I was shocked when Terry pointed out the obituary of one of our neighbours down the road — Cyndi Wilkie — who died on March 22, 2022. Cyndi was a Maritimer, with relatives in both Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. On the young family’s Dunvegan Road farm, she leaves behind, husband, Jay; son, Orion; and daughter, Sarah. Terry remembers well when the Wilkies moved to the area. We had the post office then, and Cyndi dropped by with outgoing parcels from Glengarry Gardens, her fledgling organic and all-natural skin and body care company. Over the years, Cyndi built Glengarry Gardens into a growing concern that offered a complete line of natural lip balms, therapeutic skin care products and natural bug repellents. Cyndi’s business was also one of the over 175 organizations who actively endorsed the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics Platform in support for the Campaign’s goal: stricter oversight of the cosmetics industry and safer personal care products. But that was just one small part of this kind-hearted person’s life. One neighbour I spoke with told me that Cyndi loved her family above all else… although animals, her gardens and nature came a close second, third and fourth. “Cyndi was a teacher to all. She was a helper, a giver. Cyndi was a beautiful soul and she will be missed forever. Cyndi’s smile was the best.” I’m confident I speak for the entire community when I extend my condolences to Jay, Orion and Sarah for this untimely loss.
Sprinting, not running
If your pantry’s getting low on maple syrup, now’s the perfect time to drop by Laurent and Germain Soulingy’s “Erablière Souligny Sugar Bush” at 1717 Blyth Road, about half a kilometer south of Dunvegan Road. I stopped in last Saturday to pick up some of their “Dunvegan Gold” brand maple syrup for friends in P.E.I., and the bottles and cans filled with this year’s crop were lined up on the front porch, ready to satisfy your craving for mapley sweetness.
I spoke with my old friend, Laurent Soulingy, and he told me that they are on tap to have a record year. He says the weather has been perfect for sugaring off. In fact, the sap flow is so heavy that one night after a hockey game Laurent’s grandson, Nicholas, saw an alert on his smartphone warning him that the collection tanks were full. So he put out a call for help and he and the gang ended up boiling until 5:30 the following morning. The all-night marathon produced more than five drums of Glengarry Gold.
By the way, I tried a sample of this year’s crop and it is dee-licious. Laurent says that while the sap is sprinting, their ‘farm gate’ retail counter is open from about 10:30 am to 3:00 pm, seven days a week. However, I wouldn’t put off your visit for too long. They started off last season with just one single 500 ml bottle left on their shelves from the previous year’s production run. Please support this local Dunvegan business; we don’t a whole lot left. For more information, visit their web site: dunvegangold.ca
Are you a codger?
I’ve mentioned before that a week that starts off with an email from my old friend, Ken McEwen, can be considered a good omen. At 89, Ken has a keen mind and lived experience that affords him a unique, top-down view of our Canadian society. And, as he was born and raised south of Dunvegan on the 7th of Kenyon, he’s also able to contribute some unique insights into life in this back corner of Glengarry during 1930s and 40s.
He and I correspond regularly and it is uncanny how often we are in sync. Take his email from today (well, Monday really). Just last week, I mentioned to Terry that I was thinking of adding a “You could be an old codger, if…” as an occasional feature to the column. The idea struck me while applying a Band Aid brand adhesive dressing to a small wound and I wondered if others still remembered the little red string Band Aid bandages incorporated to facilitate opening the wrappers. I wondered: is this something that only those of my generation and older are familiar with? Surprisingly, it turns out the answer is, theoretically, no. While the red ‘tear string’ design was added in 1940 to make opening the wrapper easier, it wasn’t switched out for the industry-standard, pull-down wrapper until 1993. Which meant you needn’t be an old codger to remember them.
But I digress. As I was saying, Ken’s most recent email proffered a proposal that was in a very similar vein. He suggested shaking codgers out of the trees by asking readers if they remember: trains pulled by steam engines; office building elevators with human operators in smart uniforms; milking cows by hand (slapping on teat cups from a milking machine doesn’t count); stooked sheaves; cars where the accelerator was a lever under the steering wheel; brought a container to the general store to buy coal oil. If you do, you could be a codger. More importantly, if you have any items you believe define a state of codger-ness, please send them to me.
PS: Ken tells me that the very first diesel locomotive came through Maxville about 7:00 pm in the spring of 1946. It was pulling a westbound train and Ken and his chums rushed out of the little restaurant in the northeast corner of the King George Hotel. As Ken recalls, it had a weird whistle that was nothing like the standard steam whistle of the day.
Sign mystery solved
Last week’s lead item was, as you may recall, about the Glengarry Pioneer Museum’s sign on the northeast corner of County Road 24 and Highland Road. It’s north-facing panel is missing. And the assumption was it had worked loose in a winter storm and headed for the hills, figuratively speaking. Where it actually landed was over half a kilometer away in the bush on the east side of Doug Arkinstall’s farm. It was Lucien Ladoucer who spotted it Sunday, while he and his wife Myrna were driving east along Dunvegan Road. Lucien must have eagle eyes, because he told me that Myrna admitted she couldn’t see it. Lucien’s footwear wasn’t suitable for trudging through a spring field, so he waited until Monday to retrieve the sign. Although, to be honest, the twisted hunk of metal Lucien dropped off at our place looks more like a crumpled up piece of foolscap than a sign. Hats off to the Ladoucers for solving this mystery.
Snail mail survey
Bob Linney from the outskirts of downtown Dunvegan alerted me to a $2.8 million poll on Canada Post commissioned by the Privy Council last December. It asked a representative sample of Canadians for their opinions about this money-losing Crown Corporation. The question posed was: “Canada Post loses money every year… Do you believe the government should continue to provide financial support to Canada Post to cover annual losses or should Canada Post be restructured in a way to break even?” A majority, 54 percent, recommended restructuring.
The Privy Council also surveyed respondents on five proposals to reduce costs: rural post office closures; more community mailboxes; mail delivery only three times a week; increased postage rates; and more automation.
The most popular option, selected by by fifty-two percent of respondents nationwide, was reducing delivery to three days a week. Forty-eight percent supported more CMBs. Forty percent supported upping the cost of stamps. And only twenty-nine percent supported automation.
Of most interest to those of us who live out here in the sticks was the option calling for closure of rural post offices. Luckily for us, this was the least popular choice. Seventy-two percent of those surveyed were opposed to this option.
So, who knows? We may not have to drive to Ottawa to pick up registered mail and parcels for a few more years yet.
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