August 2021 Update

 

 

It is with a heavy heart that I write this August post as we lost Evelyn. Evelyn sudden passing on August 9 has left a big void in our hearts as she had been a part of our family for over 40 years. Evelyn was such a wonderful, gracious, down to earth and classy lady. She always saw the best in everyone and she let you know how she felt. Always appreciative of the least little thing you did for her Evelyn was a bright spot in many gatherings of the Stacey clan throughout the years. We will all miss her dearly.

Condolences go out to my brother Pat, his children Randy, Colin and Pamela along with their families. As well we send condolences to Evelyn's children Ross, Joy & Mike and their families. Family was everything to Evelyn and she especially enjoyed her grandchildren as well as her great-grandson, Logan.

Rest in peace Evelyn!

Summer in Newfoundland

It's mid July and we are enjoying an unusual summer here in Newfoundland - both weather wise and pandemic wise.

First the pandemic summer - well, Newfoundland opened it's borders to the rest of Canada on July 1 and it seems like a lot of Newfoundlanders have taken advantage to make the trek back home for a visit. A lot of my friends have children and relatives here visiting with many others coming before the end of August. Quite a few people who still have summer homes here on the island could finally get to come for a visit providing they are fully vaccinated. It's nice to see vehicles with license plates from other Canadian provinces around town. 

Newfoundland was probably fared the best of all provinces and territories during the pandemic as it seemed that people listened to our health and government leaders advice during the past 18 months. We followed that advice to the tee and as a result had very few cases of Covid 19. While there were a couple of outbreaks they were handled very quickly and the spread was minimized. Our Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald is considered a "Rock" star here on the island and so she should be. She was very calm even during the roughest of times and kept encouraging people to follow her directions. And on top of that our Premier,  Andrew Furey is a surgeon while our provincial Minister of Health, Dr. John Haggie is also a medical doctor. They certainly maintained their calm and directed us well during the pandemic. As a result we were seldom under a full lockdown. We could go to stores to shop and to restaurants to eat for most of the pandemic even though these businesses were operating under less than full capacity. Social distancing, staying within your bubble and washing your hands regularly was the norm for Newfoundlander - and they stuck to it. 

 Our summer weather has been a little different for the Burin Peninsula and other areas of the island this year as it has been fairly warm but there hasn't been much rain. Go figure! We have had a fair bit of wind though. It's unusual for our dry spell to be during June and July - normally for us the dry spell, if we had one, would be during August. Hopefully there was enough rain to produce a good bakeapple crop this year. I'll update this with my August rant!

I'll update what has happened with our flowers and shrubs since my last report - looks like all are coming along well even with the dry weather.

Gladys and I haven't done much this summer but hopefully we will take a little staycation around the island sometime during the month of August. There are a couple of places we'd like to visit that we haven't been to before including the other side of Fortune Bay around Harbour Breton along with Burgeo on the southwest coast.

The tulips have come and gone & now the snowball tree has taken over that area.

Our hostas are coming along quite nicely.

Gladys's peony has started to bloom and it seems like the flowers are much fuller this year.

Our rhubarb was early this year and we had a good crop but it seems the warm, dry summer may have ended it's season early.

Here's the area under our deck in full growth - the flowers and shrubs are loving this weather.

Finally our black eyed susans are coming right along and will be in full bloom soon.

May Update - Little Late!

I am a little late with my May update as I have been quite busy. Hey it's hard to sit down and write with so many things to do such as mow grass, play golf, daily walks and of course watching my beloved Habs dispose of the mighty Leafs in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

Things are settling down a little on the Covid front and it looks like the country is finally getting the better of this dreaded virus. The number of people being vaccinated is rising and the number of cases is dropping. It looks like Newfoundland will begin to open its borders to the rest of Canada beginning on July 1 so hopefully we will see some of the Stacey & Brennan clan back on the Rock before the summer is out. 

I hope this finds you all in good health physically and mentally as we struggle to get through this pandemic. The end is in sight so I paraphrase the words of the Chief Medical Health Officer in NL who says, "Hold fast, Newfoundland and Labarador & Canada."

Below are a few photos of some plants we have around our house that are coming to life again this year. We aren't big gardeners but we do have a few plants and lots of trees to shelter us from the wind. It's always nice to see the flowers come to life and grass turning green - not so nice to have to mow it though.

Here are some tulips that Gladys planted the last couple of years. We finally got a lot of them to bloom

Ours hostas are on the back of the house shielded from the sun so they are a little slower to come out.

This peony has been blooming for years and is usually one of the first out of the blocks when spring comes along.

This is a little rosebush I transplanted the year before last. I didn't think it would come but it did last year and is coming again this year.

Planted those 2 rhubarb plants which were given to Gladys by her brother-in-law Linden. We planted them in this spot just under our balcony last year and they are grown enough to harvest now. Fresh rhubarb jam!

Not sure what this little purple ground cover is we have here but it looks so nice when it blooms this time of year. It would be nice to have a little more of it. There is another plant in the middle of the purple but again not sure what it is but it comes back each year.

Finally we have these plants growing here which will grow to about a foot or so high and then we will get little purple flowers all summer long. You have to be careful with those as they will grow all over the place.

April - Spring is in the Air!

March came in like a lion and went out like a lamb! The old adage came true for us here in Marystown this year. It was one of the easier winters in years with not too much snow or cold weather. I only had to take my snowblower out twice this winter which is the lowest number of times in the dozen years since I've had it.

Spring has come and the temperatures are warming up somewhat but with some wind. That is particularly true here on the south coast of Newfoundland. I am looking forward to getting out for a round of golf in a couple of weeks. The course is almost ready to go but I think I will wait for some nice weather.

We are still in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic but here in Newfoundland we are doing fairly well with few cases being reported - the ones that we do have are pretty much all the result of domestic or international travel. Contact tracing is very good here in our province mainly due to the small number of people I would guess. Kudos to the Department of Health for their efforts in keeping the pandemic at bay. I guess residents are to be congratulated for doing their part as well by following the provincial health department guidelines.

The vaccine program is in full swing and all those over 70 have been vaccinated with the 65 - 69 age group now getting appointments. Both Gladys and I have our appointments for Thursday April 22 at 6:00pm. Looking forward to getting the vaccine. 

Not much other news to report here. We have a lot of freedom here in our province in that we can go out to dinner or go to church following certain guidelines. Hopefully things will improve over the next few months. There is a possibility of the Atlantic bubble opening in early May as there aren't many active cases. Hopefully it stays that way.

Just over 3 weeks ago Gladys and I took a little trip around the Boot one day from Marystown to Lamaline on to Grand Bank and back home. We did stop for supper at Grannys in Grand Bank. I had a feed of cod tongues while Gladys chose the turkey dinner. Worth the trip there if you get back home this year! Check out the few photos we took along the way. Enjoy!

All the best to everyone and stay safe.

Cheers

Barry

These are the wind mills between St. Lawrence & Lawn.

This is a heap of kelp between Lawn and Lord's Cove someone has for his garden.

Point aux Gaul taken from near the Allen's Island lighthouse.

The Allen's Island Lighthouse!

Photo of beautiful Morgan's Island just off Lamaline.

Photo of St. Pierre et Miquelon in the distance.

 

March - In Like a Lion

There's an old proverb that states that If March comes in like a lion, it will go out like a lamb.

Well, in Marystown March came in like a lion for sure. We had 15 - 20 cm of snow on Feb 27 - 28 and then another 15 - 25 cm from March 1 - 2. It was the first two times I had to get the snowblower out this winter to clear it away. The second fall of snow was very heavy as the temperature rose to close to the freezing mark. To top it off last night March 2 into this morning we had probably another 5 - 10 cm of light snow followed by snow flurries often on all day which dropped another 5 - 10 cm. 

We had gotten off very easy until the last two weeks but we have paid up for it for sure. Hopefully from here on in we won't see too much of the white stuff.

On another note the province seems to be turning the corner with the recent Covid breakout in the St. John's area. There have been over 560 cases directly related to the breakout with over 20 schools having at least 1 case. However, most of the cases were at just 1 high school.

The Public Health Officer, Dr. Janice Fitzgerald, announced today that they are going to change the time between the first and second vaccine dose from 3 weeks to 4 months. This will give a lot more people the first vaccine dose as studies are showing that the first dose is very effective in controlling the spread of the virus.

We are still in Level 4 in our district to we don't venture far from home other that going to the grocery store or for a walk.

Hope all is well with everyone and stay safe.

Cheers
Barry

P. S. Here are a couple of photos after clearing my driveway yesterday.

 

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