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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2006 THE NEW TANNER 9 GRAPEVINE with Mike OLeary The Way I See It NEW BOSS Dave Clement is on his own today (Thursday) as executive di- rector of the social service agency Links2Care. Until yesterday, he was shad- owing retiring executive director Joan Barham, who begins a new life today, filled with family, volunteering and possibly, piano lessons. Clement, who resides in Cam- bridge but is familiar with Halton having lived in Oakville for 14 years, said hes been in non-profit for about 20 years, and is excited by the opportunities presented by the recent merger of Halton Hills Community Support and Information and Oakvilles Halton Helping Hands into Links2Care. The agency serves approximately 5,000 clients, from cradle to grave. annual event has been a popular lunch spot for people heading out to the Santa Claus parade. SMILE, SANTA Santa Claus will be available for a photo session at the Off The Wall youth centre on Mill Street prior to the parade. Downtown merchants are say- ing Merry Christmas early the Acton BIA is offering a free photo with Santa, one per family, from 10:30 a.m. until 12:30 p.m. CRAFT SALE If you havent started Christmas shopping yet, check out the annual Acton High School craft sale on November 25. Along with a wide assortment of hand-made items from talented artisans, there will be a bake sale, lunch and raffle of items donated by some of the 50 juried ven- dors. All proceeds from the day, run by the Acton High School Advi- sory Council, will benefit student activities. The sale runs from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., and children under 12 are free, others are $2. LIBRARY CONTEST Was a weekly trip to the book- mobile the beginning of a romance with words that led to a career as a writer with a small town news- paper? How has the library impacted your life? Ontario residents are invited to tell their personal tales of how a public library made a difference to them or their families in a contest called Telling Our Stories. There are cash awards $1,000 for top winners in English and French and the stories will be featured in the media. For complete rules and to enter a story go to the Halton Hills library website and click on Telling Our Stories or call the library at 905- 873-2681. REFLEXOLOGY HELP Want help feeling better? Check out a reflexology information session on November 29 at Knox Presbyterian Church with Marg Aitken. Doing reflexology on hands and feet can help many health prob- lems find out about those options and other self-help natural solu- tions, including nutrition, at the session that begins at 7:30 p.m. GRID IRON MATCHUP Six Acton athletes suited up for the Georgetown Rebel senior foot- ball team in Wednesdays Halton area championship at Ivor Wynne stadium in Hamilton. Acton didnt field a team this year, so a number of the senior and junior players suited up for the Georgetown Rebels and the seniors face off in an all-Halton final against Christ the King for the football final. Green thumb is possibly gangrene I despise yard work. I recall when we bought our house over 30 years ago admiring our huge back yard. We have almost half an acre out there. Why, the Bride asked, do we need all that space? So the kids will have somewhere to play, I said with visions of swing sets and slides dancing in my head. Within days our children did find a place to have fun with their friends. They played on the street! Ah the best laid plans of mice and men. The Bride is cursed with a wonderful memory so, for all these years, I get absolutely no sympathy from her as I toil away at yard duties. One smart move I made at the beginning was to suggest the Bride plant the gardens. Her taste in flowers has always been somewhat eclectic. These days, since she works for a landscape company, she feels a solemn ob- ligation to patronize their retail outlet. The result is a riot of colour with most of the species which will grow here represented. The funny thing is when we drive around she invariably points out monochromatic gardens or those containing two or three contrasting colours. When I ask her why she doesnt use fewer plants she informs me she hasnt got the heart to kill the annuals we have. I immediately start to think in terms of roundup but I could never get away with that. All this, while fascinating, is straying from the topic of my yard duties. For most of the years weve been in Acton I eschewed mo- torized assistance for my yard work. Granted, I did have a power mower (Mom drowned all her stu- pid children) but it took two and a half hours to mow the ponderosa. I shovelled the snow by hand and raked the leaves. It was, I thought, the manly thing to do. As the years rolled by, and my knees and ankles got worse, I finally succumbed to the siren call of machinery. First came a garden tractor. While it looks somewhat ridiculous in our small front yard it pays dividends in the back 40. Ive cut mowing time down to 40min. Three years ago I finally broke down and bought a snowblower, followed soon thereafter by a combination leaf blower/mulcher. Of all the jobs I despise, raking and bagging leaves is really high on my list. Our home faces north- west. As any Gordon Lightfoot fan knows, the gales of November come from there. The result is that we get not only every stray leaf on our street in the back 40; we get every unclaimed leaf between here and Barrie there. I actually looked forward to the first season where I could use my leaf mulcher. No more, I thought, would I face the drudgery of raking my back yard. What was worse was the repetitive stooping, scooping and packing leaves in the bags. I say bags (plural) cause these days I fill about 35-40 of those suckers. Is it only me or do you find the paper bags we use today less than acceptable. Because recycled paper doesnt have the tensile strength for yard bags they have to be made from new paper. In other words, we are cutting down live trees to make yard bags to cart away our leaves and garden waste. This makes sense? The first season I used the mulcher I walked around sucking leaves up where they fell. Observing all this the Bride commented it appeared I was vacuuming the lawn. While our children thought that was hu- merous, I had a different reaction. It soon became obvious that it made more sense to rake the leaves into piles. It was easier to do that than to cart the mulchin machine all over. That, however, negated any anticipated advantage of not having to rake. The other difficulty is that this month tends to be wet. Wet leaves tend to cement together. This clogs the mulcher which results in con- stant stops to clear the machine. Since this is a family newspaper I wont tell you the consistence of this gloop but you can imagine. Over the years I have con- sidered different ways I could avoid the annual leaf harvest. My scheme to replace all my trees with plastic trees remains high on my list. Using crazy glue to attach each leaf to the tree was unworkable. It wouldnt solve the problem of errant leaves. Besides, where would one purchase crazy glue in 50-gallon drums. As I write this its been raining a lot over the past week. Because of that I suppose Ill have to go back to the old system of stooping and stuffing yard bags. I can feel my back stiffening already. Performing mindless jobs like this gives one too much time to think. Where are my children when this chore comes around every year? When my kids were small, and thought jumping in leaf piles was oh so much fun, my trees were also smaller. Now that both children and trees are mature Im left to have all the fun. This shows bad planning on my part. Be that as it may, I will some- how get the leaves mulched. It may come down to what I did last year. Running my tractor over the lawn and telling myself that the leavings are good for my grass. Quite honestly Im looking forward to winter. I snowblow the white stuff into piles and mother nature looks after the rest. If leaves would just melt, Id be a much happier man. I wonder if a flame-thrower would work next year? Hm- mmn! BOOK BENEFICIERS: North Halton branch of the Lydia Snow Group of retired women teachers of Ontario dropped by St Joseph School on Wednesday, November 8 and donated copies of: And you can come too by Ruth Ohi and The Kids Book of Canadian Firsts by Valerie Wyatt to the school library. Sitting from left to right are students Patrick Conlin, Drake Slater, retired teacher June Do- berthien, Cindy Blades and Joy Penttila, students Caitlin Carachi, Colin Masse, Liam McQuarrie. Standing at back is School Librarian Jan Peppiatt. Submitted photo RAKU RECOGNITION Raku pottery pieces by rural Acton artist and former Acton art teacher Barb VanSickle are a hot commodity in Halton Hills and in South Korea. One of five pieces VanSickle entered in the Artists Among Us exhibition and sale at the George- town Library and Cultural Centre gallery sold on opening night. That show runs until November 27. After demonstrating her skills on a recent tour with potters of South Korea, some of VanSickles work sold at an international show and she was invited back for a solo show. VanSickles work can also be seen at the Artisans Gallery co-op in Milton. BAZAAR & TEA Face painting, gingerbread decorating, a penny sale, 50/50 draw and lunch the St. Josephs Church annual Christmas bazaar and tea will offer something for almost everyone on Saturday. There will be homemade baking, preserves and religious articles for sale in the Church Hall from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. In past years, the Churchs