The Unveiling of the Misty Hollow line of Illustrations - TODAY

Misty Hollow Carving
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Today’s Blog Post


The Unveiling of the Misty Hollow line of Illustrations - TODAY

Today I feel like a school boy coming home with a treasure. Just feeling like a young boy again is amazing, but having a treasure to show “Mom and Dad” is even better. I remember this feeling I am having now… it happened about 61 years ago – in that first year and first class at my first school. WOW – what a feeling! It was so great that it has never disappeared.

I was the oldest child in our family. I was the one that got to go to school first. My sister, only a year and a half younger, had to wait until next year. My brother was still a baby. My youngest sister was not yet a thought, she would come along 6 years later. At that moment I was savoring things that the others could only dream about.

On that special day I held in my hand my first drawing that I could take home to show my family.

The teacher had kept my other drawings to help decorate the room and show the other kids.

For all those early years my Mom had encouraged me to draw. She provided the paper, the pencils, and sometimes the crayons that I needed to get my ideas out. By the time I entered school I was an “artist”. Mom had also found a great way to have the kids keep out of trouble for long periods of time, give them something to draw with… and Murray would sit for hours doing just that.

For the next 12 years I would excel in my drawings and any class where I needed to illustrate something that we were studying. In the classes that didn’t need drawings done, I doodled in every white space that I found. My text books quite honestly looked like they had been through Tattoo Parlors!

Drawing has been part of my life since the beginning. It has been a thread of gold woven through all parts of my life fabric.

Now in my 67th year I am skipping along the sidewalk today with my brand new set of drawings. Today is the first day that I can show my new drawings officially to all my friends. Today is the first day I can show off the first wave of “Misty Hollow” illustrations.

Through my amazing friends, Helen and Ted at “Crop Circles” in Peterborough, my drawings and sketching has come alive. In the past few weeks each drawing has been placed in its packaging and is now being sold.

Today I show them for the first time!

Where?

Well to my delight it is the same place that I last worked and retired from… the Northview Church in Peterborough, Ontario! Some of my old friends will undoubtedly be there – and I will be able to show them.

Then in the next few weeks I will be showing them over and over again to a waiting world.

If all goes well, the drawings and sketches will come “online” in the next little while. All the internal stuff that needs to be done on a Web Site is being tested now. Within days my “skipping home” to show Mom what I drew will be World Wide… and if it goes the way that some think it might, we are about to see a new income source begin flowing!!!

I think I have just passed the “skipping home” mark and am about to do a cartwheel or so!

So if you are able to get to the Christmas Craft Show and Sale at Northview, you can be one of the first of my friends to see what has happened. It is at the corner of Fairbarin Street and Tower Hill Road. It starts at 10 AM and goes till the afternoon.

I would love to see you there.

BTW – today is the start of “Misty Hollow Fudge” as well. It is absolutely the best Fudge that you will ever taste. It is right from the Kitchens of Misty Hollow as well. MMMMmmm MMMm MMMMM MM!

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/ 

Remembrance Day 2011 – and The McLaren Family

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Special Note Today
The following post was first made on December 6, 2008. Today I am posting it again on this day that we remember what our Canadian Military Men and Women have done overseas. Many have given their lives in the cause of World Peace.

In December 2008 Mark McLaren was killed in Afghanistan. His mom and dad live two doors away from us. They have become our neighbors and friends.

On this Remembrance Day 2011, I want to specially remember Mark again and his family.

Remembrance Day 2011 – and The McLaren Family
“When the War came to Our Street”
Over these past years I have followed the reports of the war in Afghanistan with mild interest. I have watched the TV reports like everyone else as the soldiers that are fighting there have come home. I have prayed for them and loved them from a distance. I have received oodles of the patriotic emails where we are encouraged to pray.

This past summer I had driven on or near the Ontario 401 Highway as the families brought back their fallen sons from Afghanistan – along “The Highway of Heroes” – a section of the highway designated in memory of the soldiers that have died in the war. It runs from Trenton, Ontario to Toronto where the body is brought for the final “inspection”.

It has been moving to see hundreds of Canadians standing on the overpass bridges above the 401 holding flags and wearing red clothing.

Things have changed for me yesterday. The War in Afghanistan came home for us.

Two days ago a new family moved into their “new home” just two doors down. Our whole street wondered who might buy the home that was “For Sale” the last months. We tend to welcome our newcomers to the street as we are all close here. The Front Yard Party held in our driveway these past years is a place that we all meet. It has been a place to catch up with each other.

Yesterday there was a large Canadian Flag hanging across the front of the new people’s house two doors down. Yesterday – just after moving in – they got news that their son Cpl. Mark Robert McLaren, 23, was killed in Afghanistan.

The War came to our street. I have not yet met the family. A friend of the family came knocking on our door to explain what had happened. I received a call from one of our neighbours that was concerned as well.

What will we say? How will we help? I can only hope that somehow the words will be there when we meet soon.

I really don’t have a lot of words to say today. However this morning in my email my friend Brenda sent me the following short email that included these words. I dedicate these words to Cpl. Mark Robert McLaren and his family. They fit so well. And I also hope that we as Canadians will see that Mark was a little boy in our community that learned from all of us. Yet we have now learned from him as well.

The War came to our street and I am not sure how to help. But I can say – “Thank you Mark McLaren – your sacrifice has been so very great. Thank you.”

~ Murray Lincoln ~
A Source to Consider:
http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1333746

WHEN YOU THOUGHT I WASN'T LOOKING

(A message every adult should read because children
are watching you and doing as you do, not as you say. )

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you hang my
first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately
wanted to paint another one.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a
stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind
to animals.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make my
favorite cake for me, and I learned that the little
things can be the special things in life.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I heard you say a
prayer, and I knew that there is a God I could always
talk to, and I learned to trust in Him.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you make a
meal and take it to a friend who was sick, and I
learned that we all have to help take care of each
other.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you give of
your time and money to help people who had nothing,
and I learned that those who have something should
give to those who don't.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you take care
of our house and everyone in it, and I learned we have
to take care of what we are given.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw how you
handled your responsibilities, even when you didn't
feel good, and I learned that I would have to be
responsible when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw tears come
from your eyes, and I learned that sometimes things
hurt, but it's all right to cry.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw that you
cared, and I wanted to be everything that I could be.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I learned most of
life's lessons that I need to know to be a good and
productive person when I grow up.

When you thought I wasn't looking, I looked at you and
wanted to say, “Thanks for all the things I saw when
you thought I wasn't looking.”

I AM SENDING THIS TO ALL OF THE PEOPLE I KNOW
WHO DO SO MUCH FOR OTHERS,
BUT THINK THAT NO ONE EVER SEES.
LITTLE EYES SEE A LOT .

Each of us (parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, teacher, friend)
influences the life of a child.

How will you touch the life of someone today? Just by
sending this to someone else, you will probably make
them at least think about their influence on others.
Live simply. Love generously. Care deeply. Speak kindly.

Leave the rest to God.

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/

I have answers to deal with the Tent City Protesters

Misty Hollow Carving
This BLOG is sponsored by “Misty Hollow Carving”. You are welcome to visit Misty Hollow and see all of my carvings.

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I have answers to deal with the Tent City Protesters

Is this old world crazy or what? I know I am old when I watch the kooky people forming Tent Cities in so many major cities in Canada, USA and around the world. What is the world coming to… or running from?

If you have been on another planet you will not know that these Tent Cities have been setting up in important parks or places in different cities – taking over public places from the public. Snatching away places where business people normally walk, where dogs normally poop, where the public will see them and have to deal with what they are saying.

The problem that I see is that they are saying many things. There is not one person that is official or one message that is being presented.

There is one message I guess… they are all unhappy people sitting and doing nothing.

The second message that I have gleaned from it all… is they want publicity and seem to know how to get it with this large and unorganized protest about life in general.

In among the large groups are many smaller groups that each have issues with something or somebodies. Usually it is a politician or a group of politicians… added to issues of how police treat people… added to homelessness… anarchy… anger… lethargy… etc, etc, etc.

If you don’t like something or someone sit on your ass and protest… but be sure that you have a tent to sleep in… and a place that you can poop in – which is where the park comes in so handy. Green spaces are great to foul with your human trash and crap.

And anyone that protests against what you are doing is the enemy. Plain and simple – they trash you so you trash them… or their spaces.

From the homeless people that move into the protest areas to the anarchists that spice it up with their black outfits, face masks; to the quasi-peace dudes and dudettes that link arms and sing koombuyaa – that is the new society of young adults.

Most are not working or can’t get a job or don’t want a job. These are mixed with some major mental health folk that are on disability pensions… and they are mixed with others that are on welfare – whatever it is called in the country that they come from.

My uneducated guess is that they likely all come from homes where they never made their beds, had little or no responsibilities and were the general centre of attention. Now outside their homes in a real world, they are not the centre of attention anymore and a protest in places put them right back to where they come from. They are now “home”.

Something is funny and strange about what I am seeing. What a contrast to the good old days when we couldn’t wait to graduate and then get out of school. We had to work hard in school so that our marks gave us opportunity to get better jobs. So we went for the gold… without reservations! We knew what we wanted and worked hard for it.

Have you noticed these factors about these Tent Cities…?

They are in nice, big cities… usually not far from comforts and food. They are not in Regina Saskatchewan in January, February or March – it is too darn cold. Then they avoid Regina or any part of Saskatchewan or Manitoba in April, May. June, July, August – because there are just too many mosquitoes!

Vancouver, Toronto, New York and big touristy spots are the best. Comforts, food near by and TV Cameras that will follow you to give your cause a presence.

I think that I have a possible suggestion for city leaders. Put up barriers that will not allow the people in the tents to be seen. It is just like at home when you get company and your teen’s bedroom is a disaster… you close the door so the guests will not see it.

The barriers will keep the crap off TV. By getting the TV people to not publicize what is happening – there is no more reason to do what you are doing.

A physical barrier around the park is a good idea as well. You know the construction fence that is put in place to protect the public – keeping people away from dangerous areas. It is not a pen or a police jail… but rather a visual barrier that will keep the trash in one spot.

This physical barrier should have openings big enough to walk through. These people need to stay connected to comforts or life and food… they can still crap in the park… and they can sleep next to it too.

Without a doubt they will escape to new areas and new parks… but the city crews can simply move the barriers along with them. In one night’s sleep they will have the construction barriers in place around the new park.

But what about the parks and the poor vegetation? Won’t they kill all of it? Nope – vegetation loves fertilizer. And the dirty parks make work for which the protestors will be paid to clean up. Protesters cleaning up their own poop will make them move to another city that they can foul. Just like Teens do when they can’t stand their own home any longer – they move to a friend’s house – simply couch surf!

That is way cheaper than burning police cruisers and expensive cops on special duty.

Let them have their way… live in dirty parks and sleep in irksome little tents. The bed bugs that the street people deal with will soon be in the tents of the nice people too.

Nature will take care of the Tent Cities. The Mayors of the Cities do not have to.

Toronto’s Tent City will evaporate in a heartbeat when the weather grows colder suddenly. They will soon be off to Vancouver. Then when they are gone… through the winter… inform the Dog Walkers in Toronto that they no longer have to stoop and scoop in their favourite parks. Next spring and summer the Tenters will not go to that park too soon.

The really scary part is that some of our kids will marry a creep that has Tented in Protest… and bring the idiot home for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Worse yet they will father or mother your grandkids.

That really scares me! Where do the kids of Tenters go to school?

Leave the Tent City alone. They will get organized, form their own government, elect their own Mayors and Spokespeople… and be just like the rest of us. Oh yes – they will finally realize that they will need to pay the Mayor to stay on… and that is when they will start to tax themselves…

It will all work out. Leave them alone.

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/

Michael Jackson – Conrad Murray – AEG and me – Enough already!

Misty Hollow Carving
This BLOG is sponsored by “Misty Hollow Carving”. You are welcome to visit Misty Hollow and see all of my carvings.

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Michael Jackson – Conrad Murray – AEG and me – Enough already!

There are times when I have simply have had enough – already!?! How about you?

Well this week is one of those times I am sure. And there is clear evidence that many people have had enough. But hang on there is still more coming whether you want it or not.

Michael Jackson died from an apparent overdose – over use of a dangerous drug. The whole world was rocked by the news. Their beloved, weird, wonderful, strange and almost other worldly Pop Singer/Star was gone.

Immediately accusations started flying and fingers began to point. Someone was to blame for his death. There just had to be someone or somebody that could be blamed and would be found guilty. Someone had to pay for the great “loss” to the world.

Well the family and maybe the law has received some vindication with the results of a conviction of Dr. Conrad Murray this week. The zooming in of a TV Camera on the grey suited man, having his hands cuffed behind his back… was everywhere.

The verdict was in. Someone was found guilty. Someone was paying for what he did. Vengeance was done.

Merriam Webster.com states about “vengeance”…
Definition of VENGEANCE
: punishment inflicted in retaliation for an injury or offense :RETRIBUTION
— with a vengeance
1
: with great force or vehemence
2
: to an extreme or excessive degree
Examples of VENGEANCE
1. The fire was set as an act of vengeance.
2. Angry protesters wanted to inflict vengeance on the killer.
3. He thought briefly of the long-dead woman bound to this stone in 1654 and burnt alive as a witch. And for what? An over-sharp tongue, delusions, mental eccentricity, to satisfy a private vengeance, the need for a scapegoat in times of sickness or the failure of a harvest, or perhaps as a sacrifice to propitiate a malignant unnamed god? —P. D. James, The Private Patient, 2008

“Yep – you would think that it is over and done with”.

If you thought that the answer is “NOPE – you are wrong!”

It was just announced that the Jackson Family would begin a Law Suit against another party for being responsible for Michael Jackson’s death.

Victoria Kim and Harriet Ryan, of the Los Angeles Times report today that – quote –
“The conclusion of the criminal case sets the stage for proceedings in civil court, where the pop star's mother and children are pressing a wrongful death suit against the corporation and its concert subsidiary, AEG Live, the promoter of Jackson's doomed comeback attempt.

The civil case, set for trial in September, pits the singer's three children and elderly mother against one of the city's most important companies at a time when AEG is pitching controversial plans for a downtown football stadium.”
End quote.

Whoa! This is where my Naïve Canadian mind has kicked in. Didn’t someone take the blame or rather was found guilty for Michael’s death? You know you just followed it like I did?? They handcuffed the Doc and took him away. Didn’t they?

But now they are saying that AEG – the Los Angeles entertainment behemoth Anschutz Entertainment Group – is responsible for his death. And they intend to get money because of it. Right?

When they do this… aren’t they kind of saying that Michael was driven to the edge by a company… and calling it a wrongful death… is placing the responsibility on AEG?!

Who is guilty? And if they are guilty… what are they guilty of? If AEG is gone after and they are big enough, won’t they settle out of court like most others do?

I mean when you go away back and look at Michael himself and the accusations that he was a Child Molester… didn’t he also settle out of court with the families of kids that he took to his bedroom with him – for Michael Parties?

Yeah! The American way!

No one is stating the actual fact… every person in the public is responsible for his death… aren’t we?

We followed his every move and every weird way with a passion. Didn’t we? Isn’t it possible that the thirst for the weird and strange in the public – caused Michael to become what he was?

Isn’t it even more likely that Michael in his excessive way was so far out there that he did himself in at the end? He personally administered his own over does of a very bad drug. The Doc may be guilty of making it available… but Michael did it himself – didn’t he?

AEG may have given or made Michael and his people an offer for big possible comeback show. Which Michael was working on… when he died. But how does that make it possible for them to be responsible?

It all points to one thing. We today as citizens of a whacky world want no part in taking responsibility for what we have done. We cannot believe that someone is not responsible for our own wrong doing.

Enough is enough. Stop it already! Get a life and take responsibility.

No one can advise the Jackson family I am sure. But lots will make money off the circus that they will become with this new lawsuit. I am sure of that fact.

Millions will be looked for... and millions will be paid out to get the millions.

I truly feel sorry for an old lady that misses her son. I feel deeply for this son’s kids, however they came to be his… it appears that they “loved” him…

But I have had enough. And I think that the general public has had enough as well.

In days to come it will still be reported on and advertisers will insert their little jingles and videos at just the right time… to get some of my dollars… But even they may distant themselves from it all… when they realize that we all have had enough!

What do you think?

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/  

Resource:
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-me-1109-jackson-aeg-20111109,0,4239071.story

Remembering 12 year old Josh – oh how our hearts hurt

Misty Hollow Carving
This BLOG is sponsored by “Misty Hollow Carving”. You are welcome to visit Misty Hollow and see all of my carvings.

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Remembering 12 year old Josh – oh how our hearts hurt

Last evening the telephone rang. It was my aunt Edna calling from Regina. She was speaking with my mom. It was then that mom called us into her room to listen to the horrific news that Edna was sharing.

Josh, mom’s grandnephew, had committed suicide. He was only 12 years old.

The three of us struggled to cope with this news that had just arrived. Whatever could have happened to cause this series of events to take place?

Josh is the grandson of my mom’s youngest sister, Marg. Josh’s mom is Trish, a much younger cousin of mine.

Through the power of FaceBook another one of my cousins, I assume, heard of this tragedy while he was catching up on the family. This cousin lives in Ottawa. He called his mom in Regina, who then called her sister-in-law in Peterborough, my mom.

For about an hour I struggled to make sense of what had taken place. I called aunt of mine and asked if she had heard what had happened. Being so far away from Calgary and this part of the family is more than hard at times. We can do nothing to support and help from here the way that we would like to.

Though our family is scattered almost to the four corners of the earth, we are still family. And that family is still very close.

My cousin Trish wrote these words on her Facebook page last Saturday…
“Thanks everyone for your loving support. By God's grace, we continue living through hour after hour and are trying to adjust to what it will be like to be a family of 5. We are surrounded by amazing family and friends. There are no words to describe the terrible sense of loss we are feeling. Josh was a fantastic son and we are thankful that we had the privilege of parenting him for 12 years.”

“Oh Trish… we love you so much. Though we are 2200 miles apart we hope that you will know how deeply your Great Aunt Nell Lincoln cares for you. Her heart breaks for you and Greg… and your three kids.”

“We certainly pray for God’s comfort and support through this time of great loss.”

“Trish, none of us can understand what you are going through. We would like to – but that isn’t what we should say. We just don’t know.”

“But Aunt Nell can understand a little of what is like. Her son, and my brother, passed away as a young father, leaving his wife and two kids behind. Mom told me at that time the deep pain that she felt when her son died so early. I didn’t know what to say or how to help her either.”

When our other cousin Kevin passed away as a young, just married husband, none of us knew what to say or do either.

Then with the other losses over the years our clan has not been without times of great sorrow.

For my readers outside our Kirkpatrick and Lincoln clan… I can tell you a little more of the tragedy that has taken place.

Josh told his mom that he wasn’t feeling good last Thursday morning. Trish decided to let him stay at home. She would come back from work at lunch time to check on how he was doing.

When Trish came home at lunch time she found her boy had died from a gunshot. There was a note describing some of the why.

At 12 years old Josh had experienced a difficult world and he could no longer take it. He also mentioned that the bullying was more than he could stand.

Now there should be more… but there wasn’t. Josh did not say anything to his mom and dad about his struggles. There was no conversations about the tough stuff at school or the bullying. At 12 he couldn’t cope anymore and he ended his life that fateful morning. He had tried but it was just too much.

Pause…
This terrible news came on the heels of my post yesterday about family and the way we struggle with raising them.

Last evening I had to write to my daughters and tell them what happened. I am a Grandpa of six amazing grandkids that all go to school and all face similar struggles with the world that Josh faced.

When I thought of my own Grandkids, I wept for Trish and Greg, Marg and Howard and the whole family. I am still weeping inside today and will be for a long time to come.

Though I had never met young Josh, he now has an important place in my life – forever. I will try to do what I can to support my grandkids and every other kid that comes my way.

Family, so far away… Aunt Nell, Alida and myself cannot get to the Memorial Service for Josh this Wednesday afternoon coming in Calgary. But we will be there in spirit and in our prayers to support you.

Friends of mine… that are grandparents… we need to love and know our kids in everyway possible. I personally can never let one minute go by when I am with the kids to not find out how they are doing and what I can do to help them. I just can’t.

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/

Family Harvest after “watering, fertilizing and weeding”

Misty Hollow Carving
This BLOG is sponsored by “Misty Hollow Carving”. You are welcome to visit Misty Hollow and see all of my carvings.

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Family Harvest after “watering, fertilizing and weeding”

As we are getting ready for Winter now, there have been a hundred little jobs outside to prepare our house and yard for winter. The discoveries as we have done the work have been most fascinating.

We have had large pots planted all summer with decorative vines and flowers. They were amazing as they filled the pot with their glory.

One of the plants in the pots was a sweet potato vine with long trailing vines hanging from the pots. Their colour and the fact that they are so full and fine with their leaves has made the pots the fullest looking ever.

Preparation of the flower pots for the winter in our case is to remove the vegetation from the pots and loosen the dirt somewhat by pulling out the old top vegetation and the roots attached.

As Alida was doing the first pot I heard her give a little yelp. “Take a look at this! You won’t believe it!”

When I turned around to look there she held a gigantic six inch long and 3 inch wide sweet potato. Can you imagine? That little pot and vine produced a huge potato!

But that wasn’t the only one. The first pot produced four more sweet potatoes – all in varying sizes. That one pot had a sweet harvest to say the least!

But each pot that we have dug into has had many sweet potatoes. And we are not done yet. It will be fun to see how many pounds of potatoes we will actually get.

Now they don’t look particularly edible being as white as they are. But we will see.

Thinking back on it now, the pots did require a huge amount of watering this year. As the season went on they seem to need more and more water. If we didn’t water the pots they dropped quickly with the leaves hanging down sadly.

From the production of the ground fruit of these sweet potatoes we can see why. They were on a role and the conditions for growth were just right. This year we would have a bumper crop.

I have thought about this production a lot over this weekend. From our simple attempts to beautify our yard with these pots, the large amount of work that my wife in particular put into the pots and the added amount that I put into the yard – we have had a bountiful harvest. Something has come out of all the hard work!

Isn’t that just like a family?

First we bring into this life a new baby… then babies. It was so much fun the first time that we decided on a second and maybe even more.

There were lots of restless nights and some strain at first. But our love for what we were doing with this new baby made it worth it all.

Then the baby grew and grew. All the babies got bigger and then school… and the celebration of what they did each week.

Unfortunately the time was whizzing by. Some of the tedious work of each day and toil of “watering, fertilizing and weeding” of our family garden gets more than a little tedious and back breaking. In fact if we are honest there is no relief at all. The need of the child is whole lot like the flower pots in our yard. You no sooner tend to the pot (or child) and there is another greater need for “watering, fertilizing and weeding”.

When we first planted the pots it didn’t seem like that much to do. Growth was slow and steady. This would be easy.

When we first had our number one baby, it was easy. Then the second one came along… that was easy as well.

Fast forward our life and the babies became young ladies. Fast forward further they became moms and we have watched the same process all over again… from seedlings to beautiful vines that are a joy to watch.

That is especially true now for Alida and me. We have watched our daughters Dana and Anda develop into wonderful moms and great partners to their husbands.

Now we are watching the grandkids sprout up and grow so fast. We see the tremendous amount of work that it takes to raise our six grandkids. We watch the times that they are so busy with the “watering, fertilizing and weeding” and see how trying it can be for the two families.

And my illustration may fall to pieces here shortly… but from our family I see a huge crop coming from all the effort.

This morning Alida and I will attend the awards ceremony at the Adam Scott High School. Our Grandson Clifford told us that it was happening today, and from what he said it seems to be a good idea for us to attend. This could be a “sweet potato” morning – when one of our own little vines is going to show Grandpa and Grandma what has happened in his life.

Over this past week we have sat through about 10 hours of football games. On Tuesday the game was in Fenlon Falls where Clifford’s team won a huge victory over the top team this year in our region. Yes they won… in the very last seconds of the game. I nearly burst my buttons at that game.

But then we held our breath on Friday when Clifford’s team met with the Crestwood High School football team. Crestwood has won this game and become the top in the area for 15 years straight!

On Friday Clifford’s team beat Crestwood. My buttons did pop off with this one.

Then on Saturday from 10 AM until 3 PM we sat and watched “our kids” play more football at the Kinsmen Minor Football League final. Our Granddaughter Emma is part of that team effort. And more buttons came loose… her team played hard, didn’t win.. and Grandpa’s buttons came off anyway!

Not long ago we watched the smooth hockey plays and fast skating of our daughter Anda’s four boys. They are good at hockey – very good! They are also good at Baseball and love their involvement. To do all that they do the family has to act like a Team to just get it all done.

I will soon have to get zip up shirts as my buttons are flying off at every game we attend.

But the families are still at the growing stages. “Watering, fertilizing and weeding” is still a major part of the process.

But the harvest is coming someday soon. The amount of “watering, fertilizing and weeding” will produce a huge crop from these kids.

The only big regret is that I may not see all that will come from the harvest in these lives. This Grandpa does wish that he could live until he was at least 100 hundred so I could see the great harvest that will come.

Gotta run… this is the Awards day and Grandpa can’t miss it!

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/ 

You can buy Milk in Peterborough after 6 PM now

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Today’s Blog Post


You can buy Milk in Peterborough after 6 PM now

What a difference 13 years make!

13 years ago we arrived in Peterborough from Western Canada. We stayed at a home of two friends that were traveling out west. They heard we were to possibly come to Peterborough for employment at the Northview Church as the Minister. They offered their home as place to stay. What a treat that was.

We arrived at the house in the evening. It was not yet dark.

Realizing that the owners of the home had been away for a few weeks when we arrived, we looked in the cupboards and refrigerator for the possibilities of breakfast the next morning. There were boxes of cereal but no milk. There was no bread or butter. All the basics that were not there. I do the same when we leave home for weeks on end as well.

I decided to simply hop in the car and go to the store to buy something for breakfast. That seemed simple enough.

13 years ago in Peterborough, Ontario there was no stores open after 6 PM. It was the law. Everywhere we had lived always had somewhere open to buy food and milk. But not in Peterborough. Stores locked up tight at 6 PM. It was 1998!

I found that out after traveling around the city for a good half hour.

13 years ago there was one Tim Hortons Donut Shop. It was on Lansdowne and was situated where Shoppers Drug Mart is now, beside the Minute Maid processing plant. The sign stated that they would close at 11 PM.

I walked in and asked if they had any milk to sell. The girl was apologetic in that they had only one carton of milk left in their small refrigerator. I bought the last quarter pint of milk in the city just so I could have my cereal in the morning.

13 years ago this was the ONLY Tim Hortons in Peterborough, a dim and shabby little place that still allowed smoking in the restaurant making the donuts taste weird.

This was not the dark ages when Tim Hortons did not exist. I had opened the first Tim Hortons donut shops with Tim Horton in about 1970 – 28 years before 1998. I did that when I installed their first Cash registers in Oakville. Every city that we had ever lived in had more than one Tim Hortons – but not Peterborough.

No there wasn’t any Coffee Time or other coffee hangouts. There was no end of small restaurants and coffee shops – but they all closed at 6 PM or earlier.

This was my introduction to Peterborough. Having lived in cities like Regina, Saskatchewan; Scarborough, Ontario; and Hong Kong – Peterborough’s closing at 6 PM just seemed really weird.

In 1998 there was hardly any stores like the rest or the world had. If we wanted to buy at Costco with our membership card we had for over 10 years… we had to drive to Ajax. The same was true of all of our favorite stores in big cities.

But Peterborough had an attitude that was so strange. They were the center of the Universe. If Peterborough didn’t have it – you didn’t need it.

After we moved here something on one of our appliances died. I needed a part to fix it. There was one store that sold parts… and the price was ridiculous. I knew that just down the road in Scarborough I had bought the same part for about one half of what this guy was selling it for. I drove to Scarborough on a day off and paid for the gas easily with the money I saved on the part.

Peterborough’s population was still at about 75,000 people. They were big in their mind’s eye.

Regina had about 200,000 and Scarborough was running over a million. Hong Kong was over 6 Million and they lived on an area about the size of Peterborough region – 20 miles by 20 miles.

It was an adjustment to live in a “small city” again.

I say all of this to state my utter amazement of the recent announcements in our little city.

Not only will our present Wal-Mart be expanding but another Wal-Mart will open two blocks from where we live.

We now have a Costco and a Super Store. We have a Chapters and even a Future Shop. Add to all of these we have all the Tim Hortons coffee places that you could ever dream of… plus all of its coffee shop competition.

We have a Home Depot and Staples.

This week we heard that we will have a Lowes store coming just south of us.

In 13 years we have watched the little city of Peterborough be turned upside down! No kidding you can buy Milk or whatever you wish to buy 24 hours a day – seven days a week and about 362 days a year – (There are still holiday closing days).

Believe it or not… Peterborough has changed. We now have most of the problems that all the other cities have as well. We have arrived.

But most important – you can buy Milk after 6 PM!

~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.murraylincoln.com/