This past Saturday, as you all will now know, I was away almost all of the day. I was dragged bodily, kicking and screaming, (I sometimes fib a little) out to the Ospringe Presbyterian Church. That is a few highways and byways away, but they, having captured me at one of my many weak moments, came and picked me up, lock, stock, and barrel.
It may at first sound a little bizarre, but I, burdened from youth with the never-hidden fact of being a non-church-goer, was originally ask to join them and do a book signing at their traditional annual springtime bazaar. Being in the sales field of one kind or another for near all of my life, the opportunity of making a buck on a book sale or two turned both of my palms upward and open, in the cash receiving position. They had also requested that I take along a few bird house kits, which my itching palms agreed to do also. This worked well as it gave me a break, on occasion, from the clutter and clatter of constant new book chitter and chatter.
At first I was a little reluctant to go, as the date, as you all might probably know, coincided precisely with the first anniversary of my Little Lady’s passing. But on the other hand, I also knew that this was the same Church that she and her family went to, prior to their move to Guelph, when she was just a little girl, not short of three score and ten years ago. It, and the Brisbane school, was often brought up in conversation in our early wed years. My only regret was that she was not now with me to enjoy the fast flowing memory flashbacks that returned as I witnessed the pleasant, happy, contented, laid-back country attitude that appears to have not changed one iota in the entire life of the church. It ended up being a fun and relaxing day from beginning to end.
A couple of weeks prior to that, members of our Greenspaces’ group enjoyed a birdhouse workshop with the students of the Eramosa Public School. There, grade 4 and 5 students partnered with the younger grades and helped them assemble 147 make- and take-home bluebird nest boxes, to put up in their own back yard What a well organized, bunch of kids, we were in at nine and out by noon.
While there, we found out that they, too, have started a brand new environment group, and their first project is raising funds to buy a composter to be used by the school. They are going to put on a perennial plant sale, on an evening just after school, in order to do this. A couple of our Greenspaces members are going to skip out and help them do just that.
This past week, too, a couple of birdhouse workshops were done at John Black Public School during a couple of mornings, and well over a hundred smiling faces went home hugging a bluebird house. This pretty well wraps up our bird house work shops for this season. But guess what? What? What?
You’re not very good guessers, are you? We still have one more workshop coming up. Greenspaces members will, once again, be holding their annual bat house workshop this Saturday, just prior to Father’s day.
It is being hosted, from 10am to 3pm, by Little Tree Nursery, formerly Richlyn, situated on the west lip of Highway 6 on the north escape of Fergus. We will also be taking a few of our birdhouse kits out there with us. So grab sad old Dad by the arm and hustle his butt out there and help him put a bat house together. Both Dad and the bats will love you for it, and the bats are the best dang burn, environment friendly, West Nile Virus fighter that we have.
And by the way, just in case you feel you should splurge a little, because it is Father’s day, I’ll be taking along one or two copies of my recently published books, book one and book two, which will bring back many tid-bits of memories of unreturning times, and will last throughout years yet to come. Think about it. See you, and Dad, at Little Tree Nursery.
Take care, ’cause we care.