By Pat Asling
Here we are in October and with such beautiful weather as we have been blessed to enjoy, we can only hope that it continues. Crops are being brought in, harvested, shipped, stored for winter, which we know will come. The birds are gradually wending their way south but stopping to feed on the amazing amount of seeds, berries of all sorts and insects who are also getting ready for winter sleep, in whatever form they take to survive. We can only be grateful when we hear of devastation in various parts of the word with hurricanes, floods, or droughts and not so far from home the devastation in New York City from the heavy rain, while we got none. Soon after you read this it is Thanksgiving weekend and we have to think about the millions around the world who have little to be thankful for, no permanent home, little of no food, clean water, education medicine etc. so while we are thankful we should also be mindful of these others, right here in our Region, some of our reserves, inner cities and give what we can to help.
Bruce and Tanis Smith last week attended a corn roast at the home of Arnold and Gail Kerry in Utica which they hosted for the staff of John Deere Green Tractors. Bruce of course has worked there for well 50 years now, starting right out of high school.
Happy birthday to a beautiful young lady, Grace Risebrough who turned 20 this past week. Hard to believe these kids grow up so fast it seems when you know them from babies almost. Grace is the hope of their parents and uncles to carry on the legacy of the family farm for many more years to come.
Congratulations also to Dawson Ball who turned 21. I haven’t know Dawson that well but since he also took the agricultural course at Ridgeway I assume he took is being looked to as carrying on the Ball traditions from his great-grandparents who I knew , grandparents and parents.
Birthday greeting also to Lisa Lockerby! Lisa now lives in Uxbridge but before I net her she lived with ther sons in Sandford, not far from her parents Earle and Heidi. Lisa recently retired from her job of many years but already has mapped out a course of a new career for the near future.
Best wishes also to Jean Scott Sopel. Jean was raised in Sandford along with her brothers, but moved to Uxbridge when she married Al. Jean Is our church treasurer and has worked tirelessly over the years in various capacities for the church. She has worked full time with the Court system in Newmarket for many years now!
Happy birthday goes out also to Cor Van Maurik. Cor and Jenny are among our faithful attendees and Cor donates time often to doing various maintenance chores around the church.
Last Thursday evening the North Durham Nature Group met in the Scugog library. The speaker was full of information and the presentation about the winter birds we might encounter was very interesting and informative and the full-house audience appreciative. Next month we move back to Uxbridge Senior’s Centre.
On Friday evening the Friday at the Foster hosted the final performance of this season with Mike Burns and his trio. The group has been with us every year for many years and often more than once. There were one of the largest audiences in attendance of the season as he /they have a real fan-base. The Foster will be open for a couple of more events before the end of the year. One of these will be the Ladies of the Foster presentation which usually is Dickens Christmas Carol. The other will be the Rotary Christmas House Tour on Nov.12. Last week I mistakenly said it was sponsored by the Optimists but that is the Christmas Light, soon to follow. Tickets for the Rotary Christmas House tour go on sale this week and the Foster is on the tour so we will be all decorated up! Upcoming other events include the Lucy Maud Day by the Lucy Maud Montgomery Society. This will be on Oct.28 and the theme of the presentations will be “Ewan with an ‘e’. Ewan was her husband and his name was spelt with an ‘a’ but she always spelled it with an ‘e’ –like Anne with an ‘e’! Tickets will go on sale shortly no doubt. On Oct.11 the Horticultural Group will meet, 7PM with Vikki Whitney talking about traditional container gardening for the coming summer!
October will be known as the lunch month as I have no less than 5marked on my calendar. Sorority, Seniors, 2 Community Care and a friend. And then there is Thanksgiving, whatever might happen there! I will need to work a lot harder in my garden!
This week, our church service was held at Zephyr with Rev. Bill Fritz conducting the service and a communion as well. Ruth and Alayna did a special musical number which was absolutely beautiful. Following the service there was a meeting with guests from TUCT as we discussed the future of the churches. We were given some info about what the investigating team found as they inspected the physical aspects of both churches and were able to input some ideas of our own. Much discussion and work still need to be done. Next week we will also be at Zephyr with Rev. Wayne Reed leading. On Oct. 15 it is the 124/161 Anniversary of Sandford United Church, which started out, as many in the area did, as a Methodist church with the original building down by the present cemetery. It was a large building but not large enough for the congregation so the new one was built- hard to imagine in this day and age! Everyone is welcome to celebrate with us because no matter the future we must still celebrate past accomplishments in the lives of the community. Rev. Wayne Reed will be the guest minister for this occasion as well. On Oct. 22 Zephyr celebrates their anniversary with Rev. Diane Bennett-Jones as guest minister. Diane was a well loved minister for a number of years in our congregations. Rev. Bill Fritz will finish out October for us.
As Anne once said "I'm so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers." — Lucy Maud Montgomery, Ann of Green Gables.