Ida

Ida Stewart Pretty was my grandmother. She married Samuel Pretty on June 4, 1917. Ida was the middle child of three girls, with an older sister Mary (Min) and the younger one, Belle. Her parents were Mary Walsh Stewart and Thomas Stewart.

Sam and Ida had seven children and Ida parented alone a great deal because Sam, as an engineer on the railway, was away from home for days at a time. Two of her boys died in childhood, Albert and Robert. 

Her parents and her sisters and their families were very important in Ida's life. She and Sam lived with her parents, across from the railway station, for a time after they got married. They moved a few doors away when they moved out and eventually bought a railway house on Avalon Terrace in the west end of St. John's.

A neighbour from Old Topsail Road told me years ago that Ida was a lovely woman, talented, good and kind. She was a good mother to her children, according to my father and his sister, Angela. She always tried to make things nice for her family. She decorated the Christmas tree after the children were in bed on Christmas Eve and had special presents for each of them. Her Christmas pudding was one of my father's favourite foods.

                       Ida Stewart Pretty

Ida loved music and she played piano all the time. She had nice things, such as fine china, and nice furniture. Ida's children were dressed well because Sam provided a steady income for his family.

When she was diagnosed with uterine cancer, Ida kept going as long as she could. She worked in her kitchen using a chair which Sam had adapted so she was supported as she worked. She died quickly after she was confined to bed.

Her children each went their own way soon after their mother died. Ida was like the glue that kept the family together. She was missed terribly by her family. 

My second name is Ida and Dad always said that I looked like his mother. I've missed her my whole life!

Perspective

Summerside has been our home for almost four years now. When we decided to move to Prince Edward Island, we wanted to live near Claire and Ben but in a larger center where services were readily available without much travel. Summerside fit the bill.

The choice of Summerside has been a great one for us. We're constantly amazed with how much is in this community compared to our previous home in Grand Falls-Windsor. In addition, we never hear that the stock hasn't arrived because of problems with weather or the Gulf ferries. That is a problem unique to Newfoundland. 

Here, stock is constantly supplied to the retailers because of the bridge and our proximity to mainland Canada. While the bridge may be closed to high sided vehicles periodically, it never seems to last for long. Everything is available quickly from our perspective. It's amazing to us to hear a store clerk say, apologetically, that it will take two days to get a part or desired item. Our Newfoundland sensibility is very pleased with that prospect.

We are also fascinated with the Canada geese that appear every spring on their way north like other Canadian 'snow birds' who winter in the south. These beautiful creatures appear again in the autumn as they head south. We didn't see the flocks of Canada geese like these in Newfoundland. Their unique sounds, flying formations and appearance all captivate us.

The first autumn that we lived here, we were amazed with the number of geese that landed in Summerside Harbour during the day. Walking along the boardwalk by the bay we stopped to watch and listen every day.

One day, a passerby commented, "Too bad you can't use a shotgun here, hey?" 

We were taken aback. We weren't picturing them on the dinner plate but of course people hunted them. Every fall hunters wait in blinds by the fields frequented by the birds to shoot geese for the dinner table.

In 2007, Rick and I toured Ireland which we thoroughly enjoyed. One evening, at dusk, we were on a beautiful bay in a tour boat with people from all over the world. Various creatures inhabited the air, land and sea of that bay including seals. Others on the boat were enchanted with the seals. Not us! All we could see was seal flipper dinner! Our Newfoundland sensibility was at work again. 

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PostScript:  the geese are in the skies above Prince Edward Island again. Welcome back dear honkers. 

Spring!!!!

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Samantha Pretty, Frank and Michele's daughter, is part of the Canadian team at the World Powerlifting Championships in South Africa in June this year. Way to go, Samantha!

Peg

My friend had a stroke. She's not that old, not much older than I am. It's scary to think this has happened to her. She is in my thoughts and prayers. Thankfully it was a slight stroke.

Peg Beresford Moore is a gifted craft-person. She can work leather, knit, crochet, cross stitch, do needlework, make crafts and cards, just to name a few of her many talents. Her work is exact because she is a perfectionist. Peg takes her time with things and when she's done, she has produced a work of art. In fact, she taught Art at one time as well.

As the only girl in a family of six boys, Peg learned to assert herself amid the natural rough and tumble of a group of young boys. She did this while maintaining the delicate hand of an artist who can do the finest work.

Being a Math/Physics teacher by profession also makes Peg precise. There isn't room for sloppy work here. Peg also worked as a librarian, so organization is her forte as well. Her career choices played to her strengths.

A giving person, Peg is always willing to share her time and talent with others. She has volunteered as a treasurer for various organizations and has been involved in the Girl Guide movement in various capacities since she was a young girl growing up in Buchans, Newfoundland.

The Moores have two wonderful children, Paul and Karen, who are similar to their parents in their academic ability and are warm, caring people. 

Peg and her husband, Joe, have a little granddaughter, Laura, who they adore and who amazes them every day. They hope to have many years together to watch their sweet baby grow.

                       Peg Beresford Moore and Laura

Here's to you, Peg, a true friend with deep faith and spirited conviction. You showed me what it means to be passionate about issues/life and how to be a real friend. I wish you a complete and speedy recovery.

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Peg makes a delicious spaghetti sauce that my family loves. It's a flavourful recipe from a great cook.

                                                   Peg's Spaghetti Sauce

1 lb  ground beef

1 large onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

I green pepper, chopped

1 large tin diced tomatoes

I tin tomato paste

3 tsp oregano

6 shakes rosemary

12 shakes tarragon

2 shakes parsley

6 shakes thyme

12 shakes basil

bay leaf

6 shakes Tobasco sauce

2 tsp sugar

2 tsp garlic powder

Cook the ground beef until it just loses the pink color. Add the onion, celery, green pepper and cook until the onion is tender. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste and spices. Simmer uncovered for one hour on low heat.

It is good the day it is made and better the next day. It freezes well too.

Crying

A mother's knowledge of her baby's cry and the instinct as to the required response are amazing results of evolution. Being around my young grandchildren now, refreshes my memory about the types of crying. From the whining to the serious hard cry of injury, isn't it amazing how quickly caregivers learn a child's cry?

Young children quickly learn how to 'get' to us with their crying. Our oldest granddaughter, Sylvie, has our number and it's taken determination and patience to ignore the crying when it's the result of a 'no' from her grandfather and I. 

Sylvie is a great little three year old person. She loves to play, watch Dora, do ballerina moves, listen to stories, 'play' with her sister until Caitlin touches something of hers. Sylvie is learning the meaning of 'no' and Nanny and Poppy Smith are re-learning what they did with her mother. However it's really hard as a grandparent to hear that sweet little girl cry and not cuddle or give in to her when she cries for something that can be so easily done or fixed. Raising Claire, the choice was easier because we were busier I think. We didn't have time to coddle her even if we were so inclined.

It's incredible that discipline gives children a sense of security, one of the important needs of all people. The sense of security that comes with routine and knowing where the boundaries are help create a person who is a contributing member of society. 

Meanwhile that cute face is contorted in misery that looks sad enough to break your heart, forcing tears that are reluctant to come. And so easily fixed by giving in....

Dad's Anniversary

I am older now than my father, Samuel Pretty, was when he died. (Sigh of relief). I have had this age on my mind for a few years now and as it got closer, it seemed more threatening. Then life intervened and I forgot about the passing days and the looming date. It passed without recognition on my part. Yesterday as I walked in the cool spring air in Prince Edward Island, it occurred to me that the day had passed.

As of tomorrow, Dad has been dead for twenty eight years but I've thought about him more and he's felt closer now then he has in years. I guess the age comparison is the thing that caused the thoughts and feelings. Poor Dad. He had health issues all his life but when he retired, he and Mom had enough money to be comfortable and time to do things they wanted. He got cancer. Dad was on the cusp of having time and ability to enjoy life, grandchildren, travel, relaxation, and puttering around in the shed and basement which he loved to do. Then he was gone.

I won't waste a day of the rest of it, Dad.

                                                        Sam and Mary Pretty

Frank

Today is my brother's birthday which makes it a special day; a day to celebrate Frank.

When our daughter, Claire, was born, my brother was the first one in the family to see her. He got a ride to Central Newfoundland where she was born and was at the hospital with us to take her home. It made the day and the occasion very special. That Christmas Eve, Frank was Claire's first babysitter when Rick and I went to Midnight Mass. He's been protective of Claire her whole life.

There have been numerous occasions when Frank has been there for our family and he was there every day for Mom and Dad to the day they each died. He is a loving father and husband.

You deserve the best birthday ever, brother!

                                                         Frank and Dad

Additional good news today, Samantha won a gold medal at the Canadian Powerlifting Championships. Way to go! You are a woman of incredible strength, in every way.

                                                Frank, Samantha and Michele

History

This week Newfoundlanders are remembering the one hundredth anniversary of the sealing disaster which took the lives of so many men. It was March 30,1914 and vessels which had left Newfoundland ports in pursuit of the seal herds were in thick ice with seals all around them. 

That morning, the S S Newfoundland, dropped 132 men on the ice. They were tasked with walking the ice flows, killing seals and hauling them back to the boat. However, a sudden winter storm foiled those plans. Many of the men froze to death or plunged into the icy water as the ice pack undulated with the wild seas below them. Only 55 survived that disaster.

That same day, due to the same storm, the S S Southern Cross sank on its way back from sealing in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, killing all 173 men aboard.

Pursuing a livelihood on the ocean is a dangerous pursuit, even today, but in that time it was much more so. The cold, shortage of food and clean water, the danger to the ship in the packed ice, the danger on the ocean itself to the poorly dressed, ill-equipped men were part of the danger. The enticement was the $30-$40 that the 6-7 week trip afforded each man and a share of seal meat.

The driving force behind the dangerous pursuit was 'the long and hungry month of March' as Newfoundlanders called it. The supplies stored for the winter during the previous fall were greatly depleted by the time March came around each year. The money and meat from the 'swilin', (sealing),  got families through the spring. Starvation was the alternative.

My grandfather O'Brien went sealing one year, but that was enough for him. He thought it was too dangerous and his family needed him in the long term, so he didn't go a second time. However, in the spring, he and some friends from Maddox Cove, went to St. John's 'at the fat' as they called it. The friends stayed at a boarding house on the Southside Road, working all day to extract the oil from the blubber on the seal pelts. It was better to board rather than walk home each night after the long day's work. The money earned got their families through the spring.

Nights in the boarding house saw the friends sat around joking, telling stories, playing cards. The meals served included copious amounts of beans, prepared various ways, a cheap but filling meal served with rustic, thick slices of bread. My grandfather, of course, didn't need beans to supplement his passage of gas. One night in particular, he regaled his friends with the loudest, longest fart they had ever heard.

One commented, " I hope Lindberg has already passed over, Gus, because if he isn't, you just shot him down." The story was repeated long after my grandfather died.

There you have it. My grandfather had a connection to the Lindberg flight from New York to Paris, May 20-21, 1927. History in the making.

Source material:  The 1914 Sealing Disaster:  100 Years Later, CBC News, March 30, 2014.

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A family note today, our own history in the making:  Frank and Michele's daughter, Samantha, my niece, is participating in the Canadian Powerlifting Championships today. Samantha gives a whole new meaning to the term 'strong woman.'  Happy lifting, Sam!