ZEPHYR and SANDFORD by Pat Asling

Here is a lovely little poem to start off. I am sure most of you need a few of these by now. This past week has been pretty serious since it started out with the shooting in Nova Scotia. Just how does anyone get to that point in life that he kills completely innocent people, whether he knew them or not? I saw memorials to at least two other mass killings that happened other years on this week as well. On Friday evening in two locations bells were rung, in salute to those 22 individuals (23 counting the unborn baby). At the library they were quickly rung, followed by Jason Stewart playing the pipes. A ceremony took place at Trinity United Church as the bells were rung. Reverend Karen Croxall read the names and said a prayer, followed by Mike MacDonald playing the pipes. A few days earlier there had been a drive-by parade to thank the frontline workers and first responders, and numerous cars took part in this. This hardly makes up for all the extra work most of them are expected to do, so it is good to see some workers will get a boost in pay. Hopefully this will continue beyond the end of the virus as they are always very important people. You may have noticed that Stephen Leahy was a guest curator on the Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, CBC. where four of his documentaries were shown. Stephen’s book “Your Water Footprint” showed how much water is uses in the production of the most common articles of clothing, food, etc. Stephen has been a resident of Uxbridge for several years now. Happy birthday to Brian Moore, celebrating a birthday this past week! Brian and Brenda are itching to travel west again to see their granddaughter who, as kids tend to do, is forever growing bigger. Birthday wishes go out as well to Jean Arndt. Jean is the mother of LeeAnn Ball and Maryanne Herrema. Our best wishes to her. We know it will be a sad time as her husband recently passed away. Speaking of Maryanne, she and her husband Ron Herrema celebrated their 32 years of marriage. Seems impossible, but time has a habit of slipping away. Happy birthday also to our Gerri Lynn O’Connor, former long term mayor and Regional chair! I think she is happy now, taking things slower, doing her volunteer work and enjoying her grandchild. Best wishes to all these and any others, celebrating quietly for whatever special event it would have been. We are almost at the end of April! Despite everything, the time has flown and we are a third of the way through 2020. Many flowers are in bloom and many more ready to pop when we get a couple of days in a row of warmth and sun. I think often now of my friends in Belize where they too are under isolation rules but hope to be out soon as they have not had any recent COVID-19 cases for many days. We should be so blessed! However, they have had temperatures of over 107F for several days and over a 100F before that. The land is parched and many acres are burning, including pastureland and forest reserve in the area where several of my friends have ranches and resorts. The sky and air are heavy with smoke, a situation which can worsen lung problems and make people more susceptible to COVID-19. Everyone is out fighting the fires, trying to save neighbour’s property so social distancing is pretty hard to contain. I would rather our cooler air than that! Sorry to say that Dorothy Baker has had a couple of mishaps at home and is not getting around well. Cards or letters would no doubt be appreciated but no visits at this time. Thanks once more to Reverend Diane Bennett-Jones and Carol O’Neil for remembering us and sending us their services.