Posts from November 2024
November 6th, 2024 – Weekly News
Download the Weekly News Here Nov. 6, 2024 What a glorious day it was yesterday. I could not get over the fact that in November we reached 24 degrees Celsius. I was actually walking Miss E. in a tee shirt. Wish every day would be like this one throughout the winter. The downside to yesterday was the wind and the fact that leaves from down the street were blowing onto my lawn as it was being mowed. It was really…
Traditional Christmas Pudding – butter recipe
Christmas pudding (à la Dickens) is a tradition in our house, a legacy from Bob’s family tradition when he was growing up. For years, I had been buying it ready-made, first from Hot Oven Bakery at Cloverdale, and for the past couple of years at A Bit Of Home on Dundas street. It isn’t cheap – about $60 for two puddings, which is what I needed. I still have my mother-in-law’s pudding bowls, and her recipe, so last year I decided…
My Journey to Canada – Iraida Cherniak
It was September 1947, almost two years after the end of the war. The days were still warm but one could smell autumn in the air. During one of these warm days our small family, my husband and two-year-old daughter Natalia, woke up early in the morning to get ready to leave our transition camp in Bremenhaven, Germany to sail to Canada. Awaiting us at the pier was a ship by the name of ‘General Stuart Hainzelman’. It was an old vessel but…
Guest Preacher Tim Connor – Sunday, October 29
Tim was born in Caledonia, Ontario, where he attended the local Anglican Church with his family. From a young age, his passion for music blossomed, leading him to pursue his musical interests at McMaster University, culminating in the attainment of his bachelor degree. Tim’s life took a transformative turn when he felt a profound calling to dedicate himself to ministry. After deep introspection and soul-searching, he embarked on this path by enrolling at Knox College, where he is currently on the journey toward ordination within the Presbyterian Church in Canada. In 2023,…
Reflections on Christmas
As many of you know, I am fond of Victorian children’s literature, owning in hard cover such volumes as Little Women (1868 – Louisa May Alcott), the entire Little House series (1932 – Laura Ingalls Wilder) and the entire Anne of Green Gables series (1905 – Lucy Maud Montgomery). I first read all of these as a pre-teen, and have re-read every one many times since. They have places of honour on my bookshelf. Little Women and Anne of Green Gables are fictional; The …
Hymn Stories: Angels from the Realms of Glory
Hymn Stories: Angels from the Realms of Glory Adapted from 101 Hymn Stories – Kenneth W. Osbeck Author: James Montgomery 1771-1854 Composer: Henry Smart 1813-1879 Angels from the realms of glory Wing your flight o’er all the earth; Ye who sang creation’s story Now proclaim Messiah’s birth: Come and worship, come and worship, Worship Christ, the newborn king. James Montgomery’s parents were Moravian missionaries to the West Indies. While attending a Moravian seminary in England, young James received word of…
Nabucco and The Bible
Are there any opera fans out there? I was very interested to see that the Canadian Opera Company was staging Giuseppe Verdi’s Nabucco this year, which has never been performed by the COC. Reading the article in the Star, I was intrigued enough to look up the Biblical passages on which parts of this opera are based. One thing led to another, and I found myself researching Nebuchadnezzar in sources other than the bible. Nebuchadnezzar is the 6th century BCE King of Babylon who was responsible for…
Getting to Know Beth Smith
(Those of you who have gotten to know Beth may be interested to know that) Beth spent twenty years as a volunteer in a federal prison, providing programs for the inmates and their children. Initially, Beth’s husband Bob began going into Beaver Creek Institution, which houses over 700 inmates in both minimum- and maximum security settings, to offer Christian spiritual services. Later, Beth joined the small group of volunteers from the nearby Gravenhurst community. She continued after Bob died to attend weekly meetings with twelve to fifteen inmates. The volunteers knew…
In the Footsteps of Heroes – September, 2016
The beaches of Juno Beach, Normandy stretch for many kilometres across the northern coast of France. Miles away, across the Channel, is the southern coast of England. The beaches are calm and quiet on these cool September mornings, glassy seas lapping on seaweed-littered sand. Standing on those quiet beaches, thinking back to what it must have been like for the thousands of soldiers, sailors, and airmen who had trained for many months in 1943/44 for D-Day – the invasion of Europe by the Allied forces – was a very moving…