The Squamidian Report – Dec. 13 / 14
Online Version
Issue #655
Including:
Something Lorne Submitted 10 Years Ago
The Ontarion
Hi All,
For the last week, actually, closer to two weeks, the west coast has
been having the kind of weather that people back east tend to think the
coast gets all the time. Its been raining in rather incredible amounts.
Some days we've received 6 inches of the stuff, other days, just gentle
pouring. Its been a constant conveyor belt of storm after storm. To
make it even more interesting, there has been high winds whipping in
from off shore, and, to tie it all together, we've been getting the
December tides. They tend to be way higher than normal tides due to the
way the sun and moon line up. Add it all together and it becomes a very
wet world. I've never seen Howe Sound as high as it has been. You know
that dock at Porteau Cove?.. on Wednesday it was barely clear of the
water. It hadn't changed, the water had come way up. I've never seen
the Mamquam River as swollen as it was this week. Every local stream
and creek is raging. There are countless temporary water falls
thundering down every slope and rock cut. Most look fairly clear but
some are brown and muddy indicating some sort of slide or debris flow
up above somewhere. And its been warm, all this moisture and wind is
the result of lows that have been pumping in, one after the other, from
the south Pacific. Unfortunately, its been hard on what little snowpack
there was in the mountains. Starting to look like a very 'open' winter
around these parts.
Different topic.... last Saturday evening we had dinner up at the
gondola lodge. We were along to celebrate the birthday of a friend of
ours. Dinner was great. They had been having a few issues with their
food prep for a while in the summer that resulted in cold meals, slow
service, that kind of thing but they now seem to have it all worked
out. The food was very good. They do not have a large menu selection
due to the logistics of operating a restaurant on top of a mountain but
they are putting a lot of effort in to making what they do server top
notch. And prices are good too, competitive to what you'd find in any
local restaurant. The ride up was in the dark, as was the ride down of
course. There is no lighting in the gondola cars so you feel like you
are hanging in dark space, almost floating along. Funny, during our
ride up we left the parking lot with a light drizzle coming down. We
climbed out of that cloud level and in to broken cloud. Because of
where the full moon was rising, we actually watched it rise 3 times as
we would top various ridges on the ride up. When we got to the top, the
moon was obstructed by cloud, but that moved out, showing the trees
above silhouetted against the bright moon. The clouds would move in and
out and through. At times we were socked right in, a few minutes later
we would have a clear starry sky. The valley below remained under a
layer of cloud. On our ride back down we again entered the layer of
drizzle and it was out right raining down at the parking lot. It was a
nice evening.
And now for something from the Squamidian past... in fact, almost
exactly 10 years into the past. Lorne had submitted an article written
by his great-uncle, for what would at that time be our 132nd issue, the
Dec 11, 2004 pre-Christmas Squamidian. So, read it again and enjoy. By
the way, next week's issue, Dec 20, will be our last issue before
Christmas so if anyone wants to send in a story, get your butt in gear
and do it. Times running out fast.
doug
****
Submitted by Lorne (in December 2004)
The following article was written by Lorne, Evelyn, Russ, Judy and
Rosemary’s great-uncle in 1939. It was published in the New
Hamburg paper at that time. Robert Haufschild came to Canada in
1884 as a child of 4 with his parents and siblings (one of which became
the father of Lorne, Judy and Rosemary’s mothers). At the time, Lorne
thought the Squamidian readers might enjoy reading it, and assumably
they did. And now its 10 years later than that. Wow.
The Origin and Meaning of the Christmas Tree
The story of Christmas is an old story but as each year draws to a
close, this story again becomes new. We all look forward to
seeing the evergreen Christmas tree, sparkling with brilliant lights,
laden with many gifts, the homecoming of all the members of the family
and many other things that make this festive season a time of good
cheer.
The story of the origin of the use of the spruce tree as a Christmas
tree is an interesting one. At the beginning this evergreen tree
was not used for the purpose of bearing gifts, but to illustrate the
better and higher things in life. History tells us that early in
the year 1800 a small group of Russian exiles were sent to Scandinavia
by the Czar to work for the big landowners, to harvest their
crops. The majority of these exiles were Christians. They
now were without a home and without a church. Having no one to
guide and direct them in their religious affairs, many of them became
greatly discouraged and extremely lonely, especially when the Christmas
season drew nigh. To overcome this loneliness and to find some
inspiration and encouragement, a small number gathered together to
decide if something could be done. After some discussion it was
decided to ask every family to put a spruce evergreen in their home,
not for the purpose of holding gifts – these people had no money to
think of buying even the smallest gift – but to them this tree held
high ideals and could teach them many lessons.
For example, they considered its colour, Ever Green, the same colour
the year round, never changing, but growing higher and stronger, taught
them to strive for the best and highest things in life. Amid the
changing scenes of their hard experience they received strength to
remain steadfast and true.
During heavy snow storms we oft times see the branches of the spruce
tree bent to the ground, laden with ice and snow, ready to snap off at
any moment, yet when the storm is over and the sun breaks forth with
its bright rays, these branches gradually rise again to their natural
shape, showing us they are able to carry the heaviest burdens, and
ready to smile when the darkest clouds have passed.
The spruce tree in its natural state is perfect, very straight and
appears the same from all angles. This teaches us a very fine
lesson. It also provides shelter for humanity, shade and
protection to animals, teaching us to be helpful whenever we can.
In the northern sections of our country when the snowfall is so heavy,
one often wonders how the trees survive when completely covered in
snow. This teaches us to stand firm and remain faithful until the
end.
The custom of the use of the Christmas tree spread from Scandinavia to
Germany in the first quarter of the 19th century. When Queen
Victoria of England married Prince Albert, the German prince in 1840
they introduced the Christmas tree into English life. It was not
until 1870 that the custom spread into France, where it was largely
introduced by the German prisoners in France, receiving small Christmas
trees as gifts from their friends in Germany. Since that time the
custom has spread throughout the Christian world, until today it has
become well nigh universal.
What I have related above, I learned during my school days. I
thought it was worthwhile to pass it on to you readers, with all wishes
for a Very Happy Christmas.
Robert Haufschild (deceased) 1939
****
THE ONTARION REPORT
Hello everyone!
Well as you all know, here in Ontario we were supposed to be buried by
the southeaster that ran amuck on the east coast these past couple of
days but as luck would have it, we here in the KW area only received
about a cm of the white stuff last night. Lucky for us the storm
petered out by the time it stalled over Toronto. We barely got any of
the predicted amount as I said and I’m glad because I’m tired of
hearing about the city complaining of the amount of overspending the
snow of this year has been causing us! What the hell are they going to
say if we actually get a good whack of a snowstorm this year? I guess
we’ll just have to decide not to watch the news on the few days
following the first big storm that comes along. If you don’t like what
you’re hearing or watching on TV, either change the channel or turn the
TV OFF!
This is extremely embarrassing but I can’t think of a darned thing
worth writing about tonight! I could go on about the over charging for
hydro that the Ontario Government has approved over the past 10 years
and I could talk about the 2 Billion dollar cost of the “Smart Meter”
program that’s been shoved down our throats here in Ontario that was
supposed to cost only 1 Billion over the past two years but then I’d
have to tell you about the fact that it’s a complete failure and I’m
sure you’ve already heard about that on the evening news. The auditor
general of Ontario brought forth this tidbit of information in the
Ontario Legislature the other day and was promptly told by the Ontario
Energy Minister that she didn’t know what she was talking about because
“What do women know about the workings of a Hydro System?” I guess he
must figure she can’t read! If this guy isn’t kicked out on his pompous
ass by the Premier for heading up such a failure not to mention costing
the taxpayers of Ontario billions more than necessary then she ought to
be drummed out of her job as well! I for one am ticked off completely
after hearing that we the taxpayers of Ontario have paid more than 22
BILLION dollars over what we should have for electricity over the last
10 years and would like to know just what the Ontario Government is
going to do about the situation! Wouldn’t you think that we’d be
reimbursed for this over billing with a sizeable rebate on our hydro
bills for the next 10 years? Something has to be done and I think it
would be a good place to start by replacing this damned Liberal
Government with a PC party in the next election. Once again, we’ve had
the Liberals stick it to us and once again they have denied any
wrongdoing! When will we ever learn, WHEN WILL WE EVER LEARN???
As I said: I could go on about the overcharging for hydro we’ve been
subjected to over the past 10 years but, what the heck, I’d be wasting
my breath or is it ink, or is it “electricity”? Who knows for
sure? SO I won’t bother!
Short and Sweet, or is it BITTER? Who knows for sure!
That’s about it for this week folks!
Thanks for tuning in and I’ll look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!
Bye for Now … Greg
Something To Think About>
The tooth is the only part of the human body that cannot heal
itself!
****
Have a good one..
the doug
The Fine Print!
The articles in these issues are the sole property of the persons writing them and should be respected as such.
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