September/October 2010

Transcription

Chronicle
The
RAMARA
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2010
8
An ancient call
The common loon is estimated
to be between 50 and 80
million years old
Art attack
20
Seeds of hope
22
A fair to remember
24
Great grades pay off
32
Art lovers made more than
600 visits to the six points
on the first Ramara ArtPark
and Studio Tour in July
A Ramara woman is part of a
groundbreaking study of an
alternative to traditional radiation
therapy for cancer patients
The 120th edition of the Ramona
Fall Fair will be held Friday
and Saturday, Sept. 17 and 18
Our cover
Lagoon City photographer Gail Smith
took this photo on Sept. 30, 2006, on a
trip to Beausoleil Island near Port
Severn. It has special meaning for us
because it was the image we used on
the original mock-up of the magazine.
Smith shot it with a Canon EOS Digital
Rebel XT at 1/250th of a second, f/11.
ʻThe overcast conditions brought out
the colour of the leaves against the
grey rocks, which also framed the bay,ʼ
she says.
Contact us
I (705) 484-1576
I [email protected]
I www.ramarachronicle.com
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We live in Ramara
The Ramara Chronicle, September/October 2010
Page 1
do the same?”
One of the first things we
heard when we started the
In fact, Canada Post says, it
magazine was that Ramara has
is open to the notion of change,
an identity crisis. That is probaand would be willing to talk
bly true, just as it is for other
about new addresses if it remunicipal entities formed
ceived a formal request to do
through amalgamation, such as
so from the Township. Such a
the sprawling City of Kawartha
process is now under way in
Lakes to the east of us.
Collingwood.
One
Then there is the issue of
manifes- Dann Oliver took the Ramara
telephone listings. Until retation of Chronicle to Winnipeg in June. He is cently, one had to know
this crisis, seen here on the grounds of the
whether a Ramara resident was
we heard, Manitoba legislature, with his arm
listed under Orillia, Brechin or
around
a
statue
of
Nellie
McClung,
was that
Sebright in order to look the
one of the Famous Five, whose
mail adnumber up. But in August, the
Supreme Court challenge led to
dressed to women being legally recognized as
Orillia and area phone book
places
came out with residents listed
ʻpersonsʼ in Canada. Next time
Darleen Cormier such as
youʼre out of town, do what Dann
alphabetically regardless of
Lagoon City and Sebright, for does. Take the magazine with you
where they live in the district.
instance, would not get through and send us a photo like this one.
A spokesperson for Yellow
unless the destination included
Pages Group says the change was made in the inthe correct Canada Post jurisdiction: Brechin and
terests of clarity, to make listings “more searchable,
Orillia respectively in the above examples.
more useable.” We think it’s a good first step.
Is that true? Well, yes and no. Canada Post says
It’s all about boundaries: who sets them and why,
that, technically, it does require the jurisdiction in
a point addressed by correspondent Rae Fleming,
the address, but in smaller markets like Ramara,
who tries to sort things out a bit on Page 16 in his
where local postal employees know the area, its
piece about the communities of Washago, Sebright
omission should not prevent mail delivery.
and Gamebridge, all of which lie partly in Ramara
To test the theory, The Chronicle posted several
and partly elsewhere.
pieces of mail to addresses in “Lagoon City, RaThrough all of this, of course, correspondent
mara,” and just “Ramara,” with the correct postal
Kevin
Lehman is confused. He writes about his becodes but without the supposedly obligatory Orilfuddlement
on Page 17.
lia, Brechin, or in some cases, Beaverton. The mail
Yes,
it
can
be confusing, but no matter where you
arrived promptly in each case.
live
in
this
township
– Udney, Uptergrove, AtherNevertheless, people throughout the township
ley, Longford Mills — you can always be, as
bristle at having to use an address that does not, in
Oliver describes himself, “a proud Ramaran.”
fact, reflect where they live. As Ramara resident
So sit back, relax and enjoy your read.
Dann Oliver writes in a letter to The Chronicle,
—Darleen Cormier
“Why does a Crown Corporation get to tell me
where I live?”
Printed by Rose Printing in Orillia.
Oliver, whose mailing address the post office
Website by Downtown Computers in Orillia.
says should include “RR# 7 Stn Main, Orillia,”
would like to see consistency in the furtherance of
community identity. “We pay our property taxes to
Ramara, not Orillia,” he writes. “The voters’ lists
show us living in Ramara, not Orillia. When Elections Canada knows where we live and makes it
public knowledge, why can’t a Crown Corporation
A Canadian iconʼs dark side
St. Andrewʼs in Brechin
Derailment remembered
The old ice house
A short history of our history
A Senior Moment
Kiteboarding on our shores
Railway heritage
Memories of MacKenzie
Until all are fed
Church fundraiser
Where we are, sort of
Gardening
Road-trip fundraiser
Planning issue drags on
Mission to Kenya
All-candidatesʼ meetings
Brechin market
Dog days
Community Calendar
Food feature
2
4
6
7
10
11
12
13
14
16
17
18
26
29
31
33
35
36
37
38
41
Darleen Cormier, Publisher
Rob McCormick, Managing Editor
Linda Keogh, Manager, Sales and Marketing
This monthʼs contributors
Beverley Baker, Suzan Bertrand, Rod
Brazier,Doug Cooper, Adrienne Davies, Rae
Fleming, Geoff Graham, Harry Hall. Alisa
Herriman, David A. Homer, Larry Kirtley, Kevin
Lehman, Bob Poyntz, Pam Poyntz, Howard
Raper, Gail Smith, Louise St. Amour, Donna
Wood.
See The Ramara Chronicle online
in full colour at www.ramarachronicle.com.
For advertising rates, contact
Linda Keogh, Manager, Sales
and Marketing, at 705-437-2032,
or email [email protected].
Investments, Insurance,
Employee Benefits
Planning First
tm
georgianbayfinancial.com
Trevor Huff
705-329-4858
trevor@
Kelly Schnurr
705-326-5830
kellyschnurr@
Jed Levene
705-259-5334
jed@
Book by local author
takes unflinching look
at famed broadcaster
Page 2
Argyle resident and historian Rae Fleming’s
biography of legendary journalist and broadcaster Peter Gzowski was published by
Dundurn Press in late July. Fleming was interviewed by The Chronicle several weeks earlier.
Why did you choose Peter Gzowski as a
subject?
I had listened to him for a long time because
part of his career was during my days as a graduate student in Saskatoon, and when you are a graduate student, a lot of work is done at home.
Then, in 1987, when I was caring for my
mother, who was dying of cancer at home, I listened to Gzowski daily. When I was researching, I
read ever so many letters from people who said he
saved their sanity, usually mothers of young children who in the 1980s were forced to stay at
home. I understood what they meant because of
my circumstances. It was such a welcome voice. It
was the distraction for three hours, and that was a
long time, the whole morning. Your spirits were
uplifted and what you were doing became less
onerous.
I had met Peter’s son, about a year after Peter
had died in 2002, and I asked him whether any of
his father’s writerly friends was writing a biography, and Peter Jr. checked and said no, and I said I
think I’ll write. I didn’t need anyone’s authorization. I just wanted to make sure that Robert Fulford or Harry Bruce, two of his closest friends,
weren‘t writing about him. I realized later why
they never would have thought about a biography
because they already knew how complicated their
friend was. He was a terribly complicated man,
and very difficult to write about, because there
was this myth.
Why do you think itʼs important to have a
biography of Gzowski?
I suppose because he was such a towering figure. If you made a list of the 10 best-known, most
influential people in the 1980s, when he was at his
peak, he would probably be on everyone’s list.
I came across a story about a fundraiser in Edmonton. Peter had donated a signed book, and so
had Pierre Trudeau. Peter’s work sold for twice as
much as Trudeau’s. That’s how popular and wellliked he was. Peter just appealed to people with
that persona.
Why do you think he was so appealing?
It was because we all like charming, gregarious
people. We are drawn to attractive celebrities like
moths to flames. In Peter’s case it was the voice
that was good-looking.
Peter himself was not good-looking in any classic sense. Some women, though, found him very
attractive. When I asked what drew them to him,
the focus was on the eyes. When you were talking
to him his eyes would never move off you, and the
eyes were one of his greatest features for charm-
ing.
June Callwood said a man who listened to
women without condescension in the 1970s and
’80s was special. But in private, Peter put women
down. He put everybody down. In public, though,
on the radio, he had great respect for almost everyone. Women believed, even on This Country in the
Morning, that they had found a man who was
sympathetic, but it was an invented persona.
What kind of journalist was he?
His early career was superb. As he became more
famous, he lowered his standards, and in the end
he was writing fluff for Canadian Living and that
sort of thing. Anything he wrote attracted an audience, but his peak as a journalist was for
Maclean’s and Saturday Night in the 1960s, and
occasionally he would write a near-brilliant piece
in later life. But he got, as I think we would all get
if people are too indulgent, he got a little bit lazy
and maybe tired as he got older.
He aged very rapidly once he hit 60. He was an
old man in his 60s because he hadn’t taken care of
himself, and it could be the lack of energy, but I
think a lot of it had to with the fact that he was a
figure of adulation. A lot of the stories he wrote for
Canadian Living were repeats. You could go back
to Maclean’s and find a very good article and he
would do it as a throw-off, much briefer in Canadian Living in the 1990s.
He could have gone on and been a very good
journalist all his life, but I think it was part of that
personality, that he wanted something for greater
appeal, and he made some mis-steps, for instance
talk-show television. And I am sure he knew he
couldn’t do it, but whenever he failed at something, he wanted to try again to see if he could be a
success the next time.
What about his work as a broadcaster?
When he was at his peak he was a very good
broadcaster on radio, because radio allows you to
circle around a little more. On television, you
don’t have time for that. On radio you can chat
and appear to be very casual, but he always knew
where he was headed. Peter at his height would
take these politicians and writers and would get
answers out of them that very few other people
would.
When he had the right person and the right subject, he was fine. He liked people who had his
kind of charm and were intelligent and who had
substance. Sometimes the substance wasn’t always there. Often, the interview became the important thing and the quality of the work behind it
not so much. But that’s hard to judge, and I tried to
be careful. Fortunately, a friend in Regina who’s a
retired English prof went through everything and
whenever she felt there was a put-down she said
no, you’re not being fair to either Peter or the interviewee.
When Peter was good he was very good.
How will history judge him?
I think history, on the whole, in spite of what I
have revealed in the book, will leave him pretty
high up. If you made a list of the 10 best broadcasters, he will always be there. The problem, of
course, is how long will he be remembered?
What impact did his politics have on his work?
Peter could be frustrating to neo-conservatives.
Peter Worthington said when Gzowski died,
“Gzowski’s Canada was not my Canada.” I would
argue that he was a strong, powerful voice for the
left and left of centre. I think today it’s taken
Stephen Harper a long time to even make those of
us who were lulled by Gzowski even consider
that there may be another way of running a country.
If you took everyone who scanned his show, it
was a million. If you took the hard-core listeners it
was 200,000 to 300,000, but that’s probably all
you need to perpetuate for some time beyond the
death of Gzowski the idea that Canada’s identity is
kind of tied up with the NDP and the left-liberals,
and not with the conservatives. Peter hated people
like Mulroney.
I think Peter was an important voice in convincing us that we needed the state to look after the
CBC and medicare, and that’s what differentiated
us from the Americans. It’s not true, of course.
The Americans had state-run facilities, too, and
even more today.
But I think Gzowski was very influential in
that kind of long-term thinking. He did have this
bias. He couldn’t understand, even on an intellectual basis, why anyone would say that the state
should not be throwing millions of dollars at the
CBC and then never questioning where the money
is going. The critics of state-supported institutions
were almost not allowed on his show.
What drove Gzowski?
He loved being famous, although he always denied that. He liked the attention, even though he
was sometimes rude to people. He liked being
known. He liked being good at what he did, and I
don’t deny that he wanted to be the best there was,
but he did want fame.
(Continued on next page)
‘Out of great darkness comes brilliance’
(Continued from previous page)
You can even see that in the charity golf tournaments he held, and this is where I may be criticized. I suspected the reason for the Peter Gzowski
Invitationals was at least 50 per cent because Peter
liked being a celebrity. He would invite people to
The Briars for these big tournaments or he would
do them across the country. And up to the Briars
would come Premier David Peterson in a helicopter, and all the Canadian stars of the day from ballet to music. I suspect Pierre Burton saw through
all that. I don’t think he ever came to one. Pierre, of
course, also liked to be famous, but not with
Gzowski. It was like they were taking each other’s
light away. There was unspoken competition for
Mr. Canada.
What other conclusions did you reach about
him?
I would say he was the sort of person who no one
should have been required to live with. Especially
his first two partners, one of whom he married, I
think he mistreated them. I know with his wife it’s
quite clear that he was unfaithful while she was
having his children. He had a secret child with a
woman with whom he had an ongoing affair that
lasted until he died.
I think what I have tried to argue is that sometimes out of great darkness comes brilliance. We
can not understand genius without understanding
that probably behind every genius there’s an enormous amount of doubt. I think that’s just normal.
And the doubt can turn into something even worse,
like medical depression, which Peter did suffer
from at one point.
I think you could have called Peter an alcoholic
in his later days and when he went in to get himself
cured of smoking, of course far too late in 2000,
the clinic was for smoking and alcohol. He didn’t
say he was in for alcohol, but there were hints he
was being tended to for that, too. He got off drink-
Page 3
The problem with the biography
is that the biographer has the
advantage of hindsight, and one
tries not to judge.
Gzowski author
to speak at
Ramara Library
Rae Fleming (left),
author of Peter
Gzowski: A
Biography, will
speak and read
from his book at the
Ramara Centre
Library on Tuesday,
Oct. 19 from 2 to
3:30 p.m. Admission
is free. For
information contact
the library at 325-5776. Flemingʼs book is
available at Manticore Books in Orillia. It
has been the subject of articles in
Macleanʼs Magazine (Aug. 30), The
Winnipeg Free Press and National Post
(both on Aug. 21).
ing and smoking, and then in the latter part of his
life, the last year or so, he went back to both. He
knew he was dying.
There was this streak of self-pity in him all his
life. I was related to someone who had that streak
and it was almost as though this person had never
grown beyond the age of 15. Someone who at 70
was still blaming other people, unable to come to
terms and say maybe I’ll have to sort out my own
problems, and that’s the way Peter was.
If something failed, it was the producer’s fault.
And at the end of his life it was his body’s fault for
letting him down. He had to blame something and
at the end of his life it was his body.
I think there are more people even than we realize who kind of plateau at age 15, and will simply
not take responsibility, just as a 15-year-old does
not. With Peter, it was the same thing, and I think
the producers knew that. One of his last executive
producers said, “We really liked that boyish nature” because the curiosity was always there. But
the downside was that the boy never grew up. He
said later in life that he was always Holden
Caulfield, and Caulfield we only see as the teenage
rebel. Peter also thought of himself as a victim, and
I suppose in Caulfield there is also the rebel-victim.
How do you feel you treated Gzowski?
I hope fairly, but I am sure that some of those
who dote on him still will find that I have been a
bit harsh. I think I have offered enough proof for
anything that might be considered harsh, but we’ll
see. In this small country, the CBC is still big, and
there are people who are still protecting Peter
Gzowski’s persona.
What do you hope people will take from the
book?
The problem with the biography is that the biographer has the advantage of hindsight, and one tries
not to judge. You shouldn’t judge the past by the
present, and it’s very difficult not to sometimes. I
wonder if reading biographies, especially this kind
of biography, might help teach people to perhaps
understand themselves a little better, to say, “I
never thought of it before, but I also have somewhat of a dark side.” You always hope people will
read and review your work, or even say nasty
things about it, but even worse than being talked
about is not being talked about. The worst thing
would be if it gets published and it’s just forgotten.
— Rob McCormick
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Page 4
Catholics settled
in central Mara
St. Andrew’s in Brechin designated as a parish in 1884
Photos and story
by ROD BRAZIER
While the first settlers came to what was then
Mara Township in the 1820s, habitation began in
earnest in the mid-1840s. British, Scottish and
Irish immigrants in particular, many fleeing hardship at home, arrived in significant numbers along
the eastern shore of Lake Simcoe. One characteristic shared by most of these people, in addition to
a strong desire for a better life, was a deep religious faith.
A survey of the township had been completed in
1836, and many immigrants took advantage of
available land grants. As it happened, the Irish pioneers settled largely in the centre of the township, while the Scots and English settled in the
north and south respectively. Thus the area along
Lake Simcoe from a little south of Brechin to Uptergrove was almost entirely Irish and Catholic.
For many years the spiritual needs of Catholics
in Mara were served by priests based in Kingston,
Whitby and Oshawa. When Brock was designated
a parish in 1855, the care of the souls of Mara
Catholics formed part of the mission of the parish
priest, who made frequent trips into the area. As
there were no churches in the township at the
time, the priest would provide for people’s spiritual needs in designated homes or schoolhouses
as available. In I857 the first Catholic parish in
Mara Township was established at Uptergrove.
Originally called the Mara church, it is now
known as St. Columbkille’s.
The village of Brechin was founded by James
Patrick Foley, who arrived in 1860, and who
named the community after his wife’s birthplace,
Brechin, Scotland, near Edinburgh. As the community of Brechin developed, it became a mission
of the Uptergrove parish.
To serve a growing population, it was determined that a Catholic church was needed in
Brechin. St. Andrew’s was consecrated in January
1869 to serve residents of Mara from the Talbot
river in the south to the Seventh and Eighth concessions in the north, eastward to the East
Sideroad (now Highway 169) and north again to
the 11th Concession. In early days there would
have been more than 120 families in the parish. In
1884, Brechin was designated as a parish distinct
from Uptergrove, and was assigned its own parish
priest.
Materials for
new church
were local
Page 5
Between 1884 and 1888, a rectory and a school
were added to the parish grounds. The funds for
the school were donated by James Patrick Foley,
who also established a perpetual endowment for
the school. Foley Catholic School still bears the
name of its benefactor. A parish hall was added in
1914.
In 1924, it was decided to take down the old St.
Andrew’s and build a new church.
The first sod was turned on April 6, 1925, the
cornerstone laid on June 14, and consecration by
the Archbishop celebrated on Dec. 15, 1925.
The red bricks of the original church were used
for the inner wall of the new; virtually all other
building materials — sand and gravel, lumber,
limestone and field stone — were sourced locally.
The exception was the fir shingles, which came
from British Columbia,
The construction of the current St. Andrew’s
was a product of immense, devoted effort by virtually every member of the parish community.
Parishioners, even some non-Catholics, gave generously and freely of their time and resources to
build a church home for their faith.
As the Catholics of St. Andrew’s continue their
fundraising efforts to pay for much-needed
restorations recently undertaken, they are inspired
by the legacy of those whose courage, faith and
dedication are apparent in every corner of their
beloved church, and aspire to ensure their spiritual home will be available to nourish generations
to come.
Rod Brazier, a Lagoon City photographer,
writer and consultant, can be reached at
[email protected].
$IFDLPVUPVS/&8MJOFPG
0VUEPPS$BCJOFUSZ
Udney station met abrupt end
Page 6
Family member recalls the night a box car crashed through the floor of her bedroom
By DOUG COOPER
Community Correspondent
Sunday, Oct. 28, 1962 had been a typical autumn day in the small community of Udney. None
of the residents could have imagined as they prepared to turn in for the night, that an incident one
concession to the north would lead to a night of
confusion and turmoil, and would permanently
alter the community.
Just before 11 p.m., at the level crossing on the
11th Concession, a southbound train and an automobile collided.
The impact knocked a set of wheels off the
track. When the wheels hit a switch at the 10th
Concession, more than 20 of the train’s 70 cars derailed, some crashing into and through the Udney
station.
The station at Udney was similar to train stations all over Ontario during the first half of the
20th century.
What made it unusual was that it was also a
family residence. In the late 1950s, the CNR had
decommissioned the station, but it remained the
home of Jack Wilson, his wife, Marie, and their
six children.
Jack, a section foreman for the railway, and his
20-year-old son Bill, a construction worker, were
working away from home. Daughter Marilyn, then
17, had left home shortly before 11 p.m. to return
to Toronto, where she was employed as a typist.
Marie, a nurse’s aide, had completed her 3-to-11
p.m. shift at Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital and was
on her way home.
Daughters Isabel, 15, Jackie 12, and Sandra 2,
were asleep in two upstairs bedrooms when the
train came crashing into the building.
It had been little Sandra’s birthday, and those
family members who were at home that day had
celebrated with cake.
One can only imagine what must have gone
through Marie’s mind as she approached the crossing that night to see twisted rail cars, her home destroyed and thinking that her children might be
inside the building.
“My mother had to crawl under the train to get
to the house, because the wreckage was blocking
the road,” Marilyn recalls. “I know from talking to
Mom that the train crew, because they went past
all the time, knew there was a family there and
there were children, and they wanted to get them
out of the house.”
The collision had destroyed the first floor of the
station, and a box car had jackknifed through the
floor of the bedroom where Isabel was sleeping.
“There was a terrifying explosion,” recalls Isabel Kean-Bumstead, one of the three sisters upstairs, now a Midhurst resident and retired
secretary for the Simcoe County Health Unit.
“I thought a war had started. I thought a bomb
had dropped. I found myself on the floor because
the box car came through the boys’ bedroom on
the ground floor and came through the floor of
my bedroom.
“I could hear all the bricks rolling on the roof
and clanging and banging with things settling, and
The former train station at Udney.
“Coming down the stairs we
saw the wall that used to be
in the living room wasnʼt
there any more.”
Udney derailment survivor
Isabel Kean-Bumstead
I couldn’t get myself oriented. All of this plaster
dust was coming down.”
Isabel credits a member of the crew with getting
her moving.
“As I was trying to pull myself together, this
man, a member of the train’s crew, was out there
yelling, ‘Get out of the house. If there’s anyone in
the house, get out.’ That’s what made me get up
and do something. I was dazed, and it was his
voice that made me get up.”
She made her way to the other second-floor bedroom where Jackie and Sandra were.
“They were in a bedroom on the opposite side of
the house. I went into Jackie’s bedroom and she
was up, and there was a big hole in the wall. So I
asked Jackie, ‘Where’s Sandy?’ So we checked
and Sandy was sound asleep in the crib. She slept
through the whole thing.”
The children made their way down the wobbly
stairs.
“Coming down the stairs we saw the wall that
used to be in the living room wasn’t there any
more,” Isabel says.
“We went into the kitchen. Jackie was carrying
Sandy because I was trying to open the door out of
Illustration by Doug Cooper
the kitchen to get out, and it wouldn’t open. The
men were out there by the door and I was saying,
‘I can’t open it. I’m going to go to the window.’
“They wanted to break the window beside the
door, and I said, ‘Don’t break the window. The
other one will open.’ So I made them walk all the
way around the house to the other window. Why a
broken window would have mattered, I don’t
know. I must have been in shock.”
As rescuers were helping the children through
the window, Marie ran up the driveway.
“I said, ‘Don’t worry, Mum. It’s OK. A train just
hit the house,’” Isabel recalls.
No one was injured. News stories of the day reported that the family dog had died, but Isabel
says the pet was unharmed.
The outcome could have been much different,
though. “My brother Billy and his friend, Ross
Murney, stayed in the lower bedroom that the box
car went through. He was a good friend of Bill’s.”
Both had been away at work that night.
“It’s also a good thing I let the fire go out,” Isabel says. “We had wood stoves in the house and
when I went to bed I didn’t put any more wood on
the fire. I just let it go out early in the evening. If
the fires had been going, there could have been a
fire, too.”
The driver of the automobile, one William
McLaughlin, was taken to a Toronto hospital and
later died, Isabel says.
The station was demolished after the accident.
Today there is nothing to mark the site of the
Udney station or the accident that led to its demise. The building, that was so important to a way
of life in the community, exists only in memories.
Doug Cooper is a Washago artist and writer. He
can be reached at [email protected].
The old ice house
Page 7
By HARRY HALL
Carden Field
Naturalists
My relatives’ trip to the cottage on Lake Dalrymple took two days by train and ox-cart
It was not always easy getting to the cottage
from the town of Markham.
Not that long ago (in the 1870s), my relatives
took a train to Udney and then an ox-cart (soon
modernized to horses) to the end of the lake, with
all their needs for several weeks. It was before
those noisy, smelly, new inventions called automobiles. Yes, there was a railway station functioning
in Udney until the 1950s but it was destroyed in
1962 when a train derailed and levelled it.
Back then, cottage season ended on Labour Day.
Who would ever have thought that we would be
enjoying weekends at the lake in September and
October?
My relatives’ supplies would have included
something for keeping food cool; in those days it
was ice. A barge took them down the lake to “the
camp,” a piece of summer property populated with
tents for several years, until finally a cabin was
built in the early 1900s, and eventually a cottage.
After all there are only so many directions you can
add on to a cabin.
What used to be a two-day effort getting to the
lake now takes two hours.
As time passed and more people appeared, a
road was built, and cars and trucks began to show
up. Then came electricity, and finally a phone line
— a party-line we called it — shared with 17 other
people. Two long and one short ring and you could
hear all those receivers lifting. Confidentiality was
out of the question.
Eventually, when people lived here permanently, an ice house became a necessity and it offered a chance for local farmers to make a little
cash. For a cottage, ice was a staple since there
were no refrigerators or freezers. The ice box was
where you kept your perishables. The farmers cut
the ice with long saws in the winter and stored it in
sawdust, which was plentiful as a byproduct of the
wood one had to cut for heat and cooking. Sawdust was often used for insulation in the walls of
houses.
To get ice, you rowed your boat, or later drove,
to the nearest ice house and the farmer would take
you back to a barn board shack in the shade of the
bush, where he would sweep off the sawdust, slip
on the tongs and carry the block to your transportation.
When you arrived back at your cottage, if you
Special to The Chronicle
The Hall family in a 1911 photograph. A tent can be seen in the background, and a stringer of
muskies in the foreground.
did not have tongs it was always a challenge to get
that slippery, wet, heavy lump into the ice box
without dropping it. It would last a few days, depending on the weather. Then it was back to the
farmer for another block.
Cutting ice on Lake Simcoe actually became a
significant source of work and income for a lot of
local people in the winter. Carloads of ice were
shipped to cities for many years until the commercial manufacture of ice became a reality.
All cooking was done over open fires, until
woodstoves became popular. Pies and cookies were
special — even more delicious if maple syrup was
added. Local entrepreneurial farmers began to
show up with eggs, milk, vegetables, homemade
bread preserves, honey and even pickles.
We had to go across the lake to get maple syrup,
and there was always a pitcher on the table at
every meal. It was another staple.
The Bird House
Nature Company
Supplies and Gifts
for Nature Lovers
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Water for drinking purposes was at first obtained
at a spring across the lake, not too far from the
syrup man. Before long, a well was dug and a long
handled pump was in place. Pumping water was
good exercise and a guess as to how many pumps
one had to make before the water began to flow
could make it fun.
Meat was readily available. The lake was full of
fish and it was impossible not to catch something.
Bait was easy to catch also — lots of frogs in the
reeds along the shore, and there were leeches
under the rocks. Minnow traps took only a few
minutes to fill up. An old chewed-up wooden
“plug” would be used rarely prior to the “double
buffalo” spinners, which were the favourite lure
for lunge (muskies) at that time. Pickerel and bass
were mainstays. Catfish was really sweet, with virtually no bones. Believe it or not, there were no
pike then.
There was no radio, no TV, nor electronic
games. There were, however, cards, puzzles, and
checkers.
Our imaginations kept us constantly busy exploring: catching butterflies, frogs, clams and minnows. We climbed trees and built forts, had
bonfires with hot dogs and marshmallows and did
a lot of fishing. Big Hughie, that gigantic muskie,
is still out there. He is probably 130 years old now,
but we know he is still there and we’ll catch him
one day. We’ll put him back, too. It just wouldn’t
be right to end his days.
It was a simpler life in a simpler time. In many
ways I miss it.
Harry Hall is a founding member of
the Carden Field Naturalists.
An
ancient
call
Page 8
The common loon is
estimated to be between
50 and 80 million years old
Larry Kirtley
Avian Affairs
By DAVID A. HOMER
There are a lot of people in this country who are
not bird watchers, or “birders.” But everyone, including the youngest, knows at least one bird.
Perhaps there is no other bird as recognizable as
the common loon. Its likeness graces the Canadian $1 coin; it is the national bird of Canada, the
official bird of Ontario; thousands of Ontario car
license plates carry its image, and it is certainly an
iconic symbol of Ontario’s cottage country. Gavia
Immer, its scientific name, has been considered
sacred in many parts of the world and it has been
woven into the very fabric of many cultures.
The familiar “call of the loon” has been heard
echoing across our lakes for millions of years,
perhaps longer than any other bird, as it is estimated to be between 50 and 80 million years old.
That’s why you find loons at the very beginning
of most bird field guides.
It is very difficult to distinguish males from females. Males tend to be just a little larger. They
do tend to mate for life, but only spend the summers together. They winter along the eastern
seaboard or even on the Great Lakes when couples go their separate ways. They meet up again
on their home lake, where they spend the summer
months.
When they do return, the males stake out their
territory and, if they are going to breed, get down
to business, which takes place on the shore. Loons
don’t necessarily breed every year. They may
breed for two or three successive years, then take
a year off. As their legs are positioned far back on
the body to facilitate swimming and diving, loons
are not well suited for walking, so the nests are
build on small bogs or on an island where they
can easily maneuver to it from the water. They are
not great nest builders. Nest materials consist of
dried grasses or reeds just flattened down to afford some protection for the eggs.
Loons lay one or two olive-brown, splotched
eggs, which are incubated by both parents for
about 30 days. As soon as the chicks dry after
hatching, they are coaxed into the water. The nest
is then abandoned. The adults keep the young very
close to them in the first few weeks, even providing rides on their backs to keep them warm and to
protect the young birds from hungry pike, muskies
and turtles. The adults feed them small minnows
and gradually increase the size of the fish or crayfish as they grow. The parents bring the young
close to shore to teach them to dive and fish. At
first, it is a humorous event to watch as the young
bird, like a cork, pops up to the surface soon after
its shallow dive.
As summer fades at this time of year, the adults
wander farther from the young bird, leaving it on
its own for hours at a time. By the end of October
both parents leave for the migration south. The
young are left to fend for themselves, many times
not leaving the lake until it is almost covered in
ice. Sometimes, a young bird doesn’t get out in
time and will die frozen into the ice. Those that get
David A. Homer
out before the ice sets in migrate singly or in small
groups. They move quite quickly to the wintering
location, flying at speeds of up to 100 miles an
hour.
The juvenile birds will stay in the wintering location until they are about four years old. Only
then will they return to the location where they
were raised. Finding a lake location and a mate is
a very difficult and time-consuming challenge.
Male birds are very aggressive, and frequently a
young bird will attack an older male bird in its territory, killing or drowning it and then taking over
its mate. Many lakes will have two or three breeding pair, but have four or five juvenile birds
“standing by in the wings” waiting the opportunity
to take over a good territory and/or a mate.
Loons face many threats, including high water
levels that swamp a nest, waves from high powered boats, predation from raccoons and other
birds, acid rain, which destroys life in the lake,
and botulism from toxin-infected fish.
In the words of the great American naturalist
Aldo Leopold, “The Lord did well when he put the
loon and his music in the land.”
May it ever be so.
David A. Homer is the past president of the
Carden Field Naturalists. He can be reached at
[email protected].
Page 9
Photos by David A. Homer
Strong on the environment
Ward 2 Councillor John OʼDonnell has served on
Ramara Township Council for 10 years. During the last
term he was Chairman of Environmental Services. In
that time, Ramara has received more than $1 million in
funding. Projects include:
$660,000 for installation of water meters throughout all
Township-serviced areas
More than $250,000 in stewardship grants for Ramara
residents
$192,000 to take 13 septic systems off Lake Simcoe
and put them on sewers
Also, $165,000 in further funding is available through
Lake Simcoe Region Conservation Authority for
stewardship programs in and around Ramara creeks
for such projects as septic upgrades, shoreline
restoration, tree planting, etc.
RE-ELECT
John OʼDonnell, Ward 2
Over the next term, I will continue to diligently pursue all the grant monies possible
for our residents under new and upcoming Provincial programs. I would appreciate
your support when you vote on Oct. 25.
A short history of our history
Page 10
By ADRIENNE DAVIES
Where did our history go?
Surely during the 100-plus years of our existence as a municipality there must be scores of
printed records of land holdings, taxes, births and
deaths. So where are they?
To understand what happened to our historical
documents, you must have some idea of our history and political affiliations. It has been an interesting road to where we are now.
When Rama and Mara first came into being,
they were part of the large area known as York. All
municipal records were archived in county buildings in the City of York.
In the mid-1800s, Rama and Mara joined the
townships that made up the new Ontario County,
whose county offices, land registry and courthouse
were in Whitby. On Jan. 1, 1974, Durham Region
was formed and townships north of the Trent
River/Canal, namely Mara and Rama, joined Simcoe County, whose seat is in Midhurst, Springwater Township. Whitby continues in its official
capacity for the Region of Durham.
In 1994, with amalgamation of the townships
into Ramara, municipal records from Rama were
sent to Midhurst, but a lot of historical records remained in the area at the Orillia Public Library.
(Due to lack of space, there are no records kept in
our municipal offices in Brechin.)
When churches close, their records go to the
diocese or the presbytery; organizations like the
Orangemen and the Shriners keep their own
records, as do railways.
To understand what
happened to our historical
documents, you must have
some idea of our history and
political affiliations. It has
been an interesting road to
where we are now.
So, there you have it. If you are looking for
something specific, you have several avenues to
explore.
The Internet is a wonderful tool for searchers of
history. The Ramara Historical Society has a website (www.ramarahistoricalsociety.net) on which
one can find photos, documents, cemetery records
and written histories, all pertaining to Ramara and
its families.
A sister site for Carden is online as well. At
www.simcoe.ca, a viewer can click on the culture
and information tab to find a list of materials
stored at Simcoe County Archives. Some of the
material has been digitized, but a trip to the reading room next to the Simcoe County Museum will
give you physical access to many documents and
records, including the Tweedsmuir histories kept
by local Women’s Institutes.
The Orillia Museum of Art and History site
www.orilliamuseum.org lists articles and documents which one can access for a fee. The records
for Durham Region and the old Ontario County
are a little more difficult to find, requiring some
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digging on the part of the researcher.
What should you do if you are on the other end
of the problem, not looking for answers, but wondering what to do with the papers you found in
your aunt’s attic, or the account books passed
down from your great-grandfather?
If you want to keep the documents for yourself
or your family, but are willing to share their contents with others, the Ramara Historical Society
can scan them and post them on the website for all
to view, thereby preserving your documents in
digital form for posterity, while you get to keep
your own history.
Consider limiting the handling of your originals
and making an attempt to preserve them. There is
an archival spray which may retard the aging
process and locally, Lahay’s, Under Construction,
and The Shadowbox all have acid- and lignin-free
paper for mounting documents. Unfortunately, this
type of paper is a relatively new development; all
old papers have acid in them, and grow ever more
fragile with age.
When the Ramara Centre was built, a room was
to be designated a history room, but the costs of
display and storage cabinets were prohibitive. The
Historical Society has been fundraising to obtain a
space for your donations. We are eagerly anticipating the new Township building in Brechin, especially as the Historical Society has been consulted
about possible storage and display space.
There are private collectors who have a connection with the Society and who would be happy to
store items until such time as we have an official
space for them.
The Orillia Museum of Art and History solicits
material from a 15-mile radius around Orillia, and
the bylaws of the Simcoe County Archives allow
them to collect papers, “especially of an original
nature that document the history of the County.”
Our preference, and hopefully yours, is that our
history remain in Ramara, so that future generations will not have the same trouble uncovering it
as we now do.
Adrienne Davies is the secretary of the
Ramara Historical Society. She can be reached
at [email protected]. The society meets the
third Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m.
at the Ramara Centre.
They followed the trees
Page 11
Pine-stump fences and cedar rails are among the remnants of the local logging industry
My father-in-law, Frederick C. Baker, was born
in 1906 in a log home on the shores of the Head
River. His family were pioneers in the Sebright
area in the mid 1800s. The family oral history
tells that Fred’s maternal grandfather, Robert
Young, was the first white settler in the Sebright
area and that he lived there for several years before discovering the lake that bears his name,
Young’s Lake.
A Senior Moment
By BEVERLEY
BAKER
Grandfather Young did not start out as a lumberman. His occupation was to ride what was locally referred to as The Pony Express. He
travelled on horseback from the County Town of
Whitby, bringing the mail to the Atherley area.
As a sideline, he often carried small items for
sale to the families along the way, like a country
pedlar. It was his custom to break his journey
with an overnight stay with a family near
Uxbridge. Eventually, he married the daughter of
the house, one Elizabeth Ann Smith, and brought
her to live in Sebright.
Lumbering was the business of the day, so
Young became a lumberman. He saw an opportunity to take advantage of the lumber being harvested and he built a sawmill in the village. After
the trees had been cut, more settlers moved into
the area to begin farming. Here was another opportunity, so Young established a cheese factory
to use up the excess milk. While I could find no
document to support it, the family’s oral history
suggests it was Young who, in the late 1870s, donated the land on which the Sebright Church and
its neighbouring cemetery are located. His gravestone is to be found in that cemetery.
Around the turn of the century, one of Grandfather Young’s daughters, Mary Alberta, married
another member of the brotherhood of lumbermen, Charles Baker. Baker was a “timber
cruiser,” a specialist in the field of lumbering. It
was his task to go out by canoe and assess the po-
Frederick Baker in the late 1980s.
tential of new areas for harvest. One of his
favourite stories was of finding an area along the
Head River where there was a single magnificent
black cherry tree. The land was for sale, so he
made the purchase, cut down the tree, took it to
Orillia and sold it to Rolland Boat Works to be
used for one of the beautiful wooden boats that
were built there. The profit from the lumber in
that one tree was enough to pay for the land on
which it had grown.
Charles and Min, as she was called, lived in a
log home near the Head River bridge. They
raised a family of three boys and three girls.
Their son Fred was the only one who followed in
the footsteps of his father and grandfather to become a lumberjack. Fred had attended the oneroom school in Sebright, where his duties
included carrying wood for the furnace and carrying water from the nearby spring for drinking.
With only one teacher for all grades, it was also
the duty of the older students to coach the little
ones with their reading and arithmetic.
Only a few years later, Fred went to work in
the bush. Lumbering was a hard and dangerous
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life. Not only did these youngsters have to learn
to use the risky tools of their trade, but they
found that there were horses to be handled,
falling trees to be avoided and, perhaps most perilous of all, riding the logs that were floated
down the river, dodging hazards, breaking up log
jams and always avoiding what they termed
“widow makers” of one sort or another. At the
end of the season, when the young men came out
of the bush with high spirits and full pockets,
there were rivalries with the town boys and hijinx
that are perhaps better left to our imagination.
After a few years of life as a lumberjack, Fred
decided to head for the city for a change. There he
met the love of his life, Caroline Hudson. Carrie
was born in London, England and had recently
emigrated to Toronto with her family. They were
married in 1927 and started a family of four boys.
Fred’s heart never left the country. He loved the
outdoors, fishing, hunting and spending time in
the familiar woods. Carrie was a city girl who for
years complained that they never went anywhere
on holiday except “Sebright, Sebright, Sebright!”
Their young sons shared their father’s views
and enjoyed carefree, barefoot summers with their
grandparents— in Sebright. One of those boys,
my husband, now nearly 80 himself, can still remember those summers and the huge piles of
sawdust left from his great grandfather’s sawmill.
Nowadays we can still see remnants of the logging industry in the pine-stump fences and cedar
rails in the area.
Near the end of the Second World War, the family moved back to Sebright and lived for a year in
a log house without electricity or indoor plumbing. That was not Carrie’s best year.
The boys, however, thought it was great. They
attended the same one-room school that their father had attended and one of their duties was still
to carry water from the spring. That spring still
flows today, but it now bears a sign saying that it
is contaminated and unfit for drinking
None of the boys continued in the lumbering
tradition, but Fred never lost his love for the joys
of nature. He was a gentleman of the old school,
one who always removed his hat indoors and, if
ever one of the boys use an expletive or any
rough language, they’d hear a sharp rebuke:
“Watch your language. There’s ladies present!”
Fred was a wise man, quiet and well-read. He
was a great confidant and if he ever gave advice,
it was carefully reasoned and spoken with kindness.
He often asked me when I was going to write
my book. I know he wanted me to write of the
family history but I was young and busy and impressed with academia’s insistence upon empirical evidence and documentary proof. How sad
that I wasted the opportunity to record the tales
and recollections that this wonderful man could
have shared.
Ramara resident and writer Beverley Baker
can be reached at [email protected].
When
it blows,
they go
Page 12
Lagoon City’s public beach a hotspot for kiteboarders
On the Canada Day weekend the wind was
high and the waves moderate with few
whitecaps; not the best day for swimming,
perhaps, but perfect for kiteboarding.
Also called kitesurfing, this water-surface
sport has enjoyed a steady increase in popularity over the last few years, particularly in
Ramara. The waters off the public beach in
Lagoon City are reported to offer ideal conditions.
Experienced kiteboarder Jeanette Abernethy, of
Orillia, says the Lagoon City beaches are best because they are shallow for some distance, allowing
the kiteboarders to get their kites aloft before starting to surf.
An onshore wind of 10 to 25 knots is preferred.
When the winds hit 15 knots, phone calls and emails are exchanged and a hardcore group of addicted kiteboarders heads for the beach.
There are about 20 of these “Charlie Browners,”
as they are called in their jargon, who show up at
Lagoon City on an ideal kiteboarding day.
Many run their own businesses and so find it
easier than most to take time off to enjoy their
sport.
Abernethy jokes that she has a 15-knot rule:
“When it’s blowin,’ I’m goin’!”
Kitesurfing equipment includes a kite, board,
bar, helmet, personal floatation device (PFD), harness, booties, wetsuit/drysuit, knife, whistle and
gloves.
Most of the kiteboarders have more than one
By BOB
and PAM POYNTZ
Community
Correspondents
The beachgoers just sit back,
enjoy the show and take
pictures.
kite and more than one board, so they can adjust to
the wind speeds (smaller kites for higher wind
speeds).
Getting outfitted can cost $2,000 to $3,000, but
experts recommend that money also be spent on
proper instruction. There are a number of instructors in the area, one being Dan Medisky of Orillia.
Abernethy says that any difficulty she has encountered on the water she has been “able to deal with
calmly, thanks to lessons.”
Great physical strength is not necessary to enjoy
kitesurfing. There is a harness around the waist
and the arms are used mostly to steer the kite. Enthusiasts well into their 60s have been seen at the
Lagoon City beach.
Kiteboarding etiquette requires respect for other
Bob Poyntz
beach users. Not that there’s much occasion for
conflict; when conditions are ideal for kiteboarding, they are usually not so much for swimming or
boating, so the beachgoers just sit back, enjoy the
show and take pictures.
As of late August, there had been only one
“kitemare” on the water, the boarders said, when
someone got too close to shore and had his kite
tangle in the trees. He was able to disconnect himself without further mishap, but the remnants of
this kite can still be seen in a tree off the Lagoon
City beach.
Kiteboarders follow safety rules covering issues
such as kite height and clearance. And because
kiteboards are also considered sailing vessels,
some standard sailing rules also apply.
Kiteboarding starts shortly after ice is out and
continues well into the fall, but the sport doesn’t
end then. Some kiteboarders continue on ice. This
winter sport requires a bit more caution and safety
equipment.
Next time it’s not a perfect beach day and it’s
windy, head for the Lagoon City beach to watch
the spectacle. There’s no guarantee that the kiteboarders will be there, but it’s quite the sight to behold if they are. Remember to bring your camera.
You might catch a kiteboarder airborne!
Bob and Pam Poyntz are volunteers
and Lagoon City residents. They can
be reached at [email protected].
Ties
that bind
Page 13
Cecil Byers has been collecting
life-sized railway memorabilia
since the 1970s
Cecil Byers at the Ellesmere Junction Railway Museum in July.
It goes back to the dream of high school buddies John Smith and Cecil Byers, who shared a
life-long interest in trains and railways.
The Smith farm, at 4100 Sideroad 20 in Ramara
Township, is where you will find Ellesmere Junction Railway Museum. CPR and CN lines once
went right through the Smith property, but were
abandoned in 1937 and ’64 respectively.
Smith represented his family’s third generation
on the farm. As a railway buff, he wanted a locomotive, and thought he might even get a caboose
some day.
In the early 1970s, Smith and Byers had an opportunity to acquire one of the old wooden cabooses being retired by CN in favour of steel
models, but when they went to see them in London, On., they discovered they were in terrible
shape and not repairable.
Their dream continued until 1978, when a caboose finally became available.
It was on the property of family friend Ken
Thompson near Sparrow Lake.
“Ken’s father was a retired railroad conductor,”
Byers recalls. “He had first choice, so he got this
beautiful caboose. Ken had it there since 1971.
But his wife never really went along with the idea
of a caboose on the lawn, and eventually talked
him into getting rid of it. When we couldn’t get
one from London, that’s the one we ended up
with.”
In 1979, Byers met David Walmsley, a railway
welder, at a derailment in Rathurn.
“It wasn’t a very big derailment,” Byers says.
By LOUISE
St. AMOUR
Community
Correspondent
“I told him we had a caboose with two parts
missing, and asked him if he could get them. He
brought them by the next week and installed them.
Then he asked if he could live in the caboose.”
As a railway employee and lifelong buff, Walmsley, now a dealer in vintage railway equipment,
was chiefly responsible for the acquisition of the
cars that sit at the museum today, Byers says.
“With his knowledge of the railroad and what was
available, we got the other cars,” Byers says. “He
was a genius as a welder he could make anything.”
One of the things he made was a rig that allowed rail cars to be towed. “He got a set of tandem wheels off a highway trailer and set them on
the back of the cars and that’s how we moved
them.”
In 1982, a locomotive became available. “It was
going to be made into a cutaway and put into the
Ontario Science Centre, but that didn’t happen.
They ended up using a smaller locomotive.” The
locomotive remained on the Ramara property
until it was recently sold to the Niagara Falls Museum in Fort Erie.
“I lost my dear friend John to diabetes in 1999,”
says Byers, “but I am still part owner (with
Rob McCormick
Walmsley) of nine acres of this abandoned railway.” Cecil has continued to collect model trains
and railway memorabilia. “My dad always
wanted to be an engineer but he had to work the
farm and I followed the tradition” says Byers. “I
never was a CN employee, although I did receive
two cheques for yard work that I did for them”.
Byers also collects phonographs that actually
work. The oldest is a 1910 Edison floor model
called the Laboratory, the newest being a Zellers
replica of the Victor 4 (like the one on the
Grammy awards). When asked what he will start
collecting next, Cecil replied that he thinks that’s
it for collecting.
The museum, which now houses five railway
cars, a tool shed and a building from the 1920s
that was converted into a “station,” is not open for
public viewing, but groups who make arrangements can have access to the property.
The CN Pensioners’ Association has held its annual event here every July for the last seven years.
“This is the most underrated attraction around”
says Charlie Surgenor, president of the Barrie
group. Pensioners enjoyed a trip down memory
lane, great food and entertainment by Common
Ground. Cecil was presented with an antique
clock out of the Barrie station.
Maybe he will start collecting clocks next.
Groups interested in scheduling an event at the
Ellesmere Junction Railway Museum should call
Byers at 326-6783.
Ramara artist and writer Louise St. Amour can
Memories of Mackenzie
Page 14
An important reminder of a man who was once among the best known of Canadians
By RAE FLEMING
On the last Sunday in June, scores of history
buffs, many of them members of the Kirkfield
and District Historical Society and the Beaverton
Thorah Eldon Historical Society, gathered in the
Kirkfield Presbyterian Church to hear historian
Carl Mills give an illustrated lecture on the 100th
anniversary of the first solo flights over Toronto
and Montreal. The pilot in question was Count
Jacques de Lesseps, son of Count Ferdinand de
Lesseps, whose best known legacy is the Suez
Canal.
Not long after the
flight over Toronto, the
Count was invited to
join William Mackenzie, his wife and family
on their private yacht,
“Wawinet.” The next
year, the Count and
Grace Mackenzie, the
youngest of the
Mackenzie children,
were married in LonMabel Griffin photo album don, England. While
Sir William Mackenzie Jacques flew for the
French Air Force during
the Great War, Grace was a nurse in Paris. They
were both decorated by the French government.
Their four children were born in the French capital. Among the audience in Kirkfield that Sunday
in June was one of Jacques and Grace’s granddaughters, who also happens to be a great-granddaughter of Sir Sam Hughes, whose big house in
Lindsay was grievously destroyed several years
ago.
When Grace and Jacques were married, the
bride’s father was known in Canada and internationally as the personification of success.
Knighted in 1911, Sir William Mackenzie was
president of the Canadian Northern Railway, one
of three Canadian transcontinental railways. He
was also president of the Toronto Street Railway,
the TTC of its day; the Winnipeg Electric Railway; and Brazilian Traction, which, from its
Toronto headquarters, operated the transportation,
hydro power, gas and telephone systems of Rio de
Janiero and Sao Paulo. One of Mackenzie’s companies brought the first electric power from Niagara Falls to Toronto, about six years before Adam
Beck and Ontario Hydro did the same thing.
While the urban transportation and electrical
companies were always profitable, the transcontinental railway, no longer able to pay its debts during the Great War, was taken over by the
Canadian government, which created the Canadian National Railways, a company that also absorbed the failing Grand Trunk Railway and
several other smaller railway companies built during the optimism of pre-War Canada.
At one time the Mackenzies owned “Benvenuto,” a stone mansion at the top of Avenue
Road hill in Toronto. Benvenuto is gone — torn
Photos by
ROD BRAZIER
Today, few people have heard of
Sir William Mackenzie, except for
the present inn in Kirkfield that
bears his name.
down by the city of Toronto during the Great Depression, a few years after it had taken it over for
non-payment of taxes. On its site sits today an upscale condo, also called Benvenuto. The magnificent Kirkfield Inn, built by Lady Mackenzie as an
alcohol-free hotel, was destroyed by fire in 1925.
Early in the 20th century, on the north shore of
Balsam Lake, the Mackenzies built a Valhalla of a
summer home. Its many bedrooms boasted en
suite bathrooms. The building survived in good
shape until the 1970s, when it was pilfered by
members of the Age of Aquarius, as well as by
cottagers whose greed exceeded their respect for
history and esthetics. Eventually the summer
home was replaced by a large A-frame log home.
The Wawinet, the luxurious yacht that introduced
the Count to his future wife, now rests on the bottom of Georgian Bay.
Design typical
of English
country houses
Page 15
Today, few people have heard of Sir William
Mackenzie, except for the present inn in Kirkfield
that bears his name. Located across Nelson Street
from the church where Carl Mills spoke on June
27, the inn was once the Kirkfield home of
William and Margaret Mackenzie and their nine
children: three boys and six girls, including
Grace, born in 1889. Its architectural style, called
alternatively Queen Anne or Elizabethan, was
typical of English country houses of the 1870s
and ’80s.
When Mackenzie died in 1923, his will bequeathed the Kirkfield property to his son Joe,
who, in 1927, sold it for $1 to the Sisters of St.
Joseph, who used it as a convent and school. One
of the convent’s graduates is actress Nonnie Griffin, whose grandmother, Mabel, was the oldest
daughter of William and Margaret Mackenzie.
Nonnie was in the audience on June 27.
By 1977 the Sisters of St. Joseph could no
longer afford to operate the large house, so they
sold it to the Macdonald-Ross family, who operated a museum and guest house until the Johnsons
bought the house in the early 1980s. In 1992 Paul
and Joan Scott were driving by the house one
evening when they noticed a power-of-sale sign.
They decided on the spot to buy it. With energy
and enthusiasm, and, of course, much money, they
renovated the building, opened up the third floor,
reinforced the sagging veranda and ran a successful bed and breakfast. Paul even wrote a book
about the experience, A Decade of Memories.
In 2002 the Scotts sold the inn to Jeremy Pierpoint and Sharon Arnaud, who have placed their
own stamp on it. The inn now evokes the Edwardian age, which preferred cleaner lines and lighter
colours than the preceding Victorian age. Its interior looks much like photographs of the house that
appeared in a country living magazine about
1910.
Except for the sweeping veranda, added early in
the 20th century, and the 1930s addition, used as
classrooms, on the west side of the house, the exterior looks much the same today as it did when
house was opened in 1888. Some of the original
trees, of course, have grown large; others have
died; and new ones planted. Lady Mackenzie had
her gardeners plant Norway Pines, a few of which
continue to grace the property. A storm in July
1995 damaged many towering trees. Ever enterprising, the following year the Scotts supervised a
chainsaw-carving contest, with the result that the
property now features about half a dozen attractive wood sculptures including a large statue of
Sir William himself.
Today, the inn’s 13 bedrooms, pool room, library and large living and dining rooms host weddings, conferences, retreats and overnight B&B
guests.
The bedrooms can sleep up to 36 guests, and
the inn can handle and feed large wedding parties.
In the spa, brides may opt for body rubs and facials in order to look their best for the ceremony
and the honeymoon.
After eight years of operating the inn, and, at
the same time, upgrading the building to meet
new fire codes, Jeremy and Sharon have created,
a few minutes’ drive from the township of Ramara and only a couple of hours from Toronto,
one of the most outstanding inns in this part of
Ontario.
No doubt the Sir William Mackenzie Inn will
continue to serve as the most important reminder
of a forgotten man who was born in Kirkfield in
1849, and who, by the time his youngest daughter
married Count Jacques de Lesseps, was one of the
best known of Canadians.
Rae Fleming is an Argyle historian and
biographer. He can be reached at
[email protected].
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Soul food
Page 16
Dropping In
By DONNA WOOD
Free dinners at Dalrymple United Church build community, one chicken pot pie at a time
Minutes passed as I stood in front of my closet.
It wasn’t so much a fashion dilemma as a moral
one: What to wear to a free dinner?
I was going to Lake Dalrymple United Church
for a meal that began at 6 p.m. and was to continue “until all are fed.”
I chose a pleasant outfit that had seen better
times. It said “Waste not; want not.” I thought it
hit the right note.
Still feeling a bit guilty about the idea of noshing for nothing, I pulled my car into the parking
lot at the prescribed time and immediately noticed
that the side entrance double doors were swung
wide open, like a big, welcoming hug.
I began to relax, and prepared to meet my (dinner) maker.
Any reluctance about freeloading was buried by
the sight of a homey, handmade, multi-coloured
sign posted just inside: “Welcome,” it said. “Dinner Served in Lower Level.”
Down the stairs, upbeat music played on a CD
player, and the sound of happy women’s voices
from the kitchen further embraced me and drew
me in. This was going to be fun. And I was getting hungry.
Every third Friday of the month since January,
with support from their church council, Sebright
residents Michell McGrath, 47, and Bonnie Long,
54, former Brownie leaders and friends for more
than 25 years, prepare and host these delightful
dinners.
They plan the menu, shop, cook, serve, clean up
and, oh yes, they sing. At every dinner, just before
the guests pile up their plates, the girls dish out a
bit of entertainment.
On this night, Bonnie and Michell belted out
that ol’ time Bible favourite, I Cannot Come to
the Banquet. By the refrain, with unabashed enthusiasm, I was tapping my big-city toe and clapping my hands along with the rest of the
appreciative guests.
At song’s end, with happy faces aglow in candle light (the hydro had gone out just before dinner) we got our instructions: “Whatever you can
see, go eat it.”
The food was fresh and delicious. We shovelled
down home-made chicken pot pie, rice, potatoes,
garden greens, melon slices, cookies and ice
cream. Generous helpings from generous people.
Leftovers go to the Living For Jesus Kitchen Mission in Orillia.
Bonnie admitted that she and Michell are
Aquarians, which explains to her and to the cosmos that “we both don’t mind leaving things until
the last minute.” Early in the morning, over the
phone, they agree on that night’s menu. What they
do not already have on hand, Michell will go out
and buy. Bonnie, meanwhile, is at her happiest
cooking, and loves to cook for a crowd. “The
more mouths to feed, the happier I am,” she
beams.
The pair rely mostly on word of mouth to advertise their repasts. The guest count typically
David A. Homer
Bonnie Long (left) and Michell McGrath in the kitchen at Lake Dalrymple United Church.
ranges from 18 to 25. When I was there in July,
there were more than 30. The room had about a
dozen cheery tables, brightly decorated with
cream cloths and vased yellow daisies (fleur du
jour). The decor is themed every month by the talents of volunteer Pat Morton, who adds just the
right ambiance to an otherwise functional church
basement. The diners were varied: young couples
with small, beautifully mannered children, adult
couples with happy-to-see-you-again aging parents, and lots in between those hallmark stages. It
was truly an esprit du corps affair. Which brings
me to the meat of the matter.
Why?
In the fall of 2009, amid the downsizing of the
three local congregations of Sebright, Sadowa and
Dalrymple into the Sebright Pastoral Charge at
Lake Dalrymple, Michell and Bonnie, in consultation with their church council, did some soul
searching.
Would the amalgamation also diminish the feeling of community? As more and more people
went off to work shifts for the local OPP or
Casino Rama, would there be a further erosion of
neighbourhoods as well? When do we see our
neighbours? Do we even know our neighbours?
What will bring people together?
The answer, of course, was food. Free food.
Free food that tastes good.
So in an effort to build and restore their vanishing community, and keep the church central to it,
Bonnie and Michell, already active in their
church, took it upon themselves to be ministers of
food and beverage.
As they do at any good house party, people con-
gregate in the kitchen, and Michell and Bonnie
want people to congregate in their kitchen at Dalrymple United Church. Otherwise, “It just becomes a building that people drive by going to
work,” laments Michell. While the church subsidizes the cost of the suppers, it still takes a commitment and a generosity of spirit.
In holding their dinners, Bonnie and Michell are
determined to build their community one chicken
pot pie at time.
While the meal is free, you will find a completely optional donations basket at the entrance.
Bonnie and Michell have discovered that people
want to give something back after being treated to
such a feel-good evening, so the ladies came up
with a charity a month. They pick something
global one month, something local the next. The
choice of charity doesn’t matter. “It really doesn’t
make any difference,” Bonnie says. “The currency of giving has no exchange rate.”
Michell knew most of the people in the room as
neighbours or family of neighbours, but says they
want to cast a wider communal net. “We do this to
bring neighbours and neighbourhoods together,”
she says. “Please come back and bring your
friends.”
As one guest shouted out, “Free food? Do I
have to buy a time-share?”
No. Just be prepared to enjoy yourself. You will
absolutely meet some characters as you stand in
the buffet line, and you will absolutely leave full
and fulfilled.
Ramara resident and writer Donna Wood can
Prints on sale as fundraiser
Page 17
Proceeds from sale of painting by local artist to benefit St. Andrew’s Catholic Church
Prints of an acrylic painting of St. AnStephen said.
“We were talking about doing differdrew’s Catholic Church in Brechin,
ent areas within the township, so we
painted by a local artist, will be sold as
could perhaps put something together
a fundraiser for the church.
in the future to try to promote the hisDoug Cooper, of Washago, was comtory of the community,” Stephen said.
missioned to do the winter scene two
“We’re trying to work on other things
years ago by long-time St. Andrew’s
for the future, for the south end, and we
parishioners Dave Stephen and his wife,
have some ideas. The Victoria Hotel
Laurie.
might be one we get Doug to do next,
Cooper exhibited 20-by-24-inch
but we wanted to do St. Andrew’s first
painting at the two-day Ramara ArtPark
because we feel this church helps repand Studio Tour in July.
resent the south end.”
“I could have sold it about 20 times,”
Stephen called the church “a symbol
he said.
of the community. It doesn’t just repreSt. Andrew’s is trying to raise more
sent the Catholic faith. Everybody is
than $300,000 to help pay for repairs
proud of this church. It’s a place of
that were recently made to the church.
refuge, a place of peace, and anybody
One hundred numbered prints will be
who goes by it respects what it is.
Rob McCormick
available in two sizes: 15 by 18 inches
“The amount of work that went into
and 20 by 24 inches. The smaller prints Washago artist Doug Cooper (left) and St. Andrewʼs parishioner Dave the stonework is incredible. If you just
will cost $75, and the larger prints $115. Stephen display Cooperʼs original painting in the church.
look at it and see how much time and
“The prints are all on archival paper
effort people took to build it, you are
building. Stephen and Laurie also commissioned
just in awe of the dedication of a person’s faith to
and archival ink, so they will last as long if not
Cooper to paint the former mill in Washago and
the Trenouth Bridge at Rama First Nations. Those go out and do this.”
longer than the painting,” Cooper says.
To order prints, call Laurie Stephen at 484paintings have been completed.
The St. Andrew’s painting is part of a collec5333, Calvin Readman at 484-5834 or Dave
The collection would serve as an artistic repretion of works that Stephen, the Township’s manReadman at 484-0243.
sentation of Ramara, featuring historic buildings
ager of environmental services, hopes will some
and
other
structures
throughout
the
township,
day hang in the new Township administration
— Rob McCormick
Mayor Bill Duffy
Re-elect
Looking to the future
My priorities for the next four-year term of council:
Job creation through partnerships with the federal government and Rama
First Nation.
Revenue generation through an increase in Ramaraʼs per-tonne aggregate payment,
currently just six cents for every tonne of aggregate transported out of the Township.
Improving haul routes so we are not negatively affected by out-of-township
aggregate trucks.
Continued pursuit of funding to provide water and sewer services for all properties
between Simcoe Road and the Third Concession.
Improving drainage outlets into Lake Simcoe, in conjunction with the Lake Simcoe
Region Conservation Authority, to eliminate health risks associated with
stagnant water.
Continued road improvements throughout the Township.
Ensuring that Simcoe County and the Province resolve their dispute over
the Countyʼs official plan, so development along the Rama Road Corridor can begin.
On October 25, vote for four more years of progress
Letʼs stay in touch
(705) 326-3915
You are here...I think
Page 18
There is no postal jurisdiction of Ramara, and according to 411, it doesn’t exist
“Why can’t we receive mail addressed to Ramara?” I sometimes hear residents of Ramara
muttering to themselves.
We pay taxes to Ramara, they say, yet we must
use addresses such as Brechin, Longford Mills,
and, horror of horrors, Orillia! Furthermore, some
of these Ramara folk add, when people are looking for us in the telephone directory, they often
don’t know in what exchange to look. How on
earth, they sometimes add, will visitors find us if
our address is not “Ramara?”
By RAE FLEMING
How and when did this confusing state of affairs come about?
The simple answer is, “A long time ago.”
In the 1770s and ’80s, during and after the
American Revolution, tens of thousands of Loyalists, among them many soldiers, left the 13 rebellious colonies in favour of British North America,
which, more or less, became Canada in 1867.
They fled mainly to the Maritimes, to the Montreal area, to eastern Ontario, to the Niagara
Peninsula and to the area around today’s Windsor.
For settlement purposes, maps were necessary.
Loyalists needed to locate their new land. In
1791, Southern Ontario was severed from the old
Province of Quebec to create Upper Canada. The
new province was divided into seven large districts, from the Eastern District along the Ottawa
River, to the Western District along the St. Clair,
with the London, Home, Newcastle, Midland and
Johnstown districts in between.
The land on which Ramara sits today was located in the Home District, a huge land mass that
included the Grand River, the town of York (now
Toronto), and land all around Lake Simcoe. On
the eastern flank of what would become Ramara
was the Newcastle District, which stretched
northward from Lake Ontario to the Nipissing
River.
Gradually the more northerly lands were surveyed into townships, lots and concessions. A
map of 1852, published in W.H. Smith’s Canada:
past, present and future, shows the townships of
Mara and Rama as the most northerly townships
of York County, which had been carved out of the
Home District.
Once settlers began to clear the land, villages
with mills, stores and post offices were founded
in the two townships. Often the first business was
a grist mill. A saw mill, a general store, a church
or two, a livery and blacksmith began to serve
the farming communities nearby. Post offices
were established, often inside the general stores.
Washago’s post office was founded in 1868.
While settlers often named the village in the
Rob McCormick
The Talbot River (above), is the border between Ramara and Durham. In this photo, Ramara is on the left.
early stages of development, the Post Office Department in Ottawa had the final say. Young’s
Settlement became Sebright in 1873 when
Rama’s second post office opened there.
Mills were located, of necessity, on water, beside dams and waterfalls. It didn’t matter that the
falls was on or near the boundary between one
district or another. In fact, sometimes, as in
Gamebridge and Washago, the water that operated the mills created the boundaries of the new
townships. I doubt if any resident of Sebright was
concerned that the village straddled two townships and two counties. In the 19th century, most
people identified with their village, which was, in
most cases, also their post office and shopping
centre.
By 1890, Ontario County had “separated” from
York County. Rama and Mara townships were
now the most northerly parts of the new county,
which included Pickering and Whitby townships
in the south. Sebright still straddled two jurisdictions, Ontario County and the new Victoria
Country, which, in 1867, had been carved from
the old Peterborough County.
By 1890 most of the villages of Ramara had a
small post office. Even though property taxes
were levied by either Mara or Rama, the mailing
addresses for those tax notices were never
“Mara” or “Rama,” though there was a post office in a small settlement called Rama, located
near the First Nations Reserve.
In 1890, residents of Rama Township picked
up their mail at general stores in Rathurn., Sebright, Longford Mills, Washago, Cooper’s Falls,
Fawkham and Sadowa. In a few cases of what
might have been absentee landlords, according to
the business directory of 1890, a few residents of
Rama picked up their mail in Toronto, Hamilton
and Fenelon Falls.
In 1890 post offices serving Mara Township
were located at Brechin, Orillia, Fawn, Uptergrove, Evansvale, Bolsover, Gamebridge,
Beaverton and Millington. Sebright and Rathurn.
served both Mara and Rama. Toronto was listed
as the mailing address of one Mara landowner,
and Lindsay, Greenbank, Newmarket and Winnipeg for others. It could be that William Burns
of Mara was living and working in the booming
Manitoba capital while renting his farm in Mara.
Villages lost post offices around 1970
And what about the Chippewas of Rama First
Nation, who, since 1836, when they began to assemble the eight parcels of land that today form
the reserve of 2,350 acres, have never had a post
office? Even Casino Rama, one of the most
prominent entertainment venues of Southern Ontario, receives its mail via the Orillia Post Office.
Around 1970, when the Post Office Department
decided to centralize offices, most villages lost
their post offices. At the same time, new communities, Lagoon City and Bayshore Village, for example, were created, and, though they have never
had their own post offices, they soon developed
their own identities.
In 1994 Rama and Mara were amalgamated to
create Ramara. A few years later, the City of
Kawartha Lakes (CKL) was created from the old
Victoria County, which means that Sebright today
straddles CKL and Ramara, which is now part of
Simcoe County. Meantime, both Washago and
Gamebridge went through similar boundary name
changes. Today, Gamebridge unceremoniously
straddles Ramara and Brock Townships, Brock
being the most northerly part of the Region of
Durham, the successor to Ontario County.
Washago is in Ramara as well as Severn Township and, according to a real estate agent I talked
to recently, it even reaches into Muskoka. Years
ago, when Wilf Hart was clerk of Rama, his office
was in Washago, in the Severn Township side of
the town. Apparently no one in Rama objected.
Today the three straddling communities worry
that their split identities, which mean that their
votes are usually split too, diminish their power to
put in office the candidate of their choice, and,
later, to influence elected candidates.
And we haven’t even got to the problem of telephone exchanges and polling cards.
According to 411, Ramara does not exist. Cell
phones can create their own complications. Sometimes cell phone companies refuse to recognize
the correct postal address. “Could you give me
another address?,” one man was asked by Rogers.
Or was it Bell? “I could,” he answered, “but it
wouldn’t be where I live.”
Elections Ontario and Elections Canada, the
two bodies that create voters’ lists and mail us
Page 19
poll cards that tell us where to vote, also find Ramara and most parts of rural Canada a tad difficult. But we won’t get into that imbroglio.
So what about a new post office called “Ramara”?
And what to do with those three straddling
communities
Would residents of Severn and Brock Townships, as well as those living in the CKL, be
forced to “repatriate?”
Maybe we should revert to the old-fashioned
way of locating people, one that Dan Needles satirizes in Wingfield Farm. Forget about numbers
and street names. Simply identify people by the
nearest geographic feature or building. “You’ll
come to an old feed mill,” old timers used to say.
“It’s not there anymore, but you turn left anyway
at where it used to be.” And so on.
Where is here indeed?
By KEVIN LEHMAN
Maple Avenue in Longford Mills.
Janice further explained that I was renting property that was actually on Chippewas of Rama First
Nation land, and was therefore not considered a
resident of Ramara. I was crushed.
Lynn and I eventually found a beautiful Cape
Cod home on a quiet street in Washago. While
Washago proper is in Severn Township, our street
is on the Ramara side of the community. Our
phone number starts with 689, just like all the others in the area.
Finally, I was a Ramaran. In Washago. A 689er.
Then my sister sent me an email asking for my
phone number because Washago wasn’t in the
phone book.
That had to be wrong because I knew we existed, but I checked and she was correct. Neither
Washago nor Ramara are in the phone book.
I called another new friend, Marian Davey, a fellow 689er in neighboring Ramona. That’s part of
Ramara, too. She said we were in the book, but
you had to look under Severn Bridge. Of course,
she was right.
But I don’t want to be listed under Severn
Bridge. I live in Washago. In Ramara.
Tylenol helps. Not much, but some.
I like living in Ramara,
but it can be a bit confusing
I wasn’t always this confused. But then I didn’t
always live in Ramara North.
I had been volunteering at the Ramara Library
for a couple of years but living in Orillia. My wife,
Lynn, and I decided to move to Ramara to be
closer to her work and my volunteer interests.
We rented a house in Longford Mills while we
looked around for a place of our own. That is
where my bafflement began.
In fall 2006, I jumped into the Ramara municipal elections with both feet, assisting my friend,
Leila Sheriff, another Ramaran, in her unsuccessful bid to be councillor for Ward 1. You are welcome, Leila.
During the campaign, we received a copy of the
voters’ list, and I eagerly thumbed through it, looking for my name as a first-time Ramara voter.
I was disappointed not to find it.
Believing that I was eligible, I called the Township offices and spoke to Janice McKinnon, at that
time the assistant Clerk of the Township.
Janice is a nice lady who is now the Clerk.
She patiently explained that the reason I was not
on the Ramara voting list was because I did not
live in Ramara.
That had to be wrong, I thought, and to clear up
her confusion, I reiterated that I lived at 6835
Argyle historian Rae Flemingʼs biography
of Peter Gzowski was published in late July.
He can be reached at [email protected].
Volunteer and Washago resident
Kevin Lehman can be reached
at [email protected].
Orillia & Areaʼs Finest Collision Repair Workmanship
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Page 20
Art attack
Photos by Rob McCormick
Clockwise, from top: Visitors browse at the Brechin Ball Park during the first Ramara ArtPark and
Studio Tour in July; artists Maureen Haines and Sheila MacDonald Ross display their work at Mac
Donald Rossʼs studio in Washago; an art lover checks out the work of Suzan Bertrand in the ball park;
Lois Brennan displays a painting she won in a draw at Studio 37 By the Falls near Gambebridge,
where Louise St. Amour and Micheline Beaulieu collaborated on the piece; visitors look at a display
in the Legion; and quilter Maryleah Palero (seated) welcomes guests to her Uptergrove-area home
and studio.
First Ramara ArtPark and Studio tour records 600 visits
Art lovers made more than 600 visits to the six
points on the first Ramara ArtPark and Studio Tour
in July.
The tour, held on the weekend of July 3 and 4,
brought together more than 20 local artists who
sold more than $3,000 worth of work over the two
days.
“We were very pleased with the turnout,” said
Darleen Cormier, publisher of The Ramara Chronicle, which organized the event. “It was the first
time so many Ramara artists have been brought together for one show,” she said. “We were especially pleased to be able to showcase artists at
points throughout the township.”
Three artists opened their studios in the
Washago, Uptergrove, and Gamebridge areas. St.
Columbkille Catholic Church was open for tours,
and artists also displayed their work at the Brechin
Ball Park and Brechin/Mara Legion.
The tour, which was free to the artists and public, was produced with no budget.
“We wanted to see what would happen if we just
put all these artists together and gave people a
chance to view their work over a couple of days,”
Cormier said. “We think it really got people travelling around the township that weekend.”
Cormier said next year’s tour is planned for July
2 and 3, and expects the number of participating
artists will grow.
“We have already heard from several Ramara
artists who missed this year’s show and want to be
in it next year,” Cormier said. “We think it is
bound to get bigger and better.”
— Rob McCormick
Page 21
Art on Severn raises $2,500
Rob McCormick
The work of 14 artists was on display during the third annual Art on the Severn Juried Art Show and Sale
July 10 and 11 at the Washago Community Centre.
About 250 people attended the two-day Art on
the Severn Juried Art Show and Sale at the
Washago Community centre on July 10 and 11.
The third annual show, featuring the work of 14
artists, raised about $2,500 for the centre through
artists’ fees, the show’s 30 per cent of sales and
through donations.
“It was a good show, our biggest yet,” Brooks
said.
In previous years the show has drawn “eight or
nine” artists, Brooks said. Ten of this year’s 14
were new to the show, she said.
Brooks thanked the show’s team of about 25
volunteers, as well as Casino Rama and Meridian
Credit Union for grants of $1,200 and $750 respectively to help promote the show.
“It was a constant flow of people. We estimate
about 250 came through for the weekend,”
Brooks said.
In addition to total sales of about $1,800, several
artists got good leads on future work, she said. “I
know two of the artists have paintings ordered, so
commissions definitely played a role,” she said.
— Rob McCormick
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VE A CHOICE.
It is time to choose professional
leadership that is open and accessible
to all citizens of this township.
r
It is time for this municipal
government to build solid working
relationships with our neighbours.
f
It is time to look ahead and plot
our course in a thoughtful, fiscally
responsible way.
marybax.
marybax.ca
It is time to choose to balance
development with conservation.
Seeds of hope
Page 22
Ramara woman part of groundbreaking study of alternative to traditional radiation therapy
By ROB McCORMICK
Managing Editor
A Ramara woman is part of a North American
study that could, in future, change the way radiation treatment is administerd to as many as a third
of breast-cancer patients.
Suzan Bertrand, of Lagoon City, is among 420
patients in the study of permanent breast seed implants as an alternative to standard external beam
radiation treatment, which is typically delivered
over a period of weeks and is associated with uncomfortable side effects such as skin reddening,
peeling and swelling of the breast.
The seeds, which were developed in the 1970s
and have been widely used to deliver radiation in
the treatment of prostate cancer since the 1980s,
are implanted in the breast at the surgical site. The
technique, called brachytherapy, is less invasive
and more convenient for the patient, and avoids
the prolonged surface irritation of standard beam
treatment.
The clinical trial Bertrand is part of is a continuation of a smaller study conducted on 67 breastcancer patients from 2004 to 2007, said Dr. Jean
Phillippe Pignol, of the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre’s Odette Cancer Centre Toronto.
Pignol, a radiation oncologist, led the world’s
first breast cancer treatment using these
brachytherapy seeds of palladium. Brachytherapy
was already being used in the treatment of
prostate cancer, and Pignol and his colleagues
were the first to translate and perform brachytherapy for the treatment of early-stage breast cancer.
Pignol, the principal investigator, says the current study, which began in December, involves patients being treated at Sunnybrook in Toronto, and
in Pittsburgh, San Diego, Cincinnati, Calgary and
Edmonton.
“We figured out (in the smaller study) that the
seeds have just a third of the toxicity associated
with the normal treatment,” Pignol said in a July
interview. “As of today, we do not have a single
local recurrence in the same breast. So it was more
efficient than expected.”
Pignol expects that, as a direct result of the current study, the permanent breast seed implant will
be the preferred form of radiation treatment in eligible breast-cancer patients in about 10 years.
“This is a pioneering study,” he said. “The first
ever. Eventually we hope that the 67 patients who
participated in the initial study will help thousands
of women down the road. We believe that in the
near future, it is possible that one patient out of
three will benefit from this technique. We recently
conducted a study with women diagnosed with invasive ductal carcinoma, another type of breast
cancer, and the results show the partial breast irradiation technique using the seeds compared
favourably with standard beam therapy, and with
fewer side effects.”
Radiation treatment is most often administered
Rob McCormick
Suzan Bertrand, left, serves a customer at the Ramara Farm and Country Market in July.
“I know now that the fact of
cancer will be with me forever.
I have talked to other people
who have gone through
cancer and they say no, you
will never get beyond this. Itʼs
a turning point in the road
where youʼll never go back,
and youʼll never feel the same
again.”
Breast-cancer survivor
Suzan Bertrand
to cancer patients after surgery, to prevent local recurrence.
For Bertrand, the standard external administration would have meant seven weeks of daily treatment in Barrie. Brachytherapy involves a one-hour
procedure to implant the seeds, with a followup
consultation two months later. As part of the study,
Bertrand will have annual mammograms and consultations for the next 10 years.
Bertrand’s cancer was discovered in January,
when she went to Orillia for a routine breast
screening, “my first ever.”
Two days later she got a phone call. A biopsy
followed, her cancer was confirmed in February
and on March 2 the tumour was removed in a
lumpectomy. “Because it was stage one cancer, I
didn’t have to have chemotherapy,” she says.
Later in March, Bertrand was referred to Pignol
by Dr. Christiaan Stevens, a radiation oncologist at
Royal Victoria Hospital in Barrie, who thought her
type of cancer might make her eligible for the palladium seed implants.
For Bertrand, brachytherapy has made her lifealtering encounter with cancer less traumatic.
“I wasn’t frightened of standard radiation the
way I was frightened of chemotherapy and surgery,” she said. “I just thought it was going to be
inconvenient, but I was not afraid. I was just going
to grin and bear it. If I’d had to go to Barrie I just
would have scheduled my life around it for seven
weeks.”
But by being able to avoid that process, “you get
your life back,” Bertrand says.
“I know now that the fact of cancer will be with
me forever. I have talked to other people who have
gone through cancer and they say no, you will
never get beyond this. It’s a turning point in the
road where you’ll never go back, and you’ll never
feel the same again.
“You’ll always feel vulnerable and be faced with
your own mortality. It’s a real slap in the face. So
the constant going back and forth to radiation
treatment weeks on end would just have reinforced that and driven it home.
‘Excited, proud’
to be part of study
Page 23
“I’m sure all cancer patients suffer a bit from depression afterwards. I should be elated because it’s
done and over with, but I think there’s a shock
wave after surgery, and I’m kind of fighting that
depression from time to time. Having to go through
radiation treatment every day for seven weeks
would definitely have made it a lot worse.
Brachytherapy gave me back a sense of normalcy.”
When the seeds were implanted, Bertrand was
given a card to present in the event she travelled,
because the radiation her body would trigger airport security systems.
The seeds, which remain in the breast, release
about 50 per cent of their radiation in the first 17
days. In about three months, they no longer trigger
a response from a Geiger counter.
Bertrand, 54, says she still experiences fatigue,
but as her stamina increases, she looks forward to
resuming her normally busy life. The wife and
mother of one grown son is an active gardener, and
sells baked goods at the Saturday Farm and Country Market in Brechin. She is also a graphic artist
who writes and illustrates The Chronicle’s Gardening column.
“I wasn’t able to garden this year because of the
energy level and the pain. It’s your pectoral muscle
that’s involved and it’s a lot of bending over. So I
haven’t really been able to get down and digging,
as I love to do.
“I would have to say the implant did give me
some additional pain. I was recovering very well
from the surgery and now I am recovering again
from the implanting of the seeds. But now it’s feeling pretty good, and less painful. I believe I would
have been a lot more sore from standard radiation
treatment.”
Bertrand says she is “excited and proud” to be
part of the study.
“I feel like a guinea pig, able to contribute to cancer research in a way that I could never have done
financially. I’m also excited to be part of a new
technology, a new technique, which I could not
have afforded if I had to pay for this out of pocket.
“The inconvenience of seeing a doctor once a
year is not an inconvenience to me at all. In fact it’s
very reassuring. Nobody is going to be more
closely watched for cancer than I am. That’s a secure feeling, so I really don’t mind taking a trip to
Toronto once a year. I am happy about it and don’t
find it too invasive or foresee any side effects I’ll
have to deal with in the long term, but you never
know.
“A positive attitude is the best thing you can have
in a medical condition. If your are letting the cancer
rule your life and your thinking, I think it empowers the disease. This treatment has enabled me to
put cancer out of my mind for short periods. You’ll
never forget that entirely, but it’s not dominating
your life, your very waking thought.
“I think everybody is going to hope that they can
have brachytherapy, that they are eligible, because
it’s definitely an easier way to deal with something
terrible in your life. ”
Rob McCormick can be reached at
[email protected].
Provincial champions
Howard Raper
Engineers’ report rejects plan
to dry out and dredge lagoons
The Brechin/Mara Legion Branch Ladies Dart Team won the Legionʼs Ontario Championship in
Chelmsford, near Sudbury, on June 26. From left are Beryl Wilson, Marilyn Clough, Heather Shier and
Ashley Shier.
By ROB McCORMICK
Managing Editor
There are “all kinds of issues” with a plan to dry
out and dredge the 10 kilometres of lagoons in Lagoon City, says an engineer whose company presented a report to the Lagoon City Parks and
Waterways Commission in August.
“You don’t need to dredge the whole lagoon, ”
said Tim Collingwood, manager of the Orillia
branch of C.C. Tatham & Associates Ltd., the
Township’s engineering firm. “You’re wasting
your time and money. You need to identify the
areas that need to be done and put into place a program with little bit more quality control.” His
company can put such a program in place, he said.
The plan to “de-water” and excavate the lagoons
in winter was proposed in January by Atlantis Marine Construction of Collingwood. Fish and
aquatic life would be removed and returned to the
lagoons when they were filled again. The estimated cost of the project, designed to provide a
15-to-20-year solution to the dredging problem
and weed control for at least 10 years, was $1.5
million.
The Tatham report, prepared at the request of the
commission, cited several areas of concern with
the Atlantis plan.
“Shorewalls would most likely move and may
fail given the resulting change in loading when
canals (and surrounding ground) are dewatered,” it
stated.
The required damming of the municipal drain at
the north end of Gondola Lagoon is “not reasonable,” the report stated, also concluding that
“Fisheries impacts could be significant and mitigation would be difficult.”
The report recommends that the commission “develop a long-range plan for dredging the lagoons
using conventional methods,” and said Tatham
“would be pleased” to attend a meeting to “discuss
how the project might be advanced properly.”
The commission currently spends about
$100,000 a year on dredging the lagoons with a
backhoe on a barge. It is also considering the use
of a self contained dredging unit, worth between
$500,000 and $600,000, that breaks up the bottom
with an auger and pumps it into a trailing container. The commission decided at its Aug. 12
meeting to contact manufacturers of such units in
Oakville and Buffalo, N.Y.
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Page 24
A fair to remember
Don’t forget to mark your calendar for the 120th Ramona Fall Fair, Sept. 17 and 18
By ROB McCORMICK
Managing Editor
A team competes in the horse pull at last yearʼs Ramona Fall Fair
The 120th edition of the Ramona Fall Fair will
be held Friday and Saturday, Sept. 17 and 18,
kicking off at 6:30 p.m. Friday with the annual
horseshoe tournament.
“Friday night is a bit more of an adult event with
the tournament and the beverage tent,” said Glenn
Spriggs, media co-ordinator for Ramona Hall,
which organizes the fair.
“It’s a progressive tournament with two-person
teams based on elimination and cash prizes for
first, second and third place,” he said.
“There will be a couple of hundred dollars in
prize giveaways and, there’s also a grand trophy,”
Spriggs said. “It’s fun little memento because it’s a
one-of-a-kind trophy. It’s home-made with an actual horseshoe on it. The winners get their name
put on it and it stays in Ramona Hall.”
The tournament, which has been running for
about 10 years, drew almost 30 teams last year.
Saturday is Family Day, full of events including
a woodsmen’s competition, a free bouncy castle,
nail-driving and husband-calling contests, a
spelling bee, silent auction, petting zoo and the
fair’s signature horse pull, which runs from 3:30 to
6:30 p.m.
New this year will be a family pumpkin-carving
contest. “Pumpkins are provided by Ramona Hall
and they will be judged with cash prizes for first,
second and third,” Spriggs said. “That’s exciting,
to be able to add a new family component to the
fair,” he said.
And of course, there will be lots to eat. “Burgers, onion rings, split pea soup and meat pies,”
Spriggs said, “and the vendors will be selling
candy floss and slushy cones and everything else
you’d expect.”
Judging of the exhibits will also take place Saturday.
“We are expecting about 50 livestock entries and
close to 1,000 other entries in various categories,
and it would be fair to assume that 90 per cent of
them would be Ramara entries.”
The livestock competitions “are a huge part of
the fair,” Spriggs said. “We pay sanctioned judges
for all the judging that gets done with the goats,
sheep, cows and poultry.”
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The judges will also consider entries in categories including children and adult crafts, needlework, baking, jams and jellies, vegetables and
flowers.
About 25 vendors are expected, Spriggs said,
selling “everything from arts and crafts to Christmas gift ideas and food.”
Official opening ceremonies will be held at
noon, with remarks from dignitaries.
Admission to the fair is $5 per person, with lots
of free parking, Spriggs said,
About 700 people attended last year’s fair.
For more information call Spriggs at (705) 6898881, or Eileen Cronk at (705) 689-6101.
Severn Bridge
Fall Fair Sept. 11
Rob McCormick can be reached at ramara.
[email protected].
The Severn Bridge Fall Fair is expected to draw
about 800 to 900 people to the 137th annual gathering on Saturday, Sept. 11.
“It’s a small, family fair with a little something
for everyone,” says Isabell McTaggart, treasurer
of the Severn Bridge Agricultural Society, which
organizes the fair.
Events begin at 9 a.m. and include a bake sale,
a parade, opening ceremonies, entertainment, a
baby contest, horse show, spelling bee, corn roast
and raffle draws.
About $6,000 to $7,000 in prizes will be
awarded, with the fair expected to draw between
200 and 300 exhibitors and competitors.
The fair will be held at the Severn Bridge Fairgrounds on Southwood Road in Severn Bridge.
Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students in
grades 9 to 12, and children are admitted free.
For further information call McTaggart at (705)
689-5519.
— Rob McCormick
We really were Number One
Page 25
By ADRIENNE DAVIES
When that last day finally came in June, who
could have dreamed that only two months later
we would be eager to start classes again?
When the promise of long lazy days filled
with outdoor fun beckoned, who would
have believed that freedom would pall and
we would look forward to lessons and,
possibly, a new teacher?
But here we were, happy to meet up
with the friends we had missed over the
summer and to initiate all of our little siblings into the mysteries of school. And, yes,
we had a new teacher (a man, of all things!),
fresh from Normal School and ready to teach
and be taught. The first thing he had to learn was
that the most important event of our school year
was looming on the horizon.
Only two weeks away was the Ramona Fair, a
grand celebration of the township’s best in produce
and flowers, livestock and art, and we, as one of
the six schools in Rama Township, were to participate.
One of our classmates was sure to win a prize for
penmanship or drawing, and quite a few from our
school were good spellers and would surely do
well in the bee. We had students with “the gift of
gab” who might do well in the public speaking
contest, too. It would be a triumph to see a trophy
displayed in our classroom. But there was one area
in which a prize had usually eluded us: Each
school had to march around the parade grounds,
carrying their banner, and then stop in front of the
judges and perform a yell. This would show to all
the world how well-disciplined and dignified we
could be and how well we could follow instructions.
Once Mr. Huffman, our new teacher, realized
the importance of this event, we practised marching every day, two by two in a long snake around
the school yard, trying to match our steps with
those of the bigger and littler kids. Around and
around we went, until we had achieved some semblance of cohesive movement.
Now that we were fairly confident in our movements, there was the yell to be considered. Not too
long out of high school himself, Mr. Huffman suggested we all ask our older brothers and sisters to
recommend something they had heard from cheerleaders at football games in town. At our house the
overused and the trite were considered and discarded and somehow, our Dad got involved with
the problem. Tongue-in-cheek, he came up with a
Illustration by Suzan Bertrand
rhyme which we dutifully delivered to school
the next day. Lo and behold, Mr. Huffman
liked it! So we memorized and practised until we
were fairly certain that we could shout in unison
and all be heard.
Finally, we were ready for the excitement of the
day itself, and we rode with our dad to Ramona,
sitting in the back of the truck as we traveled down
the dusty September roads. And the fair itself fulfilled its thrilling promise with livestock filling the
pens for judging, and teams of horses with braided
tails and manes showing their strength. Inside the
building were the best vegetables and fruits on display, and well as flowers and baking. Some of our
friends had nurtured a calf or piglet to become a
definite ribbon-winner or had cosseted three special tomatoes or dahlias in hopes of a prize. In my
busy family, unused to the finer points of rural life,
we often found ourselves standing at the displays
wondering why we hadn’t entered our own handwork. We knew there was no chance of displaying
vegetables — in our family we ate them all —
but our grandmother knit beautiful sweaters for us
all and our mom was a whiz at crochet. All of us
girls could sew and embroider and bake, but we
hadn’t thought of preparing an item for the fair
when the halcyon days of summer beckoned. Well,
never mind, we knew lots of the winners and were
proud of our association.
Finally, the school competition was next and we
hurried to line up in the way we had practised, having to fill some holes where a classmate or two
were missing, but, in general, keeping to the pattern of tallest to smallest. The other schools did the
same and we filled the field with our double lines
of students.
As SS #1, we were in the unenviable position of going first. At the signal, we started,
proudly led by the biggest students holding our banner. We marched in unison,
stopped in front of the judges with very
little pushing and shoving and were set
to impress everyone with our vocal
prowess. And, here it was, out loud, and
best as we could shout it:
Hickory Dickory, Chelsea bun,
We’re the kids from Number One
We go to school just for fun
If you want a fight we sure can run
Hickory Dickory, Chelsea bun.
Silence, then some guffaws. The judges
didn’t know how to react. When the other
schools followed with their precise movements and more conventional words we knew our
goose was cooked. Well, we didn’t win, again, but
we sure were happy to be the talk of the fair.
Adrienne Davies is the secretary of the
Ramara Historical Society. She can be reached
at [email protected]. The society meets
the third Thursday of each month at 7:30 p.m.
at the Ramara Centre.
Military
History
Day
Help us kick off Legion Week
on Saturday, Sept. 18 at the
Brechin Legion Branch
488. The day
will include
displays of
military uniforms, artifacts, vehicles
and historical
memorabilia.
The event
will run from
10 a.m. until 4 p.m. and there is
no charge for admission. You
will be able to buy lunch served
by the Legion. Anyone wishing
to set up a display or wanting
more information can contact
Carl Black at 705-326-3984.
You say tomato
Page 26
There was a time in July when I was so eager
to get at my tomatoes that they were lucky
if I let them turn red. (Fried green
tomatoes are a favourite in my
household.) Come September they come in by
the bucketful and out of
my ears. Every year at
this time I ask myself
why I planted so many
tomatoes and vehemently
vow to cut back next
spring. However, when
February rolls around I’m
congratulating myself on having
the forethought to plan for such an
abundant harvest.
In the steamy kitchen, chopping boards
and paring knives litter the work surface.
With withered, wrinkled fingers you toil
away at putting up this year’s crop. Processing your tomatoes is admittedly labour
intensive, but the winter rewards will prove
well worth the effort. There are several ways
to handle the task, and I recommend that you
employ each of them in order to broaden your
culinary possibilities.
Drying: This method has to be performed
early enough in the season to take advantage of
the remaining summer sunshine. It’s a slow, lazy
way because there is no need for blanching and
peeling. Depending on weather conditions, drying
could take from four days to two weeks. Use a
screen, possibly from one of your windows if they
pop out easily. Give it a good cleaning and lay it
flat on top of some brick legs in the sunniest spot
you have. Place four bricks in the corners to secure it against wind. Simply slice tomatoes in half
and place cut side up on the screen. Sprinkle
lightly with salt and cover with cheesecloth without letting the cloth touch the tomatoes. You will
need to bring the contraption in for the night to
avoid dew and marauding critters. Once dried,
store some of them in a zip bag. Others can be put
into a jar with olive oil and kept in the refrigerator.
Freezing: If you plant a crop garden, you really
should own a freezer. This is by far the simplest
method of putting up any vegetable. Sometimes
you will be faced with only a few really ripe specimens that will not wait. If you just can’t face another toasted tomato sandwich, freezing will
prevent any produce from going to waste.
Use the following blanch-and-peel method to
prepare tomatoes for all types of processing.
Bring a generous pot of water to the boil. Prepare
an ice bath nearby and have a large kitchen spider
utensil at the ready. Things will happen fast now.
Tomatoes should be plunged into the boiling
water for 40 seconds, then rudely submerged in
the ice water to stop cooking. The shock will
force the skin to split. Slip the skins off your
tomatoes and take out the stem ends. At this point,
Gardening
By SUZAN
BERTRAND
Processing your tomatoes
is admittedly labour intensive,
but the winter rewards will
prove well worth the effort.
you can decide to quarter, chop or just leave them
whole.
Now you simply load up your freezer bag,
squeeze the excess air out, seal and freeze. Don’t
get carried away with thrift by using inferior ziplock bags. After all this work, you’d be pretty
angry at yourself if freezer burn ruined your cache
of summer bounty.
Canning: There is hardly a more gratifying
sight than a pantry shelf lined with sparkling jars
of your own preserves. Canning will bring out
your inner pioneer, so don the gingham apron and
let’s get to it. Cleanliness is next to godliness and
essential to canning. Use the sterilize cycle on
your dishwasher to treat jars, lids and all utensils
that will have contact with the tomatoes. Into
each sterile pint jar, pour one tablespoon of lemon
juice. Pack the peeled tomatoes in, squishing
them down to release some liquid. With a rubber
spatula, release any air trapped in the jar. Continue packing until there is a half-inch of head
room left. Put the lid and sealing ring in place and
tighten with your fingertips. A vacuum will seal
the jar, not brute force. Submerge the jars in boil-
Illustration by Suzan Bertrand
ing water for 40 minutes, retrieve them from the
water bath, line them up on the counter and admire your work. After a short wait you’ll hear the
satisfying sound of the lids popping down.
As a reward for all your hard work, and because
you’re now so adept at putting up preserves, I’m
going to divulge the secret recipe for my Granny’s
Chili Sauce.
14 large ripe tomatoes, peeled and quartered
6 large onions, finely chopped
1 bunch of celery, finely chopped
2 jars of applesauce, 24 oz. each
2 teaspoon each of cinnamon, ground cloves
and salt
2 ½ cups of brown sugar
2 cups of white sugar
Combine all ingredients in a large kettle. Bring
to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer, stir and simmer,
then simmer and stir some more until thickened to
jam-like consistency (about three hours). Spoon
the chili sauce into hot sterilized jars. Process the
jars in a hot water bath for 35 minutes.
Yield: 12 pints.
Lagoon City resident Suzan Bertrand is
president of the Flower Buds Garden Club.
She can be reached at [email protected].
Draw to raise funds for library summer reading program
Page 27
The Ramara Library Quilting Club is
raffling three prizes in a draw to be
held Oct. 22. All funds raised go to
support the libraryʼs summer reading
program. First prize is the queensized Paths to Pieces handmade
quilt (at right). Second prize is a
handcrafted angel doll and third
prize is $35. Tickets are $2 each or
three for $5 and can be purchased at
either branch of the Ramara Public
Library. Call 325-5776 for further
information. At right, with the firstprize quilt, are quilting club members
(back row, from left) Val Tuff, Janet
Daniel, Lori Harrington, Joyce Hird;
front row from left are Adrienne
Davies, Marion Hisey, Vera Sommers,
Mary Oliver.
The tomato a much-beleaguered fruit
They don’t make ‘em like they used to: big,
lumpy and ugly. With their irregular shape and
surprising colours, heirloom tomatoes traditionally
hold a special place in a gardener’s heart.
Consensus insists that they taste better than
modern varieties, but has their taste got anything
to do with the preservation of heritage? Scientists
say that an heirloom’s taste has less to do with its
genes than its conditions. For one thing, they are
allowed to produce a normal number of fruit.
Modern tinkering has encouraged varieties to set
close to 100 tomatoes per plant, sacrificing taste
for productivity. Secondly, any tomato that’s left to
come to maturity on the vine is going to be superior to those that are plucked in their tender youth.
Even those sold commercially as “vine ripened”
are harvested as soon as the first trace of blush
threatens the green.
Instead of living up to their robust reputation,
you may be surprised to discover that heirloom
tomatoes suffer the effects of inbreeding. Their
constitution is feeble. DNA analysis reveals an inferior defence against disease, along with a basi-
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cally undiversified makeup. Only 10 mutant genes
are shared by all who call themselves heirlooms.
Science tells us that under the skin, they are all the
same. Experience tells us they are simply delicious.
Controversy has been the constant companion of
the tomato throughout its journey to modern times.
To set the record straight on an item of debate that
still rages today, the tomato is not a vegetable, but
rather a fruit. More specifically, it’s a berry because it has edible seeds. If you’re wondering
where this marvellous food came from, you’ll be
disappointed to know that the Mother Tomato has
never been found. Genetically speaking, the current tomato goes back more than a million years,
but what came before is still unknown. The Aztecs
(those agricultural hot-shots) take credit for domesticating Solanum lycopersicum in Vera Cruz,
Mexico. The fruit they grew was similar in size to
our cherry tomatoes and yellow in maturity. They
called this little marvel tomatl, which means “the
swelling fruit.”
Misnomers plagued the poor tomato on its jour-
ney through Europe after Christopher Columbus
brought it back to Spain in the 15th century. French
botanist Tournefort provided the Latin botanical
name, Lycopersicon esculentum, to the tomato. It
translates to “wolfpeach.” Thought to be poisonous, it was used for decorative purposes only.
Eventually, by risking his life and eating one,
some brave Spaniard proved that tomatoes were
safe and delicious. Gastronomy has never looked
back. The Italians later called it the “golden
apple;” and the French, the “apple of love,” but
that was not until the ban by the Church of Rome
was lifted. The Pope called it the “devil’s fruit”
and proclaimed the consumption of tomatoes to be
a sinful indulgence.
So, how did an unassuming berry from the
Andes overcome so many obstacles to become a
staple of kitchen repertoires everywhere? By the
sheer perseverance of its deliciousness, I’d say. As
the humorist Lewis Grizzard said, “It’s difficult to
think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a
home-grown tomato.”
— Suzan Bertrand
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Page 28
Mind, body and spirit all have to be involved for most people to achieve desired results
Six years of consulting have taught me more
than what was in my nutrition texts. While in
school, I was sure I could help everyone if I just
applied the science I had learned. When early applications of my newfound knowledge got results,
I was sure I had all the answers.
A year later, when I started working more with
the public, I was faced with some challenges. I
learned that for most people to achieve their desired results, it took more than just healthy dietary
guidelines. In fact, permanent results largely rely
on permanent changes. And permanent changes,
including, eating healthy, losing weight and reducing blood pressure, all required a total mind,
body and spirit approach.
You cannot get healthy if you think unhealthy
thoughts. You cannot feel healthy if you feed your
body life-robbing foods. And you cannot reach
any goal without motivation. The thoughts you
think will affect when and how you reach your
goals. Thinking that you will never lose weight,
or that you cannot control your eating patterns,
will become your truth if you let it.
Thinking that you can lose weight and that you
can eat healthy, nourishing foods daily will get
you results, all because you allowed it to become
possible.
The same goes for the body. We live in a society that greatly mistreats the one and only body
we have while here on earth. We mistreat our
body with substance abuse (alcohol, recreational
drugs, over-the counter medications and over-prescribed medications). We want to feel better, but
rely on substances to mask our symptoms. Why
not work on health and have no symptoms to
By ALISA
HERRIMAN
treat?
We live in toxic environments, breathing in
smoggy air in the summer, and cleaning everything in our homes with chemicals. We put toxins
on our food and cover our body with them. Have
you ever read the ingredients of your shampoo or
laundry soap? These chemicals are applied to our
skin, the largest organ of absorption, every day.
Did you know the chemicals applied to food
grow up through the roots into every fibre of the
plant?
Or that they kill the beneficial microbes in the
soil that help nourish the plant, resulting in nutrient deficient, chemical laden plants?
Don’t get me started on the processed foods so
many of us eat.
These are all life robbing foods, foods that rob
our bodies of valuable nutrients and are directly
related to diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
In order to live in a healthy body you need to
provide it with life giving foods every day. Feed it
organic fruits and vegetables, organic dairy and
alternatives.
Enjoy local beef, chicken and turkey. Support
your local farmers and buy the freshest eggs and
meat you can find. Include raw nuts and seeds
such as almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin
seeds, and include legumes as often as possible by
putting them in your casseroles or by topping
your salads with them.
Supporting organic farming means you are supporting environmentally responsible farming
methods and your body is receiving all the nutrition Mother Nature intended us to have. When
you purchase organic foods you are essentially
voting for healthy food with your dollars.
But if we want to achieve a health related goal
we also need to include the mind, by thinking
positive thoughts and acknowledging that you can
make any necessary changes.
So how does spirit help get you results?
I believe our spirit is what gives us our drive. In
order to live a healthier lifestyle, we need to be
motivated to make such changes.
If we are constantly busy and just cannot find
the time to prepare healthy foods, perhaps we are
out of balance.
Finding a healthy balance between obligations
and what makes us happy is an important part of
making permanent lifestyle changes.
In order to achieve permanent results I have
learned that my clients need to focus on more
than just their diet. You need to be mindful of
your thoughts and actions (mind), include health
promoting foods (body) and find balance and motivation (spirit).
If you can incorporate all three aspects into
your healthy lifestyle you are guaranteed success.
I wish you health.
Ramara resident Alisa Herriman is a registered
nutritionist and the owner of Nutrinity Health
Services in Orillia. She can be reached at
[email protected].
Volunteers honoured
Former members of the Brechin Community
Centre Board Margaret McBain (10 years, left)
and Darlene Young (15 years, right), stand with
Ward 2 councillor John OʼDonnel (left) and
Simcoe North MPP Garfield Dunlop. Five
Ramara residents were given Ontario Volunteer
Service Awards for years of service in June,
including McBain, Young, Joseph Spichtig (40
years), of the Udney Community Centre Board;
David Coleman (20 years), Veterans of the
Vietnam War; and Joe Brulotte (10 years),
present member of the Brechin Community
Centre Board
Jolly’s Towing and Storage
• Lockouts • Boosting
• Roadside assistance available 24/7
Highway 12, Brechin
705-484-5800
Rallying ’round Big Brothers, Sisters
Page 29
Car dealership owner and Ramara resident Mike Davenport hits the road for charity
Mike Davenport will be taking it to the streets
for charity when he hits the road in his 2002 Subaru WRX in the 2010 Targa Newfoundland, an
annual 2,200-kilometre rally in St. John’s in September.
Davenport, a Ramara resident and owner of
Davenport Subaru in Orillia, will drive the WRX
with navigator Shawn Monette.
It’s the second time Davenport has participated
in the rally. In 2008, Davenport took part in the
race and raised $12,700 for the Simcoe-Muskoka
Regional Cancer Centre in Barrie.
This year he’s raising money for Big Brothers
Big Sisters of Orillia.
Davenport issued a local “Rally for the Kids”
challenge, which had raised more than $8,500 in
July, when he held a media conference to unveil
the car he’d be driving in the Sept. 11-18 race.
Davenport also issued a challenge to the Capital
Subaru dealership in St. John’s.
The losing dealership will write a cheque for
$1,000 to the winning dealership’s chosen charity.
Anyone wishing to donate can do so by calling
Davenport Subaru at 329-4277 or Big Brothers
Big Sisters at 325-3151.
For more information on the race, go to
www.targanewfoundland.com.
—Chronicle Staff
Why wouldn’t
you buy a used car
from this man?
xxxxxxxxxxx
2006 Toyota Signna
2008 Subaru Tribeca Ltd.
49,500 km, $17,500 plus HST 72,000 km, $27,500 plus HST
2008 Honda Ridgeline LX
2006 Chevy Equinox
64,000 km, $23,500 plus HST 88,000 km, $12,500 plus HST
A proud community supporter since 1995
www.davenportsubaru.com 385 West St. S., Orillia 705-329-4277
Hospital board
to hold first
Ramara forum
Page 30
By ROB McCORMICK
Managing Editor
The Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital board
of directors will hold its next community roundtable in Ramara on Monday, Nov. 1, the first such
meeting held outside of Orillia.
“The hospital serves a much bigger area than
just the city,” said board chairman John Cameron.
“We thought we would be more likely to get representative samples of people outside the city if we
actually go out into the area ourselves.”
Two to four roundtables have been held each
year for the last three years, Cameron said, drawing anywhere from a handful to about 30 members
of the public. “It is very much an informal dialogue,” he said. “We use it to sometimes test reaction to some of the things we have been working
on, but certainly we want to hear from the public.
We want to hear if there are concerns out there
about things people think we should be working
on.”
The Ramara meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at
the Lagoon City Community Centre, 84 Laguna
Parkway, in Lagoon City.
Questions will be taken and the public is encouraged to raise issues of concern, Cameron said.
“We probably will have something specific we
would like to talk about, but it’s a way off,” he
said. “Our budget is going to be formalizing about
that time, so that’s something that I’m sure will
come up. Each meeting, I’d say, has had a different theme.”
Information collected at the forums is taken
back to senior staff and/or the full hospital board,
Cameron said. “Senior staff are not normally
there, so the first thing that happens is that there
would be discussion with the staff about what we
had learned,” he said. “If it was a board matter,
then the committee dealing with whatever the
issue is would take that information into its deliberations about which way we were going to go.”
The forums are just another way the hospital
tries to stay in touch with the public, Cameron said.
“We feel accountable to the community for the
work we do and the direction we try to get the hospital to go in as a board,” he said.
“Annually, we have our general meeting where
we interact with the public and we get to hear
what they think of the progress we’ve made, but
that’s a fairly formal structure, and it only takes
place once a year.
“So rather than rely solely on that, we want to
have other ways we can get feedback on what
we’re doing. The community roundtables have
been very useful, and there always seems to be a
specific topic of interest we can go into in depth
about. I think it also provides an opportunity for us
to identify a topic we would like to interact with
the public about. You don’t really want to get to an
AGM and find out you’re totally off base and that
the public wants to vote down what you are recommending.”
Warm gifts for a cold day
On Aug. 3, Maureen Fraser Purdie, on behalf of the Lagoon City Ladies Club, presented 15 lap
rugs to patients on Orillia Soldiersʼ Memorial Hospitalʼs complex continuing care unit. With
Fraser Purdie (back right) are (from left) patient Kevin Egan, OSMH board member Carol Nass,
and patients Lilah Reil and John Karreman. Anyone wishing to make a donation of wool to assist
in the lap-rug production is asked to contact Maureen Fraser Purdie at 705-484-5377.
TWO EXCITING OPPORTUNITIES
FOR HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS
The Mara Medical Centre Board (the “Board”), in conjunction with the Township of Ramara (the “Township”), is endeavoring to launch a Ramara Family Health Team in the Medical Centre located at 3242 Ramara Road 47, Brechin. The Township has been identified as an under-serviced area and the Board is
offering two opportunities to entice health care professionals to come to Brechin.
OPPORTUNITY #1
The Board will provide rental incentives in exchange for timeline commitments to health care professionals who are willing to set up their
practice in the Mara Medical Centre.
The Mara Medical Centre is currently equipped with basic office furniture and medical equipment required to set up practice. However, the
Board is willing to expand and upgrade the current equipment inventory
through the assistance of a successful applicant(s).
OPPORTUNITY #2
The Board envisions a Nurse Practitioner-Led Clinic (NPLC) with the
benefits of inter-professional teams of health care providers including
nurse practitioners, registered nurses, collaborating family physicians
and a range of other health care professionals, each working to their full
scope of practice. Other health care professionals could include, but are
not limited to, chiropractors, message therapists, nutritionists/dieticians,
foot care, etc.
If you would like further information regarding the above opportunities,
please feel free to contact Cathy Wainman (see below).
Periodically, the government offers funding to assist in the establishment of a NPLC. The application
process is extremely vigorous and the competition for funds strong. The Board and Township want to
make a comprehensive case for our local requirement.
It has been proposed to set up an Ad Hoc Working Committee to explore options, gather data, build linkages and prepare applications for funding a NPLC. If you are a Health Care Professional or concerned citizen and would like to participate on such a project, please submit your resume and qualifications to:
The Mara Medical Centre Board
c/o The Township of Ramara
Att: Cathy Wainman, Medical Board Secretary
P.O. Box 130
Brechin, ON L0K 1B0
Phone: (705)484-5374 Ext. 242
Email: [email protected]
Planning issue drags on
Page 31
Dispute between County and Province blamed for holding up Rama Road development
By ROB McCORMICK
Managing Editor
An ongoing planning dispute between Simcoe
County and the Province that is blamed for holding
up development of the Rama Road corridor in Ramara is taking “far too long” to resolve, says a senior County planner.
The disagreement centres on a discrepancy between population projections by the Province and
those contained in the County’s official plan.
An Ontario Municipal Board pre-hearing into the
issue had been scheduled for Sept. 24 at the
County’s offices in Midhurst, but was cancelled in
August.
Instead, the Province continues to consider the
County’s request to appoint a facilitator in efforts
to avoid a full-blown OMB hearing. In August,
County planning officials said they hoped a decision would be made “sooner rather than later,” but
could not say whether it would be within weeks or
months.
At The Chronicle’s late-August deadline, the
Township’s new
admin building
to cost less
Construction of the new Township administration building will cost about $400,000 less than
the original estimate of $3.1 million.
As of the The Chronicle’s deadline in late August, the contract was expected to go to Reinders
Shouthpark and Associates in Barrie, who submitted a low bid of $2,726,380.
“We have closed tenders and we are hoping to
have it finalized by council Aug. 30, so we are
right on schedule.” said Rick Bates, the Township’s chief administrative officer.
Work is expected to be completed by fall 2011.
The Reinders bid is for construction of the
building only.
Additional expenses such as architects’ fees,
the security system and furnishings are expected
to push the cost of the completed facility to about
$4 million.
“There’s still a pile of stuff to do,” Bates said.
Bates attributed the low bid, which he said
came as a bit of a surprise, to competition in the
construction sector.
“We know that there isn’t a lot of building
going on, so we thought we would be under,” he
said, “but we certainly didn’t expect to be that
much under.”
The 14,363-square-foot, single-storey building
will be almost double the square footage of the
current municipal building.
The planning department will move to the new
building, leaving the current planning building to
environmental services, the department that handles water and waste water management.
— Rob McCormick
issue was in the hands of a new minister, Bob
Chiarelli, after a cabinet shuffle split the former
Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy.
In a written response to questions from The
Chronicle, a ministry spokesperson said Chiarelli,
the infrastructure minister, “will be brought up to
speed on this issue. No decision has been made at
the present time.”
The Province’s 2006 Places to Grow Plan allows
for the population of Simcoe County’s 16 municipalities and the separate cities of Barrie and Orillia
to increase to 667,000 from he current 423,000 by
2031. The County says the province’s forecast is
too low, and is projecting a population of 707,000
in the same time period.
The County has been asking for the appointment
of a facilitator since 2009.
“It has taken longer than I had hoped,” said
Bruce Hoppe, Simcoe’s manager of development
planning. “I wouldn’t say inordinate necessarily,
but it’s certainly not normal. It has taken far too
long.”
The issue is blocking provincial approval of Sim-
coe’s official plan, which the County passed in
2008. Ramara’s official plan, necessary for development on Rama Road to move ahead, can not be
approved until the Simcoe plan is accepted.
The impasse is “absolutely” delaying development, Hoppe said. “It definitely is holding up quite
a few processes throughout the County, including
the Rama Road corridor,” he said.
The spokesperson for the newly-split infrastructure ministry would not estimate when a decision
would be made. “The ministry wouldn’t be able to
speculate on this. (The facilitator) is brought in on
a wide variety of issues and situations. There is no
set time that it may take.”
The Ramara Road corridor is a potentially lucrative a six-kilometre stretch between Atherley and
Casino Rama that the Township would like to see
populated with hotels, restaurants, retail centres
and other tourist attractions. Township officials
have described development along the corridor as
“the future of the Township” because of the tax
revenue it would generate, and have expressed
frustration at the lack of progress.
Lions sell tickets for draw
Howard Raper
Brechin and District Lions Club President Bob White and member George Giles sold tickets on a
fundraising draw at the Ultramar gas station on Highway 12 July 3. Winners of the Sept. 6 draw
receive gift cards valued at $500, $250 or $100 from the Brechin Foodland grocery store. Proceeds
go to local non-profit projects and charities. For more information, call White at 484-5567.
We carry everything native
Moccasins, crafts, art, jewelry and a fully
stocked walk-in humidor. Two kilometres
past the casino on your right. Remember,
if the sign doesnʼt say Rama Moccasin
and Smoke, you are in the wrong place,
6413 Rama Rd. Rama, Ont. L0K 1T0
phone: 705-325-5041 www.ramashop.com
Page 32
The Harbour Inn
Restaurant and
Banquet Facility
Brechin teenager wins
$28,900 in scholarships
Lisa Harrington with parents Lori and Bert.
Rob McCormick
Waterloo student, future pharmacist gets financial kickstart
By ROB McCORMICK
Managing Editor
Great grades pay off. Just ask Lisa Harrington.
And her parents.
Harrington, an 18-year-old Brechin resident,
graduated from Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary School in Orillia with an overall average of 96
per cent.
Her sterling academic record, however, is more
than a source of pride. It has led to scholarships
and bursaries totaling $28,900 for the young
woman who heads off to Waterloo University this
fall in pursuit of a career as a pharmacist.
Over the summer she was named the recipient
of the annual $10,000 Reid Family Scholarship
from Orillia Solders’ Memorial Hospital for students in Orillia and area entering into a field of
health study. She was also one of 10 students in
Canada to receive a $10,000 scholarship from her
employer, Sobeys. She has worked part time at
the Foodland grocery store in Brechin for about
two years. Harrington will receive $2,500 a year
through each of those two scholarships, renewable for the next four years, if she maintains a satisfactory academic record.
Harrington also received a $3,000 chemistry
award and another $4,000 in scholarships and
bursaries from Waterloo University.
She won her high school’s $300 physics award
and a $1,000 award from Orillia orthodontists
Bruce MacGregor and David Stirling. As well,
she received $500 from the Orillia branch of the
Canadian Federation of University Women, and a
$100 bursary from the CWL at St. Andrew’s
Catholic Church in Brechin.
With Lisa headed for six years of study, her parents, Lori, the inter-library loans manager for the
Ramara Public Library, and Bert, a beef farmer,
are grateful for the financial assistance.
“Tuition for pharmacy school is $15,000 to
$16,000 a year, so it’s going to be expensive,”
Lori says.
“We are obviously very proud of Lisa, and
thrilled with her success. She has worked very
hard to obtain this achievement, maintaining such
high marks all throughout her school career, in
addition to working part-time since the age of 13,
first at Harbour Inn and then at Brechin Foodland.
Lisa has always loved learning, and we have been
blessed to have a daughter like her.”
Pharmacy, Lisa says, was a natural choice for
her. “I always like working with people,” she
says, “and I really like the math and sciences, so I
thought that would really be a good fit. Because I
am with the Sobeys program, I will probably
work at a Sobeys pharmacy, but I wouldn’t be opposed to a hospital.”
“Pharmacists often work at more than one
place,” says Lori. “A lot of them work at two locations, and spread themselves around, so there is
that possibility, too.”
But that’s in the future. For now, Lisa will just
keep doing what she does best: working hard for
marks that pay dividends.
• Now open for Breakfast,
Lunch & Dinner, 9 a.m.-10 p.m.
• Patio now open
• Fresh seafood
• New wood burning stove
for Gourmet Pizza
(Take out available)
Friday Live
Entertainment
Daily Patio
Specials
4 p.m. — 6 p.m.
1 Poplar Crescent,
Lagoon City, Brechin, ON.,
Call 705-484-5759
for reservations
‘Being the change’ in Kenya
Page 33
Ramara students take part in three-week project to help build school in African village
The phrase “Be the Change” resounded in the
minds and hearts of 22 students from Patrick Fogarty Catholic Secondary School in Orillia as they
boarded their plane from Pearson International in
Toronto to Kenya on May 22.
By KEVIN LEHMAN
Community
Correspondent
Their motto was adopted from a teaching of Mahatma Ghandi, who said, “You must be the change
you wish to see in the world.” These young people, accompanied by six adults, were headed to
this foreign land in order to bring change to the
world. Little did they know how much it would
change them.
The mission of the group, which lasted three
weeks, was several-fold: to interact with the 500
students at the primary school in Pimbiniet, assist
with digging of an irrigation ditch in that village
and to help construct a new school at the neighboring village of Enelerai. The new school will be a
boarding high school that will house up to 600 students. The group also brought 30 hockey bags full
of school and music supplies and sporting goods.
The mission was organized in conjunction with
Free the Children, the children’s charity founded
in 1995 by children’s rights advocate Craig Kielburger.
Among the students and staff accompanying
them were five Ramara residents: school viceprincipal Carolyn Healy, her son J. J., and students
Ga Eun Lee, Michelle Gordon and Rachel McAllister.
The costs of the mission were covered through
fundraising by the students and the school. Events
included a gala formal dance, an auction, and
school functions such as school dinners. A sponsorship booklet was produced and there was support from local businesses. The effort raised more
than $30,000.
From their first “jambo” (hello in Swahili) to the
last “kwaheri” (goodbye), everyone on the trip had
eye-opening and soul-inspiring experiences.
“Just getting there was an adventure,” said Carolyn Healy, recalling the 20-hour trip. “Our flight
date was right when the ash from the volcano in
Iceland was interfering with travel, so we had to
fly way north of the normal path and come back
down to Heathrow in England.” From Heathrow,
the group flew to Nairobi in Kenya, then took a
two-hour lorry ride to their final destination.
J. J. Healy felt that he had found a culture that
knows how to live, at peace. He sees the Kenya
mission as a once-in-a-lifetime experience, one
that has enriched him and for which he is grateful
to have had. One scene stood out for him. “We
were digging a ditch; hard, back-breaking work,
sweating in our T-shirts and shorts and probably
feeling sorry that it was so hot. Then a Kenyan
woman came by. She was robed in traditional
Students from Patrick Fogarty Catholic High School in Orillia entertain their counterparts in Kenya.
clothing, heavy and hot. She had fashioned a band
for her head that was supporting the wood that she
was dragging.” J. J. saw how happy she was to be
working and it made him realize that these people
were happy with what they had and knew how to
live in the moment.
There was agreement among those on the mission that women represent the future of progress in
Kenya, a patriarchal society where polygamy still
exists.
The “mamas” as they are called, want to see
Kenya change. In order to affect that change they
espouse the four pillars of wisdom: water, education, health and alternative income.
The first three are obvious in an arid land on the
east coast of Africa, but the idea of alternative income is that it affords more freedom to the
Kenyan family to advance and grow and maybe
send a child to high school. The alternative income
comes from the mama, who would band with
other women to earn extra money. Fathers are
mostly farmers.
The big changes the mamas would like to see
are in the furthering of education and the cessation
of the practice of female circumcision, still predominant throughout the country.
Peace, and being in the moment. Two statements
that were common among those who made this
trip. Also common was the feeling of wanting to
return, some to see the finished school that they
had helped to build.
Carolyn Healy sums it up: “I went to poverty to
find peace.” Twenty two young people and the six
adults who accompanied them brought back memories and impressions that will live in their hearts
and minds forever.
Volunteer and Washago resident
Kevin Lehman can be reached at
[email protected].
Page 34
Fire Dept. to get 95-ft. aerial
One bridge opens,
but another closes
Rob McCormick
Alexei and Tatiana Nikolaev, of Newmarket, drive over the Lakeshore Road swing bridge, which
opened Aug. 13 after being closed for two years.
After repeated delays, The Lakeshore Road
Swing Bridge 50 on Ramara Road 47 opened in
August, two years after it was closed for safety
reasons.
But just days after the Lakeshore Road project
was completed by Parks Canada, the Champlain
Bridge over the Talbot River to the south was
closed for reconstruction on Aug. 15.
The cost of the $900,000 project is being split
evenly between Durham Region and Simcoe
County.
Work on the Champlain Bridge is expected to
be completed by early December, depending on
the weather, said Wendy Houlberg, the project
manager.
The Champlain project could not begin until
Parks Canada finished the swing bridge because
“there are a bunch of homes that are landlocked
between the two bridges,” she said.
Houlberg expects the project will finish on time.
“I don’t foresee any problem,” she said.
— Rob McCormick
The Couchiching Conservancy is looking for
volunteers to take part in three “bio-blitzes” in
Ramara Township.
“These are intensive one-day inventories, where
we will aim to record all of the plant and animal
species in a given area, paying particular attention
to species at risk,” said the conservancy’s stewardship co-ordinator, Sarah Hodgkiss.
Volunteers will attend a workshop to learn
about species-at-risk legislation and identification
prior to conducting an inventory along with ex-
perts in bird, reptile and amphibian and plant
identification.
Some skills in wildlife and plant identification
would be useful, Hodgkiss said, but “we will be
holding workshops with local experts to educate
volunteers about species identification prior to the
events.” The workshops and bio-blitzes will take
place in September, with dates to be determined,
she said.
For information, contact Hodgkiss at shodgkiss@
couchconservancy.ca.
Volunteers sought for Ramara species inventories
Mike OʼDonnell
(705) 484-0005
TYRE SALES
INSURANCE CLAIMS
COLLISION & REFINISHING
MECHANICAL REPAIRS
Highway 12, Brechin
The Ramara Fire and Rescue Service will take
delivery of a 95-foot aerial unit some time in 2011,
after Township council approved the $700,000 purchase in July.
The unit, which includes a platform for rescue
work, provides “an elevated level of safety” for
firefighters and those they rescue, said Tony Stong,
the Township’s fire administrator.
He said the new aerial tower will allow firefighters to work more safely and efficiently at larger
structures, and to reach areas not accessible with
the department’s 70-foot unit, such as chimneys on
the lagoon side of condos in Lagoon City.
The smaller unit will be moved to the Atherley
station from Brechin when the taller aerial arrives.
The unit, purchased from Fort Garry Fire Trucks
in Winnipeg, is being assembled in Ohio.
Bayshore art show
Between eight and a dozen artists, artisans and
authors in Bayshore Village will hold their second
annual Creative Arts Show and Sale on Saturday
Oct. 16, from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. in the Hayloft at
1 Hayloft Lane.
Artists will display china plates, watercolours,
oils, acrylics, floral design, ceramics, woodworking and other media. Rick Gadziola, author of three
novels in the Jake Morgan mystery series, and
Noel Cooper, author of two books in the religious
education field, will participate.
The public is welcome and admission is free.
For further information, call Patricia Beecham at
484-0221 or email to beecoop@
cottagecountry.net.
Thanksgiving pow wow
The 25th Anniversary Rama First Nation
Thanksgiving Pow Wow, a celebration featuring
native dancing and singing from all over North
America, will be held at the Mask Arena on Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 9 and 10.
Saturday’s hours are 1 to 9 p.m., with grand entries at 1 and 7 p.m. Sunday’s hours are 12:30 to 6
p.m., with a grand entry at 12:30 p.m. The event
will also feature native cuisine, vendors selling
handmade crafts and a fine-arts exhibition.
Admission is $10 for adults, $5 for children
seven to 12, free for children six and under, seniors
and veterans. Contact Robin Harrington at 3253611, ext. 1298, for more information.
Terry Fox events planned
Ramara volunteer firefighters will hold a carwash, barbecue and corn roast to raise funds for the
Terry Fox Foundation on Saturday, Sept. 4 at the
Brechin Fire Hall on Highway 12. The event runs
from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Meanwhile, organizers of the 24th annual Lagoon City Terry Fox Run will hold a pancake
breakfast at the Legion in Brechin on Sunday, Sept.
12, from 9 to 11 a.m. Admission is by donation.
This year there will be two local runs.
On Saturday, Sept. 18, there will be a short
evening run with three and five-kilometre routes.
Registration is at 6 p.m. at the Lagoon City Community Centre at 84 Laguna Parkway. The race
will begin at 7 p.m.
The main run will be Sunday, Sept. 19, with
routes of three, five and 10 kilometres. Registration starts at 10 a.m. at the community centre. The
run starts at noon. For more information call Scott
or Shannon O’Donnell at 426-9177.
Page 35
All-candidates’
meetings planned
Bill Duffy
Mary Bax
Basil Clarke
Bill White
Marilyn Brooks
Chamber of Commerce invites public to submit questions
ROB McCORMICK
Managing Editor
The Ramara Chamber of Commerce will host two
all-candidates’ meetings leading up to the Oct. 25
municipal election.
The sessions will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 5 at the
Mara/Brechin Legion and Thursday, Oct. 7 at Ramona Hall, from 7 to 9 p.m. each night. All council
and school-board candidates are invited.
The meetings will follow a question-and-answer
format. Candidates will be asked pre-determined
questions by a three-person panel moderated by Darleen Cormier, publisher of The Ramara Chronicle. At
The Chronicle’s deadline in late August, the panellists had not been named.
The chamber is accepting suggestions for questions
at [email protected]. The deadline for submissions is Sept. 17.
The Lagoon City Community Association will also
host a meeting on Saturday, Sept. 18 at the Lagoon
Mews plaza as an example. “Here’s a mews, the
retail or commerce centre of Lagoon City, that is
virtually empty, which is an eyesore,” he said. “So
how do we put retailers in that mews, or knock it
down and do something with it? It’s certainly not
an attraction right now.
“I think an initiative needs to be undertaken to
come up with a plan. I want to be on a steering
committee that discusses what we can do.”
— Rob McCormick
RiverNorth
Suites
An elegant retreat in the Kawarthas.
By the day or week.
Erika Neher
John Appleby
Roy King
City Community Centre, 84 Laguna Parkway, from
1:30 to 4 p.m.
The association has invited Ward 5, mayoral and
deputy mayoral candidates to answer written questions from members of the audience.
Candidates have until Sept. 10 to enter the race.
At The Chronicle’s deadline, 11 council candidates
had filed nomination papers.
Incumbent Bill Duffy was opposed by Mary Bax
Bill Kahler
Jim Hopson
for the mayor’s seat. Deputy Mayor Basil
Clarke was unopposed. Ward 1 Councillor Bill
White faced a challenge from Marilyn Brooks.
CORPORATION
In Ward 2, Councillor John O’Donnell was unopposed, as was Ward 3 Councillor Erika
OF THE
Neher. In Ward 4, Roy King was running
TOWNSHIP
against incumbent John Appleby. Ward 5 was
being contested by Councillor Bill Kahler and
OF RAMARA
Jim Hopson.
ELECTORS
On election night, results will be posted as
they come in and winners announced at the LeNOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN that on the 1st
gion in Brechin.
day of September, 2010 the preliminary list of
Candidate seeks Ward 5 seat
Jim Hopson, a long-time Lagoon City resident,
will run against Councillor Bill Kahler for the
Ward 5 seat on Ramara Township council.
Hopson, 56, an audio engineer, music company
owner and food-and-beverage consultant, filed his
nomination papers in late July.
He says his top priority is to see development in
Lagoon City. “I’ve lived in Lagoon City for 23
years, and I think the community is stalled,” he
said, pointing to the nearly empty Laguna Shores
John OʼDonnell
rive rnorthsuites. com
electors will be posted in the following locations: The Ramara Centre, Brechin Public Library, Municipal Office and Building Planning
and Environmental (BPE) Office. In addition to
these lists there is a new service available to
check your voting status this year. Electors will
be able to check their status online at the Township of Ramara website as of September 7,
2010. www.ramara.ca
ALL ELECTORS SHOULD EXAMINE THE
LIST to ensure their name and relevant information are correctly shown.
Due to construction of the new Township Administration Centre applications for additions,
corrections or deletions from the list are available at the Municipal BUILDING/PLANNING, ENVIRONMENTAL (BPE) OFFICE,
2115 HIGHWAY#12, BRECHIN, ONTARIO.
REVISIONS OF THE LIST shall be undertaken
at the above location between the hours of 9:00
a.m. and 4:30 p.m. each weekday from Tuesday,
September 7, 2010 through Friday, October 22,
2010 and between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and
8:00 p.m. on Monday, October 25, 2010.
The last day for filing forms requesting removal
of another person’s name from the list is Friday,
September 10, 2010 from 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Janice McKinnon, CMO
Clerk
Township of Ramara
Page 36
Brechin market
extends season
Rob McCormick
Shoppers browse at the Farm and Country Market at the Brechin Ball Park in July.
To be held Saturdays through Thanksgiving at ball park
The Brechin Farm and Country Market, which
began May 22 and was to have ended on Labour
Day, will be extended until Oct. 9, the Saturday of
the Thanksgiving weekend.
By late July, the market had grown to include
about half a dozen regular vendors, and was attracting about 200 people every Saturday, said Bob
Poyntz, chairman of the Brechin Community Centre Board, which organizes the event.
“It’s growing and becoming more popular as it
becomes better known,” Poyntz said. More vendors are expected as local produce becomes available, he said.
Vendors selling early produce, baked goods, preserves, jewellery and new-age products are reporting strong, steady sales, Poyntz said.
“We have established through sales and traffic
that there is a real demand for a market in
Brechin,” he said.
“The more vendors we get, the more we think
that demand will grow.”
Vendors are not charged a fee to sell their goods,
and the Township of Ramara has waived the vendor permit fees it normally charges.
The market runs from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Vendors can set up from 7 a.m. on, and are asked
to bring their own tables, chairs and canopies.
Interested vendors are invited to contact Poyntz
at 484-2116 ([email protected]), or Darleen
Cormier, board secretary, at 484-1576 (ramara.
[email protected]).
— Chronicle Staff
‘Farm gate’ produce
available in Ramara
Rob McCormick
Deb Barnes of Harvest House Organics.
Here are some places in or near Ramara where
you can buy locally-grown produce in season:
Ramara Farm and Country Market:
Saturdays, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m., Brechin Ball Park.
Harvest House Organics: 91 Day Drive, off
Ramara Road 46, near Lake Dalyrmple.
Pesticide-free produce. Open Thursday to
Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. through Thanksgiving
weekend. Customers can also call to place
orders. (705) 833-1289.
Mikeʼs Autobody and Tyre: Highway 12,
Brechin. Corn only, from the farm of Mark and
Kathy Wainman in Ramara, through September.
Seven days a week. “Same hours as the liquor
store.” says owner Mike OʼDonnell. Wainman
corn is also available on the “honour system”
at a stand on the Eighth Concession between
Bayshore and Val Harbour.
Hewittʼs Farm Market: Next to Leskaʼs
Delictatesin and Meats, Highway 12 near
Uptergrove. Seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 6:30
p.m., May 24 until Haloween.
Peggyʼs Sweet Corn and Produce: At the
Ultramar station on Highway 12 at County Road
169. Weekdays noon to 5 p.m., weekends 10
a.m. to 6 p.m.
Harbour Inn & Resort Club – Vacation Ownership
Check our website for excellent room rates – www.harbourinnresort.com
On site: Restaurant, indoor pool, sauna, hot tub, whirlpool, tennis Tel: (705) 484-5366 Email: [email protected]
O
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A dog’s life at the Bed and Biscuit
Local dog owners looking for canine accommodations have another option in Ramara.
Divine K-9 Bed and Biscuit, a boarding, breeding and spa facility, has opened on Concession 7
and Highway 12.
Owner Luanna Petrynec purchased the kennel
earlier this year from Allen and Diana Robinson,
who had operated it as The Robinson Boarding
Kennels since 1990. The Robinsons sold the business and retired in May as Ramara’s canine control officers, positions they held since 1998.
Petrynec, 45, comes to Ramara from Japan,
where she taught English at a private girls’ high
school for 15 years.
A medical problem was responsible for abruptly
ending her career as a teacher.
“Unfortunately, I developed a spinal chord tumour and lost the use of my small-motor skills,”
she says. “I can’t write well, and if you can’t
write, you can’t teach. So a time came for a
change in career and I thought, ‘Well, what can I
do?’ I had always had a great passion for animals,
especially dogs, so I decided to start breeding
dogs in Japan.”
About a year ago, Petrynec began breeding the
shiba inu, a small Japanese breed, along with border collies.
“I felt it was time for me and my daughter to
come back to Canada, and family encouraged us
to be closer,” she says.
“I was looking for properties and one day my
Page 37
Rob McCormick
Luanna Petrynec with some of her own dogs at
Divine K-9 Bed and Biscuit.
agent sent me a listing for this one, and right
away I knew it was what I wanted,” she says.
Petrynec arrived in Ramara in late May, four
months after she made the decision to leave
Japan.
New canine control officers take over
The dog days (and nights) have begun for Ramara’s new canine officers.
Mark Cronk, 26, and Erica Loutskou, 34, assumed their duties in late May. They took over the
Township’s shelter after the retirement of Allen
and Diana Robinson, Ramara’s canine control officers for 12 years.
Cronk, a Ramona native, has had dogs all his
life, and owns two four-year-old Labrador retrievers. “My dad has always had sporting dogs and
we’ve maintained a kennel licence here in the
township for longer than I have been around.”
The Cronk family raises foxhounds and has been
active in shows and trials over the years, he said.
Loutskou, of Beaverton, has worked in the animal control field with the Toronto Animal Service
in Toronto and as a canine control officer in
Brock Township. “I enjoy the field and love
working with the people and animals,” she says.
Much of the officers’ time is spent looking for
stray, lost or unlicenced dogs. “We patrol pretty
well the whole township on a daily basis, looking
for dogs running at large,” Cronk says. “We bring
them back to the shelter, and figure out if they are
licenced. If they are, it makes it easier for us to
get them back to their owners.”
An owner whose dog is picked up does face
some costs; an impound fee of $30 and a transportation fee of $10. If a dog is not licenced the
owner must pay another $50 fee consisting of a
$34 late penalty and $16 for the licence itself.
“It only costs $16 to licence your dog if you do
it in January or February,” Cronk says, “so it pays
Rob McCormick
Canine control officers Erica Loutskou and Mark
Cronk, with Cronkʼs two Labs, Tucker (left) and
Bailey, at the Ramara shelter.
for owners to get the licence on time.”
The officers, on call 24/7, are responsible for
running the adoption program for the no-kill shelter. “If a dog is not claimed, we hold it for five
days and then they go up for adoption,” Cronk
says. “If a dog is not adopted, we’ll work with
rescue groups, and we’ll hold the dog until a suitable home is found.”
The Ramara shelter can be reached at 327-8567.
— Rob McCormick
“My family knew this area really well because
my brother often goes to the Fern Resort,” she
says. “When this listing came up, I thought the
property was really pretty, but they jumped on the
area and said ‘That’s a really excellent area to
live,’ so here we are.”
Petrynec has plans for her newly-opened facility, which can accommodate up to about 30 dogs.
Among them, she would like to introduce the
local market to the shiba inu, the most popular
dog in its native Japan.
“The breed is really well known in the U.S., but
in Canada, few people seem to know about them,”
she says. “It’s extremely loyal, very loving, very
clean. It’s protective, but tiny (about 17 to 23
pounds). It’s like getting a big dog in a little package. In Japan they are really the number one dog
that most people want to own. I guess it’s because
of their size and cleanliness, with housing being a
lot smaller there than it is here in general. I have
met a few people here who know about them. My
market will likely be here and in the U.S. They
are wonderful dogs, extremely intelligent.”
In addition to breeding and boarding, she would
eventually like to show both the shibu inu and
border collies, and also has plans for a “doggie
day care.” She offers basic services such as
bathing, nail-trimming and some training.
Clients can reach her at (705) 484-5067, or at
www.divinek-9bedandbiscuit.ca.
—Rob McCormick
Home of the
handyman
Washago Home Hardware
3375 Muskoka Street,
Washago, 705-689-2611
Page 38
Community calendar
By
HOWARD RAPER
Ramara and area events — all welcome
Weekly events
Monday
Computer lessons with Kevin Lehman: Beginning Monday, Sept. 20 for five weeks at the Ramara Centre Library, 10 to 11 a.m. Intermediate
classes from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Call the library at 325-5776 or 484-0476.
Bid Euchre: Carden Recreation Centre (258
Lake Dalrymple Road), 7 p.m. Call S. Brulotte at
484-5712. Hosted by the Dalrymple Countryside
Seniors.
Line dancing: Sunshine Seniors Line Dancing
Club at Heritage United Church, Washago, from
1:30 pm. Cost $3. Call 325-0680.
Tuesday
Euchre: Sunshine Seniors Euchre Club at Heritage United Church, Washago, from 7 p.m. Call
Eric at (705) 689-1033.
Wednesday
Carden Carvers: Carden Recreation Centre
(258 Lake Dalrymple Road), 7 p.m. Call W.
Bowes at 833-2046.
Thursday
Toddler programs (ages 3 - 5): Little Counters,
10:30 to 11:30 a.m. starting Sept. 16. Ramara
Centre Library. No charge. Call 325-5776.
Lunch at the Legion: Soups, sandwiches,
weekly hot meal special. Eat in or take out, 11
a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Brechin Legion, 484-5393.
Friday
Toddler Programs (ages 3 - 5): RPL Rascals,
10:30 to 11:30 a.m. starting Sept. 17 at the Ramara Centre Library. No charge. Call 325-5776.
Lunch at the Legion: Soups, sandwiches,
weekly hot meal special. Eat in or take out,
11a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Brechin Legion. Call 4845393.
Friday Night Family Fun Dart League: Brechin
Legion Starting on Sept. 9. Cost is $2 per night
which covers the cost of a windup dinner in early
December. Children invited accompanied by
parents or guardians. Non-competitive. Call
484-5393.
Saturday
Crown and Anchor Meat Roll: From 4 to 6 p.m.
at the Brechin Legion. Spin the Crown and Anchor wheel to win packages of meat, $2 a spin.
Nadir Jamal Pharmacy
• Blister packaging
• Peronal counselling
on your medications
Competitive pricing
Shop locally
and save
(705) 484-0074
Brechin
Mon. to Fri., 9:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Sat., 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
New Washago Rotary president
Janet Stead has been elected president of the Rotary Club of Washago and Area – Centennial.
Outgoing president Doug Cooper handed over the presidential chain of office to Stead, a Washago
resident and owner of CTC Computer Training, at the clubʼs annual Presidentʼs Night on June 28.
Stead was elected by the club members to serve as their president from July 1 to June 30, 2011. The
changeover ceremony was performed by Rotary District 7010 Past Governor Tom Bennett of
Peterborough. During Cooperʼs year as president, the club raised about $20,000 for local and
international service initiatives, more than in any of its previous five years of operation. Stead will
serve as the clubʼs sixth president.
Saturday, Sept. 4
Carwash, barbecue and corn roast: Ramara
volunteer firefighters will be raising funds for the
Terry Fox Foundation at the Brechin Fire Hall,
Highway 12 and the bypass from 9 a.m. to 2
p.m. Call Scott or Shannon OʼDonnell at
(705)426-9177.
Tuesday, Sept. 7
Dalrymple Countryside Seniors: Meet at the
Carden Recreation Centre (258 Dalrymple
Road) at 1 p.m. Call Bill Collins at (705) 8332600.
Wednesday, Sept. 8
Fashions for Fall at Washago: Sneak preview
of Fashions for Fall. Wine and cheese, desert
and coffee, door prizes. 7 p.m.Tickets $25.
Proceeds to Washago Community Centre. For
tickets call Darlene (705) 689-6636, Dorn (705)
689-5591 or Pat (705) 689-6603.
Carden Field Naturalists: Joint meeting with
Simcoe County Naturalists Club at the Carden
Recreation Centre, 258 Dalrymple Road, 7
p.m. Topic will be “Bumblebees,” presented by
Sheila Colla of York University. Call D. Homer at
(705) 833-2571. Lug-a-mug event.
Thursday, Sept. 9
Fashions for Fall at Washago (night two):
Sneak preview of Fashions for Fall. Wine and
cheese, desert and coffee, door prizes. 7
p.m.Tickets $25. Proceeds to Washago Community Centre. For tickets call Darlene (705)
689-6636, Dorn (705) 689-5591 or Pat (705)
689-6603.
Saturday, Sept. 11
137th Severn Bridge Fall Fair: Events begin
at 9 a.m. Bake sale, parade, opening ceremonies, entertainment, baby contest, horse
show, spelling bee, corn roast, raffle draws,
more. Severn Bridge Fairgrounds on Southwood Road in Severn Bridge. Admission $5 for
adults, $3 for students in grades 1 to
12, younger children admitted free. Call Isabell
McTaggart at (705) 689-5519.
Afternoon Tea and Apron Display: At Dalrymple United Church (272 Lake Dalrymple Road)
from 1 to 4 p.m. Hosted by Sebright Pastoral
Charge. Admission $10 per person. Call Pat
Morton at (705) 833-2140.
Lions Club euchre: 8 p.m.,Brechin Legion. Refreshments available. Call Bob White at 4845567.
Sunday, Sept. 12
Terry Fox pancake breakfast: 9 a.m. to 12:30
pm. Donations appreciated, all proceeds to the
Terry Fox Foundation. Brechin Legion. Call
Scott or Shannon OʼDonnell at (705) 426-9177.
Atherley United Church Anniversary
Service: 11 a.m. Theme is Through the Years
in Song and Story. Luncheon to follow. No
service at the Brechin United Church that day.
For information about events or for advance
tickets, please contact Holly at 705-327-7320.
Tuesday, Sept.14
Tween Wii Nites (ages 10 - 14): Ramara Centre Library from 6 to 7:30 p.m. No charge. Call
(705) 325-5776.
Wednesday, Sept. 15
Digital photography basics: Ramara Centre
Library from 1:30 to 3 p.m. No charge. Call
(705) 325-5776.
Thursday, Sept. 16
Beef barbeque: Heritage United Church,
Washago. Two sittings, 5 and 6:30 p.m. Cost:
$15 for adults, $6 for children six to 12, preschoolers free. For reservations call Marly at
689 2461 or Sandi at 689-8901.
Friday, Sept. 17
Free Community Dinner: Dalrymple United
Church (272 Lake Dalrymple Road). From 6
p.m. until all are served. Call (705) 833-2223.
Ramona Fall Fair Annual Horseshoe Tournament: Beverage tent. 6:30 p.m. at Ramona
Fairgrounds. Call Glenn Spriggs (705) 6898881 or Eileen Cronk (705)689-6101.
Community calendar
Page 39
Art show: Artists, artisans
and authors at the second anSaturday, Sept. 18
nual Bayshore Village CreAll candidates meeting: Lagoon
ative Arts Show, 10 a.m. to 5
City Community Association
p.m. in the Hayloft at 1 Hayloft
hosts meeting for Ward 5, mayLane. Free admission. Call
oral and deputy-mayoral candiPatricia Beecham at 484-0221
dates. Lagoon City Community
or email beecoop@cottageCentre, Laguna Parkway, 1:30 to
country.net.
4 p.m.
Sunday, Oct. 17
Legion Week open house: 10
Carden fiddle jam session:
a.m. to 4 p.m. Displays of military
Carden Recreation Centre,
uniforms, artifacts, military vehi1:30 to 5 p.m. Call Leigh at
cles. Free admission. Lunch and
325-0009. Refreshments
refreshments available. Call Carl
available.
Black at 326-3984 for informaConcert: OPP Choir performs
tion.
at Washago Community CenRamona Fall Fair, 120th editre. Tickets $10. Light refreshtion: Ramona Fairgrounds.
Howard Raper ments. Call 689-6424.
Woodsmenʼs competition, free
Breakfast: Washago Commubouncy castle, petting zoo, naildriving and husband-calling con- More than 100 meals were served at the Brechin/Mara Royal Canadian Legionʼs nity Centre. 8 a.m. to noon.
tests, horse pull, food, beverage steak and strawberry supper on Saturday, June 26. The dinner was a fundraiser for Adults $6. Children $3.
Tuesday, Oct. 19
tent, more. Vendors. Opening
the Legion.
Author visit/book reading:
ceremonies at noon. Admission
Centennial Park, Washago. Participants will
Rae Fleming, author of Peter Gzowski: A Bi$5 per person. Call Glenn Spriggs (705) 689travel by bicycle to conservancy-managed
ography. At the Ramara Centre Library, 2 to
8881 or Eileen Cronk (705) 689-6101
Terry Fox Run: Lagoon City Community Cen- properties in the Washago area. Short course
3:30 p.m. No charge. Celebrating Ontario
and long courses. Draw prizes. Gather at
tre, 84 Laguna Parkway. Night run Saturday
Public Library Week, Oct. 19 to 23. (Amnesty
8:30 a.m., start time 9 a.m. Registration fee
evening for those unable to attend Sundayʼs
Week: Return overdue material to either
$10 per person. For information go to
run. Registration 6 p.m., run at 7 p.m. For info,
branch with no fines.) Call 325-5776.
www.conservancyadventure.eventbrite.com,
pledge forms call Scott or Shannon OʼDonnell
Wednesday, Oct. 20
call Gayle at 326-1620 or send an email to
at 426-9177
Genealogy for Beginners: Ramara Public [email protected].
Sunday, Sept. 19
brary adult programming, Ramara Centre LiTuesday, Oct. 5
Breakfast: Washago Community Centre, 8
brary, 2 to 4 p.m. No charge. Call 325-5776.
Dalrymple Countryside Seniors: Meet at
a.m. to noon. Adults $6, children $3.
Patron-initiated library loan launch: 2:30
Carden
Recreation
Centre
(258
Lake
DalrymTerry Fox Run: Lagoon City Community Cenp.m.
Celebrating Ontario Public Library Week.
ple Road) at 1 p.m. Call Bill Collins, 833-2600.
tre. Three, five and 10-km routes. Registration
Call 325-5776.
Ramara
Chamber
of
Commerce
all
candiat 10 a.m. with noon start. For info and pledge
Friday, Oct. 22
dates meeting: Brechin Legion. 7 to 9 p.m.
forms call Scott or Shannon OʼDonnell at 426Tenth
annual
Day
for Seniors: 9 a.m. to 2
Municipal candidates discuss local issues.
9177.
p.m. at ODAS Park, 4500 Fairgrounds Rd.,
Thursday, Oct. 7
Carden fiddle jam session: Carden RecreSevern Township. Hosted by Garfield Dunlop
ation Centre (258 Lake Dalrymple Road), 1:30 Ramara Chamber of Commerce all candiMPP, Simcoe North. Exhibits, guest speakers,
to 5 p.m. All are welcome. Call Leigh at 325dates meeting: Ramona Hall. 7 to 9 p.m. Mudoor prizes, complimentary lunch and refresh0009. Refreshments available.
nicipal candidates discuss local issues.
ments. Call 326-3246 for information.
Wednesday, Sept. 22
Saturday, Oct. 9, Sunday Oct. 10
Saturday, Oct. 23
Potluck lunch, speaker: Noon. Murray GorPow wow: Chippewas of Rama First Nation
ing speaks on Biking across Canada. Hosted
Ramona Hall 12th annual Fall Bazaar:
25th Anniversary Thanksgiving Pow Wow at
by the Sunshine Seniors at Heritage Church
Baking, crafts, draws, lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.
the MASK Arena. See story on Page 34 for
Hall, Washago. Call Margot at 689-1277.
Ramona Hall, Fairgrounds Road, three miles
details.
Saturday, Sept. 25
east of Washago. Watch for signs. Call Eileen,
Tuesday, Oct. 12
Roast beef dinner with homemade pies: At
705-689-6101.
Tween Wii Nites (ages 10 – 14): Ramara
the Atherley United Church, Sittings at 5 and
Wednesday, Oct. 27
Centre Library, 6 to 7:30 p.m. No charge. Call
6:30 p. m. Advanced tickets $15 per
Curiosity auction: 1:30 pm. Hosted by Sun325-5776.
person. For tickets, call Holly, 327-7320.
shine Seniors at the Heritage Church Hall,
Skateboard park public meeting: Meeting to
Turkey dinner: Carden Recreation Centre, 6
discuss the possibility of constructing a skate3332 Muskoka St., Washago. Call Margot at
p. m. Hosted by Dalrymple United Church
board park in Brechin. 7 p.m., Brechin/Mara
689-1277.
Women. For tickets call Karen Popp at 833Legion.
Call
Shannon
OʼDonnell,
(705)
345ʻSpookʼhetti
dinner: Atherley United Church,
2774 or Joyce Townes at 833-2265.
9177.
$12 per person. For tickets call 327-7320.
Saturday, Oct. 2
Wednesday. Oct. 13
Sittings at 5 and 6:30 p.m.
Fall Colours Walk-a-thon: Dalrymple United
Carden Field Naturalists meeting: Carden
Saturday, Oct. 30
Church, 10 a.m. in support of Sebright PasRecreation Centre (258 Lake Dalrymple
Friends of the Library snack bar: 9 a.m. to 1
toral Charge or pastoral charge of choice. Call
Road), 7 p.m. Call David Homer at 833-2571.
p.m. In conjunction with the fall craft sale at
the church office at 833-2223.
Friday, Oct.15
Digital Photo Scavenger Hunt: Sponsored
the Ramara Centre on Highway 12.
Free Community Dinner: At Dalrymple
by the Rotary Club of Washago and Area.
Brechin United Church Turkey Dinner: SitUnited Church (272 Lake Dalrymple Road) 6
Cost is $75 for team of 3 or 4. Grand prize is
tings at 5 and 6:30 p.m. Advanced tickets $13
p.m. until all are served. Call 833- 2223.
$500. 8:30 a.m. start. Slideshow, barbecue
for adults, $5 for children six to 12. Take out
Saturday, Oct. 16
and presentation. Visit www.washagorotary.ca
available. For tickets call 484-5398.
Christmas in October bazaar and lunchand follow the link for information.
Who says thereʼs nothing to do in Ramara?
Lions Club Euchre: 8 p.m. Clubroom, Brechin eon: Carden Recreation Centre, 10 a.m. to 3
p.m. Hosted by Sebright United Pastoral
Send your events listing to Howard Raper
Legion. Refreshments available. Call Bob
Charge and the Carden Recreation Centre.
White, 484-5567.
at [email protected]. Listings for
Vendors welcome. Call Pat Morton at 833Sunday, Oct. 3
the November/December issue must be re2140.
Conservancy Cycling Adventure: Washago
ceived by Oct. 10.
Digging in
Spicy mixture boosts
flavour of meat, fish
Rob McCormick
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts coated with Geoffʼs Blackening
Spice Mix, ready to go on the grill.
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Computer
C
omputer Sa
Sales
les & Ser
Service
vice
DOWN TOWN
COMPUTERS
53
53 Mississaga
Mississaga St.
St. E.
Orillia,
Orillia, ON
L3V 1V4
705-326-7682
Downtown is as far as you have to go! 705-326-7682
www.downtowncomputers.ca
www.downtowncomputers.ca
Page 41
Fare Share
This versatile seasoning mixture is
a huge hit every year at our condo’s
Labour Day weekend barbecue. I use
it on grilled, boneless chicken breasts,
but it complements any meat or fish.
The mixture is more of a formula
than a recipe. The numbers in the ingredient list (right) could represent
teaspoons, tablespoons or some other
unit of measurement, depending on
how much you want to make. The
ratio is the important thing.
All the spices and herbs you need
are available at your local supermarket. You won’t have to go searching
for exotic, expensive ingredients.
You don’t have to barbecue, either.
Any meat or fish you sautee will also
benefit. Don’t be concerned if the
spice blackens during cooking.
Add the oregano and thyme to a
coffee grinder and grind. Then add all
the other ingredients and mix well.
Store in a plastic self-seal bag in a
By GEOFF
GRAHAM
Geoffʼs Blackening
Spice Mix
• Ground white pepper 1
• Ground black pepper 1
• Garlic powder 6
• Onion powder 6
• Oregano 6
• Thyme 6
• Kosher salt 2
• Cayenne ¼ (or more to taste)
• Paprika 12
• Smoked paprika (optional)
dry, dark cupboard.
If you cook on the barbecue, you
may wish to reduce the paprika by
three parts and substitute smoked paprika.
Geoff Graham is a Lagoon City
retiree, golfer and home chef. He
can be reached at geoffgraham@
rogers.com.
Simcoe
Shores
Golf Club
Share a favourite recipe by sending it to [email protected].
Selected recipes and home chefs will be featured in the Fare Share column.
New Owners
New Management
New Direction
Come see the improvements
Join us Mondays after 3 p.m. for golf and wings. Just $25!
Join us Thursdays after 3 p.m. for couples night out, Nine,
Wine and Dine. Golf, pasta dinner, glass wine. Just $25!
Join us Fridays for All Day Golf with cart. Just $38!
ALL other days, mention this ad and receive $5 off green fees.
Also visit: www.simcoeshoresgolf.ca
For tee times call: 705 426 4222
A proud community supporter since 1995
www.davenportsubaru.com 385 West St. S., Orillia 705-329-4277
Get out more with the all-new 2011 Subaru Outback
Not only does it have the nimble ride and fuel economy of a car, it also features our legendary symmetrical
full-time all-wheel drive, more cargo space and higher ground clearance. The Japanese engineered Outback.
Itʼll take you to the most remote places. That is, if you can put down the TV remote.
Motor Trend’s 2010 Sport/Utility of the year, well equipped from only $28,995 plus $1,525 for freight and PDI, plus GST, PST

September/October 2010

Transcription

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