The Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-09-05, Page 21r
f„.
Fred and Heather Norman with Tanya, Reed and Todd, Gowanstown, Ontario.
Make arrangements for your portrait early
to assure delivery for Christmas.
Call us now at 343-2201.
Note: For those families only able to get together
between Christmas and New Years
(Dec. 27-30 inclusive), we will be open to serve you.
Call 343-2201 early, to reserve a time.
old 1: a1
lat
Palmerston
343.22(11
Shirley Whittin
Crossroads—Sept. 5, 19.114-4 :7
Thats a oodidea;
AtIe�r;..e.!th!nk!tis
We've been married for
more years than Coke has
varieties of soda pop, and
people often ask us the secret "
of our matrimonial longev-
ity.
(They don't ask that often,
actually. Just sometimes. In
fact in the past year I think
Y,ronly one person has actually
;tome right out and asked us
'Air the secret of staying
,marrried for a long time. Bit
But I can tell people are in -
rested. )
. I think the reason we have
Stayed married to each other
.for so long is that we are both
SO O steely -jawed and decisive.
We don't dither.
At least I'm pretty sure
that's the reason. We hardly
ever waver over choices and
because we both know that
the most reliable benchmark
of good mental health is the
ability to make a decision
and stick to it.
•
:»
Our fan illes have joined hands
to serve your fanuly beater.
wo families coming together
with a common purpose is a
cause for celebration. The
merger of National Trust and
Victoria and Grey Trust is no
exception. As The National Victo-
-ria and Grey Trust Company, we're
excited about the future. Both
yours and ours.
Mergers, however, raise new
questions. Here are some answers.
Will the service continue
uninterrupted?
Yes! It will be business as usual
with the same friendly faces
serving you.
Can I use my present account
number and cheques?
Yes, both will remain valid.
Will my savings remain secure?
Absolutely yes. We are one of
Canada's largest trust companies
and in addition, we have Canada
Deposit Insurance coverage.
If you have further questions,
call or drop by a branch near you.
You'll fun us working harder than
ever provi r more of the service
you want. Join us in celebrating
our renewed commitment to you,
your family and your community.
THE,NATIDNAL
VICTORIA AND GREY
TRUST COMPANY
Member: Canada Deposit insurance Corporation
We haven't always been so
decisive. At our wedding
when the minister turned to
me with his "Do you promise
to take this man etcerera"
question, I think I said, "Can
I get back to you on that?"
Several years later as we
were preparing to drive to
the hospital for the delivery
of our first-born, the Squire
ha , an indecisive moment.
Hed my shoes for me and
asked tenderly, "Are you
sure you want to go through
with this, sweetheart?"
Since those wobbly early
days, we have learned the
wonderful strength that
comes from firm resolution.
This decisiveness is the glue
that holds our marriage to-
gether. It certainly isn't the
food or the friendly cour-
teous service.
Decisions. Goodness
knows married life if fraught
with them, as in, "Good
Morning! Coffee? Instant?
Perked? Drip? De-caff?
Ccffeemate? Milk? Cream?
Sugar?" What a way to start
a day.
We often grocery shop to-
gether, and there's another
hint for those of you who
would stay wed at least until
you've run through your sup-
ply of personalized matches.
Shopping together prevents
one partner from yelling,
"Where the hell did all the
money go?" at the other.
And you always know who's
to blame for the impulse pur-
chases like the imported
lemur's milk cheese.
The last time, we shopped
we were expecting all the
kids home for the weekend,
so that left Pop pondering
pop (sugar -free? caffeine -
free? cans? bottles? dispos-
ables? return for deposit?)
and me considering chips.
Any way you slice it, a po-
tato is a potato. But once it's
deep fried and packed in alu-
minum foil, a potato's ident-
ity multiplies like a
Spielberg Gremlin. One
must decide between hot
barbecue and plain barbe-
cue; between sour cream 'n'
onion and salt and vinegar or
party pak, ripples or old
fashioned.
I made my decision and
moved on personal care
items, where I squinted at
the labels on the shampoo
bottles. "How would you
describe my hair?" Iasked
the Squire who had just fin-
ished agonizing over butter,
whipped butter, salt -free
butter, low -cal margarine,
regular margarine, and all
vegetable oil margarine in
decorator tubs or plastic
bags.
I persisted. "Be honest!
Would you call my hair hard
to manage? Oily? Dry -
damaged? Or just limp and
fine? I need to know."
"I'd go for normal," said
the Squire. "It certainly isn't
kinky."
That narrowed the choice
down to Extra Strength,
Wheat Germ and Honey,
Self -Adjusting, Protein Re -
Moisturizing, Balsam En-
riched and Anti -Dandruff. I
picked one, then steeled my-
self to deal with roll-on or
stick, leaf or endive, canned
or fresh., or frozen, boxes or
bags.
I know it sounds unbelieve-
able, but decision-making
comes easily after a while.
When faced with a sea of
choices, one ' must .either
think or sink.
Good decision making is
essential to a good marriage.
As the Squire himself put it,
"We decided years ago that I
would look after all the big
decisions and she would look
after all the small ones. So
far, nothing big has come up.
Backyard
Gardener
Dry flowers now
for ,winter bouquets.
, I remember well the year` I
grew a mixture of ornamen-
tal grasses for indoor winter
arrangements. Dried, they
made attractive displays to
greet visitors just inside the --
front door of our house.
Another very successful
drying adventure was a
small patch of wheat which,
when dried, made a pleasing
arrangement for the house. I
know people who, when
traveling in grain -growing
parts of the country, make it
a point to gather wheat and,
other grains to bring home
for winter arrangements.
Many, too, are the flowers
both in our gardens. and in
the wild that can be dried
just by hanging "them ; others
need to be buried in a chem-
ical desiccant.
Needing the more compli-
cated chemical treatment
are the rather fle by flower-
ed blossoms suctfts zinnias
and marigolds, asters, cal-
endulas, dahlias and pinks.
The drying agent is usually
silica gel, which contains.
absorbents to draw moisture
out of the flowers.
A shallow layer of . the
silica gel isplaced at the bot
tom of a covered container —
a box or a cake tin. The blos-
soms are removed from
their stems and placed, flat -
est side down, on the silica
gel. Then, more silica gel is
gently sprinkled around and
over the flowers until they
are completely covered.
The container, carefully
sealed, is left for at least four
days, longer for thicker flow-
ers like zinnias. They are
ready when the petals feel
crisp. Then, the silica gel is
carefully poured off, or the
flowers lifted out. Wire
stems are inserted into!'the
dried blossofns, amd wrap-
ped with green florists' ' pe.
I am sure that there will
come a time in my life when
I will be delving into this
drying procedure. But for
now, like most busy back-
yard gardeners, I'll be con-
tent with those many types of
flowers that suit the simpler
hang -and -dry method.
Among these are baby's
,,breath, astilbe, statice, blue
salvia, yarrow, globe amar-
anth (gomphrena), straw -
flowers, both crested and
plumed celosia, and honesty
(money plant, Lunaria) . The
home gardener on the look-
out will find many others.
Last year I noticed at the
corner of our herb garden
that several stalks of mar-
-joram had formed seed
heads which were rather at-
tractive. These added a
graceful touch to a dried 'ar-
rangement last winter.
Other interesting potential
dried material can be found
in the mature seed pods of
some common weeds,
gathered when the stems are
turning brown but before
frost. Some good prospects
are the pencil -thin spikes of
common plantain, Queen
Anne's lace, pearly everlast-
ing and goldenrod.
Interesting accent mater-
ial can be found in bare
branches of red -twigged
dogwood and wild roses with
their red hips, in wild aspar-
agus with berries, field
grasses and corn tassels.
Many of these can be ga-
thered on a dry day in late
summer, or when they have
naturally dried on the plant.
However; those garden flow-
ers suitable for hand drying
should be picked before their
prime, when the blossoms
are just half opened.
'Flowers for drying should
be picked in the middle of a
dry day, when there will be
the least amount of moisture
in them. The leaves are -re-
moved and flowers of the
same type are bound in
small bunches with an elas-
tic band about their stems.
I've found elastic to be more
practical than string be-
cause it contracts as the
stems dry. Stems bound with
string will sometimes slip
through as they shrivel,
shattering the blooms on the
ground.
The bundles are hung up-
side down in a dark", dry
place such as a closet or
attic. For the sake of good
air circulation, the bundles
should not be allowed to
touch.
The dried flowers can , be
left until the. season's flurry
of activity is over, and there
can be found a pleasant spot
of leisure time in which to
round up suitable containers
and arrange your preserved
treasures.
A famous old beech in
' Tennessee used to carry the
inscription: "D. Boone tilled
a bar on tree in year 1790".
"Cancer can
be b ten...
know it can: "
Please give
CANADIAN
CANCER
SOCIETY