Update: if this is Wednesday it must be Petawawa

I have been away a lot for the last few weeks and have not blogged! I am going to Italy on Friday for two weeks so will post a couple of message prior to leaving!  The trip is to Pisa for a week and to Florence and area for the second week. Any suggestions welcome!
Last week I attended the Stephen Lewis Foundation Grandmothers gathering in Toronto.It was downtown at George Brown College. The accommodation was a Ryerson college. We had a market place event at St. Lawrence Market. Most of the area was dead due to the G20  preparations. We did see a motorcade drive by with heavy police protection. It seemed overkill .

Friends in high places

As many of you know I have been volunteering at the chapel on base for many years. This morning I received the Base Commanders Commendation. I was told about it last Thursday by the Base chaplain so thought the recommendation came from the chapel however I found out after wards that a member of the congregation and former base commander Lt. Col. Bob McBride wrote the recommendation! Thank you Bob.
The text of the award states:
Base Commander’s Commendation is awarded to Hilda Young in recognition of her outstanding contribution to chapel life at St. George’s Church. For several years she has been the driving force behind community relations within the chapel. She organized a newsletter and has faithfully published this for over 5 years using her own resources. She routinely provides articles to the Petawawa Post and Pembroke Observer. Her dedication encompasses maintaining a pictorial history of the chapel which she shares with the entire congregation. She has stepped in on many occasions when others would not and has served faithfully as the Chapel Committee Secretary. She is a fine example to all within the congregation of St. George’s and a credit to her faith.
It was presented by the Base Commander Lt. Col Rudderham

WALKING IN THE WOODS –An adventure

WALKING IN THE WOODS –An adventure
By Hilda Young
First I would like to thank the 9 am ladies walking group for an unusual morning. Secondly I would like to thank my chauffer to Deep River Lorelei Dean and thirdly I would like to thank my husband Bruce Hanna for his vote of confidence.
Why all the thank you before my story? Well this is a humour piece to lighten the mood after an adventurous trip to Deep River on Thursday May 6th However I do not know the entire story. I was the catalyst for the event!
Yes, I was lost in the woods or should I say abandoned momentarily, this morning.
The 9 am Ladies walking group is well known in the community, I joined it as a long distance member last fall with a friend from Petawawa. At times the journey from Petawawa seemed long but it has become a fun event with company...
Margaret Miller, the group leader started out at a leisurely pace stating we would be going into the woods as someone had been there recently and said the trails were good. Famous last words! I dutifully took off at a good pace with Pat Meadowcroft, my partner. We kept up as the group meandered through a few residential streets then crossed over near the Anglican Church to Banting Drive. At that point I was lost but continued walking. A group of us chatted about our location. We thought we were going east. We kept walking along the power line then though the woods. I was hot. So I told Pat to continue walking as I planned to stop and take off a couple of layers. A few people walked by making comments about the heat. I was left alone! I continued walking but soon lost sight of the group as there was a fork in the road. I saw them go down one road at a steady pace. I thought I would try to connect at the next turning so took the wider trail. The trail was wide and reasonably well marked so I kept following the D loop ski trail. The trail went south I think towards an open area which became the parking lot of the Hospital.
Initially I did not hear any noise so thought that the group had left me behind and walked back to the Bean House. I was fine. Once I arrived at the road I planned to walk back to town. However I did here echoes calling my name and tried to get closer and called hello. When I started back along Banting Drive I went back into the woods as I heard voices. Eventually Margaret Miller found me. Apparently I was lost and the group broke up into two to look for me!
I heard part of the story as I walked back with Pat Meadowcroft again! When we arrived back at the Bean House my husband Bruce Hanna laughed. He said I was fine .If there was a problem I would have been heard at the Bean House as I tend to have good set of lungs when I am scared!
So thanks ladies for an interesting diversion. Next time let’s make sure that we keep the buddy system!

Battle of the Atlantic Sunday and 100th anniversary of the Canadian Navy

Tomorrow at chapel we will acknowledge the Canadian ships that were sunk during the Battle of the Atlantic.I will be bringing a poster from a few years ago to chapel plus an insert from Canadian geographic that tells the history of the Canadian Navy. It is a neat moment as I know one of the cartographers on the map, Steve Fick. The Tulip Festival starts next week in Ottawa as well.It is celebrating VE Day on Friday May 7th with a street party on Elgin street! The Canadian Tulip Festival in Ottawa will also be celebrating the 65 anniversary of the end of the WW 11.
It will be a fun busy month.

Galilee Centre Arnproir and the National Guild conference April 21 to 25 2010

Well I survived my first Guild conference! I had been hearing about the annual conference for years so finally decided to go. St. George's chapel CFB Petawawa was the host Guild. Doris Graves our Guild President was attending her 19th conference so she held my hand through the process. Paul Graves drove us down from Petawawa with a full truck load of goody bags, a camp fire, several cases of bottled water and juice plus our own suitcases. We stopped at the Timmies in Arnprior for lunch. We arrived at proximately 2 pm to spend the next couple of hours delivering goody bags, room names labels and water to 30 plus women form across Canada.
The noise level increased as groups arrived from Ottawa, Gagetown, Greenwood, Shearwater, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Trenton, Bagotville, Kingston. The evening Meet and Greet was also part of our host duties so several members of our Guild drove down from Petawawa for the evening.

Connections through the ages

It was windy in Pembroke today. My new walking friends had planned to meet at Cafe Ole then walk along the river front. However we decided to find shelter from the wind by walking through town. We walked up one of the cross streets in downtown Pembroke-Moffat and kept on walking to the end. Moffat starts off downtown in the commercial area then crosses close to a couple of churches and winds its way along the Indian River. It is a peninsula on both sides of the river- an oasis of older homes hidden away from the downtown traffic. I had heard via some mutual friends that Suzanne Nadon and Rick Metcalfe, a United church minister couple, had purchased some land at the end of the street and were planning on building their retirement home, insulated with strawbales. Well the rumour was correct as we found them hard at work. One of my walking friends actually knew Suzanne many years ago so they caught up and we had a tour of their property as we climbed over the tree roots and admired the country in the city!

Showcase 2010

Petawawa Grannies had a booth at Showcase, our annual home show in Petawawa. We focused on selling Pashminas, Cashmere Shawls, Grandmothers' Necklace, Traditions, Kids say the cutest things! and tote bags. We also promoted the house concert at Jean Ostrom's home on Sunday May 30th at 7:30 pm. Jean has invited St.Barnabas Church Music team to perform a concert to benefit the Stephen Lewis Foundation. It will be a fun event at her bed and breakfast at 928 Rantz Road Petawawa.
The Showcase is an idea place to network! I met people whom I had not seen in years and was teased by Bob MacKenzie, known as Scouter Bob or Santa Claus.