HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 2019-07-11, Page 17THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 11, 2019. PAGE 17.
Volunteers help with annual Walton Hall cleaning
We made the first of July and in
some cases, the corn was knee high.
Fields planted later in the season
didn’t make it, but the heat and
occasional rain has the crop just
jumping up. Let’s have a little hope
and faith that good weather the rest
of the summer will bring it on. Even
the experts said they were surprised
by some fields and how well they
have grown in the last 10 days.
Canada Day was a beautiful day
and the turnout for the Seaforth
firefighters’ breakfast was fantastic.
Another successful event for the
departments of Huron East!
Last weekend was spring cleaning
at the Walton Hall. Members Judy
Lee, Margaret McInroy and Jo-Ann
McDonald spent most of the day at
the hall. Lots of folks tooted their
horns, waved and even stopped to
talk, but not to help, except Paul
Humphries. The flowerbeds were
Margaret’s department and she
weeded, trimmed trees and thanks to
Paul, who stopped and picked up all
the refuse and took it to the dump for
us. Inside, the ceiling light fixtures
were taken down and cleaned and
put back up and all the windows
were cleaned, inside and out. A big
job, but everything sparkles now.
Knocking down cobwebs in the
hard-to-reach places was
accomplished with the tall
stepladder and then it was on to the
vacuuming.
The hall is now ready for the
summer activities of Blyth Festival
dinners and family reunions. There
are still weekends available if you
are looking for a small venue to host
a small gathering.
The Edge of Walton hosted a
“Little Bugs” camp this past week
and had a full house of children on
hand, around 30 or so. They
climbed, went fishing, looked for
bugs, toads, butterflies, water games,
crafts and many more activities to
keep kids busy. They were tired little
souls at the end of the day but really
enjoyed the camp.
Children are on summer holidays
but the streets of Brussels do not
have many kids out and about. When
I was out on the streets, I did not see
many kids playing outside at all.
Maybe it was too hot. Hopefully the
pool was busy on the hot, hot days
last week. Thanks to the generosity
of the Lions Club subsidizing the
cost of public swimming, there is no
excuse not to be using the pool.
Graeme and Helen Craig maybe
wish they had the pool up and
running instead of having it filled in
this past week. The pool had its
problems and so the decision was
made to fill it in. Now the job of
landscaping is next on the agenda.
Construction has started on a new
pig barn on the farm of Bruce and
Michelle Blake. The ground has
been levelled and cement poured.
We will watch the progress as the
summer goes on.
Neil McDonald has returned to
British Columbia after being here
two weeks. Progress on his home in
Bayfield was made and when he
comes back in September,
landscaping will be on the agenda.
It was party time for the group of
friends of Allan Carter and Ruth
Townsend. The party was held at the
home of George and Ruth Townsend
and the pair of birthday babies
celebrated their 70th birthdays
together. Many of their friends
attending included Graeme,
Michael and Helen Craig, Gerald
and Nancy Smith, Jack and Mary
Helen McLachlan, Fred and Karen
Uhler, Jim and Janet Papple, Nancy
Steinbach, Karen Carter and George
Townsend. The group looked back at
the year 1949, reminisced about the
many changes, enjoyed music and a
lot of laughs. Happy birthday to
Allan and Ruth.
Congratulations to Rosanna
Grobbink and Dan Gilbert who were
married on the weekend. It was a
beautiful, sunny, hot day for the
nuptials at St. James Church in
Seaforth. A lovely dinner and
reception at the Brodhagen
Community Hall for family and
friends, was beautifully decorated in
blues and florals. The couple will
reside in Winthrop. Congratulations!
Welcome to Kennedy Huether
who is now working at the Walton
Inn. She will see, hear and meet lots
of interesting folks in the coffee
crowd in the mornings.
School summer holidays mean
more grandparenting. The three
Jarosz children, Connor, Owen and
Elaina along with Wes McDonald
had a day at their grandparents this
week. Playing in the new sandbox,
bubble wands, riding bikes and
soccer filled the day for the boys and
colouring and bubbles and eating
kept Elaina busy.
Just in case you all forgot, it is less
than six months until Christmas!
Because extended family goes south
for Christmas and others work in
snow removal, I think we will
celebrate Christmas at
Thanksgiving! Sounds like a plan I
like and got the idea from someone
that has Christmas in July for many
of the same reasons! It is never too
early to be thinking of Christmas!
A familiar face can be seen around
Walton again with the return of
Mary Elliott. She is here from her
home in British Columbia for her
usual summer visit with her sister
Helen Craig and family and the rest
of the Elliott family.
Celebrating birthdays this past
week include Allison Stevenson,
Ralph Bos, Dianne Blake, Lorne
Glanville, Brad Knight, Jim Brown,
Allan Carter, Emily Mitchell, Sean
Mitchell, Jasmin Roth, Russel Pryce,
Steve Fritz and Mitchell Ryan.
Happy birthday to all.
NEWS
FROM WALTON
By Jo-Ann
McDonald
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Continued from page 16
the one? You start by realizing that
gratitude is an attitude. I know it’s a
cliché. But it’s true! If we look to a
rarely-read Old Testament book,
Habakkuk, there is a wonderful
example. In Habakkuk 3:17-18 it
says:
“Though the fig tree may not
blossom, nor fruit be on the vines;
though the labour of the olive may
fail, and the fields yield no food;
Though the flock may be cut off
from the fold, and there be no herd
in the stalls –Yet I will rejoice in the
Lord, I will take joy in the God of
my salvation.”
What a powerful
acknowledgement of God’s
worthiness. Though nothing is going
right, the prophet rejoices in the
Lord. I can only pray that I will have
this type of strength when I am in
times of trial. These are the people
who lay dying in their hospital beds,
and yet they still praise the Lord.
These are the refugees who have lost
their home and country, and yet still
they praise. These are the people
who stand at the grave of a loved one
and say thank you to God for giving
them strength. These are the people
who have reason to hate God, and
yet they stand tall and say, “God is
good.”
Thankfulness is a habit, one that
you can practise. As the song says,
“count your many blessings.” I say,
“be the one.” Be the one leper who
doesn’t make excuses, deny God’s
power, or rest on their pride. Be the
one who says, with humbleness and
sincerity, “thank you.”
To tell you the truth, there have
been days in my life when I have
found it very hard to be grateful;
some days that I have wondered,
“what exactly should I be thanking
God for?” Then I take a hard look at
myself and my life and I realize that
I shouldn’t be saying thank you, I
should be shouting it! Consider what
I read on a popular infographic: “If
you have food in your fridge, clothes
on your back, a roof over your head
and a place to sleep, you are richer
than 75 per cent of the world. If you
have money in your bank, your
wallet, and some spare change, you
are among the world’s wealthiest
people. If you woke up this morning
with more health than illness, you
are more blessed than the million
people who will not survive this
week. If you have never experienced
the danger of battle, the agony of
imprisonment or torture or the
horrible pangs of starvation, you are
luckier than a billion people alive
and suffering.”
The list could go on. I thank God
that I was born into the time and
place that I have been. It was not so
long ago that women like me could
not vote or go to post-secondary
school. Indeed, it was not very long
ago at all that I would not have been
able to stand in front of my amazing
and welcoming congregations and
preach. I thank God every day for all
the blessings of my life. Take a
moment now to say a prayer of
thanksgiving, counting your
blessings. (No, seriously, try it right
now!)
Now that we’ve all had a chance to
be the one leper, I want to end by
saying a little about the greatest gift
of all. I am writing about the
salvation God offers us, by the
power of Jesus. John 3:16: “For God
so loved the world he gave his only
son, so that whosoever should
believe in Him should not perish, but
have eternal life.” One verse gives us
the summation of the most utterly
astonishing gift ever given. For God
so loved us. Ephesians 2:8: “For by
grace you have been saved through
faith, and that not of yourselves; it is
the gift of God.”
Hold these verses close to your
heart. When life just sucks,
remember these gifts. When it seems
easier to walk away, leaning on your
pride and self-sufficiency, remember
these worlds. Eternal life is a gift,
freely given to us through the
sacrifice of Jesus. What a wondrous
thing.
What can we possibly say to this
sacrifice, this gift, this grace? Why,
we need to simply be the one. We
simply say, thank you.
Owned and operated by Mac and Donna Anderson
519-357-1910
E-mail: andgranite@bellnet.ca
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Practice gratitude as attitude
Smiles and sausages
Firefighters Mike Cook, left, and Tyler O’Neil were all smiles
when it came time to make breakfast at the annual Grey
firefighters breakfast in Ethel late last month. (Hannah Dickie
photo)