I came to the valley in July of 1985 from Youngstown, Alberta. I followed my husband here who was working as a prep cook at Giorgio’s. I had come west in 1971 from Nova Scotia. I still love fish. It was common food in our family. Most of my grandparents’ families are or were fishermen. A memorable event I remember when I was five was coming downstairs to a racket and the excitement of lobsters scooting around the kitchen floor. War brides from England and Ireland had never seen such a sight.
Anyway as kids we enjoyed watching great-uncle pull our up the lobster traps. Common foods were mackeral and haddock fillets, smoked cod, salt cod, and of course scallops and lobster. The lobster was eaten plain, not dipped in hot butter
A favorite meal in the summer was hodgepodge. We gathered all the fresh vegetables from the garden, put them in a pot and cooked them. Then simmered onions, butter and Carnation canned milk was poured over the vegetables. It was delicious. It was served with cucumbers that had been pressed with an iron. We thinly sliced cucumbers and onions, put them in a bowl, put in generous amounts of salt and let the juices collect. This juice was squeezed out of the veggies by using an iron for weight so we called them pressed cucumbers.
Picnics were fun for the whole family; the men would go fishing for eel and we fried them right at the picnic. One time when I tried fishing for eels too, one pulled me right into the water. My dad would take my mother and my brother and I over to McNab’s Island to pick blackberries. We would have a picnic and go home. Mom made lobster paste sandwiches. I loved them with Nesbitt’s orange pop.
My grandfather was born on Oak Island. When I was younger, the family went to picnics on Crandils Point just across from Oak Island. We could swim over to the island. We would gather periwinkles, mussels and clams, cook them in a can of salt water made of rocks and screens. Yum!
My mother would leave me at my grandmother’s for the summer at Martin’s Point, Lunenburg County, N.S. I remember the time I fell into Nannie’s well. I had thrown a garter snake into the well and was leaning over to see the snake swim and I leaned too far. We would pick wild blueberries and I sold them on the highway for fifty cents a pint. While staying at Nannie and Pop’s home, sometimes for dessert Nannie gave us vanilla cookies with cream in the center. Pop and I would scrape off the cream, put cheese on instead. I loved those moments. After supper, Nanny and I walked down the highway to my Aunt Mary’s to have tea in her black teacups. Then we walked back with our flashlight, singing the way home. I loved going to bed early with my Nannie because we listened to the trains and the crickets. One summer at my home in Halifax, Nannie and I were eating peaches when she told me if I planted the seed a peach would grow by the next summer. Sure enough my Nannie came in with a peach from the garden the next summer.
My grandfather always told me about the special blueberry that grew in the bushes behind the house. For years and years I knew it to grow and grow. Finally when my three children and I were leaving to come West, Nanny served blueberry pie and Pop said that was a special blueberry. He had to bring it out in a wheelbarrow.
Then our children, Susanne born March 15, 1960; Sherry born December 10, 1963 and Tanya born November 26, 1966; all born in Nova Scotia, my husband and I came to the Similkameen Valley. So upon moving west we lived near Penticton, then in Midway, B.C., a lumber mill town, then in Greenwood, B.C., Christina Lake, South Slocan Valley, then Robson, B.C. and Sparwood, B.C., followed by Elkford, B.C. At Robson, B.C. I leamed to make Doukhobor cooking such as borscht and to understand their culture.
The three girls and I then moved to Calgary to start a new life. I got a job as a barmaid and a bartender and really loved doing this. For having no education, this was a good job. Then I met Les Biri, my second husband, the night auditor where I worked. Tanisha, was born August 7, 1979 so now I had four daughters. Then we lived in Edmonton. Then we moved to Youngstown. Then we moved to Banff. Then we moved to Canmore and that was my last move.
I currently live in the Bow Valley Seniors Apartments. I play crib, whist, pitch, bingo with the seniors and help them out. Reading and crafts, crocheting and knitting are my hobbies. I also help the CSA by looking after the bar as bar manager. I have one daughter with three children in Oshawa, Ontario, one daughter with five children in Calgary, one daughter in Prince George, B.C. with two children and one daughter in Kamloops B.C. with one son. My grandchildren are Michael Coombes (Sept. 17, 1980), Christopher Moore (November 18, 1982), Cory Coombes (January 18, 1983), Samuel Woods (April 21, 1984), Trevor Moore (October 24, 1984), Tamara Woods (January 25, 1988), Bradley Woods (May 23, 1990), Elyshia Herman (Ju1y 29, 1990), Robert Herman (May 8, 1993), Cordeil Vaillancourt (October 14, 1995) and Jessica Herman (September 14, 1997). I also have a brother, Wayne, born November 1, 1946. He lives in Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia with his wife, Selonge, and family. He’s retired from the Airforce.
My daughter, Tanisha, just graduated May 2000 in Kamloops, B.C. Then in September she is off to university in B.C.
Les Biri, Barbara, Tanisha
Barbara Biri, Susanne, Sherry, Tanya, Tanisha
In Canmore Seniors at the Summit, ed. Canmore Seniors Association, 2000, p. 14-16.
