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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2009-03-26, Page 22PAGE 22. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MARCH 26, 2009. What a wonderful week for spring break. The children on my bus were excited to be returning to school and to tell their friends what they did over March break. Some went swimming, one now has a new bike, one won his first medal at a hockey tournament, some went skating, some raked leaves, others spent holidays at Grandma’s, others got to go to a friend’s house for playdays, one attended a Cadet training weekend, one made cookies and one family built a bridge and helped make maple syrup. There are some who attended a magic show, and one family went to the Butterfly Conservatory. Another child was mom’s helper in babysitting lots of other children. A trip to Florida was how Wes Wilson and Mandy Workman, Gavin and Hailey spent March break. Gavin reports his cousins went also. Motocross season is just around the corner for Ontario, so the Godkin family got a head start by going to the States to practise and race. Bruce, Katrina, Mitchell and Lucas went to Tennessee for the week of March break. They went to Meadow Creek for a practice day, then raced the next day. They then travelled on to Monster Mountain race track where they spent four days practising. They camped in the motorhome and enjoyed fantastic weather with temperatures in the high teens. Brett and Laura Fischer spent five days in Las Vegas to have a break. hey saw the Wayne Brady and Ray Romano shows. Laura reports that they didn’t come home big winners but it was a wonderful vacation. Dale Chesher has returned from both a family celebration and holiday. Dale travelled to Copenhagen, Denmark to spend three weeks with her daughter Melodee and family. Melodee and husband Teit, oldest son Xander, Grandma Dale and many other family members of Teits, celebrated the first birthday of their youngest son Quinlan. The family enjoyed a lovely brunch together, then as is a very usual custom, the family went for a walk for well over an hour. The weather in Denmark is quite lovely with temperatures almost always above 0°C. The ground never freezes and their warmth is attributed to the Gulf Stream that flows their way. The daffodils are about a foot high and snowdrops and crocuses could be seen everywhere.Dale had a wonderful trip enjoyingher time with her grandsons andfamily.Home again from a week away areValerie Shortreed and Ken andMarina Scott. They flew from Torontoto Panama City, Panama, then had atwo-hour bus ride to arrive at theRoyal DeCameron Resort. Theyenjoyed great food and the resort offered many water sports and a beautiful beach. They went on a city tour that drove them by the famous Panama Canal system. They had lunch in the Hard Rock Café. They went on a partial boat cruise of the canal and passed through two of the locks. It is very expensive for boats to use the locks. The canal was built by the French. Many of the workers died of the yellow fever and after some time the Americans took over building the system. They have run the locks since then until 1999 when the country of Panama took control. They are starting to enlarge the locks now and the economy is booming in Panama. There are lots of high-rise buildings and many beautiful and expensive homes. Land is very expensive but there is plenty of building going on. On one of the tours they went to the home of Noriago, the country’s former dictator. The “home” had been blown up, but they were allowed to enter and make their way through the house to the beautiful gardens. They did a lot of walking and went to a bar called Woody’s Bar and Grill that is owned by a Canadian and met a girl from London who was working there. A collection of t-shirts hanging on the wall had them recognizing the names of Frank and Dorothy VanSteelandt as having been there. Valerie also met up with Gerald and Doreen Baan and they all had a visit together, with Ken remembering he had went to school with Gerald. The trio also went on what is known as a “booze cruise”. A boat picked up passengers from a variety of resorts and cruised the shoreline. They saw where they are building new resorts and stopped at a sheltered cover for swimming, snorkeling and relaxing in the sun. Home from spending a good part of the winter in Florida are Ross and Barb Nichol. Welcome home to David and Joan Perrie who have returned from a month in Florida and welcome back to Fred and Teuni Smith after a vacation trip to Panama. Home from hospital is Bill Stephenson who is resting comfortably. Returning home from a long stay at Parkwood Hospital is Maxine Marks. She is glad to be home and hopes to hear from all her friends. Going to see a show of a lifetime were Nicole Noble and a couple of friends, formerly of Brussels, Amber and Kassie. They went to the Air Canada Centre to see the Britney Spears circus concert. It was an amazing concert with jugglers, trapeze artists, street artists, lightdisplays and continuous action onstage. Britney had some wild outfits,that I was reading, were designed byCanadian designers DSquared2. Thecostumes ranged from animal toringmaster in keeping with the circustheme. Nicole reports it wasawesome. The opening act was thePussycat Dolls and she also reportsthey were great. An oops last week in reporting the passing of Bill Kammerman. He is in London at Parkwood Hospital. My apologies to all. Grandparenting while their daughter was away were Jim and Anne Bosman. They were looking after Tracy’s girls Sabryn, six and Jocelyn, three. Tracy is away on a military tour of Italy and is hopefully following her grandfather’s footsteps to the places he went while he was serving his country in Italy. The Bosmans have been kept busy entertaining the girls and taking them everywhere. They went swimming and shopping and even to breakfast at Walton Inn. It was nice to bump into Marjory Fraser, our former neighbour, and her daughter Carolyn Sullivan out enjoying lunch. Carolyn was up spending the day with Mom and having lunch out was an extra treat. Ross Alcock estimates he saw 500 of tundra swans in a field between the fourth and fifth of Morris. He said it was quite something to see the field covered by the birds. Howard and Audrey Hackwell wereblessed with family during lastweek’s school break. Patricia andgrandson Sebastian arrived to helpwith the spring yard work. Pam alsoarrived to give a hand.School break offers the chance forvisiting long-distance relatives.Monique Baan with children Ryan,Adam and Emma went to Stayner fora few days to visit with her mom and dad early in the week. They returned home on Wednesday, then Don returned with them on Saturday to attend a friend’s wedding in Stayner. Celebrating birthdays this past week were Carol Henderson, Keith Wilbee, John Gillis, Elliott Hackwell, Kennedy-Ann Huether, Cathy Regele, Brandi Williamson, Randal Linton, Dave Watson, Kerissa Eckert, John Van Vliet, Ashley Hoegy, Ben Finlayson and Michael Bachert. Celebrating the fourth Sunday of Lent at Duff’s United Church was a good crowd. Melissa Snyders was the lay worship leader for the service. Lighting the Advent candles were Jackie and Melissa Glanville. Announcements included that next Sunday is communion with lay leader Kathy Douglas. The Sunday school is also hosting a soup luncheon following the service. The World Day of Prayer service held at Walton’s Duff’s United Church had a fairly successful turnout with nearly 60 in attendance. The offering collected $272 for the Women’s Interchurch Council of Canada. 404 Queen St., Blyth 519-523-4792 541 Turnberry St., Brussels 519-887-9114 The Citizen Check out these books to celebrate Spring’s arrival BUILDING THE BENT WILLOW CHAIR Most farm properties have some type of willow growing on them somewhere. You can make those willow branches into beautiful furniture with the help of this simply written and illustrated book. $8.95 BUILDING A BIRCHBARK CANOE David Gidmark shares the lessons he learned from the Algonquins in the ancient craft of birchbark canoe building. The book contains copeous illustrations of how to do the work. $19.95 COMPLETE HYDRANGEAS More than 140 pages, with 180 colour photos of this versatile, hardy plant. A history of their cultivation, growth requirements, and how to get the best colours by manipulating soil acidity and landscaping potential. $24.95 BACKROADS OF ONTARIO Ron Brown gives information and directions to discover delightful backroads and small towns and villages across Ontario including some in midwestern Ontario. $19.95 GARDENING WITH CONIFERS Conifers (often called evergreens) can add to much texture and colour to your property. This colourful 190- page book provides information on the magic of conifers, choosing varieties and, caring for them. $24.95 SHEDS: The Do-It-Yourself Guide for Backyard Builders More than 200 pages, including colour photos, plans, instructions and tips for building everything from a garden shed to a gazebo, pool houses to boat houses to protection for your firewood. $19.95 THE ORGANIC LAWN CARE MANUAL The coming ban on pesticide use on lawns doesn’t mean you can’t have a good-looking lawn. This 270-page manual provides information on how to have a healthy lawn, identify pests and control them. $26.95 FRUITS AND BERRIES FOR THE HOME GARDEN More than 250 pages of information on choosing fruits and nuts, planting them, pruning, controlling disease and pests, and harvesting fruit. Even instructions on reproducing your trees & bushes. $27.95 NEWS FROM WALTON By Jo-AnnMcDonaldCall 887-6570PEOPLE AROUNDWALTON Melissa Snyders leads Duff’s service The Walton Women’s Institute held its monthly meeting at the home of Brenda Perrie. Special guests were the members of the Brussels Majestic Women’s Institute. There was 17 ladies on hand to enjoy the guest speaker, Dianne Clarke a community health advisor from Bluevale. Her talk included a video presentation, tips on being grocery savvy and about the correct portions of food when eating. The annual meeting for Walton WI will be held at the Walton Inn next month. A lunch of fruit breads and cheese was served by Brenda and Margaret McInroy. WI meets The Cranborok dart fun bunch had 15 players on hand to play March 11. The high shot of the night for the ladies was by Kathy Workman with 93. Ernie Lewington won for the men shooting a 140. On March 18 there were 19 players. The lucky shots for the night went to Teuni Smith hitting 114 and to Frank Workman shooting a 126. There are two more weeks of excitement to enjoy as they wind down on April 1 with the banquet to finish the season. This is just in time for the beginning of the card season as the Friday night euchres will begin at the Cranbrook Hall on April 3. 15 play darts in Cranbrook