Latest news with #AvalonPeninsula
Yahoo
6 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Holding ancient Greek and Roman coins is touching 'living history,' says N.L. collector
For one homesteader on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula, collecting ancient Greek and Roman coins is about holding a piece of history in his hands. Steve McBride has a homestead with his wife Lisa in Mobile, where they raise goats, honeybees, turkeys and ducks for their own consumption, and his ancient coins hit close to home. "I like them a lot because they show scenes that are very familiar to us," McBride told CBC News. He's specifically interested in coins with animals on them, which ties back to his homestead. One coin in his collection depicts a honeybee, which was a symbol of the Roman goddess Diana whose priestesses were called little honeybees and served as beekeepers. "There's a coin I've got here, one of my favourite coins, has basically somebody milking a goat. Which is something I did this morning," he said. "It makes me feel like we're directly connected to our ancestors from, not just not just a generation ago, but from many, many generations ago." Ancient coins also have propaganda messages and depict historical events. McBride said he was a child in 1986 when Halley's Comet last flew by Earth's sky. When he started coin collecting he found the Romans also marked the comet on a coin. "It brings everything full circle," he said. Accessible history McBride said history has been a longtime interest, and about 20 years ago he started acquiring his coins on eBay. Pennies, nickels and dimes are pretty common. "It means that people like me can spend $50 or something and buy one and hold a 2,000-year-old piece of history, something that was spent on bread or on a ticket to the theatre 2,000 years ago," he said. "Being able to touch something that's tangibly connected to people from so long ago … I find it really exciting." McBride has developed a deep understanding of the time periods from which these coins were made. He said he has been asked to help identify coins for others, including auction houses and museums — all from the comfort of his home. "Basically I'll identify the coins and translate the Latin on them and try to precisely date them," he said. In some cases, details can say the month or even day the coin was struck, he added, and he's even found a few coins that have never been documented before. "When you actually get to research and add a coin to a catalogue, it feels like you're creating a little bit of history or dusting off a little bit of history and putting it back up on a shelf," McBride said. "I find that really rewarding." Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.
CBC
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- CBC
Holding ancient Greek and Roman coins is touching 'living history,' says N.L. collector
New Steve McBride likes to collect coins depicting animals, like goats and bees For one homesteader on Newfoundland's Avalon Peninsula, collecting ancient Greek and Roman coins is about holding a piece of history in his hands. Steve McBride has a homestead with his wife Lisa in Mobile, where they raise goats, honeybees, turkeys and ducks for their own consumption, and his ancient coins hit close to home. "I like them a lot because they show scenes that are very familiar to us," McBride told CBC News. He's specifically interested in coins with animals on them, which ties back to his homestead. One coin in his collection depicts a honeybee, which was a symbol of the Roman goddess Diana whose priestesses were called little honeybees and served as beekeepers. "There's a coin I've got here, one of my favourite coins, has basically somebody milking a goat. Which is something I did this morning," he said. "It makes me feel like we're directly connected to our ancestors from, not just not just a generation ago, but from many, many generations ago." Ancient coins also have propaganda messages and depict historical events. McBride said he was a child in 1986 when Halley's Comet last flew by Earth's sky. When he started coin collecting he found the Romans also marked the comet on a coin. "It brings everything full circle," he said. Accessible history McBride said history has been a longtime interest, and about 20 years ago he started acquiring his coins on eBay. Pennies, nickels and dimes are pretty common. "It means that people like me can spend $50 or something and buy one and hold a 2,000-year-old piece of history, something that was spent on bread or on a ticket to the theatre 2,000 years ago," he said. "Being able to touch something that's tangibly connected to people from so long ago … I find it really exciting." Image | Steve McBride and goat Caption: One of the coins in McBride's collection features a goat being milked, which is something he does on his own homestead. (Elizabeth Whitten/CBC) Open Image in New Tab McBride has developed a deep understanding of the time periods from which these coins were made. He said he has been asked to help identify coins for others, including auction houses and museums — all from the comfort of his home. "Basically I'll identify the coins and translate the Latin on them and try to precisely date them," he said. In some cases, details can say the month or even day the coin was struck, he added, and he's even found a few coins that have never been documented before. "When you actually get to research and add a coin to a catalogue, it feels like you're creating a little bit of history or dusting off a little bit of history and putting it back up on a shelf," McBride said. "I find that really rewarding."
CBC
7 days ago
- CBC
Ultra-rare right whale spotted off Newfoundland coast
There are about 370 North Atlantic right whales left in the world — and a Newfoundland man spotted one off the southern Avalon Peninsula earlier this month. Tour guide Jared Clarke was taking a group bird watching off St. Shott's when he noticed a whale surfacing out of the corner of his eye. Spotting a whale isn't unusual for Clarke, but then he noticed something odd. The whale's head was covered in callosities, "these big rough patches," Clarke told CBC Radio's The Broadcast. When he saw the creature's back, Clarke noticed it didn't have a dorsal fin and that's when it clicked. "I think the group thought I might have lost it. I sort of screamed, 'That's a right whale!,'" he said. "I was out of my skin excited." North Atlantic right whales are an endangered species, with only 366 left in the world, according to the World Wildlife Fund. Clarke, who runs Bird The Rock tours, was thrilled to share the right whale with his tour group. They saw it surface a few times, and at one point it "kind of waved" with its flipper. The man has heard of just a few sightings of the endangered mammal around Newfoundland, and has always dreamed of seeing one for himself. He ran for his camera and snapped a few photos, which he passed on to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans. "I've been waiting for years to see a right whale in Newfoundland waters," said Clarke, who saw one before in the Bay of Fundy. He noted there was an indentation on the whale's head that he's been told looks like a rope scar, meaning the animal had been entangled in fishing gear at one point. Jack Lawson, a marine mammal researcher with DFO, said the sighting is "exciting and horrifying at the same time." Seeing these whales could require shutting down fishing, Lawson said — but only if three whales are spotted together, or its a mother and calf. Clarke urges everyone to look out for right whales. "They can show up anywhere," Clarke said. "If you're out there whale watching, keep an eye out for something that just looks a little different."
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New child care options will translate to more than 600 new $10-a-day spaces, minister says
Some 27 early learning and child-care projects are expected to bring over 600 new $10-a-day child-care spaces to the Avalon Peninsula. Early Childhood Development Minister Bernard Davis said Friday the developments will bring the number of affordable child-care spaces to over 11,000 across Newfoundland and Labrador.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Over 600 more $10-a-day child-care spaces to open on Avalon Peninsula
Over 600 more $10-a-day child-care spaces are expected to open on the Avalon Peninsula. Early Childhood Development Minister Bernard Davis announced the expansion at Dream With Us, a new child-care centre in Conception Bay South on Friday. He said the new spaces are divided between 27 early learning and child-care centres. Sixteen of the 27 centres are elementary schools that offer pre-kindergarten programs. Details can be found on the province's early learning gateway. "When we create space in one of our schools, for example, a pre-kindergarten space for a four-year-old, that creates another space in a daycare or an early learning centre that is currently full," Davis told reporters. All of the centres are now open or set to open in the coming months. However, Davis said there are sometimes delays, which can be frustrating for parents. WATCH | Over 600 more $10-a-day child-care spaces are in various stages of development: He said those delays are often outside of the government's control. "We want to move even faster because I have a young family and I understand the pressures that it puts on them," Davis said. Roughly 11,200 child-care spaces are currently operating at $10-a-day across Newfoundland and Labrador through the province's deal with the federal government's child-care agreement. The program will be in place until March 31, 2031. "We invest about $110 million a year in early learning in our province," Davis said. "This is the most important thing we can do as a government, as a people, is how we train and educate our youngest to give them the best start in society." Download our free CBC News app to sign up for push alerts for CBC Newfoundland and Labrador. Sign up for our daily headlines newsletter here. Click here to visit our landing page.
