April 20

A childhood memory:--

A meal at my grandmother's would almost invariably include a fish dish.  Sometimes it was salt cod, soaked and simmered to remove some of the salt. She served this with hot pork scraps which were cut in small pieces and fried to a crisp. The melted fat was then poured on heaping mounds of mashed potatoes.  Most often this meal would have mashed turnip as the vegetable.  Homemade rolls, baked bread and deep fried donuts were common editions to the meal.  In the early part of the summer Gram offered fresh strawberries picked from the patch that grew between the house and the shore. Later in the season she offered an extra special treat, baked apple, a berry that grows in the heath land in the summer season.  It makes great jam for winter but the best way to eat them is freshly picked, a tiny bit of sugar and topped with cream or ice cream.  Gram’s pantry always had a cookie or two somewhere, peanut butter, ginger snaps spiced with caraway seeds or oatmeal with a date filling being the favourites.  More often than not a large cake or a piece of butterscotch pie was lurking in the pantry and brought to the table at appropriate time. 

April 5, 2007

 

One of the fascinating finds while researching material for Historic Grand Manan was a handwritten diary from the year 1870. The book will draw on this material to depict the author, Walter McLaughlin’s way of life during that year—just three years after Confederation. After the Easter holiday I will post a few of his diary entries that are not included in Historic Grand Manan.

 

April, 9, 2007

 

The following are highlights in point form telling of Walter's trip from Grand Manan to Boston:

  

His travel antennary looked like this:

 

Monday: 

Went over the town with Daniel.

Visited factories

Attended a Town Meeting where taxes and the 'twine' question seemed to be the big discussion items.

 

Tuesday:        

Went to the city to visit the State House.

Saw old battle flags, a canon taken in the Revolution,

a bust of Daniel Webster.

Took dinner at the Coplands and paid $2.10

 

Wednesday:  

Went to city with son Woodward and sister Ellen

Visited the Museum where they had the "3 – B tour"—wild beasts, busts of old heros and battle scenes.

Attended the play "Frou, Frou."

 

Thursday:

Visited Boston Common

Saw Statue of Washington

Went to library

Went to studio to see picture of "Funeral Fleet".

 

Friday:

Visited Charleston

Toured the Navy yards

Saw immense guns, workshops, big ships

Saw the ship VIRGINIA on the rocks where it has been for 58 years.  

 

Saturday:

Went to Bunker hill..fine view of Boston

Saw where war men fell when running from our soldiers.

Had dinner at a restaurant, visited Mrs. Smith, "old” Mr. Whipple and then to the Widow Chapman's.

 

Sunday: 

Not all church services feed the spirit evidently for the service with the preacher from Newton earned this comment. "The preacher gave a good argument on  Christian imperfections, but I did not much like the man."