On December 31, 2018 Glenda and I were in New York City to watch the ball drop in Times Square marking the beginning of 2019. It poured rain but we loved it anyway.
In January 2019 we did some snowshoeing in Pippy Park and around Kent’s Pond.
In February 2019, I published my 5th novel “Charlie Freake from Scilly Cove”. These are pictures of my novels on the shelf at Cole’s Avenue Mall
On February 20 2019, I celebrated my 65th birthday with Glenda, and Jane and Matt and their two kids, Charlotte an Spencer (our grandchildren) . We decided to have Cornish Hen. Everybody had their own hen! Same meal Glenda and I had at our wedding on August 2, 1975.
In March 2019 the matriarch of our family died. Cora Buglar, my wife’s mother and great, grandmother to our grandchildren died after a fall that injured her spine earlier in the winter. This is a picture of her with two of her great granddaughters, Charlotte and Norah, at the Nutcracker ballet in the Arts and Culture centre in 2014.
After Cora’s death in March, Glenda and I went on a 5 week vacation to Tavira, Portugal. It is a lovely small town on the eastern side of the Algarve province, near the Spanish border. The Algarve is such a wonderful part of Portugal to visit in the winter. It is not super warm like Florida, but the temperatures are in the 14-18 degrees range. Lovely for walking and enjoying the Portuguese cuisine. Lots of fish on the menus. Lots of sangria and very inexpensive, but good, wine.
Cooking a chorizo sausage over an open flame at your table is very Portuguese and often available at restaurants. We walked for miles every day — along the river that runs through the town, or over to the salt flats, or to the nearby towns. As you can see the weather is such that very light clothing is all you need. My daily pattern was to get up early, usually at 5 am, write for 4-5 hours, and then we went out for hours walking, exploring and finding the next restaurant that would be our favorite.
When we got back from Tavira we spent a couple of weeks in St. John’s before heading off to Goderich, Ontario to visit our son, Peter, and his wife, Kate, and their two children, Norah and Freddie. It was Glenda’s birthday while we were there so we enjoyed a feed of lobsters. We were able to see Norah in a play. She is becoming a real little actor. We did some hiking in the woods and along the lake shore. Glenda decided to get bitten by a tick but all was fine in the end…no Lyme Disease or anything of the sort.
Back in Newfoundland, mid June, we got the raised-bed vegetable gardens planted in Trouty. Then for the first two weeks in July we had the two grand children, Charlotte and Spencer, with us in Trouty. Went trouting with the kids. Also caught some caplin.
Did some hiking with friends and family during the summer and fall.
I published my sixth book, “On The Wharf”, in August
In The Fall we harvested our vegetables
AND for Thanksgiving we roasted a pig in an underground pit … a Piggy Diggy we call it. Like a Hawaiian Luau!
Jessie, Glenda’s sister, had major surgery in November. She did fantastic. They stayed at our house while in St. John’s. Marvin, Paul Shea, and I went to a Growlers game while they were in town.
In early December we took a drive with Jane, Matt and the kids to see the lights in Port de Grave and Brigus.
Spencer’s skating has really improved over the year. He went from pushing a skating-aid to playing hockey.
We spent Christmas (Dec 21-28, 2019) with Peter and Kate and their kids (and their new dog, Penny) in Goderich, Ontario.
Back home for the rest of the holidays. We spent New Years Eve at Jane and Matts. We had raclette with steak, chicken, scallops, shrimp, peppers, mushrooms, and onions. I was stuffed. Then we had a chocolate fountain with various fruits and marshmallows. Now more stuffed. Then we counted down to the New year. Kids were still up. 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1-Happy New Year!!!!. Tons of fireworks going off from all the yards around Torbay. Kingston (the dog) got worried.
Happy 2020 everyone!
wonderful pictures Marshall and Glenda