Page 191 - WDT Winter 2018 japan

Quidi Vidi Village, St. John’s

Southwester hat and no other decoration. A third chose to
substitute a face with a small plush Snoopy and a bedroom
slipper instead of a boot. Maybe it was meant for sleeping.
I screwed in some small rubber fish along the stick and on
the boot -- finished, and just in time because two musicians
arrived. Wanda, a fiddler (the owner of the only grocery/hard-
ware store in town) and Renee Batten, considered the best
accordionists in the province. Other locals showed up. Wanda
and Renee played jigs and reels and we kept time by bang-
ing our Ugly Sticks up and down and hitting them with small
pieces of driftwood (or “beaters”).
We whopped and hollered and burst into laughter as all
the pie tins fell off the diva Ugly Stick and she was left only
with her boa. The musicians played non-stop and Sue danced
up a storm back and forth across the room. Then everyone
quieted down as a story teller (story telling is another kitchen
party tradition) regaled us with stories about his semi-fictional
family.
Giddy from the music, we went outside just as a fiery
orange ball, the full moon, rose directly over the ocean. And
as I stood watching it next to my new friends, I knew that I
might have come from away, but when you meet people in
Newfoundland, you’ve got friends for life, and at this moment,
Newly-made Ugly Sticks at Ugly Stick Workshop,
there was no place in the world where I felt more at home. Coastal Cottages Opposite: Toutems cooking at
Coastal Cottages. Blackhead, Conception Bay North,
Newfoundland.

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