cktimes.ca Archives for Notes from a Garage


Notes from a Garage

With John Gardiner

Another busy week, Lobsterfest at Mitchell's Bay and helping make cancer history

Tuesday, June 24, 2003

It's been another extremely busy week for cktimes and its tiny staff – me! I've been busy running all over Chatham-Kent gathering up your good news stories. And there are plenty of them. Great to get together with organizations like Junior Achievement and Block Parents and have a chance to help tell your stories. I continue to believe there's as much good news happening on this old planet as there is bad news and it's my sacred trust to try to bring that good news to you. I was talking about this good news/bad news thing with a friend the other day. He said he doesn't like the bad news because it depresses him – I told him I think it reaches deeper than that. I think it has to do with a control issue. It's one thing to hear some bad news and to be able to do something about it. It's another thing to hear bad news and you know there isn't a darned thing you can do about it – and that includes most of the news we hear and see these days. I feel this leads to a feeling of helplessness and frustration in most people. And that's the way most people go through their days these days – feeling darned frustrated about the lack of control they have over their lives. Anyway, just one more reason to try to get away from the bad news – there's just way too much of it and you can't do a darned thing about most of it. I know this sounds like burying your head in the sand, but it's really not. If you turn off the traditional news and give up reading the dailies, you'll be surprised how much information you pick up simply by osmosis. Take my word for it – it really works.

Great event out at the Mitchell's Bay Marina this past Saturday evening as Sunrise Rotary of Chatham held a Lobsterfest. Now, apparently the Lobsterfest was the brainchild of Rotarian Mike Poulin, but it didn't hurt to have Rotarian Michael Hunter there for the evening. After all, Michael and his wife, Stephanie, are the proprietors of Stargazers on the Thames and if anyone knows how to cook lobster, it should be those two. Anyway, about 140 people attended the event, plus the lobster that were flown in from the East Coast especially for the evening. I ran a few Cajun nights in Wallaceburg as part of the Wallaceburg Arts Council and they were a lot of fun for people who enjoy seafood. This promises to be an annual event and I'd get my tickets early next year if I were you. It's sure to be a sell-out. By the way, who's the loneliest person at a Lobsterfest? Answer: the guy flipping the steaks. And out at Mitchell's Bay it was Rotarian Bill Wickham of Bulldog Graphics. Good job, Bill.

I must admit that I was overwhelmed when I arrived at the new athletic complex at CKSS on Friday evening. There was a virtual tent city in the infield of the track and a huge throng of people had gathered to take part in the Chatham-Kent Unit of the Cancer Society's 1st Annual Relay for Life. All in all, between 550-600 people took part in this event and they raised a whole bag of money for the local Cancer Society. It was a truly remarkable and heartwarming event. But I guess it shouldn't be that surprising that anything that is helping battle deadly cancer would draw a crowd. After all, there are very few of us who haven't lost someone close to cancer. My sister scared the heck out of my family a number of years ago, but came through okay. One of my uncles is currently spending his last few days in the company of his family at home. Cancer is everywhere and we all need to do what we can to try to get the disease under control. Huge hats off to all who were involved in making this event a success. It was one of the best.

Same could be said for the Junior Achievement of Chatham-Kent awards evening at Club Lentinas in Chatham. A big part of this evening was the presentation of awards to business people in the community. Bill and Diane Parks of Parks Blueberries, Rick Schroeder of Tim Hortons, Patricia McFarland of St. Clair College and John VanVeen from Zehrs were all honoured for their ongoing involvement in the JA program. I told someone at the event that I wished they'd had JA back when I was in school. What a great way to help kids understand the benefits of staying in school and how much that can help you later in life. Glad to see the folks at JA taking the time out to honour the people who help make the program a success. Great job by all!

The weather has finally turned and it's been grand over the last little while – this week, the heat kicks in and we'll all be sweltering. Not too much complaining, folks. Remember, this was a long time coming. Anyway, hope you're keeping up with your yardwork.

I'm hoping your week is going well, and i hope you'll remember...."Hew to the line; let the chips fall where they may."




John Gardiner is a 25-year-veteran of the community newspaper business, but he is also a prolific writer of moralistic short fiction he refers to as "emotional thoughtscapes" or "adult fables". Samples of his fiction can be found at:

He has also produced a noteworthy piece of humanist philosophy which can be found at: http://www.xs4all.nl/~aboiten/ad502.htm He welcomes comments on his work.