The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

Picture brings back memories by Phyllis Lowery A local man came and with a rope tied around his The picture of the children waist he went down, he came skating on the mill pond up and told us that the brought back memories of young man had got tangled long ago. U P ln something and he In a village I lived in we couldn't free him. were very fortunate to have a An official diver came and lovely stream flow through got the body free, it was the village. We were able to caught in the framework of swim in it in the summer and an old Model T. skate on it for miles in the We had all grown up with winter. stories that there was a car Something about clearing down there but thought it off the snow on a natural ice was just a story told to stress surface and then skating on that we weren't to do any- it seemed a lot more enjoy- thing foolish, to always be able than skating at an careful, arena. It didn't seem to mat- As I looked at the picture ter that you weren't a very of those children playing on good skater, you didn't have the mill pond here in Orono I to go around and around in wondered how safe were circles and there was always they? a friend living nearby where If one of them should hap- you could stop and warm pen to go through the ice your hands and fëet. You would they get tangled up in didn't need figure skates or the debris that is allowed to the skates that hockey play- go down to the bottom when ers were wearing, just getting the ice melts, out with the others and hav- In the past two or three ing fun was all that mattered, years I have seen a car seat young and old enjoyed skat- left to sink down, goalposts, ing together. lawn chairs. This stream had a deep If children are to be hole just at the bridge on the allowed the use of this pond main road, that is where we then surely there are parents swam, it was said that no who have enough sense that one ever was able to touch they should know when to the bottom so we were always remove these things so that very careful to make sure future generations may skate that there was always some- or fish at this pond safely, one present who was a good Children want to have fun, swimmer. they don't think far enough One summer there were ahead to realize that they two or three young men, could be putting others in strangers to the area and' danger, they were being smart and An adult shoved that old diving off the bridge, we all car into the creek we swam knew better than to do this. in, a young man lost his life Onë young man got in many, many years later, we trouble and didn't surface, don't want that to happen the others tried to find him. here. Places I've Done Time by: Clifford Francis „ Spring came early to the Damneara Ranch and I was anxious to start putting in the ' crops. It wasn't long before the cultivating was done and the pig manure worked into the ground. Then the seeding began. Over the winter I had collected collected several different kinds of rare seeds. J.W. Slater from down on the 4th had given me some 'sharpening stone' seed. Mr. C.A. Reid had given me a pound of whipple tree seed, which was quite scarce. I don't know where he found the seeds, but I believe he felt guilty about the sheep he sold me, and he wanted to make it right. - Paul Jones worked a small miracle by getting me some 'ax handle' seeds. I had tried all over to get them but couldn't. couldn't. He found them somewhere, somewhere, and 1 was thankful. I put in a lot of field pumpkins pumpkins because the seeds were the fashionable thing to eat. Also, along with lots of other seeds, I put in enough seed for about 200 pie pumpkins. Summer came and everything everything grew. The weather was warm and wonderful. Two of my native Canadian friends camé from Alberta to help with the harvest harvest -- one, Henry Leather Dog, and his. cousin Blossom Wellfelt. 1 wocild not have gotten all the crops out without them. Blossom had brought her Q Orono Weekly limes, Wednesday, March 1, 2000 - 13 recipe for pumpkin wine. 1 had grown the small pie pumpkins for that reason. I traded off some of the sharpening stones for moonshine, moonshine, and that's what we used to make the pumpkin wine. Blossom drilled a small hole in each pumpkin, and with a funnel, poured in eight ounces of moonshine. The pumpkins were then .left on the vine till harvest time. At harvest time the large pumpkins were threshed and everything else was stored. Then we had a wonderful wonderful harvest party. As each guest came, they were handed one of the small pie pumpkins and a straw. What a delicious wine drink came from the pumpkins. It was a one day party that lasted for a week or more. Most everything I had grown sold quickly, since not everyone grew the crops I did. What wasn't sold was traded traded off for moonshine. Plans were made for a bigger bigger and better crop the following following year and I was on the lookout lookout for more exotic seeds. Near spring, a gentleman came along with some seeds that could make me a lot of money. He said, "if you can ■ grow them, I can smoke it," and I had a green thumb. "Forget the other crops," he said, "you can make more money growing this, and it's a lot less work." That was fine by me. Less work, more money, it sounded good. Early fall came and harvest time was here. It just wasn't the same as the year before. No big harvest party, and no one getting drunk. Something was wrong. I had tried smoking smoking the crop, but man, that wasn't my bag. It made me cough and I felt dizzy. A haze hung over the village. village. Everyone at the ranch was happy, but something was missing. Blossom said, "you look sad," and I was. Blossom reached for her guitar, and I reached for a bottle bottle of rye. She sang the song 'I can see clearly now', and after a few drinks I could. New plans were being made for the next crop. But I'm going back to the basics. No more grass. Things were going back to normal I thought. SUBSCRIBE TO THE ORONO TIMES $25.00 a year. For the best rates in Durham... place your classified ads in the Orono Weekly Times (905)983-5301 School was never Me thisi REGISTER NOW CENTRE FOR INDIVIDUAL STUDIES Adult & Alternative High School Registration Continues • Computers • Grade 12 • Flex Hours • Classes or Self Direct KAWARTHA PINE RIDGE DISTRICT SCHOOL BOARD r • Pedicures/Manicures ■ Waxing • «Nail Extensions • Ear Candling • Eyelash Tinting • Air Brushing • Electronic Muscle Stimulate (EMS) "4 ESTHETIC STUDIO Brigitte Brown Gift Certificates Available k. 171 Mill St., Orono, ON LOB 1M0 • (905) 983-8169 Call me to buy or sell... Orono and area's real estate representative... Krystyna Jones 983-6013 Reoltu-Net ASSOCIATES " (DURHAM)lnc. 1060 Simcoe St. N., #103, Oshawa TEL: (905) 721-21.12 New Listing... Cute Orono Village Bungalow, 3 + Bedrooms Garage, Super Lot! $124,500!