PAT ASLING Special to The Standard
One week to Christmas! The weather forecast for this week seems more like spring than winter and right in the middle is that long awaited “Shortest day (hours of light) of the year and then we can begin to see a bit more sun, but not this week! A little snow would be nice for Christmas. I spent 16 or so Christmases without snow and nobody noticed because there were still most of the things going on that we do here. I am having trouble getting into the “spirit” because I am so tied up with what is happening in Palestine and even more so since Adele told me she has news that a young man, who talked to us when we were there, was shot and killed and another, a farmer, has not been able to go anywhere near his farm. The road is completely blocked off with huge mounds of dirt and if he tried to go around somehow, he will be shot. Mary and Joseph could not go to Bethlehem now because it is off limits for anyone other than residents and even they are being chased out. It’s hard to find and HOPE there right now, certainly no PEACE and very little LOVE in what is being done.
Lots of activities here, of course! Last Sunday was the 134th anniversary of Zephyr Missionary Church with a goodly number out and a delicious lunch after. Best wishes to the congregants and to Pastor Gord Shreeve and wife Karen as they minister there. A number of people had birthday during this week starting with Eve-lynn Swan. Eve-lynn is now starting a business of her own for the coming year. Best wishes on that! This month too I know that several of my friends have birthdays including Carol Meek, who now lives in Prince Albert, Cathy Ellig and Nancy Wolfe. It’s good to recall the days when we were all singing together in the choir! Happy birthday also to Harry Stemp who would be 89! I am sure he would be quite upset on learning about the fate of the Times Journal and the other newspapers because he spent so many years putting out a great paper. Larry and Gerald Ross celebrated birthdays within a couple of days of each other. They are 2 of the sons of Morley and Laura Ross, who grew up in Leaskdale. Happy birthday also to, Carol Smith, the former Carol Hodgkins who also spent many growing up years in Leaskdale but now lives in Port Perry. Like her dad Harold and brother Gary she also dabbles in art! Happy birthday also to Judy Warren Risebrough! Judy is the daughter of Jim and Aileen Warren, wife of David Risebrough, mother of 2 and grandmother of 5, that she took to see Santa . She has also been doing much work for the town on the revitalization project!
Congratulations to Vanessa Rose and Matt Healy who this week produced a bouncing baby girl. Vanessa and Matt live in her grandmother Evelyn’s house on the Cox farm. The baby’s second name is Evelyn, in tribute to that wonderful lady! Seems no time since Vanessa was little. When she was maybe about 3 and I was going south to work I told her mother about my cats. She loved white cats and I had a beautiful longhaired white one, Snowball. Vanessa and her mom came and got her and gave her such a wonderful life she lived until the age of 18!
It was very interesting over the last couple of weeks to follow in the steps of Yvonne and Michelle Harrison as they travelled all over New Zealand. Wow, what a pair of energetic ladies! Up mountains and rocky trails for hours each day! Made you breathless just reading about their adventure. But they are safe home now, for a little while at least! Bruce and Tanis Smith were also doing some sightseeing last week but not quite so strenuous as they toured south western Ontario.
Last week was a very active week for we older folk. On Tuesday Community Care held another luncheon at Douglas Crossing. This was my first time in there and it was impressive, what I saw. We had a lovely menu and were entertained once more by Irwin Smith. After, I had a short visit with Norm Goodspeed. You hear a lot about him as he is one of our few remaining WW2 vets but I met him, in the dental ofice , shortly after I started and he and his family came to town, early 60s. Later I had a chat with Bill Lockie. Bill and wife Jackie raised their family on the farm in Zephyr and it was only after her passing that he moved to Douglas Crossing. He feels himself fortunate that his children are around and look after him so well! On Wednesday the Horticultural Group held their annual Christmas pot-luck at the Seniors Centre. Well, you know about pot-lucks, more food than you can possibly eat! There was a good turnout with many spouses and friends also attending. The only business was presentation of some awards, a message from District 7 representative and installation of new officers. Many of these are new for the coming year. Thursday evening was the Genealogy Xmas party held this year above Uxpool. I had never been there before. It was a nice setting but the stairs up are not so nice. It was a friendly evening talking about past and present activities, the library and the genealogy room. It was emphasized that more people need to use that wonderful room to insure that we can keep it. It is one of the best supplied research rooms in the area with a great deal of family and area information available. Presently the Library is closed for some renovations and rearranging but will reopen shortly.
Friday was a big day. My sister Faye and I went to the Standard Christmas party and had a lovely time visiting with Colleen and other staff and columnists. We were given a pretty tree hanger and I was pleased to see it was made by another of our columnist, Lauren Walker! We were also given a beautiful planter. In the evening our family went to the Living Nativity. As usual it was well done and we are sure they are using the same script as was used in earlier performances, when Don MacNaughton was the narrator. Unfortunately it was somewhat marred when a young lady was thrown from the horse and had to be taken to hospital, where she was found to have a broken ankle. Leaving the Nativity was went to the Fantasy of Lights, a true fantasy for sure. Lights everywhere! Just beautiful! Make sure you go see it. From there we went to Santa Alley, where we counted more that 50 Santas in various poses. Then the Gingerbread house off Bolton Ave. and on to the McKnight farm where once again they have added more lights to their display. Just riding around town can be fun too!
Church this week was again Zephyr with Rick McKinley. They have a “Mitten, Sock or Hat “tree to which you can contribute and these items will be passed on the Food bank or other place where they are needed. Next week there is no Morning service but there will be one at 6:30 PM, Christmas Eve. Everyone is invited to join with us on this very special evening.