PAT ASLING Special to The Standard
The past week has been a beautiful set of days so I hope everyone was able to get out and enjoy the sun and the last bits of warmth.
This year may be one of the few times in my long gardening career where I can say I got everything done, I had planned to do before the snow came, or it got too cold to be comfortable. I still have some hardy flowers blooming in outdoor pots, such as petunias and marigolds, a couple of others, but the frost this morning maybe did them in.
Once again I need to apologize to my Rotary friends when I said in last weeks column that the Christmas House Tour was Optimists. Not true of course, all the hard work was done by Rotary members and those homeowners whose houses were on display.
Speaking of Optimists, apparently some anxious participants are already getting their light displays set up for the festival of Lights. Sadly, our Sorority ladies have decided we can no longer put up our display after doing it for a great many years. Time takes its toll.
There are a few birthdays to note including Lynn Barry Gibson. The Gibsons live on Feasby Road and have two daughters both very engrossed in their education, and also a son. Lynn is related to the Smalley family. Birthday greetings also to Gordon Elford. Gord is the elder son of Harry and Lois Elford and was born and raised south of Sandford. Gord is one of those who enthusiastically take part in the Horseshoe pitching events at the museum during the summer months. Best wishes also to Lois Bushes (Ashton). Lois worked for many years in the law office of Willard Gregg but will be known to many from when she and husband Barry worked along with Shirley Baster in a shop in town a few years ago.
Our sympathies go out to the family of Carl Cornell. Carl lived all his life in Uxbridge. Before I knew him, when in the teens, I knew his mother who used to work along with Drs. Lennox and St. John many eons ago, when they were the only two doctors in town. He was predeceased by his wife Joye.
A big congratulations goes out to a young lady of our community, Olivia Kokkinen who won a U-Sport award-All Canadian. This is given to university students who excel in their academic subjects as well as take part in various sports. We wish her all the best as she continues her career. Olivia is the daughter of Derek and Sylvia Kokkinen, and the granddaughter of Ross and Janice Risebrough.
I wanted to go back to the Remembrance Day service a week Saturday. I was delighted to stand beside Rick and Nancy Hannah and their daughter. While we waited for the ceremony to begin Rick was reminiscing about the days when he was teaching at The Uxbridge Public School and used to march his students down to the cenotaph each year so they could take part in the service. Not long afterward, during the service, one of the things Mayor Barton recalled was that, as a student, he was marched down to the corner to attend every year. I spoke of the very large crowd in attendance; partly it could have been due to it being a Saturday but also to the quite nice weather, which is not always the case on that corner.
This past Saturday was the Uxbridge Santa Parade and the weather couldn’t have been better. The crowd was huge. I don’t think I have ever seen so many people in attendance. The parade itself was quite good. A few floats were not particularly interesting but most you could see had put a lot of effort into them. There were several business I had not heard of before. The first “Float” was the huge and beautiful new Fire engine. I am not sure how long we have had this piece of machinery but it was fantastic and obviously, with all the high rise buildings we are getting, a necessity for the safely of the town and township. The float which got the most comments from those around me was the one where the young lady was standing and singing Christmas Carols. Who was that beautiful voice? None other than our own Julien Kelland! Mr. and Mrs. Clause looked refreshed after their holiday.
Last Thursday the Uxbridge Genealogy Group met, via zoom and in person, to hear Michelle Jeanotte talk about how and where to find information about your military records. As always she gave a wealth of information and later sent a seven page handout.
Next month’s meeting will be December 14th, possibly at UX Pool, as it is our Christmas party and the library will be closed for renovations.
This past Sunday afternoon was the “Ladies of the Foster” event at the Foster memorial. The group was composed of seven ladies dramatically reading the Dicken’s “Christmas Carol”. Since all are well known in the arts of Uxbridge it was well done. It finished with a beautiful rendition of Jane Loewen singing “ O' Holy Night,” marking the birthday of her mother, who often played with her as she performed at the Friday night concert series and other events. It was followed by an audience carol singing. Something to think about is that many of our Christmas Carols mention Bethleham. Do you know where Bethleham is? It’s in the Palestinian West Bank. Gaza is getting the worst of the war but the West bank is not immune and most of the biblical towns we read and sing about are there.
The Leaskdale Loop was held this past Saturday and included the Tindall Market, which will also be open December 2nd and 3rd.