Taking pride in the watershed

ABCF Conservation Dinner featured artist David Bannister’s art shows love for the area’s water

ABCF Conservation Dinner
Thursday, April 17 - 5:30 p.m.
South Huron Recreation Centre
Tickets: $50 each
Contact: 519-235-2610, 1-888-286-2610 or info@abca.on.ca

Story and portrait by Casey Lessard
Paintings by David Bannister

“I’ve noticed that water features in my work about 80 per cent of the time,” says David Bannister, “whether it’s the river or a lake scene. I think the quality of the water around here is probably more important to me than I even realize.”
Bannister is the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Foundation’s featured artist for its 19th annual Conservation Dinner to be held April 17.
“It’s an event that supports many different conservation activities,” says ABCA’s Tim Cumming, “including accessible trails, conservation education, fish stocking in the Morrison reservoir, and commemorative woods tree plantings.”
“When I was asked to do this,” Bannister says, “I was really pleased to help out. I’m very attracted to landscapes that involve farmland and water - rivers and things like that. It still strikes a chord with me from my youth being raised on a farm. I think you quite often see the management and the boards of the conservation authorities tend to be farmers. It’s really a way of making sure the land and the farms and the rivers that connect the rural and urban areas are healthy for all concerned. The conservation authority plays a vital role in the environment. They were environmentalists before the rest of us even heard the word.
“Having grown up on a farm, we always felt the water you grew up next to was important to the farm operation. I think it’s important to all of our lives. You realize you have to be stewards of the water, that there are people living downstream, that your livestock may depend on that source of water being relatively clean. You have to keep it free of pollutants, and we’ve all seen what happens when those things fail and the consequences.”
And water continues to be important for his life in Grand Bend.
“People are attracted to the water,” Bannister says. “I can’t imagine not living next to it anymore. In terms of tourism and attracting people to the community, water is a key part of that. The health of that watershed and the lake water is vital to maintaining both a tourism and living environment. As the lake comes increasingly under threat from septic tanks, farm runoff, or high E. coli for whatever reason, it’s important that those of us who already live here do what we can to protect the water and in some cases improve it.
“I keep a sailboat in the cut off the Ausable, and in the summer particularly, six days out of seven I’m on the river at some point. Certainly the quality of the water and the fact that it’s lively and active with fish you can see, it’s a reflection of the water quality for the community and the ability to attract tourism. It’s integral to our lives more than we realize.”
Bannister does a lot of photography in the watershed’s conservation areas, particularly Rock Glen in Arkona. His paintings are heavily influenced by the local environs, including Morning, Ausable, the painting he donated for the dinner’s auction.
“The subject matter is dear to my heart because it’s both the Grand Bend Yacht Club, where I keep my boat in the summer, and the building that the River Road art gallery is in, and those are two areas in my life that are important to me. It’s actually painted from a photograph that I took very early in the morning a number of years ago, and it’s just bathed in a nice warm light. It has a soft yellow feeling about the whole scene.”
The painting is among the many items available at the event, which features a live auction, silent auction, general and special raffles, and door prizes. Seating opens at 5:30 p.m. with dinner at 7 p.m. Cumming says most people arrive early so they can get a good seat. This year’s master of ceremonies will be Scott Miller of A-Channel.
“It’s a lot of fun,” Cumming adds. “The community comes out and it’s a dress-up event, there’s a buzz, an excitement, and it’s a great night all around.”

Livin’ la vida in Grand Bend

Mexicans Anabel Salas, 18, of Torreón Coahuila and Carmen Rivera, 25, of Taxco both came to Canada in October to learn English. But it wasn’t until an email came through to Anabel’s adopted aunt Doris Becker that they realized the two were living only moments away in the same village. Now, they share a home with Becker in Grand Cove.

As told to Casey Lessard

Anabel: I wanted to learn English and I tried to come to a high school, but it’s so expensive because you need to be a Canadian. The paperwork is so complicated, and it’s as expensive as university. Doris told my dad, “She can come with me and find a baby-sitting job or something like that.” I am here, and I volunteer at her school – she’s a French teacher (at Usborne Public School). I read with the kids and help with the computers. I help in the kindergarten because there’s only one teacher and she needs help. I love the kids. They’re so cute and funny. The kids help me to read. I don’t have good pronunciation, and the kids laugh and tell me, you need to read like this. The kids are so nice.
Carmen: I had two Canadian friends, and they told me Canada is awesome. I love to paint, and they told me the landscape is beautiful, especially in autumn when the trees change colour. Now that it’s winter, there’s a lot of snow, and I like that.
When I was looking on the Internet, I saw the pictures of the beach and thought, it’s almost like Acapulco (laughs). The weather is too cold, but it’s okay. I like it.
I went through an Internet au pair agency. I got a family (the Gaukrogers) in Grand Bend, but they don’t need me anymore, so I decided to move here. Generally I came here to improve my English, but actually I’m a Spanish teacher in Mexico. I love to travel. The last year I was an assistant teacher in France and I was travelling a bit around Europe, too.
The idea is to live with a family so you learn the culture and you can go to the school. But here it was not the same because I didn’t take English lessons. As a nanny, you don’t get too much money. It’s good to learn the language, though.
Anabel: Doris came to Mexico when she was 18 (through Rotary), and she went to high school there and lived with my family. My father came to Canada to do the same, but he lived in Guelph. He stayed in Canada one year, too. Doris considers my family as her family.
Doris told me, “It’s a little town.” But I said, no, it’s not possible to be so little. When I got here, I realized it’s a little town.
I like Grand Bend. It’s so pretty. It’s different because I live in a big city. Here it’s so small and so quiet.
I miss the weather. I don’t like the cold. I don’t like the snow except when we are playing in it. I miss my climate so much. I live in the desert - right now it’s 45ºC there. I had only seen snow one time, but it only stayed one day.
I’d like to come back in the summer or in another year in June. I am not going to miss this weather. I don’t like wearing many layers. I feel I can’t move and I fall down because the ground is frozen.
Where I live it’s really warm. When it’s winter, in the night you need to wear a long T-shirt sometimes. But when I come here, I need three jackets and a scarf, two mittens.
Carmen: I love the weather. The snow, the landscape. Last week we went snowmobiling with a friend from Bikini Bob’s. It was awesome! I like it!
Anabel: It was like when you are driving a motorcycle. It’s so fun. We went by the drive-in. We went along the road and between the trees.
I’d like to go skiing. I went skiing with the kids from the school. I tried snowboarding, but I fell down many times and then I tried the skis and I like it. It’s fun, but it’s difficult.
Carmen: I like to watch, but I don’t want to try. Two years ago I was in Switzerland, and I hurt myself (almost breaking her arm) sledding.
Anabel: When Doris went to Mexico, they asked her if she lived in an igloo. She’d tell them, no, I have a house.
Carmen: I think people don’t know too much about Mexico. People think we are so poor. Obviously there are poor people and rich people. Here it’s easier to make money than in Mexico, but we are not so poor. People think we are ignorant and that we don’t know too much about culture or other things. I don’t like that. Sometimes people ask me, do you know pasta? I say, of course!
Anabel: I am going to miss my friends, the family, Doris. The kids from the school; they’re so friendly and they give me hugs and kisses.
Carmen: I’ll miss the people. People here are very friendly. Especially here in Grand Cove. They say hi when you walk down the street.

You think this winter’s bad! Remember 1971?

Keeping the Peace
By Tom Lessard

For some reason, I had driven myself to work at Wolseley Barracks in London instead of travelling with my normal carpool (five of us from Huron Park usually rode together).
It started to snow in the morning and by noon, reports coming from the radio indicated the weather was going to get worse. I told my boss I was going home early, and Highway 4 at #22 was still open, so I headed out.
The wind and snow were getting worse as I passed Arva and reached open country, but I persevered. By the time I reached Ilderton Road, the drifting and blowing were causing whiteouts and building up so much that I had to plow through some of them.
By the time I got to the north end of Birr I could go no further. The road was blocked such that I couldn’t go back or forward and had to abandon my car. In those days, we carried our winter gear with us so I put mine on and left the car in the middle of the road and headed back into Birr.
I didn’t have far to go before I noticed – through the blinding snow – the Birr meat shop. Reaching the shop I found that there were already a number of people stranded. The shop was warm and had plenty of coffee brewing. There was also a radio on with the weather report repeating regularly. It was then I discovered that the OPP had closed Highway 4 about 10 minutes after I left London.
The meat shop was not very big. To try to make ourselves comfortable, we used what furniture was there and emptied some of the shelving to enable ourselves to lie down; we figured we would be stranded there for quite some time.
The next morning word got through that the army was sending armoured personnel carriers loaded with blankets and bedding for all the people stranded at St. Patrick’s school between Elginfield and Lucan. I dressed as warmly as I could in my winter gear and went out to the road to await them; I waved them down and climbed aboard. After unloading at the school, I was informed that they were not allowed to go any further north, so I asked them to drop me off at the restaurant in Elginfield.
The place was packed.
There were a couple of other soldiers in the crowd. We were told that the water pipe was frozen, so we volunteered to melt snow and make soup. Supplies were running out and a call for help went out to the Shillelagh bar and restaurant; they sent skidoos with milk and bread.
Later that day, a tracked 16-passenger military vehicle – on loan to the OPP – arrived heading north, and took a few of us to the Legion in Lucan. The fellow operating the hall and bar wanted to go home but couldn’t without someone taking his place. I was working part-time at the Dufferin Hotel in Centralia at the time, so I contacted my boss Scott McNair, and asked him to track down Carl Stuckless, who managed the Lucan Legion. Soon after, Carl called to say I could take charge and keep the hall and bar open. I ran tabs for all the stranded – most of whom were from Centralia and Huron Park – and Scott promised to guarantee the tabs, saying he would collect the money we owed.
It was several days before the weather cleared, and we were all transported home. It was quite the adventure, but I arrived to find I wasn’t the only one who had a story to tell. Our oldest boys, Tom and Glen, had spent five days with Marlene Jeromkin because they couldn’t get home from Mount Carmel school. It was quite a storm!
Do you have a tale to tell? There are plenty of stories out there. Don’t be shy!

Watch what comes out of (and goes into) your mouth

Advice from Mom
By Rita Lessard

Brr! It’s been a long time since we’ve had a winter this cold. Perhaps that accounts for the bad mood many people have been in. It seems people have more to complain about when the weather is so nasty.
My mother never appreciated our foul moods or our whining and complaining. I can still hear her saying, “Quit your crying or I’ll give you something to cry about.” Then came the Whack! I was smart; I learned to be the most cheerful of my mother’s children.
My sister’s mother in-law didn’t like people complaining, either. Her son – my brother-in-law – was a hard man to please, so he always had something to whine about. While he was still living at home and working, his mother would pack him a lunch every day. He especially liked bologna, but sometimes his mother had to give him something different when she ran out of that staple. Of course, whenever she put something different in his sandwich, she knew she was in for a hard time and a scream-fest.
One day, without bologna for his sandwich, she decided enough was enough; she would put his whining to an end. Blessed with a fine sense of humour, she grabbed a powder puff (those beige, rubbery makeup sponges) and put it between two slices of bread with all the dressings, and packed it with the rest of his lunch. I can only imagine his surprise and aggravation when he tried to sink his teeth into that lunch. That’s a good time to start making your own lunch!
While I’m on the subject, my sister had a co-worker who was a bit of a lunch thief, especially when it came to sweets. Whenever one of the girls brought sweets into work, the goodies would disappear. They couldn’t prove who was taking them, so they set a trap for the culprit.
The night before, one of the girls baked a bunch of brownies and used chocolate Ex-Lax for the icing sugar on the ones they were setting as a trap. The next day, sure enough, the fellow took the bait and grabbed all the goodies. After the Ex-Lax kicked in, he was mysteriously absent from work for a day or two. The “treat” either cleaned up him or cleaned his behaviour of stealing other people’s goodies.
Soon Easter will be here and I will have completed my Lenten fast of refraining from sweets. Yes! (Ed.: now I have an idea for a sweet “treat”)
Happy St. Patrick’s Day and Happy Easter to all.

SHDHS bands heading to national MusicFest

Three South Huron District High School bands have been invited to play at the national MusicFest in Ottawa in May. The senior band, wind ensemble and percussion ensemble qualified for the nationals with strong performances at the London MusicFest March 4.
Music teacher Isaac Moore heads the new wind ensemble, which performed a challenging program and earned a silver award with an invitation to the nationals.
Matthew Weston’s intermediate band performed later that morning, receiving a silver award.
That afternoon, Moore’s senior band - one of the largest concert bands at the festival - performed well enough to earn a silver-plus rating, qualifying for the nationals as well.
The last SHDHS group to perform was the percussion ensemble led by Moore and David Robilliard. An enthusiastic and curious audience appreciated the challenging program, which overwhelmed adjudicators to earn a gold award.
The Black Jazz band is awaiting a snow date.

Curves food drive a win-win for all

Curves for Women is offering area women a chance to get into shape while helping others. Its annual food drive runs until the end of March, and supports the Exeter and Zurich food banks.
Curves waives the $199 start-up fee for new members who bring in a bag of groceries; current members earn Curves cash for each donation. The gym will also offer different draws, prizes, games and activities this month.
Donors should bring non-perishable foods, with baby food and healthy lunch snack items very popular.
“Food banks need the support and this is a good way to be a citizen of the community,” says Curves owner Ann Barteaux. “This club has done really well. We were over 2500 lbs. last year and 3000 lbs. the year before.”
The food drive occurs across North America.

Huron SPCA launches 2008 Animal House dinner auction

The Huron SPCA is preparing for its 2008 dinner auction, which will be held Friday, May 30 at Exeter’s South Huron Recreation Centre. Donations and tickets sales for the annual fundraiser have brought in $166,000 for the animal shelter over the past three years.
The SPCA’s new shelter location has helped adoptions triple and reports of cruelty have multiplied, allowing the SPCA to help more neglected, abused and abandoned animals than ever before.
Event co-chair Kate McKenzie expects the dinner will sell out by April, so if you want to attend you should buy your tickets soon. They’re available at Baillie’s Picture Framing in Grand Bend, Exeter Animal Hospital, the SPCA shelter in Goderich, or by contacting McKenzie at 519-236-4044.
“This event is crucial for the survival of the animal shelter in Huron County,” says branch coordinator and agent Wendy Reid. “The SPCA does not receive any government funding for our shelters and in spite of the generosity of the local veterinary clinics, our veterinary bills alone total over $40,000 annually. Any money we raise in Huron County stays here to help the neglected, abandoned and abused animals in this area.”
The event committee is also seeking volunteers.
“We need people to assist us to get donations for the Live and Silent Auction,” says event co-chair Liam Brennan. “Closer to the event, we need workers to help with set-up and work the night of the event. This is a great opportunity for students to get community hours.”
Volunteers should contact Kate McKenzie at 519-236-4044.

Belles of the ball

By Tyler Kula
Special to the Grand Bend Strip

Standing between pink-draped tables in the hotel ballroom, a woman chats with her daughter-in-law. She is wearing the same wedding dress as she wore almost 40 years ago, and she smiles and glances around the room while her daughter-in-law sips champagne. The younger woman is also wearing a wedding dress.
And they’re not the only ones.
This is, after all, the Bride’s Ball, and the women – Hessenland Country Inn owners Christa and Liz Ihrig - are among more than 100 people attending the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation fundraiser at London’s Lamplighter Inn.
Besides raising money for a good cause, the February 29th event was an opportunity for women to don their wedding dresses again.
“When I put it on, it made me think back when I got ready in our farmhouse with my mom and my sister,” Ihrig said, recalling her wedding in Germany.
“It was a very hot day,” she added. “It was in the summer.”
She remembers her father bringing her down the stairs of their house to the guests waiting below, and to the man she was about to marry.
“It’s different in Germany. You walk together to the church and down the aisle with your husband to be.”
The Ihrigs have hosted many weddings at Hessenland over the past 24 years; the inn opened a year after Christa and Ernst moved to Canada with their sons Eric and Frank. Frank’s wife Liz is the inn’s wedding coordinator.
One of the reasons the Ihrigs attended the ball was to see the different dresses and how styles have changed through the years. They also came to support the cause.
“[CBCF] is a charity that basically every single person can say that they’re touched by,” said Brides’ Ball co-producer Lori Eldridge of Timeless, Elegant and Professional Events. “We thought it would be a good one to showcase for the very first event.”
This was the first year for the Brides’ Ball, with another held in Kitchener the week before. Organizers plan to take the event to other places in Ontario.
“We’re probably going to expand it into other cities — for instance, into Toronto sometime in the fall,” said Eldridge. “But, it will definitely be annual in London.”
Fundraisers included the $85 ticket, 50/50 draws and raffles for various prizes. A selection of tiaras was also available, with proceeds going to the charity.
One unique fundraiser was the pink wall, a wall plastered with more than 80 pink envelopes. Participants paid $20 for the chance to open one envelope, and each one has a minimum prize value of $20 with the chance for more valuable prizes inside. Prizes included spa packages and jewelry donated by various sponsors.
Sarnia resident Wendy Blacklock late husband lost his mother to breast cancer.
“I always support fundraisers for that,” she said. But it’s more about “a fun getaway to have some girl time.
“Girls are a weird bunch,” she added. “Any excuse to get dressed up.”
Blacklock’s friend Dawn Potter also lost someone to breast cancer.
“My boyfriend’s mom just passed away in November,” she said. “So I’m doing this for Dorothy.”
She wore the same dress she did for her wedding 23 years ago, but there wasn’t any meaning to it, she said, because she’s long since divorced.
“It’s just a howl that I can still fit into this thing,” she said.

April bridal shows in Exeter

Getting married soon? There are many people in this area who can help you plan and prepare for your big day. Two bridal shows in April will show what wedding vendors in South Huron and Lambton Shores have to offer.
Here are the details:
The South Huron/Lambton Shores and Goderich branches of the Welcome Wagon are hosting their annual Bridal Showcase Tuesday, April 1 at the South Huron Recreation Centre in Exeter. The event features door prizes, a a show, vendor displays, and gift bags for each bride. The grand prize is a pair of matching diamond wedding bands supplied by Bakelaar Jewellers in Exeter. Admission is free, but pre-registration is required by calling Brenda at 519-229-8176 or Faye at 519-228-7053. For more information, visit http://www.bridalshowcase.ca.
Billed as an interactive and hands-on bridal event, Exeter gown shop Bridal Elegance is hosting the first “To Have and To Hold” at Ironwood Golf Club Friday, April 4 at 7 p.m. The event features demonstrations, giveaways, a fashion show, hors d’oeuvres, and take home gift boxes for brides inspired by Oprah.
“It’s going to be a little more active, a little more interactive, a little more fun, a little more laid back, but elegant at the same time,” says Wilma Truemner. “We’re one-on-one people; we like to get to know our clients on a one-to-one basis and we don’t mind sharing certain names because we feel very strongly about them.”
Bridal Elegance selectively invited vendors they recommend. Brides need to pre-register, and only a few tickets remain. The $5 admission will be donated to the Cancer Society. For more information or for tickets, call Bridal Elegance at 519-235-0858.

Tundra Swans expected soon

It’s Tundra Swan time again! The birds are expected to arrive close to March 20, but it’s really up to them when they arrive. The Lambton Heritage Museum and Pinery Provincial Park host the Return of the Swans festival until March 30.
Information from Friends of Pinery Park website: http://www.pinerypark.on.ca/birds.html:
These beautiful snow white creatures make the 6,000 km round trip journey each year beginning in early March in Chesapeake Bay and arriving in the Arctic by early May.
Tundra Swans are attracted to the long summer Arctic days. Plants and insects are favourite foods of the swans, and summer is when plant growth is abundant and insect activity is high in the Arctic. The birds nest on the Arctic islands; nests consist of a mound of moss and grass 30-60 cm high and 60-90 cm wide. Four or five eggs are laid in late May and hatch in a little over a month. Newborn tundra swans sport a dusk gray colour and don’t receive their full white plumage until the second summer. The chicks fly by 11 weeks of age when they must be ready for the late September voyage back to Chesapeake Bay.
Often mistaken for the larger Trumpeter Swan, the Tundra Swan can be distinguished by it’s mellow high pitched hoo-ho-hoo call, which is somewhat similar to that of the Canada Goose. The Tundra Swan is also a much smaller bird than the Trumpeter Swan. Adults have a small, yellow dot below the eye.
The express route from Chesapeake Bay to Pinery takes about 24 hours. It is the first stop on the 3,000 km journey to the Arctic, which will take three months to complete. The swans arrive at Pinery in early March and will stay anywhere from three to 14 days depending on the weather, food supply and flooding. As many as 10,000 swans can be seen at one time if the conditions are favorable.
To see the swans, visit the “Old Thedford Bog,” which consist the fields behind the Lambton County Heritage Museum. This staging area gives the swans a place to rest and eat on their journey North. Crop residues and flooded fields keep the swans in the Grand Bend area for weeks. In previous years Tundra Swans have been seen as early as February 16 and have still been spotted as late as mid April.

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