View from Quidi Vidi Brewing Co.

Newfoundland and Labrador

Quidi Vidi itself is a charming, picturesque village that persuades her visitors to park their vehicles and get out and walk. Perched at the edge of the ocean, the clean green wood-sided brewhouse is hard to miss, and should not be missed for all of its own charms:

Cold craft beer arousing your tastebuds with its complex and refreshingly unique flavour. Spirited music weaving its way around the room that touches the walls with a caress one minute, and a pounding the next. Fabulous scenery that seduces one to succumb to its rugged perfection with an extended, dreamy gaze. Each facet of the experience bursting with a homegrown and unique flavour. Each one quenching a thirst in its own way.

During the day, this space beckons beer afficionados to wander its halls lovingly saturated with the pungent aroma of fermenting ales. This is how I experienced the establishment, as seen above: quiet and unassuming with little evidence of theatrical social stimulation. However, one only needs to spy the addition of a modestly furnished stage with the abundance of beer in this space to imagine an alter-ego of typical Newfoundland merriment! Calm before the storm.

Outside, the sunlight bathes the craggy hillside as the fringes of the ocean lap gently along the perimeter. However, one only needs to survey the condition of the rickety blue structure near the mouth of the harbour to imagine the potential for a wet and windy onslaught of typical Newfoundland fury! Calm before the storm.

The brewery produces a satisfying variety of beer crafted using only the essential ingredients. Visit: www.quidividibrewery.ca or go there for real!

Niagara Ice Dogs Game at the Jack Gatecliff Arena

St. Catharines, ON

Photo taken with my iPhone - which was subsequently returned to my purse and zipped in!

As an enthusiastic attendee of a recent Ice Dogs game, I was both appalled and amused by the number of people sitting there with their heads down, zombified by their smart phones. At a live hockey game! I mean, really, why did you trek out to the arena at all if you aren’t going to participate? And how is it possible to ignore the action anyway? Not even a commanding check into the boards could rustle up the attention of these folks – some of those in the front row didn’t even flinch!

Aside from missing the excitement of a game we’ve been deprived of so far this year, these phone junkies also miss the rest of the experience: the sudden eruption of cheering when we score, the smell of the popcorn and the call of the roaming beer vendor. They can’t engage in conversation with those sitting beside them: no musing about the antics of the forward, the coolness of the ref, or the charm of hearing Stompin Tom on the loudspeaker in between plays!

This is just one illustration of the twisted relationships many people have with their smart phones. Once I got thinking about it, I decided to write my fourth Tribune Community Editorial Board column on the topic.

Click here to read my opinion! 

Shot from Top of the Rock


New York City.

The mere mention of this word combination induces a pupil-dilating euphoria that's hard to match. You may have booked your flight and Times Square-surrounded hotel room innocently enough, but once you start spreadin the news that you're going, you have to accept full responsibility for drawing people into a New York state of mind.

Those who have been here before you ache to return. Those that haven't long to experience its delirious tempo and see all the sights they have seen in their favourite movies and TV shows. They want to shop on Fifth Avenue and see the namesake of so many couture brand names as if they were celebrities. They want to see celebrities, regardless of whether they are icons or freaks. And they want to shoot out-of-their-everyday-world pictures to their heart's content.

You will find out why entire songs have been written about a minute here, an autumn here, and a hotel here.

People come to this place dreams are made of, either to get away from it all or to become a part of it all.  And then they want to share whatever experience they bring home with everyone else who also loves NY.