Vol.1 No.3 | The Lunenburg Barnacle

SERVING

ISSIE PATTERSON, EDITOR-AT-LARGE

More and more people in Lunenburg County are discovering the appeal of spending an evening as an adventuring elf or orc as Dungeons and Dragons experiences a revival.

Pandemic lockdowns made D&D, a tabletop role-playing game, skyrocket in popularity locally. Many people missed the simple joy of sitting around a kitchen table, playing a game with friends.

Lantzalot Game Store in Blockhouse is at the center of the Dungeons and Dragons community on the South Shore.

Veronica Goodfellow, an employee at Lantzalot, organizes regular sessions for anyone interested in learning how to play. She enlists local volunteers to lead the sessions.

“I want it to be a place for people who don’t know anybody,” says Goodfellow.

Tim Dover, a cook for the Coast Guard who spends his time on land in Lunenburg, says he got into D&D

CASTLES CURSES &

during lockdowns.

Like many D&D fans, Dover found his community through Lantzalot. He attended a meetup for new players that saw about 50 prospective wizards and paladins, and started a campaign with new friends. Now, he attends games every Monday evening when not at sea.

Jeff Mercer, Deputy Chief Librarian of South Shore Public Libraries, has been playing D&D for nearly four decades. He spearheaded the D&D programming available at some libraries in the region.

Mercer runs an ongoing game for local teenagers. “It’s a good way to flex your creativity and your imagination without a lot of supplies or structure,” he says.

Mercer has ordered Dungeons and Dragons Players Handbooks that will soon be available at SSPL for those interested in the game.

For those who decide they want to take a step further and find a group, there is a large community of players who would love to join you on an adventure!

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

See our comprehensive events listings at: thebarnacle.ca/events

BY: KATHERINE BARRETT

BY: CHRIS JACKMAN

BY: ISSIE PATTERSON

pm Poetry Night @Lunenburg Bound Friday April 28, 7 pm MayFly

Saturday May 6, 9 pm

BY: BRYN POTTIE

Pearl’s Precious Gems: Rita Van Tassel

EILIDH MACDONALD, STYLE COLUMNIST

Rita Van Tassel is a Lunenburg local who’s been thrifting her entire life. She sees it as a way of life rather than a passing trend. She is an artist and her creative spirit always shines through her funky wardrobe, so we sat down to chat vintage fashion:

What’s your favourite piece you own?

A 1980s cobalt blue shift dress. It’s super bright and punchy. I’ve owned it for the better part of a decade.

What’s your favourite way to style it?

I’m obsessed with accessories so I can accessorize in a bunch of different ways. It makes a great base for chunky jewelry, scarves etc.

How does it make you feel?

It’s such a feel good piece and makes me feel more powerful when I wear it.

Where do you get your fashion inspiration? Any local fashion crushes?

Hands down, Iris Apfel. Iris Apfel and her whole mantra, wearing whatever she wants and dressing for the fun of it.

Locally, Daina from No. 9. She always has the best mix of things that are vintage and thrifted. She accessorizes like nobody’s business and she takes risks but it always works, she just seems to know and understand her style so well.

Any hot thrifting tips?

Go with a friend, who is preferably not your style or size, you can cover so much ground that way. Double up the coverage of the thrift store, divide and conquer.

“Vintage and thrift is everything, it’s the way it’s always been on the South Shore.” – RITA VAN TASSEL

Local Volunteers Give Back

TIFFANY POPE, CONTRIBUTOR

To celebrate National Volunteer Week from April 16-22, The Barnacle spoke with four dedicated volunteers in the region.

Susan Crouse has been volunteering for 10 years as a mealtime volunteer at Harbour View Haven, the longterm care home in Lunenburg.

“Each conversation I have at Harbour View Haven makes my day brighter, and I hope I have made their days brighter too,” she says.

Anna Duckworth

is the chair of the volunteer board of directors at South Shore Harbour House, which provides shelter and counselling support for women and their dependent children fleeing situations of intimate partner violence. She says she volunteers because:

“Organizations like the Harbour House are an essential lifeline in our community that are grossly under-resourced in terms of staffing and funding.”

Kevin Taylor

is on-call 24/7 as a volunteer firefighter with the Lunenburg and District Fire Department, responding to 911 calls whenever he’s available.

“Each experience sits with me after in a different way,” he says. “It’s something I hope to do for the rest of my life, and I don’t want anything in return.”

Suzy Wells

coordinates all the other volunteers at Hinchinbrook Farm Society, which offers equine-assisted therapy to individuals who are differently abled and their families.

“I really enjoy spending time with children and the horses,” she says. “It’s important to me and very fulfilling – and we always need more volunteers.”

Hundreds Turn Out for Community Rally for Second Story Women’s Centre

JESSE WARD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

The Lunenburg Fire Hall was at capacity on March 31 for a community meeting on the status of Second Story Women’s Centre.

The abrupt closure of the counselling and support centre in early March was a source of significant concern for locals, evidenced by the outpouring of support of more than 200 attendees.

All of Second Story’s eight staff resigned in February. Their departures followed a seven-month period where their attempts to resolve concerns they shared with the nonprofit’s board of directors were unsuccessful, including a mediation process with a third party.

Helen Lanthier, a former co-chair on the Second Story board of directors, presented at the meeting.

Lanthier remarked that the board had repeatedly overreached into operational matters. She said the organization’s performance review policies were not followed, and the staff felt the board’s behaviour increasingly became more hierarchical and less feminist.

It was remarked that some staff who resigned have already moved on to new employment, and none of the staff who resigned would return while the current board is in place.

Nicole Robson was Outreach Coordinator with Second Story. Communicating with The Barnacle via email, Robson wrote, “The decision to resign was not an easy one for any staff, all of us loved our jobs, and we’re passionate about the work [Second Story Women’s Centre] did, however the relationship between the staff and board was damaged beyond the point of reconciliation.”

Second Story hosted more than 1,200 counselling sessions over the last year, in addition to a wide variety of other support work and advocacy.

As of press time the board of directors has not replied to requests for comment from The Barnacle.

This is a developing story. Stay up-to-date with the latest coverage online at: thebarnacle.ca

TIME MACHINE

Contributed clipping from unidentified newspaper:

While fishing on the Grand Banks off Newfoundland, 600 miles from Nova Scotia, John Long and his dory-mate Ephram Pardy, of the schooner Sherman Zwicker, while hauling their trawl, were accosted by a whale, and it being thick of fog there was no one to go to their rescue. The whale broke water, took the dory on its back, and carried it about 50 yards. It became entangled in the trawl, carrying it away. Long, the youngest, 29, and Pardy, the oldest, 65, estimated the whale at about 80 feet long and weighing about 50 tons. So here goes! Congratulations from the crew for taking a ride on the back of a whale in a double dory.

QUIZ!

What is Your Lunenburg County Dungeons and Dragons Class?

Are you a monk/yoga instructor, artificer/boat builder, or one of 11 others? Scan this QR code to start your epic quest!

TRIVIA WITH JOELLE: LEADERBOARD

Pursue your shot at the leaderboard at The Knot in Lunenburg, Wednesdays at 8-10 p.m.

MAR. 8 Cobnut, Unsolved Mysteries

MAR. 15 Salty Swallows

MAR. 22

MAR. 29

Quadrophenia

Quadrophenia

APR. 5 Quadrophenia

HowdyNeighboUr!

Suni Ferreira

SAL FALK, EDITOR-AT-LARGE

“Sri Lankan curry, nobody knew what it was,” says Suni Ferreira when asked about her first few months serving up her homemade food at the Lunenburg Farmer’s Market.

When the Sri Lankan civil war ended in 2009, Suni and her husband packed what they could and moved to Nova Scotia with $400 in their pockets.

During the uncertainty of moving to a new country, Suni found familiarity and community in her cooking. People loved the new flavours her culture’s cuisine brought to the South Shore and after serving it to her friends for so long, someone suggested she set up a booth at the Farmer’s Market.

Demand grew quickly and she realised she needed to expand.

“I kinda felt in my heart the time for transition,” says Suni.

With the support of her regulars, she secured a cafe space on Lincoln Street where she now serves up curries, noodles, egg rolls and desserts four days a week at her business Lamprai & Spice Cafe.

If you haven’t met Suni yet, you should join the line of devotees getting their lunchtime curry fix.

Lamprai & Spice Cafe is at 181 Lincoln Street, Lunenburg.

Penny Auction: Big Horn of Plenty for a Penny

CHARLES WEISS, WRITER AND ILLUSTRATOR

Last winter while reading a local weekly newspaper I noticed several penny auctions were listed for the upcoming weekend.

I anticipated an afternoon gathering of bargain hunters on a snowy Saturday at a community hall along highway 10.

Sure enough, there was a lineup of folks at the door waiting to get in the hall and buy envelopes of auction number tickets. The volunteers take your phone number, if you don’t want to stick around.

Colourful items, slightly used and new, were displayed on long rows of tables. In front of each item was a paper coffee cup where you dropped your numbered tickets. “Yeah, that’s right, everything for a penny,” I overheard from all corners of the room.

Something about the bright red t-shirt with the phrase, “Does this shirt make my bass look fat?” with a simple drawing of a person holding a fish made me drop a fistful of tickets in that cup. Part of bargain hunting is knowing what you want to win and where to place your tickets. By mid-afternoon numbers were being picked and called and the air was filled with anticipation.

A parade of cherished “new to me” items moved out to the parking lot. And I won my shirt!

Heron Happenings

EMILY SOLLOWS, BIRD WRITER

It’s April, which means the majestic great blue heron will be swooping onto a shoreline near you any day now. These little pterodactyls weigh only 5-6 pounds and build 1-metre-wide nests high in trees. They live for about 15 years on average but can live up to 24 years.

Great blue herons are progressive — both males and females incubate the eggs and feed the young fluffs. They breed together in colonies, and often return to the same feeding grounds each year.

Herons are not diving birds. These long-legged beauties wade into the water, becoming part of the shoreline as far as the passing schools of fish are

concerned. They lunge their long beaks into the water, piercing the fish and oftentimes gulping it down in one swift swallow. They also eat small reptiles, rodents and small birds, and have even been seen snacking on gophers in fields.

Each fall, great blue herons migrate thousands of kilometers south to the warmer winds of the southern U.S., Caribbean and Central America. Herons are supposed to migrate around September or October, but some have been hanging back longer, departing later in the season or even opting to stay the whole winter in Nova Scotia.

As with many other birds, herons make the trip back up to northern U.S. and Canada in the springtime. So the next time you see a great blue heron stoically landing on the shore, they could be just landing from their nonstop flight from Florida.

Little Crescent Development Shows Regulations Overdue

If the public meeting organized by concerned citizens about the private development of “Little Crescent” is any indication, the provincial Coastal Protection Act regulations are long overdue in the estimation of our coastal communities.

With the passing of the Coastal Protection Act in 2019 and extensive community consultation already completed, it is unacceptable that Nova Scotians continue to wait for the Houston government to do its duty to implement the regulations.

In the four years since the Act was passed, public outcry has surrounded many proposed developments – Owl’s Head, Mabou Beach, Eagle’s Head, Cherry Hill, Green Bay, and

more. Nova Scotians clearly continue to demand an increase in regulations to protect Canada’s Ocean Playground.

Climate change marches on, promising more Hurricane Fionas and worse. Combined with increasing pressure for accelerated development in Nova Scotia, including along the South Shore, it is imperative that the Coastal Protection Act be brought into effect without further delay.

The petitions created by the Little Crescent organizers appeal for a moratorium on development until the Coastal Protection Act is implemented, proving that as far as our communities’ tolerance for coastal development is concerned, a line in the sand has been drawn.

– MERYDIE ROSS, BRIDGEWATER

Spitting in Class is Encouraged

NANCY WILSON, CONTRIBUTOR

Imagine two-and-a-half hours on a Monday morning dedicated to knitting and felting, enjoying a leisurely cup of tea with freshbaked cakes and the gentle instruction of the master milliner, Anna Shoub, the “Hat Junkie” of Lunenburg.

The necessary supplies are all provided: hand-dyed yarns; shiny bronze knitting markers; roving.

This is not just a knitting class, although I learned plenty about that.

First, all heads are not alike, so measurement and style to suit your face is the starting point.

On the third class, we learned how to felt our knitted pieces by swishing and sloshing, kneading and sculpting our heavy, water-soaked, now-unrecognisable knitting.

Selecting bright colours of hand-dyed roving, learning to gently pull and layer the wispy fibres, we learned to make felt. The felt was cut and embroidered to our finished beret for extra flair.

Anna is not only an accomplished milliner, but a patient and encouraging teacher. She recognized not all of us were accomplished knitters. When I frantically sent an email with the subject “the dog ate my homework AND needles”, I was provided a special tutorial class along with a cup of tea.

Anna recognizes individual skills and balances instruction to keep everyone active and engaged. She is eager to share her ‘tricks of the trade’, hence, “Spitting in class is encouraged.”

Four weeks later, ten hours of instruction, and I am now the proud owner of a beautiful hand-knit, felted, and decorated beret. There are now four unique and colourful interpretations of Anna’s beret pattern in Lunenburg County. Keep your eyes open for them, and consider taking a class from the “Hat Junkie”.

Elizabeth’s Books, in the heart of the Town of Lunenburg’s bookselling district, boasts a rental library of more than five thousand DVDs. Each month, proprietor Chris Webb recommends films for your consideration.

This month’s picks:

Quigley Down Under (1990), Billy Budd (1962), The Sound of Music (1965)

“These are all good movies,” says Chris.

Quigley Down Under stars Tom Selleck, appreciated locally for his appearance in the Lunenburg-filmed Jesse Stone series, as an American cowboy with a specially-modified long range rifle on an Australian odyssey.

Billy Budd, like February’s pick Moby Dick (2011), is a Herman Melville adaptation. This is a tale of a nautical mutiny featuring Melvyn Douglas, who starred in 1939’s Captains Courageous which featured real footage of the Bluenose.

The Sound of Music depicts the story of the von Trapp family of Salzburg, Austria, which is a UNESCO world heritage site – just like Old Town Lunenburg.

Scotch Chocolate Snacking Cake

JOSIE RUDDERHAM, BAKER

Chocolate Cake:

2 C all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

½ C unsalted butter, room temp

1½ C granulated sugar

1 TBSP pure vanilla

extract

Chocolate Icing:

½ C unsalted butter

2 oz. Ploughman’s

Lunch dark chocolate, chopped

¼ C milk or cream

2 large eggs

½ C “sour milk” (could be buttermilk or half yogurt/half milk)

½ C boiling water or hot coffee

2 oz. Ploughman’s

Lunch dark chocolate, chopped

2½ C icing sugar

1 TBSP pure vanilla

½ tsp salt

¼ C dark chocolate curls

Bake the Chocolate Cake:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Grease an 8-inch square baking pan with canola oil cooking spray and line it with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, sugar, and vanilla for 5 minutes on medium-high speed, until it looks like wet sand. Stop and scrape the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl twice while mixing.

4. Add 1 egg and beat for 2 minutes on high speed. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the second egg and beat on high for 5 minutes until light and fluffy.

5. Add the flour and sour milk and mix on medium-low for 30 secs until a thick batter forms.

6. In a small bowl or glass measuring cup, stir ½ cup of boiling water into the chopped dark chocolate and stir vigorously until the chocolate is melted completely.

7. Keep the mixer running on medium low speed and slowly add the water/ chocolate mixture. Turn the mixer up to medium and mix for 30 seconds. Scrape down the bottom and sides and continue mixing on medium high for

30 seconds. The batter should be light, fluffy, and pudding-like in texture.

8. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the cake has puffed up and a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out dry. Allow the cake to cool for an hour before topping with the icing. Make the Chocolate Icing:

9. Add the butter and milk to a small heat-resistant bowl and heat in the microwave for 1 minute. Add the chopped chocolate and vigorously

stir until all the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture is glossy and smooth. If you see any lumps, heat in the microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until smooth.

10. Place chocolate mixture, icing sugar, vanilla, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and whisk on high for 7 to 10 minutes until light and thickened. Stop, and scrape down the bottom and sides of the mixing bowl twice during mixing.

Ice the Cake:

11. When the baked cake is cool, spread the chocolate icing evenly over the top and use a small offset palette knife to spread it level to the edges of the pan. Sprinkle the dark chocolate curls evenly over the icing.

12. Let the cake rest for 1 hour to allow the icing to set up before serving. You can store the cake, covered, at room temperature for up to 5 days.

N.B. Celia, you can use your hand mixer for this one and reduce the mixing times a little. Just make sure it’s very fluffy after you add the eggs.

From ‘Challah’fax to ‘Naan’tigonish, Glutenous Places in Nova Scotia

Improvise Smart-mouthed Oakley, Leibovitz or Lennox

Urinate

Island with wild horses

This _ Has 22 Minutes

"You're tellin' me!", in a text

Brazilian dessert, rhymes with a pasta sauce brand

"Laughing" animal _ rolls, called Holubtsi in Ukraine

Speak indistinctly

Dot your _ and cross your T's

"I'll take that as ___" (2 wds)

Group that sings 23A

The Lahave _ Combining form meaning twice, or two

"Orinoco Flow" singer Physicians, for short Mystical glow

Instrument that keeps the pace

Singer Carly __ Jepsen Stiller, Kingsley or E. King

"I'm a Believer" band Often Montreal or New York style

Along with 54D, meaning you can't go in "Heya!"

Planet's path See 46D Wood pattern

Pondered Fidgety Subj. for languagelearning. Abbr. Sound to get people's attention

"Of course!"

Right now! Abbr. __ kebab

Grades for average students

A Great dog breed?

Hunky dory, copacetic

"_ poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio"

South Shore town with a patty sandwiched in between?

Here, in France

Type of film camera

Frida Kahlo had one

Bye_, song by 18D

_tar, the Last Airbender

When something is trending, it's _

Abbr. on your I.D.

Equal, in France

He gets a card on father's day

You might eat pancakes in the Highlands National Park here?

_ House, by Madness

Right, straight, _ and obtuse

_Story, starring Buzz and Woody

Eroding County just before the New Brunswick border?

Forum to ask a celebrity questions

Polynesian island country

_ queen, slay!

_no, I burnt the pie!

Nonprofit org. that operates independently of government. Abbr.

Conundrum, puzzle

Lab vessels

_, dos, tres, cuatro. Don't _ by the pool!

A Southwestern town left in the toaster too long?

TV show filled with singing teens

Angry, furious True _, a 1994 film starring Arnold Schwarzenegger

A neutral title that doesn't indicate marital status

Voice before baritone and bass

Boy from the film referenced in 42A

"You're gonna be _!", song from Wicked Condemn openly

Test versions

"_ boy, you can do it!"

Weaving machine

"Do ___ others..."

I _, 1982 song by A Flock of Seagulls Greeting in Rio

Pass it to collect $200

ARGUABLY ONE OF LUNENBURG’S ILLUSTRATOR: JESSIE MCLAUGHLIN

Find the answers to last month’s crossword at thebarnacle.ca/category/games