Ashland Speaks

By Lula Anderson

St Patrick's Day is here and gone, and now we look forward to the first day of Spring which is Wednesday of this week. Already we have enjoyed the benefits of Daylight Savings Time with longer afternoons to enjoy. On advice from my therapist, I have started walking up and down my ramp, but it's outdoors and I've been relishing the sun and warm weather. Soon I will be able to venture forth into my side yard and check out the bushes I planted several years ago. I want to see if David spared any while weed eating. You know how men are! If it gets in the way of the machine, mow it down. There is so much to clean up this year as we have had so many windy days and nights. Limbs all over, trash blown around, I don't know what to tell the boys to start with. Many people coming to their second homes have found branches blocking their driveways and some leaning precariously close to the house. Spring cleaning is starting both indoors and out.

Windham Hensonville UMC Ladies send their thanks for all who came to their Corned Beef fundraiser. They had a very successful sale.

Thursday night was the WAJCS Drama Club rehearsal dinner theater for the Senior Citizens of the school district and it was a sold out event. We had several on the waiting list as they didn't call early enough. The students did a wonderful job and the food was delicious. Thank you to all the local restaurants who donated. It's an event that we all look forward to as it gives us a chance to enjoy the children and the food from restaurants that we wouldn't ordinarily try. We have all marked down what food we liked and will bring friends and family to those establishments. Thank you for sharing.

I hope you have all had some corned beef this year as there certainly were enough places offering it.

Have you seen one of the mysterious animals that has been skittering across the local roads? Bill Mead first mentioned it and he was sure it was a mink, but fisher cat was also thrown out there, Then Patti Kelder was coming across 17 by 23C and she narrowly avoided hitting one but she thought it looked like a black woodchuck, but moved too fast for one. Then Barb Cooke saw something similar on her porch, and there have been sightings in the park. Lock up your chickens. We don't need anything else raising egg prices.

This Saturday, March 22, Ashland Fire Dept will be holding a chicken bbq at the fire house serving begins at noon.

The annual roast beef dinner will be held on April 26th with take out dinners starting at 4:30. Price for the dinner is $18.

AS I REMEMBER IT

With the coming of Spring, I often think of my sister, Louise, (it does not seem possible that she has been gone 25 years), and all that she did; raising 6 of her own children, fostering children, teaching swimming, quilting and farming. She loved animals and children. Come Spring, Archie I. Would come to Cornwallville for lambs that she raised. Very few farmers raised them, but for Greek Easter, they were almost a necessity. I still love the sight of lambs frolicking in the fields. They love nothing more than to climb =on top of a large rock, bleating all the way, then sliding down a grassy slope, only to do it again.

Spring is a time for rebirth, and soon we will be seeing the baby rabbits, which are so cute, until they get into our gardens and eat all our newly planted veggies, Annie J saw a bear in her backyard, so it is time to be on the lookout for them. We are starting to smell the skunks, and see the blackbirds come back to our yards. I saw my first robin this morning.

Memories of the past change from sorrow to peace when I experience the rebirth of spring. I hope you get a chance to experience your own inner peace.