Bear
"A sad Goodbye to Bear, the dog who you may remember that was abandoned at Dalewood, that became a ABCR rescue dog. Bear was adopted by a young man who…
Corrie Street Mar. 13/16
Business Negotiations Maybe I'm missing something in the negotiations over Nick's sale of the Bistro. I don't see what the fuss is about with Leanne's 11th hour offer. Actually, it…
William Anger and Emma Nie
(William Anger and Emma Nie 1958, text below) Their Wedding 70 Years Ago Two lifelong residents of this district will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of their wedding day this…
Corrie Street Mar. 6/16
Her or His Story Hmm, believe Phelan or Anna? I think Tim is the only one with his head screwed on right. Looking at the damage Anna did to Phelan's…
Tony Warren
My hanging out in Manchester buddy died yesterday. Tony Warren, creator of Coronation Street and my accidental tour guide, died at the age of 79. One day, a long time…
Corrie Street Feb. 28/16
Grass Tuesday, a thump-thump-thumping sound might have been heard in the Weatherfield Police Station: Les Battersby turning in his figurative grave. His daughter Leanne was there to grass up her…
Westminster Dogs
“Crategate” exploded in Mitt Romney’s campaign for the US Republican leadership, just as his Irish Setter Seamus’ bowels did when he was strapped in a crate on the roof of…
Corrie Street Feb. 21/16
Karaoke What can you say about Eva's karaoke performance of Hey Big Spender at the creepiest dinner party imaginable? Nothing, except va-va-voom! Richie Rich O'Driscoll and his wife are slimy,…
Annabel
Michael Crummey wrote of Kathleen Winter's novel Annabel, "a beautiful book, brimming with heart and uncommon wisdom." That's on the book jacket. It's true. This is a beautiful love story…
Corrie Street Feb. 14/16
Campaigning Campaigning means to engage in: a, military operations for a specific objective, b, a systematic course of aggressive activities for some specific purpose, c, competition by rival political candidates…
Farm Dog
Being a farm dog is the diplomatic posting of the canine career spectrum. They have to be friend, greeter and protector. They have to be independent but know their place,…
Corrie Street Feb. 7/16
Tracy and Todd Eavesdropping on a chat in a workplace - Tracy and Todd in the florist shop. On Thursday they discussed the newest complications in Tracy's life, a low…
Corrie Street Jan. 31/16
Construction Work Nothing jumped out at me all week - until Friday. Construction work by the low bid contractor started at Kevin's new garage. Problems also started almost immediately with…
Heaven
When my dog Jack died, I believed in heaven. After his burial, my mother-in-law gave me a card with a little story in it. It’s about a man and his dog…
Corrie Street Jan. 24/16
Librettos - Stilettos I haven't liked Nessa since she arrived. But Thursday when she left, I admired, even liked, her. The signs of an exit soon to come started a…
Corrie Street Jan. 17/16
Silver-Topped Che Emily Bishop left for Peru. Monday she announced her plan to go see her nephew Geoffrey, aka Spyder, who is working in an orphanage there. Thursday we said…
James Burwell UEL
Confused by many men centuries ago named Samuel, Adam, John and James Burwell in my database, I gave up trying to sort them out. I then picked up my mother's…
Corrie Street Jan. 10/16
Christmas Again It was like having another Christmas this week, the perfect one you dream of. Sleigh bells ring, snow is glistening. It was way better than visiting Santa's village…
Watch Dog
Bing was a small German Shepherd or Alsatian as Mom called her. She was a watch dog. My dad got her from another service station when he opened his. She…
Corrie Street Jan. 3/16
Ladies Who Lunch Wednesday the Platt ladies lunch at the Bistro - grandmother, mother and daughter. Bethany bursts through the door. How nice, Audrey holds up her glass to clink,…
Arias for All Seasons
Pillorikput Inuit (Blessed are the People): Inuktitut Arias for All Seasons is a cd of beautiful music. Soprano Deantha Edmunds-Ramsey, tenor Karrie Obed and the Innismara Vocal Ensemble sing sacred…
Corrie Street Dec. 27/15
Girlfriends Monday, girlfriends hanging out. Liz, Erica and Anna. Nice to see. At the beginning of the episode, they discuss the theme of Liz's Christmas tree. At the end, they…
Earls of Grantham
Below is the lineage of the Earls of Grantham. The family name is Crawley, and their home is Downton Abbey in Yorkshire. It is a fictional family in a television…
Corrie Street Dec. 20/15
Baby Pics How wonderful to be young! Learning about life and love, with your mother there to guide and comfort. Wednesday, Beth reminded us of just how much we forget…
Home for the Holidays
Don’t give a dog as a Christmas present. At least not as a spur of the moment gift. But if you are planning to get a dog anyway, why not?…
Corrie Street Dec. 13/15
Barlow Childrearing "Get out, you poisonous little bitch!" Robert to Tracy at the close of Tuesday's episode. Words to put on a loop and play over and over again. Tracy…
Visits to the Grandparents
“Minnie and Charlie’s daughter must be visiting. I saw that strange girl of hers, and the dog’s gone.” Now, over forty years later, that’s what I imagine people on Pine…
Corrie Street Dec. 6/15
Taking Leave Leanne walks out Ken's front door, taking leave. Simon runs out behind her and stops in the doorway. His face goes from angry to surprised, lost and frightened.…
Santa Dogs
The Christmas season, for me, officially begins with the Santa Claus parade. But you have to start feeling festive a bit earlier if you're going to be in the parade.…
Corrie Street Nov. 29/15
Our Girl in Havana Demotion, lateral move or promotion? It all depends on how you spin it. In Thursday's episode, a new career direction for Sally was introduced and played…
Dr. George Park 1925-2015
Today, Dr. George Park died at the age of 90. He was a retired professor of Anthropology at Memorial University of Newfoundland. He was my thesis advisor and he and…
Macaroni and Cheese
This stove-top macaroni and cheese is the best ever. I've made it a lot of different ways, and love this recipe. It is easy and consistently good. Makes 4 main-course…
Corrie Street Nov. 22/15
Tile Street Steve tiling the ladies' washroom in Tuesday's episode was funny. I wasn't the only one to think so, I would guess, based on the production team's decision to…
Your Blues
If you want to do some social research on the USA of the latter half of the 20th century, read Your Blues Ain't Like Mine. It is a first novel…
Corrie Street Nov. 15/15
Ken & Aud Ken Barlow is one of those guys who needs to be with someone. Yes, he enjoys his own company and pursues solitary, intellectual pleasures. But spending the…
Newfoundland’s Gallipoli
"Ptes Stanley and George Abbott of the Newfoundland Regiment were my grandmother's brothers. I remember that picture of them at her house. My Dad's sister has it now. They made it…
Corrie Street Nov. 8/15
Make a wish Thursday Tyrone reassured Hope that she'd meet Santa, the real Santa, in Lapland. I too desperately wanted her to get her wish. I knew that he, like…
Breeders’ Cup
Saturday was Hallowe'en. A big day. This October 31st was a big day for another reason. The Breeders' Cup Classic horse race and the chance to see something that's never…
Corrie Street Nov. 1/15
Meh I found no 'scene' this week. So here are some storyline comments to fill the space - just as the storylines themselves seemed to do this week. Jail for…
Dog Hallowe’en
This Saturday is Howl-O-Een at the STDOA Kettle Creek Dog Park. Party at the park from 2 to 4 pm. Treats, prizes and no charge to come. But donations for…
Corrie Street Oct. 25/15
Goin' to the Chapel It was the Bistro, not the Chapel of Love, but Sally was gonna get married. No guests, an officiant who had to get off to another…
Burwells in US & Canada
There is a Burwell family in southwestern Ontario and one in Virginia. No one is sure if they're related. I wonder if the link might be through Burwells in Connecticut.…
Corrie Street Oct. 18/15
Live From the opening credits right through to the 1953 Cadillac Eldorado tooling down the cobbles, the live episode was fabulous. Quiet drama with Roy and Cathy balanced high drama…
Corrie Street Oct. 11/15
Eva! What a difference four years and some excellent acting and writing makes! Eva Price came home to Coronation Street Wednesday. I was delighted to see her. She came back…
Mi’kmaq Images
Ruth Holmes Whitehead's new book Niniskamijinaqik, Ancestral Images: The Mi'kmaq in art and photography is beautiful. If you are interested in Mi'kmaq history, it is also essential. It puts faces…
Corrie Street Oct. 4/15
Messrs. Big I like Denton, the baddie who came to make Callum pay up. I like his henchman too. And when Tony burst in the door, the triumvirate of tough…
Movin’ dogs: An underground railway
Who can resist this little face! Small, friendly terrier mix desperately needs a home. House-trained, healthy 1 year old male. That might have been the ad for Charlie placed by…
Corrie Street Sept. 27/15
Cliffhanger Carla and Tracy at the edge of the cliff, both metaphorically and actually. Carla is flirting with jumping, Tracy desperate to stop her. A long and beautiful scene that…
Corrie Street Sept. 20/15
Face of Hope A tiny perfect scene with Hope and Mary in Thursday's episode. At the Community Centre, Mary is doing face-painting for kids. She paints Hope's face like the…
Nim the Chimp
Project Nim is a film by James Marsh about Nim Chimpsky, the chimp who was raised from infancy as a human in order to explore the learning of language in…
Corrie Street Sept. 13/15
Don't Do It! Gail, David, Kylie and Max hustle along the street. Callum gets out of his car as they pass. Max cringes and hurries away from his father. What's…
Who’s Kitten Who?
In the mood for a fluffy book, I wondered if Cynthia Baxter's Who's Kitten Who? might be a bit too fluffy based on the cover and title. Still, give it a…
Corrie Street Sept. 6/15
Scout Leader Dougie After the introduction of Dougie last week, I looked forward to the camping trip in the wilds of Wales. He is Lord Baden-Powell's Scouting for Boys manual…
Spot the Fire Muster dog
I decided to do a little creative grooming for the Fire Muster. White Poodle plus Fire Muster Dog Show equals Dalmatian Look-alike contender! So I checked with my groomer, a…
Fire Muster
The Fire Muster is this coming weekend - Labour Day Saturday and Sunday - in Pinafore Park, St. Thomas. A chance to see fire fighters, fire trucks old and new,…
Corrie Street Aug. 30/15
Simon Sez Simon sez sorry; Simon says dad says only cowards hit women. Then Simon goes off and strikes a woman - his mother - again. Kicks, hard shoves, nearly…
Bathing Jamie
Jamie hated baths, indeed Jamie hated water. He was a Collie mixed with something, clearly not a water dog. He had long Collie hair with a thick undercoat. On his…
Corrie Street Aug. 23/15
Repentance Friday ends with a cliffhanger - the hope that Tracy truly regrets her actions, and wants repentance. She not only deliberately started a fire that killed two people, she…
Backyard Birds
My knowledge of birds is minimal. There’s brown ones, speckled ones, starlings, other big black birds, robins, doves, cardinals and jays. We have all of these in our backyard and…
Corrie Street Aug. 16/15
Clearing for Cathy Cathy makes me uneasy. It's the hoarding mainly, plus the weird way she looks at people. She's like a deer on the side of the road and…
Zucchini Boats
Got huge zucchinis? Stuff them. Here is how my husband makes them using left-over spaghetti sauce. The ingredient quantities below are for one zucchini, which makes two zucchini boats. Adjust…
Corrie Street Aug. 9/15
Playing with Bethany Bethany, the character and actress, is beginning to interest me. This week she has made me cringe while also making my heart ache. She's a school girl,…
Water for Elephants
(from 2011*) In the past week, I’ve been sent two Facebook requests to boycott the film Water for Elephants. ADI (Animal Defenders International) says that Have Trunk Will Travel, trainers…
Corrie Street Aug. 2/15
Stuffed Marrow Thursday, Tracy's ex-husband comes to apologize to Ken for his behaviour after Deirdre's funeral. Ken is looking through Deirdre's cookbook. He tells Robert about her stuffed marrow -…
Cat Ladies: The movie
Finally saw the 2009 documentary Cat Ladies and it's well worth watching. What struck me was the ambivalence that all four women felt about what they were doing. They love…
Corrie Street July 26/15
Blaming Ken has a lot on his mind, things to sort out with Tracy. Despite his sniping during the funeral, he hadn't intended on confronting - blaming - her right…
Ron and Secretariat
Last weekend, my dog and I went to Grand Falls/Grand-Sault in northern New Brunswick to see a statue unveiled. It is Ron Turcotte and Secretariat crossing the finish line at…
Corrie Street 19 July 2015
Losses Two episodes, two stories. Thursday, the news we've dreaded. Deirdre dies, while sitting in the sun in Bev's garden looking forward to coming home. Deirdre dies The actors had…
Dallas, a Shepherd
Dallas was on the All Breed Canine Rescue website under “Mature Dogs." I had been looking through rescue sites, hoping no dog would ‘speak’ to me. This gray-muzzled, sharp-faced, squat-bodied…
Corrie Street July 12/15
Dishing Out How was Julie going to handle it? After overhearing Dev tell Talisa he loved her, obviously Julie couldn't just go on playing happy families. But the cat fight…
Rodeo Kings
From St. Thomas Dog Blog July 8, 2011. Sadly in this year's Stampede, 2 horses died in chuckwagon race crashes. William and Kate opened the Calgary Stampede and attended the…
Hot Cars, Hot Dogs
My brother and I conducted an experiment recently on heat build-up in cars. We didn’t plan to, but what happened while he was waiting for me in a parking lot…
Corrie Street July 5/15
Baby Face Thursday, Anna and Tim tell Faye there is another option for Miley. Jackson's parents want to raise her. Faye sits on the couch beside the baby's bassinet and…
Beaumont Hamel
In Newfoundland and Labrador, July 1st is Memorial Day. It's been that longer than it's been Canada Day. Newfoundland joined Canada in 1949. But July 1st has had special significance…
Corrie Street June 28/15
Birthday Party The scariest bit with Jenny kidnapping Jack was the birthday party for her son Tom. He would have turned seven that day, but he'd drowned in a wading…
Iry LeJeune
In James Lee Burke's novel Cadillac Jukebox, a New Orleans mob guy brings a gift to Detective Dave Robichaux. A jukebox filled with 45s of classic Cajun recordings from the…
Corrie Street June 21/15
Trickster Monday, the unveiling of Todd's manipulations was scarily brilliant. Like others, I've wondered what happened to turn Todd so mean. But on Monday, that didn't matter. What was more…
Dog Gone
In Dog Gone, a 'Feather Duster Mystery' by Eileen Key, dogs are disappearing from a boarding kennel. Cleaning lady Belle wants to help her friend, the kennel owner, keep her…
Corrie Street June 14/15
They change so Michael flipping through the years in a photograph album of his son's life, starting with baby pictures. When he reaches the preteen years, he starts to wonder.…
Royal Charlottes
The first British royal Charlotte was George III's queen. She is best known as the founder of London's Kew Gardens and for perhaps having black ancestry. Born in Germany in…
American Pharoah
Saturday, I saw something I've never seen before: the winning of the American Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. I hadn't expected it to happen, but I hoped. American Pharoah made…
Corrie Street June 7/15
Fire Shocked frightened faces smudged with soot. A body bag at the entrance to Victoria Court. The end of the week, and the end presumably of Kal Nazir. A fire…
Teddy in PLP barn
Musical Ride II
The RCMP Musical Ride was in Sussex this week at the Princess Louise Show Centre. Tonight they are giving a very special ride in Moncton, to honour the three Mounties…
My Dog’s Arthritis
My Standard Poodle Leo has arthritis in his spine and left hip. Joint degeneration. His running, jumping and dancing on hind legs must be curtailed. I am sad and furious.…
Corrie Street May 31/15
Regards to Tromsø Writers and crew made good use of their location shoot in Liverpool. Last week it was David's story. This week, it's Lloyd and the boys having Steve's…
Musical Ride
The RCMP Musical Ride was in Hampton NB last week. The horses stayed at Butternut Stables where I ride. I was there when they arrived and, next day, I ran…
Living “Equipment”
Armed Forces Day in the US is the 3rd Saturday in May, honouring those who protect and defend. But what of Military Working Dogs, important contributors to any country’s defence?…
Corrie Street May 24/15
Lost Monday, David sits at the kitchen table late at night, thinking. About the ramifications of having lost Max. Gail comes downstairs with advice: go to bed, you need your…
Corrie Street May 17/15
Rovers In and Out "Motorhome!" Mary bellows at Todd when he calls her home a caravan. She has told a crowded Rovers about the council officer who said there had…
Lost and Found
Lost and Found: Dogs, Cats, and Everyday Heroes at a Country Animal Shelter (1998) is a wonderful book. Elizabeth Hess, a New York City arts journalist and author of Nim…
Corrie Street May 10/15
Fire Eater Luke is feeling okay. Maria has dumped him, but he's going to hang out with the guys. The night on the town with beer and curry got replaced.…
VE Day 70th
May 8th 1945, VE Day marked the end of one part of World War II. Victory in Europe. War with Japan continued until two atomic bombs were dropped in July.…
Corrie Street May 3/15
Enchanted Evenings Along with Michael, I got teary-eyed as he recited the lyrics of South Pacific's "Some Enchanted Evening" to Gail during their wedding. It made up for a lot…
Track Royalty
This coming Saturday, May 2nd, is the Run for the Roses, the first leg of the Triple Crown. The 141st running of the Kentucky Derby. The young royals of mainly…
Corrie Street Apr. 26/15
Anna Mantis Is there a human disorder that mimics the mating behaviour of the praying mantis? If so, maybe Anna Windass has it. Every time a child comes into her…
Apples to Apples
TV writer David Shore was on CBC Radio's q (formerly Q) today. He was introduced as creator of House and Battle Creek, writer on Due South and originally from London…
Corrie Street Apr. 19/15
Baby Love Faye, on Tuesday, tells her mother: "I just wanted him to like me." Heartbreaking. No matter how far back in memory it now is, I bet every woman…
Raining Puppies
Four years ago, I wrote about emails I received about a litter of puppies, and a swamped rescue group. I doubt the situation has changed much. I just checked Kijiji…
Corrie Street Apr. 12/15
Cordon Blech Sally Webster on Friday. Dramatic moments happened, and events crucial to story arcs. Above it all, Sally shone. At the Bistro, thinking about steak tartare: "it's very Cordon…
Barn Cats
Frank Moore, a farmer north of Belmont who my parents knew, always had lots of barn cats. He said one year, years before, there had been an explosion of cats…