, especially with how I was doing at Princeton. I didn’t want it to end there.” And while there’s no immediate endgame to Maggie’s hockey dream, the foundation of it was firmly built in her home province of Newfoundland and Labrador. “I think that’s a tribute to SportNL 58

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and Hockey NL,” Maggie says of the growing pedigree of Newfoundlanders and Labradorians in the sport of hockey, giving credit to thriving local organizations for her maturation in the sport. “I think of everything that they’ve done to develop the game, and they’re in a harder position than being in Ontario where you have an abundance of players and so much access to different things and it’s a larger population … Now you look and it’s such a competitive group.” Today organizations within the province like Xtreme Hockey and Vision Hockey Group lead the charge with female-centric programs that were previously unavailable for generations of up-and-coming talent, Maggie among them. “I think it’s come such a far way, even the simplest things like girls hockey camps. I never did an onlygirl hockey camp when I was growing up in Newfoundland,” she admits, 1-888-588-6353

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praising the continued growth within her home province. “I absolutely love it. I think the more girls we can get in the game is so important. And now I think there’s going to be way less of a dropoff you see around that high school age because now they have something to play for. When I grew up I always said that I wanted to play in the NHL, but that isn’t possible. Now there’s no reason to stop. You want to be a professional athlete and now the opportunity for girls exists. So I think it’s going to be such a huge thing for women’s hockey in Newfoundland.” As the sport continues to grow in rinks and on freshly cleared ponds across the island, Newfoundlanders and Labradorians continue to wear their fandom for the game on their sleeve. Fiercely passionate and loyal to our own, Maggie admits she’s felt the love, in spades and then some, early and often in her flourishing pro-career. It’s a love and adoration of the place and its people she reciprocates at every opportunity. “Being from Newfoundland means everything to me,” she says with a wide smile. “I love that it’s a huge part of my personality. I never shy away from telling people that I’m a Newfie or building a connection with someone who has a relative of a relative from Newfoundland. I swear, everyone has a connection to Newfoundland and I love being from the East Coast. “It’s incredible the amount of support that I’ve received throughout my career, but especially within the past few months,” she adds proudly. www.downhomelife.com

“I’ve had people reach out to me, people I work with every single day in the summer, my coaches, my trainers, to people I’ve never even spoken to or know. And they’re reaching out and I’m making the effort to respond to everyone because they’re just so proud. I appreciate the support so much. I absolutely love being from Newfoundland.” Growing up as a die-hard fan of the game, emulating the likes of heroturned-teammate Natalie Spooner,

Maggie pauses to take in the idea that she — much like the trailblazers who paved her way — can be an inspiration for the next wave of female hockey hopefuls. “It’s an awesome opportunity and position that I’m in. And I’m lucky to kind of be, I guess, almost carrying the torch, at least for Newfoundlanders in terms of the women’s game playing professionally,” Maggie says, smiling widely once more. “I’m so excited to be that role model for younger girls in Newfoundland.” March 2024

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From Broadway to hanging with Bowie and working with some of the biggest names in music, Topsail’s Chad Richardson is now helping pave the way for others. By Linda Browne 60

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Life is a WILD ride

filled with highs and lows, and if you’re lucky enough, plenty of those “pinch me” moments where you can’t believe what you’re doing, or who you’re doing it with, moments that leave you scratching your head as to how the hell you got there in the first place. Chad Richardson has had enough “pinch me” moments to fill a lot of scrapbooks.

Growing up in Topsail in Conception Bay South, NL, Chad was an inquisitive kid, “fascinated” with the Encyclopedia Britannica, he says, spending hours poring over its pages and learning about different people, places and cultures. It lit a fire within him to want to explore the world. Music was also an important part of his life. At the age of six, he got his first taste of performing when he started singing in the Kiwanis Music Festival. As the younger brother of musician and actor Jodee Richardson (aka “The Red Albino” in the Thomas Trio), Chad sometimes lived in his sibling’s shadow. But his brother was always “incredibly encouraging” he says, with Jodee inviting Chad’s band to open for his own when they both played in the local music scene in those earlier days, and the two share a close relationship. www.downhomelife.com

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Chad moved to Paris in 1987 and studied to be a chef. When he was 17, Chad struck out on his own and moved to Paris to attend chef school. It was 1987, “so pre-internet, pre-cellphone. It was really like going across the world, alone, to experience something else,” he says over a video call from his home in Los Angeles, CA, where he’s lived for the past 18 years. “I wasn’t moving away from something, because Newfoundland is my identity. I was running towards the world. I wanted to see the world.” But life twists and turns in interesting ways. It was during his work term in the town of Megève in the French Alps, Chad says, that he came to a realization. “All I had on me was my guitar, a Walkman and a Van Morrison cassette that my brother Jodee had given me … I just wore that tape out. And I started writing my own songs. Basically, by the time I’d finished chef school, I knew that music was what I wanted to do, as weird as that sounds,” he chuckles.

Taking Chances

Chad returned home to Canada and, in 1995, released his first independent album, 2 People. While recording his second album, he spontaneously decided to audition for a role in the Canadian production of the hit musical Rent. Despite having no acting experience Chad beat out 15,000 others for the lead role. In 1998, he moved into another role in the Broadway production in 62

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New York, which brought with it a boatload of amazing experiences. He sang on stage with Stevie Wonder with his fellow Rent castmates after the audience had gone, and hung out backstage with celebrities including Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake (with whom Chad later worked on several projects). It was around this time that he was cast as a younger version of David Bowie in the legendary artist’s music video for “The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell,” which saw him performing among several life-sized marionettes representing Bowie’s past personas. As Bowie had played his one and only show in Newfoundland, which Chad had attended just nine years prior, the two had lots to chat about. “That was like a dream come true for me...We spent the whole day talking about Newfoundland. He was talking about going out in the boat and whale watching,” recalls Chad, 1-888-588-6353

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who was 29 at the time. While the video was unfortunately never released, the experience will forever stay with him. “I’m doing this and right in front of me are the cameras, but it’s also David Bowie (who was) filming me the whole day, too,” he laughs, “which was pretty wild. For a kid from St. John’s, at that time, I was feeling like my life is very surreal.” But perhaps the most life-changing of all those Big Apple moments was meeting his wife, a fellow Rent cast member, which led to the move to L.A., where their son Luca was born. (While the couple are no longer together, they remain best friends.)

New Adventures

After five years on Broadway, it was time to move on to other adventures. After producing his third album, and producing and writing songs for other members of the Rent cast,

Chad with David Bowie in 1998, where he played Bowie in a music video. Chad would expand his songwriting, eventually winding up with over 35 cuts with other artists - mainly in Asia — including multiple top 10s in Japan and even a Song of the Year in Taiwan. While working with music publisher ole (now known as Anthem Entertainment), he signed Timothy Mosley, better known as Timbaland (one of the biggest producers in the world at the time), and Steven Tyler — an especially big deal for him, he says, considering the first song he ever played live, at Booth Memorial High School, was Aerosmith’s “Dream On.” “Being a publisher gave me the opportunity to suddenly be working with some of my heroes in songwriting,” he says. Hanging on the wall behind Chad is a platinum Joe Cocker record,

Backstage in RENT on Broadway with cast member Krysten Cummings. www.downhomelife.com

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Chad (right) with ex-wife Christina Fadale and his son, Luca Richardson

another cool memento from his time at ole. When he heard a tune by country music artist Johnny Reid called “Fire It Up” (written by Reid, Alan Frew of Glass Tiger and Marty Dodson, a hit songwriter based in Nashville), he could immediately envision Cocker singing it and set the wheels in motion to make it happen. “I sent the song to them. And then about two days later, I got a message and they said, ‘Joe is flying in to sing this song,’” remembers Chad. “Fire It Up” became the title of

Cocker’s final studio album and tour, and it was the last number-one single before he died.

Links in a Chain

It takes many links in a chain, Chad says, to create a hit song. And he’s proud of the parts he’s played, no matter how big or small, in helping get some of those songs out into the world. He’s also worked with up-andcoming talent to help them hone their songwriting chops through a

Shooting a documentary with Roger Maunder and David Howells

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series of songwriting camps held all over the world in places like France, Bali and Nicaragua. A real Renaissance man, Chad has never been one to slow down or box himself in by setting limits. His social media handle “Chad Of All Trades” is a reflection of his life philosophy. “I’ve never really stayed in one lane. I love doing different things. At the end of the day, I just consider myself a creative and everything I do, I just try to bring that energy,” he says. “I always say the best A plan is to have no B plan. You just go for it.” These days, his focus is on “Ronin,” an NFT (non-fungible token) art platform that he cofounded; and launching “Candlebox,” an app that he’s building with a company in New York. At its core, Chad says Candlebox “is about giving, and it’s a completely new system on how to do it,” and he hopes it will be his legacy. On December 16 (his father’s birthday) 2023, Chad released his first new music in over 20 years in honour of his dad, who passed away a couple of years ago. “‘Now’ is a new song and ‘Then’ is a song from my third album that I’ve never put up on the services,” he says. While he’s lived away from Newfoundland for years, Chad, now 53, visits home any chance he gets (during his visit this past October, he also worked with local Up Sky Down Films to shoot a mini-documentary, to be released this year), and dreams of someday buying a property here. It’s where he feels most calm and connected. www.downhomelife.com

Passion for The Rock

“I’m one of those guys where my best friends from high school are still my best friends,” he says. And while his son’s a native Angeleno, he shares his dad’s passion for The Rock. “My son is so proud of his Newfoundland heritage, and it makes me so happy...he’ll only eat fish and chips on this earth at The Duke (of Duckworth in St. John’s), which I love,” Chad laughs.

While he’s worked with some of the biggest names in music, Chad remains humble and passionate about lending an ear to up-andcoming artists who may need some direction, especially local artists, who he invites to reach out via his Instagram @chadofalltrades or email at chad@thesongspace.com. “If anyone from back home who reads this, like any artists that are coming up and they just want advice, I’m very accessible,” he says. “If you hit me up, I will respond.” March 2024

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Lindsay Duncan photo

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Six years have passed, of change, challenges, reflections and rebirth, with the trio of Geraldine Hollett, Phil Churchill and Andrew Dale cutting to the core of the music that defines them, honing in and reshaping their sound to come to the most comfortable and complete picture of the outfit that celebrates 15 years of timeless tunes in 2024. “I’m not sure we really knew what we were,” Phil begins during a candid sit-down with Downhome. “It’s been a strange process because it all started with three people getting the same summer job and playing stuff that was required of us for this summer job out in Trinity. I think at some point we transitioned from picking traditional songs and coming up with arrangements for them and turning into a band that’s three songwriters with three completely different voices and trying to fit all of those things together.” The COVID-19 pandemic provided a mandatory reprieve from the rat-race of the recording/touring artist. Stripped away were the rigors of the road-warrior lifestyle and a break from the endless wheel of produce, release, tour, repeat. For the first time in a long time, The Once was given time to breathe. “When you’re out on the road all the time, and I think anybody who works shifts or travels out West probably feels similarly, you’ve got all these things that you say you’re going to do, but you know you’re not going to do because you’re not going to give yourself the time to do it,” Phil remarks. “You’re not going to stop working. All these sort of skills and other creative avenues I wanted to work on, I knew I wasn’t going to do unless I was forced to. And then I was forced to. So in that way, I think being creative on other people’s projects kind of managed to sort of scratch that itch.” Phil and Geraldine built a studio, lovingly coined Ginger Beard House, in their home in Western NL, with all hands diving into passions not afforded time to see the light of day when faced against the demands of the band-mothership. www.downhomelife.com

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“We’ve grown up. We realize we have to be adults,” shares Geraldine, delving into the origins of the trio’s long-awaited album. “Phil and I, when the pandemic started we built the studio. And the whole point of it was to have a place where you can be comfortable and feel safe. And we’ve spent a lot of years determined to make something work without actually knowing what that is.” “When the three of us came together to work on the material that ultimately turned into this new album, I think, because a lot more time had been spent on personal growth and discovery first, I think it allowed us to approach the creation of this album with such a beautifully fresh and honest direction,” adds Andrew. “Just the tone when we were creating this album was so different, there was so much more time and space given and allowed for all of us.” The end result of the most freeform, creative and restriction-free writing and recording sessions in the band’s history is Out Here, the group’s first album of new material in six years, co-produced by the band and long-time collaborator Daniel Ledwell. “There’s nothing about this album that I’m not proud of, I’ll say that,” proclaims Geraldine. “I love that we worked with Dan Ledwell again. I feel like our relationship with him as a producer and co-producer has flourished. He came over and we all just basically hung out here, took naps, ate food when we were hungry (laughs).” Adds Andrew, “I can genuinely say, which is such a wonderful thing to be able to actually say honestly, that there were no moments where any68

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one felt pressure or like okay, no, you got to get this done now. If we ever hit a little roadblock or a mental block or something we just stepped back. We just gave ourselves space. Went for a snowshoe, cooked a meal. We gave ourselves so much space and so much patience and love in creating this album.” Described by Phil as the closest album in their catalogue to encapsulating the sound and influences loved by all three bandmembers – or perhaps more uniquely “the part of the Venn diagram where all of us

meet” – Out Here is The Once at their most emotionally resonant. Soulful harmonies, moody tranquil soundscapes and poignant lyrics, it’s the album the band has wanted, and perhaps needed, to make. “We talk about it when we make setlists: you’re trying to read the minds of strangers in the dark, which is pretty hard to do. It’s futile, really. So this was just trying to create what it is about the records that we love that makes us love them. What is it about them that makes us want to put them on at a certain time to get that fuel or to get that relaxation? It’s 1-888-588-6353

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meant to be a record that puts us in a particular mood,” says Phil, joking that the band’s sound is far removed from rowdy brewpubs or raucous kitchen parties. “We don’t generally call in for the jam in the shed. You know, we’re more coffee in the morning, record goes on or a fire in the evening and a record goes on.” Reflection has been key to a careerspanning-album like Out Here. This year marks 15 years since the trio released their self-titled debut. Asked for a word to sum up the period

trust we can look back at ourselves and see ourselves as the child we used to be, and we can pull from a place because we feel so safe.” From a chance meeting of the creative minds in the summer of 2004, to touring the globe as an award-winning trio, to recreating themselves under auspicious circumstances, The Once have hacked into a formula artists pine for decades to master. “I don’t think it’s so much a departure as it is a discovery. I think ultimately what it is, is more discovering who we are as writers and people,”

between album one and five, and growth is the universal pick. “It’s a lot of growth. There’s been a lot of growth in those 15 years,” Andrew shared, reflecitvely. “It feels like a different us, but it feels like the foundation of us, if that makes sense. But it’s not the full foundation. There were things that were missing that this album put in place,” adds Geraldine. “We’ve just grown up. And we’ve been together for 15 years and I could cry about it. We’ve gotten stronger and better and are just full of love, and it’s everywhere. And because there’s so much

Andrew explains in closing of the sound, scope and overall feel of Out Here, leaving the final word to the always luminous Geraldine Hollett. “It’s all surprising. The whole album was going to be a surprise. The whole process was a surprise. Everything was exploring. I just feel creatively that’s what people are going to recognize when they hear the album,” she says proudly. “All of this is coming out of a place of just giving ourselves space. And it has been spectacular. I’m so happy about it. I’ve never been more proud of an album in my life.”

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Exploring the history, heritage, and homegrown hospitality of beautiful St. Brendan’s

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The

The heavy-treaded wheels of my venerable CCM 575 pedal bicycle dug into the gravel road as I made grudgingly slow progress on a sunny hot day in August 2007, when a distinguished-looking older gentleman leaning on a wooden fence enclosing a neatly kept garden called out a cheerful greeting: “I saw you going down an hour or so ago and figured you would be coming back about now. It’s a warm day for what you are up to.”

I chatted with the pleasant Frank Colbert for a few minutes before a door opened and his wife Kate called out in a welcoming fun-loving way that would brook no debate, “Frank, get out of that yakking with that young man out there in the blazing sun. I have fresh homemade bread right out of the oven and tea ready for him in here where it’s nice and cool. Bring him in the house to get a rest and you can talk all you want.” Much laughter ensued. It was all delicious and they were lovely people to meet as my first introduction to beautiful St. Brendan’s, Newfoundland and Labrador, on a solo bike trip.

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Further down the road another older man named Richard Beresford spotted me taking a photo of a distinctive boat hauled ashore and asked if I liked boats and would like to see his collection, so off I went. Over his lifetime Mr. Beresford had made scores of model ships of all shapes, sizes and sources. Every surface in his dining room, including the main table, was filled with them, and they were quite a sight to see all in

one place. Over a cold beverage, he showed me some of his favourites and an award he had won from a competition years ago for his handcrafted folk-art style ships. After shaking hands with Mr. Beresford and thanking him for the impromptu tour, I moseyed along to catch a ferry back to Burnside on the Eastport Peninsula, where one road led to another and years passed as they invariably do. The quietly mod-

St. Brendan’s resident Richard Beresford and his impressive model ship collection. 74

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est but amazing hospitality of the place has always stayed with me and I hoped to get back again someday. Fast forward to August 2023. I’ve returned for a solo camping trip to beautiful St. Brendan’s, located on Cottel Island in Bonavista Bay. This remote community is only accessible via a ferry ride from Burnside (on the Eastport Peninsula, which is approximately 289 km from the provincial capital of St. John’s), and on this particular trip the vehicle ferry MV

St. Brendan’s is located on Cottel Island in Bonavista Bay and is only accessible by ferry

Grace Sparkes covered the 18 km or one-hour trip on pleasant waters. With a population of 125 people in the 2021 census, there’s only a small handful of students attending the school. Still, St. Brendan’s is a special place that persists despite dwindling numbers. I smiled, reflecting on the community name, as it is a reference to the legendary Brendan of Clonfert, Ireland (c. AD 484 – c. 577), more popularly known as St. Brendan the Navigator. He’s most famous for an epic sea journey to the “Isle of the Blessed” as described in the “Navigatio Sancti Brendani Abbatis” (Voyage www.downhomelife.com

of Saint Brendan the Abbot). Certainly a lovely inspiration for the place name of St. Brendan’s, which is blessed with a wealth of stories as a gold standard currency all of their own. I was saddened to learn the Colberts and Mr. Beresford had passed away in the intervening years, but as I was looking for a place to set up my tent and fill my old copper kettle, a friendly gentleman named Maurice Kelly, out working in his yard, got chatting with me. “There’s a number of nice locations, but where you are thinking about the forecast says will get wind from the southwest bringing in some rain overnight,” he said. “I’ll fill the kettle and walk down and show you a good spot back from the lighthouse that’s in a bit of a hollow and ringed by trees, so you’ll have a natural shelter all around. You’ll have a good night down there and nobody will bother you. Also, here’s a small feed of fresh cod for you to fry up. No restaurants or stores on St. Brendan’s at the moment, so I figure you might enjoy that for supper. That area I will show you used to be all inhabited one time long ago, so it was hay meadows and gardens and should be comfortable ground with most of the rocks picked out years back.” Maurice was correct. The shelter was admirable, the fish was excellent, and I slept upon a carpet of grass and moss beneath the tent as soft as the finest mattress in any opulent hotel anywhere in the world. The next day I stopped to say my thanks and, over coffee and fresh homemade bread, he shared some March 2024

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wonderful stories of growing up on St. Brendan’s before moving away to pursue university and a career. Eventually building a family summer home here, he said he loves the peace and comfortable ease of the place and tries to get back as much as he can. I wondered why St. Brendan’s was able to hang on while so many other nearby small islands resettled. Maurice indicated several factors including better access to fresh water on St. Brendan’s, many stands of trees to provide wood for building and heat, better access to fishing grounds, a communal work ethic and pride of place. “People here were determined to make a go of it and were not afraid to work hard at whatever needed doing and help each other out. I’ve spoken to people from St. Brendan’s in many places over the years and they all expressed pride in where they are from,” Maurice shared. Before I left we paid a quick visit to Maurice’s brother next door. The amiable Pat Kelly invited me into the cosy kitchen warmed by the wood stove and said, “Have a sit down on what I figure is the last old-fashioned daybed on the island while we get a cup of tea going.” A fisherman by trade, Pat Kelly is a natural-born storyteller with an unassuming and pleasant manne. He showed me archival photos of towns on nearby islands where nothing of substance remains standing, yet shadows of the past linger. He shared heartwarming stories of taking senior expatriates, who resettled 50 or 60 years ago, to visit the graves of family members and sites of their former childhood homesteads, with all the emotions and 76

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evocations that emerge. Taking my leave, I couldn’t help but notice the finely crafted and venerable wooden rocking chair sitting in a place of privilege beside the stove. “That’s a beauty. The decorative designs look like it came right out of Ireland itself and you don’t see that kind of handiwork much anymore,” I remarked.

Pat smiled, “That chair has a wonderful story that goes back over a century. When my grandmother was pregnant with our mother there was a good neighbour of the family by the name of Ignatius (Nish) White who used to visit. Learning of the happy news of the coming baby he supposedly remarked, ‘You’ll soon be needing a rocking chair.’ Now, in those days it was a common thing for new mothers to use a comfortable rocking chair when nursing the baby, so it was taken simply as a wish of good luck and nothing more. Nish White 1-888-588-6353

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never said anything else about it, but he was a very good carpenter and a jack of all trades. He never had any sophisticated tools or training, just simple saws and a pocket knife, and maybe a chisel or two at most. “The tale goes that Nish made the chair and came back a few months later, walking across the meadow with the rocking chair on his back. Our grandmother rocked our mother in it, and we were all rocked in it as babies, and many of our children. I don’t know how many visitors have taken a few minutes to have a spell in it. You’d be hardpressed to believe the number of people who have sat and rocked in that chair, and despite all that, it is still going strong.” Like that fine old rocking chair, beautiful and welcoming, St. Brendan’s is still going strong. Long may she navigate a successful voyage ahead.

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explore

BY HILDING NEILSON, PhD Assistant Professor, Dept of Physics & Physical Oceanography Memorial University of Newfoundland & Labrador 78

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ONE OF THE MOST SPECTACULAR

natural events that can happen is a total solar eclipse. Just imagine being outside on a clear day where the Sun is shining brightly and the sky is blue without clouds in sight. As you are enjoying the weather you notice that it seems to be getting darker, but the Sun is still high in the sky. You look towards a reflection of the Sun on some surface (you should never look and/or stare directly at the Sun because it can cause eye damage) and see that something is happening to the Sun. The disk of the Sun is slowly being devoured by a dark object.

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Total Eclipse Area

The Moon doesn’t orbit the Earth in a perfect circle but in an ellipse. This means that the Moon is not the same distance away from the Earth at all times as it orbits. A total eclipse only occurs when the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun at just the right distance in its orbit.

You notice that the Sun is disappearing, and at the point the Sun is completely engulfed there’s a flash of light, then darkness. It’s nighttime in the middle of the day, which continues for a few long moments when there’s small growing light as the image of the Sun on the surface appears to return and things slowly return to normal. If a person has no idea what’s happening this would be terrifying; but fortunately, we’ve understood total solar eclipses for a very long time. Now humans enjoy watching solar eclipses and being awed by their majesty. On April 8, 2024, there will be the next solar eclipse that will be visible across a wide swath of North America from Northern Mexico and Texas up to the Northeast United States, the Maritimes and Newfoundland and Labrador. From Port aux Basques in the southwest part of the island through central and out by Bonavista, people will have a chance to experience a total solar eclipse, while people from across Newfoundland and Labrador will experience a partial solar eclipse. 80

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Moon

Partial Eclipse Area

Earth

This is the first total solar eclipse to occur in Newfoundland since 1972 and is a fantastic opportunity to experience these celestial events firsthand. A total solar eclipse is just one kind of eclipse. There are lunar eclipses and annular solar eclipses. All of these occur at different times because of the orientation of the Earth, Sun and Moon. A lunar eclipse happens when Earth is between the Sun and Moon and the shadow of the Earth passes across the full Moon, making it appear darker and more red. On the other hand, a solar eclipse happens when the disk of the Moon passes in front of the Sun just before the lunar phase of the new Moon. Eclipses occur because the Moon orbits Earth every 27.5 days, though the time from one full Moon to the next is about 29 days and the Earth orbits the Sun. As such, there are times when the Earth is between the Sun and Moon and times when the Moon is between the Earth and the Sun. But eclipses do not occur every month because the orbit of the Moon 1-888-588-6353

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around the Earth is tilted relative to the orbit of the Earth around the Sun, so these orbits only intersect a couple of times per year. This means we can have solar eclipses every six months or so. We might see a partial solar eclipse where only part of the Sun is eclipsed, or an annular eclipse where the Moon passes in front of the Sun leaving a ring because the Moon is a bit smaller than the Sun, or we can see a total eclipse when the Moon completely engulfs the Sun. The reason there are annular eclipses and total eclipses is that the Moon doesn’t orbit the Earth in a perfect circle, but in an ellipse where the circle is slightly squished. This means at times the Moon is slightly farther away from the Earth and other times it is closer. If the Moon is farther from us then it will appear smaller in the sky, and when it passes in front of the Sun it will be a little smaller than the Sun creating an annular eclipse. When the Moon is

closer to the ellipse we’ll see a total solar eclipse and that’s what we look forward to on April 8. On April 8, regions that can experience totality will have a chance to watch the event starting around 4 p.m. The time of total eclipse starts around 5:10 p.m. and ends just before 5:20 p.m.. The partial eclipse will continue until about 6:20 p.m.. Since it’s a bit later in the day, the Sun will be moving towards the west, so if you want to watch the eclipse try to find a place that offers a clear view to the southwest and west. Also, if you want to watch the eclipse there are a few ways to make it enjoyable and safe. The key thing is that you should never stare or look directly at the Sun. Staring at the Sun without eye protection can lead to serious harm such as damaged retinas and blurred or spotty vision. This damage can be permanent in some cases. So the best way to enjoy an eclipse is to be prepared.

The path of the total eclipse runs across Newfoundland on April 8, 2024, at around 4 p.m. People outside the path may be able to view a partial eclipse.

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To safely watch the eclipse, observers can wear welding goggles or get eclipse glasses. Eclipse glasses are usually available to buy and, at most cost only a few dollars, but you should make sure they are ISOcertified for safety. Another way to enjoy the eclipse is by making a pinhole viewer using a couple of index cards or a shoebox. This works by poking a hole in one card and holding it up to the eclipse with your back turned to it. The eclipse can be projected on the second card to be viewed. You can also use a mirror to reflect the eclipse onto another surface. You can even use a colander like a pinhole viewer to project many images of the solar eclipse onto another surface. However, the best way to enjoy an eclipse is with a lot of people. The Town of Gander is hosting the Solar Eclipse Soiree - Gander 2024 to view the eclipse. As Brian Williams, the

Tourism Development Officer for the Town of Gander, notes, “This will be a fun and unique way to learn about, and experience, one of the natural wonders of the universe.” This is such a compelling event because “most people in Central Newfoundland likely have not experienced or remember a total solar eclipse before, with the last one being 1972. This will be truly a oncein-a-lifetime event, something new and exciting!” Along with the eclipse viewing, scientists and astronomy enthusiasts will be gathering in Gander before April 8 to give astronomy talks, offer telescope viewings and more. This is one of the most exciting natural events to occur in a long time, but not the last. After this solar eclipse, there will be a deep partial eclipse covering most of the Sun that will be visible in Labrador on March 29, 2025, to look forward to as well.

NASA/Aubrey Gemignani photo

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How is it that a certain smell or taste can bring you back to a particular time and place in your life, and release a floodgate of memories? Our brain’s subconscious acts as a time machine, I guess, just waiting to be taken for a ride. These nostalgic excursions aren’t taken simply by will, however, but rather by revelation. That’s the way the past works. Not only does it survive, but it also resurfaces, and getting into the past is a feat imaginatively achieved in a myriad of ways. I do not feel that I am stuck in the past by any means; however, I do love what it offers. I enjoy reminiscing over family photo albums, I like to surround myself with old things and artifacts, and I strive to learn more about our history. I view the past as an integral part of our sense of identity on both a personal level, as well as part of a bigger picture. Recently, in a conversation with my older sister, we got on the topic of “the old house,” my father’s childhood home in Western Bay, Conception Bay. Every summer, our family packed up the car in Green’s Harbour, Trinity Bay, and drove down the shore to Heart’s Content, and across the barrens to Victoria, before turning left on Route 70 through such communities as Salmon Cove and Small Point before reaching the north side of Western Bay. The memories I have of those trips are nothing short of special and vivid. I realize this because there are so many effects of everyday life that trigger my senses and take me back to that time and place of my childhood. Memories of family trips to the old house take me back to an age of innocence and a time when I viewed the world around me in very different measures. It was an exciting time. I knew we had almost arrived at the old yellow and green two-storey when we Left: The author as a child with his father, Ed Penney, on the family property in Western Bay www.downhomelife.com

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The “old house” in Western Bay

made the turn at Penney’s General Store and onto Penney’s Road, where a short drive up the hill would take us to our destination. As we drove through the long lane, or Drung as Dad called it, over the tall grass that led to the property, we couldn’t get our seatbelts off fast enough. I can still hear and feel the rustling of the uncut grass off the bottom of the Monte Carlo as we drove down the lane. Dad could never untie the front gate fast enough for us as we would squeeze by him and make a beeline for the house. I always wanted to check the fly trap inside the storm door to see how many houseflies “I” had captured since our last visit. Once the door was opened, my sister Michelle and I would quickly dash through the kitchen and up the stairs to scout out every room, while Mom and Dad would deal with unloading the car and packing provisions away. I’d set my little brown suitcase down on the floor 86

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near the base of the window in my father’s old blue bedroom, while Michelle would set herself up in the pink room across the hall at the top of the stairs. While the strong smell of mothballs was something we had become somewhat accustomed to, they always caught me off guard. To this day, catching a whiff of a mothball takes me back to opening a chest or coat closet in that house. The smells of emptiness must have been really strange for our father though. Walking into a house that had always felt so alive for much of his life surely released a flood of memories from a time when his childhood home meant something very different for him. I never did get the opportunity to meet my grandfather. He was hit by a drunk driver while walking across the road after fetching the mail in the fall of ‘73. My dad was just 23 years old and Michelle was just a baby. Our grandmother moved across the bay 1-888-588-6353

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and lived with us for a few years. She eventually remarried and settled back in Western Bay. The “old house” was never permanently lived in again, but we visited Nan at her new home almost every weekend. She made the best Sunday dinner and poured a mean glass of Tang. While the Sunday visits were great, it was the extended summer trips that were most special. One of the first things we always did after settling in was go down the hill to Penney’s Store to stock up on some extra food and drink. My dad would catch up on the local news with Baxter, the friendly store owner with the thick North Shore accent who always manned the counter. Whenever I see those 8variety packs of cereal where you can pour the milk right in the box, it

reminds me of those summers in Western Bay. That was something we always had. Bacon, bologna and eggs for breakfast, and pork chops and baked potatoes on the BBQ for dinner, were some of the things that were staples every visit. As kids, there were always lots of things to do to work up a healthy appetite. It seemed as if the fields behind the house went on forever, with the odd wire fence or stone wall breaking up the monotony. Mom always teased Dad about the lack of trees in Western Bay’s windswept landscape and he didn’t make it any better. He’d tell us that they would have to pack a two-day lunch just to go find a Christmas tree. It was the grass we loved anyway. Running around the old worndown barn, and the root cellar on the Mark’s sister, Michelle (left), and Mark (below) with Goldie the dog in Western Bay

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Mark’s parents, Ed and Geneva at Ed’s childhood home.

hill, or even the outhouse, made the place a haven for us. It was also the only place we knew of where you could pick two kinds of strawberries (from Nan’s garden and wild ones), or barrel roll ourselves down a grassy hill and laugh about how dizzy we got. There was always a day trip to Northern Bay Sands to swim in the brook and frolic in the ocean waves along the sandy beach. After a feed of Hogan’s chicken and chips, we’d return to the house and hang out on the front step gazing out across the bay, trying to get the last grains of sand out from between our toes. As much fun as the days were at the old house, the evenings were just as fun. After supper was always a good time for Dad to tell us about the good old days when he was a kid and what it was like growing up in that era, before electricity and indoor 88

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plumbing. I’d settle in on the daybed overlooking the garden. Michelle would usually claim the rocking chair. I still love the idea of having a daybed in a kitchen, close to the stove, perfect for an afternoon nap. Dad would spin yarns about how they’d each have their beach rocks that would be heated in the stove and placed in the foot of their bed on cold winter nights to help keep them warm. Or about how he would save all of his money to buy a pack of Shirriff jelly or pie filling when other kids were buying chips and candy, just so he could get the hockey coin. While the old house did have electricity by then, there was still no plumbing. If we complained about having to go to the outhouse or use “the pot” under our beds, Dad would remind us of the frigid treks through waist-high snow and blizzards he would have to make as a child. 1-888-588-6353

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My memories of time spent at my father’s childhood home are extensive and my ability to recall and connect with this past adds meaning and value to my life. I believe a wellloved past enriches the world around us. At times I’d like to go back, even as a fly on the wall (watching out for the fly trap on the front door, of course). I’ve read that the period just before our existence in the world is of particular fascination to us. Maybe if we could better understand it, we could better understand our parents and therefore come closer to comprehending why we are here and our place in the world. The past is an integral part of our own identity and it can enrich our lives. Artifacts, old photos, and family relics can all provide us with our piece of the past and a meaningful connection to it. For myself, I care for my father’s old hockey memorabilia, I display

old items from my grandfather’s toolbox and I’ve restored some old furniture from the old house. Because of this, I feel very connected to my roots, even though I have not experienced their origins. I’d like to time travel back to the old house if I could and watch my grandfather play the same games and tricks on my dad that he played on me as a kid years later. I’d watch my dad play with his hockey coins on the kitchen floor by the daybed, and be enlightened by the realization that I was the same way with my hockey cards and sticker books as a boy. I’d even want to sit at the kitchen table the day my Nan received the tragic news about my grandfather’s untimely death. I’d want to console her. However, going back in time isn’t an option outside of fictional tales. I’ll have to accept what I do have, and that’s a lot of memories of a wellloved past in my own life.

A trip to Northern Bay Sands with Mark, cousin Tracey, friend Shawn and sister Michelle www.downhomelife.com

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HOME and Cabin

stuff we love by Nicola Ryan

It’s Easy Being Green

NEW NETS Waste Knot Want Knot repurposes old fishing rope to make versatile, durable mats and décor. Since May 2016, they’ve upcycled approximately 130 km of used fishing rope. We love this doormat woven in a Celtic knot design. wasteknotwantknotn.wixsite.com

DELECTABLE DISHES Your dinner will never be dull when you mix and match beautiful GreenGate tableware and dinnerware. We scooped up a set of these gorgeous mintcoloured dessert bowls at Cupboard Up, a sweet shop with a vintage Nordic flair on Harbour Drive in St. John’s. cupboardup.com

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FANTASTIC FURNITURE Some Lovely breathes new life into classic furniture pieces, making them chic, modern and oh-so-stylish. We love the timeless transformation of this refinished sideboard. Check out more furniture, plus handmade art and other repurposed treasures on their Facebook page. facebook.com/somelovelyhomedecor

BOTANICAL BUDDY Find yourself in houseplant heaven at Calatheas Plant Studio on Duckworth Street in St. John’s and pick up a new plant friend. The shop’s got a fantastic selection of fresh houseplants of all shapes and sizes plus accessories, gear, books and freshly-brewed coffee. calatheas.ca

TEA-RIFFIC TABLEWARE Step through the weathered doorway of North Brook Cottage in beautiful Brigus and take some time to peruse the charming antiques, vintage tableware and curious collectibles inside. We sourced this fabulous art deco tea service infused with timeless style. facebook.com/Northbrookcottage

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HOME and Cabin

Ask Marie Anything Interior designer Marie Bishop takes your questions

Q. I wonder if you can help me, I have a dilemma. I’m moving from a fairly large family home to a smaller condo and have no idea what to do with all the furniture and household things I have that no one in my family wants. Do you have any suggestions?

This has become an increasingly challenging issue, for all of us. Many of my clients are in the same situation, and even the ones who aren’t making a life-altering move are looking for ways to minimize the amount of stuff in their homes and their lives. The good news is, there’s no end to the information available on how to go about it. The challenge is actually doing it. 92

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So, zoom out for a minute and assess the situation. It can be quite overwhelming to look at the mountain and feel defeated, but if you break it all down into the proverbial bite-size pieces like categories or rooms and give yourself a reasonable time frame it becomes much more manageable. It’s also easier if you don’t have to tackle it on your own. If you have a family member or close friend who’s available and willing to give some time, by all means make muffins and coffee, line up the totes and get started. If that’s not an option, a Google search will let you know about the professionals in your area who do exactly that. It will definitely be worth giving them a call. I think their rates are quite reasonable and they are well versed in the challenges and solutions of decluttering and downsizing. It’s possible they may also be able to help you navigate the options of selling online the more valuable pieces you have. There are so many platforms to choose from, that in itself could be another confusing stumbling block. So, make a priority list. Tag the pieces that you want to sell as you come to grips with the fact that you won’t get what you think they’re www.downhomelife.com

It’s also easier if you don’t have to tackle it on your own. If you have a family member or close friend who is available and willing to give some time, by all means make muffins and coffee, line up the totes and get started.

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Furniture and household goods can be donated to charity organizations specializing in creating more comfortable living spaces for the needy.

worth, but know that they will find a new home and make some family very happy. If you are willing to donate the larger items, there are a number of organizations to choose from. The first one that comes to mind is Home Again Furniture Bank, which services the Northeast Avalon region. It’s a wonderful organization that collects gently used furniture and household items and delivers them for free to clients who have been referred to them. Their aim is to end furniture poverty and enhance the lives of people in our community. People whose lives change because they can furnish their space, that’s powerful. Another place is the ReStore. Affiliated with Habitat for Humanity, the ReStore takes large and small household items, furniture and appliances and sells them at very reasonable prices. The money they make from 94

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these donations helps support the construction of new houses for families that fall below the existing guidelines to qualify for a traditional mortgage. Both these organizations work tirelessly to help create comfortable homes and improve the living situations for people in our community. That’s definitely a happy ending for the furniture you can no longer use. If you are outside St. John’s or the Northeast Avalon region, I’m guessing there are organizations in your area that provide similar services. Once the larger pieces are out of the way, it’s time to deal with the rest. Clothing can be tricky. Getting a friend involved to offer another set of eyes and opinions will help you get through this one more quickly. Things you haven’t worn in the last two years are a good candidate for the Goodwill bag. The Salvation Army Thrift Store will gladly take all the 1-888-588-6353

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bags you have and the money they make also goes into the community, another win/win. I have found the most challenging items are books, photos and old technology sound systems. And the real challenge is not so much where to drop them off, it’s usually our attachment to them. Photos especially. I’m not suggesting you toss those. And even if your kids claim they don’t want them, they will, eventually. Organize them as best you can and store them in waterproof storage bins. Label them and keep them in a closet or storage unit. If the children don’t come looking for them, there’s a good chance the grandchildren

will, eventually. The other option here is to put them in a digital format, a time consuming venture no doubt, but one you could put aside for now and tackle when you’re settled in your new space. I recently read a book called Minimalista by Shira Gill and I highly recommend it. It’s an easy read as she gently guides you through the process and eventual realization that it’s so freeing and gratifying to live with less. Fewer things to take up space in your house and in your head. All of which gives you more time to spend with the people you love and do the things you truly enjoy. More time to love your decluttered space.

Family photos can be put into a digital format, a time consuming venture no doubt, but one you could put aside for now and tackle when you’re settled in your new space.

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

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said it many times, one of my Todd’s Table I’ve favourite meals to cook is roast turkey, hands By Todd Goodyear

When he’s not dreaming up or cooking up great food, Todd Goodyear is president and associate publisher of Downhome. todd@downhomelife.com

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down. It’s the preparation, the aromas filling the house — or in my case the shed — the gravy, the homemade cranberry sauce, etc. That said, chicken and turkey are close in many ways but in my opinion, chicken is probably tastier. When I think of roast turkey, I am thinking whole turkey. When it comes to parts, I think chicken. Yes, you can easily avail of turkey parts, too: necks, drumsticks, breasts etc. But they’re not as common as chicken breasts, thighs, and legs and there are so many ways to cook them. If you do any travelling, no matter where you go — and I mean all over the world — the one common thing that seems to be available to buy in a grocery store or most restaurants is chicken. It deserves to be cooked in many ways to satisfy the palate. Honestly, the only way I haven’t tried is deep-fried, so stay tuned. Maybe I’ll fire up the outdoor burner and try it in the summer. I have always experimented with spices when cooking. I encourage you to season your food with what you like. There are no rules. It’s your meal; make it your own. Keep a note of what worked and forget what didn’t. Don’t be afraid to change it up. Even the slightest change can make a common dish seem new. Here’s what I did with some chicken parts recently and wow, they turned out great.

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Baked Chicken Here’s what you will need. Remember the spices may vary on what you like or don’t like:

3 tbsp olive oil, divided 3 tsp paprika 1 tbsp dried oregano 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp onion powder

Take half the olive oil and rub all over the chicken pieces. Combine all the spices in a bowl and sprinkle evenly over the chicken, on all sides. Place in a dish, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to let the flavours get into the meat. Preheat the oven to 400° F. Use a baking pan that’s big enough to lay all the chicken pieces in so that they are not touching. Spread the rest of the olive oil in the pan, ensuring the entire bottom is coated. Place the chicken in the pan and then into the oven, uncovered. Bake for approximately 45 minutes and then check for doneness with an instant-read thermometer. I am lost without one. If you don’t have this tool, they are pretty well available in just about any store that sells cooking gear. They are a great addition to your kitchen and you can get a good one for no more than $20. You need to check the chicken for an internal temperature of 175° F. Once you are close to the desired safe temperature of the chicken feel free to crank up the heat, or cautiously use the broiler mode, to crisp up the skin near the end of the cook. For this particular meal, I made some basmati rice in a rice cooker, threw it in a pan and dressed it up 98

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1 tsp cumin Salt and pepper to taste Chicken parts of your choice. I used 2 chicken legs, thigh attached and 2 chicken breasts.

with onion, mushrooms, red pepper and a couple of scrambled eggs. I recommend that you choose your side. You may prefer fries, mashed potato, salad or whatever you like.

Todd’s Tips Use spices you like. Allow the seasoned chicken to sit in the fridge for a minimum of 1 hour. Cook with confidence!

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life is better Snowy Day in Upper Amherst Cove. Mark Gray, Bonavista, NL

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downhome recipes

Irish Favourites Irish eyes will be smilin’ for the sweet and savoury tastes of the Emerald Isle this St. Patrick’s Day thanks to your good friends at Downhome. Whether it’s a hearty stew, decadent boxty or indulgent dessert-drink with a kick, the luck-o’-the-Irish will be with you in the kitchen!

Boxty 1 cup raw potato, grated 1 cup buttermilk 1 cup plain flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt

1 egg 1 cup cooked mashed potato 2 tbsp butter green onion, sour cream (optional)

In a bowl, pour buttermilk over grated potato. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Beat egg in a mixing bowl and add sifted dry ingredients, grated potato and mashed potato mixture. Mix until a thick, pancake-like batter forms (add more buttermilk or sifted flour if needed). Melt butter on a griddle over medium heat. Drop spoonfuls of batter onto griddle, making each about six inches in diameter. Brown on both sides. Garnish with sour cream and green onions if desired.

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Irish Stew 2 1/2 lbs boned mutton or lamb, cut in chunks 4 large potatoes, peeled and cut in thick slices 2 large onions, peeled and cut in thick slices

4 medium carrots, peeled and cut in thick slices Sprig of parsley, chopped 2 cups water Salt and pepper

Layer all ingredients in a pot, starting and ending with a layer of potatoes. Pour in water and season to taste. Cover and cook over low heat until meat is tender and liquid becomes thick. If cooking with mutton, this should take about 2 1/2 hours; 1 1/2 hours for lamb.

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Irish Soda Bread 4 cups whole wheat or all-purpose flour 3 tsp salt 3 tsp baking soda 2 tbsp cold butter

1/2 cup brown sugar or 1/2 cup raisins, optional 1/2 litre buttermilk

Combine flour, salt and soda in a big bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes and crumble into dry ingredients. Mix in brown sugar or raisins, if desired. Add the buttermilk and stir well. Place on a floured board or other surface, and knead until it all stays together – it should not be too moist; adjust with flour or buttermilk as needed. Place in a round, lightly greased pan. With a floured knife, cut a large cross in the top. Bake at 350°F for 50 min. to one hour. If the top sounds hollow when you tap it, it is ready. Place on a rack to cool.

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Shepherd’s Pie 1 lb lean ground beef 2 tsp olive oil 2 medium onions, chopped 2 medium carrots, diced 1/2 lb white mushrooms, sliced 1/2 tsp dried thyme 2 tbsp flour 1 1/2 cups beef broth 1/2 tsp salt, divided

Black pepper, to taste 1 cup frozen green peas 1 cup frozen corn 7-8 large potatoes 1/3 cup milk 2 tbsp butter or margarine Paprika, for sprinkling (opt) Chopped, fresh parsley, for sprinkling (opt)

In a large, non-stick skillet, cook beef until browned. Transfer meat to a plate, discarding any fat remaining in the skillet. Heat the oil in the skillet over medium heat. Add onions and carrots, cover and cook until vegetables begin to soften (about 8 minutes). Increase heat to medium high. Add mushrooms and thyme and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are soft. Return beef to the skillet. Stir in flour, then add the broth, 1/4 tsp salt and a pinch of pepper, and bring to a simmer. Stir in peas and corn. Pour mixture into a shallow 9" x 13" baking dish. Preheat oven to 350F. Peel potatoes and cut into 2" chunks. Place in a steamer basket and steam for 20-25 minutes, or until tender when pierced with a knife. Transfer potatoes to a bowl, then mash until smooth. Stir in milk, butter (or margarine), remaining 1/4 tsp salt and a pinch of pepper. Spread potato mixture on top of the meat. Sprinkle on a little paprika and parsley, if desired. Bake until heated through, about 25 minutes.

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Irish Nachos 4 large potatoes, washed and unpeeled 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded 1 jalapeño pepper, diced 8 black olives, seeded and chopped 1/2 cup diced bell peppers (any colour)

1 small tomato, diced and seeded Sour cream and salsa for dipping

Slice potatoes about 1/8" thick; deep-fry until cooked through and golden brown. Drain. Layer potatoes on a pizza pan or cookie sheet with remaining ingredients. Top each layer with cheese. Bake at 375°F until cheese is completely melted and chips are heated through. Serve with sour cream and salsa.

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Irish Coffee 2 1/2 oz Irish whiskey 1 tsp brown sugar Strong, black coffee (freshly made) 1-2 tbsp double cream, freshly whipped 1/2 tsp grated chocolate (optional)

Pour whiskey and sugar into a warmed Irish whiskey glass and stir. Fill glass with coffee, until 1/2 inch below rim. Gently pour cream on top; do not stir. Sprinkle with grated chocolate if desired.

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Corned Beef Dinner 1 (5 1/2 lb) corned beef brisket 2 large onions 10 carrots, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 heads of cabbage, cored and cut into wedges 15 small potatoes

Gather all ingredients. Rinse brisket under cold water and place in a large pot. Add enough water to cover roast by 6 inches. Peel onions and place them in the pot. Bring to a boil; cook for about 30 minutes at a rolling boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, so water is at a gentle boil. Cover and cook for 3 1/2 hours. Remove onions and cut them into wedges. Return them to the pot. Add carrots to the pot, then place cabbage over roast. Place potatoes on top of cabbage. Cover and cook for 30 more minutes until potatoes are tender. Remove vegetables from the pot and place in a separate serving bowl. Keep corned beef in the pot until ready to slice and serve to avoid dryness.

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Crispy Fried Cabbage and Bacon 1 (12 oz) package of bacon 1/4 cup of bacon drippings 1 small head of cabbage, cored and finely chopped Ground black pepper to taste

Cook bacon in a deep skillet over medium heat until crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove bacon from skillet and drain on a paper towellined plate. Reserve 1/4 cup drippings in skillet. Add cabbage to hot bacon drippings; cook and stir over medium heat until cabbage wilts, 5 to 7 minutes. Crumble bacon over cabbage. Stir and simmer until bacon is warmed, 2 to 3 minutes. Season with black pepper.

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Growing Ginger BY KIM THISTLE

“Grow ginger in Newfoundland?” I can hear you saying, “She’s nuts!” It’s relatively easy to grow, but it’s a long-season crop that is native to tropical countries, so be conscious of humidity and heat. This plant needs to be started very early in the spring to give it the length of season it needs. In Newfoundland, it must be started indoors. I like to start mine around the Ides of March. It’s not a plant that you will see sprout overnight, so you will have to be patient.

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Your first question is probably “Where do I get the seed for this?” Ginger does not start from seed, but rather a rhizome (root), the same rhizome you purchase at the grocery store for cooking. I start looking for plump and juicy pieces in the produce department in February or March. This is when you will find the best pieces with swollen eyes that look like they are already about to sprout. Stay away from shrivelled, dehydrated pieces and look for a large piece with lots of eyes. When ginger grows it looks like long stems of grass. The more stems you have, the more your plant can photosynthesize and feed itself, resulting in larger pieces of ginger. This is why you look for large pieces with lots of eyes. The container you choose also affects the final size. Ginger grows horizontally, so the diameter is more important than the depth. Something about 14" across is ideal. The 110

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depth only needs to be 6-8", but if you only have a deep container available it will serve the purpose. The potting mix used should be of good quality. A light, but rich media with good drainage is ideal. Remember, you get what you pay for. Bargain basement topsoil will not give you the results you are looking for. I like to throw a few cups full of worm castings in with mine. I use that stuff with everything. ‘Tis gardener’s gold. There are a couple of different ways to start rooting. Some people soak the root to get it started faster, but I have just as much success with skipping this step. The container should be filled to within a couple of inches of the top. Lay the full piece of ginger on the top and cover with about one inch of soil. Using the whole piece will give you a larger yield than breaking the root into smaller pieces. Water thoroughly, but do not drench your soil. Lay the container in a warm area. If you have a heat mat, 1-888-588-6353

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it will keep the soil warm and the sprouts will appear faster, but this is not necessary. When you see the soil drying out, water again. Be careful. Since no roots or leaves are emerging, the root will rot if it is kept wet. Err to the dry side at this stage. Once your leaves appear you must be more diligent about watering and fertilizing. A good water-soluble, organic fertilizer is best. If your leaves start to yellow, it’s either a lack of fertilizer, over-watering or underwatering. To troubleshoot, check to be sure the soil is not waterlogged. If that’s not the case, it could be insufficient water. I tend to water heavily and then leave the soil to dry out before watering again. This encourages roots to grow deeply, creating a healthier plant that’s better able to withstand stress. Once the air temperatures warm you can place your container in an unheated greenhouse, cold frame or outside in a sheltered, warm part of your garden. A greenhouse is an ideal place to grow it, but if the summer is warm it will do fine outside. Leaving it inside in a warm window is fine, but be conscientious about the humidity and mist it regularly. When days begin to shorten and the nights get nippy, it’s time to harvest. Pull the whole plant up and wash the root well. I cut the stems and freeze them to use in soup stock.

Leave the roots for a day to dry off before storing. There are a few methods to store the roots. I like to freeze mine in thumb-sized pieces. It’s easier to grate when it is frozen. Another option is to dehydrate the sliced root and then grind the dried pieces to make ginger powder. Pickling ginger is another preserving method, as well as storing in alcohol. The alcohol is burned off when cooked at high temperatures and you are left with the fresh zingy taste of the ginger. Once you have harvested your first piece of fresh, pink ginger, you will be a convert. Never again will you be tempted to buy those dried-up roots we so often see at some grocery stores. Give it a try. What have you got to lose?

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

Got a question for Kim?

downtoearth@downhomelife.com www.downhomelife.com

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Cute Cousins (L-R) Roberta (Horwood) Mercer, Wesley Adams, Margaret (Greening) Geldart, Austin Greening holding Doreen (Greening) Rose, and Hugh Horwood visit their grandparents at Milton, Trinity Bay, in the 1940s or early 50s. “Please note Grandpa’s mid-1940s Chevy car to the left of Hugh, outside the gate!” writes the submitter. Austin Greening Clarenville, NL

Postcard from the Past This postcard, #24 in the Garrett Byrne Series, shows a worker raising the Canadian Red Ensign flag at the Flag Station in Cape St. Francis, NL. Burton Janes Bay Roberts, NL 112

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Drying Fish Taken in the early 1950s on Kodachrome film, this photo depicts hundreds of quintals of salt cod drying on Fishery Products’ huge flake on their premises at Badger’s Quay, before being shipped to European and Caribbean markets. Fred Hoskins via Downhomelife.com

This Month in History On March 20, 1948, St. John’s businessman Chesley (Ches) Crosbie – who had taken over his family’s empire in fish exporting, insurance, ship-owning and manufacturing – split with the Responsible Government League and launched the Economic Union Party. The party proposed a free trade agreement with the United States as an alternative to Confederation, despite the fact the U.S. weren’t at all interested and preferred the political union of Newfoundland with Canada. After the divided anti-Confederation forces were defeated in the Referendum, Crosbie served as a member of the delegation sent to Ottawa to negotiate the final Terms of Union with Canada. Dissatisfied, he refused to sign the final agreement, citing objections to its financial terms, and retired from public life. 1-888-588-6353

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Gnat, do you mind…

Ugly Ducklings? By Harold N. Walters

Gnat understood why Harry had once wanted to blacken Slab Elliot’s two eyes. Lately, Gnat felt like smacking the face off Spud Spurvey for much the same reason. The urge arose when Gnat realized Spud was being extra attentive to Ugly Maude. Half the school was at Uncle Pell’s shop spending their recess money. Except for Spud Spurvey, the boys were grabbing and shuffing and creating general mayhem despite Uncle Pell’s threatening to swat them with the flat edge of his humongous baloney knife. Amid the chaos, Spud sidled up to Ugly Maude and offered her a piece of his Kit Kat. When she nodded yes, Spud even wiped his fingers on his 114

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shirtfront before breaking off a section. Spud beamed like a boy besotted. Thinking back, Gnat realized Spud had been hovering around Ugly Maude like a bee seeking clover. Several times he’d whittled sharp tips on her pencils with his Mountie pocketknife. Once he’d blurted out “Bravo!” after Ugly Maude stood by the teacher’s desk and recited a poem. Come to think of it, one day 1-888-588-6353

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Spud held Ugly Maude’s coat so she could slip her arms into the sleeves. Now, in Uncle Pell’s shop, Gnat watched Spud and Ugly Maude. They were the calm eye at the centre of a rambunctious recess cyclone. When certain unexpected knowledge flared in his noggin, Gnat’s heart jumped up into his throat and squeezed his windpipe like a fist. Ugly Maude had been misnamed. While eating a slice of raw baloney — a recess regular for many famished-bellied school children — Gnat remembered a story, Brookwater lore of sorts, about the day after Maude’s birth. Traditionally, the women in the cove visited the home of a newborn to see the baby and deliver a little something — a bonnet, a rattle, a spoon — or to offer a blessing. Aunt Hood, an outspoken, thoughtless woman, was among the group of women who visited baby Maude. After she leaned over the cradle and scrutinized Maude’s wizened, scrunched up, day-old face, Aunt Hood said, “Poor child, she’s an ugly little thing.” “Aunt Hood is like a witch in a fairy tale,” Harry had said once when he’d heard the story told about the old biddy’s pronouncement. Sadly, as sometimes happens, the tactless misnomer stuck and grew into a greater unkindness — thus Ugly Maude. Perhaps Spud Spurvey was the first young gallant to act on his recognition of Maude’s true comeliness and cast the horrid appellation into the whirlwind. Now though, Gnat also perceived young Maudie’s budding beauty. 1-888-588-6353

Spud might be besotted, but Gnat was smitten. Dodging home from school, Gnat confessed his feelings to Harry, who pondered them. Beholding Maude in the brand-new light of Gnat’s affection, he said, “Yes b’y, she’s like the swan in that ol’ yarn.” That night, awake in his bed, gazing at the stars outside his uncurtained window, Gnat experienced a second light-bulb moment — he understood about envy and jealousy and how Satan’s imps might trigger covetous temptation. “I’d like to bloody Spud Spurvey’s friggin’ nose,” Gnat thought as the Sandman claimed him. Short of a punch in the nose, Gnat found ways to disrupt Spud’s wooing of Maude. At school, when Spud attempted to slide into the desk behind Maude, Gnat dabbed his arse in the chair quicker than Granny caught the weasel. In the crowded cloakroom when Spud was about to reach for Maude’s coat, Gnat clamped him in a Whipper Billy Watson headlock. The green gall of jealousy flooded Gnat’s bloodstream and he nipped Spud’s neck like a vise. “Shag off, Gnat.” Spud elbowed Gnat and knocked him on the floor. From among the boots and legs and coattails, Gnat thought he saw Maude smile at Spud. Like Jack from his box, he surged to his feet and charged. Familiar with emerald-eyed rage, Harry blocked Gnat before he barreled into Spud. “Knock it off, b’y.” But Gnat didn’t knock it off. Next day at Uncle Pell’s, when Spud offered Maude some chips before taking any himself, Gnat bulldozed March 2024

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between them. “Here,” he said to Maude, “have my baloney and Coke.” Looking perplexed, Maude rejected both offers. Soon, the two spurned suitors rolled in the melting snow outside the shop, grappling in jealous conflict. Harry grabbed Gnat’s collar and yanked him to his feet. Maude stood on the shop’s step, the springtime sun spotlighting her stunning face.

written in Maude’s neat cursive among the hearts and flowers. Because it tickled him, Harry kept his mouth shut and kept his knowledge to himself while the spats raged on. Of course, no one can jam chocks under Time’s wheels and halt its forward roll. The seasons turned. The last corroding crusts of snow melted. The first cock-robin appeared in Brookwater.

Maybe not every day, but more days than not, Gnat sought ways to hinder Spud’s advances, and Spud fought back with determination and passionate valour. Seeing her, Harry, no stranger to love’s manic power, brushed brittle snow off Gnat’s shoulders. “Go on home,” he said, giving Gnat a starting shuff. Each day the sun crabbed its way higher into the sky above Brookwater. Maybe not every day, but more days than not, Gnat sought ways to hinder Spud’s advances, and Spud fought back with determination and passionate valour. When a squall erupted during an English lesson featuring romantic poetry, Miss Britt, like a referee separating Whipper Billy and Gene Kiniski, swung her arms wide and pointed the combatants to neutral corners. While Spud and Gnat stood with their noses pushed in classroom corners, Harry noticed Maude doodling tiny hearts and flowering vines in the margins of her scribbler. Leaning closer, he grinned when he saw neither Gnat’s nor Spud’s name was 116

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And for Gnat and Spud, something awful happened. Slab Elliot, a hard ticket from Bun Town, rounded the Rock Cut and strolled into Brookwater as he often did. This time though, some things were different. He was alone, without his ruffian sidekicks. And, even more unusual, his characteristic scowl was absent. His face scrubbed, his hair slicked back, Slab moseyed into Brookwater with his hands casually reeved in his pockets. His puckered lips whistled a jaunty tune. A passel of Brookwater’s youngsters milled about outside Uncle Pell’s shop, passing the time on a sunny Saturday afternoon. Harry and Gnat were among the crowd. So was Spud Spurvey. Sally and Ugly Maude and a gaggle of other young maids, all looking as perky and bright as twittering songbirds, perched on the shop’s steps. Slab Elliot, his cheeks chuffing like a melodious wee bellows, passed on by without even a sidewise glance. 1-888-588-6353

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Not how it seemed to the Brookwater boys, instantly on the alert because Slab was in the cove. Slab sauntered to the Big Bridge and leaned on the rail as nonchalantly as that James Dean buddy everyone had seen in a recent movie. Immediately after Slab slouched against the rail, the terrible thing began to happen. All the girls, Maude and Sally at the forefront, began to ebb away from Uncle Pell’s shop, and as sure as the full moon pulling tides, gravitate towards the Big Bridge. As the girls advanced, Slab pulled a comb from his arse pocket and gave his brilliant hair a cock-of-the-walk slick. “We better get over there,” said Harry. Like the villagers armed with pitchforks and torches who hounded Doctor Frankenstein’s unholy creation, the mob of boys marched towards the bridge. The horrible thing hadn’t happened yet. But it was brewing, as surely as dark, bitter leaves steeping in a teapot. The girls fluttered around Slab. Worse than butterflies on thistles, Harry thought, as he elbowed his way to Sally’s side. Gnat squeezed ahead of Spud Spurvey as both steered towards Maude. Before fisticuffs erupted between 1-888-588-6353

Gnat and Spud, who challenged each other like Arthur and Lancelot about to joust for Guinevere’s hanky, the devastating thing happened. Slab winked at all the girls, but he offered Maude his hand … … and Maude, glowing like a ravenhaired princess in a storybook, allowed Slab to grasp her fingertips. Like a berserk bull unchained, Gnat jumped off the bridge. That’s a lie. Although Harry did have to brace him up to keep him from falling down in a heap. Spud Spurvey? Maybe not as heartbreakingly crushed as Gnat, Spud shrugged, leaned left and whispered in a handy female ear. You probably don’t want to mind that romantic spring, eh Gnat? But hey, the seasons turned again and again, and Maude’s beauty fully bloomed. Be sure you often tell her so. Harold Walters lives in Dunville, NL, doing his damnedest to live Happily Ever After. Reach him at ghwalters663@gmail.com

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LATE IN AUGUST 1939,

with war clouds gathering over Europe, the German freighter Christoph Van Doornum sailed into Botwood Harbour. No sooner had the vessel been loaded with ore concentrate when Newfoundland Constabulary officers placed the ship and its 25 crew under guard. This action came at the request of the British firm that had financed the purchase of the Van Doornum by its German owners. The lenders feared that, in the event of war, the loan would go unpaid. When war broke out on September 3, authorities formally seized the ship and detained the crew at the YMCA, located in the King George V Institute building, in downtown St. John’s. After a three-month stay at the “Y,” the detainees were transferred to hastily erected wooden barracks inside a barbwire enclosure at nearby Pleasantville. The Pleasantville camp had its share of problems, writes historian Gerhard Bassler, with prisoners disobeying orders, “chronic dissension among the German seamen,” fighting between the Italian and the German inmates, and two breakout attempts. Perhaps the first breakout attempt occurred in October 1939, when the men were at the “Y.” The escapees, boatswain Walter Knave and oiler Ernst Munch, reported the Evening Telegram, were quickly rounded up by members of the Constabulary’s Criminal Investigation Department (CID) after learning that the Germans had overnighted in a barn in the Goulds. Sergeants Cahill and Roche spotted the pair walking towards St. John’s and detained them at the city lockup. The escape landed Munch in the penitentiary, but incarceration did not deter him from further attempts. Almost a year to the day later, 26-year-old Munch was on the lam again, accompanied by fellow inmate Wilhelm Josting, captain of the Christoph Van Doornum. The archival record reveals details of the escapade. Munch had been awaiting the opportunity to escape when Josting approached him with a plan. The pair would make their way to Placentia and attempt to board a Spanish or Portuguese ship. Failing this, they would continue to the west side of Placentia Bay, find a dory, and row to the French islands of Saint Pierre et Miquelon. (The islands were then under Vichy French government control, which was friendly with Nazi Germany. Free French forces later took over the islands and ended Vichy control.) 1-888-588-6353

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The captured German freighter Christoph Van Doornum in Botwood Harbour, 1939. It happened that 33-year-old Josting had been laying the groundwork weeks before confiding in Munch. When the guards weren’t looking, Josting would cut the fence wires at the rear of the camp, a little at a time, using a pair of pliers. He also had a map of St. John’s, found among some reading material, and a supply of corned beef and biscuits. With their money, he suggested to Munch, they could buy some chocolate bars along the way. Both men spoke good, slightly accented English. On October 14, 1940, camp lights went out at 11 p.m., as per regulations, and the men retired to their barracks. The armed guards, members of the Newfoundland Militia, stood watch from sentry boxes, working shifts of two hours in the box and four hours in the guardroom. Just after midnight, with Munch waiting by the mess-room window, Josting rounded the camp a 120

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couple of times, stopping to cut the last few wires. His presence outside the barracks did not draw suspicion as “we were never barred up for the night,” said Munch. Indeed, one guard spotted Josting, but prisoners were often out at all hours, he stated, because the toilet was located outside the barracks. The guards were always on the alert, added Munch, but this night the sentry at the rear of the camp was sitting down, reading. The two Germans made haste. Munch passed two briefcases and a couple of coats to Josting through the window and jumped out. The pair crawled through the hole in the fence, ran up the back of the camp and, when at a safe distance, put on their coats. Using their map, they walked along the darkened shores of Quidi Vidi Lake, crossed the bridge at Rennie’s River, and went west along Old Railway Road (now Empire Avenue) from King’s Bridge Road, putting as much distance between them and the 1-888-588-6353

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camp as possible before daylight. In the morning, Corporal Mansfield, the man in charge of the camp that night, entered the enclosure for roll call. The prisoners lined up outside their barracks, but Josting and Munch were not among them. Mansfield began inquiries and a prisoner named Knabe disclosed that the pair had escaped overnight. (Knabe blamed his internment on Josting, who had ignored orders from Germany in August 1939 that

refuge in a shack. Members of the constabulary’s mounted division were busily scouring the city and environs, and canvassing for witnesses. A break came on the 16th when a man checking his rabbit snares reported spotting someone in the window of an empty shack on the Seal Cove power line, two miles from the community of Topsail. Sergeant Cahill and three constables approached the shack, where they

IN THE MORNING, CORPORAL MANSFIELD, THE MAN IN CHARGE OF THE CAMP THAT NIGHT, ENTERED THE ENCLOSURE FOR ROLL CALL. THE PRISONERS LINED UP OUTSIDE THEIR BARRACKS, BUT JOSTING AND MUNCH WERE NOT AMONG THEM. all ships return to their homeports. The two had not spoken since, and Knabe thought that Josting and Munch were conspiring against him.) Mansfield then examined the enclosure and found the hole in the fence at the rear of the camp. The search was on. The chief of police immediately issued a circular to local media, describing the escapees and asking the public for information. Authorities suspected that Josting and Munch had travelling companions: two small water dogs and one small white dog. Internees were often at the fence feeding stray dogs, said one guard. Meanwhile, the two Germans continued along the old rail track to where it crossed Topsail Road. From there, they picked up the power line, intent on reaching Seal Cove, and then on to Placentia. On the evening of the 15th, they took 1-888-588-6353

saw the outline of a person through the window. With the constables positioned outside, Cahill entered the shack and detained Josting and Munch (and one dog) without incident. The men had the stove lit and “had just finished a cup of tea” when Cahill burst through the door, reported the Evening Telegram. When interviewed in custody by Cahill, Munch said he simply wanted to get home to Germany. Josting, on the other hand, blamed camp conditions, claiming there was insufficient room in the dining area for all the internees and “that the guards get better food than we.” In any event, there would soon be no further escapes from the Pleasantville camp. The United States had leased the land to build an army base. The camp was closed and its detainees relocated to internment camps in Canada. March 2024

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puzzles

The Beaten Path

Kathy Savoury photo

By Ron Young

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

J L R

T p n H V U

H V

K B

L M S U

p E

R S

E S

T M A K n E Q R J H p H T O U V x n E U

S S K V N n M R Q K m J H E B A S L

p T S T

Last Month’s Community: Cartyville 124

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Sudoku

from websudoku.com

Last month’s answers

Need Help

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

www.downhomelife.com

March 2024

125

John Power photo

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

Use these 5 clues to identify where Ragged Rick is now: • Nestled in Jerts Cove • Surrounded by towering 300 m hills • A tragedy led to its renaming from Little River • No roads in or out of the community • Located on the southwest coast

Last Month’s Answer: Baine Harbour

Picturesque Place NameS of Newfoundland and Labrador

by Mel D’Souza Last Month’s Answer: Rigolet 126

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

Last Month’s Clue: It arrived directly from the equine’s orifice In Other Words: It came straight from the horse’s mouth

This Month’s Clue: It is a godsend in a costume In Other Words: ___ __ __________ ___ _________

A Way With Words HH E I ‘ M S S E L F

Last Month’s Answer: He’s beside himself

Rhyme Time A rhyming word game by Ron Young

1. A crooked accountant _____ the _____ 2. To get slapped with a glove is to get ___ with a___

This Month’s Clue

THEUPAIR Answer: ___ ___ ____ ____

3. One who spies firs ____ _____ Last Month’s Answers 1. Hype type, 2. Stable fable, 3. Smug mug

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.

’ ’ P A D H A A A I C H A G G E B A D I A E E D F E A O

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

Last month’s answer: We have no words for speaking of wisdom to the stupid. He who understands the wise is already wise. www.downhomelife.com

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Rhymes 5 Times Each answer rhymes with the other four

1. chuckle

____________

2. mistake

____________

3. employees

____________

4. safari animal

____________

5. chart

____________

STUCK? Don’t get your knickers in a knot! Puzzle answers can be found online at DownhomeLife.com/puzzles

Last Month’s Answers: 1. honey, 2. money, 3. bunny, 4. funny, 5. sunny

Tangled Towns by Lolene Young Condon and Ron Young

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

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

1. HEALLOP

For best results sound the clue words out loud!

2. LODDI

Abe Axe Heat Rye Fur _ ____ ____ ______ Ache Hunt Trim Aisle _ _______ ____ Last Month’s 1st Clue: Hum Hey Singer Ace. Answer: Amazing grace. Last Month’s 2nd Clue: Eight Eyes Core. Answer: A tie score.

3. RATHES CENTNOT 4. THANS RABROUH 5. BLANDSOWER Last Month’s Answers: 1. Stephenville Crossing, 2. Sandy Point, 3. Shallop Cove, 4. Flat Bay, 5. Fischells

A nalogical A nagrams Unscramble the capitalized words to get one word that matches the subtle clue. 1. OAT DO INN ~ Clue: it’s good to give and to receive 2. BARD SPEED ~ Clue: fit for a king or a queen 3. SCARY PERKS ~ Clue: its head is sometimes in the clouds 4. WRATH DINING ~ Clue: everyone has their own type 5. LIT PICKS ~ Clue: the fastest way to brighten a smile Last Month’s Answers: 1. manicurist, 2. silverware, 3. basketball, 4. trampoline, 5. sausages 128

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

Unlike regular crosswords, in Four-Way Crossword each letter is not necessarily related to the letter in the adjacent row or column, but is part of one or more words in some direction. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1-6: Robin Hood’s mate 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 1-10: puppet 1-31: flagpole 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 1-91: genius 6-8: seine 12-17: irony 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 12-42: abandon 14-17: rubber wheel 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 14-54: pathway 20-17: intertwine 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 21-27: hone 24-54: bannister 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 25-27: write 29-9: cap 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 29-59: in this place 30-27: lower jaw 30-50: tin container 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 33-63: lure 36-33: shellfish 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 36-38: policeman 38-78: ride bike 95-65: centre 67-47: feline 42-45: spike 95-93: lion 47-17: musical sound 67-70: walking stick 99-69: midday 68-63: dialect 47-50: small gull 100-10: church 72-42: lanky 47-77: diplomacy 48-18: narrative poem 72-75: small jet Last Month’s Answer 77-75: pitch 51-60: trainman 77-97: beret 54-51: fibber P R O P O R T I O N 78-80: toss 55-58: street L A P A N E A R N E 80-77: nut’s counterpart A I A R E N O G A W 58-8: portray 80-100: club 60-58: colour G N I KOO B E E S 83-81: transgress 61-63: faced I A N E E H S A L C 86-83: weeps 61-91: intellect B OG E T U R N A A 87-89: past 63-93: exam Y A L A E P A S O R 88-58: happy 64-84: capture Y O R EM I T A M I 88-86: petrol 66-6: worry A P A L I V E R T S 91-96: disengage 66-63: penny T A C HOME T E R 91-100: battalion 66-96: money

www.downhomelife.com

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The Bayman’s

Crossword Puzzle 1

by Ron Young

4 5 6

32 35

27 30

34 37

43 45

130

17 19

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ACROSS 1. ___ Richard Squires, former prime minister of Newfoundland 4. fuss 5. coniferous tree 6. “___ the B’y” 7. state in India 8. “Michael, row your boat ______” 12. boy’s nickname (colloq) 16. chilled 17. overhead train 18. New Ferolle (abbrev) 19. road (abbrev) 20. “And a bedlamer boy with a cast in his eye kindly offered to give us _ ____” (2 words) 23. garden tool 25. woven container 27. grass 28. switch position 29. electromagnetic pulse (abbrev) 30. myself 31. “A ____ smoke is better than a cold fog” 33. two-___ – tissues 35. type of bran 37. bandfish 40. prattle on (colloq) 43. captain 44. ornamental woody plant (2 words) 45. thole pin (colloq) 46. Come __ Chance 47. finish 48. “___ to Newfoundland” 49. “The devil to pay and __ pitch hot” DOWN 1. “He treated me kindly _____ ____ ___ ___ you” (4 words) 2. “Beware the ____ of March” 3. “As I _____ ______ ____ __ schooner close by” (4 words) www.downhomelife.com

9. “He’s __ thin you can see the sins on his soul” 10. ___ Perlican 11. tent awhile 12. drip 13. marble (colloq) 14. “You’re hauled on the hill and put down ___ ___ ____” (3 words) 15. Bay __ Islands 21. “Whaddaya at? Dis is __” 22. boat left over winter by English fishermen (colloq) 24. “Son __ _ Critch” TV show (2 words) 25. “You’ll never __ the man your mother was” 26. woven together 32. single ____ whiskey 34. pleasant 36. unladen weight 38. stack 39. lake bird 41. white church garment 42. decade 45. “Who __ you belong to?”

B A Y L O A I R C K K H 5 N A N A R 10 11 J I B E G O S P A S N O WW MA I N P O I N T B U I T Y S N E P L T O E R E R N O T C B R B C I A 29 O C D T S P O R T L A N D O U T E R C O V E C I T Y 38 K E L L I G R E W S R I N 39 M C A T R T V I E O N E W G O A T O P R I S L E A T O 46 E F R E N C H L I R A C E March 2024

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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. __ 69

____ 2677

____ 2229

_ 2

___ 263 __ 87

’ 43

__ 47

____ 5453

_______ 7273267

_____ 92537

_____ 38379

____ 4253

__ 63 ____ 4687

CRACK THE CODE 7

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

_ _ _ n AQ

_ _ Y _ Yb 7 y

Y _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _ 0 AX x \p

7X x

_ _ _ _ Y QOQ i 7 _ _’ _ yn0

_ _ Y

pb 7

Y _ _ _

7X x i

_ _ _ _ _, Q Q y 0 n _ _ _ _ \yOQ _ _ _ _ \yzQ

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ Y

ky i n Apb 7

Last Month’s Answer: The envious man grows lean at the success of his neighbour. 132

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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.”

decay = _ _ _

longlining = _ _

_ _ _ _

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

adhesive = _ _ _ _

ahead =

tibias =

overcast = _

df wt

_ _ _ _ _

_ _ _ _

c wx xt c c _ _

qm _ _ _

tmw

_ _ _

iz c

_ _

_ _ _

Iv q i

_ _ _ _

_ _

_ _ _ _

I i zq

_ _ _

V ma

_ _ _ _ _ _ _

Ymq i vY d

_ _ _ _

dz vY

_ vq’ c _ _

V maI za b

x f mw b t

c i vY c

_ _ _

_ _

qazIf v Y d

amq

_ _ _ _

I i zq _ _ _ _

f vVt _ _ _

tmw

_ _ _ _ _ _

mq i t a c

Last Month’s Answer: The most worth-while thing is to try to put happiness into the lives of others. www.downhomelife.com

March 2024

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Different Strokes

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

ERN AND COAL BIN AT A KITCHEN PARTY

Last Month’s Answers: 1. Snow flakes, 2. Coal Bin, 3. Tree, 4. Collar, 5. Box, 6. Boy’s arm, 7. Puzzle, 8. Hair, 9. Lamp shade, 10. Picture frame, 11. Book end, 12. Chair. “Differences by the Dozen”- A compilation of Different Strokes from 2002 to 2014 (autographed by Mel) can be ordered by sending $9.95 (postage incl.; $13.98 for U.S. mailing) to Mel D’Souza, 212 Pine St., Collingwood, ON, L9Y 2P2

134

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HIDE & SEEK FAST FOOD

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

BURRITO

POPCORN

SUNDAE

CHEESEBURGER

POUTINE

TACO

CHICKEN

PRETZEL

WINGS

SANDWICH

WRAP

DONUT

SODA

FRIES HAMBURGER MILKSHAKE NACHOS NOODLES NUGGETS PIZZA

Last Month’s Answers

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

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

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Colourful Culture

The drawing on the opposite page

is the work of Newfoundland Mi’kmaq artist Marcus Gosse, a member of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation Band. His grandmother, Alice Maude Gosse (nee Benoit) is a Mi’kmaq Elder from Red Brook (Welbooktoojech) on the Port au Port Peninsula. Marcus’ work has been exhibited in the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia in Halifax; The Rooms Provincial Art Gallery in St. John’s, NL; and the Canada 150 Art Show at the Macaya Gallery in Miami, FL; and his work is in private collections around the world. He has generously offered a series of colouring pages that run monthly in Downhome. Each image depicts a NL nature scene and teaches us a little about Mi’kmaq culture and language. Each colouring page includes the Mi’kmaq word for the subject, the phonetic pronunciation of the word, and the English translation. And you’ll notice a design that Marcus incorporates into most of his pieces – the eight-point Mi’kmaq Star. This symbol dates back hundreds of years and is very important in Mi’kmaq culture. Marcus’ Mi’kmaq Stars are often seen painted with four colours: red, black, white and yellow, which together represent unity and harmony between all peoples. Many Mi’kmaq artists use the star, and various Mi’kmaq double curve designs, to decorate their blankets, baskets, drums, clothing and paintings. To download and print this colouring page at home, visit DownhomeLife.com. To learn more about Marcus and find more of his colouring pages, look him up on Facebook at “Mi’kmaq Art by Marcus Gosse.” 136

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www.downhomelife.com

March 2024

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GREAT GIFT IDEAS!

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- Ron Young

#32671 | $14.95 $4.88

Downhome Memories Vol. 2 - Ron Young #46853 | $17.95 $4.88

Downhome Four-Way Crosswords - Ron Young #54058 | $6.99 $4.88

Downhome Laughing Matters - Ron Young #46852 | $14.95 $7.88

More Downhome Laughing Matters - Ron Young #57231 | $14.95 $7.88

Continued - Rick Mercer

Downhome Memories

ORDER ONLINE: www.shopdownhome.com

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

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MORE SELECTION ONLINE www.shopdownhome.com

Born in Newfoundland Puffin Shot Glass #87629 | $3.99 $1.99

Eat Me Shot Glass

#46386 | $1.99

Juiced Moose Shot Glass

NL Rowhouse Gold Trimmed Shot Glass

NL Flag Shot Glass #87544 | $6.99

Newfoundland Tartan Map Shot Glass

NL Dog Shooter

Newfoundland Tartan Map Shooter

Newfoundland Scenic Images Shooter

#83850 | $3.99

#87543 | $6.99

#87545 | $6.99

TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353

#73324| $1.99

#87546 | $6.99

#87548 | $6.99

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

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GREAT GIFT IDEAS!

Newfoundland Pony Heart Mug

St. John’s Rowhouses Mug

Any Mummers 'Lowd In Mug

Auk Island Winery Half Cut Mug

Auk Island Winery Frig Off Mug

Auk Island Winery Kiss Me Arse Mug

NL Tartan Map Beer Stein

NL Moose Beer Stein

NL Icon Tumbler

#86121 | $8.99

#81662 | $8.99

#87547 | $12.99

#81666 | $8.99

#81663 | $8.99

#86981 | $24.99

#82876 | $8.99

#81661 | $8.99

#85279 | $44.99

ORDER ONLINE: www.shopdownhome.com

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

2404_Mailorder_Mail order.qxd 1/25/24 2:01 PM Page 143

MORE SELECTION ONLINE www.shopdownhome.com

St. John’s Rowhouses Keychain #87533 | $5.99

NL Flag Keychain

#87535 | $2.99

NL License Plate Keychain

NL Tartan Paper Napkins

NL Flag Hard Hat Sticker

NL Dog Hard Hat Sticker

#59264 | $5.99

#87530 | $3.99

#83855 | $3.99

#87531 | $3.99

St. John’s Twig Pen #74742 | $2.99

The Rock Mini Transport Truck #87411 | $7.99

TO ORDER CALL: 1-888-588-6353

Newfoundland-opoly Board Game #86537 | $37.99

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

2403_photo Finish_0609 Photo Finish 1/25/24 1:11 PM Page 144

photo finish

Rainbow’s End

A rainbow spans the sky over Red Point, Bonavista. Mark Gray Bonavista, NL

Do you have an amazing or funny photo to share? Turn to page 9 to find out how to submit. 144

March 2024

1-888-588-6353

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