Day 20

Bright eyed and bushy tailed after a grand sleep, we had the morning to fill as Cliff and Liz were off visiting an old childhood friend who is now a professor at MUN. We went off to have one last visit with Dad’s sister Bernice. We insisted we would not stay for lunch. Now I should have known better! While we sat in her back garden enjoying the beautiful morning she plied us with homemade smoothies (four of them, but who’s counting, and besides fruit is good for you, right?), cold, luscious slices of Moo’s turtle ice cream cake and rum balls – which are a specialty of Aunt Bernice and have quite a kick! By early afternoon I left having stuck to my decision not to stay for lunch. Aunt Bernice had assured I would not eat elsewhere though! While we were there my cousin Mac tracked us down and stopped by for a visit. I hadn’t seen Mac in 30 years (he was in Australia on our last visit). Once again we chatted as if time had not happened. Is it only me? Is it only Newfoundland? It’s wonderfully comforting, I know that!

Meeting up with Cliff and Liz, we wandered downtown and did a little last minute shopping before heading off to the Celtic Hearth for a tasty bowl of stew. We met Grant and Ruth and Dolores and John. It was strange to sit with these people and watch as my past collided with my present in a mixture of friends and family.

The stew had been pre-decided… since as kids, Dolores and I seldom ate dinner apart. We were always at one house or the other, and we developed patterns. Tuesday was always at Munn’s if we could swing it, since her Mom made the greatest stew! After many a Tuesday bowl of stew I mentioned it one day and she reacted in surprise. She had not realized that she made stew every Tuesday. It certainly wasn’t planned as we’d assumed! Sadly, Dolores lost her Mom this past spring to cancer. Since my last night in town was a Tuesday, we decided to seek out a pot of stew that Mary Munn would have been proud of. The stew was thick and tasty so I’m sure she would have approved. I think she would also have been pleased to see us together again after all these years.

David and I exited rather quickly from the pub leaving all of these people, with only me in common, to finish dinner together. I had discovered that there was to be a Mass at Belvedere Cemetery where my grandparents and great grandparents are buried. While perhaps not a conventional end to a holiday, it seemed somehow a perfect finale. As I gathered with other family members around the place where my ancestors are laid to rest, a sense of my history with this island was intense. I have loved every minute of this trip – the people, the island, and the memories.

I will apologize now to those who wonder what pictures of head stones are doing in a vacation blog! But I know there are enough family followers who will be interested in the information inscripted on the stones to make it worthwhile.

Dad is one of 22 children not all of them made it into adulthood.

(B-L) Grampie (R) Grammie, Geraldine (died at 14 of cancer) and the 5 babies who died in infancy (F-L) Great grandfather and grandmother and Malachy, Grampie's brother who was killed in action in WWI

Grampie - the inscription includes In Flander's Field and mention of the fact that he was a Blue Putee, one of the first 500 of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment to enlist.



Great grandfather

Great grandmother

Following Mass we reconnected with Cliff and Liz and ended our vacation where we began in St John’s. We stopped at Moos for ice cream and headed to Signal Hill to sit on the wall, overlooking the ocean and eat the last treat I’m planning to enjoy for some time!! Lord I hope the scale will survive the initial weigh-in!!

We talked about our plan to return in two years and began to list all the things we didn’t get to in this trip … the Geo Centre, The Rooms, The Fluvarium, Bell Island, Logy Bay Marine Lab … we are quite sure we could have another holiday without any repeats!