For those of you who are true auction aficionados, the shift to online bidding during Pandemic 2020 must be pretty thin gruel. The head-butting bidding wars that are the hallmark of in-person auctions are reduced to the speed of dripping treacle in January. Nevertheless, there are still some great deals to be had at the Glengarry Pioneer Museum’s online Christmas Arts & Crafts auction. Not for long, though. The fundraiser will close at noon this coming Friday, December 4th. To see the one-of-a-kind Christmas gifts on this virtual auction block, visit the “Auction” page on the museum’s web site: GlengarryPioneerMuseum.ca. And remember, 100% of your winning bid will go to support the museum in Dunvegan, because local artisans and craftspeople donated all of the wonderful items up for auction. By the way, the unique antique silver fork bracelet I mentioned last week is still well below its retail value. So bargain hunters take note.
Heads for the Hills
Like other members of the moribund Boomer generation living in Dunvegan, Terry and I are following with interest the development of the new seniors’ village planned for Alexandria. Formerly dubbed “The Shire” by someone still in his or her aged-adolescent, Lord of the Rings phase, the project is now more appropriately called “Glengarry Hills.” The senior-friendly housing project is the brainchild of Innovative Housing Alternatives (IHA) Canada. Phase one of the development calls for the construction of up to 100 units, located just to the west of Glengarry Memorial Hospital. Refreshingly, no tax dollars – federal, provincial or local – will be spent realizing this project (or “invested” as they like to frame it when showering funds on private industry). It appears that IHA’s pockets are sufficiently deep to cover the cost.
Honourary Dunveganite Robin Flockton has been involved with the project almost from its inception and IHA has asked him to recruit participants for a series of Zoom-based focus groups scheduled for the third week of December. Based on feedback from similar sessions last year, IHA has revised the proposed layouts of the complex and the individual rental units, and is looking for consumer input on the new plans.
The research will be carried out over the course of five days, starting on December 14th. There will be five groups, with five participants in each one. The daily sessions will start at 10 AM, and will take about one hour. I assume participants will be given copies of the new layouts and floor plans in advance of the focus groups so they can review them and come to the virtual table well prepared. If you’re interested in learning more about the Glengarry Hills development and would like to take part in one of the focus groups, contact Robin Flockton by email at flockton23@outlook.com.
Apology to a kirk
My profuse regrets to Mrs. Donna McIlveen and the congregation of Kenyon Presbyterian Church in Dunvegan. I was to have had a reminder in my previous column to the effect that last Sunday, in addition to featuring special music in honour of St. Andrew’s Day, also marked the beginning of the Advent season. The error was mine.
I don’t how I forgot it. When I read Rev. Jim Ferrier’s request, the mention of “Advent” started the cogs in my brain a-turning. Heathen that I am, I was unclear of the precise significance of the Advent season… beyond chocolate-filled Advent calendars, of course. It turns out that the word “Advent” is derived from adventus, Latin for “coming,” Originally, there was little connection between Advent and Christmas. And it wasn’t until the Middle Ages that the Advent season was linked to the birth of Christ and the Christmas celebration. Today, the Advent period encompasses the four Sundays leading up to C-Day, and always begins on the Sunday that falls between November 27th and December 3rd. For 2020, this was Sunday, November 29th.
Before we move on, I wanted the remind one and all that on this coming Sunday, December 6th, Kenyon Church – along with its sister congregation, St. Columba Church – will be celebrating the Sacrament of Holy Communion. Mrs. Donna McIlveen will lead worship and everyone is invited to attend and join in.
Real men don’t ask
Almost every time I turn on to Dunvegan Road from Highway 34 on my way home from Alexandria at night, I say a little “ta” to the United Counties of SD&G for installing a streetlamp at the corner. I hate to think of how many times I overshot the Dunvegan turn-off, especially when I was a newbie and local landmarks were hidden by the dark. I vividly remember life BL (Before the Light) and AL (After the Light), but I couldn’t for the life of me remember when the incandescent beacon was actually installed. So I fired up my old iMac and whipped off an email to Benjamin de Haan, Director of Transportation and Planning with the United Counties of Stormont, Dundas and Glengarry.
According to Mr. de Haan, County Council originally adopted its Rural Illumination policy (which includes provision for rural streetlights at the intersection of County roads) in July of 1998. It was last updated in November of 2006 and is still in effect today. Section 3 of the policy states, “due to fiscal limitations, County involvement will, of necessity, be limited to those rural locations with a high accident potential and for identification of County Road intersections with other County Roads.” It goes on to specify that the purpose of County illumination is to prevent accidents in locations with a high night-time accident potential and to illuminate key decision areas… like turning off County Road 34 on to County Road 24 west to Dunvegan and home.
In my books, this is government’s role. Not to go off tilting at windmills… or subsidizing them, for that matter. I hazard to guess that this common sense County streetlight policy has saved lives, gas and even marriages. We all know that real men never ask for directions after missing a turn.
-30-