Providence Bay
Alexia Hannigan
Alexia here with your Friendly Fly. Apparently, NASA has a poster hanging with bees that reads: “Aerodynamically a bee’s body is not made to fly; the good thing is that the bee doesn’t know”.
The law of physics says that a bee cannot fly, the aerodynamic principle says that the breadth of its wings is too small to keep its huge body in flight, but a bee doesn’t know, it doesn’t know anything about physics or its logic and flies anyway. This is what we can all do, fly and prevail in every moment in the face of any difficulty and in any circumstance despite what they say. Let us be bees, no matter the size of our wings, we take flight and enjoy the pollen of life.
Here we are at our townships busiest and best, where we polish our streets, glow-up our shops and stops and get ready to greet vacationing friends, neighbours and newcomers. We humm and buzz our way through all the errands, lists, honey-do lists, appointments, events, meetings, mandates and must-haves of the season and pray for lower taxes, good weather and better health. We do it with the Emphatic True Grit of our aerodynamically defiant and blissfully airborne bee friends, and we do it with a grace, ebb and flow that only -’Toulin Time knows. Let’s go! Here’s what’s happening.
Providence Bay beach and boardwalk await, enjoy a stroll and snack on some lovely caribbean and local fare, fabulous smoothies and cool new ice cream flavour’s like “Grannies Cupboard, Unicorn Toots and Sweetened Pretzel” at Huron Island Time, hello Lance! Check out some local art and artists while you take in the beautiful views and make lasting memories. Check out the giant Providence Bay adirondack chair and epic playground! The Ojibwe name for Providence Bay is actually Bedikodawangog which translates to ‘where the sands curve around the bay’.
The indoor Discovery Centre washrooms are open May long weekend to September long weekend.
The change house and washrooms located west of the Discovery Centre are open May long weekend to Thanksgiving weekend.
Providence Bay Hall: Pre-registered exercise classes continue Friday mornings. Card groups regular meets Tuesdays. Yoga and Taekwon-do continue in Mindemoya, visit CentralManitoulin.ca for event times and details.
Providence Bay Arena: Youth Soccer continues Saturday mornings, 10 to 11 am, weather permitting.
Providence Bay Community of Christ Church Sundays: meeting 10:30 am, service 11 am; puzzle exchange on Sundays tba.
Hello Dawn Dawson!
Lake Huron Fish and Chips Co. Season 15 is underway! Open for delightful bayside food and snacks. Hello Matt and crew!
Huron Sands Motel and Restaurant, grab a slurpy, some snacks and book your rooms early!
The Heavens: We had quite a light show last week with the Northern Lights visible from most points Island wide. May’s full flower moon reaches peak illumination at 9:53 am (estimated date and time) on Thursday, May 23. It will be below the horizon at this time, so plan to venture outdoors on the nights of the May 22 and May 23 to get the best view of the bright, full flower moon! Find a location with unobstructed views of the horizon. Many cultures refer to May’s full moon as the flower moon thanks to the abundant blooming that occurs as spring gets going properly. Other names include the hare moon, the corn planting moon and the milk moon.
The Roads: Watch your speed, heads up for bikers and cyclists and eyes open for wildlife, turtles and other critters. If you see an injured turtle, you can contact Turtle Pond Wildlife Centre, 705-691-0433. Always be sure to check weather and driving conditions ahead of any road trip.
Tourneys: There will be a Providence Bay Soccer Club Tournament in Little Current on Sunday, May 26 times to be announced.
Markets/Events/Fundraisers: Staying in touch free community event at the Mindemoya Public Library on Saturday, May 25 between 10 am and 1 pm. Snacks, beverages, tech help and answers.
Community Living Manitoulin barbecue and fundraiser is Saturday, May 25 from 11 am to 3 pm. Yard sale and snacks on site. A good way to give back to our community!
Providence Bay/Spring Bay Lions Club 50/50 raffle is on now with all proceeds in support of the M.S.S. Athletics program. If you see me or any other Lions Club members, we’ve usually got some handy. Proud to support our young athletes!
The month of May, according to the Gregorian calendar, is named after Maia, the goddess of springtime and growth. Historically, the gentle warmth of the month caused flowers to blossom, crops to sprout and people to dance. So dance like nobody’s watching and always wear Sunscreen.
Kagawong
Team Fergmeijer
Well, shello there! May 23 is World Turtle Day and we are very excited to shellebrate by sharing our wide shellection of shellarious turtle-based puns with you. We even went to a special turtle pun class last week in preparation. We thought it would be turtally awesome, but truthfully, it tortoise nothing that we didn’t already know about turtle puns. We also went to the library and asked if they had any books on turtles. The librarian asked, “Hardback?” and we said, “Yeah. And little heads!” In the end, we looked up a turtorial online.
Thank you to all the vendors, exhibitors, and visitors who came into Kagawong for the Manitoulin Streams Outdoor Angling Trade Fair on the long weekend! It was a great way to kick off the summer and left our village a-bustling!
Have you a drinking problem? Kagawong has newly painted pickleball courts in the outdoor rink! Check out the Kagawong Outdoor Recreational Facility page on Facebook for more information.
Don’t forget that the Old Mill Heritage Centre is now open for the season. The popular vintage camera and photographic exhibition has been brought back from last year, and there is also a new exhibit featuring local representatives who have gone on to have storied political careers. Be sure to stop in!
Team Fergmeijer saw a good-sized snapping turtle the other day, and it was carrying a large hammer. We’re pretty sure it was a Thortoise.
With all this sunny weather, things are definitely heating up! Kagawong is becoming quite the hot spot as well. Check out all the activities going on in Billings over the coming months: Team Aelick are gearing up for their Stroll for Liver in early June. Stroll on over yourself to https://bit.ly/strollforliver to donate to this worthy cause. The Jabbawong Storytelling Festival is July 5th and 6th. The library book sale and local author showcase will be held July 20th, and the Manitoulin Art Tour is on that same weekend. And don’t forget about Kagawong’s huge market on Wednesdays throughout the summer! If you have (or know of) any other events and activities, let us know so we can let everyone else know! Email us at fergmeijer@gmail.com
We are wishing summer visitor Tammy S, and east-ender Erin F a very happy birthday this week. Don’t forget, birthdays are the perfect excuse to eat cake for breakfast.
Tennis, anyone? The Manitoulin Tennis Club is back to meeting Sunday mornings at 10am at the Manitoulin Secondary School courts. Players of all abilities are welcome, with lessons available in the near future.
We hope this week’s shorter-than-average column wasn’t a turtle disaster. Have a great week!
Meldrum Bay
Elaine Bradley
This week we had dock day in Meldrum Bay. The notice went up and 10 people showed up prepared to work. A lot of the jobs around here are done with volunteers. Some of the quads were particularly useful and one person had his boat there to help as well. The docks are in. The ramps for the docks were also installed. We are now ready for the season. One camper is in the campground and boats have been coming and going particularly to and from Cockburn Island.
We are also getting ready for the ATV Ride this weekend. Part of the trail is on private property, but the owners have given us permission to go over their land. We will all have a great time travelling through the bush. After the run there will be stew, chili and desert at the hall.
Friday night at cards we had two new people to the Meldrum euchre game, Lyle and Anne Addison and they really added to the evening. There were three full tables and one sit out. High Lady was Anne Addison with 71 points; high man was Tom Rumley with 69 points; ladies’ lone hands went to Linda Rumley with three; men’s lone hands went to Lyle Addison with five, he also had 69 points; most euchres went to Karen Noble with nine; the special prize went to Rick Bradley; Lyle Addison won the 50/50 prize; the money jar is safe.
Barrie Island
Lillian Greenman
Mother’s Day visitors at Carolyn ‘cks were Chris Rock from Port Credit and Jeff Rock from Vancouver. Carolyn has returned for the summer to her home.
Sandy and Jim Miller are here for a couple of weeks getting their summer home ready and visiting family.
Silver Water
Karen Noble
On Friday, May 10, Craig Duncanson took his parents, Murray and Gladys, to St. Catharines to spend the weekend with his brother Clarke and family. They attended the Toronto Blue Jays game on Saturday afternoon. They had Mother’s Day brunch at a restaurant with Eleanor Duncanson, her son Greg, daughter-in-law, Michelle and their children.
On Friday evening we went to euchre in Meldrum Bay. Euchre was cancelled for May 17 as the hall was readied for the ATV run and lunch on Saturday.
On Saturday, May 11, there was a fashion show held at the Silver Water Community Hall. Dianne Paquette had a large inventory on hand for everyone to purchase. The ladies in charge of organizing, decorating, modelling and cleaning up did a great job. We look forward to the next event in the fall.
Sunday, May 12 was Mother’s Day. There was a lunch after church services at St. Andrew’s United Church in Silver Water.
On Monday afternoon, the recycle bins were open. We had our first blast of black flies while we were there. Some residents reported they had no bugs yet and some had more mosquitoes.
On Monday evening there were eight tables of euchre players at the Burpee / Mills Complex.
Tuesday afternoon our car got an oil change and two filters replaced. I did the grocery shopping afterwards for the funeral on Wednesday.
Tuesday evening there was fire practice for the men at the fire hall. The main subject was grass/bush fires.
Wednesday morning, some of the UCW members gathered at the Silver Water Hall to prepare the food for Margaret Pickard’s funeral luncheon. Myra Duncanson and I took it to the funeral home in Gore Bay. Marie Leeney and her sister Faith helped us serve it and clean up.
Wednesday, after we got home from Gore Bay, Gladys and I went for our walk. The swamp on Valhalla made me wish I had remembered to wear bug spray. We had a short visit with Jose Daniels who stopped to say hello.
Thursday, I went to Mindemoya to do bookwork. When I got home, Albert had finished covering our garden with manure and was starting the garden tiller to work it in. It smells a little for a couple of days but by the end of the summer, the produce makes it worth it.
Thursday evening there were seven tables of euchre players at the Silver Water hall. It was nice to see some of the summer residents back. Ron Lawson and Mike and Brenda Swank were all out to play.
Andy Cull is here with his mother, Ardith, for a while. He said they spent Thursday planting the garden.
May 25 Norm Morrell has an auction in Ice Lake.
May 25 there will be a ham and scalloped potato dinner at the Silver Water Community Hall for $20 per person.
Happy 60th anniversary to Murray and Gladys Duncanson on May 30. There will be a celebration at the Silver Water Community Hall on June 1 starting at 3 pm.
Happy 47th birthday to Lara Chevrette on May 18 and 23rd birthday to Meghan Noble on May 19.
Condolences to the family of Margaret Pickard.
Condolences to the family of Jim Sloss.
