As you may have noticed, there’s a new business in town. Well, not strictly in town. It’s actually tucked into the bush that stretches east from Blythe Road on the south side of County Road 24. Laurent Souligny from St. Isidore has tapped what appears to be hundreds of sugar maples there and is in the process of producing maple syrup. And Mr. Souligny is obviously serious about this enterprise. There isn’t a spile-tapped tree or quaint, covered bucket in sight. Instead, miles and miles of vacuum assisted plastic tubing sucks maple sap from the trees into the sugar camp on the Blythe side road, where it is boiled down into maple syrup. When I first spotted this blue spider web enveloping the bush, I wondered what migrating deer made of this tangle of tubes. Do they chew a path through it… or simply go around it? Just a few of the many questions I hope to ask Mr. Souligny when Robert Campbell and I pay his sugar camp a visit.
Euchre wake-up call
For those like myself who were tired of winter the moment the first snowflake fell last fall, the fact that Dunvegan Euchre is about to awake from its hibernation this coming Friday, March 16th is welcome news. When the flock of euchre players returns to our hamlet’s community hall, can spring be far behind?
Given the date’s proximity to St. Patrick’s Day, Friday’s luncheon will sport a green theme… in terms of the decorations, not the food. The luncheon menu will consist of a piping hot bowl of soup, followed by an assortment of fresh egg salad, salmon and open-faced ham and cheese sandwiches and a tray of bite-sized sin by local dessert expert, Sandra Daigle. Admission for this afternoon of food and fun is still only $5.00. So please join us at 19053 County Road 24 from 12:00 noon to around 3:30 PM.
But euchre is just one of the crowd-pleasing activities at the Dunvegan Hall this coming weekend.
Paddy’s Day Warm-up
On Friday evening, March 16th — precisely one year to the day —Celtic performers Ben Miller and Anita MacDonald will reprise their Paddy’s Day Warm-up concert in Dunvegan.
If the music of Cape Breton and Celtic lands across the storm-tossed sea is in your blood, this exciting performance is right up your laneway. Ms. MacDonald is a fiddle player, dancer and Gaelic singer from Little Narrows, Cape Breton. And Mr. Miller plays the small-hall-friendly border pipes, and comes from Queensbury, N.Y. (via Edinburgh’s School of Scottish Studies).
Tickets for the ceilidh-style show are $20 per person and are on sale at the Quirky Carrot in Alexandria, the Home Hardware in Maxville and The Review in Vankleek Hill. Proceeds from the concert will help fund the DRA’s playground renovation project.
For those naughty souls who have never been to the DRA hall, it’s located at 19053 County Road 24. The concert is scheduled to start at 8:00 PM, but I’d recommend you arrive early to get the best possible seat (not that there are any really bad seats). In keeping with the St. Patrick’s Day motif, there will be a cash bar serving a wee assortment of tipples. After the show, Ben and Anita will stick around to share a pint and talk with their fans.
Truth and Reconciliation
The theme of this month’s Saturday Night at the Movies feature is truth and reconciliation. Now, before you get all excited and don something red in the hope the Sunny Ways Kid will show up to take a raft of selfies, the DRA’s March movie is based on the reconciliation of a father and his son.
To borrow a brief synopsis from Google, “When Edward Bloom (Albert Finney) becomes ill, his son, William (Billy Crudup), travels to be with him. William has a strained relationship with Edward because his father has always told exaggerated stories about his life, and William thinks he’s never really told the truth. Even on his deathbed, Edward recounts fantastical anecdotes. When William, who is a journalist, starts to investigate his father’s tales, he begins to understand the man and his penchant for storytelling.”
Admittedly, the 2003 film is a bit quirky… as most, if not all, offerings from director Tim Burton are. Nevertheless, I recall that it was also quite touching and I look forward to seeing it again.
Showtime is 7:00 PM on Saturday, March 17th. The DRA will supply hot-buttered popcorn, but advises that you bring your own refreshments and a comfy cushion or chair. And, while there’s no formal admission, donations towards the DRA’s new playground equipment will be gratefully accepted. Remember, the SNAM movies are not chosen for, nor intended as, family entertainment. The idea behind the event was to provide parents, and us older folks, with a night out away from the kids and grandkids.
Maxville Lions are grrrrrreat!
To steal a line from Kellogg’s Tony the Tiger mascot, the Maxville and District Lion’s Club is grrrrrreat. As you may recall, last November, the club donated $500 to the Dunvegan Recreation Association’s “Project Playground” fund. And this past Sunday, the Club made good on its pledge to contribute additional funds to the cause… in the form of a $1,000 cheque presented to DRA Executive Committee members, Ben Williams and Kim Raymond. The extremely kind donation will help the DRA meet its co-funding commitment to the Township.
The cheque presentation took place during this month’s Lions Club all-you-can-eat breakfast at the Maxville Sports Complex. Ben and Kim were at the event (with fellow DRA volunteers Cole Williams, Sarah Raymond, Eileen Franklin, Laurie Maus, Bob Garner, Terry Sweitzer and myself) to help the Maxville & District club put on this extremely popular fundraiser. Together with a cadre of Lions Club members, the team served nearly 300 hungry diners with one of the best breakfast buffets in the region. Both the Maxville & District Lions Club and the Dunvegan Recreation Association thank all of those who came out to show their support with a hearty appetite.
Who’s Robert Arthurs?
We’ve all heard the story of how people rely on technology way too much. How folks will suspend common sense and rely on Siri’s authoritative voice to tell them which turn to take. Urban myth? Unfortunately, not. According to a 2016 article in the Toronto Sun, a woman was following her car’s GPS and she ended up in Lake Huron. It’s true that the incident occurred while driving in the fog, at night. However, it appears this isn’t an isolated story. In 2011, a young person blamed the SUV’s GPS after driving into a lake near Seattle. And in 2012, Japanese tourists visiting Australia followed their GPS into the Pacific Ocean. Apart from the inference that we shouldn’t trust Siri around bodies of water… the real lesson here is that we shouldn’t believe everything our computers tell us.
A case in point is Wikipedia’s overview of North Glengarry that popped up when I was researching a story for next week’s column. The Wiki article, at that point, stated our mayor is a man called “Robert Arthurs.” After checking that I was looking at North Glengarry, Ontario… not North Glengarry, Scotland or some such… I took a screen shot to prove I wasn’t making up stuff.
I, for one, have no idea who Robert Arthurs is. I thought our mayor was Chris Mcdonell. However, perhaps when I set the clocks forward last Saturday night, I inadvertently fast-forwarded our entire township ahead to next November… to the day following a municipal election that sees Robert Arthurs replace Chris in the mayor’s chair (sorry, Jamie). However, a more likely explanation is that some wags took it upon themselves to play around with North Glengarry’s Wikipedia listing. Either way — next mayor of North Glengarry or the product of pranksters — the question remains: Who is Robert Arthurs?
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