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stouffville suntribune thursday may 27 2004 7 jumping on wagon for reesor reunion v construction professional bob bruce of stouffville has welcomed countless challenges in his day one of these was relocating the ageold zion baptist church brick by brick from its ninth line site to the markham museum this operation was a true test of skill close if not equal to this was constructing a conestoga wagon similar in strength and shape to models used for trans porting goods and supplies from pennsylvania to ontario 200 years ago this beautiful piece of woodworking wizardry will occupy a place of prominence in the reesor reunion bicentennial parade july 3 the procession unique to this area begins at 7 am from reesor road north of hwy 7 and concludes at markham fairgrounds hundreds perhaps thousands will line the route merna burkholder the wagon projects entrepreneur envi sioned it 10 years ago she wanted an authentic version to complement a miniature conestoga in her garden when she learned a parade was planned in conjunction with the reunion the wheels began turning i knew if anyone could do it bob bruce could she recalls saying she was further inspired when daughter betty agreed to head up the event but where to start through a connection with arthur reist a conesto ga wagon collector in eden valley perm betty obtained a set of plans later she and bob visited black creek pioneer village to inspect an original by now both were roaming around with jim thomas certain it could be done accompanied by ashmore reesor and the late russ reesor bob travelled to lindsay where he discovered separate wagon sections he would later combine two into one but this was the easy part since nothing on a conestoga wagon is straight or square bob had to curve the wood just as reesor pioneers had done he utilized the services of a well- equipped shop including a forge the greatest challenge bruce says was bending 10 green ash hoops on which to attach a canvas top to do this the lum ber was first submerged in a pond then steamed not a straight bone in its body believe me theres not a straight bone in its body he said smiling nothings been omitted even to a lazy mans bench where the driver can take a wellearned rest the wheel brakes are handoperated and so are jerk lines attached to lead horses heads there were no gees or haws back then he says gee meaning right and haw meaning left to transport the wagon to the burkholder home bob placed it atop a trailer and trucked it the 18 kilometres she went licketysplit he says no problems at all betty burkholder utilized her painting skills using skyblue on the box and vermillion red on the running gear the single coat has been sealed with linseed oil and turpentine bob possesses amazing knowledge on the life and times of mennonite pioneers like christian and fanny reesor no one rode in the wagons he says these were loaded with supplies up to two tons of supplies families he notes walked behind and slept underneath at night four and six- horse teams were used he estimates the trek covered about 20 miles a day these wagons werent built for comfort but to carry heavy loads bob says including pigs cows and sheep breakdowns undoubtedly occurred he notes but these people were ingenious they could fix anything natives were treated and cheated he doubts they encountered unfriendly indians during the 350mile trip those stories are a lot of baloney he claims admitting however native people had every reason to be resentful they were terribly treated and cheated he says with respect to the completed project bob admits he sometimes wondered if hed bitten off more than he could chew today he describes it as an enjoyable experience yes he plans to attend the july 3 parade but only as a spec tator not a participant im not a reesor he says ill be watching from the sidelines him and thousands more jim thomas is a stouffville resident who has written for area newspapers for more than 50 years raspberries weve done lots with strawberries this spring what about some raspberries this week these are driscolls from california in the past few months some have been a touch soft but these seem just fine at this price you could even be thinking about making a pie who knows from california container icolbassa our venerable kolbassa is on sale this week its as lean as it gets its full of flavour including lots of garlic and its portable which means you can take it with you wherever you go to mdni v snack on but its rto l1 1 good to share given the ifc garlic reg 129 100 g this week whats for this week our dinner entree is chicken supreme it is according to my mother-in- law doreen lovely big chunks of chicken breast in a smooth velvety white cream sauce with mushrooms the chicken breasts are poached in white wine reg 1695 ea this week guinness sausages i believe that these are unique to our store and theyre so good what to serve with them moire guinness or any other beer thats close reg 399 lb asparagus this is cut every day and delivered daily to our produce department fresh rhubarb too it seems to me that its truly a rite of spring soup ieeic and potato its made with potatoes and leeks which are cooked in stock seasoned with pernod and white wine and then pureed its great served either warm pr cool maybe warm today and as a twist crumble a bit of stilton into it as they used to so so iongagoatfentons mi gtfb reg 549 i c osmm serves 34 this week stxvhav its upsidedown week in our bakery this week you could be forgiven if you had visited our busy little bakery and seen it in action and thought that its always upsidedown and that these cakes are just a logical consequence of our operation but not so upsidedown cakes are a traditional dessert that i and my brothers and sisters looked forward to with great anticipation when i was a kid not long ago really the one my mom made was the pineapple version and ave loved it it was only many years later that i found out that there was more to life than pineapple like sour cherry and wild blueberry and even peach so if a slice of the past sounds delicious to youj visit our little upsidedown bakery today two sizes 1295 and 1795 r tuts week whats happenin on the i must say that the view from the road is impressive there are flowers for as far as the eye can see and then some what to look for this week are hibiscus weve just received a shipment of bushes and standard in many different colours a further shipment of 6 pots will arrive on friday i like these not so much for the very beautiful flower but their sunloving capability theyll take as much sun as you can provide scavola this sounds like something thats bad for you but if youve got lots of sun were hopeful its really good for you although most all we have are in hangers they are an excellent ground cover especially if you have an area where they can cascade outdoor ferns these are giants and fully sun hardy amazing mandevellas yet another shipment has arrived i understand that we sell them too cheap better get one before we smarten- tip coconut hangers these are the large hanging baskets in the wire frame with a sisal lining they go fast well get a shipment today and the next one on saturday other hangers weve got the market cornered on great geranium hangers at 1295 some bacopa million bell and verbina straight or mixed at 1295 or some mixed fibrepot hangers at 2500 weve received lots of great feedback and repeat business on our assortment and price and quality of our hanging baskets urns lots happenin here either as they are or planted ive run out of room here and at the store so help us out and buy a plant or two this week and youll get some kates bucks to spend at her amazing garden accent store village grocer quality foods i2 specials in effect until closing sundaymat 30 hours mon 1100700 tuesthurs 900700 fri 900800 sat 900600 sun 1000500 548 carlton road unionville 9401770 j