By Pat Asling
Talk about the “green, green grass, of Home!” With this rain, it just keeps getting greener and longer. A few people, like Gary across the road, have cut theirs, but I like to leave it for the bees and other insects for a while longer. Besides, the ground is so squishy it’s not good to be walking on it never mind the tractor. Sunday morning was so beautiful with blue sky and sun very little wind, and 13C in the early morning, I was planning on cleaning out my birdboxes after lunch. Well, of course, that didn’t happen as it poured most of the afternoon. I have seen someone with a picture of a tree swallow at a nest so I am hoping to get ahead of that but another day now. A pair of eastern kingbirds are building a nest on the upper ledge of my bathroom window but it is so narrow I can’t imagine they will have much success. We will see.
This week the Zephyr community is mourning the loss of another of its life-long members in the person of Bob Blackstock. Bob passed away on April 25th after a long battle with cancer. Bob was well known in the community as he worked for the Ministry of Transportation for 40 years. In his younger years, he was involved in playing many sports. His mother Mary was the musician at Zephyr United Church for many years and involved her granddaughters in the music. Bob married Mary van Veghel’ who pre-deceased him. They had three daughters Bonnie, Jennifer and Erin, 12 grandchildren and his older brother Bill. A Celebration of his life will be on Saturday, May 4th, from 1 a.m. to 4 p.m., at Zephyr Hall.
There was a very interesting article in this paper last week about the Timbers family. This family is well known in the Sandford Zephyr area as some members married into local families and some actually lived in Sandford. The feats of the male members in the ploughing field, Bob, Barry and now Greg, have been followed and exclaimed upon for many years in this part of the country.
There are several birthdays this month, starting with MaryAnne Herrema. MaryAnne is the wife of Ron, she is a mother and a grandmother and for many years has worked with the Jennifer Ashleigh Children’s Charity Foundation. Good wishes go out to Gerritt Herrema, the third generation of the family on the Herrelea farm. Gerritt got married recently and had a baby so he’s ready to get on with life. Greetings also go out to Brian Moore on his birthday. Brian and Brenda were no doubt very happy to have their son George and granddaughter Mai visiting with them. They spent some time at the Zoo. Happy birthday also to Cindy Risebrough. Cindy is focusing on continuing her Great Cycle Challenge riding to raise funds for the Sick Kids Hospital.
Special wishes to Gerri Lynn O’Connor, long-time mayor of Uxbridge and booster forever for the good of the community. Gerri Lynn, her sister Jane and her brother Peter were small children when her parents, the Hvidstens, came to Uxbridge and bought the Times Journal (TJ) newspaper and ran it for a great many years. No computers back in those days. I recall my mother on the phone every Monday morning calling the neighbours on our road for news. Then she would call my cousin Jean Jeffery and relay that to her, as did several others, and Jean would then relay the info to the TJ office. Must have taken much of a day for sure.
Jay Thibert is another birthday boy. The Thiberts live in Port Perry. Jay is one of the leaders in the North Durham Nature Club. Possibly several from here have followed him on various nature walks through the region. Once a teacher always a teacher. Jay and his lovely wife enjoy long distance canoe trips to northern Ontario and beyond. Jay will be the guest speaker at this month's North Durham Nature meeting, talking about one of these trips.
Another person who loves to take trips is Annette Westgarth. Annette is another of those people I knew as a very small child. Born in Udora she seems to have been to a great many places in the world. When she is home I think she has some connection to Durham College. Another lady celebrating a birthday is Marion Couch Barnett, who also likes to travel. Marion grew up well north of Epsom and married a young man who was a summer visitor to the area. He turned out to be a cousin of mine. Marion is also my sorority sister who spends winter in the south and summers in any direction.
One Voice Choir performed their 25 year concert on Friday night at St Paul’s Anglican Church, which was full of people anticipating another great music fest. They were not disappointed. This night they had a new pianist. The former pianist had been with them for 25 years and will be honoured later this month.
The Handi Capable Group performed at the Senior’s Centre on Wednesday night, to a good crowd I expect. Uxperience is on this weekend. On May 3rd the Foster will be host to the first Friday Night Concert of the season, 7:30 p.m. Admission is by donation at the door. Django Djunkies are the performers with Gypsy swing or jazz. They have been coming for a number of years and always please the audience. The Uxbridge Horticultural Group will meet at the Seniors Centre on Wednesday, May 8th, at 7:30 p.m. Julie Dimakos is the guest speaker, talking about “Tea Gardens for Beginners.” The Uxbridge Genealogy Group will meet Thursday, May 16th, in person or by Zoom.
Church this week was at Zephyr with Rev. Dr. Bill Fritz leading. The topic was facing death with his scripture from John where Jesus raises Lazarus for the dead. He said he and Joan had suffered losses recently and noted our congregation had also felt many losses due to death lately. Next week we are back to Sandford with Darlene Hallet as our guest leader. Please join us for the service and coffee, at 10 a.m. All welcome!
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