This coming weekend, July 16th and 17th will see the Glengarry Pioneer Museum transformed into a celebration of the fibre arts… in other words, spinning, weaving, knitting, rug hooking, quilting and the like. While the name of the event has changed since its last appearance in 2014 (from Quilts & Fibre to A Stitch in Time), organizers Eleanor Sides and Linda Burgess have put together a wonderfully informative program that will showcase historic and contemporary quilts, vintage and modern hooked rugs, period clothing and other household items. The aim? To display the importance of the “stitch” in our region’s history.
As you wander the grounds marveling at the colourful displays, the Twistle Guild of Glengarry, The Martintown Wild and Woolly Rug Hookers and the Highland Quilters Guild will be on hand to answer your questions and demonstrate how these timeless crafts are done. You’ll even have an opportunity to try your hand at a wide range of fabric crafts, including: rug hooking, spinning and weaving, felting, Swedish weaving, quilting, crochet and knitting.
As I understand it, the Big Beaver schoolhouse will once again host a Vendors Village. “Flair with Fabrics” from Chesterville will be there with some of their extensive selection of quilting fabrics, notions, yarns and gifts for fabric artists. As will “Hooked on the Lake” from Westport with a their collection of patterns and wool fabrics… “Apple Hill Alpacas” with their unique line of wool supplies… and a mystery vendor with a beautiful stock of silks.
And if you get a bit peckish while you’re taking in the sights, the “Sweet Shoppe” will be on site to satisfy your hankerings with homemade pies, sweet treats and other refreshments. All proceeds from the food sales will go to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum. So bring the whole family, grab a bite to eat and enjoy the day.
If you’ve never been to the Glengarry Pioneer Museum, it’s located in Dunvegan at the crossroads of County Road 24 and County Road 30.
Admission is only $10 per person ($5 for members) and children under 12 are free.
Other Museum goings on
Interim curator Renée Homiak asked me to formally welcome this year’s crop of student staff members: Sydney Collard, Madison MacDonald, and Kristen Ouimet. Sydney is the museum’s Events Coordinator and Administrative Assistant. Madison will be providing group tours and is becoming very familiar with the Blacksmith shop through her weekly blog “‘Smithing Saturdays” (gpm-artifacts.blogspot.com). And Kristen is the Collections and Exhibit Assistant who will be researching Glengarry doctors in the 19th century and cataloging artifacts.
The museum would also like to welcome back Heather Raymond for the summer. In addition to providing guided tours, Heather will be researching the history of Maxville and sharing her findings in a weekly blog entitled “Maxville Monday” (gpm-artifacts.blogspot.com).
While A Stitch in Time is the next big event on the July calendar, Renée wanted to invite you to the regular Fridays Under the Pavilion sessions. Every Friday, the Twistle Guild of Glengarry meets informally to spin and weave. Your are welcome to come and watch, ask questions or bring your own project and work along side them. NOTE: Occasionally, you may even find a rug hooker or two there as well.
Last, but not least, Renée wanted me to tell you about the Sir John Johnson Manor House’s annual Lawn Social. While not an official Glengarry Pioneer Museum event (the social is held in Williamstown), the Manor House is part of the Glengarry museum community and the GPM hopes you will support them. The event — which takes place Wednesday, July 18th at 6:30 PM — looks like it will be a whole lot of fun. The entertainment line-up features Graham Greer, Pamela Cumming and a skit written and directed by Helen Sloan. The Committee invites you to stop by and enjoy the performers, visit the white elephant and book sale tables and buy a raffle ticket or two. While there’s no admission, the hat will be passed and pie and beverages will be sold.
Fire.Wynne.ca update
As regular readers quickly figured out, my “Letter to the Editor” in last week’s Glengarry News was actually the start of last week’s column. I’m not entirely sure how it ended up on the Letters page. I can only assume that the News, rather than limiting this important message to readers residing within the confines of Dunvegan, wanted to give the opinion piece wider exposure. And I thank them for this.
For those readers who e-mailed and wanted to know where they could obtain the inflamma-“tory” signs locally, I am still tracking this down. Once I have isolated the source, rest assured that I will gladly share it with one and all.
Blowing in the wind
In response to my bemoaning the lack of news last week, another loyal reader had an excellent suggestion. He still sees ‘No Turbines’ signs (also ‘Fire.Wynn.ca’ ones), but he hasn’t heard much recently on the status of the wind turbines in Champlain Township… and if they’ll be getting a toehold in Glengarry by erecting one north of Dunvegan. And he’s right. I have been remiss. So, here’s what the “Save The Nation” committee had to say in a recent e-mail they sent me.
For the St-Bernardin project, the wind developer must still obtain all necessary permits from the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change as well as from other ministries before beginning construction. As a part of this process, the developer must conduct an environmental study and determine, among other things, if Ontario-endangered species might be affected by the project. Not surprisingly, environmental studies conducted by developers rarely find endangered species. That’s why the committee is hoping to conduct an independent study. Bottom line? Construction could start in 2019 or even earlier, if the developer receives all the required permits.
As for the project in the St-Isidore area, the province recently announced that Phase 2 of the Request for Proposal for renewable energy projects would be launched on August 1, 2016. The Save The Nation committee is fairly certain that the St-Isidore project will be submitted again and pledges to continue the fight.
What can YOU do to help to put a stop to these two mega projects?
Well, as the committee points out, “the fight cannot rest on the shoulders of only a few people.” If you don’t want these giant turbines on our horizon, you have to get involved. “We won’t win by chance, by mistake or because the developer will make our job easy.” Here are a few ways the committee suggests you can help:
- Join the Natural Resources Committee, if you like wildlife, nature walks and taking photos, then this could be a nice way to contribute to the cause. The research must take place over four seasons, but outings can become social or family get-togethers. This committee develops and maintains links with other naturalist groups locally, regionally, provincially, nationally and internationally.
- Join the Permits and Legal Case Committee. This group is tasked with reading, understanding and communicating with the ministries about the different elements of the Technical Guide to Renewable Energy Approvals.
- Join the Municipal Relations Committee. This committee is responsible for attending the municipal council meetings and encouraging the elected officials to support certain resolutions and remind them of their duty to act on behalf of their fellow citizens.
- Join the Communications and Events Committee. These folks handle newsletters, media relations, website updates, fund-raising activities like the car rally, sale of lawn signs and T-shirts and events such as protests and community information sessions.
If you are interested in any of these areas… or can help in some other way… e-mail sauvonslanation@xplornet.com or follow the group’s activities on their web site: www.sauvonslanation.ca.
Crooks in your real mailbox
One gentleman who braved Saturday’s rotten weather to attend our yard sale brought an interesting new development in the world of fraud to my attention. It would appear that “Fortune in Nigeria” scammers have gone back to basics and are now using the services of Canada Post.
The letter he had recently received and that I was shown, complete with a Malaysian stamped envelope, came from Eric Lee, a Malaysian attorney. It offered to share $12.5 million US that had purportedly been deposited in Mr. Lee’s care before the death of his client. Suspecting that the recipient might be a wee bit skeptical, Mr. Lee reassured him that, “… this transaction is 100% risk free; there is no atom of risk…” (I thought the “no atom” reference was a nice touch.)
I’m not sure if this Mr. Lee is the same Eric Lee who, as Group Chief Financial Officer of the Alliance Bank of Malaysia, in 2011, offered to share $9,550,000 US “which his head office is not aware of and will never be aware of it.” However, his e-mail — which I found on an anti-spam web site — bears some striking similarities to the letter I saw on Saturday.
It looks like the crooks have figured out that Snail Mail might be a better way to scam seniors. It may cost a bit more, but perhaps the returns justify it. On the up side, I can use fraudulent “real” mail to start my morning fire. I can’t do that with spam e-mails.
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