Random Island

Show and Tell
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Tool drawers from Santa, cap gun from Santa, Chimpy Puzzle from ?

One of the things that was common in my community at least during Christmas, was show and tell. This was more for adults than your elementary school show and tell though.  But I remember we used to always visit Aunts and Uncles, Cousins, and sometimes just others in the community during the week or two after Christmas.

We’d have a cup of tea (ew) or coffee, or purity syrup some cherry cake, or fruit cake (again ew) or my personal favorite, gum drop cake! Often there was shortbread with a cherry on top (the dried candied cherries used for baking).

But the highlight of these visits was the show and tell.  At some point the host would get down under the tree, and pull out all the gifts, tell what it was, and who it was from.  Often the same thing was done with all the Christmas cards.  In a a way it was showing off I guess, but it didn’t seem so then, it seemed natural to do.

Probably an odd tradition, but something I miss now, heading to Aunt May’s, Aunt Mary’s, Uncle Hay’s and Ralph’s for the show and tell.  RIP all of them, Merry Christmas to you all, and hope your traditions bring back fond memories as mine do.

PS: Dad still had that chest of drawers for nails and washers and things when we moved away from Newfoundland in 1996 I believe.  It lasted a while!

December 28, 2014 by Uncategorized 2

Rigging up those Lights!

We put out the Christmas decorations a week or so ago, doing it in dribs and drabs as its easier to pick at things than do it all at once. Such different decorations now than there were when we were kids.

We really only had strings of lights, and these were the old fashioned ones with screw in bulbs that burnt your fingers when they were hot.  And rather than patterned fancy blinks and things like today, if you wanted blinking lights you had to buy a “blinker” and plug the strings into it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4NlR5KQLQ8
And of course, the worst, as noted in the song linked above was “One goes out they all go out!” A lot of the old strings were wired that way.  If a bulb blew, the whole string went out and you had to test every damn bulb till you found the right one.

Also, who remembers going to the Chain Store and buying replacement bulbs? Only to find some savage had taken all the green ones? Or pulled apart the assorted packages to make up their own assortment! Bastards!

A few years later we got the “mini” lights.  These were neat in that they had a “blinker” bulb you could take out and replace if you didn’t want blinking.  But they were still one goes out they all go out, and even worse, there were about forty leven different sizes! Getting replacements was a pain in the butt! And, and and…. the little wires! They’d bend and twist and make it impossible to get them right, plus on top of that, some of the bulbs would just not stay in!

The lights are much fancier now, and leds to boot, not burning half the electricity.  I used to imagine the meter man rubbing his hands in glee come December and January!

We used to put them out on our old front bridge, and sometimes on the little (or not so little over time) fir that grew out of the rock wall by the old gate. Even with the freezing cold, the old fashioned clips, and driving many staples through the wires, it was still kinda fun, and part of the season.

Think I’ll take Mom out this weekend to look at all the lights.  Love to see pictures of yours too!

December 17, 2014 by Uncategorized 1

Give em the Slip!

Was reading through some old posts the other day, and seeing mention of my buddy Eric, and also of my Uncle, Larry Leawood, I was reminded of tailing slips.  I think pretty much every young boy has experienced this back home, and likely most continue to do so as long as they can.

For the non Newfoundlander, or perhaps for some of those too, you CFA’s know them as rabbit snares, but they’ll always be rabbit slips to me.  Essentially, they are a loop of wire tailed in a rabbit trail used to catch rabbits for eating.

Back in older days, slips were always made out of this…. braided? not sure the right term right now, but was made up of many many filaments, and was nearly impossible, for me anyway, to keep it in a loop shape without it twisting.  I still remember buying it, and the newer aluminum? wire at Handy Andy’s back in the day. Part of the fun I think was interacting with Stan and Dennis, but you could buy the wire and the licence nearly anywhere.

I also remember playing with the old filamented wire on the old flashlight batteries, and having the little ends glow red hot, but I digress.

Often times, you could tell who owned a slip in the woods, just by looking at it, as they were often as unique as the person who tailed them.  Uncle Larry for example always tied his on with a granny knot, while others made their loops in slightly different ways or shapes.  You’d often see them tailed in the same rabbit run year after year, and others you’d see someone make a spot to tow the rabbits, chopping down some tasty young birch and making a run of your own to tail your slip in.

This wasn’t done for fun, though it can be fun too, but rabbits were and are a big addition to the winter food store.  And quite tasty to boot, I’d like to have a freezer full right now!

November 30, 2014 by Uncategorized 4

Brush that Stout off your Back! And Mind the Hornets!

Berries

Its that time of year, or it was when I was younger anyway, berry pickin time!

Really I guess there are multiple berry picking times, we go for Bakeapples in July usually, and Partridgeberries in September or even October, but when you mention berries to me, the first that come to mind are Raspberries and Blueberries, probably because they were so plentiful so close to home.

We’d sometimes go as a family, but often as not, I would go alone, or me and Eric would go off somewhere. We didn’t have to look very far usually. I loved picking blueberries, not sure why them since there was more bending over, but I did. There was a patch just to the right of the old road leading from the old school garden in Apsey Brook, and there was no trouble to pick a gallon or more there in a short time, some as big as marbles.

Whats odd to me, is that I never really cared for raw blueberries, I find the kinda tasteless, but still loved picking them. But once they were home and in a blueberry pudding, well then, yum!

Raspberries on the other hand, I loved raw, but disliked picking. There were a couple of reasons for that I guess. One, they were hard to pick clean (ie: with no leaves and all good berries) mainly because they ripened fast and spoiled fast and you’d always have some ones with spots on them. Another reason was there were always stouts around. Anyone from Newfoundland knows what a stout is, annoying as hell, always pitching on your back, bites as hard as hell when they do, and nearly impossible to swat. They have a black bar across their wings, and apparently are properly known as deer flies.

And lastly another reason I hated picking them was because a lot of the bushes grew amongst old dead falls back home, or at least the easily accessible ones, and there was always a hornets nest somewhere around. Even if you didn’t step in a nest, you were likely to get a sting from a hornet somewhere along the line. nasty bastards, they are mean, and like to sting just for pleasure I think.

The thought of stouts and hornets always reminds me of Lloyd Colbourne and Newfoundland Outdoors. There was an episode where I can remember now Lloyd saying “Brush that stout off your back there Bryce!”

August 16, 2014 by Uncategorized 0

Paths
Granny Walter's Hill, Old Road to Petley.

Granny Walter’s Hill, Old Road to Petley.

Apsey Brook, and even Random Island aren’t/weren’t highly populated places, but we seemed to have an abundance of paths around. It always amazed me how long they lasted, with not a ton of traffic to keep them without becoming grown over and disappearing in the brush.

I’m sure that likely has happened more so back in Apsey Brook in recent years because there are even less people now than was once the case.

But still, memories return of paths.  So many of them.  There was one from the old road down by the old bridge and Uncle Luther’s mill all the way to Uncle Hay’s, and yes even further though less plain all the way down to Colin’s house across the old garden.

There was one around Ross’s fence the sheep used to take to get down to the beach area up to the old school garden area.  There was one from Sam’s meeting the old road, and of course the old road itself that ran from over by Edgar Martin’s all the way to Petley! And of course off shoots everywhere, to get to all the ponds and berry patches along the way.

One from McGrath’s Cove to Friggin’s Cove Rattle, and likely beyond.  Paths to the steadies and to the barrens where Dad would tail slips for rabbits.

I’m sure each community had the same, as over the fields and through the stands of trees, and over the bog holes we’d make our way.

Just another memory of home, and the freedom we had, and something that stays with me over time as I think about how they formed, and how they remain.

July 9, 2014 by Uncategorized 0

In a Stew

A lot of memories of growing up seem to have food in them.  I guess because most of our socializing was done over a cup of tea, or a meal, or even a community supper.  We used to say that we had to eat in shifts because the table wasn’t big enough for everyone to gather round at once, was nothing at my place to have 8 or 10 around at meal time.

Nowadays when anyone says stew, you usually think of beef in the slow cooker with a thick broth and big chunks of vegetables.  But growing up, when we had stew, it was usually stewed fish, or stewed salmon or stewed beans.

Here in Nova Scotia if I mention stewed beans to people they have no clue what I am talking about, all they know are baked beans. I never cared for baked beans, but stewed beans, YUM!

The picture on the left comes from a Newfoundland Recipes site (click it to go there), but isnt quite like what I was used to.  Similarly it was white naval beans, soaked for a while, and also an onion, but we’d use salt beef instead of salt pork.  When cooked up so the beans were soft yet firm and holding their shape it was delicious, even more so with a bit of ketchup.

Then there is stewed cod and stewed salmon, both are the same recipe, just replace the fish.  The recipe I linked to here has carrot and uses broth, but what I had growing up just had potato, water, fish and onion.  And of course substituting salt beef for salt pork. I don’t think we precooked the cod or onions either like the recipe says, but I’m sure either way is delicious.

Simple meals, but a taste of home and of growing up, and something I still like to have today.

June 7, 2014 by Uncategorized 1

Mothers in Changing times

Its Mother’s Day, and once again we give thanks to those wonderful Mom’s who were mom to many, nurtured kids of many families and kept them all fed and clothed.  We all had extended mothers in those days, and no one thought twice about chastising someone else’s child as they would their own, nor would us kids back talk, or fail to obey (well most of us and most times anyway).

We grew up in a simpler time though, and things have changed, some for the better, some for the worse.  When I was a boy, it was nothing for me to take off in the woods and be gone for hours, perhaps walking as far as Friggin’s Cove pond on my own, or to go to McGrath’s Cove or on the beach and wharf for hours on end, out of sight and earshot of everyone.  Or to get off the bus in Elliott’s Cove or Snook’s Harbour and only let anyone know when I showed up with Dad later on.  But in those days everyone who saw us was “minding” us, Aunt Vick looked out to me when I was there as much as mom did, and was just as likely to pull my ear or tell me off for whatever reason.

Nowadays, at least living in the city, those days are gone, I’d not think of letting my niece out of site like that, barely for a minute, let alone the whole day.  I know Random Island is still small, but the modern world has crept in there as well, and I doubt many would let their kids be off like that nowadays either.

There is no right or wrong here, things change, and in some ways I’m glad, but in some ways I do miss the carefree days we had, and wonder if kids today have lost something special with it in the name of the safety we feel we have to provide with all the people who now try to take advantage.

Our mothers didn’t love us any less, just the needs and times have changed.  Happy Mother’s Day to all of you who give so much to us who don’t realize how much it is till much later.

May 11, 2014 by Uncategorized 0

The roads that weren’t

Likely few know or remember it now, but back in the late 60s or early 70s, Random Island nearly had 2 more roads.  Some may still remember near the Apsey Brook cemetery they had even cut a “line” going through the woods, passing near Island Pond (not whats labeled Island Pond on the map, that’s Fox pond),  curving round it, and passing between the two ponds of Double Pond to meet up with the road to Bluff Head Cove Pond.

I really don’t know the real reason for this planned road, rumors had it it was mainly as a convenience for the ministers, but not sure how much influence who had on whom to get it started. It would have been nice for all of course, to be able to more conveniently connect to Petley, Britannia, etc, but unfortunately, it never came to pass.

I’ve added this map with the route highlighted, you can still make it out on the map.  Link to unhighlighted version below.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@48.1517425,-53.82556,2220m/data=!3m1!1e3

If memory serves correctly, there was another “line” cut from Lower Lance Cove to Deer Harbour before resettlement quashed that.  I seem to recall it even being started and being able to see the road going up over the hills, though my memory may be manufacturing that.  Others can correct or confirm!  But if you use the link here, https://www.google.ca/maps/@48.1375084,-53.6848017,2386m/data=!3m1!1e3 and scroll around, you can see google even highlights the “road” that wasn’t to Deer Harbour.

I’ve never made it down there, nor to any of the other abandoned communities out the end of the island, something I hope to correct someday, but it’s very disappointing to me that this road in particular was never completed.

So much work, gone for naught, communities that may have prospered, abandoned.  More money spent on resettlement than a road would likely have cost, especially since it had already been started.

April 7, 2014 by Uncategorized 1

Tastes of Old

Nowadays we have foods we never heard of (and likely would have been wary to taste) when we were young kids.  I mean in the early 70’s who had heard of butter chicken? Or Shrimp Pad Thai? We get foods and flavours from all over the world now, and we are better for it of course.

But there are some meals we don’t have, or at least I don’t, anymore. Or if we do its very rare.  That in some cases may be for the best, but I’m sure I’m not alone in remembering eating catsup (and yes it used to be spelled that way on some bottles at least) sandwiches.

Another favorite of mine was franco-american spaghetti (not Heinz, that was like crap, and not spaghetti-o’s, the sauce tasted different, yes I was picky).  But not just from the bowl, what was even better was to pour the hot spaghetti on a slice of toast!

I also loved, and still do, meatballs and gravy, tho I hate gravy (I told you I was odd).  I really can’t say the gravy from those tastes anything like gravy though.

I also used to love hazelnut spread on toast (nutella? not sure that was the brand back then), but my sister has a nut allergy and not sure I’ve had that since I was about 10! I should try some someday, tho the memory is probably better.

We also used to use the pressure cooker a fair bit back then, and I’ve not seen one of those used in years.  And before the days of the home coffee maker, we had the coffee percolator on the stove.  That stuff was tasty!

I can remember now the old folks asking if you’d have a cup of tea in your hand, and proceeding to pour their tea into their saucer and drink from that.  And of course a cup of tea meant more than tea, there was cake, cookies, and a dish of jam, often eaten with a spoon rather than on bread.

Ah memories!

April 2, 2014 by Uncategorized 0

Education Week

When we were kids in school back on Random Island, there was no March break (and maybe there still isn’t, no idea).  We did have some time off at Easter, but the big week I remember most was Education week.  We’d try to earn points for our classes with themed days, dress up, participation, best decorated chalk board (I really think Karen’s or more specifically, Karen, class nearly always won that, no wonder she became a designer!). We’d have read alert (at least I think thats what it was called) where when the bell rang 3 times we’d have to stop whatever we were doing and read for 10 minutes, and the grand daddy event of them all, the talent show.

This was always a huge blast, I remember in grade 6 I think it was, in our class all the boys in our class dressed as girls and vice versa, and went on stage singing what shall we do with the drunken sailor, carrying flasks filled with water and vanilla to simulate whiskey.  Maybe I’ve got two years combined together, I don’t know anymore. Then there was the year we lip synced the Rolling Stone’s Emotional Rescue.

It may not have been education week, but some other event (and I know there’s a picture in a yearbook somewhere that’ll I’ll try to find), but at one point our class, or group of some sort put off a skit where I was the narrator, sitting on a high stool on the left of the stage.  I remember parents were there, but not exactly much more, except… except… that at one point I lost my balance and went tumbling off the stool, off the stage, onto the gym floor.  Now at this point I was a little bit smaller than I am now, and I remember mom was there and thought I was killed.  But nope, i got up walked up the steps picked up the stool and sat back down to keep narrating.

Probably too stunned to know the difference I say!

 

March 26, 2014 by Uncategorized 0

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