Happy Father’s Day to all our fathers! I hope it was a great day for everyone! It’s a busy week out here in the country with many farmers rounding up their first cut of hay by dint of working from dawn to dusk – and these are long hot days! It appears most people are getting a good crop of hay after last year’s poorer harvest. Let’s hope the progress continues as second and third cuttings are made and other crops, such as corn, soya beans and other grain crops come into their own. Of course, during the course of a work week most farmers have to deal with malfunctioning equipment or broken parts, and time is needed to sort this out, travel a distance in some cases to get the required part, and then install it. Farmers are patient people, and gifted too as they have to fix their own machinery in most cases! Last week, easing into summer, Dwight and Deborah Clements took a four day canoe trip at Mississauga Provincial Park. I’m sure many others will begin taking trips as well. On Monday evening, a small group of Sandford/Zephyr members met at Sandford Church, social distancing in the yard. The purpose of the meeting was to make some decisions on when services should resume. The Government, public Health and the United Church as well have set down many guidelines which guarantee church will be nowhere near like we are used to observing it. However, some tentative planning has to be done. It was decided services would not start until at least September 13th, and anniversaries for both churches, scheduled for October 16th and 23rd, will be scaled down. This all depends on what happens as we move into phase 2 and beyond; if we start seeing more cases or an actual 2nd wave makes it necessary, we may have to revert to previous precautions. Stay tuned! We know most of our summer entertainment and into the fall has been canceled, much of it because of lack of planning time, but there is so much uncertainty that it is too risky to spent time, effort, and money on events that might not happen at all. On Thursday night about 25 cars did a drive-by to salute Ross Risebrough on the occasion of his 80th birthday. This was organized by daughter Sylvia Kokkinen. Bill Richardson was on hand to render a beautiful bagpipe solo! There are a lot of BIG birthdays these next few weeks and months and plans for parties have all gone astray. Regardless, most celebrating families have been able to have small gatherings. Our former minister, Eiko Hosaka, celebrated her birthday early in the week as did Dan Cearns, reporter for this paper. Some younger ones were Ray Edwards (15), and Paige Clark (10). A little older were David Shreeve, son of Gord and Karen, and older but young in spirit were Georgie Sheard, who keeps things moving in Zephyr, Uxbridge-born Doreen Whitney Johnson, is still a going concern at 80, and Yvonne Harrison, who can out-travel anyone around and whose daughter set up a lovely intimate dinner for her and Garry. Former Uxbridge business people John and Wilma Bakaalar, celebrated their 60th anniversary while Donna and Henry Webster have been wed for 51 years. Mike and Tish MacDonald have been married for 30 years and their daughters set up a beautiful meal and movie night for them. Carleigh Higgins made a fantastic cake for the occasion. That young lady is sure making a name for herself in culinary delights. Tish is getting ready to learn how to relax a little. Congratulations and best wishes to all! Lots of birthdays coming up next week, including Bob Kirvan who will be 85!
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