Henrique Viveiros, the husband of my cousin Conceição
Life in São Miguel, was miserable in those days. Families were large and it was real hardship to feed all. There was little to eat, and the choice was very limited. I’m going to tell you a good story…
Several times, one of my brothers, would steal a fish from the hot frying pan whilst my mother was not looking, then he would hide it in a hole of the backyard stone wall, so he could eat it later on. Then o corisco (rascal) would come back and sit at the family table as if nothing had happened. We all used little tricks like this to kill hunger.
But not all was sad, there was always someone whistling while walking down the street. My poor mother would sing while cleaning the house. We all dreamed of a
better life, the only solution was emigrating, so we did just that and left for Canada.