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stouffville suntribune thursday nov 25 2004 7 roaming around with jim thomas house of love sends bear hugs to world its a hquse built of brick its a home filled with love the location is the corner of william and second streets in stouffville this is where love lives no this isnt the name of the owner but it best describes the respect held for her by a wide circle of neigh bours and friends for inside this house is a room deeply immersed in devotion seated there is an 89yearold woman sur rounded by teddy bears for frances vague the creation of these comfort toys is a personal labour of love shes been doing it for years the teddies are earmarked for distribution to boys and girls in developing countries most confined to hospitals and orphanages as one physician put it they teddy bears do children more good than all the medicines in the world it was lillian carr of stouffville who wondered one day if ms vague might be interested in such a project the two had become close friends through the bethesda womens institute several women in the congregation of melville united church on kennedy road in northern markham were involved as an assembling area for shipments overseas ms carr said why not ms vague enthusiastically respond ed if what im able to do puts smiles on childrens faces why not besides she said itll keep me from being bored thus began a mission of mercy resulting in hun dreds upon hundreds of teddy bears going to wee ones all over the planet when ive finished 25 or 30 1 give lillian a call and she picks them up ms vague says she endeavours to make one per day often knitting to taped hymns by george beverly shea in october alone she completed 38 mrs vague the former frances vague filyer was born in toronto but moved with her parents to ringwood at age seven where she attended ringwood public school later she lived in lemonville and altona before mov ing to stouffville in 1953 her husband walter died in 1996 they were married 58 years prior to utilizing her knitting skills ms vague was a quilter she fondly recalls afternoon work bees in gertrude morgasons farmhouse near goodwood but it was ms carr described by ms vague as a wonderful lady who rekindled a spark that quickly burst into flame i get out of bed have some breakfast tidy up a bit then begin knitting she says all the while we talked her needles never stopped once in a blue moon i drop a stitch but always go back and pick it up she explains she never knits on sundays when growing up we never did those things she notes it was born into me ms vague knits boy and girl teddies the boys get a bow tie and the girls a scarf when each is finished she stuffs it with batten and adds a smiling face ms vagues teddymaking skills have become so well known she never has to purchase yarn people keep sending me huge balls of the stuff some heavy and some fine she said at christmas my friends all know what i want and need she laughs while most teddies travel overseas ms vague does make exceptions recently she gave several to doris kennedys daughter a presbyterian minister at torontos yonge street mission if children there appreciate them just think what they must mean to boys and girls who have nothing she said ms vague calls it my mission work i think it proves even a little old lady can be of some use in this world she said then she looks across the room at a chairful of teddies readied for shipment if those teddy smiles create a few childrens smiles then its all worthwhile she concluded but her knitting never stops jim thomas is a stouffville resident who has written for area newspapers for more than 50 years ccxdf when we first had these two weeks ago we were sold out on the day that our ad appeared in the economist we were taken by surprise by the reception it received even before people tried it those that got some were amazed at its flavour and freshness they just loved if as promised weve got another shipment for this week that c well offer it at the same price fgl 835 of two weeks ago enjoy it organic lb this week winter blues well have a good quantitiy of south american blue berries available judging by the recent pricing of these youll be happy to see a bit of moderation so you wont need moderation at the table containter well be roasting lots of our deli stuffed and roasted pork loins this week not only will they be available cold to be sliced but also warm every evening to take home for dinner if youre on the run which i know most of you are either hot or cold weve made these for as long as i can remember i think it was cathy who made the first of what seems like mil lions over the years they are so easy to prepare just have them in your oven while youre eating dinner a warm dessert is especially nice during this time of the year the flavours available are apple appleblueberry applecranberry orchardberry apple and mixed berry peach and lastly sour cherry they usually serve 45 folks but not at our house reg s ea somthing new f inthe weve made an eggnog custard flan which is garnished with halfrsliced pears and cranberries you may want to try one cumberland sausages these are a unique sausage from england we use medium- ground fresh pork a bit of lemon and orange zest some cranberry and a touch of port its a great jm rf t dinner sausage f reg s off this week we make this using a whole bunch of fresh vegetables season it on the mild side and let the flavour sintmer through and as a bonus its virtually fat free as well reg serves 34 off this week dqreens fruitcake if you are new to the area you may wonder who doreen is and what about fruitcake doreen is my mother- inlaw who has worked in our store for the past 18 years a charter member sotospeak it took a while to convince her all those years ago to make her amazing fruit cake available in the necessary quantity to sell in the store and she eventually did the dark cake in now ready the batches that we are now cutting were made in january of this year close to a year old if you could watch her at work on these youd fully understand the meaning of doting- its quite a sight and im sure that this is the only place youd see it the result of all that moth- erely doting amazing fruit cake the genuine article in both light and dark whats j or our frozen dinner entree this week is pot roast in gravy these are made with blade j eye roasts sliced and packed with enough gravy for your mashed potatoes the natural accompaniment- it seems to me this entree will serve at least 3 and quite likely 4 reg 1295 ea off this week japanese sea mass its unusual that we promote two fish in a week but this is no ordinary week none are at the vg weve received a shipment of this amazing south australian fish accoriding to charlie and his angles this fish is rich sweet and full flavoured comparable to sole or halibut there is a limited supply whats happenin artichoke and asiago dip this is a fairly new dip which has been very well received ive made a study and my finding is that its amazing with our raincoast crisps from bc reg off this week another shipment of boughs wreaths and accents has arrived and we do have a few urns and urnsstuffers as well for inside weve got a quantity of oval planters with bases of a poinsettiacyclamen mix in whites pinks and reds and a few extralarge cyclamen in 8 pots at 1000 each these last a long long time anh will rebloom later and weve got a good supply of 10 pots of huge poinsettias in stright colour or mixes a change at the grocer change comes to the grocer at what seems to be a glacial pace after 8 years as our store manager robert has moved on to run our village kitchen business there we make all of our frozen products we do most of our meat processing and selected bakery and preserve production for our store and selected wholesale accounts across souther ontario his replacement is tom brooks hes the tall energetic fel low not yet in uniform because we did nt have one his size weve know tom quite a while through his family iga business in schomberg village grocer quality foods specials in effect until closing sunday november 28 hours mon 1100700 tuesthurs 900700 fri 900800 sat 900600 sun 1000500 548 carlton road unionville 9401770