Salamanders

So, here it is, February of 2022 and we are living in The New Normal. You surely remember the old normal, right? Where there was handshaking, hugging old friends, closeness at concerts, theaters and restaurants, a clean face with no masks, none of that slimy stuff on your hands, travel to other parts of the country and to other countries, all like that. The New Normal talks to being nervous a lot of the time. We are nervous about doing all of the things we were used to before and long to do again. Salamanders has re-opened, after intermittent closures not many of which were dictated by science but more…

A lot has happened since our last blog in January. We were hoping for a better year and so far, our hopes haven’t materialized completely. What appears to be working, finally, is the vaccination campaign, despite the issues with planning and administration. There is a reduction in the number of Covid cases and we appear to be breathing somewhat easier. Another positive sign is the demand for seeds and plants at the local stores. At the farm, we planted three fruit trees and have put in a full garden, complete with Ma and Pa scarecrows, compliments of our grandson Ayden. As we were doing maintenance chores at Salamanders, we noted…

“The Thibert family was pleased to present the art of Gertrude Thibert at Salamanders of Kemptville on 27 and 28 May, 2017. “Gertrude was born the oldest of then children, on the River Road farm to Timothy and Mary McGahey of South Gower Township, Ontario in 1904. As a young woman she obtained her teaching diploma in North Bay as she was too young to attend University. Gertrude was a founding teacher and the first principal of Holy Cross Separate School in Kemptville, Ontario. The school started out as a four room school house in September 1961. Alongside her were the sister-in-law Theresa McGahey and her friend Mary Beach. She…

The idea of a large scale switch off was coined and developed in 2006 as an initiative in Australia to engage the public on the issue of climate change. Originally called “The Big Flick,” the very first Earth Hour was March 31, 2007 at 7:30 pm, local time. In October of that year, San Francisco, California followed suit. 2008 was the first year that Earth Hour was held internationally. Earth Hour 2008 was celebrated on all seven continents. Landmarks all around the world turned off their non-essential lighting for Earth Hour, including: –  Sydney Opera House (Sydney, Australia); –  Empire State Building (New York City); –  Sears Tower (now Willis…

Ahem, now hear this: Wikipedia says that “Salamanders are a group of amphibians typically characterized by a lizard-like appearance, with slender bodies, blunt snouts, short limbs projecting at right angles to the body, and the presence of a tail in both larvae and adults. All present-day Salamander families are grouped together under the scientific name Urodela” (gesundheit!). “Salamander diversity is most abundant in the Northern Hemisphere and most species are found in the Holarctic ecozone, with some species present in the Neotropical zone.” Well ok, so much for that. Meanwhile, if you like watching cooking shows on the tube, especially those that are set in restaurants, you may have people…

The flag over the entrance way to Salamanders of Kemptville is that of the Acadians. It was chosen in Miscouche, Prince Edward Island in 1884 during the second National Acadian Convention. It was proposed by Reverend Marcel-François Richard from Saint-Louis, New Brunswick, President of the 3rd Commission responsible for studying the choice of a national flag for the Acadian people. Acadians are the original French settlers in the area located north of Halifax, Nova Scotia, – the Gaspereau Valley. In 1755, the British carried out the Great Expulsion, deported some 11,500 Acadians and dispersed them across North America. This gave rise to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s poem A Tale of Acadie,…