Victoria’s Read

Crystal MacKenzie was destined to be her own boss. Since many of her family members were self employed, she instinctly gained knowledge on how to be well-organized and co-ordinated.  “I was always a leader and I learned a great deal from my father.”

After spending a year in Toronto to further her career in the Trade Show industry, Crystal returned home. “I began to wonder how I could assist my clients more.”

Crystal was able to pursue a career of 18 years, assisting with the production of Financial Trade Shows/Conferences across Canada. Recently, MacKenzie Promotions has evolved to help businesses locally, globally and internationally with Promotional Products, Printing Solutions and Trade show/Conference logistics.

“My entrepreneurial spirit drives me to do my very best. To become successful, it helps to always be motivated but a positive attitude is the key.”

“We are very happy to help businesses with their needs for their next Conference, Trade Show or meeting.  There are many ways that we can help. Whether you are looking for advertising specialties, portable exhibit displays, signs, banners or corporate apparel, we have many items to choose from.”

When Crystal isn’t tending to her business, she can be found on Callander’s water way. “I grew up ice fishing with my family and I enjoy all things outdoors.”

Crystal admits that having her own business also enables her to spend more quality time with her ten year old daughter, Tanika.

“Please visit us at 260 Pinewood Park Drive across from the Clarion. We are open from 9am to 5pm daily to serve you. We can also be reached by calling locally 705-478-8231 or toll free at 888-270-7292. Feel free to drop us an email at crystal@mackenziepromotions.com.

We look forward to speaking with you and helping you with your next business promotion.”

By: Victoria Reed

1-Take the letters ERGRO. Put three letters in front of it and the same three letters behind
to form a common English word.

2-Rearrange the following letters to give the title of a popular song.
ECHO IN MUDDY LANE

3-What do the following words have in common?
BEAGLE BROOK STEAL SCOOT STERN

SOLUTIONS

1-underground
2-unchained Melody
3-removing the initial letter gives the name of a bird

1. A cocktail with vodka and tomato juice was named after the eldest daughter of Henry VIII. What was her name?

-Mary Tudor
-Jane Seymour
-Mary Stuart
-Elisabeth I

2. A kind of pastry was named after a female monarch that reigned for 64 years. The pastry she was especially fond of contained butter, almonds and raspberries. What is her name?

-Isabel I of Castilia
-Cleopatra VII of Egypt
-Victoria I of England
-Catherine II of Russia

3. The recipe known as pavlova is a type of pastry filled with several fruits. It was named after Anna Pavlova, the famous prima ballerina who danced her most successful number on the night she would die. What was this dance?

-The Dying Swan
-The Swan Lake
-Giselle
-The Fire Bird

4. A creamy chicken soup was named after the mistress of King Charles VII of France. She was portrayed by Jean Fouquet as the Madonna feeding her Child. What is her name?

-Gabrielle d’Estr?e
-Diane de Poitiers
-Agnes Sorel
-Maria de Medici

5. A rather expensive recipe consists of crumbed sole with truffle. It was named after the most famous (and perhaps also the most expensive)mistress of King Louis XV of France. Her real name was Jeanne Antoinnette Poisson, but what was her nickname? 

-Madame de Merteuil
-Madame Butterfly
-Madame de Pompadour
-Madame de Montespan

ANSWERS

1. Mary Tudor. Mary Tudor was crowned Queen of England and Ireland at the age of 39. Because of her tyrannical reign, she was nicknamed Bloody Mary.

2. Victoria I of England Queen. Victoria was crowned Queen of England at the age of 18 and remained Queen until her death in 1901.

3. The Dying Swan. “The Dying Swan” is a notorious ballet dance with music of “The Carnival of the Animals” by Saint-Saens.

4. Agnes Sorel. This soup is named Crème Agnès Sorel. The recipe is sometimes enriched with mushrooms or asparagus.

5. Madame de Pompadour. The recipe is named Sole à la Pompadour.

www.funtrivia.com

About 200 million people in the world have some form of thyroid disease. Thyroid disorders for the most part are treatable; however, untreated thyroid disease can produce serious results in other parts of the body.

The thyroid gland is a small gland at the base of the neck. It weighs only about 25 grams. However, the hormones it secretes are essential to all growth and metabolism. The gland is a regulator of all body functions.

In Canada, thyroid disorders are estimated to affect one in twenty. Most thyroid disorders are more common in women. There are many types of thyroid disease. However, the main conditions present in most thyroid illnesses are Hypothyroidism (thyroid underactivity) and Hyperthyroidism (thyroid overactivity).

Thyroid nodules are common and treatable but should always be investigated since a small proportion of them are cancerous. Thyroid cancer, although uncommon, can in the majority of cases be successfully treated. Patients who received X-ray treatment for acne and conditions of the thymus, adenoids, tonsils and skin during the 1940’s and 1950’s are at greater risk of thyroid cancer and should be examined by a thyroid specialist.

Signs and symptoms of hypothyroid and hyperthyroid conditions include:

Hypothyroidism:
-weak slow heart beat
-muscular weakness and constant fatigue
-sensitivity to cold
-thick puffy skin
-slowed mental processes and poor memory
-Constipation
-goitre

Hyperthyroidism:
-rapid forceful heartbeat
-Tremor
-muscular weakness
-weight loss in spite of increased appetite
-restlessness, anxiety and sleeplessness
-profuse sweating and heat intolerance
-Diarrhea
-eye changes
-Goitre

Each person’s experience of thyroid illness differs depending on a number of factors; a patient will not necessarily have all the above symptoms. A physician should be consulted if thyroid illness is suspected. 

www.thyroid.ca

Barbara McCallum Hanley, 
(March 6, 1882-January 26, 1959)

Born in Magnetawan, Ontario, she moved to Webbwood, west of Sudbury, in 1909 to work as a schoolteacher. She married Joseph Hanley, a Canadian Pacific Railway foreman, in 1913. She subsequently served on the public school board from 1923 to 1935.

On Jan. 6, 1936, Webbwood voters went to the polls to elect Canada’s first woman mayor. The woman who made history was Mrs. Barbara Hanley. Twenty-five years earlier she had moved to the town as Miss Barbara Smith, public school teacher.

Thirteen was not an unlucky number for Mrs. Hanley. She defeated her opponent, R. E. Streich, by 13 votes - 82 to 69. Her “victory speech” as reported in The Sudbury Star was as follows: “I had a four-square platform. I promised to do the best I could. It makes me feel very meek, indeed, to be the first woman mayor of Webbwood. I feel that it is a great responsibility.”

It was not immediately realized that history was made in the little town some 50 miles west of Sudbury on Highway 17. A search of the records later showed Mrs. Hanley to be the first woman mayor ever elected in Canada. Prior to her election as mayor she had served for 12 years on the public school board and one year on the town council. 

In her term of office, and as a member of the Sudbury District Municipal Association, Mrs. Hanley was strongly in support of the establishment of a home for the aged in the Sudbury district. She met with officials of the Ontario Department of Public Welfare in Toronto in late 1943 to urge that such a home be built as a post-war project.

Mrs. Hanley retired as mayor after eight consecutive terms and was appointed clerk - treasurer of Webbwood, a position she filled for four years before retiring from active municipal work.

Mrs. Hanley died in Sudbury Memorial Hospital on Jan. 26, 1959, at the age of 76. Funeral services and interment were at Burk Falls, the village of her childhood in the Parry Sound district.

Many women have followed in the footsteps of Mrs. Hanley to head civic governments in Canada. But there is only one “first” and only one municipality in Canada that can claim the distinction. 

members.shaw.ca

January is Hot Tea Month and most of us have already made resolutions of one sort or another. Those that are simple to incorporate into our lives are the ones we are most likely to stick with past January. The potential benefits of adding tea to our diets, an easy and inexpensive addition to our daily lives, may aid in the ongoing battle of the bulge and increase the body’s immunity to colds and flu.

Tea Loaf

Ingredients:
2 cups + 2 tbsp hot brewed earl grey tea
1 cup raisins
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup butter
6 tbsp icing sugar, sifted

Directions:
-Preheat oven to 350º F.
-Pour 2 cups hot Earl Grey tea over raisins and set aside to soak.
In medium bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and spices.
-Cut in butter until blended thoroughly.
-Add tea with raisins and stir until smooth.
-Pour into loaf pan and bake for 50-60 minutes, when a tester inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
-Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then remove loaf from pan. Stir together remaining tea with icing sugar and brush over loaf.
-Serve warm with sweet butter. Loaf will keep for 3 days wrapped well and at room temperature.

Tea Soup

Ingredients:
5 cups vegetable stock, broth or bouillon4 large cloves garlic, minced or pressed
3 teaspoons dried thyme, lightly crushed
3 cups chopped broccoli
1/2 pound small shells or other macaroni shapes
1 cup prepared green tea at regular strength
juice of one lemon
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper  
salt to taste

Directions:
-Combine the stock, garlic & thyme in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil.
-Stir in the broccoli and macaroni, reduce heat and simmer until the macaroni is just at the al dente stage of tenderness, about eight to twelve minutes depending on the shape chosen.
-Stir in the tea and heat through for about a minute. Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice and pepper and adjust the salt if necessary.
-Serve immediately and piping hot.

Below is another one of the stories that will be shared during Nipissing Performs for Poverty which is part of Nipissing University’s Poverty Awareness Week.  Join us for the readings of stories like Rachel’s, along with music and dance performances on February 4th at 6:30pm at The Wall, all in an effort to raise awareness about local poverty. 

Rachel’s Story: Follow Up

I did everything the way I was supposed to. I graduated from high school with honors. I went to college, working the entire time so I wouldn’t have student loans. I continued to work, met a great guy and 7 years later I married him. We had two beautiful little girls.

Things should have been perfect. Somewhere along the way, things went horribly wrong. When my first was born, I lost my job because we had no daycare. We really struggled with that.  We were living on barely $1300 a month. For the first time in my life, I found myself in debt.  Thankfully, 6 months later, I found a new job. We got our debt back under control.

Now 3 years later, we’ve had daughter #2.  A blessing to be sure but she is sick. A rare congenital defect that is causing her many problems. The costs are adding up. We often travel to CHEO to ensure that she gets the proper care that she needs. We could have never seen this coming or planned for the added expenses. I am now once again without work because of daycare issues. I need a subsidized infant daycare spot and they are nearly impossible to find. 

I feel everything getting out of control again. We don’t have OW or ODSP, we have market rent, no low-income housing for us or any other assistance. We live on a tight budget of about $1300 a month.  Who can live on that? We have no desire to live by taking from others. It’s no one’s place to pay our way but us but sometimes, it’s so overwhelming that I cry myself to sleep. I want only to give my girls the best I can. Sometimes I wish I could do more.

When I can get my youngest daughter into daycare, I plan to return to the work force. Until then, I live with uncertainty and doubt.  I wake up at night and feel like a bad parent, a bad person. Sometimes I just want to scream.

It hurts me when I hear people say comments about families like mine. Like we shouldn’t have kids or that we’re wasteful or any other number of comments that are not always thought through. 

For more information on this event, please call 474-4000, Ext 351 or Email:rideshare@northbayspc.com

New Years Eve

On New Year’s Eve, Judy stood up at the local pub and said that it was time to get ready.
At the stroke of midnight, she wanted every husband to be standing next to the one person who made his life worth living.  ……………………The bartender was almost crushed to death.

New Years Day

As in many homes on New Year’s Day, Janet and Nigel, a happily married couple, faced the annual conflict of which was more important: the football match on television or the lunch itself.

Hoping to keep the peace Nigel ate lunch with the rest of the family and even lingered for some pleasant after-lunch chat before retiring to the lounge to turn on the television.

Some minutes later, Janet looked in to see how he was and graciously even bought a cold beer for Nigel. She smiled, kissed him on the cheek and asked what the score was. Nigel told her it was half time and that the score was still 0-0.

‘See?’ Janet said happily, ‘You didn’t miss a thing.’

-A female hippopotamus can eat more food relative to its body size than any other ruminant.

-For the first month of their lives, newborn killer whales and bottlenose dolphins do not sleep but remain mobile for 24 hours a day. As do their mothers.

-Even though they are one of the largest animals on earth, elephants are one of the gentlest creatures when it comes to mating. At an interval or 3 to 6 months, elephants start looking for a mate. Once this has been found, the round of flirting begins, the male offering the female food or squirts of water. After a month or so, the female eventually gives in and the actual mating can begin.