St. John's

This is where we call home. See what I mean about remote, windswept, frosty and exotic? Photograph by Sally LeDrew (our amazing wedding photographer!).

Torngasok Cultural Centre

While one might certainly expect to find beautiful modern buildings in Toronto, Nain seems less expected. Saunders Architecture has drafted the following stunning plans for the Torngasok Cultural Centre in the Inuit community, which is the northenmost town in my province and the administrative capital of the autonomous Nunatsiavut Government. The Centre is expected to be completed in 2013 and will include exhibition space, an artist studio, auditorium, gift shop and cafe. Images via Saunders Architecture.

Happy Christmas

Happy Christmas to all from our frosty corner of the world! xoxo

Pictures of Christmastime in St. John's from Derek, Stephen, Andreas and Zach.

Picnic

Two blocks from our house is the Victorian-style urban park, Bannerman Park complete with a playground, public swimming pool, baseball diamond and lots of places to set out a blanket under a tree for a picnic. It is actually the oldest park in Newfoundland and Labrador. As a child, my grandmother (who lived literally across the street from our current house for more than 30 years) would take me and my cousins to that very park while caring for us while our parents were at work. I've bookmarked the same walk I took as a child with her as a regular routine for our son and me once he makes an appearance. This chevron picnic basket seems the perfect DIY to stash in the carriage to use to enjoy a mid-afternoon snack in Bannerman Park. Photo and DIY instructions via Twig and Thistle.

Mummers

Tonight is date night at the Clarke household, and we're kicking off our formal Christmas celebrations with paninis and a public lecture on mummering at The Rooms. Images of last year's St. John's Annual Mummer's Parade via Bojan.

List?

The Drung taught us an important lesson: we're open to living outside the city centre (provided the new location offers us ocean views and close proximity to a beach from which to launch kayaks). While I am still keen on locations like Cornwall Avenue and Carpasian Road, we're also now open to properties or land in Portugal Cove-St. Philips.

P.S. To further confuse things, now part of me is saying, let's buy a small, simple house in the city and splurge on a summertime cottage like this one. Image via My Newfoundland Kayak Experience.

Love?

As the pendulum swings back to considering a renovation to love our current home, I'm curious, could a renovation like this one be completed on our salt box? Three stories would certainly solve our space issues. Image via Robert Mellin.

Pop v. Soda

What generic name do you use for your carbonated drink of choice? While it seems in NL that "pop" is commonplace, I'm a "soft drink" gal myself. Register your answer here. Via Very Short List.

Architecture

Modern homes in St. John's and other towns in NL? I am super excited about the work of Robert Mellin. Isn't it beautiful? Found by Greg and photo via Robert Mellin.

I'm particularly smitten with the modern jelly bean fusion house.

Ferryland

Yesterday, Greg and I drank the sea salt air, watched the fog roll in and out of the bay, and enjoyed a delicious picnic lunch at the Ferryland lighthouse. It was blissful. I highly recommend spending an afternoon there.

Picnic

As a token of appreciation for registering with the store for our wedding, Home on Water gave us a gift certificate for Lighthouse Picnics and we plan to make good use of it this coming Labour Day weekend. I'm excited to munch on a seafood club sandwich with smoked salmon and cold water shrimp, rhubarb upside down cake and an orzo, pepper and fresh mint salad while gazing out over the rugged north Atlantic! All images via Lighthouse Picnics.

Dialect

I think people often say "accent" when then real mean to say is "dialect". I'm not terribly proficient in imitating dialects, but I think my version of a Harlowite is spot on. If you think you're a master dialect impersonator, you must visit the speech accent archive. For fun, you can listen to various dialects to see how close they come to your interpretation.

The site compiles the way people from all over the world recite this English elicitation paragraph (which contains most of the consonants, vowels, and clusters of standard North American English):

Please call Stella. Ask her to bring these things with her from the store: Six spoons of fresh snow peas, five thick slabs of blue cheese, and maybe a snack for her brother Bob. We also need a small plastic snake and a big toy frog for the kids. She can scoop these things into three red bags, and we will go meet her Wednesday at the train station.

Give it a try. I'm inclined to record myself and submit it to the site, so that a true, not stereotypical, Newfoundlander can be on record. Illustration by James Collins.

Maps

If you love geography and maps, but find traditional atlases constraining, these maps might be just the solution. I'm particularly smitten with this blog, because it is one of the few that I've come across that mentions my home province, Newfoundland and Labrador (though Labrador's missing from said entry), and its thought-provoking while fun.

This map argues that there are nine nations in North America, not three countries. You can read their descriptions here. (As a Canadian, I am entirely annoyed that all suggested capitals for these "nations" are in the US.)

This map is a cartogram of the world's population distribution by country.

This map renames each US state to a country that has a similar GDP. For example, Texas is now Canada.

Cottage

Now, if only the window was above the sink, this would be our dream summer home (and it looks a lot like our current bedroom)! Found via Emma's Blogg via Poppy Talk. Photo by Anette Aberg for Hus Och Hem. I think even a little ramshackle cabin like this one could be made beautiful with these design touches.

Sea

Given there's talk of a sea kayaking adventure in our future, this article on teaching English aboard a tall ship caught my eye on my morning Globe and Mail scan (I have to admit, I would have thought such a life would have been glamourous as well). Speaking of the sea and glamour, aren't these chandeliers gorgeous? Image via this is glamorous.

Beach

When I saw this photo on SF Girl By Bay, I thought to myself - someone else finally understands what it is like to live in Newfoundland in summer! Image via Dances with Voices.

Months

Since moving to Newfoundland and Labrador, Greg's become curious about a common phrasing pattern - specifically, referring to May as "May-Month", and June as "June-Month" (note: one would never refer to September as "September-Month" or January as "January-month"). I cannot explain this. It is simply the way it is around these parts. A little quirk, one might say. Given our chat about this curiosity on our honeymoon, these posters caught my eye. Aren't these month wallpapers awesome? Available for download here. Images via Able Parris.

Port Rexton

We've booked a mini-vacation for late August to the homeland of my paternal family - the Bonavista Peninsula in Trinity Bay. Traveling with my brother and his lovely girlfriend, we'll spend an overnight in Devil's Cove, Port Rexton and will take mini road trips to Trinity and Bonavista. The only decision that remains is whether we want to try a seasonal, local, fixed menu at The Fisher's Loft or at The Twine Loft at Artisan Inn. With a constitutional expert for a husband, Greg will be no doubt excited to see the first court house in North America in Trinity while I love having a mini-holiday to look forward to.

Doyle

Tonight Greg and I celebrated public broadcasting (yes, this means the CBC where I started my radio career 10 years ago!) by watching Dragon's Den (complete with a host of Canadian celebrities) and the pilot of Republic of Doyle. It was incredibly fun to see the many scenes filmed only steps from our very house.

After running into an acquaintance who is associated with the show at a shop downtown this past weekend, we became aware that the call for hundreds of extras for the show will go out again this spring. Here's to hoping we somehow fit the bill!

Speaking of Republic of Doyle, here's a song that made it to the pilot's soundtrack, and another from Kathleen Edwards that I've long enjoyed. Image via The Scope.

Neighbourhood

After revealing our home, it seemed only natural to snap a few pictures of our neighbourhood.