Zephyr & Sandford news

by Pat Asling

According to the calendar we have only one more week of summer. According to the forecasters we may have at least a month and a half. I will take that if it is anything like the past week. Of course, there are always complaints that it’s either too cold, too wet or too hot to work while all that grass grows under your feet. It just looks at you and laughs. Someone is working though as my lawn is full of tuffs of grass pulled out. My guess is the big ol’ raccoon I saw one night. He’s looking for grubs to eat but he is too messy.

Birthdays this week include Elaine Wilson. Elaine was the wife of Bruce, whose parents were Jim and Dorothy Prentice, they were neighbours on the 7th. I can see the house they lived in from here. When Bruce passed away Elaine moved out west closer to her children. She is 85. Another birthday boy is Geoff Carpentier. Geoff is a master birder, leads tours all over the world and is a valued member of North Durham Nature. Best wishes to anyone with birthdays. Cheryl and Erwin Hinzel celebrated their 46th anniversary in style by travelling to Brussels to be with friends. John and Jackie Leppard also celebrated their 27th anniversary. Congrats to these fine folks and anyone else celebrating special life events!

Along with happy events come sad ones. After spending much of a week in hospice it is with great sadness we share the passing of Lois Simpson Elford, on Friday. Lois and husband Harry farmed and raised their family for many years,south of Sandford. When Harry passed away Lois moved into town and has lived on her own for many years. They have four sons, a daughter and an adopted son and daughter. Lois had a brother (deceased) and two sisters and also a family connection to me. I also noted the death of Jim Burnett. Jim was a Port Perry boy who went to Port Perry High School when I did, as did his wife. I spent five summers during university working at Lawrence Drug Store, along with his mother Margaret, a great friend. Jim was deeply into sports, especially hockey and I know his name was well know in this area.

The Uxbridge Horseshoe Club held its Championship toss last Tuesday at the museum grounds. Champions, winning the Kirvan Cup were Wayne Braseur and Peter Bauchard. Winners of the Ken and Irene Watts trophy were Denis Lefebvre and Bob Kennedy. This was the final night of this season! At the Community Care lunch at the Villa last Tuesday, following the usual delicious meal, we were entertained by pianist Carol Salamone and favourites from the movie musicals!

Last Friday at the Foster Laurelie Augustyn and friends were the entertainers with about 40 in the audience. Many were well familiar with her/their music. This Friday, September 20th, Andrew Heathcote will be with us and the following Friday will be Mike Burns, always a hit to finish off the season. Plan to join with us in this beautiful building and be amazed as so many are. The Zephyr Scott Lions Club held their second Spaghetti supper on Friday night with an attendance of 80 to 85 people. This was their second event and they were pleased with the results. They are just about to become charted and go it alone from the Udora-Leaskdale group who sponsored them. They also collected food for our local food banks, pop tabs, milk bags and used eye glasses.

On Thursday, September 26th, 7 p.m., the Bethesda Reach WI will host their Dessert and Fashion Show at the Uxbridge Seniors Centre. Tickets are $20 each. You can call 905-852-3925, 905-985-3976 or 905-852-5284 to reserve your ticket. Clothing is coming from Woods Clothing and Threads Boutique. Money raised goes to two local scholarships.

A big events comes up on Saturday, September 21st when the Silent and Active Auction takes place at Uxbridge Sales Barns, to raise funds to assist Ryan Fawn’s family as he goes through many treatments learning to walk again. It is truly amazing what folks have donated for this auction, $1000's worth of all kinds of equipment, tools, vacations etc. Doors open at 9 a.m., silent auction first with the real auction in the afternoon. A free BBQ meal for any donation.

Lucy Maud Montgomery Society are bringing more music to the Leaskdale historical church. I don’t know yet who the musicians are but on September 20th, October 18th and November 22nd there will be chamber music. On October 4th, November 1st and December 6th it will be Jazz. Mark your calendars.

The Horticultural Group met Wednesday night at the Seniors building. Brian Mailey of Udora informed us about a lot of things we didn’t know about growing garlic, something which it seemed a lot of people did but on a much smaller scale than him.

The Uxbridge Genealogy Group meets Thursday, September 19th when Janice Nickerson, a frequent speaker, will talk about six free websites you can use in your ancestor search. Meeting starts at 7 p.m. Membership of $25 is due at this meeting. The North Durham Nature group meet at the Scugog library on September 24th, with Dr. Eric Nol speaking on “Will the Songbirds Survive.” Meeting starts at 7 p.m. This weekend was the Studio Tour and Art on the Fringe. After the washouts of the last two weekends this was a bonus. I always go to Art on the Fringe and enjoy talking to some younger artist friends like Ian Ball and Colin Murphy, Dianne and Randy Layne. The consensus was there were fewer people in attendance, for whatever reason. It was a lovely day just the same. Church was in Zephyr on Sunday with Rev. li Armstong leading. We were pleased to have Rev. Fritz and Joan with us. Zephyr congregants held a meeting following the service. On Thursday evening at Sandford the board will meet to discuss the future.