| Newfoundland 2003 |
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| Monday December 22, 2003 -- 11:40pm Aunt Bette, Uncle Davis, and Beverley stopped in. My cousin Beverley always seemed soft-spoken and shy to me, so it was a surprise when she joined the military. After that, she became an RCMP - a "Mountie." I used pictures of her in her uniforms when I was teaching a unit on Canada. She married Jimmy Pinhorn, who is in the military, and has been stationed in several places since I last saw her in Vancouver in 1996. Now they're in Goose Bay, Labrador. They're stuck there, literally in the middle of nowhere, for at least another 2 years, and she doesn't like it much. She said that there's nothing to do - no mall to go to, only a small theater with 3 month old movies playing. I imagine it's also very cold, and I know it's isolated. She said that Goose Bay is about the size of Carbonear, but with no other towns surrounding it. "It's like getting into your car and driving around Carbonear over and over, and that's all there is." Mom brought out the cookies and cakes when she served the tea. I love the fancy cookies - layers of fudge and delicious mystery stuff - and cherry cake is about one of the best things there is. The cherry cake came from Great-Aunt Ruby, Great-Uncle John's wife. Dad Noel is hilarious. He'll finish his tea and then plunk the empty cup down on the table in front of my mother, without a word. Just like her mother before her, Mom - also without a word, and without missing a beat - gets up and refills his cup. After lunch today this happened, and I happened to catch Dad Noel's eye. He winked at me and looked as though he was about to laugh. I remember how he used to tease Nan about her cooking and such, and I just wonder what all of this means to him now. What does the world mean to him? What is it like to sit in a room or a the table with people when the conversation is only a jumble of noise? What does think about his daughter on the receiving end of the empty tea cup? What does he think about me? He's got a great sense of humor. I never remember that about him. |