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We had freezing rain overnight, on most of The Avalon Peninsula. Thankfully, there was vert little wind. A few pictures from The Conception Bay South area

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As in many communties throughout Newfoundland Labrador, there were a number of individually owned garages in Conception Bay South. They were full service, doing everything from changing and repairing motors and transmissions to changing oil and tuneups. Basically, if you had a problem with your vehicle, it could be fixed at your local garage. Most had gas pumps and either served Texaco, Gulf or Esso products.

We all had our favorite garage and we knew the owner of the garage. You would drop off your vehicle and would be satisfied that the vehicle would be repaired.

How times have changed! Most garages are now automobile repair shops and many of them have had to specialize as automobiles have become so complicated to repair.

There are still a few back-yard garages, however;  they are few in number. They have been pushed out by council restrictions and red tape. Also, the legal ramifications and insurance requirements are too much for a back yard garage to  bear.

We spent eight years in Ontario and I was lucky enough to find a couple of garages, in the Town Of Arnprior, that were good and trust-worthy.

Afetr moving back to Conception By South, I had to find a garage to fix my late model Impala. I asked around and used a few. There was one that did good work, however; I stopped using them as I felt they were doing work that was not necessary.

I am finally happy and have a good customer relationship with a full service automobile repair shop in Conception Bay South.

It took me awhile to get a doctor. Now to find a dentist…

 

One of the joyful memories of my youth was gathering the hay or more specifically, jumping down the hay. The job of cutting the grass was usually done by our oldest brother as the scythe could be a dangerous weapon if not used properly. See photo

Our land had a lot of rocks poking through the soil so you had to be careful when cutting the grass. Also, you had to know how to sharpen the sythe. We did use the sickle (photo below) but we were warned to be careful.

After the grass was cut, it had to be dried. This sometimes could take a few days depending on the weather. We would toss it with a pitch fork and rake it up with a rake. It would be baled or piled (there was a word that was used to describe a pile of hay) if there was rain in the forecast.

The fun part was when it was being tossed by pitch fork into the barn. Most barns had a second floor so the hay would be tossed in through a door on the second floor.

We younger children would take armfuls and take it to the back of the barn. As the pile grew higher, we would jump it down to make room for more. It was usually quite warm and the hay would get in every crevice of your body. It was extremely itchy.

After all the hay had been gathered and stored we would head to The Millbrook or The Landing Place Pond, for a swim, to wash off the hay particles.

We would talk about sleeping over in the hay loft but the fear of a fire was enough to stop us. Our parents told us that the hay would be very combustible. Well their words were..” that hay could catch on fire…”

It’s a fond but distant memory.

It’s sweet and really doesn’t taste that well but I like a can of pineapple crush every now and then. It’s sunday night and I just finished a can I purchased a couple of days ago.

Our son-in-law and family live in the ottawa area and we try and remember to carry a few cans when we visit them. We have tried to purchase the crush product in Ottawa but as far as we know it is not available.

I just found an article that was published in The Telegram back on Sept 21,2016. The article was written  by Ashley Fitzpatrick and it is headlined Newfoundland Labrador Flavor Fascination. Story here.

Apparently, there is a facebook group called “Newfoundland Pineapple Crush Pride.”

For some unknown reason many Newfoundlanders love their pineapple crush. Our son-in-law calls it his sugar kick.

I just finished the only can we have in the house and it will be another month or so before I’ll buy another. Part of the reason is that I stopped drinking pop  about 18 months ago to see if it was adding to my gout attack. Surprising, I have not had a bad gout attack since. It may have been the access sugar that I was consuming as I was not drinking a significant amount of water.

Enjoy your pineapple crush.