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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-07-04, Page 21Page 6—Crossroads—July 4, 1.984 Few forests private Canada's federal and pro- vincial governments own 94 percent of the nation's 3.4 million square kilometers of forested area. Of this, 1.4 million square kilometers are either unsuitable for in- dustrial wood prodtuction or are in "single -purpose" reserves such as parks. SUNSET Distratutiing Bill Smiley a � co.Id winter iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii ESCAPE... THE BURNS AND BUGS OF SUMMER Florida Room $882 At last... a screened patio enclosure that's "affordable." This enclosed sunroom features a sliding door and a weatherized vinyl roof. The structure at- taches to your home or trailer. It's sturdy, at- tractive, easily installed and well-suited to your lifestyle. 1111111116 SUNSET 1208 Southdale ,; Rd. E., London, Ont. N6E 1B4 1-800-265-6084 • CREATIVE USE OF PAINT—More sense than dollars went into this room where -a linoleumremnant was painted blue, then hand -splattered with an assortment, of colors to dramatize -if e rosy -beige velvet sofa. The Decor Score .Ideas to stretch decorating dollar By Barbara Hartung Q. We are setting up housekeeping for the first time. Our apartment is old but we can paint and do minor decorating things. I have only -enough money for a sofa and love seat, and perhaps a lamp and table or two. But I know it will take a lot more to make the kind of first home we both want and envision. Please suggest some bud- get ideas to create a 1980's look without mortgagingour future. — T.V. A. The creative use of paint is one of the best bud- get stretchers of all and the element that can produce the greatest change. INSULATING??? 1 �N IS THE TIME frz Homes -built prior' to. Sept. 1, 1977 are now eligible for a C.H.I.P. Grant up to a maximum of 5500.00 off your insulating costs. FREE ESTIMATES • Blown Cellulose • Urethane Foam CG,SO Cert. No. Ont. 250 • Fibreglass • Air Seal Testing "Satisfaction Guaranteed" Hunter Insulation Ltd. 214 - 10th St, Hanover CaII Collect or Evenings 364-4494 . . 369-6888 Today's interiors seem to be.lightening up, and people bare moving to paler pastels and lots of neutrals. If you like this look you might select a light,: frosty shade 'that will blend well with whatever color your•, sofa will For example, one couple chose a rosy -beige velvet sofa which could look great against walls of palest rose. To create an eye-catching floor they purchased a 9 by 10 -foot remnant of linoleum which they painted blue (with a latex base paint) and hand -splattered with assort- ed colors to dramatize the • rose -beige seating. Repeating the splattered effect were window shades and a framed wall hanging. A solid stretched, muslin fabric forms the base for this artistic technique using tex- tile paints. You might borrow some of ':these ideas for your home; 'You also can freshen up sec- ondhand furniture to use temporarily, and it'll look fine with a coat of paint or stripped down 'to the bare wood with a color stain. Q. I have a question about choosing appropriate pic- tures for my living room walls. I now have only one large Spanish -style painting with wood frame above my couch. The, colors in it are red, green, orange; yellow,. black and brown. Should things I buy for my other walls also ^ be in the same style? My walls are white; the If you waifl..ihe best tradei` value .. . See us today at 890 Wallacc Avc. N. Listowel Car City. 291-1730. window shades and framed waft hanging were made to match the floor by using the same artistic technique with textile paints on a stretched, muslin fabric. Sofa.. is by Stratford. carpet is rust, draperies are multicolored.. browns and rust,. my sofa is a brown plaid.-- D.S.R. A. I don't think you need to keep to the same style for wall decoration in your liv- ing room, although I would try to choose things that blend well together for a similar feeling. For example, modern and antique pieces' blend well if they are both either formal or informal. From your de- scription, it sounds like you have a somewhat informal feeling, with a brown plaid ' sofa. So why not look for interesting items that will' contrast and blend well with your large Spanish -style painting.. A handsome mirror with either a wooden frame ,or a delicate wrought iron one or carvings might be beauti- fully set off on your white walls. Sconces to provide some additional light are another possibility — in a painted finish, a brass or a pewter. Black -and -white prints — a grouµping of six or nine can be eye-catching. And don't overlook ceramics. A collection of plates, hand- crafted Spanish or French ones, would provide interest- ing contrasts with other wall decoration. Look to see what you have stored in cupboards . and storage. Retrieving acces- sories you already have can produce some interesting ef- fects. Then - add what you want. ' I received a letter in the mail recently -.addressed to me care of Go -ball Televi-' sion. I debated about opening it for a moment, but I am a bear for punishment and _I' - picked up the scissors. It..was_ from a young man or wo- man, I couldn't tell. which, who .,signed the letter, dramatically "from a prisoner of a careless so- ciety." The writer finished school two years ago and has now had two years without work. He or now sounds bitter, beaten„lonely, help- less and .without hope. And what hope is there for some- one who could come out of the province's school system thinking Global, as inGlobal Television is spelled"G-O-B- A-L-L"? Undereducated, overtrained and -unemploy- ed: the hallmark's of a tragic and dangerous legion who ought to be tomorrow's hope, but" are fast becoming to - Morrow's liabilities. - We cannot go on -doing this to a whole generation. If we do nothing,, the place will not be fit for habitation in fen or twenty years: Ther tter1.got ended with these sentences: "I don't really care if this bothers anyone. You can see I've crossed the threshold. I am a creation of a thought- less society. I am part of your future now, and no doubt I am not alone. It is everyone who helped to create us. Nowit is everyone who must live with us." I had to clean, up the gram- mar and punctuation a little, but there is a burning elo- quence throughout the letter that fills me with the writer's despair, and frightens me. It is not that our politicians don't recognize the problem. In Winnipeg recently Brian Mulroney cited a study by the Social Planning council of Toronto which says there are three quarters of a mil- lion Canadians aged from 15 to 24 who „have no jobs. Statistics Canada had pre- viously estimated that the figure was a good deal less than that — about half a mil- lion. Mr. Mulroney 'accused the federal government of •allowing, a generation to waste, but unless the Cana- dian Press missed ' some- thing, omething, he had no real solu- tions to put forward for handling this time bomb of It's been a long, cold win- ter and spring, and My heart is still sore. But the tulips are bursting and the sun is shin- ing; and the kindness of people keep the spirit alive. There's a tendency to 'sleep in, and stay up until the last late movie is over, and to ex- ist on frozen chicken pies. But I can't do it. The phone keeps ringing. Old friends drop in. People bring me gifts. Naturally, thephone rings when I'm on the john or in the bathtub. I think I'll have it removed. Not the bathtub, but the phone. Gifts? A daffodil in Janu- ary. A pot of mums (I can't spell -the whole word.) in February. A chicken pie and butter tarts in March. An Easter lily fronldear Julie at Easter. Cooked goodies from Evelyn, my cleaning lady. Three pounds of California dates from my old roommate at college. (What does one do with three pounds of dates? ) Letters still come from all over the continent. Some of (them make me weep, as they try to condole and comfort. I'll never get around to answering all of them, but thanks, thanks, especially to those, who know me only through this column. Good friends drop in ' to make sure I'm not going down the drain. Old friends have written: Gene Mac- donald, Per Vidsten,Kay Dills, and many others. You'll probably get ' my answers before Christmas. Other friends drag me out to dinner and force me to be genial, if not jovial. It's diffi- cult, but not impossible. The local golf club says I'll be fined if I don't pay up be- fore a certain date. The in- surance company"has al- ready nailed me for being late in payment. I missed the date for one Visa card' pay- ment and been fined. Some guy from Avis in Flpridaa tel / me them .w : od -. damage to the car I hired, and was I in an accident. No. • I don't think I'll even answer. him. That's some of the good news and some of the bad. To the bad, I'm fairly impertur- bable. Toy the good, I'm grateful. More good news. My neighbors are as staunch as ' Scottish clansmen. They. don't interfere. They don't pry. But when you need help, they're right there. Jim came over and tried to get my lawnmower going. He did, but it would stop. Finally I realized he'd been trying to fix. my old lawnmower, which the dopey kid I'd hired last year had put in the tool- shed,'instead of leaving it out for the dump, as I'd intend - the '80s. • ed. John Turner, the Liberal leadership favorite, was talking about the same thing recently. Like Mr. Mulroney, Mr. Turner found the prob- lem unspeakable. Unfortun- ately, concrete solutions, hard programs with begin-. nings, middles and ends, were apparently unspeak- able as well. . I'd like to warn both gentlemen that the young person whose letter reached me is beyond the 'expressions of goodwill. Arid the people who want to run this country should know that they have a bill to pay that is owing and overdue. They can pay it now or pay it later, but pay it they will. We buy - We sell New and Used MOBILE - HOMES 10,-12-°14 .widths in stock from '6,495 OBILIF� E • • R. '.End' RE No. 8 Highway between Kitchener & Cambridge 1-519-653-5788 Since 1969 As J'm started back to his wor hop to have another go, 1 spotted the brand-new " lawnmower at the back of the toolshed. We hauled out a broken bicycle, sundry doors and screens, and pulled out the new one. It started like a jet fighter. He charged me nothing, even though I was the dunce. And his wife in- vited me to coffee. More good news. I got a kid to cut my lawn and other dreary duties, and the manor looks half -decent. He was a good lad, worked hard, and was h�onest, if taciturn. "G°ood,,; that's OK. ; Good", was all he said, but he work- ed. An old friend died while I was away, and I'm sorry I was not there for her funeral. She had devoted her life to teaching and helping others, and about three generations of students respected and loved her. She was the sort who sent flowers to my kids when they won, at a music festival, Speaking of which, a scho- larship in music was estab- lished in my wife's name, and she'd have been delight- ed to know that one of her favorite students had won it. She had not taught him, but spotted him as a winner sev- eral years ago. I'm trying to brace myself for two weeks of my grand - boys early in July. It 'was tough enbugh when their Gran was here to bawl them out for all sorts of sundry misbehavior. If this column ceases to appear about mid- July, send my mail to the lo- cal Medical Health Centre. They'll be goingto a day camp, where theyre suppos- ed to tire themselves out with swimming and running and stuff. But they' come home at 4:30, want to play soccer or go to the beach, and are still going at a 500- w4t clip. Then they want to stay up.. until midnight, watching ' TV. Oh, well, I'll probably survive, and if ,I don't, so be it. My big 'social event of the next while is the high school commencement, a long, of- ten boring, and usually very hot evening. But I think I'll go. There's something awfully sweet about the girls (who wore jeansallyear) in their long dresses, and something pathetic in the graduating boys, strangely pathetic in real suits and choking to death in ties. Otherwise, my busted shoulder is coming along, and I'm going to try to swing a golf club, do some swim- ming and get , cracking on a book. THE EASY WAY TO ROLL COINS NO NEED TO COUNT 5499 99 Pius ea. or 2 for tax Coin wrapping paper free at all banks Mount ' Forest Confederate Mount Forest. 323-1550 Listowel Banner 188 Wallace Ave. N. Listowel. 291-1660 ..P our entire selection of spring & summer Merchandise Ilelert Time app "We Care About You" 19 King St. North, Uptown! Waterloo (opposite Waterloo Theatre) - 886-1560 • Open Monday -Friday 9:30-5:30 - Saturday 9:30-5 p.m.