Merry Christmas 2022

From us to you a very Merry Christmas and a healthy & prosperous New Year in 2023.

Below are a few photos of some family Christmas tree 2022 that were sent along to me. If any of you who see this want to send along a photo of your tree I will post it here. Thanks very much. Enjoy.

Our Christmas Tree 2022

 

 

This tree is Gladys's brother Gerard & Meredith's tree here in Marystown.

 

 This is my niece Tracey & Leo's Tree in Medicine Hat, AB.

 

This is their Newfoundland Tree with all ornaments and photos related to back home on the Rock. Photos include are her dad Alvin's photo, her grandparents Alfred & Priscilla Stacey as well as her first cousin Cheryl's. I love the sou'wester on top of her tree.

2022 Year End Review

I haven't been too posting too much this year and thought I would do a sort of year end review of what I can remember happening in 2022. I'm sure there were some other happenings other than those listed here - the memory isn't what it used to be.

Gladys and I only had a little staycation during this past summer where we spend a couple of nights in the Trinity Bay area and a couple of nights on the south coast area around Harbour Breton - a place we had never visited before. Our travels are outlined in an earlier post.

This past summer in Newfoundland was one of the best in my memory. The weather was warm with little wind and very little rain. Newfoundland has a sort of Come Home Year and lots of people from away came back home for a visit. They certainly had great weather for their visits.

We had lots of the Stacey family home for the last week of July and the first week of August. My brothers Kevin & his wife Diane from Moncton, NB as well as Brian and wife Josie from Brampton, ON along with my brother Terry from Medicine Hat, AB and sister Lucy from Toronto. My niece Tracey, her husband Leo, children Josh & Emma Hynes from Medicine Hat were also here for the two weeks. It was great to see them all. I didn't take too many photos of them but I did take a few which I have included below. It was great to see them all and we had some good times with each other.

On the health side both of us are feeling well. Gladys did contract Covid in August but I managed to evade getting it. She had about 3 days where she was pretty sick with headache, sore throat and the aches & pains that go along with it. Mrs. Brennan got it too but her son, Hughie, who lives with her didn't catch it. We are now up to date with our 5th shot so hopefully we will be ok going forward.

As well both Gladys and I are now septuagenarians. I turned 70 on October 16 while Gladys wasn't far behind on November 29. We did have a couple of get togethers with family which we both appreciated very much. Gladys's was a surprise to her and we thank both of our families for all their efforts in making both occasions memorable.

Next year we are going to take our first vacation since before Covid began. We have booked a 10 day Greek Islands & Malta cruise for September 11 - 21, 2023. We are looking forward to doing that as neither of us have ever been there.

Below are a few photos taken this summer as well as our Christmas tree for 2022. Enjoy.

Our Christmas Tree 2022

 

 

Family Photo Taken at Terry King's

A Gallon of Lamaline Bakeapples

Lamaline Quartet: L to R: Barry, Eric Ayers, Brian, Terry

 Terry Stacey teeing it up on Hole #8.

 

Brian hitting a drive from the fairway on Hole #8

L to R: Terry, Kevin, and Brian.

 Leo putts out on Hole #9 while Terry looks on.

 

Kevin with the Allen's Island Lighthouse in the back ground.

Kevin & Diane on Allen's Island.

Joshua with his birthday cake on his 23rd birthday.

Joshua with his sister Emma.

Anderson outside in Creston North.

Harbour Breton Area Visit

 On the second 2 days of our summer staycation Gladys and i drove from Trinity to Harbour Breton which is indicated by the red dot on the map below. You can see it's closeness to Marystown in direction across the water but we drove the distance which is 592km by road. Quite the trek but since we had never been there before we wanted to see it. We had to drive to Bishop Falls in order to take the route down there from the Trans Canada highway. It's just over 200km from the TCH and there is no places in between on the highway. There are a few towns that you can reach by leaving the main road.

This area was cut off by road for a while this summer due to some wild fires in the area. The fires weren't close to Harbour Breton but there was some issues with smoke from the fires. However, the road down to the area was closed for over a week during the high point of the fires.

The following are a few photos we took during our stay there. 

Harbour Breton on overcast evening.

Harbour Breton on a partly cloudy evening.

Fish Plant over looking the harbour. The plant processes farmed salmon.

This is the site of the Hickey Landslide Memorial to a terrible landslide which occurred in August of 1973 which resulted in 4 houses being swept off the hill and the loss of lives of 4 children of the Hickey family. The oldest and youngest of their 6 children survived. The youngest, Cavelle, was 21 months old at the time was protected by the sides of her crib and was rescued. Later in her life she lived here in Marystown and worked with Gladys for a while.

Hickey Memorial Plaque

This is the hill from where the houses were swept away. The town passed a law that forbid the building of any homes in the area in the future.

Gladys sitting on the beach at Deadman's Cove.

 

 

 Barry with Deadman's Cove in the background.

 

Deadman's Cove, Harbour Breton on an overcast afternoon.

Some colourful rock on the beach at Deadman's Cove.

The next few photos were taken in a little restaurant in Harbour Breton which has some local artifacts. The following is a photo of the schooner Norma & Gladys on which Gladys's Grandfather Jim Mallay was once a crew member.

Another photo from the same restaurant with the remnants of whiskey or mollases barrells.

An outfitted schooner dory which was used by Newfoundland fishermen many years ago.

A lighthouse standing guard over the entrance to the harbour in Hermitage.

One of many rock displays on a trail around a pond near Harbour Breton. This one was dedicated to Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs.

Gladys picking a bakeapple just of the trail.

This is a photo of the Chantel John Memorial Park in Conne River, a town not too far from Harbour Breton. Chantel was a young indigenous woman from Conne River who was murdered in 2019.

Trinity Visit July 2022

To shorten up the summer Gladys and I took a little 4 day staycation in July. We spent a July 4th & 5th in the Trinity Bay area exploring the small communities there as well as taking in a couple of plays at the famous Rising Tide Theatre located there. We then went on to the Harbour Breton area which is on the Connaigre Peninsula which is on the province's south coast for July 6th & 7th. 

The Rising Tide Theatre has been in business since 1992 and put off several different plays over the course of the summer including their famous Pageant. The Pageant was on the nights we visited but we did see the plays Saltwater Moon and No Man's Land.

Saltwater Moon is a play set in 1926 about a young Newfoundlander who returned home from Canada to win back his sweetheart. It's a very good play.

No Man's Land is the story of one of the battles that the Newfoundland Regiment fought during the First World War, none was as devastating or as defining as the first day of the Battle of the Somme. The Regiment's tragic advance at Beaumont Hamel on the morning of July 1, 1916 became an enduring symbol of its valour and of its terrible wartime sacrifices. The events of that day were forever seared into the cultural memory of the Newfoundland and Labrador people. Bring your tissues to see this play. Fantastically done!

Check out Rising Tide Theatre by checking the following link. 

https://www.risingtidetheatre.com/

Below are a few photos taken from our excursion. We walked the famous Skerwink Trail which is a very scenic walk along the ocean where you can see lots of wildlife along with many stunning cliffs and outcroppings of rocks.

The first 9 photos were taken on the Skerwink Trail.

Path to the Skerwink Trail

A couple of the many outcroppings viewed from the Trail.

Another larger outcropping.

 

Look at this gnarled tree - Not sure what kind it is.

  

 

Gladys at the bottom of one of the stairways along the trail.

Another cliff along the trail overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.

A deep hole next to the trail - couldn't see right down there without jumping in.

Black fox we saw near the lighthouse in Trinity.

View of Trinity taken from the Skerwink Trail.

Walking tour leader, Kevin Toope, gives some information on the old church and graveyard.

Church of the Most Holy Trinity is a Catholic Church built in 1833. It is now a heritage site with masses being said there during July & August.

Inside the church in the upstairs area where the priest prepares to serve mass. Notice the bench used there - it's an old wooden coffin. Dare to lift the lid!!!

Here is a view of the church from the upstairs level. It's a beautiful little church.

View of the seats in the upper level. Apparently the church was heated by a pot belly stove many years ago and since heat rises it was the warmest area of the church. This is where the wealthy parishoners sat.

This is a view of a little town called Champney's West. Our good family friend Fr. William Hann owns the little house with the yellow door. It's his summer getaway place. The little building on the right is his little Air BnB. Check it out.

Sealer's Memorial in Elliston.

List of the sealers lost in 1914 disaster. Takes 2 sides to fit all the names.