“Menuha” is painted on the sign greeting visitors at the entrance to Davey and Gwen Moffatt’s spacious property on Southdale Line. It is a Hebrew word meaning “rest,” and was chosen by Gwen, for many years a registered massage therapist, to assure her bed and breakfast guests that that’s exactly what they’ll find. And they do. Besides their room in the house, they can access an expansive lawn on which Davey has built several outbuildings and outdoor structures such as the tree house (seen at left), complete with hammock.
Before taking up residence in August 2009, Davey and Gwen had the house renovated by Doug Tarry Jr. Doug Tarry Senior had built the house some years earlier; Davey and Gwen are the third owners. In the basement of the house are the two rooms that are licensed for the bed and breakfast business. One has a bathroom and kitchenette en suite; the other has them just outside the door. Guests arrive from as nearby as Glencoe and Windsor and from as far away as the Netherlands and Italy. Some may stay a few days and some return year after year. There is a vegetable garden they can use in which they will find lemons, peppers, carrots, asparagus, kale and lemon cucumbers, the supply only slightly reduced by foraging animals. Pictured below, sunroom and cabin flank the signpost showing where guests have come from.
EVERYDAY IS A GIFT says the sign over the dining room table. Yes, the view was magnificent! That was a gift in itself. Across the lawn are trees and a ravine dividing the Moffatt property from the farm next door. Occasionally, a pileated woodpecker may be seen. Their website: bbcanada.com/13278.html....Next week (August 22), the Club will meet at the Wayside for a noon meeting for the official visit of District Governor Diane Chantler. The Club Board will meet with the DG following the Club meeting. August 29 will be a regular noon meeting, also at the Wayside; the Club will not meet on September 5 (Labour Day).
AND NOW, BACK TO OUR STORY….Past President Pat Martyn was in the chair today in the absence of President Nancy and President-Elect Trish Shouldice and announced the need for two motions to be passed.
Moved by Pat Martyn, seconded by Ron Somerville, THAT there will be a Rotary Club of St. Thomas Tour of Homes for the 2016 season on November 11, 12 and 13. CARRIED.
Moved by Suzanne Ferguson, seconded by Adriana Balderas, THAT the following people will be the 2016 Tour of Homes co-chairs: Pat Martyn, Nancy Lovelock, Trish Shouldice and Trudy Kanellis. CARRIED.
My, that was easy, wasn’t it? But the Tour is only three months away, and you can believe that a whole lot of work by a whole lot of people will have to be done to make it a success. Four homes have been selected; a fifth location, the CASO Station, is to be decorated by local businesses….A meeting of the Food Trailer Committee is to be arranged in the next week, and the Club Foundation Board will meet at an early date.
A reminder that the grand opening of the new home for Women’s Place, Elgin’s Emergency Shelter is on Wednesday, September 7, 45 Princess Avenue in St. Thomas. The Opening Ceremony is at 1 p.m. and the Guided Tour at 2 p.m. RSVP Liz Brown by August 29 (519-633-0155 or lbrown@vawsec.on.ca). Women’s Place extends a second invitation: “to give a book that matters to you and pen in its front cover your best wishes for the women and children who will find safety there. The books will grace the bookshelves built into the fireplace that warms the center of the home and the bookshelf in the window seat of the children’s playroom.” If you wish to donate a book, please bring it or mail it to their office at 300 Talbot Street, Suite 26, St. Thomas, by August 29.
United for Refugees is conducting its last summer fundraising Charity BBQ at the Hepburn Parkette (next to the CIBC) on Talbot Street in St. Thomas from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Friday, August 26….The Southwold Firefighters’ Association Beef & Pork BBQ is Sunday, September 11 at the Keystone Complex in Shedden, from 4:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tickets for adults are $15 per person; for children 6-12, $5; children 5 and under, free. Call 764-2742….The Fine Master took a second week’s holiday, but will, no doubt, return next week.
HAPPY FINS- Donations of $5 to The Rotary Foundation - Annual Programs Fund - credited to the donor in celebration of something good in our lives. This practice was started in this club in 1985 to raise funds for polio eradication at the suggestion of Darwin Lowe, a member of the club.
Pat Martyn (2) – Happy to be here today in this beautiful environment; for the wedding coming up this Saturday in Toronto of her youngest daughter.
Malcolm Rust (2) – Thank you to Davey and Gwen for hosting us here today; thank you to the Tour of Homes Committee and for the announcement that the Tour is set to go this year.
Ron Somerville (3) – Thanks to our host and hostess; he had a birthday a week or so ago (his age in animal years is much lower!); his oldest son was recently in Bulgaria for a month, teaching photography.
Suzanne Ferguson (2) – For finding ourselves in such a nice setting today, and for the “free” lunch.
Brenda Merrifield (1) – She is happy that her husband is pain-free following recent surgery in Las Vegas.
Trudy Kanellis (3) – To thank Davey and Gwen for hosting us today; for a nice holiday in Greece where she had the opportunity to relax; to thank everyone for helping at the Food Trailer with the Thomas the Tank Engine event (poor weather in the second week may drag the financial results a little lower than expected).
Davey Moffatt (1) – Thanks to everyone for coming.
Monday, August 22 – Official Visit of District Governor Diane Chantler
At the Wayside, 12:15 p.m.
Photos: Trudy Kanellis
PEB
