391st Post - A Family Gathering

The above bulletin is from the memorial service for my Uncle Bev that was held yesterday in the tiny hamlet of Baxter's Harbour.

(Yes, I was named after him. You didn't think I was named after a girl, did you?)

Bev died in February of this year. To my everlasting regret I was unable to attend his funeral in New Brunswick, due to inclement weather. I was bound and determined not to miss this special service in his home town.

I drove up from my home around 10:15 yesterday morning, arriving at my parents' place around 11:30, just in time for lunch. I scarfed as my parents prepared for the trip, about 20 minutes from their home. My sister arrived around 12:30, and the two cars drove there, arriving around 12:55.

The band started playing next to the community hall around 1:20, until the service commenced at 2 at the church across the street. The church is no longer used on a weekly basis for a service. It has not been deconsecrated; it is just that the congregation and the church cannot afford to have a minister each week. Sad. But it is used for a Christmas Eve service each year. I wouldn't mind going sometime.

The service began around 2pm. I liked it very much. People did not ignore Bev's faults and foibles when they discussed him. He was not a perfect man, but a good one, a really good one, one who left behind many people who cared for him, who loved him, who will miss him. Count me as one.

After the ceremony, we made our way back to the community hall for the potluck mid-afternoon-meal. There was plenty of food, lots for everybody, with leftovers galore. I had a couple pieces of dessert, one being something I'd swear was a piece of carrot cake, but which turned out to be "tomato soup" cake. Donna, a cousin I met for the first time yesterday (and who also works in downtown Halifax) has promised to e-mail me the recipe. I will put it up here to prove to you, my legions of readers, that such a thing exists. It was delicious!

Around 5pm, we all waddled back to our respective cars. I drove my parents back home. I took a short nap, and then I took their packed suitcases and threw them in my car as they were returning to the city with me. My mother has a doctor's appointment on Monday, you see, and we thought we'd spend the day together in the city before her appointment. She loves Value Village, you see, and doesn't make it there very often.

We had supper at Swiss Chalet in Bayers Lake before returning to the house. We added a ledge to my computer desk to hold my scanner; we had bought shelf brackets/braces at Rona this afternoon and I put them and the ledge on the side of the desk this evening, under my father's supervision.

I will have a busy day tomorrow, carting them around to Mom's appointment, and probably driving them home afterward. In the afternoon, I may be interviewed for CBC radio, as well. I'll keep you abreast of that interesting development if it indeed happens.

See you tomorrow. And I hope that the cousins I told about my blog are finding it.

Bevboy