DECEMBER 2009

MORNING COFFEE
Wednesday December 2nd, and 16th at 10:15 am our Morning Coffee at The Rooms Restaurant on the 4th floor of The Rooms Museum. January 6th 2010 will be our first coffee morning in the new year. You will always find a friendly contact at one of the Wednesday coffee mornings. The coffee mornings provide the best informal way to meet other members, connect with kindred spirits, or suggest themes for future socials or new activities. If the present gathering cannot satisfy your curiosity the following ladies are always ready to answer questions regarding the Newcomers’ Club and our activities:
Michelle, Anne, Hana
AROUND TOWN
See The City of St. John’s Welcomes You site for all the cultural events the season offers. St. John’s is home to many musicians, so you should have your fill of live singing and Christmas carols. Handel’s Messiah performed by the Symphony at the Basilica is an annual treat, this time on December 11th, and 12th. At 4:00pm on December 5th you may participate at the Festival of Music and Lights taking place in Bowring Park. You will find live performances of Scrooge, Grinch and need not even miss the obligatory Nutcracker ballet performed at Arts and Culture Centre on December 17 – 20. The Mummers Festival Parade is a welcome addition to the season’s festivities, taking place on the afternoon of December 20th
ending at The Rooms. Try to welcome in the new year watching the fireworks at Quidi Vidi.

NEWFOUNDLAND CORNER by Hana S.

If Ducks Do Slide at Hollandtide (November 11) At Christmas They Will Swim
Most of our club members are CFA’s or come from away, far as ever a puffin flew. Newcomers from Finland or other Scandinavian countries are used to harsher temperatures than those of Newfoundland and Labrador winters, and they could give us lessons in enjoying the great outdoors even when snow makes the world look practically monochrome. Others come from the southern USA and are eagerly anticipating fairy tale snow fall culminating in Norman Rockwell Christmas. While the desired effect cannot be guaranteed, by rights, snow, and lots of it, will materialize sometime before next May.
As to the old fashioned Christmas customs, The First Annual Mummers’ Parade may illustrate some local lore. One thing is certain, Christmas was always a very special time for families, the one time other than for wakes that you would be welcome in a parlour, rather than in the kitchen for a kitchen party. Singing and music always played an important part in all celebrations, with the fiddle and spoons being the most popular instruments, the mouth organ (harmonica), and later accordion and the guitar.
Two days in December we CFA’s may not be so familiar with, are December 23rd, and December 28th. Tipsy Eve 23/12 was probably the only day the wives gave their blessings to their husbands to drink as they went from house to house and sampled homebrew, moonshine or berry wine. Holy Innocents Day 28/12 was long considered as the unluckiest day in some parts of the province; it was believed no job started on this day would be completed successfully.
As today, gifts were exchanged, mostly homemade. The adage, Take gifts with a sigh – most men give to be paid, meaning, there is an ulterior motive to most things, seems to be a little too skeptical and a little out of character for the friendly Newfoundlanders. The new year used to be welcome as it is now, on December 31st at Midnight, albeit not with Chinese firecrackers, but at the time of muzzle loader by firing guns into the air. People in outport communities opened the back door to let the old year out and the front door to let the new year in. Let’s open the front door wide to welcome the year 2010 and let’s hope it brings us only glad tidings.


The following are definitions of colloquial expressions from the Dictionary of Newfoundland and Labrador by Ron Young used in this issue of the Signal

If Ducks Do Slide at Hollandtide (November 11) At Christmas They Will Swim – If the weather is cold enough to freeze the ponds over by 11/11, it will warm up enough by Christmas to thaw the ice. It was barely 4 degrees C and very windy on Remembrance Day, and as far as I know, only the water in my watering can outside froze, so we still do not know what to expect on Christmas Day.
far as ever a puffin flew – a long distance
by rights – strictly speaking
kitchen party – entertaining was done in the kitchen because that was usually the only heated room in the house
Tipsy Eve – the name was probably borrowed from St. Tib’s Eve; there is no such Saint, so promises made would never be fulfilled. "You’ll get a new sled on St. Tib’s Day…"
Holy Innocents Day – the children of Bethlehem under the age of two slain on the order of King Herod in an attempt to kill Jesus, the newborn King.

NOVEMBER 2009

COFFEE MORNINGS

Wednesdays, November 4th, and 19th, Coffee at The Rooms. The first coffee morning in October proved so successful, we had to push 4 tables together to accommodate all 17 guests. Attendance fluctuates by necessity due to our busy schedule, and this certainly was our record high. We may have to stick to The Rooms Coffee shop layout, and play musical chairs, seated 4 at each of the tables and moving all facing out toward the harbor to the neighboring table every 10 minutes (somewhat like speed-dating) in order to be able to get to know our latest arrivals.
You will always find a friendly contact at one of the Wednesday coffee mornings, which provide the best informal way to meet other members, connect with kindred spirits, or suggest themes for future socials or new activities. If the present gathering cannot satisfy your curiosity the following ladies are always ready to answer questions regarding the Newcomers’ Club and our activities:

Michelle Lacroix 738-7123 Ann Graham 739-0416 Hana Semerad 738-0266

CRAFT GROUP

All activities of this group will resume on November 5th , 12th, 19th, and 26th . The crafty individuals will be meeting on Thursday afternoons at 1:00pm for the month of November only at the Community Room of the Sobey’s at 10 Elizabeth Ave. Everyone is welcome with their own project, to join the group in learning the craft of the moment, or just to check out the competition and to talk. Call Estella for details at 579-7713 or kobi@nf.sympatico.ca

BOOK CLUBS

Tuesday November 17th, at 1:00 pm Daytime Book Notes at the home of Michelle Lacroix in St. John’s. Call her at 738-7123 if you are planning to attend, and she will let you know how to get to her place. We have enjoyed Ann Graham’s hospitality last month, and all agreed Butler’s NaGeira was an interesting spin of the popular Newfoundland legend from the earliest settlement in the New World, which earned the book a respectable rating of 6.5. This month, we will be discussing The Book Thief by Markus Zusak.
For a long time, some of our members regretted not being able to join the book club due to their busy daytime schedules, so we are very pleased to announce that Trudy Ivey started an Evening Book Club. All wanting to participate in Evening Book Notes on November 20th at 7:30 PM are to call this month hostess Candice at 738-4258 or Trudy at 726-3649. The book discussed will be Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver.It is a bestselling novel about a missionary family’s move from Georgia to the fictional village of Kilanga in the Belgian Congo of 1959. Come prepared with suggestions for future meeting. The evening group will have a table of gently used books to which you can contribute your old favourites for exchange. The book jackets pictured below should help you locate our future texts on book shelves of libraries and bookstores

NEWFOUNDLAND CORNER by Hana Semerad

Bright Northern Lights above the hill, A fine day, then a storm foretell

Some years ago in the summer, I was very surprised to see the Northern Lights above the Trans Canada Highway in the vicinity of Kingston, Ontario. The spectacle was breathtaking and in its colourful display easily matched the masterstrokes of Van Gogh’s Starry Night, yet it seemed more unbelievable than the art work, occurring as it did, to my mind, rather too far South to be called Northern. As in the above saying, the day was fine, and the phenomena sure did not foretell a storm that should follow. It seems the last two weeks showed nothing but slate gray water laden sky, so storms may arrive here unheralded by brilliant display. It should feel fallish, but the temperatures match winter better than autumn. We need septembers
again, and nor’westers to struggle against snotty southeasters whenever we brave the great outdoors or attempt to hike up Signal Hill. The paths and roads turn slubby and make us look slommocky as the winds force us to curwibble. No wonder, there is a place called Blow Me Down in Newfoundland, wait, wait, I am there…
Maybe we’ll have no weather, no wind on November 5th, Bonfire Night. To the British it is known as Guy Fawkes night, during which the likeness of Guy Fawkes, Britain’s notorious traitor, is burned in effigy. There is a Newfoundland twist to Bonfire Night. Most of the youngsters gathering boughs, driftwood and other items to fuel the fire had no inkling about Fawkes’ significance, they just liked bonfires, so they went bucking, which was considered one of the rites and rituals of Bonfire Night, a night of fun, running through the smoke and dancing with girls. This was harvest time, so potatoes were thrown in the fire, turning into black balls. When baked, the charred potato skin would be split open and the soft white flesh scooped out to be eaten. For the children, Bonfire Night provided almost as much enjoyments as Christmas. Newcomers should check if a bonfire is planned at Middle Cove, and if the cold weather persists, we should revive the custom.
The following are definitions of colloquial expressions from the Dictionary of Newfoundland and Labrador by Ron Young used in this issue of the Signal:

fallish - feeling of autumn in the air
nor’westers – heavy hooded oilskin coat
snotty southeasters – a southeast wind that brings rain and sleet and is sure to swing around from the northwest and blow twice as hard and twice as long
slubby – slimy and slippery
slommocky - having an untidy appearance
curwibble – a sudden change in direction, staggering movement
bucking – essentially stealing, obtaining without permission
Blow Me Down – one of 30 localities by this name at NL, fishing village in a cove at the tip of Port de Grave Peninsula, first reported in the Census of 1857 as an independent community of 169 people, 31 families, adherents of the Church of England. The name was used as early as 1774 , then as Blowmedown Cove

AROUND TOWN

FINE CRAFT & DESIGN FAIR
November 4 - 8 and November 11 - 15, 2009
Arts & Culture Centre
Wed., 4pm-10pm, Thurs., 10am-10pm, Fri., 10am-10pm, Sat., 10am-10pm, Sun., 10am-6pm

FAIR INFORMATION

New Location: Arts & Culture Centre
The Fine Craft & Design Fair will be set up in the gallery rooms on the second and third floor of the Arts & Culture Centre, as well as in the lobby outside the theatre.

Cabot Quilters are holding their annual fundraising auction on the evening of November 17th, at St. Peter’s Hall in Mt. Pearl. Many lovely gift ideas. For details call Andrea 754-5799