Remembering my father

What follows is the eulogy I delivered at my father’s funeral. May he rest in peace. Donald Thornhill (April 22, 1948 – April 26, 2019) My father was a patient man and he had to be. Here’s something he told me: “With the wear and tear we gave our clothes, it’s a wonder I had […]

Five Stolen Boats, One Broken Heart

Five model boats were stolen in Ottawa during a hectic move, leaving one Newfoundland man broken-hearted.

Mark your calendars: Corner Brook Celebrates Come Home Year 2019

The mill whistle in Corner Brook is ubiquitous with the city itself. As one former resident put it, when that steam whistle blows it’s like “that same old, familiar voice speaking to them again. ‘Hi, remember me? Welcome home, friend.’” As Corner Brook prepares to host its first-ever come home year, the mill whistle will […]

Book Review: Marq de Villiers’ Water: The Fate of Our Most Precious Resource (2003)

Water is a book about our global freshwater supply and its quality. It’s a policy-relevant and science-rich book but is neither a policy book nor an academic book. Like its subject matter, this book is meant for everyone. Author Mark de Villiers writes: “Water is not ‘ours’ or ‘theirs,’ but the planet’s. We use water, and […]

Book Review: David Macfarlane’s The Danger Tree (2014)

The Danger Tree artfully combines family memoir and historical nonfiction. Just as author, David Macfarlane, introduces readers to his maternal family, the Goodyears of Newfoundland, he establishes the major events of the early twentieth century. The event Macfarlane most prominently features is the First World War. For the Goodyears, WWI means “three dead sons paraded […]

CORNER BROOK IS PLANNING A COME HOME YEAR IN 2019. YOU SHOULD COME. HERE’S WHY.

Tree-covered and nestled in a valley at the bottom of the Bay of Islands, Corner Brook has undeniable striking beauty. And yet, it’s often left off the “places to visit” in Newfoundland and Labrador (NL) lists. That’s because Corner Brook is admittedly the poor cousin to other western and northern Newfoundland destinations like Gros Morne […]

Dory Stories

My father told me about the one-room variety school he and my uncles attended in Little Bay East, Newfoundland. The community didn’t have an adequate number of students to accommodate separate classes. So, the school children up to grade five shared their own classroom, while the preteens and teens from grade six onwards shared their […]

Landscape Art Exhibit: Gordon Harrison and his Apprentices

Manotick Art Gallery and Framing is hosting its vernissage weekend at the gallery, Saturday, March 24th and Sunday, March 25th with Gordon Harrison and his apprentices. Harrison and all of the painters (that includes me) will be at the gallery for the opening weekend to chat about our landscape art and answer any questions. This exhibit […]

IF POP COULD READ THIS NOW: LITERACY LESSONS FOR NEWFOUNDLAND AND LABRADOR

The spring 2018 issue of Maisonneuve magazine includes my story called “Letters from Pop.” In this reported feature, I explore a legacy of low adult literacy in my home province of Newfoundland and Labrador (NL). There, people traditionally learned their skills on the land and the sea more so than in the formal classroom. For […]

In Gros Morne National Park: “Leave only footprints, take only pictures, and kill only time”

In Gros Morne National Park, these words are sacred: “Leave only footprints, take only pictures, and kill only time.” Plan on doing a lot of each of those things when you visit. There are countless lists of must-dos, must-sees, must-stays for the area, but let me tell you about one must item on my list, […]