Back to HomeFeature Article - December 17, 2009 Northbrook Medical Centre gets family health team designationBy Jeff Green

“It is good news, very good news,” said Dr. Tobia of the announcement last Friday that his Northbrook medical clinic will be one of 19 new Family Health Teams (FHT) in Ontario. “It’s going to ensure medical services in this region for generations to come.”

When the announcement came it did not include any detail about services that will be offered at the Lakeland Family Health Team, which is what the clinic will be called, but Doctor Tobia said the application that was made by the clinic in conjunction with a dedicated community healthcare committee, included building, and staffing with a nurse practitioner, and satellite clinics in Denbigh and Plevna.

“But we really won’t know for up to six months what will be included in the funding,” he said.

According to the media release that accompanied the announcement, “The new Family Health Teams will include family physicians, nurse practitioners, registered nurses, social workers and dieticians.

“Family Health Teams deliver comprehensive health care services and offer additional programs tailored to the needs of their communities, including seeing patients who do not have a family doctor. They will support increasing chronic disease management and prevention including Ontario's Diabetes Strategy.”

The Sharbot Lake Family Health Team, which was one of the first wave of FHTs that were established by the province, offers a basket of services and includes a Registered Nurse, a Nurse Practitioner, a Diabetes Nurse, a Dietitian, and ancillary mental health, social work and psychiatric services at their Sharbot Lake location.

For the village of Northbrook, the FHT will make recruiting new health care professionals to work out of Northbrook an easier task, because it will make it a more attractive place to work.

“We have been trying to recruit another doctor for 13 years without success,” said Doctor Tobia, “this will make it that much easier to find one.”

As part of the process, Addington Highlands Township will be purchasing the medical clinic and then working out a long-term arrangement with the Ministry of Health.

“We knew that purchasing the building would be necessary in the long run anyway but now we will have support,” said Addington Highlands Reeve Henry Hogg.

“I was almost surprised when I heard that the Family Health Team application had come through,” he added,” because many communities have had to apply two or three times before being successful and this was our first try.”

Hogg said that credit for the success of the application should go to the two people who did all the work preparing the application, “Dr. Tobia and Janice Powell from Denbigh.”

Henry Hogg said that Janice Powell is a retired nurse who recently moved back to Denbigh, where she came from originally, and came forward to help out with the committee.

“I was thrilled to hear that it had come through,” said Fred Perry, the North Frontenac Council representative to the Committee. “A lot of people helped to prepare the application for this, and they deserve credit for all the work they did. Our own council has made a commitment to find a suitable location for a clinic in Plevna, and we will be glad to be held to that. If it comes through it will bring medical services to North Frontenac for the first time. This is a really good thing for the entire region.” 

Threatened Species vs Roadwork? 

Councillor Stowe spoke to a report from the South Frontenac Natural Environment Committee with respect to the Blandings Turtle, which is protected under the Endangered Species Act. This creature, which can berecognized by its high domed shell and bright yellow throat, although rare enough to be listed as threatened, is frequently seen in parts of South Frontenac. Although its chief habitat is wetlands, it is highly mobile,traveling up to seven kilometres or more, especially during its mating and egg-laying season in June and July.One of the options suggested by the MNR was to suspend all summer roadwork in areas where the Blandings turtle had been identified. This promptedsome discussion. Fillion: "There are people out there who would stop a subdivision for a turtle." Mayor Davison: "It's not meant to be a roadblock. We can't stop development, they (the turtles) are all over theplace." On the other hand, fines of $25,000 and jail terms of 9 months have already been laid under the Endangered Species Act. Staff was directed to draw up wording for Council to consider adding toroad-building contracts requiring contractors to brief their workers about issues related to endangered species. Public Works Manager Segsworth askedthe township to arrange an information session for his road workers.

Building Report

With $3.4 million of construction in October, it appears the 2009 total will come close to 2008's $23 million. (2007's spike of $29 million can be attributed to the installation of Sydenham's water system.)

Councillor Fillion admitted the late-year totals were less disastrous than he had expected.

Closing of Prison Farms

Frontenac County had asked Council for endorsement of their resolution concerning the closing of prison farms across Canada. Councillors York and Vandewal both emphasized the need to support prison farms in our area, but not necessarily country-wide. Mayor Davison reminded them that a letter opposing prison farm closures was sent to the federal government earlier this year. Council endorsed the County resolution, and agreed to draft another separate letter concerning the agricultural importance of the over 2,000 acres of prime land presently being farmed by area prisons.

Replacement of Pumper Truck

In keeping with the fire department's 25-year replacement program, Chief Chesebrough recommended Council initiate the RFP for a pumper replacement for station 4. This needs a long lead time as delivery will take six to twelve months. There is $100,000 in reserve: the rest will be paid from the 2010 fire budget.

Designation of Wetlands

Council agreed to support a resolution made by the Township of Wainfleet, objecting to the Ministry of Natural Resources' designation of Provincially Significant Wetlands in that area without public input.

Councillor Vandewal had asked that this be brought forward for attention, asking whether this was a single incident, or something that was happening province-wide?

Community Profile

Statistics released by Employment Ontario, based on numbers from 2006 show South Frontenac to have a higher growth rate than the rest of the province (11% vs 6.6%), a "significantly higher" income level for all-private households, and a higher rate of people remaining at the same address for 5 or more years.

Overheard:Our new CAO being initiated to the finer points of rural pronunciation: "It's Charlais: you can't go around making up words for cows."

The rumour that a photo of a cougar seen on a farm in Elginburg met with scepticism from the MNR, who asked for footprints or scat.

"So who's gonna look after (the farmer) if he gets all scratched up trying to collect scat?"

Lake Monsters – is there such a thing or are they just figments of our imagination? Do you ever wonder what lies beneath the surface of some of our deeper lakes in the cool, dark depths? We’ve all heard about the Loch Ness monster, but what about our own bodies of water in Ontario and, more specifically, eastern Ontario and the Land O’ Lakes area.

Certainly tales have been told and re-told over hundreds of years of various huge snake-like creatures that lurk in some of our deeper bodies of water. Native people told of both good and bad beings inhabiting the waters they paddled. Before crossing large bodies of water, they would offer tobacco to the spirit before starting out. It was hoped that an offering would appease the spirit so that it wouldn’t whip its giant tail and upset their canoes.

Mazinaw - In one instance, native legends say that a water spirit called ‘Mishipashoo’ inhabits Mazinaw Lake. At least one of the pictographs on Mazinaw Rock shows a dinosaur-like creature with a long, spiked tail. Dinosaur bones had not yet been unearthed when these pictures were drawn so is this picture just an imaginary thing or did something like this actually exist in the lake? Some say the Mazinaw creature looks very eel-like and is over 20 feet in length. There’s lots of room in Mazinaw for elusive beings as the lake is the second deepest in Ontario, after Lake Superior, with an average depth of 135 feet and a maximum depth of 475 feet.

Muskrat Lake - When Champlain travelled up the Ottawa River in the early 1600s, the Algonquins told him of a large creature that lived in Muskrat Lake, near Petawawa. Even today there are still reports of people seeing the Muskrat Lake monster affectionately called ‘Mussie’.

Lake Ontario - There have been many, many sightings in Lake Ontario for at least the past couple of hundred years…certainly too numerous to mention many of them here.

Many strange occurrences involving damage to ships on Lake Ontario are documented in Frederick Stonehouse’s ‘Haunted Lakes’. Some of the stories tell of ships ramming into solid objects in water depths of 1000 feet, and at the same depth, sudden violent churning of the water.

Kingston – A strange creature that has been seen in the Kingston area has been given the name Kingstie. One of the more recent sightings in the area was that of an MNR employee who, in 1977, witnessed a large creature diving into the lake from the shores of Prince Edward County.

The stories go on and on but most seem to have a common theme: the creature is black and about 20-40 feet long, snake or eel-like with ridges along its back and horns or antlers on its head. Some say the head is dog-like such as the Igopogo creature in Lake Simcoe; others say it is alligator-like. They have been spotted by many people during the last century, especially in the south end of Lake Simcoe and, in particular, Kempenfelt Bay.

Some believe the larger lake serpents could be rare, shy descendants of giant, long-necked reptiles called plesiosaurs which lived during the dinosaur era more than 65 million years ago.

Other areas in eastern Ontario where lake creatures have been reported are the Ottawa River, Big Rideau Lake near Arnprior and the Bay of Quinte, just to name a few.

With so many sightings over the years, isn’t it highly possible that some ancient creatures still lurk in the depths? Are they just giant sturgeons, eels or snakes, or some left-over dinosaur-like creature from another age? There is no hard and fast evidence supporting the existence of lake monsters other than the odd fuzzy photograph, but could all these people be mistaken or were they involved in some kind of hoaxes?

In any case, if there are monsters, they must be friendly ones, as I don’t recall stories of people actually being attacked. I still prefer to swim in more shallow areas of our lake where I have a clear view of what is on the bottom!

 

Please feel free to report any observations to Lorraine Julien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or Steve Blight at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

 

 

 

 

Editorial by Jeff Green

There is something to be said about services that are locally run and locally managed, particularly when they are well run.

Removing the management of a service from the people who deliver it, particularly in rural areas where there are back roads to be navigated will not an improvement, even if it means saving a few dollars in the short run.

This is what will be faced by families that put their children on school busses each day when a competitive bidding process takes hold for school bussing.

While local school boards did not initiate this process, and in our region they seem reluctant to embrace it, the push is on from the province to change the way companies receive contracts for bussing children to school.

It's not as if the current bussing companies, which in rural areas are often mom and pop operations with 1 to 5 bus routes, are getting rich bringing their neighbours children to school.

The school boards, in our case represented by a Tri-Board bussing consortium, determine the pay scale and everything is provincially regulated. The operators have not seen a raise for years, and the fluctuating price cost of fuel is now and will continue to be the largest factor in the cost of bussing.

The Independent School Bus Operators Association of Ontario (ISBOA) was created a year ago for one purpose, to fight against competitive bidding in bussing, which is being brought in incrementally across Ontario. The Ministry of Education plans to set out “Requests for Proposal” for every bussing route in the province by 2013, and the ISBOA claims, with the backing of research in other jurisdictions, that this will concentrate school bussing in the hands of three multinational corporations and will put most small operators out of business.

While the ISBOA are a lobby group, and they represent people who have nothing to gain and everything to lose from this process, logic tells us that moving the control of services far away from the communities where they are delivered is a risky move.

Most of the small operators will be gone. Companies will bid on all the contracts in a region, and after a short time will inevitably start to say they cannot deliver service to more remote students for the price they originally quoted.

With the local companies out of business, the large players will tell the school boards they must either increase the amount they are paid for remote routes, or the children will need to be gathered together to central locations for pick up, or both.

Either way, no cost savings and diminished service will be the result.

Oh, and another sector of local business-people will have gone out of business.

Essentially, the school bus system in our region is not broken, but it will be once the fix is in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Re: Bear Shock, Diane Cuddy

Re: Bear Shock, Sarah Sproule

Memory Lane, Sydenham, Joannne Ankers

Re: Bear Shock, Marcie Webster

Re: Bear Shock, Margaret Fewer

First Alarm: Ticks, Mel Good

Re: “Bear Shock”, Frontenac News, Nov. 5/09

I agree that the blatant display of large hanging dead animals is quite repulsive and unnecessary. I have no issues with hunters taking a few animals for subsistence but to kill them for a supposed good time is disgusting. In this day and age when wildlife has so many difficulties facing it (habitat loss and fragmentation, a burgeoning human population, climate change and so on), it really makes little sense to go out and shoot animals for a “hobby”.

Hunting has significantly changed from the pioneer days when people often hunted reluctantly just to get food to survive. They had few tools other than traps and basic guns. Today, the modern hunter uses sophisticated weapons, trail cameras; scent attractants, game calls, camouflage, ATVs, boats, chase dogs and so on ad infinitum. The wildlife really has little chance of escape due to the numbers of hunters out there.

Many of our hunted wildlife is almost tame; ducks that nest within metres of homes and deer that feed in fields close to habitation during spring and summer are then blasted come fall. They have no warning that such impending danger is about to unfold. Many hunters now entice animals with food lures for weeks before hunting season and then blast them with shot or arrows when the killing seasons begin. It’s difficult to consider this as any kind of sport for there is no fairness involved. It’s all a very one-sided activity.

I would hope that so called “sport hunters” will seriously think about what they are doing. There is no machismo related to this shooting of unsuspecting animals. If it is the thrill of the chase that hunters seek, wildlife can be sought and viewed without killing them. You can even learn something about their behaviours and habits when they are still alive and walking and rearing their young. Taking really good photographs of animals is much more difficult than shooting them and so that avenue offers plenty of challenge.

Diane Cuddy, Verona

Re: “Bear Shock”, Frontenac News, Nov. 5/09

Sarah Sproule with her husband Nicholas and a 500 lb. bear she harvested in 2003.

In response to the “Bear Shock” article written by Andrea Dickinson for the November 5 Frontenac News, I would like to say that not only is the hanging of animals to tenderize their meat a part of our Canadian heritage but also a cultural, family tradition for most people in our area. After harvesting and field dressing an animal, it is necessary to hang them up in order to finish processing the meat (just as hundreds of cattle are hung in slaughter houses before being butchered). Finally, this is not some ‘poor guy’ (as Andrea referred to the bear hanging up); for many, this may be their winter’s meat for their family. Hanging an animal in a tree should not be seen as disrespectful but is rather the symbol of a successful hunt; the only way to disrespect an animal would be to harvest it and leave it in the bush. When we see animals hanging in a tree we should be happy to know that the hunters are taking time to look after the meat in a proper, respectful manner. We should not have to “hide” our animals where people cannot see them; this is something to be proud of, not ashamed. Furthermore, the hanging of an animal in a tree has always been a part of my childhood and will continue to be part of my family’s for years to come.

Sarah Sproule, hunter and conservationist

Memory Lane, Sydenham

Memory Lane Flowers and Gifts in Sydenham is to be commended for their lovely Remembrance Day window display. It was beautifully and tastefully done and even had a framed poem of “In Flanders Fields”. What a nice tribute to see as we honor our veterans and those who made the ultimate sacrifice. Thank you, Memory Lane, for a job well done.

Joanne Ankers, Sydenham

Re: “Bear Shock”, Frontenac News, Nov. 5/09

Yes, for most families this is necessary and if you live in the country, this shouldn't come as a shock to you. To put it briefly, this is called "FOOD" to those who choose to harvest the way our families have harvested food for thousands of years. Hunters are required to buy a bear license before they harvest a bear. If this bothers you, maybe you are residing in the wrong part of the country. It is called hunting season! These animals are respected and people give thanks to them every year for providing us food. Mother Earth (Nature) and her creatures are very much respected by most people I know. Congratulations, Rick!

Marcie Webster

Re: “Bear Shock”, Frontenac News, Nov. 5/09

This is a baby. What a price to pay to be a trophy.

Margaret Fewer

First Alarm: Ticks

How come the public has not been informed on this Lyme disease? It is caused by a tick working up from the U.S.A., now as far north as North Bay. One report from Lands and Forests claim it’s killed over 150,000 deer in Eastern Ontario. One of our customers got hit by two ticks and had to have the doctor remove one, tweezers caught the other. In her case dogs brought them into the house. All our animals are at risk, as well as youngsters playing outside. Be on guard. Examine your kids.

Mel Good

 

 

 

Ina Hunt Turner writes of her experiences as a child in Holland during World War 2. She presently lived in Arden, Ontario.

Before I was sent away from Amsterdam, away from my mom to live in the countryside with the farmers, we were slowly running out of resources to feed ourselves. For a while my mother still had possessions that she could sell or trade by biking outside the city and bartering with the farmers for food. That is how I learned to like liver and tripe, which the farmers would just throw out.

Earlier in the war my mother had housed and hidden Jewish people. You might say that we were part of an underground railroad. Some of the people would stay only for a day or two and others maybe for two weeks. And then, as suddenly as they had appeared, they would disappear. The one thing my mother used to get for looking after these people was potatoes; where they came from I did not and to this day, do not know. All I know is that my mother created some wonderful meals from those potatoes and even made cakes with them. When all the Jews had been relocated or arrested, that resource dried up.

Once a day we had to walk to a central kitchen to get our main meal of the day. You had to have coupons to get the right amount and you had to bring a container to carry it home in. For some reason we still received the coupons from my brothers and sisters who at this time had already been deported to the countryside, so we were a little better off than some other people, but the meals were usually atrocious. You really had to be careful as there were often maggots or other vile things in them. As this was a central location and you had a time limit, there were always lots of people there at the same time in a big lineup. My mother and I would take our places and that is when I discovered how many people were bigger than I. Here I stood, holding my mother's hand and being pushed around by all these giants. Someone would push me from behind and then I in turn would push someone in front, who would push me back. I tried to stick out my backside to try to keep people at bay but that usually did not work. I hated all that closeness and the smells of body odor and I remember thinking to myself: "When I grow up I will never ever stand in a lineup again." And for years after the war I kept that promise to myself. If my favorite restaurant had a lineup waiting for seats, I would walk out, rather than wait. Also being close to someone in a bus or streetcar was offensive to me. Maybe the memory has grown dim, because in my present situation I attend a lot of potluck dinners and usually there is a lineup. Even so, I always try to be at the tail end of the line.

This is but a small part of what happened to ordinary people during the second world war and as I write this, I wonder how many children in Afghanistan are going through the same things as I did. Irrespective of how one feels about this present war, and who makes the decisions to start a war, our soldiers who are there, believe in fighting for the ordinary people and making a difference. Thank God they were there in my war.

For the most part, the roll out of the vaccination program through the 6 medical clinics in Frontenac and rural Lennox and Addington Counties has been smooth.

A clinic in Harrowsmith immunized 1,000 people last Thursday and in Sharbot Lake a similar number have received the vaccine at clinics on Thursday and this past Monday.

The waiting time at the rural clinics has ranged from a few minutes to 45 minutes, and the problems that have occurred in Kingston and Ottawa have not materialised thus far.

The only major issue has been the cancellation of the immunization clinic at the Sydenham Legion on Tuesday (November 3) because of supply problems late last week.

In response, the Sydenham Medical Centre has added a new clinic next Tuesday, (November 10) from 2-8 pm. The clinic is targeted, as are all of the scheduled clinics throughout the region this week and next, at people in the high risk categories for H1N1.

These include pregnant women, healthcare workers, children under 5, and adults aged between 18 and 65 with chronic conditions.

Other clinics that are upcoming over the next week are at the Verona Medical Centre on November 11 between 1 and 7 pm, at the Sharbot Lake Medical Centre on Monday, November 9 (1 - 7:30 pm), as well as Wednesday November 11) and Friday (November 13) between 9:30 and 11:30 am and 1:30 and 4:30 pm.

The Northbrook medical centre is immunizing people during regular clinic hours.

According to Lynn Wilson, the administrator or the Family Health Organization that encompasses clinics in Sydenham, Verona, Sharbot Lake, Newburgh, Tamworth and Northbrook, there has been a “bit of a scramble getting the vaccine to the clinics,” particularly due to the well documented nationwide shortfall this week, “but as of now (November 2) we have received about 3,900 doses and we expect we will continue to receive what we need,” Wilson said.

For now, only people within the high risk categories should be seeking immunization,

A decision to extend the vaccination to the general population will be made by Public Health Authorities, and could come as early as next week.

Unfortunately the virus has come on earlier than had been hoped, making the immunization program less effective, since it takes 3-4 weeks for he vaccine to take full effect.

In the meantime, the outbreak of H1N1 continues in the region, and there have been higher than normal rates f absenteeism in some of the local schools.

Assessment clinics have been set up at the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team between 3 and 5, Monday to Friday, and a the Verona Medical Clinic on Monday-Thursday between 3 and 5 and Friday between 9 and 1:30.

 

Over three hundred patients from the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team, or 12% of the patient roster, receive counselling and other services from the diabetes team of Nurse Janice Morrow (RN, CDE) and dietitian Melissa Conrad (RD, CDE).

That makes the area served by the clinic 50% higher than the national norm, which is 8% of the population.

“It's not really surprising,” said Janice Morrow of the numbers, “considering that the average age of the population we serve is higher than the provincial average, and the incidence of Type 2 diabetes, which is the most common, increases with age.”

As a team, Morrow and Conrad help their patients self-manage their diabetes. This includes blood sugar monitoring, healthy eating, physical activity, using medications and insulin as recommended. The patients are seen regularly, for an average of 12 hours per year; this means that they are self-managing their diabetes for the other 8000 hours.

Of the approximately 900,000 people with diabetes in Ontario, roughly 30% have access to the kinds of services provided by the team. For patients in the southern parts of Frontenac County, such service is offered only at Hotel Dieu hospital in Kingston.

Although patients cannot control the aging process, the major factors behind Type 2 diabetes are lifestyle and genetics. “Genetics loads the gun, and lifestyle pulls the trigger,” said Melissa Conrad, using an apt metaphor for hunting season.

Lifestyle is something that Morrow and Conrad work on with their patients. They are the only Diabetes Education team working in central Frontenac County, which was one of the needs identified when the Sharbot Lake Family Health Team was established.

World Diabetes Day is coming up on Saturday November 14, the birthday of Frederick Banting, one of the discoverers of insulin, the hormone that helps the body control blood sugar. The theme for this year is “Understand Diabetes and Take Control”.

At this time, the team only serves the patient roster at the Family Health Team. They would like to educate the public about living with diabetes and pre-diabetes, and to help the public at large avoid the serious implications of diabetes.

“The effect of diabetes on general health is devastating,” Janice Morrow said, “It affects the eyes, the heart, teeth, the entire body from the tip of the head to the tips of the toes. People with diabetes are at a greater risk of heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, blindness, circulation problems and more. But the good news is the severity of the complications can be prevented by keeping blood sugars controlled”.

To decrease their risk of developing diabetes people are encouraged to follow a healthy lifestyle that includes healthy eating and physical activity. Other determining factors are body weight and shape. People who are overweight, and particularly those who carry their weight in their mid-section, are deemed to have one of the risk factors. A waist circumference for men over 40 inches (102 cm) and for women over 35 inches (88 cm) puts you at a higher risk of developing diabetes.

Other factors are identified through a fasting blood test, including high triglyceride levels, low HDL cholesterol (the good cholesterol), high blood pressure, and elevated blood sugar levels (over 5.6 on the sugar scale) are all indicators in addition to waist size.

Individuals with a fasting blood sugar over 6 are diagnosed as having pre-diabetes and individuals with blood sugar over 7 are diagnosed as having diabetes.

“For those diagnosed with prediabetes, there is research showing that losing 5-10% of their body weight, whatever that may be, can help prevent or delay developing Type 2 Diabetes,” said Conrad. “Prevention is a really big thing. If we can help people lead healthier lifestyles we may be able to delay or prevent the onset of Type 2 Diabetes.

Dietary improvements can be difficult for people to make. After a lifetime eating diets that are based on higher fat, particularly animal fat, low fibre, and sugar-enriched foods such as processed foods, it can be hard for people to change.

A healthy eating plan, which is higher in fibre, healthy fats and a higher percentage of fruits and vegetables, may be perceived as being more expensive and often involves more time spent on planning meals.

Processed, pre-packaged foods are cheaper and require little or no time to prepare, but most do not provide us with the fibre and nutrients that we need and may contribute to developing pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes.

“Achieving small goals is the target we aim for at each visit, as sustained lifestyle changes need to be done gradually,” said Janice Morrow.

One of the initiatives that the Diabetes Education team has undertaken is aimed at preventing the disease long before it has a chance to take hold, by bringing a lifestyle message to school-aged children.

A year ago, Janice Morrow went into the schools to talk about exercise and diet, and a Diabetes day is being planned by Morrow and Conrad for later this winter. 

For more information about prediabetes or diabetes check out the Canadian Diabetes Association at www.diabetes.ca. For more information about World Diabetes Day check out www.worlddiabetesday.org. To find out more about healthy eating check out EatRightOntario at www.eatrightontario.ca

Photo: Irene Monds and Linda Godfrey

On September 12, 2009, a long-time dream of mine was realized when 80 people gathered for a Godfrey family reunion at the Arden Legion.

I started researching my family’s genealogy to pass the time while awaiting surgery. Through the internet, I connected with others who were also searching and someone sent me an old newspaper clipping of Herbert Godfrey and Herbert Bell beside the grave of my great-great grandfather, John J. Godfrey, on the old Godfrey homestead. 

My brother Robert, his family and I, along with our cousin Marjorie Godfrey Burton, made our first trip to Arden in July 2007 but did not find the stone. However, I did find out that Mr. and Mrs. Monds owned the property that John J. Godfrey and Eliza Boomhower once owned. The farm is on the east side of Arden Road, across from Bill Pringle's home, which is the old homestead of Peter Mosier (1816) and Mary Boomhower (1821). It has been said that wherever the Godfreys went, the Mosiers went too. 

I then decided to organize a reunion, which was held on September 12. We discovered that all the Godfreys could not only cook well, they also like to eat, and we had enough food to feed an army. The matriarch of the family is Isobella Godfrey Tice, 83, who is the daughter of Ashley and Mary Godfrey, and loves music and dancing! The reunion was the most amazing and moving experience in my life.

Some of the group drove to the Monds’ residence and they were so gracious in letting us roam the property. We found the original icehouse, root cellar, and old barn. Mrs. Monds enlightened us about the farm and the people of Arden, and her husband Earl told us where we would find the grave of our great-great grandfather. The next day we returned and found the stone, on which is written: John J. Godfrey, died Nov. 30, 1878, age 57 yrs. A loving friend, a father dear/a tender parent lieth here/Great is the loss we here sustain.

Bill Pringle said he used to play there as a boy and that there was another stone beside it. We didn’t find the second stone, but will return in two years to look for it. I know that Mary Belanger, John Godfrey, Philip Godfrey Sr., James John Godfrey and perhaps Eliza are also buried there and I would like to do something about preserving the cemetery.

In my research I found a memoir written by Ruby Brown of the Heath clan in Arden, which states that Arden is a "little bit of heaven on earth". I call it Mystical Arden, and it truly is "heaven on earth". The stars in the sky glisten and pristine lakes abound. Many family roots come from this tiny town and it seems to have a special place within their hearts as well as mine.

As I gazed out over Kennebec Lake, I thought of how much my family wanted to go back to Arden. They often spoke of Ole Kennebec and their memories. My aunt used to tell of horse-drawn sleigh rides on the cold winter nights. They would be home playing cards and they could hear the sleds racing by and they could tell by the bells who was winning.

Arden isn't big now, nor was it back in the 1800s, so everyone married their neighbours; thus, all of Arden and its families’ histories were celebrated on Sept. 12. I can promise you it will not be the last gathering; I am already working on the next one for 2011.

We would like to thank everyone for attending and for the wonderful food. We would also like to thank Earl and Irene Monds and Bill Pringle for all their help, and the wonderful people from the Legion in Arden who were so gracious to us, especially Angie Deline, who did a great job in assisting me. 

 

One of the comforting aspects of Thanksgiving is that it is a dinner with very little variation; it is the same dinner wherever you go.

Some particulars may vary, but Thanksgiving dinners should include turkey, stuffing, gravy, potatoes, squash, cranberry sauce, a green vegetable (salad will do), and pumpkin pie (apple pie is an added option). You can fiddle around the fringes of it, serve a light-bodied red or a white wine or both, but the menu is basically set.

Thanksgiving is a harvest meal, and that means that for many, at least part of the meal, even if it only the garlic or the squash, is home-grown or grown by a neighbour or friend.

There is not much stress in Thanksgiving, Certainly it is more easy going than Christmas.

But here’s the rub. Anyone who really wants to get into the spirit of the thing, and anyone who calls themselves a virtuous “local” eater, should produce absolutely everything on the Thanksgiving table, with the possible exception of the cranberries (which not too many people grow).

Now this presents a complication when it comes to the turkey. Other than copping out and buying one, there are two ways to produce a turkey for the table: raising one or shooting one.

This is where the stress comes in for me. I don’t raise poultry; not too many people do anymore, although I have thought about it. I’ve also thought about going to the moon, and about becoming a millionaire, but those are other stories.

As far as turkey hunting, I don’t hunt. I’m not even that good at trapping mice, to tell the truth.

And even experienced hunters will tell you that hunting wild turkeys is hard (it’s not that hard to hunt domestic turkeys but it is illegal and not very neighbourly)

It doesn’t seem that it would be so hard to hunt turkeys, because it is now rather common to see 15 or 20 turkeys lolling about in a field or beside the road.

But as soon as you approach them to take a picture, you notice they stay just out of range of a camera – or a shot gun. As you move slowly towards them they move slowly away, and when you start to move more quickly they move more quickly.

They seem to have a sixth sense for the degree of separation they need to maintain in order to stay out of range.

And apparently, wild turkeys, once they are finally killed, are pretty difficult to de-feather. In fact it is apparently easiest to remove the skin entirely. But then they dry out in cooking, and are a bit gamey, nothing like the tender white meat from a domestic bird.

So, perhaps it is best to buy a turkey after all, but that makes us less virtuous, less committed to the harvest holiday concept of Thanksgiving.

It presents an for insecurity, a chance for those who raise poultry, or can hunt and clean turkeys properly, to lord their superiority over those of us who are incapable of doing either.

So, there we have it; one more holiday, seemingly innocent, seemingly a break from the drudgery of daily life, that really is nothing more than an opportunity for creeping insecurity and regret.

Pass the cranberry sauce.