Community Association Newsletter Fall 2009 WWW.COUNTRYPLACECA.CA The Country Place Community Association Our Mandate to You 1. To maintain and improve the residential character, environment and quality of life within the Country Place community, 2. To foster neighbourhood recreation and social events, and 3. To promote the interests of all residents and represent their concerns to various levels of government. President’s Corner Rocco Romeo UP-COMING EVENTS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING (AGM) SEPTEMBER 30TH, ST MONICA’S CHURCH WELCOME TO THE NEIGHBOURHOOD The Country Place Community Association would like to welcome you to the neighbourhood. We know you will love living here! The Country Place Fun Night at the Casino and Races Friday October 16th This years Fall Social will be a Fun Night at the Casino and Races on Friday October 16 th at 630 pm with dinner at 715. This will be a fun filled night and will include the following: Reserved seating in the dining room overlooking Canada's fastest 5/8th mile racetrack. The Fabulous All-you-can-eat buffet dinner featuring 100 fine food items. Freshly brewed coffee or tea. A complimentary race program. A live race dedicated to Country Place. A personal welcome by the track announcer, Welcome messages for our group on our in-field Tote board and on the front cover of the Official Rideau Carleton Raceway program. Your first $2 wager (To get you in on the racing action!) ALL FOR $35* PER PERSON INCLUDES ALL TAXES AND GRATUITY Parking and Valet Service Always Free at RCR Non Gamblers can come for $30 per person (just dining) What’s Been Happening in the “Hood” Carole Sutherland-Bégin Annual Community Garage Sale Even though the day started our rainy, by 10 o’clock the sky had cleared and the sale was in full swing. As we had nothing to sell my husband, step-daughter and I hopped on our bikes and went shopping. There was a steady stream of cars on most streets and I managed to pick up quite a few good “treasurers”. All the while visiting and talking to neighbours, much to the chagrin of my step-daughter who just wanted to get going in case she missed a good buy. We finished our day by visiting our other neighbours in Pine Glen, there were not as many people out selling their goods as there were in our neighbourhood. All in all it seemed to be a good day. Community Fun Day June 13th I wish I could report on this wonderful annual tradition personally but on the morning of the big day I woke up with a bad case of the flu. I biked down to the park to meet Dana to help her set up the French Café but within minutes knew I wasn’t going to be able to stay. My husband and step-daughter stayed to help and came home exhausted. But reported that things went well. Good times seemed to be had by all. A big THANK YOU to all the volunteers and to our corporate sponsors who made this day possible: TARA GRAFF OF ROYAL LEPAGE TEAM REALTY BROWN’S CLEANERS MARDI FRIEZS AND SUE BRIARD OF COLDWELL BANKER Browns Cleaners – The preferred Dry Cleaner of Country Place. Call Serge at 613-880-0397 for free pick-up and delivery. Country Place Garden Tour Hilda Wooles Country Place’s First Annual Garden Tour was a success. The tour, which took place on the morning of our annual Community Fun Day on June 13, featured the efforts of twelve green thumbs living in your immediate neighbourhood. Tonie Chéné, the event's organizer, had asked us to add to the interest of our gardens by displaying other facets of our lives. One result was that several back yards had easels with paintings on them. I am particularly interested in birding, and so, on our patio table, we had the laptop running with a slide show of my bird photos. I also make cards using photos of flowers or birds, and I put these on display as well. Some of our homes are adjacent to the Pineglen neighbourhood, whose mature trees provide us with some very shaded areas in our back yards. It was interesting to see the contrasting approaches that our gardeners have taken to make use of the shade with displays of different hostas and ferns, and of other flowering plants that thrive in such locations. Jocelyne and Bill have truly transformed their shaded back yard into a paradise; they served cooling drinks, which we sipped as we admired their creativity both in the garden design and in Bill's display of his paintings. Tonie loves to reflect nature as is, and so combines her garden skills with what Mother Nature sends her way in the form of birds, butterflies and insects. She had a wonderful variety of flowers in full bloom. Tonie's back yard also accommodates a nursery and a vegetable patch. An added attraction of her back yard are the many bird houses she has artistically placed on poles against a cedar hedge. She also has a collection of different shapes and colours of bottles hanging from a tree. Several gardens boast ponds, which offer up very soothing summer sounds as the water trickles from one level to another. Elisabeth has a wonderful pond with large floating water lilies deep pink in colour. These reminded me of the floating lotus plants I have seen in many water gardens in Vietnam and Bali. I was sorry that I could not see all of the gardens on display, but I was very happy to meet the many interested visitors who graced our back yard, including several families with children. The conversations ran from travel to hobbies to hints on gardening. I hope than many of these garden tour visitors have been inspired to reach down to get their hands into the soil as a means to discover the beauty and tranquility that gardening brings to us. Thank you, Tonie, for a morning well organized and much enjoyed. Event Ideas If you have ideas for any of the events please free to give your Street Rep or the president a call and get involved. We’d love to have your input; we love to have your help even more! Business Guide Thinking of doing some work on your house? Need to consult a real estate agent familiar with homes in our community? Need the advice of a legal expert? Planning for a special occasion? Many residents of Country Place own or operate businesses that are just what you are looking for. To help you find the information you need, the Country Place Business Directory is available on line. So, keep an eye on the community website at www.countryplaceca.ca If you would like your business to be in the directory please contact Charlie at [email protected]. New NCC Bicycle Path In Our Neighbourhood Antoinette Chéné “Chapeau” to the National Capital Commission for having built the well-planned, winding bike path at the end of Amberwood Crescent! Early this spring, the trail opened to cyclists, pedestrians and their dogs. The stone dust pathway is approximately four kilometres long by my estimate, and runs from Merivale Road through to Woodroffe Avenue. It skirts the field next to St. Monica’s Church, meanders upstream along the creek that empties into the Rideau above Blacks Rapids, through a cool pine forest, past a cat-tail bog and farmers’ fields, crosses over an arched wooden bridge, comes parallel to the railway tracks, and finishes adjacent to the equestrian centre at the corner of Fallowfield and Woodroffe. Each time I’ve biked this trail, my senses have been heightened the perfume of wild milkweed and clover flowers or by the songs and trills of cardinals, red-wing blackbirds and goldfinches. More than once, I have been startled by the rumble and surprisingly sudden appearance of a Via Rail train. For two seasons now, I have been monitoring the growth of the soya and oat crops in two large fields. I have also enjoyed the taste of wild raspberries growing on the north side of the path, and have experienced the sensation of a gentle (and on one occasion, a more insistent) rain falling on my face. Just a short distance west of Merivale, a pair of wooden benches sit next to the path and overlook a bend in the stream about ten meters below. It is an ideal spot to rest and observe the wildlife thriving in and near the water. Last week, I observed a kingfisher noisily chattering as it flew above the water. In July, I arrived at the benches in time to spot a great blue heron stalking amphibians in the shallow waters, and also caught a glimpse of what I think may have been a beaver lazily swimming around the bend. On a cool day late in July, my husband and I biked past three or four young bunnies aimlessly hopping from one patch of tall grass to another. A bit further along, and to our surprise, we sighted a coyote cantering slowly away from us on long thin legs, not more than 100 meters up the pathway. It looked like a thin dog of medium size, with a coat of mottled grey and white. It quickly disappeared into the brush. I am a gardener who has lost much of my crop of beans and other vegetables this wet summer to the many rabbits that invade my garden. Frankly, I was not displeased to see that there may indeed be natural predators in the area helping to keep the number of rabbits and other rodents in check.