No textile craft is more closely associated with the East Coast than rug hooking. As someone who is very craft-curious — but not particularly craft-accomplished — I jumped at the chance to take an introductory workshop earlier this summer at Union House Arts. Entitled “Rug hook a road sign”, our …
Today, I came across a headline from the Saltwire news network, which covers Atlantic Canada. It read “One woman hospitalized after three vehicles collide with same moose on T.C.H. in St. John’s Monday night”. I read the story; apparently, car #1 clipped the moose, car #2 killed the moose, and …
The first question I get from friends outside Newfoundland these days is whether or not we’ve had snow. The Newfoundland winter is the stuff of legend, and I guess we’re all curious about how true the legend is. No, we’ve not had snow yet. Other parts of the island have …
It’s been awhile since my last post. The last few weeks have been busy, and also transformative. My dear friend Michele from Hamilton came and stayed with us in September, using our place as her home base for a broader exploration of the province; she has wanted to visit here …
You have probably heard that Hurricane Larry made landfall in Newfoundland a few days ago. Everything unfolded as predicted; Larry landed on the Avalon Peninsula, where its greatest impact was felt. Here in Port Blandford, about a 2.5 hour drive northwest from St. John’s, we had brief, heavy rain and …
We have been able to watch plants grow and mature over the summer, which has been delightful — one of the joys of a new property. There is lots to be thankful for, in terms of the efforts of the previous owners of this property. They planted so that things …
Bonavista is a town of about 3,000 people that’s located at the very eastern tip of the Bonavista Peninsula, facing the North Atlantic. It’s considered to be the site of John Cabot’s 1497 “discovery” of North America. But the truth is, we don’t know for sure where Cabot landed – …
Berry picking is a big deal in Newfoundland. It seems like everyone does it, and there are LOTS of berries available for the picking. Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, red currants, black currants, blackberries, bakeapples, serviceberries, partridgeberries, snowberries, crackerberries, marsh berries, cranberries, crowberries – these are the ones I have heard of, …
Every weekday at 6 pm, CBC Newfoundland airs a program called The Broadcast. (The News at Six doesn’t come on until 6:30.) The Broadcast is all about fishing and the ocean. Today’s show featured an interview with a specialist in phytoplankton. Earlier this week, there was a report about the …
Yesterday, we visited a film set. “Random Passage” was a 2002 TV miniseries about the lives of early European settlers in Newfoundland, based on the historical fiction book by Bernice Morgan. The filming is long past, but the site has been maintained by a non-profit group that runs educational tours …