Lulu Lemon Opens in St. John’s

December 1st marked the opening of a new Lulu Lemon store in St. John’s, NL on Water Street downtown.

Yoga moms with tots in strollers lined up outside the door, clogging the street and causing weekend weary hipsters to have to step off the sidewalk to bypass the crowd on their way to get their uber coffees from Coffee and Company.

By 4 pm, the line up was mostly indoors as shoppers stood in line patiently waiting their turn to pay for yoga inspired pants from consumer heaven.

Before the word yoga came to mean an adjective for a fashion style, yoga was a spiritual practice in which practitioners used deep breathing, stretching, physical postures and meditation to become “awake” and in touch with their “true selves.” The enlightened state that spiritual followers aspire to is one in which the practitioner is free from superficial desires and attachments, and thus becomes peaceful - or - “at one with what is.”

In fact Yoga was introduced to the West in the late 19th century by Swami Vivekananda, who believed that yoga could save us new world inhabitants from the “sharp claws of the monster of materialism.”

I have my eye on the cutest hoodie ever.

Crystal Head Vodka Available In Newfoundland Now

There she be - proof of Crystal Head Vodka on the shelf in the stores. I snapped this shot at the Merrymeeting store near Sobey’s in downtown St. John’s.

And at $49.99 Canadian, the vodka is a steal here in Canada now that our dollar has dropped.

Check out this earlier post to learn more about Dan Aykroyd’s Crystal Head Vodka.

And you can check the availability of the premium vodka in stores at the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation.

Berry Picking on Signal Hill

Berry Picking is a big deal in Newfoundland. I have never heard the words berry picking mentioned as often as I have since I moved to Newfoundland. In fact, the number of times I have heard the words “berry picking” during the months of August and September alone is easily three times the total number of times I have heard them pronounced in my lifetime.

What is even more fascinating is that berry picking is always mentioned here with reverence and total appreciation. Thus I learned that berry picking is regaled in Newfoundland.

Not so in Ontario. The last few times I had heard the phrase in Ontario it was uttered always with a scowl on the face with one hand placed on the lower back - this being due to the pain of being bent over for so long, and the scrubbing time spent trying to  the berry stains out of the kids clothes.

“There were more berries on the kids than there were in the baskets.” That’s what we say in Ontario.

But here, the very mention of the words berry picking lights up people’s faces. Adult faces beam with delight and become all childlike and dewey. It’s quite delightful.

And, as it turns out everyone’s either gone berry picking at least once, or are on their way. A few charmed lucky ones have been gifted a carton of hand-pint or two of blueberries, picked bright and early by some generous morning person.

In fact, even I went berry picking this summer. It turns out this isn’t hard to do at all. All you have to do is go up to Signal Hill where the  wild blueberries grow.

It was a gorgeous summer day the day I decided to skip “the office” and make my way up the hill. A perfect summer day one might say. I had never walked up the hill, and fancying myself not too unfit as I had just got my second degree black belt a few months earlier, I was quite a bit shocked at the searing burning pain in my calves a third of the way up the hill. It was so bad that I had to take frequent “let’s admire the view in order for me to catch my breath and for the pain to subside enough so that I could continue.

It was harder to get rid of the the ego pain that came when a man clearly in his seventies whipped by me, and breezed to the top.

At about the halfway mark up Signal hill, you could start seeing the berry pickers. Some old, some young, a dads with his itsy bitsy daughter holding a bright green pail half her size.

I was letting the calf pain burn off while I was looking at a map of the hill’s trails when a nice couple with a few pints of berries came by. In usual Newfoundland fashion, they struck up a conversation and inquired if I needed some help. I told them no, it would be the first of many walks up there - pant - and that I was just familiarizing myself - wheeze - with the trails before picking a few berries of my own.

They told me that the blueberries were abundant, the partridge berries weren’t ripe yet and to be careful with my footing. It’s a craggy mountain  - that hill is  - and you have to mind where you are going.

Then the mister recounted how once while picking berries on Signal hill he slipped and tumbled about 30 feet before finally coming to a halt. His wife in a panic peered down to where he lay and hollered that he’d  “better not have spilled any of them berries.”

Berries are that big a deal.

Yesterday I finally made it to Bidgood’s in the Goulds. Though not mentioned as often as berry picking, I have heard Bidgood’s mentioned numerous times by various locals - enough times to peak this food lover’s fancy. I also just love the name the Goulds. I just love food, and Bidgood’s is a little treasure.

I skipped the seal flipper pie this time, but did load up on some ridiculously cheap frozen wild berries. Blueberries of course, and then a tub of brightly coloured squash berries.

Um. What do you do with a tub of squashberries? Man those are some tart berries.

Please send recipes.

Introducing google.cod

Introducing google.cod - the Newfoundland Search Engine. It’s a Google Custom Search Engine- meant to only search Newfoundland items. Go ahead. Give it a try.

Embed this code in your blog to have your own google.cod search engine.

<form action=”http://www.google.com/cse” id=”cse-search-box”>
<div>
<input type=”hidden” name=”cx” value=”005572693711450270616:vfdjdzp0jqa” />
<input type=”hidden” name=”ie” value=”UTF-8″ />
<input type=”text” name=”q” size=”31″ />
<input type=”submit” name=”sa” value=”Search” />
</div>
</form>
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://www.google.com/coop/cse/brand?form=cse-search-box&lang=en”></script>

I Love the Newfoundland Accent

It cheers me right up.

I’m sick in bed for the third day, it’s raining the third day in a row. But I just heard the Newfoundland accent and it cheered me right up.

What’s up with that?

How To Pronounce Newfoundland

This Canadian province is sometimes pronounced New - FOUND - land. But that is wrong wrong wrong, and Newfoundlanders would be snickering behind your back or guffawing loudly if they weren’t the nicest people in the world.

But since they are the nicest people in the world, they will kindly give you this little trick to how to pronounce their fine province’s name, as they did to me.

How do you pronounce Newfoundland?

“It rhymes with understand.”

So - it’s New-fun-LAND. UnderSTAND?

Well, actually, sometimes it sounds more like New-fin-LAND when spoken. But the fun in the middle is way more accurate.

Walmart To Stay Open for 24 Hours

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In the true spirit of Christmas Shopping, Walmart stores across Canada have decided to offer 24 hour service to customers. Select stores will be open 24 hours everyday of the week, offering more opportunities for us to buy cheap goods for our loved ones.

Here in Newfoundland, the select stores that will be offering extended hours during the Christmas Season are:
Carbonear - GOFF AVE & COLUMBUS DRIVE
Clarenville - MANITOBA DRIVE & BALBO DRIVE
Gander - COOPER BOULEVARD & ROE AVENUE
Grand Falls-Windsor - CROMER AVE. & HARRIS AVE.
St. John’s - KENMOUNT RD & BIFURCATION RD

Find other Canadian non-stop Walmart 24 shopping stores locations here.

Hopefully the increased hours will decrease congestion at doors and entrances.

(Ok. Was that last sentence distasteful? Too soon?)

St. John’s Recycling Delayed Two Years

St. John’s curbside recycling program was supposed to start this spring, but the city has just announced that the program will be delayed 2 years due to budget restraints. How’s that news for this new “Have province” capital?

Deputy Mayor Ron Ellsworth said while he felt uneasy about city council’s decision, he agrees that the $1-million cost would put too much strain on its $170-million budget.

This is truly a bummer  because I have not been able to bring myself to throwing my tins, bottles, plastics and papers away. I’ve been collecting them in clear plastic bags waiting for rides to the recycling areas, which don’t come often.

This is probably going to be a big bummer for Cathy Parsons too - whose job it is to field all the recycling and  environmental questions for the government. I met Cathy last year during the St. John’s Women’s film festival, where she told me the best worm composting story ever.

She tells me she gets a lot of awfully angry people  on the phone line when she tells them there is no recycling program in town. They like to take their frustrations out on her - because obviously Cathy has “all the power” and therefore it’s her fault. Now she will likely get two more years of abuse.

More sad but true recycling facts to make my green-conscious heart weep:

• The provincial government recently announced it would not be able to keep its promise to shut down 25 garbage incinerators before the end of the year.

• We still dump raw sewage into the harbour - though I can see the new sewage plant being built from my upstairs window. Pretty.
• St. John’s and Regina are the only two provincial capitals that do not have recycling programs in place.

PS. Don’t talk to me about throwing food waste into the garbage either. I feel so guilty about it, it’s sick. I am seriously considering vermi-composting, but suffer a huge setback every time I find a slug under my desk.

By the way, if you haven’t seen the video, you should check out Cathy’s story about her first weekend home with her new vermi-composting worms. And stay tuned for the next installment of worm composting with Cathy - we’ll be making a new video as soon as I can get it together. (Getting it together always takes longer than you think, don’t it.)

How to Recycle in St. John’s

In the wake of hearing that the curbside recycling programs in Newfoundland have been pushed back for another 2 years, I have prepared this list of How To Recycle in St. John’s.

Recycling Programs in St. John’s

You can take your recyclables to a centre.

Green depots:
Green depots are set up throughout the province to collect used beverage containers only. I missed this point the first time and showed up with cans and jars and all kinds of other goodies I have been used to recycling in Ontario - but no, they wouldn’t take them. It is only for drinking containers. and they only accept goods for which they can receive cash for.

They will give you a refund of 5¢ per non-alcoholic beverage container and 10¢ per alcoholic item:

• Aluminum cans - soft drinks, beer, juice, flavoured drinks
• Drink boxes - juice, milkshakes
• Plastic and glass bottles - soft drinks, water, juice, flavoured drinks, liquor bottles, imported beer
• Steel cans - juice

Here is a link with the list of Green Depot locations.

On the list are Ever Green Recycling Depots, a nonprofit agency that operates four depots in St. John’s.

While evergreen accepts newsprint at the Blackmarsh Road and Elizabeth Avenue locations, they stopped collecting white paper and cardboards earlier in the year, as this was a money losing venture. They had asked the government for some money to help out  but were denied since the city wide plan was to start in the coming year.  Now that the recycling program has beem delayed for another 2 years, the city recommends we drive our paper to Mount Pearl or CBS. What a joke.

Here is the list of what you can recycle at Ever Green.

• Sort 1 - Aluminum Cans
• Sort 2 - Glass
• Sort 3 - Clear Plastic
• Sort 4 - Coloured Glass
• Sort 5 - Green Plastic
• Sort 6 - Plastic Other
• Sort 8 - Steel Cans
• Sort 9 - Gable Tops
• Sort 11 - Drink Boxes
• Sort 12 - Transplastics
• Sort 13 - Blue Plastic
• Sort 20 - Clear Glass
• Sort 21 - Green Glass
• Sort 22 - Brown Glass
• Sort 23 - Plastic Clear
• Sort 24 - Plastic Colour
• Sort 26 - Beer Bottles

Once again, these are drinking containers only. What are transplastics? This recycling business is not easy.

Household Hazardous Waste
You have to be careful about how you dump your old paints, and other chemicals. Down the toilet isn’t great for the harbour, and consequently, us.

• For the 2008 HHW Collection Program Schedule, click here.
• For Accepted Household Hazardous Waste, click here.

How to recycle old tires.

Pay for pick up
Atlantic Blue Recycling Limited (709) 726-2583
Atlantic Blue Recycling Limited is a private business operating in the St. John’s Region that does provide a curbside collection service. The company will come to your house and collect all recyclables, cans, bottles, paper, plastic, and charge $19.53 a month.

I still have to find out more about them since they don’t have a web site (what!)  I think this might have to be the way for me to go, since I don’t have a car. Anyone in the downtown area want to share this with me?

Newfoundland Is on the “Have” Team

It’s official. This past Monday it was announced that Newfoundland and Labrador is now a “have” province - the first time this has ever happened since the equalization program was introduced 51 years ago.

Stay tuned for a province wide party….

“We do plan to mark this momentous occasion,” Premier Danny Williams’s spokeswoman, Elizabeth Matthews, said.

Newfoundland actually came off equalization last April 1, a year earlier than expected.

The sad part is that we still have have-not provinces, with my former province Ontario now joining the have nots. I feel like I skipped out on friend just when they were down on their luck. But it’s not so Ontario, so don’t be so glum chum. I skipped out on you not because of the economy but because I needed to heed the call of the puffins…and because Newfoundlanders are the nicest people in the world.

Ok. For that you CAN feel a bit glum.

Weird thing is Canada has more have-not provinces than have provinces. The have-nots are Ontario, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Manitoba and even Quebec (ouch - I didn’t know that.)  That means only Alberta, British Columbia,  Saskatchewan and Newfoundland are the “haves.”

Doesn’t seem right.

Here’s more fascinating info re: the equalization program.

The federal government will funnel $347 million in equalization payments to Ontario next year. Of course, as the premier noted, that’s mostly its own money that the province funnels to the feds, that gets reshuffled back.

Quebec will receive the most in equalization payments, collecting $8.3 billion, while Manitoba will get $2.1 billion, New Brunswick will get $1.7 billion, Nova Scotia $1.6 billion and Prince Edward Island $340 million.

As for Newfoundland’s term in the  “have” group is forecasted to continue to 2009-10, according to figures issued by the federal Department of Finance.

Remember people, the list isn’t forever. Like everything else in the world, it changes. Let’s all get together and try and make it a world where there is no have-not column, ok? And where everyone is the nicest the people in the world.

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