alison dyer

Discover your passions, respect the Earth

2008-06-20T12:29:00.004-02:30

[Photo: Ezra near the top of the world 2007]

"Live your dreams, discover your passions, adventure safely with care, consideration and respect for planet Earth. Create a connection with the natural environment to encourage yourself and others to protect our world and all living things, discovering the true and natural essence of humanity."

This is the philosophy of Hayley Shepard. From New Zealand, Hayley is visiting and kayaking part of Newfoundland. Welcome. Enjoy.

8th Annual KNL Retreat

2008-05-26T22:06:00.004-02:30

It was great. Terrific guests Bryan Smith and Fergus (forgive me but it's on the KNL website). However, I reneged again on any river stuff but did 3 new paddles: around Swale Island (finding a fantastic cave behind a waterfall - five kayaks inside and still more room); up Bloody Reach (didn't look for Beothuk artifacts, but lots of Osprey); out from Wild Cove around Cow Head (impressive headland with a nice sea running) near Salvage. Lunched on Sailor's Island - another resettled community and gorgeous spot for camping. Bloody big bits of ice (think small mountain) out in the bay--we figured about 1 1/2hrs one way paddle so gave it a miss. Eagles, seals, yada yada. Oh yes, and we partied hard at night too.

No camera, no photos. But check out Stan's website for some. (And Neil's on yesterday's trip in Placentia Bay.)

First pond practice tonight. Bob G smiling into hand rolls and I'm grimacing at the thought of 6 degree water--though that's appreciably more than the 1 or 2 degrees paddled in Bonavista Bay. Finally grin and bear it and roll. Not so bad. Thank you Kokatat!

Kayak Retreat - from bears

2008-05-06T17:56:00.004-02:30

[Photo: Jamie Lewis spies a black bear, Terra Nova, 2008 by Alex McGruer]

I collect bear scat. Photos that is. One of several photo projects: this one is about developing a field guide to scat of NL animals. Well, someone has to do it.

Meanwhile, on a scouting trip this past weekend, paddling friends Alex McGruer and Jamie Lewis saw the real McCoy. They drove out to Terra Nova National Park to paddle a beginner's day route for the upcoming annual Kayakers Retreat. And they were rewarded with a black bear close by on shore. Seems Terra Nova has an increasing population of these bears. They just about always scamper off when people show up. (Unless tourists feed them... please don't!) Still, this has reinforced my conviction about staying in a cabin again instead of tenting this year. Cold and damp is one thing... but having some great clawed, hairy and hungry animal looking at a few mms of cloth is, well, a definite deterrent.

Linda Bartlett - Newfoundland's Woman of the Paddle

2008-04-19T00:41:00.006-02:30

Below is a version of an article of mine on paddling friend Linda Bartlett in a recent issue of Adventure Kayak Magazine (on Wild Women). Above Linda wears a particularly fetching rain hat (although I don't think MEC carries them) on our 4-night trip to Exploits Island in '05.

Name: Linda Bartlett
Occupation/Role: Outdoor Enthusiast/Outgoing Chair of MEC
Hometown/Province: St. John’s, Newfoundland

“There’s an old Chinese saying ‘you’ve never lived ‘til you’ve run a raging rapid and ridden a wild horse’,” says Linda Bartlett. “Well, I’ve had horses that have been difficult to handle and I’ve run the canyon of [Newfoundland’s] Main River.” A woman of lean build, extraordinary stamina and sheer love of the outdoors, Bartlett’s roster of adventures (like sitting behind the blowhole of a humpback whale during a rescue mission, or speed skate skiing smack into the face of a bull moose) could well rank her as the female Indiana Jones.

Bartlett probably has more paddling experience under her PFD than any other female in the province. She started canoeing about 20 years ago, completing most of the major rivers of the island – some with her then 165lb Newfoundland dog Bear - and twice running the Churchill River of Labrador lure which she paddled in a solo canoe in 2006. She switched strokes about 10 years ago. “I found a lot of skills used in canoeing I could use in kayaking and I love the sea.”

Driven by physical challenge (the former Captain of the McGill Woodswomen team took gold in a snowshoe race, practicing hard “for fear I’d come in last”), Bartlett spent the Millennium whitewater kayaking in Nepal, “…sitting on a bag of rice paddling with a head of cabbage between my knees.”

What others are saying:
Paddle Canada President and a Level 2 instructor trainer, Richard Alexander is quick to recognize Bartlett as a role model. “Her high level of competency is complimented by her enthusiasm to share her knowledge and passion with others. She is, in every sense, a leader in the paddling community.”

From the bay to the boardroom:
For the past four years, Bartlett has brought her enthusiasm for the outdoors and knowledge about gear to the boardroom as chair of Canada’s leading retailer of outdoor gear. “I was drawn to the values of Mountain Equipment Co-op, and it’s become a vehicle for change,” says Bartlett, adding “I’m motivated to make a difference.”

Fast forward:
Her day job in Tourism with the provincial government, and involvement with MEC have carved into her time on the water. Next year she intends to change that by paddling more in her home province. “I’m not a fair weather paddler who explores the coast in calm conditions. I enjoy wind and waves. I’m looking forward to challenging myself in the elements.”

Witless Bay Line Barrens

2008-04-08T16:51:00.010-02:30

[Photos: top & bottom by Alison Dyer; group shot by Graham Openshaw; 2 skiers by Peter Armitage, April 2008]

"What time of day do you call this," says Graham, as daughter Ella and I, stunned by a glazing sun, scramble with our x-country skiis. We'd left St. John's and arrived about 40 mins later - now noon - out on the Witless Bay Line - a road known for its winter white-outs, over the barrens between the Trans Canada Highway and the coastal Southern Shore Highway.

I mumble something about being at the kayak pool sessions the night before with both kids. And now we are here - where my buddy Peter Armitage has his winter camp (a canvas Innu tent). He, his partner Barb Neis, mutual friends Graham and Janaki (an Aussi) and a few others are out for the day - or weekend - camping and skiing. Ella and I decide to join them for the afternoon across a vast white terrain scattered with erratics and irregular life - like something belonging to the White Witch: a landscape bewitched by a dazzling sun, and magnificent chards of sparkling glass beneath shorn larch and grizzled spruce (a thaw following a freezing rain).

Early on - and far behind - attempting a snow plow, my left ski hits a bare patch of caribou moss, grabs onto it like a drowned man to a tossed lifejacket, and sends me caterpaulting into the albeit fresh and tasty air. I land unceremoniously like a sack of garbage. So be it... I paddle therefore I am... I ski because winter doth cover this land for 8 months (i.e. I suck at skiing but try to make the most of it).

The landscape is marvellous - we're tired, and after two plus hours head back to camp, finding it by its trail of wood smoke. Tea, Innu donuts and a ritual bowl of instant noodles are enjoyed laying on a bed of fragrant fir boughs. Sore muscles, red cheeks, and warm food usher us into a trance-like nap.

Innu Crafts Available

2008-04-04T15:37:00.005-02:30

"I spent three weeks in Unaman-shipu (La Romaine) on the Quebec Lower North Shore in February and March 2008. My Innu Mom, Alice Bellefleur, asked me to flog a number of her craft items in St. John's upon my return. These were sold almost instantly."

So writes my long-time friend and paddling buddy, anthropologist Peter Armitage. He goes on to say that Alice Bellefleur:

"takes commissions, mostly moccasins, mittens and knitted wool socks. ..if you're interested in placing an order, send me the outline of your foot drawn on a piece of paper (in the case of moccasins and socks). Same thing for an order of mittens - send me the outline of your hand drawn on a piece of paper. Mom is 75 years old and never stops making crafts."

If you're the shopping type, I can't imagine a better gift - or reason to buy - than a pair of these exquisite hand-made items. And you'd be supporting an important local, sustainable and aboriginal economy.

See Peter's site for full details and more photos of crafts.

Winter Winning Winterset

2008-03-28T18:34:00.004-02:30

Sitting and eating and drinking at the annual CAPE (Cultural Assistance Plan for Emergencies) fundraising dinner last night at the Ship Pub with friends and writers Janet McNaughton, (a prolific award-winning author of young adult novels), Libby Creelman (who has a terrific debut novel just out), poet Shoshanna Wingate, and recent award winner Kathleen Winter.

from CBC website:

Kathleen has won Newfoundland and Labrador's richest literary prize, for the second win in her family's history.Winter won the 2007 Winterset Award for boYs, a collection of short stories that are thematically linked by the lives and thoughts of boys and men. The announcement was made late Thursday afternoon at a ceremony at Government House in St. John's.

Winter, a veteran writer who lives in Holyrood and also writes a weekly column in the St. John's Telegram, wins $5,000 for the prize.

Winter is the sister of novelist Michael Winter, the first winner of the award. He won in 2000 for his autobiographical novel This All Happened.

Shortlisted nominees were Paul Rowe, for his novel The Silent Time, and George Rose, a well-known fisheries scientist who wrote Cod: An Ecological History of the North Atlantic Fisheries. Each won $1,000...

The Winterset Award was established in 2000 by newspaper columnist Richard Gwyn to honour the best writing in Newfoundland and Labrador. It commemorates his late wife, Sandra Fraser Gwyn, a St. John's-raised journalist and author who chronicled the arts community of her home province, and who died in 2000.

For full article, go to CBC.

course, I wanted to know where Kathleen got her hair done--some nice.

Spuds, say Cheese!

2008-03-25T00:07:00.002-02:30

[photograph from: www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2008/1000799/index.html]

This is one photography contest that I have to enter. It's the World potato photography contest, launched March 12th in Rome. (Rome? Rome! I know what you're thinking. Ireland, Newfoundland, but Rome?)

According to the press release of that date, the contest was launched--to highlight the role of the potato as a source of food, employment and income in developing countries--by FAO and the United Nations. The contest is being held in conjunction with the UN’s International Year of the Potato (IYP) in 2008.

And how's this factoid: the potato is the world’s number four food crop, after rice, wheat and maize, and grown in more than one hundred countries.

I've been thinking about spuds because I want to grow some at the Cove this summer... maybe some whites, blues, definitely some reds and maybe some fingerlings...

Now the contest details: Winners in the professional and amateur categories will be awarded cash prizes totalling some US$11 000 as well as Nikon cameras. The deadline for entries is 1 September 2008.

For info: IYP-Photo@fao.org

Remembering our friends

2008-03-17T11:08:00.002-02:30

Our four hens--Scruffles, Percky, Herbert & Nerbert were surprisingly interesting pets, gave us a lot of joy and a real bonus - delicious fresh free-range eggs. This past weekend they and several other birds were brutally attacked and killed by a mink.

I have nothing good to say about minks. Their need to kill is pointless. This was the third time a mink visited my friend's barn which housed our hens this winter. We all thought we'd mink-proofed the pens after the first visit. We were wrong. I feel terrible for my friend who had to find the 13 ravaged hens and ducks.

I'd been looking forward to writing a column on the joy of raising hens. And there is a lot to say. But that'll have to keep for another day. I think we will try again.

international icecream day - load 'er up!

2008-03-10T01:13:00.004-02:30

(Photo credit: Brian Newhook, Keels, Bonavista Bay, NL)

Past saturday, if you didn't know, was international icecream day. Well why not. Those brave or something or other were able to score a free icecream if they showed up in their pyjamas at Moo Moos. My son and his willing dad were the first there, bed hair and all, at 9am for some double dutch choc and the Moo Moos special Turtle cheese Cake. At least that's what I heard. Personally, I preferred a few more snooze minutes - having been at the pool the night before for a good clinic on bracing with Jim Price. You can never get enough practise with braces.

But back to icecream. temporarily. I was reminded of a recent photo submission by Brian Newhook, local paddler and, it appears, iceberg wrangler (though latter description brings on a lot of understandable hand wringing by our club). Nevertheless, as the above photo shows, there is more beauty in nature than can be imagined at times. A perfect melting softserve.

Lick, twirl and keep a good distance.

rubber boots

2008-02-20T14:38:00.002-03:30

A poem for this time of year on our wind-battered, warm-frozen, earth broken, ice-spliced island:

Rubber Boots, A Love Story

They sing of fish guts, cow paddies,
and mud puddles; the places you've been.
They embrace the back of your knees, calves
held in the whoosh and slap, a lullaby
in this season of leaving.
An antidote to empty coat hangers,
they wait for you like dogs
at the back door.

by Bren Simmers [from Arc Poetry Magazine]

Let me Fish - and Paddle - off Cape St. Mary's

2008-02-17T23:12:00.003-03:30

Written by Otto Kelland, Let Me Fish off Cape St. Mary's is a beautiful song.

But hey, others are paddling around that same Cape. Yup. We're a lucky crew who paddle here. (And hopefully Justine C doesn't mind my using a photo from her site - from her visit to same Cape). Now, some of us are even more fortunate. For those within earshot (and with good studs on your tires - yes - it's still only February) come check out this:

February 21, 2008: Slideshow - Paddling around Cape St. Mary's
7:30 PM Guv'nor Pub on Elizabeth Ave
We've all been there but few have paddled around Cape St. Mary's. Last September, three KNL members left St. Bride's on this unique trip. The sea was calm, the cliffs were high, the birds were raucous, the caves were deep, and the surfing was a treat. Come and see the pictures of this dream paddle with Neil Burgess

Appeal from across the pond.... thousands of years ago

2008-02-12T19:08:00.000-03:30

The Lismullin archaeological site in Co. Meath - possibly used as a defence during the Viking invasion - has been handed over to the contractor building the M3 motorway... hard to believe a site 2,000 years old, with artifacts dating back to the 10th century, is to be demolished. for a highway. More info on Claire's blog.. and there's a petition on the go.....

winter paddling

2008-02-12T13:16:00.000-03:30

Stan MacKenzie shows it possible to paddle in the winter here. Brrr. Actually he has gone out on the ocean too - check out his new blog listed in links.

Check out: www.getridofandywells.blogspot.com

2008-02-05T13:44:00.001-03:30

www.getridofandywells.blogspot.com

The Highest Tide

2008-01-28T21:48:00.001-03:30

"I was a pink-skinned, four-foot-eight, seventy-eight-pount soprano. I came off as an innocent nine-year-old even though I was an increasingly horny, speed-reading thirteen-year-old insomniac. Blame Rachel Carson for the insomnia. She was long dead by the time I arrived but I couldn't resist reading her books over and over... "There is no drop of water in the ocean, not even in the deepest parts of the abyss, that does not know and respond to the mysterious forces that create the tide." How do you read that sentence, yawn and turn out the lights?"

So begins (almost) an enchanting debut novel by Jim Lynch, a coming-of-age story of 13-yr-old Miles O'Malley living near Puget Sound. It's also a book that'll delight you with its depth, wonder and hilarious insights into the natural world. Sea kayakers in particular, I figure, will enjoy its tide-fresh imagery, metaphors and turn-the-page turn-of-phrases.

"I showed them life on top of life, barnacles and limpets stuck to oyster shells, clinging to each other, piggybacking on larger shells and barnacles on top of everything, as if there'd been a Superglue party the night before."...

"This is the roughest part of Tidal Town," I said... Phelps was obviously fading so I asked him how he figured they reproduce.

"By getting girl barnacles drunk?"...

"Nope. Their penises are rolled up like fire hoses inside their shells. When the time is right, they unfurl them and feel around their shells for willing mates to shoot their sperm inside."

Phelps laughed. "Come on. Fire hoses?"

"That's right. A barnacle's penis can be four times as long as the diameter of its base. So, yeah, those four-inch-wide giant barnacles you see along the coast are packing sixteen-inch penises."

..."These guys are the studs of the beach?"

Which makes one wonder, what kind of research did this guy do. On his website, Lynch answers:

I read marine biology books, sex guides and interviewed a psychic. I explored tidal flats during the day and at night with a headlamp. I interviewed experts on flotsam and tidal currents and spent a lot of time with a state biologist who has given tidal tours to teens for the past 20 years.

Pool Time

2008-01-20T23:36:00.000-03:30

[Photo: pool session Jan.2007, Sue Duffett]

Back in the saddle. Actually a very comfortable backband that a friend installed in my Perception Shadow. And now the stormy snowy freezing rain icy weather is upon us, it's time for our kayaks to bathe in warm chlorinated water as we continue to hone our skills, practise rescues & strokes.

Cool Competition for lots of audiobooks

2008-01-01T17:11:00.000-03:30

Based on its REDEFiNE iT: Dictionary of Newfoundland English facebook group (honestly, this is actually interesting), the 'small but fine' audiobook publisher Rattling Books has issued a super New Year's Competition. Here are the details:

You now have until:January 14

"In one sentence state a New Year's Resolution using all of the Words of the Week issued thus far by the facebook group REDEFiNE iT : Dictionary of Newfoundland English. Your statement must include your resolution but may also include an explanation of its motivation or any contingencies you anticipate in the application of your resolution.

You may ply the words in the sense indicated by the Dictionary of Newfoundland English definitions of the words or one of the "redefinitions" of the words posted to this group. It's up to us to guess the meaning of your Resolution. A Jury will be struck and two weeks from now a winner and two runners up will be announced. Criteria for judging the winning three entries will be articulated by the Jury on announcing their final decisions! The winner will recieve one full set of Rattling Books audio titles (18 in total). The two runners-up will each recieve a copy of Merrybegot by Mary Dalton, the book that inspired this Facebook Group and a copy of The Big Why by Michael Winter in which the term "blue drop" appears so beautifully. Here is the List of Words to include in your New Year's Resolution

shive

waddock

bawn

lewardly

blue drop

bawk

gud

drung

boo

pishogue

angishore

yaffle

marl

droke

merrybegot

nuzzle tripe

Post your Resolution on Rattling Books blog or on the REDEFiNE iT Facebook group page under the relevant Discussion Board Topic.

18 books. Pretty good win. Pretty good odds.

2008: The Year of Food Sense

2007-12-30T23:41:00.000-03:30

(Photo: root cellar Ladle Cove, NL, Alison Dyer 2007)

"The average food item on a U.S. grocery shelf has travelled farther than most families on their annual vacation..." Barbara Kingsolver in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, 2007

"If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country's oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week." Steven L. Hopp in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, 2007.

What's your new year's resolution?

Keep it simple. Local. Make it count.

JOY... Paddle Forth

2007-12-24T01:01:00.000-03:30

For 2008: Paddle forth.
Have Joy (possibly one of the best words in the English language)
A few shots of paddling partners in Newfoundland's bays (Bay d'espoir, Notre Dame, St. Mary's, Placentia, Hermitage).

men's club rules. again

2007-12-22T02:36:00.000-03:30

after hoping there might just be a gender flick (for a f****ing change... sorry, but it does get tiring) for the lieutenant governor's position in Newfoundland & Labrador (after all, even CBC Radio got call-ins on this) the word is final. Mr. John ('pass the tequila-Sheila' and 'quieten down baby') Crosbie has been appointed. Well that should tell us something.

An Intergenerational Crime

2007-12-11T12:46:00.000-03:30

He says that our failure to act is an "intergenerational crime."

David Suzuki, among many, many others, is rightly upset by Canada's pathetic behaviour and position (let's just call it environmental bashing of unforgivable proportion) at the Bali UN Summit on Climate Change.

"we are leaving a mess for our children and grandchildren who had nothing to do with making it, and we are creating a precarious world for the poorest and most vulnerable peoples who were not the cause of the current crisis."

For Suzuki's full commentary, go to:

David Suzuki (the Nature of Things) calls the government's spin on climate change "humiliating" and "ludicrous"http://www.thestar.com/News/article/283829

Oh yes, and Avaaz.org has given Canada its Fossil of the Day Award for its ludicrous position at the talks.

Trinity Bay

2007-12-10T23:45:00.000-03:30

(photos by Michael Bradley, 2007)

As temperatures fall far below zero, and clunky Sorels replace booties, I'm remembering some paddles from this past summer. One was with fellow kayak blogger Michael Bradley who took these photos of our day trip in Trinity Bay. This is an exciting bay to paddle. At the head are places like Chance Cove, Chapel Arm and Spread Eagle - sheltered, for the most part, but their stacks and caves testify to an often active sea.

A little further out are resettled communities - only accessible by boat - such Deer Harbour and Ireland's Eye (site of biggest drug bust in eastern Canada of the 70s, or something like that) and Pope's Harbour where this year a church was built - four decades after the community was abandoned.

Further out still, past a great poker hand (as in Hearts Delight, Hearts Desire, and Hearts Content) is the exposed coast chez moi with its sheer cliffs, shoals and great vistas. Many miles on the other side of the bay are places like Trinity, a historic community with many restored homes and the filming location for the 2001 film The Shipping News and the 2002 television miniseries Random Passage.

Operatic paddle for November

2007-11-27T14:20:00.000-03:30

[Photo credits: Neil Burgess]

Overture:

The sky gathered blue behind us, like a bride trailing her veil.

Act One:

We begin at Little Harbour East, at the head of Placentia Bay, after a car shuttle to Fairhaven where we'd end the paddle, about 22km to the south. Readying the boats for launch, we chat with a few older locals. One fellow talks about his grandfather, Robert Hann who, around 1900, ran a lobster cannery in Little Pinchgut Cove.

By the crack of noon we slice into the water, paddling out the harbour to face the march of cliffs along Long Island and Merasheen. Far out in the bay courses a fishing boat, haloed with seagulls like fleas around an old dog.

Some miles out, near Long Island and Merasheen, an oil tanker sails fast.

Intermission

[Scudded with over 300 islands,160km long by 130km wide, where fog plays a leading role two days out of three, Placentia Bay is renown for its fishing grounds and bird sanctuaries. It's also one of the busiest oil handling ports in Canada. Tanker traffic is fairly intense. And it's about to get a lot more tense. The Bay may now host a second oil refinery as well as a LNG terminal. Traffic congestion and lack of emergency preparedness could well spell disaster for this naturally and culturally distinct area.]

Act Two

A pair of loons rehearse an aria. A pair of moose on a ridge stand guard. We paddle around Pumbly Cove and Great Pinchgut and enter Little Pinchgut for lunch. A view as wide as imagination. And, sadly, a beach choking on plastic.

Intermission

[Salt meat buckets, oil containers, fishing nets, shoes, pop bottles. A commonly held perception is that our beaches and coastal environment is 'pristine' and 'untouched'. Sadly, that's a myth. Many beaches, particularly on the south coast of Newfoundland, are eyesores and some are hazardous to marine wildlife. Where on earth does all this garbage come from? Certainly a number of sources but the short answer is - us. ]

Act Three

Paddling into an operatic light. Crepuscular rays from a silver sun spotlight the salt water and yellow-dressed larches, cast promise across the knobbly hills. A sea in repose. And cradling rocks, a many tendrilled kelp rises and sinks beneath the ocean's breath, a benign monster.

Act Four

Rounding the last headland, we're off the water by 5pm as dusk starts eating around us.

2007-11-27T14:16:00.000-03:30

test.
i've updated some windows - having difficulty posting.

alison dyer

Discover your passions, respect the Earth

8th Annual KNL Retreat

Kayak Retreat - from bears

Linda Bartlett - Newfoundland's Woman of the Paddle

Witless Bay Line Barrens

Innu Crafts Available

Winter Winning Winterset

Spuds, say Cheese!

Remembering our friends

international icecream day - load 'er up!

rubber boots

Let me Fish - and Paddle - off Cape St. Mary's

Appeal from across the pond.... thousands of years ago

winter paddling

Check out: www.getridofandywells.blogspot.com

The Highest Tide

Pool Time

Cool Competition for lots of audiobooks

2008: The Year of Food Sense

J*O*Y... Paddle Forth

men's club rules. again

An Intergenerational Crime

Trinity Bay

Operatic paddle for November

JOY... Paddle Forth