Throw Back Thursday
This Week at Norton’s Cove Café
We hosted a private supper this past weekend for a 40th birthday; and I want to let you know that we can make that happen for your extended bubble as well! 12-34 people with a set menu (that is, everyone eating the same thing!) can certainly be arranged! Get in touch with me if you’d like to organize a special meal for your group!
Because Valentine’s Day is on a weekend this year, we decided to stay open for two nights to offer more of you a special menu, which I’ll be able to share with you soon! If you’d like to go ahead and make a reservation, you can contact me any way you can: call me at the studio or on my mobile, send a text, send a message through what’s app, twitter, or Instagram, drop in at the studio in person, or drop me an email!
There is work ongoing at the Café this week, actually, on the Lower Deck. Last Friday, we removed a pick-up truck full of garbage, sorted through the tools and items that have been stored there for the past 4 years, found new hiding places for holiday decorations, and started sanding our beautiful old church pews and other bits of woodwork that we salvaged from the Pool’s Island Anglican church. This Friday, I’ll start painting the walls and ceiling- then things will look like they’re moving along quickly! I’m quite excited about this project!
Did you know that many of the Café Gift-shop’s products are available through our online shop? And the gift-shop, like the studio, is open by appointment too. Simply get in touch with me, and I can arrange a private shopping experience for you in the off-season.
Staycation NL
This past summer, I had the privilege of speaking with the folks behind a new RogersTV (St. John’s) special program called Staycation NL. And I’ve just seen the 1st episode, in which Norton’s Cove is shown, as well as many other must visit peeps! Have a look!
The Lower Deck
There’s a long list of things to do before we’re ready to open to the public, and I’ll take this photo over and over each week to show our progress with the project. Here’s the plan for the space, an excerpt from my Business Plan:
The Lower Deck is the name of the 1st floor of Norton’s Cove Café. The space (interior) has not been completely finished since the building was formed in 2016/17. The 1st floor currently consists of a storage room for the kitchen, laundry room, an unfinished bathroom, and a large open space overlooking the cove through large windows and double glass doors.
The plan for the space is to be multi-functional:
- Lounge for transient sailors: books, seating areas, coffee bar, shower room, WiFi
- Performance venue for musicians and other performers
- Deck from the double glass doors as a main entrance, with wheelchair access, will act as a gathering/seating area
- Venue for small weddings, reunions, and other parties catered with finger foods or small plates from the Norton’s Cove Café kitchen
- Meeting space for small conventions, AGMs, etc.
- Staff lounge
- Art classes
Team Norton’s Cove is in talks of creating our own annual event in the shoulder season (either Spring or Fall). As Norton’s Cove is part of a granite outcropping which makes our geology very interesting, the thought is to create a Rock Festival. We’d invite a number of Rock bands (The Novaks, The Catalina Reapers, etc.) to Norton’s Cove to perform at night, along with perhaps a Geology expert to lead guided walks during the day, and offer up special food and drinks (on the rocks!) to complement the theme. Talks with industry professionals are ongoing! #NortonsCoveRocks
This Week at Norton’s Cove Café
Well then. Christmas is over. It’s a brand new year. And we don’t have any events planned for the Café until next month’s Feast of Saint Valentine. There is some work going on at the Café behind the scenes, but there’s nothing to show quite yet… I’m hoping to have a few progress shots of the Lower Deck for you next Wednesday!
Did you know that many of the Café Gift-shop’s products are available through our online shop? And the gift-shop, like the studio, is open by appointment too. Simply get in touch with me, and I can arrange a private shopping experience for you in the off-season.
Excursions
A 15 minute drive north from Norton’s Cove brings us to Windmill Bight, a municipal park at Lumsden. We like to visit in the winter months when the park is closed.
We park at the turn-off on the highway, and walk past the camping area, over a bridge and brook, past a play-ground and camper overflow area, and the freshwater lagoon area to get to the ocean side beach. Most of the walk is sheltered by fir and spruce trees.
When we get to the beach, the wind off the ocean is damp and cold, so we only stay long enough to fill our lungs and take in the views; And of course play fetch with Jack who can find a stick wherever we go.
Then we make our way back to the truck again. Oftentimes we meet another who enjoys quiet winter walks, and we did today, but not always. We are very lucky to be living in such a beautiful place with so much space available to be explored!
A Fresh New Year
Exciting times for a geek like me who likes making new file folders and filing taxes! It’s a new fiscal year here at Norton’s Cove as well as a new calendar year, and I’m hoping for some pretty big things to happen in the coming months. Here are my business goals for 2021:
- Open the Lower Deck this winter
This project is in progress- I’ll show some pictures soon! - Open Norton’s Cove Rooms this fall
This project is still in the planning stages, although I have purchased the land for the building site! Getting ready to submit final applications for financing as my 2020 financials are getting drawn up. - Apply for a solo exhibition at the Rooms Provincial Gallery with my UNDERNEATH series of works
Thank you to everyone who made 2020 a good year for us to grow here at Norton’s Cove, and for giving me the confidence to feel really positive about the coming year. I’m quite happy to be at the beginning of a fresh new year!
This Week at Norton’s Cove Café
Chef Ted has created a small menu of some of our local favourites to offer to those of you looking to hold a Holiday Party for your group, organization, or bubble:
Entrées
Chicken Linguine
Baxter Burger with Chippies & Chipotle Mayo
Cod au Gratin with Sautéed Vegetables
Desserts
Lemon Blueberry Cake
Vanilla Cheesecake with your choice of topping: Bakeapple, Blueberry, Partridgeberry, or Caramel
& our entire beverages menu
If you would like to book a Holiday Party at Norton’s Cove Café,
please contact me by email or phone.
nortonscovestudio@nf.aibn.com | 536-2533
Excursions
The weather has been unseasonably mild this Christmas, and today Duke and I took Jack for a walk on the beach at Deadman’s Bay today. While Duke was trying out his new little drone (more on that later!), Jack and I walked along the shore, letting the waves come towards us, nipping at our heels. We’ve had some stormy seas and extreme tides lately, and so there are lots of beach-rocks tossed high, and loads of kelp thrown onto the beach. And Jack found a bone of some sort (moose leg maybe?) which I managed to divert his attention from after taking this photo of him enjoying his find. It’s so great to be able to get out into the fresh air like this without being cold!
Christmas
Merry Christmas everyone! I’d like to share one of my favourite gifts this year with you…
I have a collection of nutcrackers which are displayed on my parlour mantlepiece each Christmas season. I have always loved the music of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, perhaps because in elementary school, I had a part in the school Christmas production of the play. I wore an emerald green tutu and danced to the Waltz of the Sugarplum Fairies before a packed audience. And later, as a young adult, my mom made special arrangements to see the Royal Winnipeg Ballet perform the suite at the Gander Arts & Culture Centre together. (thanks again mom, what a treat!)
This year, I was gifted the most spectacular nutcracker of all. Taylor, with help from Fred, handcrafted the dandy fellow you see above. A mixed-media piece, she has incorporated found objects, hand embroidery, hand weaving, hand painting, and sculpture, along with a lot of thoughtfulness. Fred is responsible for making it a working nutcracker, with a functional mouth piece and helping with other bits too. I cannot tell you how touched I am that anyone would go through all this work to make a gift for me. I am blown away. Thank you Taylor; thank you Fred. I appreciate this so much!
