Zephyr & Sandford news

by Pat Asling

What can be said about this yoyo weather? It’s good, it’s bad, it’s scary, so unpredictable. Well, the forecasters have been fairly right when you are sometime hoping they would be wrong, like what about the “snow storm” Sunday afternoon? First was ice pellets then huge snowflakes, temp drop from 3C to 1C. Snow stopped, what fell melted and then a re-enactment and it all melted. The sun shone and there was blue sky for a time. My nieces, husbands (one an Irishman) and daughters attended the St. Patrick’s Day parade in Toronto.

As usual they were all dressed in green costumes but more clothes than they can often get along without other years. The weather didn’t look like it deterred the crowd!

I keep written records of the weather daily and have thousand of photos but I cannot find what my memory says was a big event quite a few March’s ago. Does anyone remember another very warm March, probably 10 years ago anyway, when we were inundated by small but brilliant butterflies. They looked a lot like monarchs but much smaller and I can recall working out in my garden with all these beauties flying around. They had overwintered. Of course, in a few more days it turned really cold again and they all died. I never saw another one all year as they had all been frozen off.

It was probably one of the years when we had no apple crops either because the trees were about to blossom and they too succumbed. It would really be sad if that happened this year, because growth is well along in so many things. I even have a couple with shoots 2' to 3’ tall on my peony. Lots of croci, snowdrops, leaves from many other flowers to come.

The raccoons are out and about as I saw two killed on the road this morning, one on either side of the road. I hope momma from last year took her kids far away.

On Monday last week our sorority ladies met for lunch, nine this time as the numbers increase. Always a fun time and sister Laurie had gifts for each of us, fridge magnates with our photos. Maybe just to let us lose our over-stimulated appetites when we go to the frig too often? No ulterior motive with Laurie, just wanting to do something nice for friends.

On Tuesday some Uxbridge folk enjoyed the Community Care lunch at the Villa in Port Perry, a delicious lunch as usual and a time to chat and make new friends. Jonathan van Bilsen entertained with a slide show about his trip to Israel and Palestine. Since I had been there in 2019 I had seen many of the special spots associated with Christianity but like him felt somewhat overcome because nobody really knows for sure these are the spots where such and such a miracle happened and everyone is so covered over by spectacular temples obscuring the centuries in between. Off course it also brings to mind the horrible situation which is going on there now and should remind us that history did not start on October 7th, 2023. Jonathan was also one of those people who celebrated a birthday this past week. He has many irons in the fire, as the saying goes, with hosting a TV show, leading tours, MCing any number of local events etc.

Birthday greeting also to Eleanor Beare Bagshaw. Eleanor is the daughter of Gord and Doreen Beare, both of whom were very active in community affairs. When my great-great-great-grandfather Edward brought his family to Canada in 1819 they must have been accompanied by several other families. One of which settled in Quaker Hill area while the Aslings moved on to Brock and then Reach, and Greenbank area. The eldest daughter, who would have only been three at the time, later married into this Quaker Hill family from which the Beare’s descended.

Ryan and Karyn Tindall arrived home from a Jamaica holiday just in time to celebrated Ryans birthday. They will be gearing up for spring planting any time soon, especially in the greenhouse!

Happy birthday also to Jim Phoenix. Jim and wife Cathy raise beef cattle just off Centre Road. Cathy was one of Fred and Helen Wilson’s children, most of whom live fairly close. My young friend Marcie Clark is one of their daughters.

Finally, the man of the day. Pat Molloy can never forget his birthday because, for some reason it always falls on St. Patrick’s Day, and maybe he gets his very own parade. Best wishes to all those celebrating, whether birthdays, anniversaries or whatever. Maybe for some families, the end of March Break and kids back to school. I noticed the skate park was very busy most days.

The Uxbridge Genealogy group will meet on Thursday, March 21st, at the Library. The Guest Speaker for March is Jane E. MacNamara, the topic “Untangling Township Papers”. Jane will provide us with tips for searching the Township Papers. If you want to join the meeting via Zoom, contact using their email uxbridgegenealogygroup@hotmail.com. Membership is $25 for the year or $5 at the door.

The North Durham Nature Group will meet Tuesday, March 26th. The topic is “A Field Guide to Trees of Ontario” with Deborah Metsger, at 7 p.m., at Scugog Memorial Library, in Port Perry. Deborah published “A Field Guide To Trees of Ontario” in April of 2023, the latest book in the Royal Ontario Museum’s popular field guide series. Deborah Metsger, ROM's Assistant Curator of Plants, and coauthor of this publication will provide a guided tour through its 508 pages. Also, if you have any nature books you might like to donate there will be a sale of such before and after the meeting.

Coming soon the Foster Friday Night Concert series will begin in May, continuing until October. Entertainers for May and June will be organized by our friend Brian O’Sullivan who is part of several groups who perform here regularly. We are looking ahead to June when Conrad Boyce is once more getting some talented ladies together to perform a special concert for us. There will be two performance on Saturday, June 22nd.

Church this week was conducted by Carol O’Neil and it is always a pleasure to have her and Mark with us. The next two weeks Rev. Dr. William Fritz will be leading the Easter Sunday worship services. Please join with us at 10 a.m. All are welcome.