Happy Valentine's Day

A very Happy Valentine's Day to everyone from here in Marystown, Newfoundland. I hope you all enjoy it to whatever extent you are able to during this pandemic. 

I send this note a little early as tomorrow on Saturday February 13 I will be working as a DRO (Deputy Returning Officer) in one of the polling stations in our district. As you may have heard the Newfoundland election was scheduled for February 13 but with the Covid outbreak in the St. John's area all polls in 18 districts on the Avalon Peninsula have been postponed for at least two weeks. The other 22 districts including ours will go ahead as scheduled tomorrow beginning at 7:30am. The polls close at 8:00 pm so it will be a long day for sure. Then I guess we have to wait for a couple of weeks to count the votes. It is an interesting time for sure - we'll have to wait and see how it plays out. (Late last night we got news that due to the Covid outbreak the voting would be cancelled Saturday and would be mailin votes instead.)

I guess one shouldn't fool around or tease Mother Nature or she will come back to haunt you. I was bragging to some NL friends on the mainland about our lack of snow here in Marystown on Newfoundland's south coast with it being February 8. Unheard of most of the time. But overnight Monday and into Tuesday February 9 we picked up about 15 cm of snow which was blown around with some good winds which made some nice drifts. Then we were supposed to have 5 cm overnight last night into this morning. Well when I awoke and looked out this morning we had more like 20 cm as you can see from a few photos I took during and after cleaning it up this morning. So this is my public apology to Mother Nature - I am very sorry for mocking you like I did. I promise it won't happen again! Please no more snow. :-)

Cheers to all and stay safe.

Barry

 

 

Whole driveway and 2 cars were like this!

Took 45 minutes to clear this away!

Making sure both exits are clear. There was snow on the deck too!

Outdoor Country Boil Up

Winter hasn't shown it's ugly face here in southern Newfoundland as of yet this year and today is February 2. Yesterday I went with 3 of my golfing buddies for a cookup in the Newfoundland outdoors. It was a beautiful sometimes sunny day with temperatures just below the freezing point. 

Two friends Edmund and John go to this area just south of Lewin's Cove around Big Salmonier Brook to cut some wood to burn and while there they usually cook up a lunch. Having teased us with photos of their past cook ups we invited ourselves along for the next time. 

Yesterday my friend Ches and I hiked into where they are cutting the wood. The boys go on their ATV's but since it was only a 15 minute walked we hiked there to meet them for lunch. They had a great place cleared for a cook up complete with seats for us around the fire. Lunch consisted of beans, bologna and wieners along with fresh homemade bread and toutons. As well Ches brought along some dried salt cod which we cooked in and on the fire. We complemented the lunch with steeped tea, coffee as well as date squares & apricot cake for dessert. The walk back out took a little longer. Ha! Ha!

We had a great chat during our lunch and left with the feeling that we would be doing the same thing again someday before the winter was out.

Below are some photos around the fire and of the beautiful outdoors area there around Big Salmonier Brook. Since the fish was a little salt we had to drink some fresh water! :-) Acutally when I saw the ice it brought back memories of growing up in Lamaline playing hockey on the pond. To get a drink you would have to cut a hole in the ice, lie down and drink to your heart's content. No water bottles in those days! The water was some cold and fresh too!

Cheers to all. Stay safe. Enjoy

Barry

L to R: John, me, Ches

 

 

L to R: Ches, John, Edmund

Boys preparing the fire.

Fire well under way.

Beans & bologna on and toutons are done.

Salt fish done too!

Me cutting the hole in the ice for a drink - only 2 or 3"

Me having a sip of the cold fresh water!

Boys with their load of birch for the day!

Big Salmonier Brook. It's a licensed salmon river