Photo: Lee Casement from his new CD, In the Guestroom. Courtesy of Lee Casement

Music lovers familiar with the local music scene need no introduction to Verona musician Lee Casement. Best known as the bass and keyboard player for the alternative rock band Telefoto, Lee has recently expanded his repertoire to include a number of original tunes that he co-wrote with a diverse lineup of longtime musician friends and family members under a new solo CD effort titled “In the Guestroom”.

The new CD, which will be officially released on May 27, includes nine songs, each of which Lee wrote the music for and then offered to friends and family, who in turn transformed them into their own original songs. “For years I had these song ideas in my head that I wanted to pursue outside of the band (Telefoto), so I recruited a host of mostly local friends and family who are songwriters to write the melodies and lyrics. I gave them a loose musical framework from which to work and they came up with these tunes, each with a really original hook that listeners can sing along to. It was really exciting and I couldn’t be more thrilled.”

Lee plays bass, keys and sings back up vocals on almost all the tunes, which for the most part showcase the singers who co-wrote the songs. Most of the songs are slower melodic forays into the subjects of joy, love, and dreams. The CD opens with Lee and Rob McDougall’s tune titled “In Dreams”, a soft, lyrical, poetic love song sung by McDougall, with pretty harmonies and an acoustic guitar solo playing on top of an underlying beat that crescendos to a majestic final close.

Harrowsmith’s Doug Van Der Horden co-wrote and sings “Joy”, a soul-searching quest for answers, with a catchy chorus and a down-and-dirty guitar solo. The song appears again at the end of the CD with a final resounding rendition. Lee’s musical cousins Lisa Menard and Ryan Bresee have also contributed their talents, the former with “The Angel Riots”, a slow, airy, melodic tune with Menard singing lead, and Bresee with “Full of Broken Prose”, a sad, slow and  atmospheric confessional where he is joined on vocals by Ana Miura, a talented and well-known Ottawa singer songwriter. Chris Koster is another contributor and his tune “Dead Doves” is one of the most up-beat on the CD. With a catchy chorus about dangerous afflictions the tune is definitely a winner. Other contributions on the CD include Gerald McGrath’s “Worn”, Sarah Baetz’ “Festival Parade”, Paul Butler’s “The Ones Who Need You Most” and Telefoto band member Brad Smith’s “Mountain”.

The CD was recorded, mixed and mastered by Jeff Babcock at his own JSB Studios in Hartington. Jeff also plays drums on a number of the tracks. Just 100 copies of the CD were pressed, mainly as mementos for participating musicians, friends and family. There will be a limited number of CDs for sale for $10 at the CD release party, which takes place on Friday, May 27, at The Next Church, 89 Colborne Street in Kingston. Doors open at 7:30 PM and there is a $2 cover.

Anyone interested in securing a CD can email Lee at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Those interested in sneaking a pre-show listen to a few of the tunes off the new CD, can visit cbc.ca/bands/in-the-guestroom. Also to note - Telefoto will be releasing their third music video called “Eight Hour Shift” on Thursday, June 9, at the Music Market in Napanee. For more information visit www.telefoto.ca.

Long-time Verona resident Kit Chubb is well known in the community as the founder of the Avian Ark, more formally known as the Avian Care and Research Foundation. The Ark was a charitable foundation and hospital for wild birds that she and her late husband Robin founded at their Verona residence in 1978, and ran as volunteers for 28 years until it closed in 2006.

Kit is a long-time animal and nature enthusiast, and the Avian Ark came about when she began banding birds as a volunteer with local author and bird authority Helen Quilliam. As Kit recalls in her 1991 book The Avian Ark: Tales from a Wild-bird Hospital, “With my untrained fingers, I unfortunately wrenched some wing muscles of a tiny ovenbird when I was untangling it, and full of remorse I asked permission to take it home and care for it…the Ark was launched soon after.” The book is just one of many that Kit authored and illustrated about her life spent caring for countless species of wild birds.

Kit's husband Robin, who was an architect, helped build the sanctuary at the couple’s Verona home. It included a number of aviaries, and the couple was joined by over 160 volunteers whom Kit refers to as “Flying Angels”, who delivered injured birds to her doorstep.

Over close to three decades Robin and Kit treated many species of birds, including herons, which are by far the most difficult to treat due to their incredibly shy dispositions and fragile physiology; loons, ducks, grebes, hawks, eagles, one raven, woodpeckers, owls and even one pelican, who proved to be a very playful patient.

Some of the most seriously injured birds had to be euthanised, but many others were treated, rehabilitated, banded and returned to the wild. Kit took meticulously detailed x-rays of those who did not survive. Many of the x-rays are now housed in a collection at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa and are available to anyone interested in studying them.

The Ark closed in 2006, the year after Robin passed away from cancer and now Kit has moved into a new phase of her life, which keeps her pretty much bed-ridden. As a result of her long-time work with birds, she has developed pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung disease that makes breathing difficult and for the last year she has been relying on oxygen.

She first noticed a problem with her lungs in 1988 and says that it probably started from breathing avian particles in the air and slowly worsened as years went by. Doctors at that time informed her that there was no cure for the disease and did suggest that she consider stopping her work with birds. She recalled being given that advice but says, “I just couldn't stop what I was doing. I loved it too much. I was writing and lecturing at the time and the fact is that back then, doctors did not know just exactly what it was that was causing the problem. I decided to continue on with my work.”

In visiting Kit at her bedside, I found that what is most inspiring about her is her grace, truthfulness and surprising acceptance of this phase in her life. “I have no regrets at all. In life you have to be able to shut the door behind you and accept changes. This is a new phase for me and though it might sound strange to most, I am enjoying it. It is a chance to get close to each of my five children like I never have before.”

Kit now spends a lot of her time with her family, as well as reading, and when we talk she tends to speak about life’s bigger questions and principles, the ones she has tried to live and work by. “I really believe that we should honour all of the life around us and the fact that every creature has its life to live just like we do; they have to mate, eat, make homes for themselves and we really need to recognize that,” she says.

In sickness, as in health, Kit Chubb continues to demonstrate a passion for ideas she believes in and to live a life that aims to recognize, honour, and celebrate all forms of life on this earth.

A dozen of Kit’s last published drawings have been included in a book published by the Royal Ontario Museum called Biological Notes on an Old Farm: Exploring Common Things in the Kingdom of Life by retired Curator Emeritus Dr. Glenn B. Wiggins.

For more information visit www.kitchubb.ca. Her tales are sure to inspire readers to reconsider the many winged creatures that we are so lucky to share our world with. 

Photo: L-R Amy Jack, Kyla Gordon, Michael Timmerman, Margo Gallagher, Joan Worsfold, Christian Scheunemann, and Sam McKay, students and volunteers involved in a production of the Grinch who Stole Christmas.

Almost three years ago New Leaf Link (NeLL) came into existence with the goal of bridging a massive service gap for the community of developmentally disabled people in Frontenac County.

“Over the years the school system has really made progress in learning how to integrate developmentally disabled students into the elementary and secondary school panel through the School to Community program, and by allowing developmentally disabled students to remain in school until they reach the age of 20, they have really made a difference in the lives of the students,” said Dr. Karin Steiner, Founding Executive Director of NeLL.

But when those students leave school, there is little support for them and their families in the community. The situation is particularly acute in South Frontenac Township because while services are available in Kingston through Community Living – Kingston, and in Central and North Frontenac through Community Living – North Frontenac, those services are not generally extended to residents of South Frontenac for travel and budgetary reasons.

As well, because NeLL's founding directors come from an educational background and it has found support from members of the local artist community, its focus has been more on bringing educational opportunities to its clients rather than other kinds of physical or life skill related supports.

The program that has developed, and which was marked last week at a Christmas Open House, is a twice-weekly day school that is held at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Sydenham on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9 am and 2:30 pm. Eight students attend the classes, which focus on the production of artwork, healthy eating and exercise, literacy and functional skills.

Making full use of the kitchen in their home in the basement of St. Paul's, the program includes cooking classes that tie in with the work the class has been doing with the Canadian food pyramid. In the winter/spring session that will begin in January, Local Food will be another aspect of the healthy lifestyle program that will take place.

Because the disabilities that the different students face are so varied, ranging from: autism spectrum conditions, Down syndrome, intellectual disabilities, acquired brain injury, even blindness, the educational programs are individualized.

Nonetheless, one of the most important aspects of the NeLL classes is the interaction between the students.

There is a palpable feeling of camaraderie between the students, volunteers, and staff at the NeLL classes, and according to Karin Steiner, whose son Nicholas takes part in the program, the human connection between the people in the classes is a major benefit, one that transcends the skills that are taught.

“It took a long time for my son Nicholas, who has autism, to come into his own at Sydenham High School, but he did eventually. When he became too old, there was nothing for him to do but sit at home, and that is no way for someone to move forward. For him, and for everyone in the program, interaction with other people is very important,” she said.

As a charitable not-for-profit corporation, New Leaf Link survives on donations, a few isolated grants, including one from the County of Frontenac's community sustainability initiative, and the efforts of volunteers. The volunteer effort of people such as Joanna (Jo) Lyon, a retired special educator who runs the educational program, and Karin Steiner herself, is what sustains the program, and the long term viability of vital service organizations that are fully staffed by volunteers is always a challenge.

“We know that we are doing something valuable, and it is something that is not done in other places. That's why, although we focus on residents of South Frontenac, we have participants coming from Kingston and Sharbot Lake,” said Steiner.

As the NeLL program wound down for the Christmas break, the Open House last week featured artwork and gift items made by students for sale and the presentation of “The Grinch Who Stole Christmas”.

The NeLL program, which costs $30 a day, will be starting up again in early January. Anyone interested in the program, or in opportunities to volunteer, is welcome to email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or call 613-374-3451.

Photo: Verona’s tree alight

The recent balmy weather allowed for lengthier than usual Tree Lighting festivities at McMullen Park in Verona on Nov.25. Attendees, who included Deputy Mayor of South Frontenac, Mark Tinlin, and Councilors Bill Robinson and John McDougall, enjoyed snacks and beverages and live carols courtesy of Ross Clow.

This year’s festivities included a surprise visit by the white bearded man in red who gave out candy canes to all of the kids under the newly lit tree. The celebration put on the Verona Community Association as usual marks the official beginning of the Holiday season in Verona. Wayne Conway of the VCA pointed out the fact that the huge spruce tree in McMullen Park, which has been lit up for close to 15 years now, is no longer in top form and might in fact be dying. It was donated to the park by Dr. Day and his wife Louise back in 1997. Prior to hanging the lights on the tree, numerous dead branches had to be cut from its base. Though Wayne thinks that the tree will still be able to be used for a number of years to come, the VCA is now considering planting a new tree in the park.

Debbie Lingen led the evening’s festivities and the festive countdown, and regardless of a few missing lower branches, the tree looked as beautiful as ever.

Students of all ages at Sydenham High School will be showcasing their musical talent on Friday, December, 2 at the annual SYD's Cafe that will take place in the school gym. The cafe has been an annual event at the school for over two decades. Listeners will be entertained by 16 musical acts by students who will be performing a wide array of musical styles. Tickets are available at the door the night of the show and the doors will open at 6:30PM. All proceeds raised at the event will go towards the schools music program and will allow the department to purchase instruments, supplies and sheet music. Music teacher and Arts Department head Mike Verner is looking forward to the event and said, “It's a great way for musically talented students at the school to showcase their abilities in front of a live, appreciative audience.”

Manijeh Moghisi, an experienced social worker with the K3C-Community Counselling Centres of Kingston, will be holding a Women’s Self Care Seminar titled “Practicing Wellness” at the Verona Medical Clinic on Tuesday, December 6 from 10AM-3:00 PM. The free seminar, which includes lunch, is designed to look at women’s self care in a holistic way, taking into account its physical, emotional and spiritual aspects. Participants will not only learn the importance of proper nutrition, proper sleep and regular exercise but will also study and learn the practice of mindfulness as a way of letting go of the past and living in the present.

Manijeh Moghisi aims to demonstrate how the cultivation of mindfulness, which is the ability to practice awareness from moment to moment, can “allow us to enter into a state of deep relaxation which can help us to see with greater clarity the way we actually live, and how best to make the necessary changes to enhance our health and well-being. With mindfulness comes the realization of the impermanence of things, the interdependence of everything and the development of compassion. Its practice allows us to be present in the moment and to gracefully accept what is, as opposed to always striving for what could or should be.”

Manijeh is living proof of the benefits of the practice of mindfulness. As a young woman and activist for human and women’s rights in her homeland in the Middle East, she arrived in Canada decades ago as a political refugee. She was a young teacher in her homeland at that time, and both she and her architect husband were forced to flee for their personal safety. They had no choice but to leave their entire lives behind, fleeing their homeland with just two suitcases in hand. “As a result I became seriously depressed, always asking, why did this happen - why me?’” Manijeh recalled. “It was then that I began to study mindfulness and it helped me to let go of the past and the loss I experienced. Now I live moment to moment and enjoy who I am, what I have.”

Interested participants can register for the seminar by calling 613-374-2077.

Photo: WWll veteran Ted Lansdell lays a wreath in Sydenham

Hundreds gathered for the Remembrance Day Service held at the cenotaph in Sydenham led by Captain, the Reverend Judson Bridgewater, the Sydenham Legion’s Padre.

In a moving address Padre Bridgewater spoke of the difficulty of trying to “make sense of the hell we call war, where we tread a fine line between honoring our heroes and trying to avoid glorifying war. It's a difficult balancing act between condemning and condoning,” he said. He spoke of the confusion Remembrance Day can bring for all and the need in this war-torn world to avoid becoming cynical and indifferent. “How do you and I not give up on this world where people continue to suffer and where war continues despite the sacrifices made by so many. In a word, it’s hope, and it is my sincere hope that one day peace and love will prevail.”

Fraser Strong played the Last Post and Reveille and John Pickernell, president of the Sydenham Legion, read an address from Prime Minister Stephen Harper. Haley Caird gave an emotional reading of the poem “In Flanders Fields” followed by various members of the community who were invited by Valerie Ruttan to place wreaths.

One distinguished wreath layer was Verona resident and WWll veteran Ted Lansdell who, at 92 years of age, is the oldest veteran at Sydenham Legion.

Ted grew up in London, Ontario, where he received his army training. He served for five years in WWll, from 1940-1945. Two of those years were served in combat in the 1st Division of the Canadian Armed Forces, in postings in Italy, France, Belgium, Germany and North Africa.

Ted joined the army at the age of 21 in 1940 and served as a Mechanist Sergeant Major. He gave advanced workshops in repairing vehicles that were damaged in battle, usually by land mines. That work, he said, often put himself and his comrades in harm’s way. “We worked as close to the front as we could and would often set up the workshops that consisted of blacksmiths, carpenters - all of the trades - in locations pretty close to the front lines.”

In one instance in southern Italy in 1943, Lansdell recalled his troops working “with the German guns firing over our heads one way and our guns coming the other way and we being set up right there in the middle.” At one time he came to harm when shrapnel sprayed him in the chest. He recalled, “It didn't do too much damage though. It just hit the breast bone and they took me to the hospital, put me under and took it out.”

That being said, working so close to the front did take some getting used to. “The gunfire would go on all night and somehow you just got used to it and somehow we learned how to sleep with that going on around us,” Ted said. He also remembered sleeping under the olive trees in Italy with just a sleeping bag and a ground sheet and having to clear away the salamanders and scorpions before bedding down for the night.

Lansdell was in Holland when the war finally came to an end in 1945. He returned to Canada where he got a job as a mechanic and married his wife Irene in 1948. The couple moved to Verona in 1952 when Ted and a partner bought a dealership and opened Verona Motors Ltd. He and his wife had three children.

What does Ted take away from his war experience? “The memories are good and bad. It goes both ways. I saw a few dead bodies on the battlefield but it seems to me that when you're young you don't get as bothered by stuff. It's later when you get older that you tend to think of it differently.”

Asked about his feelings about war in general, he replied, “Unfortunately I think that we will always have war and rumors of war in some form or another.”

Remembrance Ceremonies in the Region

Top: The legion Colour Guard in Arden

Left: Sergeant Jordana Sproule visited Clarendon Central Public Scholl and brought along her grandmother Barb Sroule. Photo courtesy Rhona Watkins

Top Left: Land O'Lakes Publid School students presenting gifts for Armed Forces members after the Moountain Grove ceremony

Top Right: Student cadets assist with the North Addidngton Education Centre Remembrance Day assembly. Photo: Kayla Cuddy.

Right: Members of the Sharbot Lake High School Glee Club performed their version of John Lennon's song "Imagine".

Andrea Dingwall is a graduate of the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine in Toronto, where she completed a four-year course after doing her undergraduate work at Trent University. She will be accepting patients at a shared location with Chiropractor Sheldon Cook at 3161 Rutledge Road (next to Silverbrook Gardens).

Andrea Dingwall lives in a rural property near Moscow, where her carpenter husband is building a house, and she has been looking for a location to set up a practice. The clinic was a suitable location, and her services complement those offered by Sheldon Cook.

“I really like Sydenham, and this location is ideal for me,” she said.

She will be offering the kinds of assessment and diagnosis services that people often receive from primary care physicians but with a focus on lifestyle changes, the use of supplements, botanicals and acupuncture treatments.

“One of the big differences between what a doctor does and what I do relates to the amount of time I can spend with patients, and the relationships that develop,” she said.

Diet is a major factor in people’s health and is a treatment option, according to Andrea Dingwall. She can supervise patients in using a number of diets to improve patient health.

Among the kinds of issues she deals with on a regular basis are gastrointestinal issues, women specific problems, hormonal conditions, weight loss, pain and nerve problems, and more.

She does not see her practice as a challenge to the medical establishment, and said that over the years the practice of medicine and naturopathy have moved closer to each other.

“Diet and lifestyle are taken more into account than they were in the past and Naturopathy has become more oriented to evidence-based treatments at the same time,” she said.

As she starts up her practice Andrea Dingwall is offering a free 15-minute meeting for patients (normally her rates are $40 for 15 minutes). A first session usually lasts about an hour and subsequent sessions are shorter.

Details about the service offered are available at the website natural-route.com.

In addition to accepting new patients, Andrea Dingwall will be conducting free talks about health care issues.

The first one that she has scheduled is coming up on November 22 at her clinic. It is called “Avoiding the Cold and Flu - Naturally” and will focus on how to avoid getting sick this year, touching on diet, lifestyle, the flu vaccine, supplements to take and supplements to avoid.

To contact Andrea Dingwall, call 613-876-2855.

Photo: Principal Jim Horan (retired), Chantal Lafrance, Virginia Mayhew, Principal Val Arsenault, Janice Miles and Jim Boyce.

The Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO) the body that administers standardised student testing in Ontario, has granted a Dr. Bette Stephenson Recognition of Achievement honour to Harrowmsith Public School in recognition of the high level of grade 3 and 6 test scores achieved by the students at the school.

The honour was bestowed at a ceremony on November 7 at the school.

Harrowsmith PS was also singled out as a case study on the journey of learning in an article publicized on the EQAO website. The article talked about some of the measures taken at Harrowsmith “to set very high goals and make them public” in the words of now retired principal, Jim Horan. An outline of some of the early literacy initiatives is reprinted below:

“Five years ago, in response to a review of in-school and EQAO data, Harrowsmith launched a well-publicized community literacy campaign for pre-kindergarten and primary students, which spilled out into the community. The Limestone Learning Foundation, for example, funded a Book-in-a-Bag home reading program for primary students and supplied an abundance of reading materials and “Blast Off ” boxes, allowing Harrowsmith to reach out to parents before their children even entered school … In addition, primary staff and the school council co-hosted literacy evenings during which teachers modelled shared reading strategies to be used at home. Again parental response was overwhelming.”

These initiatives have been coupled with a “focussed, logical progression of school improvement strategies based on systematic longitudinal tracking of individual data through multiple assessment instruments” according to the EQAO article.

The result has been scores that are well above the average for the Limestone Board and the province as a whole

The Verona Lions hall is currently undergoing renovations that will help to make it more wheelchair accessible. On March 24, 2011 the club received a $66,000 grant from the Enabling Accessibility Fund Program offered by the federal government whose aim to help make community buildings more accessible to members of the public who have disabilities. Verona Lions member Wayne Conway said that he expects the project to be completed before Christmas. “Our main goal is to construct a proper handicapped washroom facility, one that meets current codes.” The project will also make the two outside entrances to the building along with another inner entrance to the Lions Den electronically managed.

Storage space that was to be lost in order to provide space for the new washroom facility will be replaced by new storage space at the front of the hall. The end result will be a larger main hall with a capacity of 200, another added benefit according to Wayne. “Before, fitting 180 bodies into the main hall along with a stage and a dance floor used to be a pretty tight squeeze; the new renovations will allow us to accommodate 200 people comfortably, “ he said.

Verona Lions member Ken Harper is overseeing the project and local contractors are currently in the process of doing the work.

There is more good news about the hall: two weeks ago it received its permanent liquor license, meaning that renters looking to hold functions that include bar service need not go through the rigmarole of applying for a liquor license. It should be noted that the hall will remain open while the renovations are taking place. Anyone interested in reserving the hall for a private function can contact Wayne Conway at 613-374-2821.