What a week it has been! If we want to talk about the weather, which gardeners and farmers always do, it was pretty good even if we didn’t get rain. Vegetables are coming from the garden, third hay cuts are being done, and the corn will soon be ready for harvesting.
The news of the week started off with the horrendous killing and multiple injuries in Saskatchewan. It is so hard to imagine something like that happening in a quiet community where it seems many, if not all, were related in some way. There is a lot more to the story that we don’t know yet, and we may never know now both brothers are dead, like how did the last one die? The physical wounds were great, but the mental and psychological wounds will be even deeper!
A few days later, that was almost swept from the news by the death of Queen Elizabeth. At 96, her death was not unexpected but still was a complete surprise considering she interviewed the outgoing Prime minister of England and the incoming one just two days before and appeared no different than she had for several weeks and months.
You could say I have always been a monarchist, my 3x grandparents coming from England in 1819 on one side and my maternal grandparent in 1902 with five of my mother’s siblings born in England. I recall I guess it was 1953, the year of Elizabeth’s coronation; there was a contest in the public schools to colour a picture of the royal coach, which I won, the prize being a book.
Although she had been to Canada 23 times, they say, never once was I anywhere close, but I did see her while living in Belize. I was part of the Belmopan Choral Society, and we were given a special place to stand along the drive to the Governor General’s Home. We weren’t all that close, but close enough to see her wave and Philip on the other side. I have seen Princess Ann up close, like 6′ away, while we were at a reception for her at the Belize Zoo. The highlight was that I was told I should not be taking photographs while she was eating!
Aside from all this, our area has been a very busy week. Many people attended the Port Perry Fair last weekend even though the weather did not fully cooperate. This weekend for Uxbridge was much nicer. It will be interesting to see what the tally is for attendance because I don’t recall ever seeing so many people there. There were complaints about the cost of food, which seemed legitimate, but after such a hiatus, there were fewer people doing the work than before. Once more members of our sorority helped out the Lions, fewer of us and fewer of them and helpers from Port Perry, Stouffville and Blackstock were there during my shift.
Most of the categories for displaying were cut back, not nearly as much baking, crafts etc., from both adults and kids, not as many categories in the horticultural building but lots of good stuff just the same. I loved watching the goats, which I think might be new, at least for them in such big numbers. Horses were wonderful, as were the cattle and the performers on the grandstand were also worth seeing. Get ready for next year! Offer to help.
Birthdays this week begin with three lovely and hard-working ladies, LeeAnn Ball, Barb Peck and Catherine Smalley. I hope they all enjoyed their day to the max. Our naturalist extraordinaire Geoff Carpentier probably sent his day bird watching. Happy birthday also to Betty Risebrough, born and raised in Uxbridge.
Happy 48th anniversary to Gord and Charmaine Elford. Gord is the son of the late Harry and Lois Elford, born and raised close by. Jackie and John Leppard also celebrated an anniversary, their 27th. Another of our faithful farmers in the area. Erwin and Cheryl Hinzel celebrated their 44th anniversary. Cheryl runs Sugar Fx and Red Hot businesses.
Yvonne Harrison and her daughter Michelle are spending some time touring Mexico. Those girls never sit still. They would have missed out on the Leaskdale Loop that took place on Saturday. Yvonne tells me she had sold most of her painted craft.
Congratulations and a big “Thank You” to the Durham Region Dairy Producers, who have installed a frig full of dairy products at the Loaves and Fishes Food Bank in Uxbridge, something sadly lacking until now!
The Uxbridge Scott Historical Society Horseshoe Club held their championship match Tuesday evening. The Kirvan Cup was presented to Charles Cammack and Bob Kirvan by Howard Shrimpton, while the Ken and Irene Watts trophy was presented to Todd Snook and Jeff Fahrer by David Watts. Congrats to all the winners and players!
Congratulations to Katie Elaine Cox, granddaughter of Elaine and Murray, daughter of Robert, who trained the Grand Champion Steer at the Renfrew Fair. Proud family! Another proud family is Mack Moore of Sandford, who has been competing in the Pole Bending with her horses and came second at the Port Perry Rodeo. Go, Girls!
Next week, at the Foster, Melanie J. Hepert will be the artist. She is a vocalist who takes you on a musical journey through storytelling and songwriting. 7:30 p.m., admission at the door. Sunday afternoon, there was a Baroque concert with three extremely talented artists. The attendance was very good, and people obviously were looking forward to it.
Unfortunately, at the same time, the group Django Djunkies was playing next door at the Banjo Cidery. They are a group who has played often at the Foster. Too much all at once!
Church services for the Sandford Zephyr charge reopened in Zephyr on Sunday morning, with Paster Gord Shreeve conducting the worship. He will be with us again next week at Zephyr.
The Zephyr congregation would like to inform you that they will be celebrating their 137 anniversary on October 23rd with a service at 1 p.m. and lunch preceding the service at 11 a.m. Sandford’s anniversary will be October 16th, 10 a.m.