In his column, Between the Boulevard and the Bay, Downhome's founding editor, Ron Young, recently wrote about his own theories regarding how to improve the province's ferry service. (See the March 2012 issue for the full column.) Since then, we have been inundated with feedback from our readers, including the following messages left on our Submission Phone Line (1-866-640-1999):
In the span of a couple of months, Downhome received letters from two different readers, both inquiring about nearly identical antique items that they own - a brass image of a fisherman's face. Struck by the coincidence, but unsure what the item was or where it came from, the editors put the call out to readers to identify the mystery object (pictured right). As usual, you came through for us! Here are some of the messages left on Downhome's Submission Phone Line (1-866-640-1999).
On a chilly, wet morning,
from the cove by the bog,
came the lighthouse man’s warning,
of the rocks in the fog.
That blanket of gossamer,
what lurks there beneath?
Tis' my love and the jaws of her,
beware of her teeth.
If a ship you be sailin’,
through the wind and the cold,
if you’re homebound from whalin’,
if a cargo you hold,
heed the lighthouse man’s warning.
Seek the lighthouse man’s light.
For ‘tis fog in the morning,
and my lover will bite.
– Poem by Terry Bursey of Mount Pearl, NL
Grand Bank Lighthouse, NL
Photo by Boyd Holloway
Heart's Content Lighthouse, NL
Photo by Jennifer Gushue
Old Cape Spear Lighthouse, NL
Photo by Dave Armstrong
Rocky Point Lighthouse, NL
Photo by Frank Verro
Peggy's Cove Lighthouse, NS
Photo by Ronnie Kinnie
Quirpon Lighthouse, NL
Photo by Gene Greene
Cape Norman Lighthouse, NL
Photo by James Fewer
Margaretsville Lighthouse, NS
Photo by Jan Boone
East Random Head Lighthouse, NL
Photo (taken around the turn of the 20th century) courtesy of Elizabeth Bustard
Do you have an incredible lighthouse photo to share? Submit here.
Just about everyone has a digital camera these days. Unless it is a simple point-and-shoot, the camera is likely covered in buttons, wheels and displays all designed to help the photographer take great pictures. Learning to use this type of digital camera can be a daunting task.
While there are many books, online photography schools and YouTube videos to help, nothing beats an experienced photographer’s guidance while learning a new camera feature, attempting a compositional technique or exploring exposure options. This type of personal help often exists within the congenial atmosphere of a local photography club. One such club exists in Gander, Newfoundland. Formed in 2006, the Gander Photography Group has grown from three to 60 active members from Gander and surrounding communities.
The Gander Photography Group is typical of most amateur photo clubs. Our membership ranges in age from young adults to retirees and includes beginner, intermediate and advanced photographers, all self-taught and professed amateurs. We meet biweekly from September to June. Each meeting includes a presentation, usually by one of the group’s more experienced photographers. Topics typically include photography basics, types of photography (portrait, landscape, abstract, wildlife and macro), camera settings, exposure, composition, lighting, framing, photographic techniques, imaging software, as well as camera equipment and accessories such as extra lenses, tripods, filters and flashes. The meetings usually conclude with a show-and-tell featuring images recently uploaded to the group’s Flickr photo site. This session provides an opportunity for members to share photographs, exchange ideas and answer questions about the techniques, equipment and camera settings used. This sharing helps to improve members’ photographic skills and to fulfill the group’s primary goals; to spread the enjoyment of photography and to help its members become better photographers!
The Gander Photography Group recently held its third Annual Photography Exhibit at the J.R. Smallwood Arts and Culture Centre in Gander. Twenty-five members displayed more than 150 photographs across all types of photography. An official opening of the exhibition provided an opportunity for family and friends to view the photographs and share in the social side common to most photo clubs. The exhibition’s guest book lists residents, tourists and school children as visitors, and judging by their comments, the month-long event was an outstanding success.
If you live in an area without a photography club, find a few camera-happy friends and start one. If you need help, contact us and we will gladly share what we did to make our group a success. After all, photography is meant to be shared.
Click here to see a sample of photography by the Gander Photography Group. To view more, see the May 2012 issue of Downhome, or click here.
Here in Newfoundland and Labrador, CBC’s “Fisheries Broadcast” isn’t just a radio show, it’s a cultural institution. Since its first broadcast on March 5, 1951, the show has been vital not only in keeping fishery stakeholders in the loop about everything from marine weather forecasts to the latest controversies and developments in the industry, but also in helping maintain an important part of our history and heritage for the past 60 years. And for people like Wilfred Bartlett, Dwight Spence and Marion Counsel, it’s obvious that even though the fishery has faced some major changes, the “Broadcast” remains just as relevant as ever.
Stuck in the Middle
Anyone who regularly reads the “Opinions” section of the newspaper or listens to the local call-in radio shows knows the name Capt. Wilfred Bartlett. The retired fishing captain and sealer from Brighton, Notre Dame Bay has never been one to shy away from sharing his opinion on everything from local politics to the state of rural Newfoundland. When it comes to the fishery, however, he is especially passionate, and as a man who has spent more than three decades on the ocean, it’s a subject he knows a thing or two about.
“I still like to know what’s happening in the fishery because as the fishery goes, so does rural Newfoundland and Labrador...and one thing we got to look at is that this oil is not going to last forever...I’m just as much concerned now about the fishery being rebuilt back to what it was so we can sustain ourselves in rural Newfoundland,” he says.
“My motto has always been (that) I want to leave for my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren what my grandfather left for me. Because when I was growing up, we had a healthy fishery, we had a healthy forestry, and we took what we needed back then. We didn’t take what we wanted, we took what we needed to survive. And until we get back to that, I don’t think we’re going to have a very healthy province, in my opinion.”
Wilfred says the “Fisheries Broadcast,” which he’s been listening to ever since he started fishing, is his lifeline to the industry and is as much a part of his daily routine as having breakfast.
“There’s a lot of people certainly that when the ‘Fisheries Broadcast’ comes on, everything else got to stop,” he says. “If I’m anywhere alongside of a radio today, which is 99 per cent of the time, it’s on at 5:30 when the ‘Fisheries Broadcast’ comes on.”
Besides being a dedicated listener of the “Broadcast,” Wilfred has often called in to offer his own comments and criticisms. In the late 1970s-early ’80s he found himself smack dab in the middle of one of the stories when then host Wilf Dyke came to Brighton to interview him during the seal fishery.
“Just after he got here, I got a call that one of the boats from Triton was out there stuck in the ice,” Wilfred remembers.
With his 60-foot longliner and Wilf along for the ride, Wilfred set out to try and rescue the crew by towing them in. Shortly, a Coast Guard icebreaker arrived to assist them into port.
“He came in alongside and he put her in reverse, or up and out ahead...to push the ice away from us...and all of a sudden, with that big thrust in power from this icebreaker, Wilf Dyke almost lost his leg because the rope come across, the rope between my boat and the other one that we had in tow.”
Next day, Wilfred had to drive to Dildo with a load of seal pelts, so he offered to give Wilf a lift that far.
“We struck a snowstorm on the way in,” Wilfred recalls with a laugh. After spending the night in a hotel room chair, poor Wilf eventually made it home.
“It was an experience for him, I think, because at least he realized more now what happens on the ocean, or what could happen.”
Keeping Connected
For fisherman Dwight Spence, the sea is something that’s very much in his blood. Hailing from Port au Choix, the “fishing capital of Western Newfoundland,” on the Great Northern Peninsula, he started fishing with his father when he was 15 years old. He says while he’s noticed changes in the industry over the years, the “Fisheries Broadcast” is one of those constants in life that he’s always been able to depend upon.
“I can guarantee it’s helped me a lot and we would be lost if anything happened to it. It’s part of our culture, it’s part of us in Newfoundland... and it’s a part of the fishing industry, and that’s the main thing,” he says. “It’s something that you look forward to every evening, five days a week.”
Tuning into the “Broadcast” has been a daily ritual since he began fishing 45 years ago.
“My father always listened to it. Mostly those times it was for the weather forecast...the weather forecast was a godsend...then the interviews, the people, what was going on in the fishery around the island. That’s why it was so important. That was the main topic growing up in the household,” he says.
While Dwight says you can get a weather report anywhere nowadays, the “Broadcast” plays a vital role in keeping him connected to what’s happening in the fishing industry, both the good and the bad.
“Sometimes it’s not to your liking this day and age, but you hear stuff about the fishery and the seal hunt and that, you get upset about it. It’s not much like it was one time…go back 35, 40 years, it was all good news...”
From the latest on what’s happening with the crab, shrimp and cod stocks, to the price of fish and what the quota for the season will be, Dwight says “you’ll hear it all on the ‘Fisheries Broadcast.’
“’Cause it’s always somebody telling a story, or somebody complaining about something,” he says with a laugh.
“If you’re away from home, it’s where you hear the problems in the fishery first...it’s not a little bit here and a little bit there. If there’s a problem in the fishery today or something comes up, you’ll get it this evening. You’ll get the whole story on it.”
A Silent Witness
Growing up on Red Island, Placentia Bay, Marion Counsel’s family may not have had many modern conveniences like a television set, but they did have a radio to keep them in tune with what was happening outside their tiny outport community. Marion has many warm memories of those days (before the residents were resettled by the government in the 1960s), and says the “Fisheries Broadcast” played a big part. Her father, Michael Counsel, was a fisherman who used to listen to the “Broadcast” daily.
“Basically, we grew up listening to Dad listening to the ‘Fisheries Broadcast,’” she laughs. “And, of course, the ‘Fisheries Broadcast’ used to always talk about if the lighthouse was not working, if a buoy was missing in a certain place...There was the ‘Fisheries Broadcast’ and the ‘Doyle Bulletin’ and all those shows, but especially the ‘Fisheries Broadcast’ was of keen interest to Dad because that was his life, that was his work.”
The second youngest of eight children, Marion says the “Broadcast” was such an important fixture in her home that it was almost like a member of the family. And rest assured, no matter what was going on at the time, a blanket of silence would descend upon the Counsel household every evening at 5:30.
“(It was) a sacred time in our house. When the ‘Fisheries Broadcast’ was on, you had to be ‘quiet for your father,’” Marion says with a laugh. “And, of course, the radio just had a battery. There was no plug in radios at the time (and) we had kerosene lamps. So they had to spare the battery for my father, because of the forecast and the ‘Fisheries Broadcast.’ We weren’t allowed to turn it on and listen to any music...if we were going to sing out or play, we had to go outside,” she adds.
“The ‘Fisheries Broadcast,’ in particular, had a very strong point of meaning within our kitchen. It was a typical outport kitchen; the stove was the central heating for the house and Mom was always bustling around, cooking and feeding the stove and baking, while Dad was curled up on the couch listening to the ‘Fisheries Broadcast.’ And we weren’t allowed to make a sound.”
While her parents have since passed and even though she doesn’t work in the industry herself (she’s a nurse), Marion still has a keen interest in the fishery and listens to the “Broadcast” whenever she can.
“It’s kind of ingrained in me, it’s in my bloodstream...It’s important to me, what’s going on in the fishery. It kills me the fact that it’s been almost 20 years now of a moratorium. We’ve lost a whole generation of young people who could’ve been on the water...but that was so different from back then. It’s certainly changing and it’s painful the way it’s changing so drastically. So the ‘Fisheries Broadcast’ kind of keeps me in touch with what’s going on, even though it’s not my life today,’ she says.
“It’s a great program. And it’s lasted such a long time that, in itself, it is a cultural icon.”
In the August issue of Downhome, Dennis Flynn explores the history and the nature of the giant squid, a mythical creature that's been turning up in the waters surrounding Newfoundland and Labrador for at least three centuries. Here are some more quirky facts concerning these creatures.
Giant Squid in Literature
In the realm of fiction, Herman Melville mentions a giant squid in the classic Moby Dick; Peter Benchley (author of Jaws) has one as the title character in The Beast; Newfoundland-born poet E.J. Pratt includes one in his narrative poem, “The Cachalot”; and Newfoundland author Kenneth J. Harvey includes a giant squid in The Town that Forgot how to Breathe.
The "Idol" Connection
In 2005, a group of young artists involved in a Community Arts Program produced an excellent stylized mural depicting an underwater life scene in Holyrood Harbour (located at the intersection of highway routes 60 and 62). Prominent among the characters is a giant squid encountering a whale, and the tuna fish for which the area was once very well known. One of the project's artists was singer Lindsay Barr, a 2008 contestant on CTV's "Canadian Idol."
September brings a plethora of thoughts into the average parental mind - school supplies, homework, rushed mornings, new clothes, packed lunches, sports and activities, money and more. But is anyone thinking about the importance of a healthy lifestyle?
To lead well-balanced, healthy lives, we need to make time for nutrition, activity and mental health. In order for our children to live healthy lives, we must show them how by modeling it. This is an excellent time of year to change old habits or create new routines. This year, try the following tips to help get your family on the right track to eating well, being active and feeling good.
Remember that small changes matter. It will not only add years to your lives, but life to your years!
Food
• Be mindful of the amount of processed food you eat. Processed food is usually high in sodium and preservatives and low in nutritional value. Also, be aware of how often you eat fast food. Even the "healthy" options are higher in saturated fat and sodium than what you would prepare at home. Instead of eating out, make your own "fast food" - low fat burgers with whole-wheat buns, spaghetti sauce and whole-grain spaghetti, or even French toast.
• Research shows that more than 80 per cent of children don't eat enough fruits and vegetables, so include one with each meal and snack. We should all try to eat at least six servings of fruits and vegetables per day. Eating enough fruit during the day may eliminate the craving for sweets at night.
• Eat family meals together at least three times per week (with the TV turned off). There are so many reasons why this is important. For example, we tend to eat slower, healthier and in smaller portions when we are relaxed and together at mealtime. This is also a time to laugh, connect with family members and get kids involved in meal choices and preparation.
Fitness
• Choose one to two activities for each family member that they enjoy doing and do it. Activities need to be based on the interests of the child (not what other children are doing). Over-programming children makes them irritable and stressed. Similarly, choose an activity for yourself that is based on what you enjoy, not on how many calories it burns. If you enjoy an activity, you will do it...and keep doing it. Otherwise, it becomes a passing fad.
• Reduce your screen time. Computer, video and TV time shouldn't total more than two hours per day, excluding work-related activities. This is true for all family members. Long hours of TV viewing are particularly bad for your health as you are cued by commercials to eat unhealthy snacks. You are also less receptive to internal cues that tell you when you are full. As a result, you tend to overeat on nutrition-poor food.
• "Wiggle" more. As a society, we wiggle less on a minute-to-minute basis. Try to build in daily habits that increase your wiggle factor. Sit on an exercise ball while you watch TV, stretch every hour, take the stairs, park farther from the door. Some of these things can also reduce your stress level.
Feel Good
• Have fun with your family members on a regular basis. This builds good relationships. Liking your children as well as loving them is very important to your child's self-esteem and to your enjoyment of your child. Try to do things together for enjoyment value (not to discuss problems).
• Schedule down time. "...unstructured child's play - the kind with no rules, few gizmos and a little or no adult direction - packs a powerful developmental wallop." (MacPherson, 2002). Playtime helps kids develop imagination, problem-solving skills, social skills and more. It is often undervalued in today's society, which favours structured physical activities and directed learning. However, both structured and unscripted play are important to children's development and need to be balanced. Consider allowing your child to choose just two to three extracurricular activities, so there will be time for free play.
• Find peace or joy in the mundane moments. We all have them - the first sip of coffee in the morning, a cool breeze on a hot day or an unexpected hug from your child. Some people find this through meditation, spirituality or activity. Begin writing these moments down and notice how they increase in frequency.
Anne Wareham is a Clinical Psychologist and Coordinator of the Janeway Lifestyle Program in St. John's. She is also co-chair of the Body Image Network (NL). The Janeway Lifestyle Program is committed to helping all children in the province eat well, be active and feel good about themselves.
