Happy belated birthday to Lee Dagenais who turned 40 on Jan. 4. I would also like to send out a happy belated birthday wish to Isabell Kluke who turned 69 on Jan. 6.

My deepest sympathy goes out to . . .

Karen Daly on the loss of her husband Daniel Kelly who passed away Dec. 24. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Condolences go out to the family of Raymond Baird who passed away Dec. 20 at the age of 71. He was the beloved husband to Evelyn Tubman and father of Robert (Jodie), stepfather to Wayne Harris (Hillary) and Nancy Harris (Denis Richard).

So sorry to hear of the passing of Olive Monette nee St. Aubin on Dec. 30 at the age of 77.

Also I extend my deepest sympathy to the family of Denise Richard who passed away Jan. 2 at the age of 81.

Sending out a speedy recovery to Jacques Dupuis who landed in to the Ottawa hospital the day before New Year’s and is still there awaiting surgery.

A few days before Christmas my grandson Corben drove his mother Shelley here from Port Carling to spend a week with me. Then on Christmas Eve Carl came with Tao and we all celebrated Christmas together. We had Christmas dinner at Theresa’s and she put on her beautiful roast beef dinner because the boys didn’t want a traditional turkey supper.

This year my grandsons who are 15 and 17 years old wanted us to start them a hope chest for when they leave home after school is finished. I found it rather strange that the boys would ask for this but it didn’t take me long to gather up stuff to get them set up. They got a set of dishes and cutlery from their parents and I supplied roast pans, pots, linens and a whole bunch of other goodies. It’s sort of fun getting them set up. Tao actually wanted a Cuisinart but that’s a big ticket article and he might have to wait a while for that one. I told him that I don’t even have one yet.

Both the boys made all of us handcrafted wood pieces for Christmas. Corben made me and Theresa a beautiful clock and made this old fashioned outhouse for his mom. He made it to scale with an opening door. It could be used as a birdhouse but I think Shelly just wants to keep it as a conversation piece. Tao made Paul a carved fish mounted. Carl got a detailed model car and he made me a sign which he engraved with “Home is where the heart is.” Tao also made Shelley a beautiful little old fashion wheel barrel that can be used as a centerpiece for the table. Shelley said they had worked the whole month of December getting all the projects done and Tao did a lot of his in his bedroom so there’s over an inch of sawdust all over his room. These presents mean more than anything to us because they were made with love.

It was a good thing they brought down two cars because the cars were totally packed full when they left. The boys seemed to be very happy with their gifts. They had to leave Boxing Day to go back because Carl had to work the next morning. It always seems too short of a visit and sure is sad to see them leave.

Then I did a cleanup and washed all the bedding and just in time for my cousin Bob Mayhew and his girlfriend Rachel Beausoleil to arrive on Dec. 28. We had a great visit and we went to aunt Betty’s in Otter Lake for New Year’s Day.She put on a wonderful turkey supper for all of us and Heather Boyd and Terry Kluke came too. We played a few games of cards after supper and had a really enjoyable day.

All my visitors left on Thursday and I got busy and started taking down the Christmas decorations. I just wanted to keep busy because the house was then too quiet.

During the holidays my truck started leaking prestone and I didn’t know what was wrong with it but I didn’t want to bother anybody over the holidays. Bobby Ostrom came and took a look at it after New Year’s and told me it was probably just the thermostat. So I brought it down on Saturday and he changed it for me and hopefully that’s all that’s wrong with it.

While he was fixing my truck, I went and had breakfast with Sharon, Vicky and Darlene Crawford. Vicky had to go back to Montreal and she wanted to leave right after breakfast before it started snowing again.

On Saturday, I went to Bobby Ostrom’s and Jamie Leclaire’s New Year’s party in Shawville. We had a great time.

That last ice storm really damaged a few of my trees in my yard and some of them are going to have to be cut down because now they’re permanently bent. One of them has been so badly bent that it is obstructing the view of people coming out of Hearty Road onto Church Road. So I’m going to try and get someone to cut it before somebody gets in an accident.

I was driving on the Mountain Road or what we Vintonians call the Pinery Road, the other day and noticed that someone has cut down the tree with the big burl on it. I knew it was just a matter of time before somebody got tempted to cut it.

There were quite a few people upset that the dump wasn’t open on Boxing Day or the day after New Year’s in Litchfield. I saw a lot of people driving up loaded to the hilt with garbage especially the day after Christmas only to return home with their loads still on. Most people understand that it was a holiday but couldn’t understand why we weren’t notified ahead of time.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and I wish you all a Happy New Year.