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4 THE NEW TANNER THURSDAY, JANUARY 11, 2007 TURNED OFF: Festive lighting such as this on Dairy Drive during the Christmas season has mostly been turned off and residents now face the bleak part of winter. But most enjoyed the display of lights as they shone through the wet, soggy holiday season for what seems a brief interlude into ordinary living. www.herbalmagic.ca www.herbalmagic.com $4 off? ??????????????????????????????? ???????????????? ??????????????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????? ???????? 10% off? ??????????????? ?????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????? $10 off? ????????????????? ????????????????????????? ??????????????????? ???????????????????????????????????????????? ????????? 15% off? ??????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????? ????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????????????? ????????? ????????????????????????????????????????? www.herbalmagic.ca www.herbal agic.com ???????????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????????? ??????????????????????????? ?????????????????????????? ?????????????????? Don't just have resolutions ...have goals. Let Herbal Magic help you look and feel your best this year. Acton Market Plaza 372 Queen St. Acton 519-853-8123 www.herbalmagic.ca Waterloo-Wellington M.P.P. Ted Arnott Invites you to A NEW YEAR SOCIAL On Sunday, January 14th from 2:00pm to 4:00pm At the Victoria Park Seniors Centre 150 Albert Street West in Fergus Everyone Welcome! Coles Slaw with Hartley Coles A lot of information comes across this desk daily in the form of emails, faxes and mail from the past on a variety of subjects. Some of it is designed to scare the beegesus out of us especial- ly since global warming has been the focus. It reminded me of events about 50 years ago when we were going through another warming cycle and there were all sort of predictions of gloom and doom to come. One of my most acute memories is of a photo in The Toronto Daily Star which showed the rocky coast of Newfoundland replete with palm trees and people swimming on san- dy beaches, obviously an artists conception of what life would be like 50 years from then. Unfortunately for the Newfoundlanders it was pure fantasy. Another memory of al- most seven decades ago recalled a Christmas day languishing in bed with the measles, the common kind where youre covered with a scourge of red dots. At our front door was a yellow sign prohibiting entry because measles was present. Beside my bed was a pair of skiis, a Christmas gift from Santa Claus. I wept copiously while the icicles dripped from the eves under a bright winter sun because I was tied to the bed. Alas, I would never get to use the skiis that winter. Bountiful snow fell before Christmas but when Dr. McNiven declared I was no longer housebound and could go frolicking in the snow with my skiis there was none. January, always time for a thaw, arrived and it seemed outside of a few flakes which fell some time in March, dreams of slid- ing down the Three Sisters and other area hills like the Crazy Canuks (who came long after) were shattered by the lack of snow. Some compensation came from the fact Hendersons Pond and the big pond (Fairy Lake) was frozen and great for pond hockey and skat- ing. Some years later snow in abundance arrived and the Three Sister, hills between Churchill Rd. S. and the Fourth Line, south of the village, were the scene of a ski tow fashioned by the Blow brothers, Ken and Jack, Lee McSwain, and other avid skiers of the time. It flourished for a few winters and then the cycle repeated itself and it closed down for lack of snow. Thats when cross-coun- try skiing became popular again when ever Mother Nature bestowed a bounte- ous fall of the white stuff. As you many have guessed the point Im trying to make is that the lack of snow and cold weather in southern Ontario winters is not a new phenomenon. We seem to go through warm and snowless cycles, although one has to acknowledge the weather patterns seem to be changing in all seasons. If you are a little long in the tooth, youll recall when the Acton arena, like most arenas in the area, possessed natural ice. The artificial stuff didnt arrive until 1949. Then youll also recall how fervently most of us prayed for cold weather before Christmas so we could go skating in the arena, often to the music of Acton Citizens Band. We were often disappointed and looked with envy at places like Hillsburgh where it was cold enough to make ice a couple weeks before we did. Often the season ended in the middle of March. Yes, as the song says, those were the days. We were at the mercy of the ele- ments but were not as well equipped to deal with them as we are now. Yet life went on. The village grew into a town and somehow all the different kinds of fun and games we enjoyed growing up in this neck of the woods got tied in with electronics, television tubes and com- puters, Blackberries and cell phones. Its a pity! Warm winters not new phenomenon ??????????? ????? ??? ????? ????? ????????????? ??? ??? ?????? ???