Monday, May 29, 2006

Today I would like to talk about my acadianroots club and its members. I started this group not knowing if it would work or not, but I wanted a place that would focus on acadian genealogy . Now I am part acadian, part english, there is some irish in me, and maybe even native american , but there are lots of groups for english, irish, etc , not much for acadian genealogy, oh there is some places but I wanted a place where folks would come and seek help and be willing to help also, and I now have it, my members are super , you wouldn't believe how we are all one big family, connected one way or another, the help they dish out is unbelievable, now I am not doing this to drum up business , I cannot voice this just anywhere, just yesterday a newcomer came in seeking help on Gallant's, he or she has found the answer already thanks to some of our members, I am very proud of all of them. And I created a website that connects to my group at
http://www.geocities.com/ize_o_blue/index.html

now on a humourous note, I have started a blog on my gardening, and am trying to add humor to it, you can check it out at
http://gardeningwoes.blogspot.com

have a great day.

Saturday, May 27, 2006

Treasures or Thrash, well today I found treasures at the yard sales. you never know what you will find , today I went to a community yard sale. The village set up today as such, and had a list of the ones who participated, the list was free, I picked it up at a garage and this morning I was up bright and early, and on the road before eight am. I picked up a faceless doll that stands in the corner for one dollar, wow expensive huh? then I picked up a wresting belt for my grandson , fifty cents, then I picked up some books 4 for one dollar, a painting for one dollar, a lobster shaped wine bottle holder (liked the lobster), and then I found my treasure, I am into acadian genealogy , been at it since 1976 and lo and behold I saw two acadian related books, just like new, one dollar each, of course I did'nt walk by and leave it for others, grabbed it as fast as I could. You never know what you will find. I have a few items I am searching for, so before yard sale season is over, I will find them. But looking for genealogy books is my first priority.
Have a nice day.

Friday, May 26, 2006

Just looking through my photo albums, sure brings back good memories, seeing my late husband, my son when he was little, my grandchildren as they were growing , I know maybe some of you do not believe in photos, but I do, it has been handed down from my grandmother, she used to take pictures with an old box camera, she took pictures of her kids from the time they were little, I have a photo of mom taken in 1921 she was only three, I have her at 18mts of age, then my mother inherited photo taking she has photos of us kids since we were babies. I am doing the same, took pictures all my married life, and guess what? My grandaughter loves taking pictures.
The reason I was looking though my album is because my grandson would like me to make him a little book about his dog Fluffy, now Fluffy is 12 years old and she was sick a few weeks ago, and we thought we would have to have her put down but we tried everything and she got better, so I am going to make my grandson a little story of Fluffy, I found some photos of her when she was just a pup.And I am going to tell the story as if I am Fluffy. Something that he will treasure I am sure.
have a great day.

Thursday, May 25, 2006

What a nice feeling when you stumble upon something important, especially in genealogy. Today I went for a drive to Saint Paul kent Co. NB. A spurt of the moment thing, I turned into the Saint Paul Church Cemetery, and I noticed a lot of old tombstones at the top of the hill, but I continued to the bottom of the hill, there were two areas with stones, the right side which were newer stones and the left side which had earlier stones. I saw a familiar name, so I got out of the car and walked around. Lo and Behold , there was the stone of my grandmother's sister. And buried all near her were her sons, and one daughter. All in the same general area. Now I am so pleased that I want to go there one day and transcribed all the names off all the stones, it will be a long process but I enjoy it. I keep thinking but doing so, I will stumble upon some information that I do not have. So far I have four transcribed cemeteries in my possession, and three of those I did myself.
If you get bored one day and need something different to do, go to your nearest cemetery with a book and pen, or a camera and take or copy all the names and dates on the stones, then if you are not interested , donate the info to your local genealogy society, you may not know it, but you will be making a lot of people very happy along the way. I do mine because I do know someone will profit with my information.
Have a nice day.

Tuesday, May 23, 2006

Well today I would like to talk about my grandchildren, I have two grandchildren and they are my pride and joy but that includes my son too.
My son was sort of a confirmed bachelor like his Dad was, so never did I ever think he would marry and bless us with two little angels, but he did surprise us by marrying the daughter of an old classmate of mine, not knowing that I knew her.
When my daughter in law got pregnant for her first one, my husband had just been diagnosed with the beginning of Alzheimers, so when we were told about becoming grandparents, my husband and I were estatic over the news. When the time came that my daughter in law went in for the baby, my husband, and I, my daughter in law's parents, her sister and brother in law were all waiting in the waiting room , for the good news. This nurse came out of the delivery room and had this little bundle, we asked what it was and she said your son wants to tell you the new, and she continued we have to take HER to the nursery now. So we knew it was a girl, then my son came and made the grand announcement and we all went up to the nursery (all of us). Then we saw her, she was laying on her tummy, and the sweetest little angel you have ever seen. We were so excited, from then on my husband became papa and I became memere, we enjoyed her so much, laughed at all her little actions. Two years later we were blessed with a grandson, and I was so glad because he is the only one to carry my husband's name down, my husband was so proud of him, and of my grandaughter.
My husband started getting worse with his disease and became bed ridden, I took care of him at home, had a hospital bed set up in the living room and the grandkids came to visit. One day my grandaughter was playing on the floor with her toys, we were all sitting on the sofa and chair, my husband lay in the bed facing the wall, and my grandaughter got up (she was four years old) never said a word, walked over to the other side of the bed and touched her papa's hand and said "Me Love You Papa". That was the most touching thing that i ever saw.
I am so grateful that my husband got to see both his grandchildren before he passed away, it is the greatest gift I could have.
have a nice day

Monday, May 22, 2006

Yesterday was a great day, just from sheer luck I had contact with an old school classmate, we were in the same class for four years, and he stumbled into my brother's yard to ask directions, and my brother thought he had gone to school with him, and they began chatting and my brother had old photos that he was to share with him, well when my brother mentioned his name to me, I said no he never went to school with you , he went to school with me, my brother gave him my phone number and we have been in contact, what a nice feeling to talk to some of my old classmates, he has sent me some photos I was searching for.And we are invited to his place for an acadian dish his wife is making (poutine rappees),Mmmm I love poutines they are an old acadian dish that I remember my grandmother making, they are made from grated potatoes, mixed with cooked mashed potatoes, shaped in a ball with diced pork in the middle, and boiled, they look like a snowball, but sometimes they are light grey in color, but very very good with sugar or salt. Do not be fooled by their looks They ARE good.
have a great day

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Today is another day, and everyday I am anxious to see if I will have good news or find answers to my brick walls in my family tree. This morning coming down the stairs I noticed my hummingbirds were here, this is a new home , in the country, lots of fresh air and little wild animals. I was told that the hummers were back , so off to the store I went picked up two hummingbird feeders, one is a red apple, the other is the standard feeder. So yesterday I put in the feed , hung them out, and lo and behold I came downstairs and there were these little tiny hummers, flying to and from the feeder, what a lovely site. I would love to be able to take a picture of them , but the zoom on my camera is not good, I will try it and see.
Then I phoned my Mom as I do quite regular, she is 88 and has a great memory, today she told me a story which I have already typed and saved for my grand daughters book that I made her. Today Mom told me that she went to an english school when she was young because her father found it to be too far to go to the french school, which was seven miles away, and my mom, her brother and two cousins were the only french in that one room school. The school had all the grades in the same room.
My grandfather was protective of his children and if others picked on them, he would go to their fathers, he had a saying that everyone was equal, there were no one better than anyone else, if you were english, or if you were french you were both equal, if you were colored, white, native american, chinese,etc you were all equal, (I think my grandfather was a smart man).
He made sure his children were educated, after school it was homework time if they had a problem he would help solve it. So I wrote all this down for my grandaughter, and at the end I closed with the following sentence
So even a long time ago, school was very important, one day you could become
a doctor, a lawyer, a nurse, a teacher or whatever you wanted to be.

have a great day.

Saturday, May 20, 2006

So little time and so much to do. Time goes by so fast, seems as if I just wake up and it is time to go to bed. I guess when we are young we do not notice this and it seems as if our days are endless. Ah memories, our youth. When I was young, we used to love to be outdoors, we used to go skating in the winter, no matter how cold it was. Mom would tie a scarf around my mouth and nose. We went skating different places , mostly were we could find a patch of ice. I enjoyed going to the skating rink , because there they had music to skate too, and there were lots of kids my age. Now mind you I was not a good skater, but I put one foot in front of the other and hoped I would stay upright . Also at the skating rink there were little huts where we could put on or take off our skates, and they had a round wood stove that would keep the hut warm. As soon as our hands and feet would warm up , off to the rink we would go.
Since I came from a family of seven ,times were not always easy, so for a while we had no sleds or tobaggans, we used to take a piece of Cardboard from an old cardboard box, and use it as a tobaggan, we used to walk quite far to go sliding, the coal pile was our favorite place, the hills were high, and there were always loads of people there. After a day of fun we would walk back home, tired but happy. One christmas morning a new tobaggan was waiting near the tree for us, what a happy surprise. Yes those were the days.

have a great day, and cherish your memories.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Sitting here at my computer , and thinking , what can I add to my blog today? How many are reading this? And I wonder how many know what genealogy is all about? When I first heard the word genealogy, didn't have a clue as to what it was, to me I would have said doing my family tree, or my roots. Do any of you remember the story of Roots, about the african boy who was captured and sold into slavery? And the story continues with his sons and so on? I enjoyed that movie so much not because the boy was a slave but because it was based on some truth. I had begun my genealogy way before that movie, but since that movie aired many have become curious about their own roots. And that is a good thing. I would love to one day walk on the soil of my ancestors, in England and France. When I find some little stories, or tidbits about my ancestors, it is just as if I won the lottery. Sometimes I phone my mom and say , Mom do you know what I found? Did you know your great grandfather sold his land to the church? Did you know that the bell in the steeple was named after him? Do you know he wrote a letter around 1880 and it is in the archives?
On my mother's side there are oodles of information, but on my father's side I cannot find as much (so far), that doesnt mean that I am quitting, it just means I have to dig some more.
I do know that when my dad was young he hopped a train went up to Vancouver from New Brunswick, in those times many used to hop or ride the train to get to where they wanted to go, times were hard so that is how they travelled. My father worked in Vancouver until he had enough money saved and he rode the train (by paying) to come back home.
have a nice day.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

Family Reunions are a must, yesterday we made my mom a surprise birthday party, she was 88 years old, and my family and i wanted a get together with her friends and relatives while she was able to enjoy them, it was pretty well planned, I did the invites, and my brother who lived with Mom makes all occasion cakes, so the plan was that he was making a cake and decorating a hall for a wedding, and my brother doesn't drive so Mom was to drive him up with the cake,now we wanted Mom to be dressed for the occasion so my sister in law phoned mom and told her she was taking Mom out to celebrate her birthday for mom to be ready for nine pm and she would pick Mom up at her house. My grand niece phoned to ask my brother to borrow a camera, she would pick it up at 8pm, so at 730 my brother said ok Mom drive me to deliver the cake first, so Mom left a note on the door for my grand niece saying wait I will be back at 8pm. Now I needed to get the key to the hall from my brother in order to open the door, so I went to Moms, brought her her mothers day card, said I was going to the restaurant and had to hurry.
Once at the hall, I had things to set on the tables, lunch to put in the fridge, and guest to welcome , well I am sure we had around one hundred guest, mostly all relatives, cousins I hadnt seen in quite a while, what a reunion, and Mom was so happy, we took photos, my brother made a special video for all to see, which started with my grandparents, their marriage certificat, then the birth certificate of my mom and photos of her as a little girl , growing up , when she met my father , then her kids , photos of her grandkids, and great grand children, what a beautiful video, my cousins were so excited because there were some of their parents on the video also. I shall be getting a copy of the video, as will my son. It was so nice seeing my mother mingling with the friends and relatives, she may be 88 but that didnt slow her down, she was at every table, talking and laughing.We also took a photo of her and five generations. Mom, my brother, his daughter, her daughter, and her daughter . That is something I wish we had done before my father passed away, but it was too late to do so. In concluding I would just like to say, capture all the memories, photos, stories that you can, enjoy them, save them, someone in the future may enjoy that so much.
have a great day.

Friday, May 12, 2006

Well haven't had time to come and do my blog , made a hill today for my giant pumpkin, and the little black flies were awful, they seem to like the taste of me , haha. So you can be sure I made that hill some fast. But my pumpkin is growing so big in the house I am afraid that when I put it out it will be too big and may not take, so I have started another seed , just in case.
Came across this genealogy joke today, wanted to share it with you.
A gentleman pays a genealogist a lot of money to find his family roots. The researcher discovered this his great grandfather was the first person to be exucuted when the electric chair was installed in sing sing prison. Undaunted, the man had the genealogist record that his great grandfather once occupied the chair of applied electricity at a leading New York institution. haha.
But there is something that I must say , seriously, when you trace your family roots, you do not hide what happened, if some were arsonist, or murderers, or anything , it should not be covered over, because we are who or what we are. Most of us have skeltons in our closets of one sort or another, but remember, the truth is what matters , I want to know about my ancestors, I am here because of them, without them I would not be here. So I write down whatever they did, good or bad...... That is what genealogy is all about , our ancestors and the truth about them.
have a great day.

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Well soon it will be time to put in our gardens, yesterday they tilled my garden, the weather was really nice, and it puts us in the mood to think about gardening does it not? My garden is not too far from the house ,so I shall be able to run a long hose to water it. Now we have a contest going on this year, my brother in law has accepted to be in the contest with us, we are going to see who can grow the biggest pumpkin, well I never grew big pumpkins ever, so I started three seeds, one did not take, one is small but one is really really big, I mean the leaves are huge, I hope I will be able to transplant it without losing it, but just in case I am going to start another seed. I am going to build a large hill, cover it with black plastic to keep the soil warm. I will not put the plant in the garden until the middle of June. I also want to plant some herbs, summer savory for one, basil, not sure what else yet.
Our ancestors did not have modern tools like we have today, no tillers, they had horses and oxens, I imagine they worked much harder than we did . And they worked from dust till dawn, which we do not, I expect on running to the garden (fast so the mosquitos don't get me heh heh) watering it, and to the house i go, and as for the weeding I really dread it haha. But what must be done must be done.
My mom told me that her parents used to put in a big garden, and my grandmother used to preserve her crop by salting them down. She would put coarse salt in a barrel, put a layer of string beans, then a layer of salt, then a layer of string beans, mom said it was all salted in a brine. And when my grandmother wanted to cook some stringbeans ,she would boil the beans in three waters or until the salt was gone. She would do the same for a lot of her meats, and fish. I tried salting the string beans a long time ago, boy they were salty haha.
have a great day.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Yesterday the weather was nice, decided on the spurt of the moment to take my camera and go to an old cemetery about two miles from my home and transcribe the stones. So off I went, parked my car in the cemetery, brought my briefcase in case I needed a pen.
The cemetery is in Saint Antoine , it is the oldest of two catholic cemeteries, so I was curious to see if I had any ancestors buried there. I took the picture of a large cross at the front of the cemetery, but when I tried to take photos of the stones, the sun was too bright and the photos were not good, and some of the stones were to hard to see the writings. So off to the car I went, got out a book and a pen and started from the front , copied all that I could from the stones. I never thought I could do the entire cemetery in one day , but I did the entire cemetery except for a few stones in the far back, of the children, but I am returning to do those too. It is a shame that so many tombstones were broken and just laying there. I wish I could have lifted some of them but they were too heavy. I don't know if the village will restore the stones but I sure hope so. There were fifteen rows in the cemetery , some rows had 12 stones some had 20, now I need to recopy them , since I was in a hurry and it was getting late, I used my own shorthand for instance, Goguen became Gog, Robichaud became Rob, LeBlanc became LeB, so as you can see I took shortcuts in order to get it done, by the time I was finished the winds had picked up and blowing my book pages. But all in all it was worth a little effort on my part and a job that needed to be done for others doing genealogy like me.
Have a great day

Sunday, May 07, 2006

Have you ever stopped and listen to the sounds of nature? Last night I listened to the sound of the crickets and the frogs. In the evening is when these critters seem to come alive. Have you ever just sat outdoors and looked at the stars in the sky? Once in a while you see a plane flying by. What a nice way to relax after a stressful day. I remember when I was little sitting on a swing in the park, listening to the sound of the trees moving to and fro, and just daydreaming.
When I was a young girl the fad was singing from song books, and to tell you the truth I couldn't hold a note, but I loved to sing, so I would make sure there was no one around when I went on the swings, and I would just sing as long as I wanted to , until my heart was content.
Now days if you did that there could be someone hiding in the bushes with a tape recorder haha. But honestly I think my singing has improved (slightly ). I remember going to visit my grandmother when I was around twelve years old, and she lived iin an upstairs apartment, and I remember going up the stairs one time, she was baking brownies, and she was singing
"why do you treat me as if I were only a friend". She was a lovely lady , every christmas she bought or made something for all her kids and all their partners and all their kids. Now Granny had eight kids, plus their spouses plus their kids, so she would gather stuff all year long for the following christmas to give to all of us. And do you know that her present to me was always special, I knew Granny was giving me something, even if it was just a hanky, or a pair of mittens that she made, I looked forward to her gift to me.
have a great day.

Saturday, May 06, 2006


Remember I told you about my mother's grandmother who planted an apple orchard by hand and never seen it bear fruit? Well I am going to try and add a photo of her, if I can succeed, notice the clothing they wore and notice her resemblance to granny clampett on the Beverly Hillbillies? She died in 1929 so this photo was taken in the early 1900s sometimes.Yes I succeeded, so the gentleman on the left if my great grandfather Ferdinand D'Amboise and his wife Domithilde Williams dit Bristol. She died in Saint Paul in 1929, my grandmother was pregnant for one of my aunts at the time, and Ferdinand died in 1933 when my mother was pregnant for her first child.
I had also mentioned in another blog that I have a copy of a telegram sent in 1893, well i had the original one stating that Ferdinand's father Joseph had passed away, Ferdinand was living in Marshalltown NS at the time. Hope you have enjoyed reading todays blog.
As you can see, it is nice to match a photo to a story, or a story with a photo. have a great day.

Friday, May 05, 2006

Can you imagine moving from your friends, relatives, from your native land for the unknown? I wonder how our ancestors felt about doing just that. Some of my ancestors came from France, although at the time the country wasn't very settled, but they came over some hired to come work in the New Land. Some of my ancestors came from England, one was a man by the name of Abraham Chate, he had family in England but he came over the ocean to Canada. He was a stranger in the village where he married a Girouard girl. Did he speak english and she spoke french? I wonder. I would love to go to the homeland of some of my ancestors, to Deptford England, to Amboise France, to La Rochelle etc.
And the expulsion of the Acadians, can you imagine never seeing your parents again, or brothers and sisters? The trip on those ships must have been terrifying, so crowded and going towards the unknown. Can you imagine having to learn how to survive in the strange lands? I read stories about our ancestors and their hardships, could we go through all that today? I don't think we would be strong enough, we are too spoiled I guess .
As a matter of fact, from my mother's time when she was young things have changed so much, she had to cut wood, pile it up, carry water, hunt, i cannot see me doing that now, so the same goes for our kids , when I went to school I had to walk, and there were no school cancellations either, winters were harder than they are now, we had to dress warm and brave the weather, now days if there is light snow, schools are cancelled, kids take buses to and back from school or their parents drive them. Although now it is more dangerous than it was back then, so I guess it is a good thing to know our kids will be safe. I wouldn't want to see my grandchildren have to walk to school, or brave hard weather , nor have hardships, as I imagine our ancestors would say the same thing about us.
have a great day.

Thursday, May 04, 2006

Like the song says "it's great to be alive". A few days ago I went to Moncton and on my way home stopped at a park called Mapleton Park, it is a beautiful park, and it was the first time I went in it. There are lots of walking trails, with benches along the way, I crossed a bridge over a little stream, saw a duck looking for fish, it was so quiet, so peaceful, and I never realized that so many people walked that trail, many walked their dogs. I want to go there again, bring a lunch and just sit there for awhile, and I want to take my camera with me, Had I taken my camera I could have taken a picture of the duck that I saw.We have another park called Centennial Park which is a great place to go and take your children, they have a playground, swimming pool, walking trails and a lake filled with ducks, they have peddle boats if you want to go for a ride on the water. I used to go to Centennial Park when I was in my early teens, but at that time it was known as Natural Park, I used to go with some other kids my age, and we used to go there via a certain way, and today I know we were awful stupid, we crossed a place called the 31 tracks, and we would either go under the boxcars or over them, little did we realize that they used to shunt the cars (move them), we could have been seriously hurt. Then we took a path in the woods, (to me at the time it seemed like I walked miles in the woods, but it wasnt that far). Walking through the woods my imagination would go wild, thinking about a handsome prince, or seeing some wild animals that were friendly , or stumbling upon some treasure or coming across a little house in the woods. All these things are nice to remember.
So take a walk through a park, sit on a bench and write down your good things, to share with others as I am doing with you.
Have a great day.

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

Today I went to town, the weather was beautiful, saw a rabbit running into the woods, since I have been living here I have seem so many wild rabbits in the nearby field, It is fun watching them. I haven't seen a deer so far, last year the fields were full of them, but there are two dogs here so they could be stopping the deer from coming out of the woods.
Stopped over at my mother's house, I enjoy going there, she is so interesting to listen to, today we talked about who was buried in what cemetery, and when she moved to Moncton the old Elmwood Cemetery was there and it was there during her mother's time. Mom was telling me that it is too bad that we never had a chance to talk with her grandmother, or great aunts about their lives, but Mom told me her grandmother Domithilde planted an apple orchard near Saint Paul, Mom remembers them when the trees were a foot high but her grandmother never lived to see the trees bear fruit, and I have gone along that dirt road and the apple orchard is still there, my great grandmother died in 1929 , my mother was born in 1918 so Mom would have been 8 or 9 years old back then. I wish I had lots of stories about my father, his memory was a lot like mine haha, what I learned about my father, my mother told me. She married him when she was 13 and a half years old, and was brought up into his family of 16 kids, my dad's mother taught my mother how to make bread. My father loved to rock in his rocking chair and sing some little fast tunes, he could play the harmonica and the jews harp, he loved to play cards, and play checkers, he loved his bingo also.I have lots of photos on my mother's side of the family when she was young ,but not many of my father, I have a school picture of him age 13 in grade three taken at the saint mary school in moncton, it is not a clear photo but he was identified in it.
oh something else I want to add, as you know I am trying to talk you into preserving your memories to pass down to your descendents, I have all my report cards from grade one to grade eight and I ordered some school returns of my class years and copied all the names who were in my class those years, our age, days we attended , days we missed , another thing to pass down to others in my family, somewhere along the line there will be some of our descendents or relatives looking for info on us, so I know when I am gone, I left part of me behind.
have a great day

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

I am still on this memory bit, remembering the past and pleased with what I am doing, I am pleased because I have two grandchildren who are my pride and joy, of couse my son is also my pride and joy, when the grandkids were little I began creating their birthday cards, we used to have create a card, it was a machine that would let you make your greeting cards, so I tried my luck at creating them, so a few days before I would make them I began doing little poems, I will share two of them with you, I have made copies of the poems so that years from now if they tossed out the cards , they will read these and know that their memere did that for them long ago.
Another birthday for Christina Marie
Today she has reached the big age of three
She's cute as a button, and twice as sweet
From the top of her head to the tip of her feet
She's a little sweetheart to her pepere
And a cute honey bunny to her memere
So hugs and kisses we send her way
With lots of love on her special day.


There's someone special
His name is DeeDee
Today is his birthday
He is now three
A little man
He's grown to be
And loved a lot
By papa and me
We hope your party
Will be lots of fun
From the time it starts
Till the time it's done
Happy Birthday DeeDee
Love Memere and Papa.

have a great day

Monday, May 01, 2006

What a beautiful day, the sun is shining, grass is greener, and yesterday I went for an ice cream in Bouctouche NB. I enjoy stopping for ice cream once in a while , while out sunday driving. In the summer I enjoy stopping at a rest area, where there are picnic tables (especially near the water) having a lunch. I remember when I was around ten years old, my father had an old pick up truck and every weekend he would take people to the beach , (for a fee), my brothers, sisters, and I would sit in the back of the truck, I remember my mother saying ,"you kids sit near the front , and stay there". I remember passing certain buildings during our ride to the beach, and when we hit a place called Gilbert's Corner, we got a glimpse of the ocean, then we got excited. We went to a beach called Caissie Cape, and it was so nice. I remember walking along the shore picking up shells. Then my mother would spread a couple of blankets on the sand, and unpack her lunch and when we came out of the water, she would call us over. Our lunch was usually devilled ham sandwiches and root beer or orange pop. They were the best sandwiches to us at that time, even if there sometimes was sand on them. heh heh.
I used to love the water, I would try and swim under water , but couldn't hold my breath very long. My father also took up clam digging and quahawg picking, now clam digging was easy, we walked along the shore on the sand looking for holes , when we saw the holes we took the shovel and dug, sometimes the holes were not clams "they were worms , yuck I didn't like those" we would fill our pails with the clams and steam them, take some of the juice add a pat of butter and soak our clams in them, mmm very tasty, and for the quahawgs (which is also a shelled fish) we would walk in a certain area in the water about waist high, feel on the bottom of the ocean with our feet until we felt a hard shell, then we would pick them , they looked like a big bar clam . I only started eating those once I was married, my husband used to eat them all the time , one day I got brave and tried one, they are very good tasting and salty.
About two years ago I tried my luck at Dulse Picking, now that is something I don't think I want to do again at my age, what we had to do is wait for the lowest tides to happen, once the tide was low we had to walk out into the ocean on some rocks, I would say a couple of miles or so, but to me it seemed so far away, we wore boots on our feet because we had to walk on huge rocks, until we found the dulse, which is like a seaweed , but grows on rocks, it is purple in color and slimy when we pick it, then we dry it in the sun. Anyway getting back to the picking , you have about an hour or so to get out in the ocean, pick the dulse and hurry back to land before the tide comes back in, well I don't have to tell you that I was the FIRST one back on land , as soon as I saw a ripple of a hint that the tide was coming in , I started back to shore. whew I made it. But I did try something I had never done before. Aww it is so nice to sit back, think about the good times , the happy times.
So in ending today I would like to say, start some kind of diary if you are young, and if you are older write your memories in some books. Save them.
Have a great day.