The Citizen, 2007-07-19, Page 18Vacation time is upon us and some
people travel far, others just close to
home.
Heading to North Bay for a few
days were Jeff, Shannon, Jacob,
Mackenzie and Teagan to visit with
the Kelso family. The kids had fun
playing with cousins Hayden,
Jessica, Jared and Ella. They went to
Camp Isle by boat and had a camp-
fire. They stopped at French River to
visit Colleen and Bob Rowe as well.
Congratulations to Scott and
Colleen Bromley on the early arrival
of son Jake.
Paul and Dianne McCallum wel-
come their first grandson to add
along with two granddaughters.
Great-grandparents are Harold and
Pearl McCallum and Mabel Willis.
Patty Banks has returned from a
trip to Vanderhout, British Columbia.
She was there to attend the wedding
of her niece. Patty claims she took
the heat with her when she left. The
west had been really wet – but after
three days of heat, the grass was
already starting to die.
Patty also took the train to
Smithers to visit with friends. It was
so hot the train could only travel at 3
mph. because over 30°C, it’s unsafe
for the train to travel faster. While on
the train, she noticed a fellow who
looked familiar. Finally Patty learned
he was a fellow she had gone to
school with and he was the engineer
of the train. She hadn’t seen him in
30 years but was able to have a quick
visit with him.
Patty had a visit with Gwen Tee,
her friend whom she travelled to
England with. Gwen has also been
here to Ontario to visit Patty.
While away Patty saw moose and a
bald eagle, but no bears. She had a
great time with her family, with din-
ners, the wedding and visiting.
It was Brian and Shelley, Brandon,
Abby and Tyson’s turn to go to North
Bay to visit with Bryan and Heather
Kelso and family. Shopping, movies,
fishing and seeing a live porcupine
Bryan Kelso trapped was great. They
let the porcupine go out in the coun-
try.
It was party time for the celebra-
tion of Roelf Bos’s 50th birthday.
Wife Didi arranged a wonderful
party for family and friends of Roelf
and had 50 or so enjoy the evening.
Plenty of food, fun and laughter for
all.
A little slow these days to report
that Mary Mann has been a patient in
Listowel hospital. Here’s hoping
she’s feeling better and soon home.
Phyllis Mitchell was busy hosting
the Horticultural Society people at
her home. Garden tours and barbe-
cued hamburgers were on the agen-
da.
Crop advisor Ken says that the bit
of rain we had last week was good
but a bit more would be great.
Unfortunately, it’s also soon time to
get into the wheat harvest and no rain
for that would be better. Hard to keep
us farmers happy, isn’t it.
Now here’s something that many
of us will never have chance to do.Let’s take a complete stranger andamateur and teach them in a day,your profession. Matt Lee, a formerPro motocross rider and now teach-ing motocross with his AbsoluteTechniques business, was asked to dojust that. A pilot series for hopefullysometime next year, requested Mattteach someone to race motocross.
The pilot is in conjunction with
Canada’s Wonderland Reptilla
Centre and the participants are
employees who are asked what their
dream adventure or experience
would be.
Matt’s student was a professional
South African snake handler named
Lee and another business associate
tagged along.
They were at the Four Winds track
at Port Perry and actually were there
for two days. Day one was used to
show them about the bike, get equip-
ment and show them the fundamen-
tals of balance, starting, stopping and
prelim interviews of who, what and
why do they want to do this.
Unfortunately, the tag-along busi-
ness associate, failed the prelims and
became the ultimate cheerleader,
complete with pink goggles. Snake
handler Lee raced in the 125
Beginner class on the Sunday morn-
ing and did a great job, finishing the
race second last, but never falling off
the bike.
Matt reports it was fun but really
weird how filming is done, getting
directions, doing retakes for some
things and the behind scenes work. It
was great and an experience he won’t
forget.
Home for holidays with Howard
and Audrey Hackwell were Patricia
and Sebastian Andrades. It’s been a
busy week with trips to Stratford,
Blyth Farmers’Market, Bayfield and
to Uncle Elliott’s farm.
Sebastian is now big enough to cut
the lawn for Grandpa Howard, with
supervision. A lot of time was spent
watching the work going on across
the road at the Jackson place.
Cleaning out the barn, cutting grass,
etc. was interesting for Sebastian.
Then the well drillers showed up and
Sebastian was amazed at the big drill
truck and how it worked.
Hackwells now have a new well
and Sebastian can tell you how it’s
done. He was handy for cleaning up
as well, branches and stuff. He also
was helper at the Legion and Sunday
dance and is very popular with the
folks attending.
Celebrating birthdays last week
include Alicia Dalton, Doreen
Hackwell, Ed McClure, Monica
Ryan, Gloria Love, Jackie Glanville,
Steve Baan, Gary Godkin and
LeeAnn Konarski.
Keith and Gloria Wilbee just
returned home from a two-week trip
where they stayed with Gloria’s
cousins the Randles in Bedworth,
England.
They flew to Birmingham and
were met by the family. While
Canada was enjoying sunny skies,
England was experiencing a large
amount of rain with flooding in some
areas. They enjoyed a typical English
Sunday where they attend their local
church then enjoyed a dinner of
black angus beef and Yorkshire pud-
ding followed by a visit to the Hatton
Locks and had a picnic tea.
Monday was a trip to Conventrythen more wonderful food and metmore family and had more tea. OnTuesday, July 3 they took in TheRoyal Farm Show at Stoneleigh forthe day, the agricultural showcase forthe UK industry encompasses allaspects of farming, food and rurallife including livestock and equestri-an horses.
They also experienced a medieval
jousting demonstration.
They were particularly impressed
with how the livestock were present-
ed and judged. Keith was thrilled
with the Nuffield and Leyland
Tractor Club. It was a muddy day
with rain and sunshine mixed and
they cancelled the show the follow-
ing day due to weather conditions.
Wednesday they travelled to
Stratford-upon-Avon where Gloria’s
grandmother was born and of course
the home of William Shakespeare as
well. There they saw the beautiful
thatched roofs on the homes, which
is now an art in England, and Anne
Hathaway’s cottage. They saw
Warwick Castle.
Thursday they took the Virgin
Pendulina train to London for the
weekend. They visited Buckingham
Palace and the changing of the guard.
While they were walking down the
mall from the palace, the Tour De
France rode by on their bicycles.
They visited Kensington Place and
saw Princess Diana’s dresses. It was
then a ride on the London Eye, a
view of the parliament buildings and
of course Big Ben. They had a cruise
down the Thames to Greenwich, then
visited the Tower of London and saw
the crown jewels.
They took in other sites such as
Westminster Abby and St. Pauls
Cathedral, Lester and TrafalgarSquare. The highlight was a WestEnd Show in Covent Garden wherethey saw The Lion King. In Bedworth they took a day trip toAlthorp Manor, birthplace and burialplace of Diana, Princess of Wales.Gloria had a photo taken withDiana’s brother the ninth EarlSpencer autographing her book of
Althorp.
That evening was spent meeting
more family and enjoying an English
barbecue of lamb burgers. The next
day they drove to Liverpool and took
the magical mystery tour of the
Beatles story and visited another
cousin who lives just off Penny Lane.The next day they enjoyed a drivethrough the English farm countryand a visit to the Cotswolds.Their last day was spent atIronbridge and the Black CountryMuseum which included a tour of acoal mine. They call it black countrybecause apparently the fog of OldEngland was caused by the burning
of coal and this no longer applies. It
rained however all that day and they
made good use of their umbrellas
throughout the whole trip.
They flew home to a rainstorm. It
was a lovely holiday and a wonderful
25th anniversary trip.
PAGE 18. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, JULY 19, 2007.
The Citizen
541 Turnberry St.,
Brussels
519-887-9114
404 Queen St.,
Blyth
519-523-4792
Find these and other books at:
Sit back - relax and enjoy
some great summer reading
I WANT TO BE A TRUCK DRI-
VER
For the youngster who dreams of
trucks, a small, illustrated book
that gives an insight into what it’s
like to make a living driving a truck
in Canada. $3.99
HOMEBREW FAVORITES
Enjoy the added pleasure of creating
and drinking your own home-brewed
beer and ale. Instructions on choos-
ing ingredients plus 240 recipes for
beer, ale, porter, stout and European
and American lagers. $22.95
JOURNEY TO PERFECTION The
Agricultural Art of Ross Butler
Admire the art of Oxford County artist
Ross Butler whose paintings of cows and
horses were once in every Ontario class-
room. Read the story of his struggle to
have his art accepted. $29.95
DON’T TURN
YOUR BACK IN
THE BARN
Veterinarian Dave
Perrin recalls his
unforgettable first
year as a vet in
rural British
Columbia. $23.95
CHRISTIE’S TOY TRAINS
Toy trains have fired the
imagination of boys (and
men) for generations. This
beautifully illustrated book
tells the history of model
trains from pre-1900 through
the boom years of 1945-
1965. Models from U.S.,
Canada and Britain. (one
only) $34.99
Happy 40th Anniversary ~ July 22nd
to Betty and Ken Glanville
of Winthrop
Love and Best Wishes from ~ Mom and Dad Brown (Clara and Bill),
Norah and Steve Eckert and families, Bill and Lois Brown and families
LAWN
QUESTIONS?
Organic Programs
Available
524-2424
-Trust the Professionals -
ACCREDITED
By Jo-AnnMcDonaldCall 887-6570PEOPLE AROUNDWALTON