The Highest Tide

"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

[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

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

(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.

J*O*Y... Paddle Forth

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

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

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

(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

[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.

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

Ban the Bomb not Books

Pullman is a superb writer and his "Dark Materials" trilogy is an intelligent read for young adults who've thumbed through Potter and want something more. Unfortunately, a Catholic school board in Ontario has pulled The Golden Compass fantasy book (soon to be a Hollywood blockbuster starring Nicole Kidman) off school library shelves. Guess they didn't like a statement in one of Pullman's interviews in which he said he was an atheist. Yup. That was the reason folks. Almost sounds like this is Amurica. Anyway, get out and read a copy (it's not just for kids). Before the flick comes to a screen near you.

and the short list is...

The short-list from Biblioasis - of course we're giggly in this household because one of us (the one with curly greying hair who gets a kick out of making coffins with the kids on hallowe-en) is on it:

"It took a little longer this year to winnow through the manuscripts, but we're ready to announce the shortlist to the 3rd Annual Metcalf-Rooke Award. After sorting through more than 50 manuscripts, John and Leon selected the following four:

Grant Buday. Dragonflies. (Novel)

Bruce Johnson. Firmament. (Novel)

Rebecca Rosenblum. Once. (Short fiction)

J. J. Steinfield. Contemplating Madness (Short fiction)

We'll be announcing the winner on Friday, November 23rd. The winner will receive a $1500.00 advance, a publishing contract with Biblioasis (with their book set for Fall 2008 publication), a book tour (which will include an appearance at the Ottawa International Writer's Festival), a leather bound copy of their book, a special pre-publication profile in the New Quarterly, and other as-yet-to-be-determined perks.Congratulations to the shortlisted authors. "

waytago bruce.

coming soon - operatic return to Fairhaven, Placentia Bay

Overture:
The sky gathered blue behind us, like a bride gathering her veil...

Chance Cove - all days are sundays

(Photos of Chance Cove, TB courtesy of Graham Openshaw)

In a 2003 trip report about paddling Chance Cove to Rantem Harbour - a short but enlightening trip - I wrote that the paddle, like all fine things in life (tasting good chocolate, listening to bullfrogs, reading Barbara Kingsolver), should be enjoyed slowly, reverentially. And so when a late October chance to paddle the Chance arose, I grabbed it - and my 12-year-old enthusiastic daughter - along with several other members of our ever-expanding kayaking club.

October around the Chance offers a different view. Fewer eagles and the noisy terns and flashy guillimots were noticeably absent. Instead, the bright yellow and muted orange of larch, birch and dogberry softened the edges of Rantem Harbour. And anyway, rocks, caves, stacks, passageways have a tendency to stay put. Just one day past a full moon meant we were treated to a greater tidal range.

Daughter Ella was intrigued by the intertidal flora and fauna exposed by a low low tide and kept steering our borrowed double in close. Encouragement by another paddler had us both squeezing through passageways and rock hopping in places that I would not have thought a double could possibly manage. And while a double is far from my preferred mode of paddling, I was surprised at the agility we attained. Smiles from offspring #1 were well worth it.

Ode to a Bog

(photo: Pinchgut Tickle, St. Mary's Bay, NL)

Haven't written it yet. Waiting for that autumnal light to return. The one that prickles every part of your skin. That makes you see, really see the colours, shape and texture of the smallest hair on the tip of a rosehip. The one that has you breathing deeply on hikes in the woods, not because you're out of breath, but because the blasty boughs and sodden leaves are playing sweet duets. That makes the smokey flavour of a partridgeberry, curled on the back of the tongue, quite possibly the best wine you've tasted. The one that has you ready to read the next chapter.

Cliff Beach

Ah. Summer. "Our beach." Swimming, rolling, paddling in near frigid temps. Looks tropical. Sudden intakes of breath common. Need to pee. Thoughts of prayers by agnostics. Abundant marine life, humans rank low on population scale. Newfoundland.

Return to Bell Island

(Photos: Alison catching a wave; Paddling near Little Bell; catching another wave; Portugal Cove morning - photos by Stan MacKenzie; Bell Island stratigraphy - photo by Alison Dyer)

It had been four years since I paddled around Bell Island, Conception Bay, (approximately 26km) with a group of paddling friends. Another trip was organized this past saturday by Joe Carroll who miraculously got the weather perfect. Sunny, warm (in mid 20s) and slight breeze (forecast 20km southerly). We left Portugal Cove (above) on the 8:20am ferry and were on the water less than an hour later. It was a far less rambuctious ride around the northern head than last time (steep northerly swells). But enough swell that we didn't risk going through a cave and sufficient for some fun surfing on the western side.

As the last photo (take in 2003) shows, Bell Island is distinct from the mainland, consisting of horizontal beds of Ordovician sandstone and shale. Iron ore mining was huge on the island in the early to mid part of the 20th century, in fact, the Wabana mines was one of the largest producers of iron ore in northeastern North America. The mines - now closed but open during the tourism season for tours - extend far beneath the seabed of Conception Bay, apparently creating one of the most extensive submarine iron mines in the world.

Many thanks to Stan MacKenzie for taking these photos on the water (and without a waterproof camera!).

For some superb photos of the Bell Island trip, check out kayak the rock, and check out Stan's blog.

Bergy Bits

Sept. 17.2007

Bergy bits. Unusual term but common sight in Newfoundland. Refers to chunks of icebergs that can be as small as a car or a large house - this one which we paddled by in New Melbourne, Trinity Bay this past June, was more akin to a suite of low-rise condos. Also known as growlers. Great place to find icebergs at any time around the province is icebergfinder.com

Coasting Trade a great listen

(Photo: Overlooking St. John's Harbour)

September 15, 2007

Listened to a recent audio book by Rattling Books in the car the other week. Coasting Trade is wonderful feast of stories and soundscapes - of angels leaving signs for rum-runners; neon panties screaming from an old woman's laundry line; a woman knitting a stove; the wild abundance of an immigrant's garden.... all woven with the sounds of the sea and ports and diary entries from a 19th century schooner sailing around Newfoundland. MP3 download from Rattling Books is only $10. Highly recommend it. Below is a review by Rave AudioFile Magazine.

COASTING TRADE Robin McGrath Read by Anita Best, Robert Joy, Rick Boland.




In a performance of less than an hour, producer Chris Brookes and poet Robin McGrath transport the listener to a Yankee schooner circling Newfoundland in the late nineteenth century. The production, a Canadian tapestry for the ears, is beautifully embellished with sound effects that capture the waves, ship sounds, and local fauna. Robert Joy, Rick Boland, and Anita Best bring a lyrical beauty to this "Performance for Three Voices." McGrath provides fleeting glimpses into the lives of an immigrant, a biologist, a smuggler, and Newfoundland locals scratching a life out of the rugged terrain. The short performance is superb, with the rich voices of Joy, Boland, and Best meshing into a melody against the harmony of background sounds. H.L.S. © AudioFile 2007, Portland, Maine

Chicken & Egg

Sept. 14, 2007

What came first, the chicken or the egg. Fortunately, in this case, the answer is straightforward. We have been awaiting an "Egg" for sometime. It came, with a stream of September morning sunlight & a wide 9-year-old-grin last Thursday. Bad news, one of the teacup twins (above) had pecked at it. Note to self: get oyster shells at the Country Store. Later that day, we gave all four hens an outing to celebrate (okay, two had flown the coop or rather the run; we later spent an hour chasing down the last hen).

Never imagined raising hens could be so, well, interesting. Mind you, it does cut into other pursuits, like paddling. Ah well. Balance in life.