Diane Dawber is living the good life these days. She is feeling strong and healthy, enjoying living on Wilmer Road next to Sydenham Lake

But that has not always been the case. In 1990, while she was working as a teacher and living in Amherstview, she had a foot injury, but tried to ignore it and carry on with her life.

“Gradually, the pain spread and we found out I had other injuries which all contributed to the pain,” she said, when interviewed last week at her home.

By the mid 90’s, the pain was pretty much all consuming, and she found it difficult to get around or even to sit.

Things did not improve much, if at all, and in 1996, with 5 other people in similar circumstances, Diane formed a study group.

“It was made up of nurses and teachers with chronic conditions who wanted to figure out how to improve our health,” she said.

The group’s focus was on reading and researching and sharing information. It was a self-help group of a sort but, as Dawber said, it was not about commiserating and sharing coping mechanisms, it was about finding solutions.

“We read books, and followed recommended therapies of all sorts. We tried every diet known to man, we tried environmental clean ups, we tried vitamins and mineral supplements, bio-mechanics, exercise and every strategy we could find.”

In the first six years during which the group met, they calculated that collectively they had spent $250,000 on supplements.

Gradually, through more and more focused research, the group, whose numbers began to increase, began to have success. One by one the original members found their way to better health.

The solution, which is tailored to each individual, has to do with nutrition and “gut bacteria” and the way to determine what will help an individual makes use of the sense of smell.

The group of friends and fellow travellers has become a charitable organisation, which is called Health Pursuits Reading and Research: MEND, which has developed a kit that is available to the public from the website healthpursuitsgroup.com.

The kit includes 56 vitamins and minerals, and instructions. The process is based on two simple premises. One is that individuals are unique, and the second is that our sense of smell can provide valuable information.

“Take one of these, say vitamin D for example,” Diane Dawber said, pulling open a small plastic bottle with a vitamin D pill in it. “If it smells bitter to you, you likely have more vitamin D than your body needs. If it smells sweet, you are low, and if it doesn’t smell at all you are likely OK for vitamin D.”

By using a combination of substances a picture can emerge of what issues are at play for an indvidual, and those can be confirmed by blood or other medical tests.

Over the last few years, Diane has been compiling all the information that was used to put the kits together into book form. The result is a new book, the Nutrient Scent test, which is a resource volume that includes sections on each of the substances in the kit, their interactions, and examples of individual cases.

The back jacket includes this short description of subject matter: “The Nutrient Scent Test provides you with a tool that is relatively inexpensive, easily accessible, and wide-ranging to determine when nutrients are adequate of deficient using your body’s nutritional intelligence.”

For Dawber the book is a culmination of years of effort, and marks the end of a chapter in her life as well. The original group does not meet any more because they are all doing well, and the website and Facebook groups are where meetings take place between people who are working on their own health issues and sharing information between each other.

A celebration event is set for December 11th from 12:30pm to 5pm at the Isabel Turner branch of the Kingston Frontenac Public Library to celebrate the completion of the book and the 15 years of research that went into its creation. The public is welcome to meet all of the original members of that group that began meeting 22 years ago.

“It’s more of a celebration of the fact the book has been completed than anything else, and a chance to inform more people about the Scent Test,” said Dawber.

Santa and Mrs. Claus came to Sydenham on Saturday the 25th of November. The little bit of rain sure didn’t dampen the spirits of those who lined the streets to see them arrive.

The floats were fantastic, lots of smiles and laughter to be had and many memories made. Thanks to all those participants who helped to make the parade a success.

Parades this coming weekend
The parade season hits high gear
this weekend. There are parades
on tap in Harrowsmith, Sharbot
Lake, and Northbrook at 10am on
Saturday, December 2; in Denbigh at
6pm on December 2; and in Parham/
Tichborne at 1pm on December 3rd.
For a complete list of events this
weekend, visit the event listings on our sister site: Frontenac Live.

The knitting continues.

We have donated over 11,800 articles in the last ten years. This past year we sent knitting up north with the Anglican Church Bales in the spring and recently Marge Taylor from Ompah took a hundred and thirty more toques, afghans, sweaters, mitts, socks, dolls and teddy bears to go north of Igualuit.

Many thanks to knitters Yvonne Leblanc and Liz Bruce from Sydenham and Val Kennett from Perth for their continued support. Also thanks to Bev Murdock and Jackie Saville for their generous donations of yarn. Best wishes to all during this Christmas season and keep knitting.

For info call Peggy Beckett at 268-2443.

LPS students Owen and Emily Desjardin and Grace Silver, all from the congregation of St Paul’s Anglican Church Sydenham, present a playground enhancement cheque for $1,300 to Lisa Welder, parent council treasurer and Jeff Peck, fundraising chair.

This summer, the Limestone Board removed the play structures at Loughborough Public School, having deemed them unsafe. Faced with a hole in the ground, the Parent Council set out to raise money for a replacement, and within two months reached their goal. This structure, designed to accommodate up to 45 children at once, cost over $40,000 to buy and install. One less costly playground enhancement is in the works, but the details aren’t finalized.

St Paul’s had agreed to match any money raised at the church’s 180th anniversary, and at the church volunteers’ hot chocolate and coffee table at Hallowe’en, to go toward purchase of school playground equipment. “The whole village uses this playground,” said Welder, waving toward the sweep of parkland running from the school down to The Point, “we’re so lucky to have this space."

At a special committee of the whole meeting Monday afternoon in Sydenham, South Frontenac Council committed in principle to some form of near-future project for seniors housing.

Just exactly what that project will look like other than 12 units with a price tag of around $1 million has yet to be finalized but CAO Wayne Orr expects to have some form of proposal ready for Council’s Dec. 5 meeting.

The reason for the sense of urgency, Orr explained, is that the City of Kingston has indicated that they have funding to support seniors housing but will need “final approvals by December 2018 and a ‘shovel in the ground’ by March 2019.”

Given that there is a municipal election in 2018 and Council could be faced with a ‘lame duck’ situation, a decision has to be made soon in order to make further decisions on financing before Council might not be allowed to make such decisions until after said election.

From the onset of the meeting, Council seemed quite unified in its belief that there is need for more seniors housing and its desire to proceed with with some form of 12-unit plan.

Several councilors were concerned should this be a repeat of McMullen Manor in Verona whereby units intended for seniors ended up being assigned to non-seniors (with challenged clientele) because of not enough seniors to fill the units.

“There’s such a small number of people from South Frontenac needing this,” said Coun. Ron Sleeth. “Are we going to create seniors housing for people outside of South Frontenac?”

“Do we run the risk of loosing control of this (new) facility like we did with McMullen Manor?” said Orr. “No — that was a provincial decision.”

“Will we be tied to Kingston and their wait lists?” said Coun. Alan Revill.

“No, Kingston will simply manage things as a South Frontenac board dictates,” said Orr. “We won’t be tied to their wait lists.”

So, that essentially left two questions — how this would be financed and where would it be built.

As far as financing, rather than take out a mortgage, Orr suggested the Township could “act as its own banker” by financing the project through reserves.

“But, the reserves would have to be paid back with interest (out of rents, subsidies and grants) similar to what we would get for investing the reserves,” Orr said.

The “where” part drew considerably more debate.

Sydenham and Verona would appear to be the frontrunners for such development given that they have the most amenities such as medical facilities, shopping and social opportunities within potential walking distance, ie ‘walkable communities.’ Also, several councilors pointed out potential sites already owned by the Township and the fact that Sydenham has municipal water, making it the front runner.

Not surprisingly, the two representatives from Storrington District, Sleeth and Dep. Mayor Norm Roberts argued for the ‘Inverary Corridor.’

“I’m going to push the Inverary Corridor,” said Roberts. “There is development coming and as far as water goes, I’ve talked to a home in Gananoque who uses a 10,000-gallon tank from which they draw 3,000 gallons a day.”

There was even a brief consideration of Fermoy Hall.

“We do own the building,” said Mayor Ron Vandewal.

“But there’s not much land there,” said Coun. Pat Barr.

Eventually, Vandewal said “we’re not much further along than when we started.”

Orr disagreed.

“We’ve moved from ‘should we do it’ to ‘how do we do it.’” Orr said. “The biggest variable now becomes land.”

Council decided to have Orr return a report with recommendations.

You know Christmas is coming when you can smell a variety of flavours coming out of the Grace Centre in Sydenham on a Saturday afternoon in late November.

And this year is no exception as Leslie Reade and Josey Steel once again organized Vision Soup, a community fundraiser which is a joint project for the Christmas Food Basket, Loughborough Emergency Relief Fun and Southern Frontenac Community Services.

This year was the 12th annual and very little has changed from the first one Reade and Steel organized.

For $20, you choose a handmade bowl donated by local potters and fill it with a variety of soups. When you’ve had your fill, you get to keep the bowl.

“Well, the one thing that’s changed a little is that I think we get a little more support every year,” said Reade. “I think this is the most variety of soups we’ve had, 21, everything from spicy Thai soup to chicken Noodle (and in between there were things like Italian wedding and coconut curry lentil).”

The weather wasn’t especially great but there was a lineup into the parking lot when the doors opened and every seat was filled within minutes.

“People are such good sports,” Reade said. “No, it’s not a nice day but we appreciate everyone coming out, including the volunteers, who are mostly friends and family.”

Reade said this is a strong community but there are some who need a little help at Christmas time.

“That’s why we started this in the first place,” she said. “And we’re very thankful for the community’s support.”

Outdoor Furnace Issue
Neighbours Mary Royer and Jim Varrette made presentations about their neighbour’s outdoor furnace, which Royer says has caused her ongoing health and comfort problems with its smoke. She uses an inhaler and sometimes a mask, cannot open her windows, and has had her indoor smoke alert set off. Varrette, who lives on the other side of the furnace, although aware of the smoke, says he’s upwind of it much of the time. Royer asked why Council couldn’t enforce its recent bylaw which forbids operation of an outdoor furnace which interferes with ‘any reasonable enjoyment of the environment.’

Mayor Vandewal called on Councillor McDougall, who said that he had talked numerous times with the furnace owner, and felt the man had tried hard to minimize emissions: “The furnace is small, very efficient, and he uses wood that’s dry, well-seasoned,” said McDougall, recommending that Council continue to monitor and assess the situation. Considerable discussion followed.

Councillor Revill said they needed to set specific time limits on any expectation of improvement. Although all agreed that an objective assessment of the problem would need to be made, no one had a concrete suggestion of how to measure, on a 24-hour basis, the frequency and density of the emissions. It would also be necessary to be able to establish and then measure an unacceptable level of smoke.

CAO Orr added that as long as the furnace owner was making serious efforts to improve the situation, it would be legally difficult to shut the furnace down.

Council will seek further information and agreed to try to find a way to resolve the problem. Orr added that if something was deemed to be “a public nuisance,” there is a process to address it, but the process must be able to be seen as fair and transparent.

Budget Delegations
Although Council had invited public delegations to address issues related to the township’s 2018 budget planning, only one delegate appeared: Jeff Peters read a letter from the chair of the Inverary Lake association, asking Council to grant them $15,000 toward the cost of preparing a lake assessment study of Inverary Lake. In reply to the letter’s reference to the Sydenham Lake Association’s study completed this year, Councillor Schjerning said that there had been no cost to the Township: the study had been heavily funding through the Source Water Protection program, because the lake is a reservoir for the Sydenham water system.

CAO Orr confirmed that the Township has never given money to any of the local Lake Assessments. Mayor Vandewal added that the studies for Buck and 14 Island Lakes had cost $80.000 or more, and all the area lake studies done so far have shown a drop in phosphate levels. There was a brief informal exchange about the recent rise in algae growth in some area lakes.

McFadden Subdivision Draft Plan Changes
Planner Mills recommended two minor changes to a draft plan which has already been submitted to the County for approval. The subdivision proposal in question is located near Perth Road on McFadden Road, between Norway Road and the Cataraqui Trail. A recent letter from the CRCA has asked that no direct accesses be provided to the Trail, as there are already two access points reasonably nearby. (Councillor Sutherland said he felt this was an unfortunate request, for it meant residents would have to go by road to get on the trail.) However, a 1-foot reserve is to be placed along the rear portions of the two lots that abut the trail. Also, a provision for widening McFadden Road needs to be added, for the current roadway is only 9 metres wide at one point, instead of the required 20 metres.

Accessibility Presentation
Jannette Amini presented the annual Accessibility Advisory Committee report from the County. Among South Frontenac’s accomplishments, she noted the accessible features incorporated into the upgrade of facilities at the Point Park, the Sydenham boat launch ramp and planned for the new Perth Road Fire Hall. Councillor McDougall thanked Amini for keeping the Frontenacs informed of accessibility requirements and encouraging councils and businesses to continue making their facilities more accessible to all.

Cataraqui Trail Video
Council enjoyed a six-minute video produced by the CRCA about the Cat Trail from Sydenham to the Opinicon. It began with a great series of archival photos taken when the rail section near the Opinicon was first constructed, then moved into drone videos taken this September along the present-day trail.

No Council Meeting Next Week ..
but Saturday’s special budget meeting’s still on, beginning at 8 am!

Orr asked Council’s permission to cancel the November 21 Council meeting, because there is nothing on the agenda. Councillor Revill’s suggestion that they could “get together for tea and cookies” had no takers.

The ever resourceful Grandmothers by the Lake have put together African Heart Beat to raise money to combat the HIV/AID pandemic in Africa. The evening will include a performance by Log house Rhythms, a West African drum group whose call and response style always engages audience. The other performers are more familiar to local audiences. They include the fabulous flute trio, Toute Ensemble, the Carpe Musica Septet, and pianist Noah Pederson.

The finale will be memorable. A performance by the Kingston based, all women choir, Shout Sister. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased at the door, or at Memory Lane Flowers in Sydenham or Food Less Travelled in Verona. The show runs from 7pm-9pm on Saturday, November 18.

Sydenham Women’s Institute kicked off the pre-Christmas shopping season last Saturday by filling Grace Hall with a wide and colourful array of handicrafts, home cooking and decorations. Sellers came from the whole area, from Battersea to Verona; there were hand-turned pens made from rare woods; cigar-box banjos; wooden serving ware with amazing burned patterns; local honey; paintings; a rainbow of knitted socks and mittens; soft pretty quilts, throws and pillows; handmade jewellery; a wide selection of books; Christmas decorations both funny and fancy; draw tickets on two huge gift baskets, coffee and snacks upstairs and lunch downstairs. And there was of course a bake table loaded with pies, breads and other goodies.

The event had been well-advertised, and the turn-out was good.

Confession: after the village children we knew grew up and stopped coming around at Hallowe’en, Cam and I got a bit overwhelmed by the onslaught of little strangers, all 300 of them, who were dropped in the village like litters of kittens and had depleted our supply of goodies by 7:00 Hallowe’en eve. It felt awful to hover inside in the darkness while they continued to pound on the door.

So one year we loaded a basket with wine and chocolate, pulled pillowcases over our heads, and drove up a long roadway to the isolated home of friends who always stocked some treats, but never had any children come to their house. They recovered quickly from the shock of two large (giggling) hooded figures at the door, and a new custom began, with the four of us sharing a Hallowe’en dinner at their place every year. By the time we returned to the village, all would be quiet.
But things change, and there are strangers in their house this year.

So, curious about the haunted barn that for the past six years has been drawing crowds to Bev McNeil’s place in Sydenham, I went over the day before Hallowe’en to find out more.
Bev’s daughters, Cathy and Lauren, whom I remember coming to our door as children, were in the final stages of preparation for an event they had been planning all year. This year’s theme was a haunted toy store. Cast members would be arriving the next day around 4:00 to get into make-up and costumes.
“We all take part, and our husbands, children and their friends,” says Lauren. Somewhere in the course of our conversation Cathy says that one of the hardest last-minute jobs is helping everyone get their makeup on in time. I offer to help. “I yell a lot and can get pretty snarky when the pressure’s on,” says Cathy, looking at me dubiously. I say I can do stage makeup and as a former waitress, am very used to working under pressure and being yelled at. That’s how I signed up at the haunted barn as an embedded journalist, so to speak.

This afternoon, Bev’s big house was alive with people of all ages from six weeks olds to seniors. Wigs and costumes were upstairs, people were everywhere. Everyone seemed to have a pretty good idea of their character, and Cathy opened out an impressive make-up kit in the middle of the kitchen, a large old-fashioned central room with plenty of space. Some did their own make-up, others sat down at the table and Cathy pulled up pictures of the makeup needed: Raggedy Ann & Andy, a mechanical monkey, a demented six-foot rabbit, a Jack-in-the box, a cracked porcelain doll. Mountains of pizza arrived and disappeared.

Nobody yelled, though the clown, the rabbit and the teddy bear all complained their masks were hot and stuffy. Cathy and Lauren gave last-minute coaching to the actors, a borrowed popcorn machine was set up at the exit from the barn, beside the visitors book. Everyone who came through the barn would be rewarded with a bag of popcorn. Friends arrived to hand out trick-or-treat candies at the front door of the house. By 6:00 when the first visitors arrived, everyone was in their place. There were about 24 costumed characters, including Cathy, Lauren and Bev herself.
I loved my trip through the barn, could hardly stop grinning, for there were surprises around every corner; lighting and sound effects were great; everyone was wonderful and would indeed have been scary, had I not known every line on their faces. Before long, the crowds had started to arrive, and more than one came out of the barn and slipped to the end of the line to do it again.

The haunted barn is free, a gift to the community from the McNeil clan: any money put in the donation jar goes into the Loughborough Christmas and Emergency fund. Bev McNeil is one of the five volunteers who for many years have been organizing the Christmas food baskets for local families.
As I walked home across the village, the sidewalks were crowded with costumed children and adults. At many houses, people had set up tables with candy on their front lawns. St Paul’s church had a long table on the sidewalk with treats and chocolate for the children and coffee for the grown-ups. One home had a large tent-like entrance to their front door, another a huge fire-breathing dragon on the roof.

Tom and Dorothy’s front lawn was, as always, colourful and spooky. A police car cruised slowly along the streets, blasting out music from ‘Ghostbusters’. The moon was nearly full and though it was chilly, there was no rain.

By 9:00 all was quiet again.