The Cardinal Cafe in Sharbot Lake is presenting a three hour shopping extravaganza tonight from 5-8 pm. Enjoy the friendly, caffienated atmosphere, music by the most famous floutists in Frontenac County, Toute Ensemble, and experience the main event; works by local and regional artisans and designers.

Mariclaro (recycled leather bags and wallets) Willa Murray designs (belts aprons and more), Silver by Laurel Minutillo (silver Jewellery), Sara Brown of Naptime Creations Studio, Natali Claire, Lonesome Dove Ceramics, and more.

This is a first time effort for Cardinal Cafe.

"It is a chance to expand the use of this wonderful space," said Cardinal co-owner Nancy Moore, "and an opportunity for our customers to look for that perfect one of a kind gift."

Coffee, light refreshments, beer and wine will be available.

Families were invited to enjoy refreshments and history as the South Frontenac Museum hosted their second annual Christmas open house over the weekend.

Children were invited to come out to the museum with their families after the Santa Clause parade to explore the museum and even visit with Santa Clause. There were also prizes available and goodies made by society members for visitors to enjoy.

The old schoolhouse was filled with familiar faces and the smell of warm apple cider as members of the Portland District and Area Heritage Society sat around sharing stories and answering questions.

This was the second annual Christmas open house. According to the president of the society, Barbera Stewart, the event had a great turnout last year so they thought they would host it again this year.

The event is one way that the society tries to get residents more interested in their heritage. The society’s director, Lynne Hutcheson, sees a lot of importance in sharing the area’s history with the younger generations.

“It’s important for young people to learn about history period. History repeats itself and you learn a lot from it,” says Hutcheson. “If you look into your ancestor’s history, you know where your roots are from and how you’ve come to be where you are today.”

According to the members, there is a surprising amount of intrigue in these younger generations.

“It’s amazing how interested the little ones are in the pieces,” says Hutcheson. There are often competitions and games set up for the children to get them more involved. They have chances to win prizes while learning a bit more about the history of where they are growing up.

The Portland District and Area Heritage Society was formed in 2002 by a passionate group of individuals who were determined to create a museum for the area. In 2015, the society finally got their wish and the South Frontenac Museum was born.

The group has since organized all kinds of fundraisers, bake sales, displays and even put floats in parades.

The museum had their first anniversary celebration in August of this year, with around 80 people coming out to show their support.

Admission to the museum is by donation and there are always society members available during working hours to answer any questions that guests may have about history in the area.

“There’s a lot of history here,” says Stewart. The old schoolhouse is filled with fascinating artifacts that have been donated by different people in the area.

This open house was the last event that the museum will host for the winter season. It will open again in May and remain open until October.

The Harrowsmith and District Social and Athletic Club hosted its annual Santa Clause parade in Harrowsmith this past Saturday.

The parade started Centennial Park, travelling down Notre Dame Street to Colebrook and back to Road 38 to end back at the park.

The fire department started the parade, followed by the South Frontenac Community Services bus collecting donations for the food drive. The Harrowsmith Free Methodist Church, Kingston District Shrine Club and The Salvation Army were just a few of the many beautifully decorated floats in the parade line this year. The Girl Scouts followed along, dressed as Santa’s reindeer wishing everyone they saw a very merry Christmas.

The parade ended with an appearance from Santa himself riding on the Frontenac Firefighters Association’s float.

Everyone was invited back to Harrowsmith and District Social and Athletic Club afterward to warm up and enjoy free refreshments, compliments of the club’s volunteers.

Every year, the event gets a great crowd of people gathered down the main stretch of Harrowsmith to enjoy the parade line-up. This year was no different.

However, what did change was the parade committee’s director. Don Betke has been a part of the club for many years. He took over organizing the parade this year and did an excellent job according to the Harrowsmith and District Social and Athletic Club’s president Pam Morey.

Morey says that it is events like these that bring people together. “It’s a feel good event,” she says. “It’s nice to see all of the young families coming out… there are lots of new faces here.”

Morey has been in her current role since 2013. She worked with the rest of her club members for months to organize this wonderful community event.

The club is made up of volunteers from all around the township. “We host different community events throughout the year to provide something and somewhere for people to go in their community instead of travelling to Kingston,” says Morey.

Aside from the Santa Clause parade, the club is also in charge of running things like Canada Day celebrations in Centennial Park, dances and different fundraisers.

Morey says that an event like this would take approximately two months of planning and several meetings to ensure that all of the bases are covered and that nothing is left out.

The club encourages other residents in the area to get involved. Morey says she hopes that events like these will inspire people to come out and be more active in their community.

by Susan Ramsay, Early Literacy Specialist

The holiday season is upon us and helping us to explore the celebrations, excitement, and meaning of this special time of year is a whole cast of children’s book characters. Elves, cats, porcupines and more are preparing for the holidays.

‘Twas the month before Christmas
When on many shelves
Not a creature was stirring
Except a wee elf….

“The Elf on the Shelf®: A Christmas Tradition” co-authored by Carol Aebersold, Christa Pitts and Chanda Bell, is a book that comes with a toy elf. After reading the story together the elf perches (with the help of parents) in surprising places every morning leading up to Christmas. The book explains to children that the elf is watching their behaviour for Santa. Yet the elf is also the perfect listener. It hears children’s hopes and dreams too - never interrupting or commenting judgementally. The book and elf spark children’s listening and speaking skills and the elf becomes magical for children as they seek and find the elf every day in unexpected places.

“That is Not My Elf” is a touch and feel board book by Usborne. A brightly coloured elf is pictured on each page with different textures. These textures entice babies and toddlers to explore the book with their hands, as well as their eyes, and ears as they listen to the simple text.

Eric Litwin’s “Pete the Cat” books have hit a chord with thousands of parents, children and educators.  Pete the Cat stories emphasize beat and rhythm in their telling and each can be sung to a catchy tune. In “Pete the Cat Saves Christmas” Pete’s desire to help comes through as an uplifting message for children in this repeated refrain:
“And although I am small, at Christmas we give; so I’ll give it my all.”

Modernized versions of traditional poems and songs have special appeal to beginning readers. Familiar rhythm, words and storyline help children feel more confident that the words they are reading are correct. Repeated phrases in these stories also reinforce reading skills.

Author Helaine Becker and illustrator Werner Zimmerman have teamed up to create three modernized versions of traditional holiday songs. “Deck the Halls: A Canadian Christmas Carol” is their newest book featuring a Canadian porcupine that is preparing for a holiday party. This same porcupine experiences a completely different adventure in “Dashing Through the Snow: A Canadian Jingle Bells” when he dashes through the snow in a rusty old Ski-Doo. In “A Porcupine in a Pine Tree: A Canadian Twelve Days of Christmas” Porcupine sits among pine needles when, “on the first day of Christmas, my true love gives to me a porcupine in a pine tree.”

Children who are a little older may appreciate “Walk this World at Christmastime” by Debbie Powell. Powell has created an advent calendar within a book. For the first 25 days of December children open a new flap in the book that reveals tidbits of information about festive holidays throughout the world. Pictures and words explore traditions in countries throughout North America, South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, and Australia. This is a great book for sparking children’s interests and conversations and for broadening children’s awareness of other peoples, cultures and geography.

Books and stories, whether traditional, revised or brand new, can be an important part of children’s preparations for Christmas, Hanukah, or any other special day. Reading with your child can cost nothing; yet it is a gift that will last a lifetime.

Susan Ramsay is the Early Literacy Specialist for Hastings, Frontenac, Lennox & Addington. You can contact her at 613-354-6318 (ext 32)  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Last week we launched our exploration of 28 Ontario Craft Beers, one a day between November 27 and December 24th, an advent calendar that, although not as sobering as Pope Francis has called for this year, at least shows a measure of restraint, just the one beer each day. This week, we continue.

Sunday, December 4th – Sunday night, anxiety over the week to come is creeping in, so a nice Porter is in order. Barley Days, of Picton, specializes in British style ales. Their Yuletide Cherry Porter is not overly sweet and has a hint of cherry flavour. The taste is pleasant, the balance is good and it is a medium density beer, enough to take the edge off but not so much as to send you to bed early.

Monday, December 5 – Sorry folks but I need to take care of myself on a Monday Night, and that means a double IPA, also known as an Imperial IPA or a Triple IPA. These are big beers, high in bitterness, alcohol and fruity flavours. They tend to be cloudy as well. Some people find them too strong, usually over 8% and some find them too hoppy (ie bitter, bitter, bitter) But for me the alcohol settles down the bitterness and the haziness and fruitiness make them ideal. On this night, I’m sticking with one of the larger independents, Muskoka Brewery. They make three kinds of IPA, a light one, called Detour, which is 4% alcohol, their flagship beer Mad Tom IPA, an austere 6% beer, and they also make my favourite, and one of my wife Martina’s all time favourites, Twice as Mad Tom (8.4%). I can’t sip it. Lots of flavour, lots of hops, lots of weight. Brewers Retail have Mad Tom, and LCBO stores either have or can order in the Twice as Mad Tom.

Tuesday, December 6th. Truth is, I never drink beer at all on Tuesdays, because of work, but if I did I might consider a Radler, and the best Radler that is widely available is made by Rickard’s, which is a division of Molson-Coors, and is not a craft beer at all. It is however, a not too sweet version of a drink that is almost more of a mixed drink than a beer. It is beer mixed with grapefruit juice to be precise, and at 3% is designed to be drunk while cycling or exercising. It makes a great cocktail, or a Tuesday beer. Wednesday, December 7 – A beer I just tried, Franken Stout by Block 3 Brewing Company of St. Jacobs is rich and flavourful like a milk stout, but it has relatively low alcohol (5%) and has a very dry, clean finish. The name refers to a region in Germany where the style was developed, and has nothing at all to do with Frankenstein.

Thursday, December 8 – time for another beer that will please all the Canadian style beer drinkers while satisfying more adventurous palates. Creemore Springs, technically no longer a craft brewery because they were bought out by a major brewery who has left them alone, they brew the best lager and Pilsner’s in Ontario, and once a year they put out a dark Brown Urbock. It shares many of the qualities of balance and crispness with the other Creemore Beers, but with some more malty, sweet flavour and 6% alcohol. It is in the LCBO stores now.

Friday, December 9 – I’ll go with one of the first Ontario beers I ever really savoured. From Wellington Brewery, just like last week, but this time it is the Iron Duke. Almost a Barley wine, although with much less alcohol, Iron Duke is dark, sweet and malty, not bitter at all. It is a beer to sit on the couch with, however,  a Friday night necessity.

Saturday, December 10th – It might be time, with two weeks left in the season, to bring out one of the heavy weights. Back to Muskoka for the second time this week, this time for the Winter Beard Double Chocolate Cranberry Stout. 8% alcohol but feels like more, lots of chocolate flavour cut with cranberry, a big beer in every way. It costs $12 for a 750 ml bottle so sharing is a good idea. Full of flavour, it actually saves money by taking the place of dessert, cognac and coffee. Once again, even with all that is added to this beer, the brewers manage to balance it all out and make a beer that leaves no off flavours in the palate. Full and smooth.

(See you next week)

Members of the Frontenc Fury had lots of fun with Santa at the Sydenham Santa Claus Parade on Saturday (November 26) The Sydenham parade was the first to be held locally, and will be followed by parades in Harrowsmith, Sharbot Lake, and Northbrook on Saturday morning (Dec. 3), Denbigh and North Frontenac on Saturday night, and Parham/Tichborne on Sunday afternoon (Dec. 4)

I know little about Advent, except for the calendars with chocolates that kids love to get at this time of year.
But last year I read that one enterprising beer retailer had put together a 24 pack international beer advent 'calendar'. Each beer came from a different brewer, and was meant to be consumed one-a-night in the run up to Christmas.

This seemed to me to be a step up from chocolates, and indeed there are all sorts of advent products available. When I did a little bit of research however, I found that none of these advent products really lives up to the original concept of Advent. Actually, they run counter to it.

According to the Advent entry in Christianity Today,  advent is “a time for Christians to contemplate both Christ’s first coming to the world as baby and his return in glory. It’s also a time to reflect on important foundations of the Christian faith, including the Incarnation and the Virgin Birth.”

It's roots are closer to lent than to a chocolate eating or beer drinking binge.

And as recently as this week, Pope Francis extolled Catholics to take a turn away from the material to contemplate the spiritual this advent season.

Advent is an invitation “to sobriety, to not be dominated by the things of this world, to material reality, but rather to govern them,” Pope Francis said last Sunday in St. Peter's Square.

The only thing I can say in response to this, other than abandoning my quest for the perfect virtual Ontario craft beer advent calendar, is that I am only talking about drinking a single beer each day between now and Christmas Eve. There is an element of restraint there.

My rules for the virtual calendar are that the beer must be brewed in Ontario, the beers need to exemplify different styles, and they must be of high quality.  It is really an excuse to celebrate the culture of brewing that has come a long way in Ontario over the last 10, even 5 years, and a chance to talk about how easy or difficult it is to get some of the best beer in the province. I do not talk about the cost of these beers, however, which can range from $2.50 for a standard bottle to $10 or more for a 650 or 750 ml bottle. While you might say this is a lot of money to spend on a beer, these beers are not meant to be drunk in bulk. One is often enough. And when the prices are compared to the price of wine, the most expensive of them is still as cheap or cheaper than a pretty pedestrian bottle.

Thanks to changes in the way beer is marketed in Ontario, there are now four places to go to find craft beer. The Brewers Retail Stores have started stocking some, the LCBO is doing a better job stocking a wider variety, large grocers, particularly Loblaws are expanding their range of beer all the time, and the best place to get a good taste of a breweries wares is at the breweries themselves, which often include brewpubs.

Beer has come back to its roots as a regional product in this way. Some of the best beer in Ontario is only available by travelling to places such as Toronto or Windsor, or even Kenora.

Of the 25 Ontario beers that have the highest rating on the Ratebeer website, only a few are widely available. Others can be obtained through special order through the LCBO, and others can only be purchased at the brewery where they are produced. Nine beers on the list are brewed by Bellwoods, a Toronto brewery that has two locations, a few blocks apart from each other. As small batch brewers in a big city full of hipster beer drinkers, Bellwoods can barely keep up. In a time when we expect everything we desire to be one click away, it is both frustrating and refreshing. Frustrating because I can’t get the beer unless I drive to Toronto and refreshing because if I ever do get there I will really have worked up a thirst.

So, unless I can get someone to visit from Toronto and bring some, no Bellwoods beers will be on my virtual advent list.

Fortunately there are a couple of dozen Ontario brewers who have invested in larger scale canning and bottling. In the last year or two, many craft breweries have amde some of their most popular beers available in 500 ml cans. These beers are the more commercial offerings by these brewers, but as the market gets more sophisticated, canned beers are tasting better and better.

Here are the Advent beers for the first week, November 27 to December 3 (you may have to go back in time to sync up with the Advent calendar)

Sunday, November 27 – Collective Arts – Ransack the Universe IPA
This beer has been available at the LCBO in Sharbot Lake. It is a relatively strong beer at 6.8% alcohol, so drink only one folks, after all it is  Sunday Night.  I chose it to start with Ransack the Universe because although it is a hoppy beer it has a lot of sweetness and fruitiness and the alcohol gives it body. So for those, and there are many, who taste only the bitter finish when they try an India Pale Ale (IPA) for the first time, keep with this beer to the third or fourth sip before giving up. The depth of flavour and that hazy grapefruit/mango taste will be your reward.

Monday, November 28 NickleBrook Belgian Style Traditional Farm House Ale – no bitter finish to worry about here. It's a Belgian style beer so it has a slighlty sour/sweet nose to it and a frothy lightness, balanced by some heaviness that comes from 5.7% alcohol. A good way to face the fact that another work week is well underway.

Tuesday – We're going to give the traditional Canadian beer drinkers something to drink tonight, and introduce the biggest beer success story in Eastern Ontario with Beau's All Natural Lug Tread. This is a great transition for the Canadian/Ex/Blue drinker looking for a bit more flavour. It's a lagered ale, and while it hits the tongue like a 'canadian golden style ale' it has a hint of extra bitterness and a rounder, maltier flavour. It is the beer that helped launch a brewery that has consistently produce superbly balanced beers, even when they experiment with different flavours and techniques. We’ll get back to Beau’s before we get to Christmas.

Wednesday – Middle of the week, time for an Oatmeal Stout, Stone City Ales of Princess Street in Kingston makes a pretty smooth version, called Ships in the Night. It is available in 32 and 64 ounce growlers, which can be consumed over a few days as long as they are tightly closed each time, and smaller bottles as well. It is black and flavourful, not too heavy at 5.5% alcohol but has a lot more flavour than a canned Guinness or Murphy's  without being overpowering. If you are making beef or lamb stew, use it liberally in the stew and then drink it with the stew.

Thursday – Don't push it, the weekend is not here yet. Wellington Breweries of Guelph are one of the oldest of the Ontario craft breweries. While they make all sorts of unusual beers these days, including a Black Currant Kettle Sour we will talk about later, one of their flagship beers is Arkell Best Bitter, a traditional British Ale, not in the bitter range of an IPA, but a good mix of sweet and hoppy with a mild finish and less than 5% alcohol. You can even drink two of these. they go down easy.

Friday – Time to get a bit more serious. Flying Monkey Brewery out of Barrie make some well known IPA's and Stouts, and have the distinction of briefly being censored by the LCBO for the name of their Smashbomb beer, but I'm going with their Netherworld Cascadian Dark Ale. It is a pretty heavy (6% alcohol), malty, flavourful beer, more sweet than bitter, and well suited to a Friday Night on the couch.

Saturday – Last beer of the week, and the first Imperial Stout on the List. We'll go with one from Cambridge and the Grand River Brewery, the Russian Gun, which is available at LCBO stores in the fall. It is a heavy beer, 8% alcohol, coal black with a tan head. It tastes a bit of coffee and chocolate but mostly malt.  While it is heavy, it is a bit lighter than a lot of other Imperial Stouts. See you next week.

The Tay Valley Community Choir is pleased to once again stage a Christmas concert, this year titled An 1816 Christmas to help celebrate the 200th Anniversary of the founding of Tay Valley Township. The Choir has selected a series of songs for everyone to enjoy, ranging from some that the settlers of long ago might have sung to help them through “the bleak mid-winter,” to modern-day arrangements that spread joy around the hearth. 

“For this concert our choir will be even larger than last year’s,” says conductor Rebecca Worden. “Get ready for a big holiday sound that will reach out and embrace you! Also come ready to sing along with favourites for this time of year. We're really looking forward to a beautiful evening in Maberly Community Hall!”

Accompanying the choir once again will be skilled pianist, Mary Lou Carroll. Several choir members will have solo singing opportunities and joining as a special guest will be flautist Jane Cunningham. As well, word has it that Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus—and possibly also The Grinch—will make an appearance! Oh, and The Andrew Sisters and Elvis will be on hand, too!

An 1816 Christmas will take place Saturday December 10th at 7:00pm at Maberly Community Hall.  Admission is $10 per person and refreshments will be on hand following the concert. Food or other donations to The Table can be made that evening and will be most welcome. Special thanks to Tay Valley Township and Blue Skies in the Community for supporting this event!

(The article below is a write up from last year's 101 Nativities - The 2017 celebration, which will feature over 300 Nativities, is set for November 24th (evening)   November 25 and November 26 (daytime) EAch child can make thier own nativity in the craft room. Free entry and free refreshments - including home baking.)

When Jean Freeman started up 101 Nativities at the Cole Lake Free Methodist Church in 2010 she wanted to gather up as many nativity scenes as she could, from her own collection and those of friends, neighbours, and other parishioners from her church and other churches around the region.

Putting them all together into a display for public viewing in mid-November was her way of kicking off the Christmas season by focusing in on the most intimate aspect of the tradition, the birth of Jesus Christ.

“Before all of the commercial sales and everything else gets underway we thought this display of 101 Nativities, which was just a number we hoped to get to at the time, would set a bit of a mood for the season.”

Pretty quickly, it worked.

“Some children come here on opening night all dressed up. It's an event they look forward to all year,” she said on Saturday afternoon (November 19) as the show was ending its second day this year.

Freeman is joined by Kristine Caird along with a number of other volunteers in organising the show every year. This year there were 230 Nativity scenes laid out on tables and on a newly constructed display featuring 10 foot long recently milled rustic shelving that was made by a relative to help set off the scenes.

“We spend a lot of time in the couple of days before the show moving the different Nativities around so they look just right, and everyone works at it. Each morning I find it has changed because someone has had an idea and has moved things around, which is all part of making it just so,” said Caird.

The organisers never know if a crowd will come out, and this year the weather was so nice on the Saturday that they were worried the crowds would be thinner than normal, followed by a stormy Sunday.

“We are a tradition for people now,” said Caird, “and people seem to make it out at some point in the weekend to see their favourites, to see what is new this year, and even for the treats and coffee.”

The displays have a local and an international theme, with some displays coming from far afield (Africa, Europe, Israel, Haiti, South America) while others were purchased locally or hand-made. They are made of many different materials as well; ceramic, glass, wood, even coconut shells.

“One of the reasons we hold it so early is so people can have their Nativities back for their own displays. We get nervous about making sure nothing gets lost or damaged, especially as we grow every year, but so far we have a good record,” said Caird.

“It is a lot quicker to take down than it is too put up,” she added.

So far, the name 101 Nativities has held up, even through there were over 230 this year, but as they get closer to 300, pressure may mount to re-name the event. By 2025 we could be reporting on the Cole Lake 500.

On December 6, the voices of the 45 members of the Tay Valley Community Choir filled the Maberly Hall with the sounds of joy in the group's 23rd concert to date.

The choir, which was formed in the fall of 2004, has been performing a wide and diverse repertoire, and their annual holiday concert, which this year was titled “Sing in the Joy”, as usual attracted a full house to the Maberly hall.

The four-part choir opened the concert with a tune aptly called “Open Up”, with various soloists singing the verse and the entire choir joining in in unison, and with celebratory hand clapping, which set the tone for a joyous afternoon of song. The group began by lining the walls of the hall, enveloping the listeners in their warm sound as they made their way onto the stage. A fancily clad Town Crier (Paddy O'Connor), also a member of the group, introduced the choir and the group's relatively new conductor, Rebecca Worden, who took over the baton from Grace Armstrong in the fall of 2014.

Worden is a capable and enthusiastic conductor and it was her third concert with the choir.

The program included an African song sung in Swahili, the title of which translates to “Grant Us Peace and Prosperity”. The choir gave the audience many opportunities to join in for a number of favorite carols that included “Joy to the World”, “Jingle Bells” and “White Christmas”. The choir was at their jazziest in tunes like “Christmas Time is Here”, the heart-warming tune written by Lee Mendelson and Vince Guaraldi and made famous by Peanuts, as well an exceptional version of “Sleigh Ride” that was also arranged with jazz at its heart.

The singers also took on a number of challenging classical pieces like the “Carol of the Bells”.

The group was accompanied on piano by Yu Kwei, who is currently doing a musical internship with the choir. Kwei was joined in a few numbers by Bob Leviton on guitar and a number of choir members also played bells, drums and other instruments to give added depth and colour to the program.

The eight-member group known as Fiddlers and Friends then took to the stage, donned with holiday head gear and they performed a number of tunes from their accomplished repertoire that included “Red Wing” and “The Log Driver's Waltz”. Lois Webster and her puppet pal were front and center for the tune “Maple Sugar” and the group also performed a composition written by group member Marily Seitz titled “Laurie's Delight”, which she penned for her daughter.

One of the concert highlights was the joining of the two groups for “Lulabye Noelle”, in which the entire hall became a stereophonic hall of sound and the audience was engulfed from all sides by instrumental and vocal sound.

Highlights in the choir's second half included John Rutter's “Angels Carol” and “Cool Yule”, which was also memorable.

They finished off the afternoon by dimming the lights, holding up tea-lit candles and singing “Silent Night”, which is a long-time tradition for the group. The choir, who practice regularly on Monday nights, are always looking for new singers and are also presently looking for a new accompanist. Those interested can visit www.tayvalleychoir.com