Newfoundland - Day 4

A comparatively quiet day today.

Slept in till 8:30 or so, then got up and hung out for a bit. Barb was restless and wanted to go get her groceries, so the three of us drove into Springdale to shop. Barb had offered to make a spaghetti dinner for everyone tonight, but it was the most expensive spaghetti dinner I ever saw. She got three of everything... meat, tomatoes, boxes of pasta, quarts of strawberries for dessert, packages of shortcakes, cans of whipped cream. It cost her over 80 dollars, and fed 12 people...so I guess that still works out to a reasonable amount per person.

I picked up the meat for my dinner on Wednesday. Three big packages of pork back ribs. No idea how many people I'll be feeding, but that's going to have to be enough for the meat. To be honest, I'm nervous about it, but unlike Barb, I'll be accepting help if it's offered - and it's always offered.

Susan made a simple lunch of chicken and ham melts on hamburger buns, cheese, and a yummy fruit salad. Afterwards we sat around for a while in the living room, just relaxing. Larry had to work today, so it was a little quieter, and there were fewer people dropping in through the afternoon as it's a work day for most people. I spent some time typing up recipes from a few books Susan has. One of them is from St. Anthony, where the Cake family comes from originally.

I found out that the Cakes came to Newfoundland as stowaways originally! Three brothers stowed away from England on a ship bound for I don't know where...somewhere into the St. Lawrence...probably Eastern Ontario. But they were discovered and put ashore at St. Anthony, which is at the tip of the Great Northern Peninsula. Their name originally was Cake, but for some reason an s was added to the end during Uncle Ron's father's generation, so now it's Cakes.

The recipe book is filled with recipes from the Pilgrims and other relatives, so I was asking if I could get a copy, and Wayne said he's going up there this summer, so he offered to get me one.

Oh! I forgot to mention... I saw a moose today!!! A big female standing in a boggy area about a hundred yards off the side of the road. Just standing there watching us go by. By the time I saw her, it was too late to slow down so Daddy and Barb could get a look. But everyone keeps saying there's lots of them around so we should see more. This one today was just outside the town of King's Point...so they really are all around us.

We all had a log nap after lunch and I was up embarrassingly late...dinner was almost ready, and guests started arriving within an hour of my waking. Dinner was really good. Nice fresh salad and fresh rolls to go with Barb's delicious spaghetti. And fresh strawberries on shortcakes with whipped cream for dessert. Just lovely.

We had some fun after dinner when a discussion started about how tall everyone was. I think I may have started it, actually, when I asked Candace how tall she is. She's quite tall for a girl. She said she was 5'10". Then everyone else was saying how tall they were, but most of us weren't sure exactly. So out came the tape measure and a ruler for a t-square and we measured everyone's height. I'm 5'7-3/4" these days, which is only a quarter inch shorter than I was as a young woman. Who knows, I may have been 5'-3/4" then too, and just THOUGHT I was 5'8". Anyway, it was fun and we had a lot of laughs.

The end of the evening found a bunch of us watching a DVD made by a guy called Bugs Greene and his wife, along with a bunch of guest musicians, all singing and playing traditional Newfoundland music, and a few non-Newfie songs. Lots of beautiful scenery from Western and Northern Newfoundland made the video really enjoyable, plus the music was fantastic. Larry says he`s going to get copies of it for Daddy and me.

So that was today. A lot quieter than it has been, except for dinner and afterwards. Not sure what`s on for tomorrow. I think Susan and Barb are going for their big walk. Maybe I can talk Daddy into going for a drive somewhere, if Barb doesn`t mind missing out on that. We`ll see.

I`m finding myself, as much fun as I`m having, starting to look forward to going home on Friday. I adore it here, and I definitely want to come back sooner rather than later. But next time, I think I`ll come for a shorter stay. I`m even thinking a vacation on my own, just rent a car and drive to all the outports along the western, northern and eastern shores. That could take a week or two. I wonder if I`d have the guts to do that. Don`t see why I shouldn`t. I`d be a great way to spend a couple of weeks! Maybe if my business is going well, I`ll do it next summer.