Sunday for dinner I would usually cook a big meal. I would get some kind of bird and I would stuff it. I would also cook some salt meat, a turnip, a few potatoes, a few carrots and a head of cabbage if I had it. I would also cook some puddings. I would either cook a hot water pudding or a raisin pudding. I would also cook a steamed pudding for dessert. I would usually make some chocolate sauce to go over the steamed pudding as well. This was a good feed. For supper we would have a piece of smoked salmon. I would also open a can of corned and meat and make some kind of salad. As you can see by the foods we ate that we depended a great deal on the land and the sea to provide a lot of our meals. In those days people did not have very much money. They could not afford to go to the store and buy most of their food like they do today. Also in those days stores did not have as much or as many different types of foods that they do today. In those days people had to buy some of their food, but everyone had to depend on the land and sea for a good share of their meals. By balancing the two that was how people got by.

In May of 1955, the Americans came to Fox Harbour to start a military base on top of Fox Harbour hill. Everyone was so excited about the jobs and people were talking about all the money they were going to make working with the Americans.

When the last of May came my husband, Paul, said to me, "I don't want to stay up here and give up fishing." So we moved down to Murray's Harbour and got the fishing gear ready for when the fish came. That summer Paul decided to build a room on the end of the house. The children were getting bigger and we never had enough space. There wasn't any new lumber to buy then so Paul bought an old shed from someone. He had just about finished the room when he got a bad finger. Some of the old wood had gotten into his finger and had made it infected. I used to make bread poultice(14) and soak his finger in hot water but it would not get better. My three and a half year old son, Edgar, got the same thing wrong with his finger. He used to be out playing around with the old board.

Paul's finger was not getting any better so he went to the hospital in Mary's Harbour and took Edgar with him. Once in Mary's Harbour the both of them were admitted to the hospital by Nurse Stedman. She kept Edgar there for about a week. My mother went to visit them in the hospital so Nurse Stedman sent Edgar back with her. Mom took Edgar over to Fox Harbour and then sent him down to Murray's Harbour on the salmon collecting boat with uncle Tommy Pauls. When he came to our wharf Uncle Tommy said, "I got a parcel for you." When I looked down I saw my little boy all wrapped up in quilts in a salmon box. How happy I was to see him but Paul had to stay in the hospital for another three weeks. One day I got a note from Paul. He said Dr Thomas was coming to take him to St. Anthony and he was going to take his finger off. His finger had become really bad. He said in the note that he didn't care as long as it got better.

14 Bread Poultice - scalded bread that was applied to an infected area.