Back from Dildo

Returned this evening from a long weekend in Newfoundland - a mixed bag of events, but a good time was had by all, in the end.

Friday, all my family (on my mother's side) gathered to see off my grandmother, who passed away in December. It was her wish to be interred with her parents and siblings in the family plot back in her home village of Dildo, NL. So we did that - there was a beautiful and very personal service in the United Church there, followed by the interrment of her ashes in the family plot (a very peaceful spot high on a hill, overlooking Trinity Bay and a farmer's field). We had a beautiful sunny day, weather-wise, and though it was very sad, we all felt that we had done right by her. Couldn't have gone better.

Afterwards we went back to the house that we'd rented for the week - a heritage B&B in Spaniards Bay (about 20 minutes from Dildo), built by one of our ancestors in 1901. The place had 8 bedrooms and there were 14 of us in the house - the remaining 4 family members stayed at another B&B in Dildo. So needless to say, a crazy family weekend ensued, with a lot of big meals and laughter.

On Friday night, after dinner and a fair amount of liquor had been consumed, the owners of our B&B screeched-in all 18 of us. As a Cape Bretoner, I was a bit embarrased to be included in such touristy goings-on - so when it came time for me to kiss the cod, I went one further and gave it a big lick (takes more than a slimy, smelly, half-frozen raw codfish to put me off. Heh.) I was rewarded with a double shot of screech for my efforts.

Saturday was another lovely sunny day (we were so lucky the weather was good), so I joined my aunt, uncle and cousins and went for a drive south along Conception Bay. We visited Cupids, which was first settled in 1610 and was the second-ever English colony in the New World. Then we went on to Brigus, a beautiful, historic and well-preserved fishing village, where we took pictures and wandered around the streets for a bit.

By 5 pm, all of the family reconvened in Dildo, where we were due to go out on a boat tour of Trinity Bay at 5 pm. We ended up being out on the water for three hours, cruising up the coast. We spotted four bald eagles (including a young one which hadn't yet grown its white head feathers). The last hour, we put out some rods and jigs, and had a go at fishing. After a slow start, we ended up catching about a dozen good-sized codfish, which the boat owners cleaned for us so we could take them home. After docking, we staggered off the boat en masse (I was just about the only person who wasn't wasted!), got some take-out, then headed for the hall owned by the boat owners, lured by the promise of karaoke (argh!). The captain of our boat turned out to be an Elvis impersonator, and came onstage in a sequinned jumpsuit before belting out a few tunes. I must admit that he was not too bad. Things went rapidly downhill after that, however, when various relatives got up to have a go at the microphone. I haven't laughed so hard in ages - it was great.

This morning, my aunts and I all got up to meet with a local man who has been researching the genealogy of my grandmother's family, the Gosses, for over 15 years now. His knowledge was quite encyclopedic - he has traced the Gosses of Newfoundland back for eighteen generations, to the first Gosses who came to NL from Dorset, England in the late seventeenth century. Absolutely amazing stuff. He's written a book about it which all of us happily purchased.

And by then, it was lunchtime, and time for my mother, uncle and I to head for St. John's Airport and catch our flight back to Halifax. They dropped me at home earlier, and decided to head straight for Cape Breton tonight. So I'm here on my own, playing with the rabbits and getting settled. I wish I didn't have to go back to work tomorrow!