Land O'Lakes Public School Grade 2/3 teacher, Danielle Harding, understands that one of the best ways to get students interested in ancient history is to present it in the form of a play, and as it often goes with youngsters, sometimes the more hysterical things get the better.

On April 7 and 8, Ms. Harding and her ϋber-talented cast and crew performed the D.M. Larson play, “The Hysterical History of the Trojan War” for students at the school as well as students from North Addington Education Centre, Granite Ridge Education Centre, and Clarendon Central Public School.

The play involves a large cast of characters, mostly Greek gods, whose interactions and relationships bring about the conflict known as the Trojan War. The play is the perfect vehicle for getting youngsters interested in ancient history, since it offers up lots of intricate sword fighting, a slew of Trojan guards and Spartan soldiers, numerous guffaws, and best of all, a number of anachronistic add-ins like cell phones, clever sound and lighting effects, songs, and one awe-inspiring foot stomp/rap tune, which fully engaged the audience much more than any straight history play could.

The plot and the action unfolded at a mighty clip. The audience was kept on the edge of their seats since they were asked by Athena, who directed the Spartan half of the audience, to cheer on the Spartans while Helen encouraged the other half to “Go, Troy!”

The moveable props in this production were also exceptional and included a chain-drawn stage door and a looming Trojan wall as the two main focuses on the stage. A spectacular ship sailed through the gym at one point and, yes, there was a Trojan horse too. The costumes were equally dazzling with the lead actors sporting wrap-up-the-leg sandals, leafy laurels and more.

Hats off to the entire cast and crew in bringing the play so aptly to life and enticing youngsters to learn about the ancient history of Rome and Greece, and all the gods and goddesses who wreaked so much havoc there.

On February 26, students and staff at Land O'Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove were treated to a special presentation courtesy of Peter DesRoche, president of the Arden Legion Branch 334.

At a school-wide assembly that took place in the gym, DesRoche announced the winners of the Legion Zone G1 literary essay and poster contests. Close to 900 students from schools across Zone G1, which includes Legions in Kingston, Sharbot Lake, Napanee, Tamworth, Arden, Sydenham and Northbrook, took part in the contest. The students submitted their entries back in December last year. Primary, intermediate and junior-aged students at each school were invited to submit entries based on the theme of Remembrance. The students were to either write or draw what the term “remembrance” means personally to them and the feelings to which it gives rise.

Each Legion branch chose nine submissions: three essays, three black & white posters, and three colored posters from each school, which were then judged for the final zone level awards, and three students from LOLPS won second place.

Mariah Marie Mallette won in the intermediate essay category; Natsuki Ono won in the primary black and white poster category; and Sarah Morden won in the primary color poster category.

Five students also received honorable mentions: Parker Thompson, Elayna Jackson, Zachary Hatt, Chloe Saunders and Carly-Kate O'Brien (who was not present for the photo). DesRoche thanked all the students who submitted entries, which he described as “exceptional submissions that demonstrated your attentiveness and enthusiasm for the topic”. Finishing off the assembly, DesRoche read part of a poem that was written back in 1993 by a student, titled “Little Red Flower”. He wrapped up the presentation by wishing the students luck in the upcoming November 2016 contest and said, “Keep up the good work!”

It is not the first time that Mr. Hull, a grade 7/8 teacher at Land O'Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove has relied on the use of Canadian Geographic's huge and handy historical floor maps to teach his students about Canadian and world history.

Canadian Geographic offers a number of free teaching aids to teachers and last year Mr. Hull's students used similar maps to learn about the War of 1812.

This year Mr. Hull has been using one of the company’s newest teaching aids, titled “Drawn to Victory”, which helps to bring the history of World War 1 to life for students.

When I visited Mr. Hull's classroom on January 28, the students were watching a documentary titled “In King and Country” about the battle at Passchendaele.

Later in the gym Mr. Hull instructed the students to unfold a huge floor map depicting the European countries involved in World War 1. For this unit the students were looking at the war’s impact on the populations of Great Britain, Germany, France and Belgium and in particular, population statistics of these countries both before and after the war.

With the assistance of plastic chains, the students were first asked to outline the borders of the European countries involved in the conflict. Then, using a number of colored blocks (each representing 1 million civilians), they showed the populations in each country before the war broke out. Removing blocks showed the number of people killed during the war in each country.

Hull said that the interactive maps help students better understand the geographic area of conflict and its impact on the populations of the countries involved by giving the students numerous hands-on opportunities to interact with the maps and their related tools. The package not only includes the floor maps but also a number of different topics of focus that include war cartography, map reading, Canadians in battle and Europe then and now.

Hull’s goal is to make history real for the students and he stressed that some of the students who may have had relatives involved in the conflict better understand the history. Hull had nothing but good things to say about these teaching aids, which bring his students out of the classroom to explore history in a unique and interactive way.

For more information about the many teaching aids available from Canadian Geographic visit cangeoeducation.ca/resources

In an effort to get the message about the dangers of drug use out early to students who will soon to be entering high school, members of the OPP's Frontenac detachment have been visiting area schools.

In a presentation to grade 7/8 students at Land O'Lakes Public School on February 5, Frontenac Community Services Officer, Constable Roop Sandhu, spoke to students about the dangers that alcohol, tobacco, and prescription drugs can pose for both youth and adults alike. These substances have highly addictive qualities and Constable Sandhu outlined how overuse and/or non-prescribed use of them can lead to illness, addiction and in some cases even death.

He spoke of the legal consequences when minors become involved with these substances and how their unlawful use under the Criminal Code can lead to criminal charges, jail sentences and even a life-long criminal record. Sandhu also covered the subject of mixing highly caffeinated drugs with alcohol, which can pose dangerous health risks. He spoke of how the use of these substances can negatively affect one’s life physically, socially, emotionally and financially - of how it can be devastating to a student’s academic performance, their future outcomes and their families.

Constable Sandhu ended his section of the presentation by advising how students should react when presented with any of these substances. He stressed that non-use is the best choice, especially if the students do not know what the substances are or where they came from. He also advised students to never accept a drink from a stranger, and to immediately seek adult assistance if they should accidentally ingest a dangerous substance.

He suggested many healthier ways that youngsters can spend their time, either by taking up a hobby, joining a sports team, participating in other extra-curricular activities, volunteering in the community, or spending more time with family.

The second half of the presentation focused specifically on illegal drugs, and Constable Snider, a drug enforcement OPP officer with Frontenac County, spoke to students about the consequences of using and/or dealing in illegal drugs. He described the various categories of these drugs, which include cannabis, opiates, barbiturates, hallucinogens, and steroids. He outlined the laws and consequences related to using, possessing, trafficking in, or manufacturing these substances. He stressed that today’s high potency cannabis can have serious adverse health affects. A six-year study published in the British Journal of Medicine in 2014 showed that daily cannabis users are five times more likely to suffer from psychosis than those who have never used it. He warned students that though the current federal government is looking to legalize marijuana, for now it is still illegal. He spoke of the many new and altered forms of street drugs that are constantly emerging and how they are being manufactured specifically to avoid detection by law enforcement and to appeal to youth. Synthetic cannabinoids, for example, are often sold under various names to avoid detection

Constable Snider spoke of horrible physical effects that Krokodil, a potent morphine derivative known as the “drug of the poor”, can cause. To help bring his point home he recalled a poem written by a young crystal meth addict while she was spending time in jail. The last lines of the poem concluded with this dire warning:

“If you try me be warned - this is no game,
If given the chance, I'll drive you insane.
I'll ravish your body, I'll control your mind,
I’ll own you completely; your soul will be mine.”

Following the presentation, Constable Sandhu said, “Young people need to be able to determine the fact from the fiction around these substances. Sometimes they are getting information from others that is simply not true and often downright wrong. These young kids have enough to deal with when entering high school, which is enough of a challenge to them, and they need to know well in advance of that time that drugs are just not the way to go.” Schools interested in a presentation can contact Constable Sandhu at 613-372-1932 ext.6955

It would be next to impossible to not remember our mothers or for me to share with friends, family and neighbors anything in our daily lives without referring in some way to our mothers.

Sitting here with the sun rising on the land where they

brought children into this world I have to include Arlene and Marlene Hawley and their mother Myra Stinchcombe as part of this tribute. From where I sit, I see the laneway to Violet Asselstine Sly's home; her recipe for bread pudding I still cherish.

I used to make it for Mom and Dad. When Dad was by himself and Mom was in the seniors' home I still made it for him and usually told him it was Violet's recipe. Someday soon I intend to have Velma and Carmel over and have the pudding and we each bring recipes of our mothers and grandmothers to pass down. What a great idea - to make a recipe book of ours with recipes passed down from our generations and generations past.

I didn't learn by lesson, it was by example I guess.

Clothes frozen stiff, fresh from the line. She must have got up in the night or as I have done, just

stayed up. Water caught in a rain barrel or anything suitable to wash our clothes. In the winter, icicles, snow and water from I don't know where.

My niece Nicole recently sent me a disk of my sister Margery's pictures. Mom is standing by the stove and Margery is bathing Linda in the sink. it would have been about 1965. Violet is likely cooking side pork in the oven of her wood stove, maybe still in her kerchief she wore to the barn. I see her yet on the way to the barn in her kerchief and boots, often with a pail in hand followed by a number of cats. Their home is as vivid in my memory as my mother and dad's; what I didn't learn from my mother I did from Violet.

Throughout my home are quilts of every pattern and piece, tied with wool, cloth from clothes and material too good yet to discard, sewn by hand or on an old treadle sewing machine. Blankets piled high, covering her children. Nights when the fire was purposely let out; protected from the winter winds and cold, the weight of the blankets keeping us in bed; a thunder mug in case we had to get up.

Violet's blankets - stitches so fine. Mother's gathering to make quilts that now generations later cover her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren, one for each marriage to pass down to their children.

I talked of this the other day - in generations before and after, Violet's talk would be of marriages, births, deaths - who needed a newspaper to announce it? Word of daily events and happenings were part of the gathering as mothers, granddaughters and daughters learned the lessons of life from each other.

It is no surprise that marriages or the possibility of

future ones were discussed, passing down new lines and blood and the family ties that would last forever.

as they stitched and shared recipes and whatever home remedies worked best for the day. Back and forth these passed down the generations. The kettle

singing on Violet's, Myra's and Mom's stove, inviting anyone to sit and rest and share.

I have a couple of Mom's aprons, the ties made of red and white checked cloth, the rest of some other material that was originally one of her dresses, a pocket of sorts sewn and made part of the apron, something necessary, worn as she went back and forth from clothes line to stove to sewing machine, to a mustard plaster, to cutting up venison or pork that had been hung out to cool.

Pies made from the fat melted down in the oven of her cookstove from the pigs scraped and prepared for the coming winter. Sometimes for us and sometimes for her brother Fred or whoever came, stored in the old Hoosier cupboard.

Born in a tent in 1917. For her, memories of making whatever was available for her brothers and sister in the mining town of Timmins.

In the fires that went through northern Ontario in 1922, she would have been five and her sister Evelyn three. Grandma Coaty stood in the water protecting her children.

Mom taking us, whoever was at home, to our neighbors in the middle of a thunderstorm, doing what her mother did to protect her children while Dad worked.

Memories for me of Hurricane Hazel. I would have been four, watching out the back window as the

wind tore the clothes from the line. When it was over I'm sure Mom salvaged what was left, put it into a

quilt, or used it to wash dishes, maybe a piece tucked in her apron pocket to wipe a tear, a nose or a scraped knee.

Dad said Great Aunt Hannah (Scott) Drew would come for a visit in the early 1940s. She always brought something, maybe only a scrap of cloth. Are there some of those scraps in the quilt that covers my grown daughters?

Dad had struggles of his own in his last few years. To write of them now is another part of life we have to deal with, to see our parents face the changes age and life had brought. Our strength, especially mine, came from the mothers who endured and taught by example. Not something owed, not something we had to do. It was there to do.

A question with its own answer is "Who am I without them?" When I remember my mother's words and say to someone, "There are better days ahead." To give from the top, not what's left over. I am never

Young artists had a chance to try their hand at painting landscapes at this year's annual installment of the Land O' Lakes Art Club. Eighteen students aged 8-13 took part in the classes under the tutelage of grade 7/8 teacher Lee Hull, himself an accomplished and talented artist.

The students spent seven weeks painting the fall landscape surrounding the school. They took their easels, canvases and paints into the great outdoors and chose a section of landscape behind the school that they wanted to paint. Part of the challenge for the students was dealing with the ever-changing fall colours and Hull said that the students, who painted just once a week, were forced to remember the scenes in their mind's eye since the colours in the scenery were constantly changing.

The students also focused their talents on painting exactly what they saw rather than just the idea of it. Mr. Hull explained that, “Rather than painting the idea of a tree, the students had to paint a particular tree if that was their focus in the work.”

Other scenes included a wooden gazebo, and one student chose to focus on a bush with bright red leaves at the far end of the school yard. The students learned about scale, how to make objects in the foreground come to the front while keeping the other background elements towards the back of the canvas. The students learned how to mix colours and were also given the challenge of not using the colour black in the process.

The students began by painting a canvas with a neutral toned background and then used the colour green to sketch in with their brushes a drawing of the scene, paying close attention to detail and scale. The next step was to fill in the neutral section of the background, with the idea that once that had been done, the painting was then finished. The final step was to apply the colour white to hit the highlights in the scene and to bring the lightest parts of the picture forward.

To celebrate their finished works, the students held an art show and vernissage at the school on November 19 where the artists and guests enjoyed a multitude of fancy snacks courtesy of student parent Linda Tremblay, bringing to a close a successful exploration in landscape painting for students at the school.

New life has been brought to Mountain Grove by a local artist with a longstanding pride in her town, and a recently discovered passion for painting.

Arlene Uens, a retired employment counsellor who worked in Sharbot Lake for most of her career, has been beautifying her neighbourhood in Mountain Grove for many years, with flower arrangements under the signs entering town, and Christmas decorations in the village. Now she has added another dimension to that endless project.

Inspired by some of the folk paintings Arlene had seen on multiple trips to the East Coast, she started painting large pieces of plywood around her rural property. What started as a fun experiment turned into a series of imaginative murals that she has been installing in eye-catching displays all over town. As well she has recently started to sell some of her works.

Her work, clearly inspired by her natural surroundings, features loons, herons, moose, and deer amongst whimsical swirls of bright paint and repetitive patterns that draw the eye in.

“I'm a thrift junky,” Uens said about her passion for hitting up thrift stores in search of inspiration for her paintings. “I get great ideas from a tea cup or a little dish.”

Part of Uens' approach is to make the paintings big and bold so that they can be seen from a passing car.

Her paint of choice is Tremclad and she says that her neighbours have been dropping off used cans for her to finish up. In the summertime, she paints in her large barn with the doors thrown open but now that the cooler weather is here she's moved into a room in the house so she can keep warm and keep creating.

“Every day I paint,” Uens said about her art practice.

Along with her painting, Uens has been cleaning up the CP stockyard railbed, which runs from near the hockey rink across to Brock Road, and installing bird houses along the pathway. She dreams of one day having a bird sanctuary in Mountain Grove and also turning the pathway into an “outdoor gallery” with art hanging alongside the trail.

“The goal is to have other artists come in and do the same,” she said. “We have so many artists and artistic people (here),” Uens said. “They are everywhere.”

Over 100 youngsters turned up in full costume and force for the Olden Rec Committee's annual Halloween party, which took place at the community hall in Mountain Grove on October 25. The event included numerous kids' games and crafts, a pumpkin carving contest, a parade, plus numerous snacks and sweet treats. When I visited, many young revelers were lining up in anticipation of making a trip to the haunted house that was set up in the basement of the hall by Rec Committee chair, Corey Thompson. The haunted house included one very scary and one less scary section to suit the ages of the groups passing through.

Two GREC students, Sadie Clarke and Clare Willis, had the difficult task of judging the winners in the kids' costume contests based on various criteria that included home made-ness, originality, overall flair, and cuteness. Some of the memorable costumes included two youngsters dressed as the stars of the film Dumb and Dumber, one very cute Goldilocks and many more.

Lori Sproule, who is the vice chair of the rec committee, said that the event is all about giving the kids in the local community a chance to get together to celebrate the holiday and enjoy some special Halloween-themed festivities.

The Olden Rec Committee is holding an adult fundraising dance on Friday, October 30 at the Olden hall with DJ Derrick Hole, and costume judging. The cost is $15pp or $25/couple, which includes a light luncheon, and proceeds will go to supporting the many special events for kids and their families in the local community. 

It was a chilly day for the hundreds of wannabee wolves at Land O'Lakes Public School in Mountain Grove on October 1. Students from five northern area schools in grades one through eight gathered there to participate in the annual Timber Wolf Run, an event that was founded close to a decade and a half ago by former LOLPS teacher, Brian Robertson. For the last five years LOLPS grade one teacher, Jen Meulenaar, has been heading up the event with the help of staff at the school. The run is aimed at getting students from northern area schools together for a fun day of outdoor racing and is a great way for students to kick off the cross-country running season.

Participants included students from Land O'Lakes, Granite Ridge, North Addington, Prince Charles and Clarendon Central. The races included competitive runs of 1km, 1.8km and 2.5 km as well as a non-competitive one kilometre walk/run for students not wishing to compete. The competitive race winners took home medals and ribbons. Though the race is not an official qualifier for other upcoming regional racing events, it is a good practice event for those students who were hoping to qualify at the Region 3 qualifier race, which took place at Fort Henry in Kingston on October 6 in advance of the district finals.

Prior to the run at LOLPS, the students warmed up in the school gym before heading out to the starting line and running on the nearby trails, which took them through the woods surrounding the school. School principal, Emily Yanch, said the event is an annual tradition and a great opportunity for northern area students to get together. The participants not only got loads of exercise and fresh air but also enjoyed the opportunity to cheer one another on. Congratulations to all of the runners who took part.

Signs are up for the 2015 Inroads Studio Tour, a familiar event for over 20 years here in Central Frontenac Township. This year, there are nine open studios and a dozen fine artisans displaying their work; hours are from 10am to 5pm on Saturday, Sunday and Monday, Sept. 5-7 of Labour Day Weekend. Now is the time of year when friends and visitors to my shop are likely to say something like: “You must be really busy getting ready for the Inroads Tour.” These comments got me thinking about what it is we do to prepare for Inroads – and realizing how long the process really takes.

Tour preparation began in January or February when former participants decided whether they wanted to do the tour again this year. With snow still on the ground, the interested parties got together, in person or via e-mail, and volunteered for various roles (chair, treasurer, secretary, sign manager, etc.) Previous tour members and possible new participants were contacted, commitments were made and cheques mailed to the treasurer so that the brochure co-ordinator could assemble the information and brochures could be printed to be given out during the summer.

For all tour members, preparation throughout the summer involves distributing brochures and generally promoting the tour whenever the opportunity arises. Closer to the event, we put up small signs and dust off the larger signs that we have stored, making sure we have enough and that they are in good repair. I think we all look around our studios and do whatever re-arranging and cleaning seems necessary.

For those of us on the tour who have a shop that is open throughout the summer, much of the pre-tour activity is what we would be doing anyway – filling current orders, replacing stock that has sold through the summer, and trying to keep ahead of the general mess generated in an active artist’s studio. Joanne Pickett (Arden Pottery) says that her usual long days just get longer. At this time of year, Joanne can often be found in her studio at 2 am, throwing pots or waiting for firings to be finished – fortunately, she finds these night vigils peaceful and rather pleasant.

Judith Versavel, who runs Gallery on the Bay in Arden, summarized her preparations for Labour Day thus: “Sprucing up the garden, mowing the lawn, washing gallery windows - again, rearranging items for maximum show, helping my guest artist and trying to figure out what to wear! Oh yeah … and trying to get new paintings and jewellery finished at the last minute!!!”

Here at the Arden Batik shop, I have completed some new pictures, and plan to get them matted and/or framed before the tour. However, I am also going to start some batiks that I know I will not finish, so there will be a selection of interesting pieces in process for tour visitors to see – and for me to demonstrate with during the weekend.

Nancy, at Hilderbrook Studio, tells me that she has some new necklaces, and is “madly busy” making more. Jo Crivellaro has been working on a new product -- collaged mirrors with hunting and fishing themes. She has yet to do the weed cutting and tidying up around her owner-built house in the woods, but will certainly be busy until the tour date. Laurel Minutillo, (Laurel Leaf Studio) has also been busy creating new work; she will be showing painted ceramic jewellery as well as new roller printed metal earrings and forged pendants for necklaces. The worst part about getting ready for the show, she says, is that you never think you are ready enough. Alas, how true!

Nick Hally, our sign man, puts up the large highway signs, and makes sure that all studios are supplied with the signage they need. He and Annette, at Maple Hollow Studio, write that they “ensure that we have enough of our various stock on hand for the full weekend, make sure our signage is all up and visible the night before the first day, cut the grass, weed the garden and make sure our whole place wherever customers will be going is neat, tidy and welcoming, and provide adequate seating and iced bottled water for tired feet and legs.”

Doreen Morey doesn’t show at her home studio, but at her cottage location, so her preparation includes setting up a tent for display and arranging a temporary work space on the cottage deck. She sews in preparation for the tour, and continues sewing throughout the weekend.

For those who are guests at another artisan’s studio, the process involves less house cleaning and more carrying of boxes. Jill Ferguson, guest at Gallery on the Bay, writes: “Worst part is packing and carting all the stuff and the best part is looking forward to meeting new people and seeing regular visitors. I have my must do cards and coasters ready to go and all made with prints of original artwork. I still hope to prepare some mini-prints so I guess that's on my wish list. I have several new landscapes of Ontario country scenes ... roads, fields, waterfalls, trees.”

Janet and Steve MacIntyre are guests at Ken Waller’s studio, and enjoy both the tour and a good visit with the Wallers. This year, Steve and Janet have been trying an unusual jewelry making technique called broom casting. Yes, it involves brooms – they hope you will come and see their new work and find out how it is made.

In fact, all of us look forward to our tour visitors, and hope that the preparations we have made will mean a pleasant tour for all who come and share, for a day, our work, our studios, and a bit of our lives.