Llewellyn Mark Jones’ Tales from Eutopia: Thirteen Short Stories is now available in softcover, hardcover, and Kindle. Order it from the following locations:

Amazon.com

https://www.amazon.com/dp/1480899070/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_imm_awdb_DJR367C0C9B7HRM50NP2

Amazon.ca
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/1480899070/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_imm_awdb_CZHHRCPT390HN0XPN4Y

Archway Publishing

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Also order from your favourite bookstores.

COMMENTARIES

May 25, 1021

TOURISTS

“Are you ready for the country?

Because it’s time to go.”

Neil Young from his Harvest Album

(With slightly altered lyrics also covered by Waylon Jennings and Hank Williams Jr.)

Where we live should be explained. On a two-acre property on the Tay River west of Perth in Glen Tay, we built a comfortable home in this lovely, rural setting. Susan grew up in Perth, and love of family brought her back to her father (who died last July), brother and, his family. I love them too, and since we had both retired, taking on a new project also appealed to us. In the summer of 2016 to February 2017, we oversaw construction of our home. Since then, landscaping has been an ongoing project.

We live at the end of the street; we are the dead end. There’s a paved circle in front of our place where the curious can turn around to return to Glen Tay Road. To the north-east of us is forest for which there is no planned development – yet. Until recently, there were only ten homes on twenty-four lots. Then a local builder bought eight of the remaining lots. Kaboom. Eight houses are sprouting very quickly this spring, despite a lumber shortage. They’re all sold. The work appears to be excellent and well-ordered.

Of the neighbours who have been here, one family moved from Mississauga, another from Whitby, three from other parts of Lanark County, three from Ottawa, and us from Port Perry. We were the second house built on the street, just four months after the first. Over five years, construction on our street came slowly and evenly paced. We have had a steady stream of dog walkers and the curious; however, since Covid 19 and recent construction, our street has more tourists right now than Niagara Falls.

The vehicles vary, but the people inside are ten years older or younger or our age. Where those vehicles have been purchased indicates half are from cities in Southern Ontario and the other half from the Perth area. They all are curious. Perhaps they are bored. Maybe touring the countryside is a result of Covid 19 urban cabin fever. Nevertheless, a recent CBC national news item reported a real estate boom in the Perth area. Bidding wars for homes for sale are not normal here. They are now. Prices are rising. Sure, people hope to purchase a less expensive home outside of the cities, but I hope they know what living in the country entails.

Yesterday, a large, male, wild turkey pecked away at his reflection in the basement patio door. Chipmunks destroy gardens. Squirrels can be bold. Nonchalant foxes wander from acreage to acreage. Ticks, mosquitoes, and blackflies make a person appreciate ice and snow. Bears, cougars, coyotes, owls, and weasels are nearby. Woodpeckers ravage trees and laugh loudly like Woody Woodpecker when they do. Mice find ways into a home. Deer, rabbits, and groundhogs eat everything that people attempt to grow. Trees fall where and when they want. Septic systems cost double if the local conservation authority deems nitrogen-reduction is necessary for the location. Have city dwellers drawn water from a well before? Waterfront taxes are usurious. If these observations sound like complaints, they’re not. Despite gardening frustrations, we thoroughly enjoy nature’s companionship. I’m not sure that the curious from cities will be ready for the country.

One thing is for sure: in the country, we don’t get stuck on elevators. Perhaps that’s what tourists want. No elevators. Some drive slowly and examine everything with data-probing eyes. Others ignore our forty kilometre per hour speed limit and defy residential restraint. Perhaps some are gaining ideas for building elsewhere in a rural setting. No one stops to ask if I know if the remaining lots our street are for sale. The answer is no. They probably already know that. They’re still curious. Humans can be that way. If they’re envious, they should be. Where we live is delightful. Yet, if they want to be residents in the country, and not tourists, walk the 1.2 kilometres of our street, several times daily as I do. There is plenty to see, and the view costs nothing.

I used to work in front of Niagara Falls for two summers and a few weekends while I was a university student, living there with my uncle, aunt, and cousins during my employment. Being a resident was significantly more meaningful than visiting there. I would say the same for dwelling in the country. A tourist’s visit doesn’t approach the richness of living in it.

Are you ready for the country?

The Devil’s Trick: How Canada Fought the Vietnam War

by John Boyko.

Is a fiction writer, I researched the Vietnam war extensively, including Canada’s involvement in it. As a result two novels are based on that conflict with a Canadian angle. What I appreciated about John Boyko’s historical study is confirmation of my work and the telling of history through the lives of people intimately involved in the Vietnam War.

The book explains background information leading to the American involvement in Vietnam. It follows chronological order of events and tells stories of participants such as Canadian diplomats and peacekeepers, American war evaders’ migration to Canada, Canadian protesters, Canadians who fought in Vietnam with the American military, and Vietnamese refugees’ resettlement in Canada.

The Devil’s trick was lying about war in Vietnam, that it was desirable, acceptable, normal, and necessary. Mr. Boyko reveals how that era affected Canada and what its lasting legacy is. It is a well-told meshing of connected historical narratives that enlightens and entertains the reader.

Jone 9, 2022

TURTLE EGGS

I fight authority, authority always wins
Well, I fight authority, authority always wins
Well, I've been doing it since I was a young kid
And I come out grinnin'
Well, I fight authority, authority always wins
(Oh yeah!)

Authority Song

by John Mellancamp

Raccoons know that song because they always come out grinning (those mischievous bandits!). Authority does not always win. For three days this week, snapping turtles have climbed from the river to the street to bury their eggs in sandy ground, usually on the shoulders of the street. Every year after the eggs are buried, raccoons dig them out of the ground for a midnight feast. Since these turtles are an endangered species, the Rideau Lakes Conservation Authority takes quick action to protect the sites where eggs have been lain.

Today though, the Authority’s protection could not prevent the raccoons from grinning and winning. Notice the digging under the wire mesh and white eggshells strewn around the site.

 For this time, RLC Authority couldn’t prevent what raccoons have done for millennia. Authority does not always win.

Milo

Milo (Milan) Kravacek was born October 16, 1929 in Brno, Czechoslovakia, which is now part of the Czech Republic. He left us on July 5, 2020 at ninety years of age. We miss him. One detail of his life had something in common with an eighties sitcom. If you’re familiar with the last Bob Newhart show set in Vermont, three characters would always introduce themselves in every episode this way: “Hi. I’m Larry. This is my brother, Darryl, and this is my other brother, Darryl.”

 In real life, Milo had two sisters named Vera. The story behind this helps to explain his early life and his lifelong encounters with obstacles and suffering, which he overcame with God’s comfort, provision, and grace. Milo was an example from whom we all could learn to live fully in Jesus Christ.

His father, Teo, at a young age married a divorcée older than him who had two daughters from her first marriage. Together they had Milan. Teo worked with Tom Bata and a large number of Czech immigrants who established a settlement north of Trenton, Ontario, called Batawa. Teo joined Bata Shoes in Canada to work with Tom Bata to design shoes for production. The plant also was involved in wartime production. Teo, his wife, and Milo moved out of Czechoslovakia in August 1939, three weeks before the beginning of the second world war. The two older sisters, one of whom was named Vera, remained in Czechoslovakia, waiting for visas to join them later in Canada. Unfortunately, due to World War 2 and subsequent events, that never happened. Milo’s two older half-sisters were unable to leave Czechoslovakia to join them in Canada.

He, as well as many Czech children, didn’t know English, but he learned it quickly. Once they had skills in English, they were integrated into classes with English-speaking children.

Adding to that misfortune of his sisters unable to come to Canada, Milo’s mother fell down the stairs to the basement, broke her neck on a closed door at the bottom, and died on December 27, 1939. He was ten years old when that happened. He and Teo were alone.

It was at this difficult time that Teo and Milo came to know Jesus in a personal way. He became the centre of their lives. In the summer of 1940, they were baptized in the Bay of Quinte (And as an aside, the Bay of Quinte also has quite a reputation for good fishing). Milo wrote, “I have tried to live my life in such a way that I would not hurt other people.” Throughout his life, he loved God, church, family, and community with all his heart, soul, and mind.

In 1943, Teo remarried, this time to a younger Czech woman, Anna, who lived in Batawa. Together they had two daughters, Helen and you guessed it, Vera. However, Milo could never have his two sisters named Vera together because one Vera remained in Czechoslovakia, so he could never introduce them like the Newhart sitcom. “Hi, I’m Milo, and this is my sister, Vera, and my other sister, Vera.” (Actually, he could have done that. At our wedding in 1979, both Veras were there.)

Teo was transferred to Port Hope to manage one of the Bata auxiliary plants. In 1948, they returned to the Batawa area to a farm north of Trenton.

After high school, Milo worked in Batawa for the Bata Shoe Company as a shoe designer trainee for four years. After his training, he went to Toronto to work for Jones Shoe-Pattern Company. After a short time, the Perth Shoe Company required a shoe designer, and in 1952, he was asked to go there. He left Perth in 1954, but he returned in 1957. In 1994, he retired from the Brown Shoe Company in Perth as Manager of the Designing Department and Director of Product Development. He continued in a voluntary capacity with the Citizens Democracy Corps, which was sponsored by the American Government, to advise shoe manufacturers in Mexico and Eastern Europe, namely Romania (twice) and Russia (once), after the breakup of the Soviet Union.

Milo had great love for people – his family, his community, and his church. He served on many Boards and committees at First Baptist Church in Perth. He played the organ and piano as well as singing in and directing choirs. He was instrumental in the feeding of many townspeople at community dinners over twelve years, serving with others 9,000 meals. He assisted the people of Perth and district for many years in the Lions Club, including the position of President. With that role, he led the drive to build the Perth Pool. He served on the Board of Education in Perth. He chaired a fundraising committee for the Children’s Hospital for Eastern Ontario. He cherished singing, participating in the Men of the Tay Choir. He sponsored with others a Cuban family in its immigration to Canada. In a world of people mostly focused on themselves, Milo focused on the needs of others.

Another interest, talent, and aptitude he had was inventing, making, and using gadgets. These inventions made work easier. They often involved welding and carpentry. Long before Tim Horton’s and other places that served coffee-on-the-go used them, Milo created by tearing open a small section of the lid a safer and better way to sip coffee while driving. Many people advised him to take out the patent. When Tim Horton’s began to provide those lids, Milo rejoiced that they were addressing travelers’ needs. “But yes, I could have made a lot of money.”  Then he chuckled. He also bought a variety of practical gadgets one could buy at fishing, camping, boating, home, and trade shows.

He loved fishing, boating, swimming, water, the outdoors, music (as long as it wasn’t Rock and Roll), and art. Many of us here have been inheritors of his collection of art and fish art. One accomplishment that gave him pride, achieved on two separate occasions when he was seventy-five and eighty years old, was the New Years’ Dip, a charitable event. He claimed to be “the oldest fool both times.” Pondering that and his love of singing, was he able on those two occasions to widen his singing range from tenor to soprano? I wish I knew. Just thinking out loud. Spontaneously.

Fishing was a deeply held passion. He found and held dear for life friends who shared that passion. Not only did he cherish time together with them in the hunter-gatherer celebrations they created together, but also they deepened their human bonds with each other. Milo orchestrated those celebrations to the benefit of all involved. Recollections of fishing trips left smiles on his face. His last trip in 2019 to La Verendrye Wildlife Reserve, despite his physical limitations, gave him great pleasure,

Milo didn’t have to prove anything to anyone. He liked to do unexpected, unconventional things. Nancy found an initial attraction to him when he at a campfire swallowed live grasshoppers. Milo, the true fisherman, hooked her.

In 1957, Milo married Nancy whom he met in Batawa. (Allow me to digress here. I would kid Milo and Nancy that I was offended that I, born in March 1957, was not invited to their wedding in May 1957. After all, I was a future son-in-law.) They had three children: Susan, Deborah, and David. Their cottage on Otty Lake, which they built in 1958, became their renovated, expanded, mostly new home in the late 70’s. Milo loved Nancy dearly, and her early death from pancreatic and liver cancer at age 58 in 1992 shook him terribly.

Coming home from church on Mothers’ Day in 1992, Nancy became jaundiced. After one week and many tests, they learned that she had terminal cancers in the liver and pancreas. She died on August 12 that year.

Milo wrote, “I was angry with God because He didn’t heal her. She was only 58.” For months he would return from work, sit on the stairs, and cry. He writes, “Then one day I began to question myself. Why am I blaming God? We were so happy together. God blessed us with thirty-six wonderful years, and three wonderful children who have their own wonderful families. We had more happiness in thirty-six years than many people have in a lifetime. After all these years, I am still thankful for my wife, Nancy, and the years we had together.” Milo quoted Ecclesiastes 3:1-2. “Everything on Earth has its own time and its own season. There is a time for birth and death, planting and reaping.” Milo’s prayer for us is that we are thankful for the happy times, and that God gives us strength and comfort for the sad times. This is sage advice and a worthy prayer.

After Nancy’s death, he had two other relationships in which he found love. Today, his ashes rest with Nancy’s. He wrote in preparation for his death, “I’m so happy that once again we’ll be together.” Their devotion to each other served as exemplary for all of us.

Susan and I have been told that we have been given the gift of hospitality. That gift has been difficult to share during Covid. Debbie, David, Patti, Susan, and I have learned hospitality from Milo and Nancy. All the family gathered around them. Their gift spread throughout the wide Kravacek clan with many family get-togethers in many places. Milo held a family gathering at the end of July in 2011 at Otty Lake, where we enjoyed lake life and each other. My first novel came from that gathering around the campfire when we all contributed ideas to Larry’s conception of a movie. That love of family gatherings has spread to grand and great-grandchildren. Milo led us to enjoy each other’s company.

Aging wore on him as it does with all of us. He had many physical challenges as he approached death, including Parkinson’s Disease, yet he accepted his limitations and did the best he could. He knew he had lived a full life. He wanted to die, but he also wanted to live. That season of his life, his late eighties, prepared him for acceptance and welcoming of his fate. He knew where his journey would take him: Destination eternal with Jesus in Paradise.

So that leads us to his second last day on this planet, July 4, 2020. Covid had limited greatly visiting conditions at Lanark Lifestyles where he was living. However, he was given permission to visit family that day. We sat on the deck of Dave and Patti’s cottage overlooking Rideau Lake for several hours and he was grateful for time with children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. He had conversations with others who could not be there via Skype, Facetime, Messenger etcetera. He never personally accepted computer technology and its minions for “convenience” in his life, as many know, but that day he enjoyed time with many of his loved ones as long as we younger ones mastered the technology for him. He was grateful for that day. He may have had a premonition then about something imminent that we did not.

Milo was a charmer, especially noticeable later in life, especially with younger women. They loved to spoil him, and he loved being spoiled. The sincerity and joy he exhibited to others was that charm and magnetism. Nurses specially cared for him.

In 2016, Susan and I observed him at the Stewart Park Music Festival. With his scooter he travelled from end to end to end of the park like a bee pollinating flowers. Many people waved him down to engage him in conversation. He reveled in that weekend thoroughly.

On July 5, 2020, his nurse wheeled him outside after lunch to bask in that sunny day. They had a meaningful visit, and she wheeled him back to his room. He fell asleep in his chair, and didn’t wake, at least not here. He was gone. But memory of Milo has not left us. We celebrate Milan Kravacek today, certain of how deeply he has affected us and enriched our lives.

Let me finish with some relevant scripture. Mark 1:16-18 CEV says, “As Jesus was walking along the shore of Lake Galilee, He saw Simon and his brother Andrew. They were fishermen and were casting their nets into the lake. Jesus said to them, ‘Follow me! I will teach you how to bring in people instead of fish.’ Right then the two brothers dropped their nets and went with them.”

Milo was a shoe designer and avid fisherman. With love he was a fisher of people. In his humble way, he exhibited what Jesus wants us to do – lead people into the kingdom of heaven.

“Make your light shine, so others will see the good you do and will praise your Father in heaven.”

Matthew 5:16 CEV

Milo shone his light before us. We are grateful to God for the gift of his life and how meaningfully we have been blessed by it.

“Every child of God can defeat the world, and our faith is what gives us this victory.”

1 John 5:4 CEV.

Milo overcame many difficulties in this life, but he lived with victory and joy. God is glorified with the life of Milo. “Well done, good and faithful servant.” 

MAPLE LEAF FOREVER

2023/10/30

I have guilt about too many things. At times I wonder about my difficult birth for both my mother and me. With eight billion plus people on the planet, living in a wealthy country, and a following a lifestyle that harms Earth, along with and our health, along with wars and the evil humans dump on each other, it’s saddening. Then I stop myself and mostly overcome the guilt. Life has meaning every day, whether I see it at that moment or not. I can make a difference in this world. At least I can try.

We live on a street that is seven years old. It was a farm that became twenty-two homes on sizeable lots. Canada needs homes, so we sold one in Durham Region and built a new one on a lovely two-acre lot with many seventy-five-foot trees. The best part of living here is the trees.

We cut a few down to build, more than we would have liked. Some of those were diseased. Others  lived where a well, sceptic system, driveway, and house had been designated. They needed to be felled. We have been planting new ones to replace them in other locations. Our apple trees had an incredible amount of fruit this year. It’s beautiful here with our combination of forest and garden.

Our lot used to be part of a sugar bush. The jurisdiction in which we live is Lanark County, which claims to be the ‘Maple Sugar Capital of Ontario.’ People ask why we haven’t tapped our maples for sap, and ultimately make maple syrup. We answer, “It’s a lot of work, and we would rather support local producers.” Part of the charm of this part of Ontario are the local maple syrup operations. They serve tasty, healthy, natural products. They inform tourists about historical farming practices, linking past generations with future ones. Pancakes with maple syrup prove their works’ worth.

One such operation is Wheelers Maple Products, north of us on Highland Line near McDonalds Corners in the township of Lanark Highlands. For several years before we moved to Lanark County, we and others gravitated to this location for outstanding, simple, tasty breakfasts. This sugar bush operation’s reputation is not limited to local tourists. On a map situated in the boiling room, people from around the world place pins on a large map to indicate from where they’ve come. It’s impressive to see the global connections.

Vern Wheeler and his family have made their farm an impressive tourist destination, restaurant, museum, family-oriented and educational location in a rural setting. Visiting there is delightful. Yet, three weeks ago, I learned that the Wheeler maple tree farm is in danger of continuing. Management of this business depends on the good health of its trees. It’s the trees that have a looming, immediate threat. An aggregate pit has been proposed next to Wheelers.

If one examines on a map of Lanark Highlands Township, there is no shortage of aggregate areas. Next to Wheelers, Cavanagh, a large company with ventures in Eastern Ontario construction, wants to extract up to one million tonnes per year, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, with a depth of up to sixty-two feet below the water table. Cavanagh requires a zoning change from the township for the pit to open.

Questions about potential consequences of this pit include the following:

1.     What will increased heavy truck traffic do to the community and Wheeler Farm/Tourist destination? Upgrades? Maintenance? Taxes? Road safety? Other local tourism?

2.     What will happen to the hillside scenery?

3.     What will digging nineteen metres below the water table mean for the flow of water? What will the effects be to the quality of ground water for neighbours with existing wells?

4.     What contaminants will enter the water from the surface when the aquifer is pierced?

5.     What will prevent contaminated water from Cavanaugh’s on-site ponds to go into nearby Barbers Lake and adjacent wetlands even with a minimum thirty metre setback mandated from provincial standards?

6.     What will this do to the purity of maple syrup?

7.     What will this do to the area’s endangered species such as Blanding’s turtles? Other wildlife? Migrations of animals and birds?

8.     What will happen to the naturally occurring, high concentrations of uranium in seams and bedrock beneath the site? How will that affect humans, in particular their health? What will be the effects on wildlife?

9.     What impact does this pit have on the economy?

10.  How does this site prevent further discoveries of pre-contact artifacts found within one hundred twenty metres of it?

11.  Will granting permission for this pit then be precedent for future similar proposals in the area with water table concerns?

12.  Will a water-taking permit be required for this site?

To bring this back to how this writing started, when we built this house, we hired Cavanagh for various purposes, including excavation, gravel, sceptic system, and fill. Yet, we know that this proposed rezoning, whether it is approved or not, is not essential for Cavanagh’s survival or profitability. It has enough aggregate sites to continue in business. Therefore, it can also be argued that in addition to potential damage to Lanark Highlands that this rezoning proposes, it is neither economically advantageous to the township nor the company.

You too can try to be the difference in good decision-making. Let your concerns be known. Here are some important points of reference:

Friends of Lanark Highlands  - www.friendsoflanarkhighlands.org

Township of Lanark Highlands – Lhclerk@lanarkhighlands.ca

Lanark County – info@lanarkcounty.ca

Member of Provincial Parliament John Jordan – John.Jordan@pc.ola.org

Passing these concerns along to you, I hope will give us purpose for today and future generations.


UPDATE: On June 8, a province-wide protest about Gravel Mining in Ontario will occur.

Cavanaugh is redrafting its proposal to present in the coming months to Lanark Highlands Township Council. There will be a vote to accept or reject the revised proposal. Another major consideration will be the naturally occurring radiation from uranium deposits which have until now been controlled by glacial silt and sand deposits. Removing those controls that have existed for thousands of years will create local and world-wide problems. Lanark Highlands and Lanark County through municipal council votes must stop this proposal from going forward for the sake of their residents, environment, health, agriculture, and tourism. If it appears at the provincial level for approval, namely the Ontario Land Tribunal, Cavanaugh will also plead its case there. The ideal preference is that Cavanaugh donate the land to an environmental trust, opting for goodwill and wise stewardship of nature.

Friends of Lanark Highlands is hosting a nature walk to support this day. The hike will be held on the trails at Wheelers Pancake House, just west of the site of the proposed Highland Line Pit. You are invited to meet and mingle at the teepee where the hike will begin at 11:00 am. The easy 2.6 km loop trail will take hikers through the sugar bush and alongside wetlands, including the Long Sault Creek. Plan to share and learn information about the natural world that makes up this beautiful area. Wheelers Maple is open 9am to 3pm on June 8th. Feel free to enjoy a meal in the pancake house (table reservations recommended) and take in the sugar camp, museums, barn, playground or other trails during your visit. Date: Saturday, June 8th, 2024

Time: 11:00 am Location: Wheelers Maple, 1001 Highland Line, McDonalds Corners

www.wheelersmaple.com

Day of Action to Protect Ontario from Gravel Mining is a message from the Reform Gravel Mining Coalition of Ontario.

Here is a recent article from Lanarkist.

https://lanarkist.com/2024/05/02/selfish-and-offensive-residents-fight-proposed-lanark-highlands-pit/

This is Vern Wheeler at the Pancake House. Look through the Chainsaw Museum and artifacts from centuries of maple syrup harvesting as well if you make this place your destination.

UPDATE: 2025/02/14

A meeting occurred earlier this week with Friends of Lanark Highlands to review the second (revised) proposal from Cavanaugh. I attended. While the scope of the Gravel pit had been altered, all concerns from the first proposal remain. THIS PIT IS A BAD IDEA. IT JEOPARDIZES surface water, ground water, wildlife, endangered species, radiation leakage, traffic concerns, road costs, First Nations treaty rights, tourism, agriculture, and community. IT IS NOT NEEDED. The provincial election is fast approaching, so it should be insightful TO LEARN FROM ALL CANDIDATES their commitment to stopping development of this pit.

Llewellyn