Last Updated: Sunday December 21, 2008 05:14:24 PM

Opening Ceremonies -

The opening ceremonies were cancelled because of the weather. (It was too warm and raining.)

There are still lots of other events going on tonight.

Tomorrow is a big day. We'll be having lunch tomorrow at the senior citizen's club, and dinner tomorrow evening at the Anglican Church.

Soup and Sandwich Lunch at the Senior Citizen's Club

Gentlemen (and ladies and children)! Start your engines. And keep them running for at least the next 10 days. There'll be plenty of food, lots of entertainment, and something for just about every size and taste.

Off we went today, the missus and I, to the senior citizen's club for soup and sandwiches and stuff. Well! Getting a place to park was the first problem. They were there from Harley's Harbour to Harbour Grace, from Come by Chance to Joe Batt's Arm. Even the politicians were there; that's OK I suppose; they're regular folk when they're out eating.

And the soup? Well, when I looked, after the first wave of gulls had passed through, there were still six or seven huge pots of soup on the stove, and them about three quarters full. Not many of the folks serving could remember what kind of soup they had. But that's OK, I would have had to have them repeat it several times. And they kept forgetting if they'd put sandwiches on the table, so we kept saying no. But again, I don't know if I ate any or not. (Just kiddin' folks. "Sharp as a tack," as they say.)

This was the biggest crowd I've seen at this event, but maybe it's the first time we ever arrived at a reasonable time. This augers well for the rest of the carnival events.

I have to go have my nap now. I should get some exercise too, getting ready for the ham dinner at the Anglican Church tonight. And then there's the take out hot turkey dinner from the school tomorrow night. It's like Christmas all over, and just when we were starting to feel human again.

Oh well! Life's a slice. Someone's got to eat it.

(Come back often. Sign our guestbook.)

Baked Ham Dinner - Anglican Church Hall

Well, we thought it started at 6:30. It ended at 6:30. There was plenty left though, when we got there. The ladies from the kitchen, the movers and bakers, were just sitting down for a long winter's snack. We were privileged to sit with them. At the head of the table no less.

Most of the tables were still full, and considering that this started at 4:30, there must have been a great turnout. As a matter of fact, friends told us they couldn't get tickets.

Great meal folks!  Thanks! Everyone's having fun so far.

On the way out I inquired about the fireworks that had been postponed last night. I was told they're going to double up on the closing ceremony fireworks, so I may get some pyrotechnics photos after all, and I'll have twice as long to get it right.

Nite all!

Day Three - Poker Run, Events Day, Hot Turkey Take Out

Just a little bit of a water haul on the first couple of events today. (Note: We're only commenting on the events we attend; there's lots of stuff happening that we haven't gone to.) 

We went out to the Pitch and Putt at about 2:00 to see some of the events scheduled for there: tug-of-war, log sawing, snowshoe races, etc. There was nothing happening. We went on to the Rod and Gun Club to see the start of the Poker Run. This is usually a fun event, that we've taken part in in the past. You pick up a card at the start; at three other places along the way you pick up other cards. (They're all in sealed envelopes.) When you get back to the club you pick up your fifth card and then open up your hand. Your hand is registered, and if you have the best hand of the day you win. There's a stop halfway for refreshments, at Junior Walsh's cabin (the time we took part). It's a nice long run; will take a couple of hours. It goes up around North Harbour on Grand Lake. There was a very poor turn out today. I guess many folks figured the trails would be icy or hard.  I was up on the trails walking this morning; they seemed pretty good, and a couple of skidoos passed by hauling drags, to soften them up a little and do a little leveling. I also heard that they'd plowed the North Harbour road (for the wood trucks). This might have frightened some people too. Anyway, it was a disappointment for the organizers. Then we went back to the Pitch and Putt. Still nothing happening. (We were told that they had a good turnout later, and that they ran all the events.)

When we came home we settled a bit, then Carol went to the Academy to pick up our hot turkey dinners. Very nice they were, with all the trimmings. They had plenty, so perhaps they didn't sell quite as many as they expected to. This is a fund raiser for the school band. Maybe people thought the entirely reasonable price of $7.00 was a little too much; it's a little more than the bargain basement prices of some of the other meals on the go, but you can't begrudge the school band that, and it's a very nice meal.

Carol went to the Ecumenical Service at the Pentecostal Church. The service was nice. There was a lovely social afterwards. Carol enjoyed both.

So, we had another nice day. Could have been better, but, "the best laid plans of mice and men..."

Good night!

Day Four - Cabbage Rolls

What a beautiful meal! That's it, over there on the left. Carol couldn't eat all hers. She passed it across the table, where it was gratefully accepted.

Lovely company there tonight for us, Dorothy and Judy and Wally. Tom and Nona came for the second sitting. Carol took most of the pictures.

I'm like the cabbage rolls now. Stuffed!

There wasn't much else going on today, for us. Tomorrow is busy though. We could eat all day if we wanted to. There's a lasagna luncheon, a social for us old folks in mid-afternoon, and the firemen have their Jigg's Dinner tomorrow evening.  That's always a highlight. See y'all tomorrow.

Day Five - And they keep on eating...

Well you have you know that there's more going on than just eating; for example, today there was the 50+ Walking Program at the school; there is a concert this evening at Pasadena Academy,  a "collection of performers whose talent represents the quality and energy of the Humber Valley." There's also the regular Bingo Night at the Knights of Columbus.

But for us today was all about food. Again. We went to the lovely lasagna luncheon at Bonnell Hall. Very nice lasagna with a big slice of garlic bread, desert, tea and coffee. Great company as usual.

Then we passed (yes, really) on the 50+ Tea and Social and the Recreation Centre. We went for a hike on the skidoo trails with the dog instead. That was just to get us ready for the Jigg's Dinner at the Fire hall, prepared by Pasadena's volunteer fire department. Jigg's dinners are very much a tradition in Newfoundland. This one was pretty good: salt beef, cabbage, turnip, pease pudding, carrots and tea/coffee, with homemade cake for dessert. At all of these events, you come, you sit down, within minutes you're served, and then you sit and chat with your neighbours; lots of folks wander around. No one is rushing you. The servers and cooks usually come out and sit down and eat last.

Tomorrow we may actually show you some pictures other than people eating.  There's a Cub Car Rally at the Rec Centre; there's Hockey Night in Pasadena at our outdoor rink (but it's supposed to rain, so I don't know what will happen to that); there's a card game (in Newfoundland that means 120s) at the Senior Citizen's Club; a variety show at Bonnell Hall.

So we'll see what happens tomorrow.

Good night!

Day Six - The RecCentre 500 -

I didn't really know what this was all about; I just thought I'd show some pictures of something instead of people eating. And it's necessary to let you know that Carnival is more than just adults (old ones at that). The Cub Car Rally is a race. Three cars at a time (home made kit cars I think) are placed at the top of the ramp. I guess the winners go on to race again, and I imagine the "losers" go into a consolation round or maybe it's a double knock-out. I'm not to scoped on the details. I do know that this is very serious stuff and that everyone was having fun. There was certainly more excitement there than at any of the dinners we've attending.

Gary Bettman cancelled the hockey game scheduled for this evening. He said the league couldn't play under these circumstances. Seriously though, it's been 6C all day and I guess our outdoor rink is a pool of water. I guess it will be rescheduled.

Carol had to cook supper tonight. Oh well. (It too was a great meal.)

Good night!

Day Seven - Dinner Sweetheart?

This is always a very nice event, the Sweetheart Dinner at the Salvation Army. I think the first time it was held, during Carnival, it was held on Valentine's day, hence the name. It's a roast beef, candlelight dinner, with dessert. Some folks even dress up for it, and because there's only one sitting people stay around and enjoy the company. Carol told me that most of the folks were there early and stayed late and had a wonderful time. There was entertainment before the meal. Did I say it was "candlelight", and all that nice "ambience" that goes with it?

And here's a nice picture of the two Carnival Ambassadors. They are chosen at a event, in a contest, by a panel of judges. It, too, is always a very exciting part of Carnival, especially for all the participants.

Carnival is starting to wind down, but there are still lots of fun things to do. I don't know if the hockey game has been rescheduled or not, but the weekend will see a buildup to Monday's town holiday and all the events on the field and the big fireworks display on Monday night. We're told the fireworks will be double what they usually are because of the cancellation of the opening night events.

There are four more pictures down below, but I just put in thumbnails. Click on the thumbnails (tiny pictures) if you want to see them full sized, and then click on your "back" button to get back to this page.

Good night!

Day Eight - A Chili Day

Today was a bit of a slow day for us. We went to the Anglican Church hall for a chili supper, garlic bread, tea/coffee and dessert included. Very nice it was. Then we did a little visiting.

Day Nine - Sunny Saturday

Up early this morning. It was so beautiful off Piqa and I went for a stroll. We just walked out to Main Street and back, with a little detour up Forest Drive (Is that the name of it? By the ballpark?) So I'm just going to put a few pictures in here of a beautiful day in the neighbourhood. There'll be more later. (There are more pictures of today's walk on the "Our Town" page. Just click the "back" button up there on the left.)

Tonight we had one of the most traditional of all Newfoundland meals, fish and brewis, served with scrunchins and/or drawn butter (and molasses of course). For those of you who didn't grow up with this on the table, perhaps a little explanation is necessary. The "fish" is salt fish. Salt fish is fish that traditionally was laid out on flakes, heavily salted, and allowed to dry in the sun. It would keep forever. (One story I was told was that Newfoundlanders sent salt fish to the prairies during the depression, to feed those in need. Not knowing exactly what to do with it, the children used to use the big pieces of salt fish as sleds in the winter.) The salt fish is soaked over night, often with the water being changed a couple of times. The "brewis" is hard tack (sea biscuits), also soaked and then cooked in boiling water. The "scrunchins"  are salt pork (fat back), cut up in tiny pieces and fried until crisp. Boiled potatoes are served with this. You can cover the potatoes with butter; the scrunchins are put over the fish and potatoes; molasses is put over the brewis. Cardio units are on standby. Tonight's meal was delicious. So that's two traditional meals we've had this week, this and the Jigg's Dinner at the firehall. (We missed the baked beans and toutons dinner served Wednesday night.)

I'm just sittin' here now; I don't know if I'll be able to get up for a while.

Good night!

Day Ten - Serene Sunday

Today was a bonus day when it came to lovely meals. The Kildevil Camp Committee treated us to a hot roast beef dinner, with Yorkshire pudding and all the other trimmings. I had a senior moment and forgot to bring the camera. Perhaps I can be forgiven because I spent six hours skiing and could hardly walk, let alone carry a camera.

Tomorrow is the final day of our Carnival. There are plenty of events on the field and they should provide lots of fun for everyone as well as some great photo ops. The Gerry Byrne fish fry is at 6:30, and the community skate, bonfire, closing ceremonies and fireworks follow in the evening. I'm looking forward to tomorrow.

Diet starts Tuesday.

Day Eleven - Final Day

These pictures were taken at the field day.  Click on any picture to see it full sized. Use the back button on your brower to return to this page.

It just occurred to me that, as much as we've enjoyed the past eleven days, we only took in about half of Pasadena's Winter Carnival. Mind you, we enjoyed that half (the food), but there was another half that I'm sure was just as much fun or even more. We didn't take in any of the dances, the card games, the skits, the variety shows. If we'd done that, we'd have been twice as busy as we were, and maybe had twice as much fun. Maybe next year.

So, how sweet it all was. The Carnival Committee did a wonderful job of preparation and execution. The Carnival Ambassadors were worthy of their roles. We saw them at most of the events we attended, being most graceful about all the fuss.

Tonight was the culmination. The unseasonable weather at the opening ceremonies may have put a damper on things, but that only lasted for the first twelve hours, then the weather turned back to normal and so did everything else. Tonight the community bonfire was necessary; there were more people huddled around it than you'd expect; it was required to keep warm. I saw one of tiniest children at the events standing on top of the big mountains of snow behind the fire hall yelling at the top of her lungs, "I'm the king of the castle."  That was a marvelous moment. There's a picture of her up there ^.

So thank you all for visiting our site. This is our hobby, and we enjoy doing it, and we enjoy having you look at it. Please sign our guestbook. You may make it a private entry if you'd like.

See you all next year.

These pictures were taken at the closing ceremonies. Click on any picture to see it full sized.

All of the pictures on this page have been reduced to small files, sometimes VERY small files. That's done so they will load in your browser fairly quickly. The quality is affected a little. If anyone would like the full sized file of any of these pictures, just e-mail me. The full sized files may be VERY large (some over 4MB). This page will still load slowly, especially on a dial-up connection, because it has so many pictures on it.