Welcome to the first of many Author!Author! interviews. Freelance writer and perennially compulsive gardener Jodi DeLong insists that no matter where in Atlantic Canada we live, we can all grow great gardens. When not working in her own abundant gardens, she’s writing, talking or thinking about plants and gardening. Jodi is a contributing writer, photographer, […]
Another thing has changed; there is a flag system at most beaches. Red means DANGER! Do not swim. Of course, this is totally ignored by local surfers. The bigger the waves, the better. But for most folk, paying attention to the flag system makes sense as red flags mean huge waves that can knock you […]
Ernest Hemmingway’s Old Man and the Sea, first filmed in 1958 staring Spencer Tracey, was filmed again in 1969 staring Anthony Quinn as Santonio. The second time around, most of the film was shot here in Tortola—in Smugglers Cove—right below where we are staying. I remember visiting here in the mid 90’s and meeting Nell […]
Well, calling myself a “chef” is a bit affected, if not down-right pretentious. I’ll rephrase that to “short order cook.” On a beach. It happened like this. On Boxing Day I was at Smugglers Cove with the family. After a stint at boogie boarding, I started to roam around the beach and succumbed to a […]
Christmas in Tortola is a bit surrealistic in that I keep hearing traditional songs like I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas and Jingle Bells in spite of the weather being 25 C. Mind you most of the songs are sung with a Caribbean flair, which makes me want to dance. But I keep looking around for […]
Barrie had a cold when we left NS which Carmen picked up right away and I followed suit after we arrived in Tortola. We hacked our way through the first few days (Barrie referred to us all as the Phlem Family). Our breathing was made worse by a severe case of mould and mildew that […]
Seemed like a long two days en route. But there were some lessons learned along the way (and a few things that struck my funny bone.) 1. Don’t stray further than two feet from your luggage. Sister Carmen went to park her car at the airport in Halifax, Barrie went to find a trolley (dolly?) […]
Little ol’ Yarmouth had national coverage on CBC news recently with the highest recorded water levels (and inland flooding) in recorded history. Not the kind of news we relish. But when 250 ml of rain dumped in less than three days, rivers and lakes shot upwards of 12-15 feet and the force of the sheer […]
I write a lot of stories for magazines–some of them community profiles–and it’s always a struggle to capture the essence of a community mainly because there’s so much to write about and not enough space. That happened recently with the story I wrote titled Only in Pubnico published in Saltscapes Magazine. I dream of having […]
I learned a new word. Spatchcock. As in, “Do you know how to spatchcock a chicken?” Well, I’ve recently been spatchcocking chickens. It sounds a little disgusting, if not downright perverse but I promise you this is all on the up and up. The funny thing is that I’ve been cooking since I was 15 […]
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