November 20, 2013
Well you’d never know it was the middle of November by the balmy weather. It is 12°C with very high winds expected to be 60 km/hr overnight with gusts as high as 90 km/hr. As I sit to write the Chatter, the wind is whipping across Lake Huron in the bay producing high white-capped waves.
The annual Fowl Supper hosted by the Providence Bay Community Centre Board was another delicious success. So many community volunteers including the Providence Bay and Spring Bay Lions Club came together to be sure everyone had enough and more to eat! Proceeds from the dinner assist with the Providence Bay arena and community hall.
Don’t forget there are many B&Bs and motels still open for your visitors to the Island. Remember to try to shop locally. Many small businesses rely on local shoppers to keep their shops open year round. Stay on the Island for your Christmas shopping.
We attended the Manitoulin Secondary School Christmas bazaar on Saturday morning. It was so great to see all the vendors and the extreme talent of these women and men. The students should be commended for another successful event.
Saturday night we attended the Tehkummah Hall for a delicious turkey dinner put on by the UCW in South Baymouth. It was a pleasure to break bread with Don and Anna Orford and Rick and Kate Pyette.
A belated Happy Anniversary is extended to Toots and Murray McDermid as they celebrated their 64th wedding anniversary on November 16. I don’t know how this is possible when they don’t look a day over 65! Belated Happy Birthday wishes to Hunter McDermid on his 11th year.
Lois Newton’s daughter Sherri arrived back home to Whitehorse after a visit with her Mom on the Island. I’m sure Lois was sad to see her go. Cindy and John McMaster and Bev and Duane Cress were in Chatham October 9 to attend the wedding of their niece Stacey.
Big moving and shaking is happening in Mindemoya with Sears now at the Rock and Rail, Cindy’s Clothesline is now Cindy’s Fashions and is located in the new building beside Foodland. We welcome Espanola and District Credit Union to their new building, also beside Foodland. A big welcome is extended to KD Designs and Lisa’s Esthetics now located in Cindy’s old building beside the Rock and Rail. Best wishes to Ben and Eunice Wilson in their new home on Thorne Street in Mindemoya. Bev and Duane Cress have moved from M’Chigeeng to the Meadowview Apartments in Mindemoya. We hope you enjoy living in the big town!
Don Burke remains in hospital in Sudbury. We wish him all the very best with his recovery. Our thoughts are also with Pat and their daughters as they stay with Don. Get well wishes and a speedy recovery are extended to Laura E. Scott in hospital in Mindemoya.
Condolences, thoughts and prayers are extended to Sadie Debassige and her family in the passing of her brother Ken Ense. It is so sad to lose someone so young.
The Manitoulin Family Resources Help Centre volunteers are pleased to invite the public to their first Treasures Christmas Craft Show. It is being held on Saturday, November 23 at the Mindemoya Missionary Church from 9 am to 3 pm. Be sure to bring your wish list as Santa Claus will arrive for a visit from 11-1 pm. There are a large number of vendors with their wares, lots of door prizes and a bake table for your pleasure. Come and share a coffee and muffin with a friend. The proceeds will go towards the MFR Help Centre Building Fund. There is no admission but a food donation in support of our food bank would be appreciated.
This writer and Anna Orford dropped in to D. A. Williamson’s Pro Hardware store on Sunday. The store is always open on the Sunday before hunting season. Many hunters were in making their last minute purchases including lots of bags of corn to bait the deer. Welcome to hunter Eric Dix from Tara, Ontario visiting with the Orford family. We hope the hunters have a very safe and successful hunt. All I can say is “run and hide deer, run and hide!”
We hope you enjoy the Chatter this week. Please call 705-377-4909 and leave your notes, news and tidbits on the answering machine or email centralchatter@gmail.com. That’s all the news that is fit to print! Take good care.
November 13
There was a definite nip in the air as I planted the Daffodil and Alum bulbs today. Of course I’d wait until a cold, windy day! Now time to have a hot cup of tea and get these notes to paper.
Visiting Espanola on Wednesday was Marlaine and J.C. Ste. Croix. They did a bit of shopping and enjoyed their day.
The Mindemoya Hospital Auxiliary Tea had an excellent turnout. The Auxiliary would like to thank the many hard working volunteers for making this a great success. Betty McQuay of Toronto spent a week with her sister Janice McQuay. Thank you to Betty for your help at the penny table at the Hospital Auxiliary tea. It was greatly appreciated.
The Big Lake Community Association would like to thank everyone for coming and supporting their euchres and other activities. They hope to see you all next year.
Two of our community members won with their Taste of Manitoulin Passports. Margaret Cranston won two nights at Gordon’s Park plus star-gazing. Eva Bond won a Dinner Cruise for two aboard the Chi-Cheemaun.
Sheila McDonald, Linda Williamson and Patsy Gilchrist are on holidays in the “Big Apple,” New York. Enjoy your vacation—way to go girls!
Mindemoya Thunder minor hockey is in full swing with games on Thursday, Friday and Sunday evenings. Come out and support these players and watch some fun hockey.
Lois and Roger Newton were Sudbury visitors on Thursday. Lois picked up her daughter at the airport she is going to spend some time on the Island. Also visiting Sudbury were Karen, John and Shirley Cranston. While there they visited Karen and John’s grandson Oliver.
Sally and Jim Dawson of Toronto spent the weekend with Sally’s parents, Toots and Murray McDermid. This writer was glad to see Sally as I hadn’t seen her since we were teens!
Happy 84th birthday wishes to Shirley Hayward who is a summer resident of Providence Bay. Her daughter Leanne Hayward McGill helped her celebrate while in London, Ontario this past week.
Congratulations to Allan and Colleen Stapleton as they celebrate their 25th Wedding Anniversary. They enjoyed a beautiful brunch at Abby’s Restaurant with Don and Anna Orford on Sunday.
Get well wishes to Harold Tracy, Ken McDermid, Mary White, Toots McDermid and Marg Cranston and anyone else who is ill or shut in.
Our good wishes, thoughts and prayers to Don and Pat Burke as Don has surgery in Sudbury. We wish him all the best for a successful surgery and speedy recovery.
The Pancake Breakfast at the Providence Bay Curling Club was another great success. The next breakfast is Thursday, December 5 so mark your calendars. Drop in and support the breakfast with proceeds going to the junior curlers.
Patti Beaudry and Eva Bond spent five days in Ajax, Ontario visiting Shari and family, George and Terry MacIntosh and Pearl Sutherland of Toronto. George, Jerry and Pearl say hello to all their Island friends and wish them a Merry Christmas.
November 6
Megan and Curtis Corbiere of M’Chigeeng are proud parents of a baby girl “Hailey Vick-Lynn.” Great-grandparents are Ben and Eunice Wilson of Mindemoya. Curtis is the son of the late Eric and Vicki Corbiere.
Sympathy to the family of George Granger who passed away on November 5.
Sympathy and thoughts are extended to the Patterson family in the passing of Mary Lou. She will be greatly missed. Mary Lou was a pillar of the community. In the 1970s, Mary Lou was one of three leaders of the Providence Bay and Spring Bay Youth Group (age 13 and up). She was one of the organizers of the “Old Fashioned Christmas Concerts” held in the Orange Hall. She was one of those hockey moms that spent a lot of time at the rink. She made the best homemade bread ever.
Congratulations to Maurice Labelle who was inducted into the Northern Ontario Grand Ole Opry. At least two buses went up. Also some Islanders drove themselves.
The Senior UCW Christmas Tea at the Tehkummah Hall was a huge success. Lois Newton, Toots McDermid, Erwin and Irene McIntyre, Bev and Ray Webster, Margaret Elliott and Carol Love all took in this delicious tea. The hall was beautiful with a Christmas tree and decorations.
Grand Slam of curling “The Masters” was awesome with the ladies’ and men’s Ontario teams winning (Homan, 7, over Muirhead, 5; men’s, Howard, 7, over Martin, 4. It must be lucky “7.” Congratulations!
Ayriss Noble-Stone, 4-months-old, was dressed as the cutest zebra ever! Visited Aunt Margerest, Mike and Barbara McKechnie, Aunt Debbie and Gorman, Grandpa John and Gramma Joanna, Uncle Matt, Willie and Hazen and Great-Grampa John Young. Had a great first year trick-or-treating with her big brother Tieren who was a Storm Trooper.
The Espanola and District Credit Union, new Mindemoya branch, opened on Wednesday, November 6 for business. “Grand Opening” is Wednesday, November 27 from 10 am to 2 pm. Come out and meet the friendly staff. Wishing them great success in their new offices.
