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18 -- PORT PERRY STAR -- Tuesday, September 30, 1986 Take a Look Back This week's photograph is a new view of the T.W. Brookes General Store in Myr- tie, that was taken circa 1910. The building itself was constructed on the north-east corner of Baldwin Street (Hwy 12) and Myrtle Road in the late 1880's or early 1890's and was pur- al" ; of J LA . J $7 HEH chased by Brookes in 1903, at which time he also became post master. Brookes was a colourful man in the area, and it is rumoured he was the cen- tre of many a contraversy while in charge of the post office. The building was demolished around 1967. Viewpoint by ROXANNE REVELER I find it most difficult to believe that tomorrow is the first day of October. It seems to me that it was only yesterday I was heralding the first day of spring, and now...well and now it is almost the first day of October again. But October really has so many virtues, one hardly knows where to begin. The woodland colour is spectacular, even if almost half of it has come and gone by now. But it is really only a backdrop, the setting which enhances blue skies, widening horizons, - crisp nights, mild days and the whole satisfac- tion of ripeness and achievement. I have always had mixed emotions about the autumn of the year. My first reaction was always one of ...oh no...summer has gone and winter (which I loath with a passion) is just around the corner. But then, you have to ad- mit that October is the glory of the year's late afternoon. Or should we say that usually is the case. With the crazy summer we have had, heaven knows what the fall holds for us. But usually, the colour we know and ex- pect at this time of year comes quietly as mist in the night, but does not vanish as the sun rises. It spreads, leaf to leaf, branch to branch, tree to tree. It climbs from valley to hilltop and soon will possess the countryside. Soft maples turn red, then birches and poplars turn yellow. Then the hard maples bring the colour to its peak as they become shimmer- ing clouds of blushing gold that give a sunny glow even to a dour and lowering day. In technical terms, the colour is a sheer waste. It is created when the tiring tree seals off the sap circulation and the leaves are no longer able to produce chlorophyll. The old chlorophyll disintegrates and yellow pigments become visible. The reds and purples appear when the sun has ozydized sugars and acids abandoned in the leaves. The colour isn't needed for the tree's health, growth or fruit- fullness, but fortunately, when all those useless pigments and that leftover sugar and acid flare into all this superfluous colour, it is magnificent. Now comes the hunters moon, the full moon of October. Cornfields rustle, rabbits lie close, the owl courses the crisp meadow on silent wings. And a person has to get up and go. He has to know the night smell of October; the night wonder. I always get spring fever, but it is nothing compared to the aching need to go somewhere and do something that I always get at this time of year. Guess deep down, I know it is the last hurrah for this land I love until next spring. This is the time of year when, if the truth be known, a vegetable gardener secretly wishes for a frost. Though he is expected to brag about the tomatoes he still has ripening (and this year it is usually more than have already ripened for a count of four or more), actually he has ripened just about enough. He is willing to call it quits and wait for May. That's one of the best things about a land of four seasons. ..frost comes and puts an end to the succulent growing of things. No garden should endure, with all its dividends and demands, more than six months of the year. The other six months one should be allowed to rest and dream and yearn and get rid of the calluses. Hail the frost! Hail the blackened vine! The corn stands sere and stripped, the beans are rustling in their pods. The squash have given up. The lettuce has bolted. Put away the hoe, close the garden gate and let if frost. Autumn's messages are written in many ways. There is the gleaming symetry of a frosted spider web at dawn. There are the smoke signals of morning mist. Soon there will be the penciled flight of departing geese scrawled against the sky. Of all the migrant birds, the wild goose seems to most typify the restless spirit of autumn. A part of this comes from the fact Turn to page 20 | Reflections | of a golden age by Mabel M. McCabe Don't Sell Kids Short In an issue of some weeks ago, Mr. McClelland wrote of the pleasures of strolling in the town of Port Perry. | was enthralled reading that piece, for it took me back to the days when | and the one | loved strolled each evening in Toronto. It was many years ago when that city had some beautiful streets lined with trees. The writet's descrip- tions of those quiet streets he can still enjoy makes me a bit envious. Toronto has long since passed the time where one can safely stroll in the evening or any time of day. It has progressed to the point of being a place where all entertainment must cost a fortune and where most of it is unfit for human consumption. Yes, | was born and raised there, but it is not longer the town | remember. | get lost even in the spots that were my old stomping grounds. Everything is too big and too sterile. | remember days of a very different era. | wish sometimes | could find it again. How many of you remember a song by the Mills Brothers called, "Strolling is back in style." | have it on a cassette and whenever | hear it, | think back to the old days of simple pleasures. | know many who read my column these days have lived in small towns for some time. The fact that | never had that advantage when | was young may seem to put me outside the pale of understanding. | claim no, because Toronto in my youth, was much like the small towns mentioned so often in the pages of The Star. It is a shame that the young do not realize what a wonderful thing it is to grow up in an area that has not yet become the focus of land grabbers and developers. Someday | would like to take a trip to your town and make that walk. Enjoy the scenery and visit the church mentioned. All these things are treasures to be gathered and stored away in the mind fo future feasting in the quiet times. | As the years pile on | find | can spend many hours with the sights and sounds of the past that fill my memory. | may not be able to do as much, but | can still weave a tale for my grandchildren of the way. things were before television and even radio. The evenings of family " song-fests and neighbourhood parties that kept us happy. Sometimes | think the years of the depression were not so bad after all. It might be good for the young folks to learn the things we did. | fear that there are hard times in the offering and they had best be prepared. Our generation made it through and this one will too, if they get the proper training now and do not expect to have the top salaries paid to them when they are still at the bottom. These youngsters have a lot on the ball, and will go far, we should not sell them short. ound'N'Abou REGION Regional council has agreed to spend more than $200,000 to determine the exact cause of last month's widespread basement flooding throughout Durham. At the last meeting of regional council, works chairman Gerry Emm - introduced a motion that the engineering firm of MacLaren Plansearch Inc. be hired to conduct a study to determine the causes of the flooding and draw up possible solutions to either ease or permanently stop future flooding. Works Commissioner Bill Twelvetrees indicated the firm would have _ a preliminary report concluded by the end of December with the final report due in January, in time for: the 1987 budget discussions. The study was to cost the region no more than $220,000 ... $150,000-for the firm and $70,000 for work completed by regional staff, according to Emm. But council members voted to go to tender for the detailed study on the flooding which left at least 566 basements throughout the region water- filled after the August 26-27 storms. Twlevetrees' concern that the report would be delayed by some six weeks if the study was brought to tender fell on deaf ears as council members rose to state their belief that this would not be the case if a com- pletion date was incorporated into the tender specifications. AJAX Scott Fennell, Member of Parliament for the Federal Building of On- tario, today announced that Monarch Youth Auto Refinishers, a local non- profit organization, will receive $317,000 to sponsor a project under Employ- ment and Immigration Canada's Job Development Program. The funding will provide a total of 30 long-term unemployed individuals, the majority of whom are young people, with 24 weeks of training and ex- perience that will enable them to find entry-level employment in auto body repair field. The project, which will have a continuous in-take of trainees, began operation this month. Participants will receive 22 weeks of training at the organization's Monarch Ave. facilities and receive instruction in: health and safety regulations; shop orientation; auto body collision repairs and refinishing techniques; preparing vehicles for painting and practicing various paint application methods; calculating client repair cost estimates; and general business procedures. Under the direction of the project training co-ordinator, trainees will also attend weekly life skills classes. The subjects to be covered include: communications and mathematics skills, job interview and employment preparation techniques, and setting personal and career goals.