MERRY CHRISTMAS

We want to wish you and your family a very, merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year for 2010.
This past year has been different for us with finances and health getting involved in the plan of things but we have survived and will in the future but we have to trust our God to look after us. We have done some things this year that we haven't done before, some which were really rewarding and some not so. I am sounding a little mysterious but I don't see any need to elaborate on these things. It has been a busy year, so busy that we have not even had the time to use our camper for camping even once this summer, besides the poor, wet weather slowing things down. We did get a new roof on our shop and that was a task I was not looking forward to either financially or work wise but it is done. We installed new tires on our camper as we have had it for seven years and we don't know how old the tires were before we bought it. We also have installed some insulation on the basement walls in our home and some other minor jobs are done as well. If we carry on this way, we actually might have all of the repair and update jobs done before we get too old to work.
We helped with the Salvation Army kettle drive at the local mall a few times like we have done a few years before and totally enjoy this. We attended the Celebration of life ceremony at the Post Office when the local churches get together and light the tree lights on the tree in front of the Post Office. There was a carolling night at the Museum, and, of course, the Christmas Parade down Government Rd. This night was a rather pleasant evening with reasonable temperatures and no snow or freezing rain to spoil the night.
I don't know if your family gets together on the actual day of Christmas or Boxing Day or what ever day you decide. Our two daughters, one grandson and one of our daughter's boyfriend are having our celebration on Saturday, Boxing Day at our home. It is always a fun time around here with the present opening, the turkey supper with sweet potatoes, and turnips. This may seem to be a little different for a menu but my family had always requested this since I started courting my wife 26 years ago and I am not about to rock the boat now.
Again, we wish you and yours a Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year.



Yours truly
Wilf and Elizabeth Blakey

Coming Events

Coming Events in the Near Future

Wesleyan Church is sponsoring a carol sing at the Community Centre in King Kirkland at 7 pm on Dec 9, All are welcome.
Sunday services at 11 AM every week.
There is a Christmas Eve service plus communion at 7 PM on Dec 24.

Tower St Baptist Church is having a Christmas Eve Service at 7 PM.

Living Faith Assembly is having a Christmas Eve Service at 6:30 PM on Dec 24.

There is an evening of carolling at the museum on Wednesday evening at 7 pm so come and join us.

This is all that I know of for events at present but I will add more as I become aware of them.

Wilf Blakey

The Santa Clause Parade

November 27, starting at 7 pm. Kirkland
Lake is being host to Santa Clause for a kids favorite, "The Santa Clause Parade". The weather was good, very little snow and not too cold.




































For a change, the Katimavit group helped the Salvation Army to collect food for their food bank. The people at the Army collect and distribute food to the needy all year round but this year
the demand has been considerably
higher than in other years. Katimavit walked along the sides of the street with baskets gathering donations for the Salvation Army. Katimavit is a group of young people from across the country who go to different communities volunteering in different ways to help out around the communities.









There were many floats, well decorated for the occasion and colorful costumes to
fit the season. Many local businesses and
organizations were represented by floats.








































Of course, last but not least, came Santa Clause and his elves on the antique fire engine. This is the topping on the cake, especially for the young and young-at- heart!!





























This has not too much to do with the parade, but I noticed that there was a light display on top of the group of buildings at the TD Canada Trust building. I tried to take a picture of it but this is what the camera produced as the light from the flash hit the flakes of snow gently falling. This reminds me of the peace that was over the world on the night that Jesus was born, many,many years ago.
And to one and all a good night.
Wilf Blakey

Celebration of Life

The date is November 25,2009 and the locations are the Post Office and the Legion in Kirkland Lake, Ontario. I believe the purpose of the event is to celebrate or commenorate the life and passing of citizens who have lived and died in and around our town. The whole event has been organized by Mrs Betty Smallwood of the Kirkland Lake District Hospital. Mrs Smallwood is with the Palliative Care department of our hospital so she gets very close to people who are suffering with illnesses and other problems which cause death.
There was a service at the Legion at 6 pm and everyone was asked to come to the Post Office to see the lighting of the Christmas lights on the big evergreen tree on the front lawn of the PO. There were candles handed out, which everyone lit as a commenoration, and the crowd held them up high while Pastor Naylor said a prayer and led the countdown until all of the colorful strings of Christmas lights came to life.
After the countdown , the people were invited to go to the Legion for hot chocolate and refreshments as well as a Christmas Carol singtime.

Mrs Dave Naylor was the pianist for the carol sing time held at the Legion after the tree lighting ceremony at the Post Office.







Of course Mrs Naylor's husband, Dave, was the leader during the singtime with requests being asked for favourite Christmas carols.Dave is the pastor of the Wesleyan Northern Lights church in Larder Lake.













Mr Harvey Delport, lay minister of the Presbyterian Church, helped with suggestions of carols and encouraging people to request their carols that they desired.












Mr Naylor, Betty Smallwood and Sharon Hocevar, led the people in carol singing for an enjoyable time.
After the singing was over, everyone gathered up and went home to carry on with their lives and whatever they still had to do.
This is only one of the seasonal events which the people of Kirkland Lake participate in around the Christmas season.
Wilf Blakey

Follower

I have decided to make a little short article on my blog. There are a few parts of it that maybe a lot of readers are not aware of. Some of them are what I would call an active part of the blog but others are just there for entertainment.
On the left side I have a section labelled FOLLOWERS, this lists and sometimes shows some of the people who read my blog and must enjoy it enough that they might come back again to check on future developments.
Below that I have a section on blogs that I like to read and find most interesting. You will notice that most of them pertain to RV'ing as I enjoy this activity greatly and would like to do it on a full time basis if it were possible.
The next item is the Quotation of the day, I have found that on other people's blog that have an item like this, that I seem to be drawn to see what the "thought for the day" or the "Groaner corner" has to say today. This quotation is in a list of gadgets available in the Blogger program that I use to blog.
The next is a series of pictures of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights). I hope some people like to see the display of colorful lights that we have in Northern Canada. Since we live at the 48th parallel we do get a nice display of this lighting display.
The last item on this side bar is a description of myself so my readers will get a chance to know a little about the author.
There are a few other parts that I have attempted to install but due to the fact that I am not a computer programmer or anything close to that, then I am not completely successfull in these attempts but in the future that could be different.
I believe that this is all that I have to add to my little description and will go back to work for a change.
Wilf Blakey

A new blog on the block

I just got word today that Wilson Kindred, of "A Liviing Way Ministries" of Kirkland Lake, has just started a new blog for his ministry. It is about himself, Evan (his sidekick) and his wife, Sharon. This couple travels around the country preaching and entertaining in churches and many other areas. The URL of his blog is http://fun4allofus.blogspot.com/ This blog is an introduction to his people and what his ministry does as they travel around the country to all of the different places.
I do hope that you will visit their website and see what they are doing.
Wilf Blakey

Rodgers Backyard Jam

The date is September 19,2009. The place is King Kirkland, Ontario, the event is the Rodgers Backyard Jam. This is a yearly event that is sponsored by Dave and Joanne Rodgers of King Kirkland, a small community just a mile or two east of Kirkland Lake in Northeastern Ontario.

The Rodgers family is a very talented musical family with two daughters and one son as well as a number of grandchildren in the growing stage for awhile.
Their son, Daryl is a musician, not to be ignored, as he and four other musicians make up a bluegrass band called Canucky Bluegrass Boys,

out of Sudbury, Ontario. These boys have just recorded their first CD called "Standin' Up". I bought a copy of their cd and must say that I enjoy it very much, of course one of my favourite
styles of music is bluegrass or gospel bluegrass.

The Rodgers Homestead is located at the end of a back street in King Kirkland and is somewhat isolated from the main flow of traffic and the highway going through the village. Dave has a saw mill on his property beside the house and some acres of bush just past the saw mill. All of this area has been developed so that people can bring in their campers to stay overnight while they
enjoy the entertainment of the backyard jam

The Rodgers have a nice entrance that reminds me of a schene from an English carnival with the little footbridge and striped tents for the people to sit under for shelter from the sun and rain.












This is a neat little alley taking us from the entrance footbridge to the arena( the area where the music comes from) in front of the music stage.











The whole area is a little rustic in theme
with the priveys off to the side of the back yard
as well as a fire ring for a large warm bonfire to keep the people warm on the cool nights that are common at this time of year. The fire ring also supplies a place for the guys from the "Hot Stove League" to gather and share their tall tales.







Here is the start of the Rodgers' camping area with lots of privacy for each camper but the campers can still stay around their unit and enjoy the music coming from the house so if they are body tired, they can relax and still hear the music at the same time.









One very important item is the sign posting the name of the program as you can see, this is in case one is so tired or out of shape that they can't figure out that they are at the Rodgers Backyard Jam. This structure is part of the main stage, just off to the right in this picture.








Here is a very important part of any event, it is the food stand, with hamburgers,octoberfest sausages, coffee, pop, hot dogs and water. Their prices are quite reasonable as well, plus the food is good.











This is a stand that was set up to display items for sale from the musicians who are playing here today.










The following pictures are of the entertainers, I will try to identify those that I can but there were some, whom I do not know so I apologize for this.


The Canucky Bluegrass Boys

















Reverend David Naylor,Dave Rodgers, and their musicians getting ready to play.

The Midway is in Town

Surprise, surprise, the midway is in town this week. I was going to do a service call in the Federal district and had to go past the Legion on Duncan Ave There were a whole fleet of transport trucks and trailers parked around the property at the Legion. The midway is made up of a company called Canuck Amusements from Selkirk, Manitoba.





There are extra trailers besides the ones that carry
the amusement rides. These are used for living
quarters for the workers and are the same as lots of people use for RV'ing. So you see one could say that these people are sort of on a holiday every day they are away from home working, but I am sure that they don't consider this work a play time.









A normal site at a midway is the concession stands with such items for sale, as pizza, cotton candy, hot dogs, pop, etc. This midway is no exception to that rule. The smells are so good that my wife had to order a slice of pizza and a drink to help fill the empty void in her stomach.







Talking about food, here is a ride made up of
strawberries. These strawberries are hollow with
seats inside for passengers to ride and they go
around and around.










This one is an arrangement with two cars which look like long subway cars for people to ride in and I don't doubt that they will hold around ten people each. The two cars oscillate back and forth in opposite directions to each other while they go
around in almost a complete circle starting at the
bottom, going forward and upward then when they reach the top, they change direction and go the opposite way until they reach the top going backwards. This carries on for awhile until the ride is over.




Here is another ride with some small groups of
cars with seating for about four people each. Each group of people go around in a circle, then the whole ride goes around in a circle, I am afraid that if I were to ride on this one, my lunch would be history!







Anyone like a sleigh ride? Here is one with sleigh
frames for people to lay on and go spinning around in circles. I saw many folks, young and old spinning around enjoying themselves until the cycle was over.





















Here are two rides for the little kiddies, this helicopter appears to be interesting and I can
imagine the thoughts going through the minds of
the little ones. If you like boats, then the second ride should be okay for you as well, after all they are powered by twin outboard motors!!!!!





















We are getting close to the end of the carnival
atmosphere as we approach the games trailers. You can try your hand at bowling as you toss balls
up the ramps and try to land on the centre circle
so you can win a prize of some sort.
There are also many other games of chance to try to win prizes at other skill testing games.












The last attraction is this long slide out in the back fourty, where the participants climb the ramp on the right side of the ride and sit on carpets while they ride the bumpy ride down the ramp to the bottom. If you ever wanted to settle down a meal then this would be the guaranteed way to do it.




Well, it is the end of another day of midway rides at Kirkland Lake. We will look forward to another day of thrills and spills at the midway for another year. The companies are coming up with very interesting ways to create a thrill for the people and more ways to extract dollars from the public as well but I guess that is what business is all about.
I hope you have enjoyed the rides and the tour today, look forward to seeing you come for a visit again soon.
Wilf Blakey

Dominion Day Holiday

I have had the pictures of this event on my computer since the first of July but with the activities of the summer I did not get around to making a blog entry on this.
The town of Kirkland Lake has a grand celebration for this day of the year to help celebrate the birthday of our great country.
The weather has not been that great so far and the rain is plentiful and cool a lot of days. There are many events planned, especially at the Federal Park on Tweedsmuir Rd with live music, concession stands and rides for the kids. The planners should have supplied canoes for the people as there were almost lakes of water on the grounds so it was not really an enjoyable year for outdoor activities.
At night there are fireworks, and what is a celebration without fireworks? There were many varieties of fireworks with rockets shooting high into the sky, sparklers going up a short distance and breaking apart so they can create a small waterfall effect. I like the ones that go what seems like a mile high and then a big boom with sparks spreading out in all directions.
We like going to these events sponsered by the town, it gives you a chance to meet and socialize with lots of folks we haven't seen for many years
Events like this help to build up the spirits of the town's people as well as raising funds for various
needs. I find that I will go out on the town on events like these where I wouldn't even think of venturing away from our home normally.
Parades are another happening that create interest and public closeness, you can tell this especially when the Christmas parade is on and you see the line up of folks standing on the side of the street waiting for the floats and , particularly, Santa Clause to come by throwing out candies to all of the kids, big and small.
I apologize for the delay on writing this story but as I mentioned in another post called " Summer time activities" our time just flies by when the warm weather shows up and presents us with so many possibilities of things to do around here.
I hope you have enjoyed the pictures and story as well as the events if you were in the area at the time.
I will join you again a little later with another story from the story teller.
Wilf Blakey