PAT ASLING Special to The Standard
It has been a rather gray week but nothing very serious. It was just a let-down after the great weather we had earlier. After a few more weeks we will probably look back and think it wasn’t so bad after all.
This year I was “blessed” with an over abundance of apples. My tree is 50 years old almost, rotted out in the middle but still strong and produced more fruit than it ever has, and that’s saying a lot. Another tree, different variety, hardly even has had apples and I have often discussed cutting it down but it too was loaded this year. Trouble is there are still many, many, apples still on the tree, 40’ up and unreachable and now they are probably all frozen. I tried to give them away but was not so fortunate and have gallons of applesauce. If you have a good recipe that uses lots of applesauce please send it to me. At least Banjo Cider was able to collect many of them but did not bare the tree.
The weather has gone along with the news. The stories of what is happening in Palestine and Israel are heartbreaking and this week's four day truce, although a ray of light for some families, can never bring back those families annihilated and innocent children killed. We hear mostly about Gaza but this is also going on in the West Bank, the setting for all of our Christmas traditions.
There are only a couple of birthdays to highlight although I expect there are other celebrations. Happy birthday to Rev. Carol Baggett, who has led our Sunday worship service and will be with us several times in the New Year. Her husband Rick McKinley will be with us the next three Sundays as we move to Zephyr for the Christmas season. Carol O’Neil had a excellent service this past Sunday, with Ruth and Alayna providing the special music. The other birthday celebrant is, again, not someone who lives here now but was born a mile down the road, Gail Shier Williamson. Gail would not recognize the family farmhouse as it is now. She is married to a high school friend of mine, Alex Williamson and lives in Port Perry. Gail is also the first cousin to my sister-in-law Joan Clarke Asling and sister to Linda Wagg. Happy birthday to those gals and to all who are celebrating birthdays, anniversaries or other special occasions.
Congratulations to Rob Croxall who retired this week from his 40 year career as a pharmacist at Stouffville IDA. Celebration for him but maybe not for his clientele, who will certainly miss his ministrations.
The Leaskdale Loop had another successful day last Saturday and this is the last meeting of the year. On November 30th they will be meeting at Banjo Cider to discuss the past year and plan for 2024 events. Tindall’s Market will be open on December 2nd and