Help Kids to Remember on Remembrance Day
Family Fun: Helping kids remember
“Those who don’t learn our history, tend to repeat it,” says Stefanie Conway of North Alton.
Continue Reading in my bi-weekly family fun column in the Advertiser Journal...
Fill a Box with Cheer: Help Local People in Need this Christmas
Fill a Box of Cheer: The Local Option
Two things happened.
It all started earlier last year when we read a CBC news article about the Operation Christmas Child program. Volunteers were being made to sign a statement of faith that they were against legal abortions for women and same-sex marriage.
Yes, this is still happening!
We had participated in this program for several years, but learning this new information, it didn’t sit well with us.
Then, through Valley Family Fun, I was constantly getting emails asking how people could help others locally during the holiday season. With a 25% poverty rate in the Kentville area alone, we decided to shift focus and help those in need right here in our own backyards.
Enter my friend Candy.
I have known Candy O’Brien forever and a day, and have always admired the great work she did with the Evangeline Club (A recreation society which provides mental health consumers and those who feel isolated with social programs, resources, and support) and the Canadian Mental Health Association, Kings County Branch.
We sat down and came up with our own program called Fill a Box of Cheer: The Local Option.
During the holidays, we have many great organizations in the Valley that help children and families in need. Salvation Army, Kinsmen, Lions and Christmas Angels, to name a few.
However, there are people who aren’t part of a family and fall through the cracks and often get missed during the holidays.
We decided to target a few organizations. The boxes will be divided equally between Kings County organizations including
Canadian Mental Health Association
Here’s how to help
Start with any sized box and fill it with a combination of any of the following items for adults:
- Toiletries: toothbrush, toothpaste, floss, deodorant, shampoo, body wash, small packs of tissues, feminine hygiene products, razors
- Clothing: socks, slippers, gloves, hats, mittens
- Stationery: pencils, pens, notebook, coloured pencils, markers
- Gifts: instant coffee, mug, food gift cards, candy, gum, cards, adult colouring books
You don’t even have to fill a full box! If you have partial items you want to donate, we will distribute them amongst the other boxes!
Filled, unwrapped boxes can be dropped at any of the following locations:
- Berwick Recreation Department, 236 Commercial Street (Berwick Town Hall)
- Canning Village Office, 977 J Jordan Rd, Canning
- Holiday Cheer Workshop, County Fair Mall, New Minas (former Wicker Emporium location)
- Kentville Town Hall, 354 Main Street
- Louis Millet Community Complex, 9489 Commercial Street, New Minas
- PeopleWorx Society, 11 Opportunity Lane, Coldbrook
- Port Williams Village Office, 1045 Main Street, Port Williams
- Wolfville Town Hall, 359 Main St, Wolfville
This year, we have been given an empty space in the County Fair Mall to store, sort and pack all of our boxes! We will have a few drop off days at the mall, and then call for volunteers in early December to help sort and wrap!
For more information, just email me at info@valleyfamilyfun.ca
Last year we collected over 500 boxes! I’m sure this year will be even bigger!
Deadline: December 5, 2018.
Gaspereau Canal Walking Trail
Gaspereau Canal Walking Trail
This is where things get confusing.
The Gaspereau Canal Trail is NOT in Gaspereau. It’s actually on the way to New Ross. But, it hugs the Gaspereau River.
We had done this trail in the past, but the kids were really little, so we thought we should try it again and blog about it.
We followed the instructions off a couple of different websites and have combined the best route in the information below.
How to Get There
Drive Route 12 towards New Ross. From the highway 101 interchange, it is about 13 KM down the road.
Drive until you see the sign that says you are in the community of Forrest Home.
Immediately across the road is a small parking area with a yellow metal gate.
You can park in there, but be careful not to block any roadways. Alternatively, you can park further down the road by the river and walk back to this location.
The Trail
Go around the yellow gate and follow this woods road. This will be the main trail artery.
This is a screenshot of the map of the trail from Trailpeak.
Follow the woods road east approximately 1 km through a softwood forest until you see the trail entrance on your right.
As you are walking, there will be 2 cleared openings that will definitely look like this trail entrance. THEY ARE NOT.
The trail entrance is at the bottom of the hill, after you go over a small brook with a depth gauge.
Follow this road across and almost afterwards, immediately on your right you will see a path. NOT a road entrance way.
The path is marked by an old wooden structure and some planks of wood.
You will have to cross a small metal bridge.
And then head up the path. The brook will be on your left.
At the top of this path, the lake will be in front of you, and a large dam to your right.
Keep going straight along the edge of the lake.
This will loop around and come to a long wooden bridge.
Continue along this path (you do not have to go across the bridge), and after a short while, the path will take you back to the main artery.
If you continue to the right, it will take you further into the woods.
Eventually, you have to turn around and come back, so this is a great time to just turn LEFT at this junction and follow the woods road back to your car.
Details
Doing this loop will take you approximately 45 minutes and is about 3-4 km.
We did a lot of offshoots to try to find the best trail to write about, so it’s hard to determine the length exactly.
The trails is easy to follow, and the path is wide and would be suitable for an off-roading stroller.
Tips From an Expert
KB, a Valley Family Fun follower lives close to this trail and offers the following advice:
Be careful. There is one guy (at least) for sure who hunts on it. And I have seen both bears and coyotes on it and plenty of tracks. I ALWAYS wear bear bell when on this trail to make noise to scare off the wildlife. I haven’t met coyote or bear on that exact loop, but I have just in from there, so it’s better to be safe than sorry, and know what to do if you meet one- act big, make noise, stomp your feet. Do NOT turn your back and run!
Take a longer route. If you continue on instead of turning around, it follows the canal on a sandy path all the way to Little River Lake (about 6km in though, so it’s not a kid hike all the way there!)
Be prepared for the seasons. Spring is so buggy that it’s insane to try and walk on it, running is okay, late July and August makes it unbearable due to horseflies unless you are full on running without stopping to walk, and for snowshoeing it’s great except that the parking lot doesn’t get plowed, so you either need to park down the road at the dam and walk back to it, or if the shoulder of hwy 12 is plowed enough you may be able to pull far enough over to park, but I generally don’t because traffic on hwy 12 is kind of nuts. In June you may see snapping turtles egg laying!
The Gaspereau Canal is a great place to discover and is open year-round. I will definitely be back to snowshoe here!
**NOTE from the landowner:
I happen to be the private landowner on the Gaspereau Canal Trail. Some years ago I found it necessary to ask that no ATV’s used the trail due to destruction of roadways and no willingness to repair them. So it was posted and continues to be posted. After a few
growing pains in this mode, the trail seems to have found its niche.
I was up yesterday cleaning a property line and mowing along the most
prominent roadway. I have found on the last few visits that the property
has been used more and more by dog owners to run their animals. They
tell me how much they appreciate the chance to just let them go without
encountering motorized vehicles. I am just passing this on because it
may be a useful scenario in other areas.
One other advantage on this trail, at least on my property, is the
remarkable lack of ticks. A tick has to see the sky, and I have a good
overstory of mature trees. Adjoining properties where clearcutting in
the last forty years or other openings occur are not so lucky.
It’s Official! We’re Moving to Wales!
It’s Official! We’re Moving to Wales!
When I announced last February that we were moving to Wales, I probably jumped the gun and made the announcement too early! It confused a lot of people, thinking we were leaving soon.
It was on my mind, and I needed to write about it!
Read my post about Moving to Wales
Since that post in February, a lot has happened!
I can officially announce that we leave for Wales on January 9th, returning on June 7th!
And, yes. We do have someone living in our house and looking after our dog, lest you think our house will be sitting empty!
Here’s what we know
We will be living in northern Wales. David’s sister and brother-in-law have generously allowed us to use their cottage as our home base!
This is an old chapel that they renovated into a beautiful home!
We will be using this as our home base, and then traveling to other parts of Great Britain (England, Scotland, Ireland) and maybe to France and the rest of Europe.
The boys will be home schooled.
We talked about enrolling the boys in school in Wales, but because we will be traveling a lot, and are only there for 5 months, we have instead decided to home school them.
We have been working closely with the boys’ school, and they have been AMAZING! They will find ways to integrate the boys into the classroom through Skype, and will give some assignments and curriculum outcomes to do while away.
Another teacher is creating a penpal system with the boys and her students will write questions for the boys to answer through Skype, letters or through YouTube videos.
We are Finding Community Activities
I have been in touch with staff from the local library and recreation centre who have been incredible! They have provided us with so much information about what is happening in terms of reading clubs, art lessons, and recreational activities!
Once we are on the ground, we will explore these more fully!
We are Doing our Research
A huge shout out to our brother-in-law Paul who has been doing so much research for us, to help us find all the great deals and what’s happening around the UK. Our nieces have been so helpful with all their knowledge.
It makes a big difference when we are going somewhere we already know people and have connections!
David will be working with Bangor University
David will be connected with the University of Bangor on the North coast of Wales. He will not be full-time teaching, but perhaps giving some lectures and teaching a few classes. He will be doing work on a research project on mining whilst there.
We will be Home Before School is Out
We will be home on June 7th. This way the boys can finish the last 3 weeks at school here before the summer break.
Valley Family Fun
I will still be running Valley Family Fun from a distance, but will be taking a break from my other contracts.
We will be blogging about our activities, and including lots of videos, so check the site often!
Now, still to do are the passports and some more paperwork, and we are almost ready to go! If you find yourself in Wales or Northern England, be sure to look us up!
How to tie dye tshirts
How to Tie-Dye T-Shirts
Kids love making tie-dyed shirts.
When we were in high school, my sister and I used to do this quite frequently. Ok, we may or may not have tie-dyed our underwear, too!
Every few years, when the kids outgrow their shirt, we know it’s time to do the craft over again!
Here is what you’ll need
- Item to tie-dye: t-shirt, scarf, or yes, underwear! Michaels always has plain cheap t-shirts
- Fabric dye – I used to find this in the grocery store, but this year could only find it in Michaels.
- Rubber gloves
- Elastic bands and/or white string
- Buckets and squeeze bottles
These are the best instructions on how to tie-dye
Start by mixing the dye in buckets.
There is a lot of dye in one package, so do not use it all.
When I did this with 15+ children, I only used half the package. If just doing it with a few kids, use 1/4 of the package.
Fill the bucket with warm water and add the powder. I didn’t measure. I just eyeballed it and stirred.
Pour the dye carefully into squeeze bottles.
I got these bottles from the dollarstore. In fact, we also use these bottles in the winter. I fill them with water and food colouring so they can paint the snow. Great supplies to have on hand!
Have the kids prepare their cloth. The link above shows you a few different techniques, but we go for the basic one.
Grab some material and wrap a rubber band around it.
You can also wrap string around the bunches of cloth, and tie it off. It leaves a slightly different pattern. Everywhere the cloth is hidden by the elastic, the material will be clear of dye.
When you have enough elastics in to your liking, you are ready to start dying.
The dye WILL stain.
So, make sure kids are wearing old clothes, or put an apron on them. Have them wear rubber gloves.
Set out the bottles of dye and get the kids to start adding colour to their t-shirt.
You don’t need very much, as the colour will spread.
Once you are happy with how much dye you have on and your colour patterns, you are finished!
Put each t-shirt in a plastic bag, and tie it up and leave it over night. This helps the colour to set.
The next day, remove the elastics and string and rinse out the dye. Some of the colour will bleed into the white areas.
Wash the t-shirts separately. I think we did this twice.
Then, your newly created t-shirt is ready to wear!
Lessons Learned from the Election
Lessons Learned from the Election
What a whirlwind it has been over the past few months, leading up to the municipal and town elections here in Nova Scotia.
Back in January 2016, I had the great pleasure of meeting Sandra Snow at a town meeting. She lives up the street from me, so we walked home together, and thus our friendship began.
I told her I would do what I could to help her win this election. Looking at the voter demographics and seeing so few 30-40 year olds voted, I said the way to win the election is by getting my generation to care enough to vote.
I volunteered to help Sandra Snow (and Lynn Pulsifer and Cathy Maxwell) with their communications. Using everything I learned with my Public Relations degree and all my social media background, I feel I was successfully able to help put their messages out there in the public forum.
There were MANY ups and downs. And, there were MANY lessons learned.
Here are the key lessons learned. I want to remember them in case I do decide to run for local politics in the future. Maybe you will learn something, too!
Tell People Why They Should Care
You need to tell people why they should care.
We are all busy, and have families, jobs and not two minutes to ourselves, let alone time to sit down and research all the issues and platforms of all the candidates.
Point out what the key issues are, especially for your demographic, and what is being done, isn’t being done, or could be done.
Many people wrote to me saying they would have just voted for the status quo because nothing bad seemed to be happening in town, and everything looked good.
However, there is a lot happening behind the scenes, and sometimes you need to point it out and give people a reason to care and take notice.
Door to Door Canvassing Works
Kudos to all those candidates who do go door to door knocking and introducing themselves. That takes bravery. Putting yourself out there is brave. Be respectful to those who come to your door, even if you don’t agree with them.
I heard so many people say they were only voting for those who bothered to come to their door. It’s an important part of the election process!
One candidate recommended taking a pocketful of dog treats!
Signs
When you see that one candidate has so many signs out, you automatically think they are winning.
As I said to my boys, it just means they spent more money on signs!
Signs are expensive, and in the end they end up at the landfill. However, out of sight, out of mind, and you need to remind people you are running.
Signs should not be a competition. Please be respectful of others’ signs. If you are a resident and don’t agree with a certain candidate, don’t trash their signs!
Candidates, please get permission before putting up a sign on someone’s lawn. I heard many complaints about signs just appearing over night!
And, please do not purposely take a sign (or 6) and block another candidate’s sign. People can see what you are trying to do.
It’s all about respect.
In the end, it’s not about the number of signs you have out. Sandra Snow had 15 signs (plus the ones made by local artist Dennis Ramsay that people personally bought from him). Several of the candidates who had the most votes used signs strategically.
It’s the quality of your message and how you reach people.
Social Media has Power
I really think that social media defined the 2016 election. It is an easy and direct way to share information to a wide audience.
In this day and age, it is essential candidates have a Facebook page and make regular posts about their campaign.
With social media comes the possibility that people will write nasty comments on your Facebook wall. They question remains what to do with those comments.
If you delete them, you will be accused of “blocking freedom of expression”. If you respond to them, they will open up the door for further comments from people whose minds who cannot change. Lesson learned: take the high road and leave them up, and respond to any genuine questions.
Talk About What you are Going To Do Not What Others are Not
We had this conversation a lot.
The main focus should be on what you are going to do.
Focus on what you are planning to do for the community, rather than pointing out what others are not doing. Focus on yourself and your own campaign.
Negative Campaigns
No matter what you do, you will be accused of running a negative campaign.
Despite what I just said, pointing out flaws in policy and practices, or drawing attention to things that aren’t being done are sometimes necessary. But, in doing so, you will be accused of running a smear or negative campaign.
Sometimes the truth hurts.
If the media picks up a story about another candidate, you will be blamed for it. Sometimes, you just can’t win!
Your Words Are Never Your Own
I learned this the very hard way. Many times things I said got twisted and turned like a children’s game of telephone. Stories change in the telling and sometimes people want to see a certain meaning and so they see a certain meaning.
When you are a public figure, or openly giving your opinion, your words are no longer your own.
Be Careful What You Post
When you are on social media, you need to be very careful what you post. Often times people, especially those under 30 (but not exclusively) will post things without thinking about the consequences. People post things they would never say in person.
Once your post is out there, it’s out there, and you never know how people are going to use it, or remember it.
When you are going for that job interview down the road, employers DO look at your Facebook account. Make sure you say everything with integrity and stand by what you write.
Whenever I posted something, I kept thinking of someone in a nearby town whose Facebook comment from several years prior was misconstrued and it forced him to withdraw from the race. Again, your words are never your own once they are out there.
Thick Skin
To be in politics you need to have thick skin. I know I had many things said about me, and I wasn’t even running!
People will make comments. People are passionate about ideas and their community. People will say just about anything on social media.
You can’t take it all personally, or you will never get anywhere.
That being said, the amazingly positive comments I heard far outweighed all of the negative things!
Remember, We All have to Live Together
In the end, remember, we all have to live together.
When you make negative comments about someone, remember you might have to work with them or their daughter, or live next to their mother.
It’s a small town, and no matter the election results, when it’s all said and done, we all need to work together and live together.
The real winner is the town and our community!
Read the Kentville 2016 Election Results in the Advertiser here.
