50th Wedding Annversary Dec. 28,2021

On this day in 1971 Gladys and I were married in the old Sacred Heart Church in Marystown on a cold, windy and stormy day. It seems like only yesterday - time sure flies. 

We held a little reception for our families at my mom & dad's place in Marystown. There aren't too many photos but we have held on to a few which I posted below. As well there are a few from throughout the years that we came across. A few are from a little album someone put together for our 25th anniversary. You will also see below a little poem that our niece Sandra Lee wrote for us. 

We have been fortunate to both have come from very large families - Gladys from a family of 13 children and me from one of 12. That has never been more evident than in the past 8+ years since Cheryl was first diagnosed. They along with our extended families have always and continue to support us in anyway they can. As well we have been very fortunate to have met and become friends with so many of Cheryl's friends. You will never know how often an email, a text, a call or a card have made our day. It's always so nice to hear from each and everyone of you. Cheryl was always afraid that she would be forgotten - I don't think that will happen in our or your lifetime. God Bless  you all.

Thank you for reading this and thanks for being nice to us.

All the best for a healthy and prosperous New Year in 2022. Hopefully things will ease with the pandemic and we will be able to see one another freely.

Barry & Gladys

                December 28, 1971                                                        December 28, 2021

Below are a few other wedding photos as well as a few taken throughout the past 50 years.

Walking down the aisle.

Wedding Party

L to R: Gladys's dad Michael, her mom Annie, her sister Mary, Gladys, Me, my brother Pat, my mom Priscilla, my dad Alfred

First Dance

Cutting the cake.

At the altar - Pat, me, Gladys & Mary

This photo was taken during Christmas in 1973. Cheryl seems a little tired.

Taken at Wong's in Marystown, not sure when.

Not sure when this one was taken but it was at home here in Marystown. I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate it today. :-)

This one was taken on our 40th Anniversary - wow, 10 years ago!

From looking at my hair it was taken quite a few years ago! :-)

Taken at Cheryl's Dalhousie Grad in 1994

Below is a little poem written for us by our niece Sandra Lee on the occasion of our 25th Anniversary in 1996. Thought it was kind of cute and you would get a kick out of reading it. Enjoy.

Christmas Trees 2021

Hi all:

I do hope that you have all had a happy and healthy 2021. As we approached the Christmas season I have decided to do the Christmas tree posting again. I haven't sent out any requests for photos but a couple of people have told me they were going to send along photos of their tree so this is a start.

In August we lost my brother Pat's wife Evelyn who loved everything that was a cause for celebration. She loved the photos of the trees last year and I'm sure she would feel the same this year. Condolences to our brother Pat as well as his and Evelyn's families as I'm sure there will be a few sad moments for them all during this holiday season. Remember the good times and all the kinds words Evelyn had for everyone. 

Brian & Josie

So first off the mark with trees is my brother Brian and his wife Josie from Brampton, ON. There a couple of photos here - one of their beautiful decorated tree and one of a lovely decoration with a photo of Cheryl that stands front and centre.

Marg & Pad

This tree is compliments of Gladys's sister Marg and husband Pad in Burin.

Tish and Darren

This photo is of the decorated playground in Dildo where the playground committee as a fund raiser sold candy canes in honour of family members who have passed away. Tish and Darren had candles lit in honour of our Cheryl and their brother Terry Brennan.

Barry & Gladys

Gladys did her masterful job as always decorating our tree. Each ornament goes on with care as she knows where each originated and they all are special. Here's a photo of the tree along with a closeup of the ornament with Cheryl's picture along with an Oiler mummer.

Paddy & Alison

This beautifully decorated tree belongs to Gladys's nephew Paddy, his wife Alison and children Liam, Jack & Cheyenne who live in Burin. As well the second photo shows the tree at their restaurant The Monkey's Fist at Smuggler's Cove. Besides the lovely tree take notice wood stove and oven as well as the rocking chair -it represents what you would have seen in a Newfoundland home many years ago. Very nice.

Mrs. Brennan

This tree belongs to Gladys's mother Annie who is still going strong at 91 and loves having her tree up and decorated with many precious ornaments. Thanks to Penny and Gladys for helping out.

Maria, Ben, Matteo & Naia

This lovely tree belongs to our friend Maria, her husband Ben and children Matteo & Naia in Toronto. There is also a photo of Naia with the tree which she decorated.

Therese, Neil, Isabella & Anderson

This lovely tree belongs to my niece Therese, her husband Neil as well as their two children Isabella and Anderson. Below is a photo showing Isabella & Anderson in front of their tree as well as a photo of their ornament with Cheryl's picture on it.

Lisa, Franz, Ella & Luke

This photo is from Cheryl's high school friend Lisa, her husband Franz as well as children Ella & Luke of Toronto who are spending Christmas at their cottage on Woods Bay Lake north of the city. Things are looking up for them as they spent the last 3 days without power meaning they had to bring water from the Lake to keep going. Ah, Lisa I'm sure your mother and her family could sympathize with you having experienced similar situations growing up on Allan's Island, Newfoundland. Enjoy your break from the fast paced life of the big city.

Penny, Linden, Kevin & Karen

This lovely tree belongs to Gladys's sister Penny, her husband Linden and children Kevin & Karen who are home for Christmas having spent the last semester at Memorial University continuing their studies - Kevin in 4th year and Karen in her second year.

Michelle, Danny, Maya & Theo

Cheryl's good friends Michelle & Danny's and their two children Maya & Theo of Toronto own this lovely tree. It looks like there was nobody on the naughty list at their home this year as Santa was pretty generous. The second photo show Maya and Theo standing in front of their tree

 

Krista, Wince & Lucus

This lovely tree belongs to Gladys's niece Krista, her partner Wince and son Lucus in St. John's. This year Krista hosted Christmas dinner at her house along with her brothers Evan and Tommy. Things got pretty hectic at times but as Krista says "in the Merriest of ways!" Glad that things went well and you all had a great dinner together.

August Summer Update

 It has indeed been a great summer weather wise here in the Marystown area. For sure it has been one of the driest summers in my memory with very little rainfall and some real nice temperatures. Of course this made for a great growing season for plants and flowers as you can see in the couple of photos below. But you had to keep watering though or things would dry up rather quickly. There were some bakeapples this year but not as plentiful as past years which some people believed was due to the lack of rainfall as those berries grow on the damp bogs. I did manage to pick a couple of gallons on the lower side of Piercey Brook. Blueberries are pretty plentiful and I did get out to pick a bucketful of those. Gladys doesn't like them when frozen so I only went the one time. She did however make a couple of blueberry cakes as well as a blueberry grunt which were all quite good. 

Below are a few photos of the plants around the house as well as my berry picking adventures. Enjoy

Cheers

Barry

 Peony

Brown Eyed Susans

Flowers under deck

Hard Bakeapple

Soft Bakeapple

Bakeapples ready to pick

Got my bucket full!

Plus a few extras!!

Piercey Brook Bridge from the country.

 

 

My bucket full of blueberries!

Blueberries cleaned and ready to eat!

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.