April - June 2007

Legion 185 Softball Makes A Comeback
After a few years absence, softball is making a comeback at the Legion largely due to the effort of Mike Neville who has been rounding up players, even bring some out of retirement. So far 2 games against other Legions are lined up with more to be announced. This will all culminate in a tournament on Saturday August 24th at Olympia Park followed by a supper at the Legion. So far, 4 Legions have committed to the tournament.
Now, there are two games lined up in the coming weeks. Next Sunda
y July 8th will be the first game against Br.216 Laval West. The game starts at 1pm at Olympia Park on Guy street. The next game will be on Saturday July 14th against Br.04 Verdun also at Olympia at 1pm. This game will be followed by a BBQ at Br.185. Hamburgers for $1.00 and hot dogs for 50 cents. Come on out and cheer on the team! Stay tuned to the Legion page for more softball dates. Simply click on the Legion logo on top of this page.

Speaking of Legion activities Laval West Legion (Br. 216) will be holding its annual Joe Boch Memorial - Xmas in July. This a competition of darts, pool, cribbage and horseshoes. It all happens on the July 14th weekend. For more info please click here.

Scott Martin's Pages - New and Improved
Now that Scott has learned to send me pictures, you should see a lot more pictures along with his stories about caddying on the PGA tour. You can read about his trip from Hartford to Michigan, the Magical Mystery Tour. Life on the road can be grueling but you do discover some nice spots along the way which make it all worthwhile. On the golf front, Peter Lonard had a rough second round and missed the cut giving Scott this weekend off and that's not a good thing. Meanwhile we are celebrating Canada Day on this long weekend. I will try to go and take some pictures there Sunday. If you want to know what is going on check the 2mo calendar for the list of events.

Danny Klimas - Drive for the Cure Golf Tournament Raises New High
Another great day of golf and a great day for the cause. A record (and maximum) 144 golfers entered this year's version of the classic tournament at the excellent Fontainebleau Golf Course in Blainville. This tournament started 7 years ago with 8 people and has increased every year where it has now reached the maximum number that the golf course can hold. Most importantly it raised over $19,000 for cancer research. This year the money goes to the Royal Victoria Lymphoma Research Fund. The money was raised by a silent auction, a draw for an Air Canada Vacations all inclusive trip to the Mayan Riviera and through corporate sponsorships as well as the different golf challenges along the way. The weather was hot and windy and the course was in great shape. Thanks to all the participants and to the many volunteers who sat in the sun and heat to help 'supervise' the par 3's. Reserve early next year as there promises to be a waiting list to get in.

Click here for Tartan Lobster Night Slideshow

Fantastic Day at the Auberge & Spa Beaux Rêves Golf Challenge
Hannes Lamothe and company organized quite a day for golfers at the comeback of the annual Beaux Rêves Golf Challenge. The only thing he forgot was to have Mother Nature turn off the wind as it was howling through the course. On the positive side, on the few holes that it was favourable the drives were record breaking (for me anyway). Everything about this day was first class. From the breakfast in the morning through the 2 hour open bar which was followed up by a wonderful supper with live piano music from Isabelle. The meal was amazing with a wide choice of seafood and meats including a tasty Hossenfeffer, sorry Bugs. It wasn't really Hossefeffer because that is a stew.
On the golf course, there were all kinds of challenges such as straightest drive, longest drive, closest to the pin on 3 holes, closest sand shot closest chip and a putting challenge. The prizes were all a free night's stay at the Auberge which is a great place to relax less than 45 minutes from the hustle and bustle of 2mo. Thanks go out to Hannes for organizing the whole affair. Also a big thank you to the Auberge staff who did a great job all day. And finally to Jody who ran around all day
giving tours of the Auberge, handing out water on the first hole, taking pictures and making sure everyone got hors-d'oeuvres during happy hour. Thanks to everyone for a number ONE event. For pictures of the day click here.

The Weather is Great
And you know what that means. It means that I don't have much time to update my website. But I promise that sometime this weekend I will post pictures from the Tartan Lobster Night, the American invasion at Cardinal, The St Pat's Golf Tournament and Auberge & Spa Beaux-Rêves Tournament. For now, I have just updated the results of the Skins game on the Wyder Link.

City Has New Website
In case you didn't know, the city of Two-Mountains now boast a new website. The new design is cleaner and it makes it easier to find things unlike this website. The city site is always available by clicking the city logo on top. As you may be aware, I usually refer to the city as Two Mountains. The real name, of course, is not supposed to be translated from Deux-Montagnes but I believe that in the Discovering Deux-Montagnes/Visual Identification section they incorrectly refer to Lake of Deux-Montagnes. In English, the official name of the lake is still Lake of Two-Mountains, only the city has had to be officially named Deux-Montagnes. Since the lake borders Ontario, it is still called Two-Mountains. Nevertheless, the municipality is doing a good job making sure that they offer all their information in both English and French and they should be congratulated for their effort. Thanks to Mike McKeown for letting me know that my old link no longer worked.

4Korners Golf Tourney A Hit.
Saturday proved to be a great day on the links of le Victorien as the 4 Korners Family Resource Centre held it 2nd Annual Golf Tournament. The weather was perfect (unlike last year) and everyone seemed to have a fantastic time. This year the format was Vegas style and the winning team came in at minus 10. That team was comprised of Garold Nixon, Gary Nixon, Vic Black and Jeff Nelson who also captured the longest drive competition with a drive that sailed over our heads as we waved them on to hit. Over 300 yards straight down the middle on the 18th hole at Victorien For those who know the course, it was on the path that crosses the fairway. Barney Rooney was closest to the pin on #3 with about 3 feet left for birdie. Apologies to winners of the other challenges as I can't remember who won them. Ernie Butler did a great job as emcee and comedian Phil Shuchat had us in stitches. I will have a couple of pictures shortly.

The Hannes Lamothe Golf Tournament is Back.
After a few years absence, the Auberge Beaux Rêves and Spa Golf Challenge is making a comeback on Friday June 22nd. It's an all inclusive affair with a breakfast and supper (lunch available) at the Auberge. This has always been a great day. Ask anyone who has ever attended. There are a few spots left to register your foursome. Click here for more info.

Relay Another Success
Check out the slideshow by clicking the picture and you will find out how much was raised. Congratulations to Melanie and the Lamplighters and Marilyn's Dream Girls for helping raise a large share of the total.

Reminder - Relay for Life - Today
Today - Friday June 1, 2007 from 7pm to 7am (Saturday) on the grounds of LTM, the Canadian Cancer Society's Relay for Life. A record of 31 team of 10 'walkers' has entered.  As Marilyn Smith-Ramacieri, Captain of the Jan (Norton) O'Neil team, says 'We hope that everyone will drop by at some point (over the long night!) to pledge or buy a Luminary'. It's an all-nighter, so there is no excuse for missing it....... Good luck to all the teams. Break a leg!

Rock and Roll Memories Huge Success
Last Saturday's Show for the benefit of the MUHC Youth Oncology Clinic was a huge success as a fund raiser and a great night of entertainment. Star Image put on quite a show that everybody got into. The only hitch was that the show was so popular that they had more people than expected and the supper was a little late for people. The rest of the evening made up for this. Thanks to everyone who came but a huge thank you to all the volunteers who helped organize this event and who helped to prepare and serve the food. Click here for a slide show of the evening.

Weather Holds Out for Tartan Spring Open Finally
Although the weather wasn't perfect, it was a lot better than the last 2 years of misery. This year, the only real problem were the greens at Deux-Montagnes. They were awful and every time you putted was crap shoot on weather the ball would bounce one way or another. Somehow Chris Gillette could read the greens and scored an astounding 76. The closest other scores were a pair of 82's.This was the 61st edition of the tournament that Clary Potter helped co-found back in 1947. He played yesterday and had a 102 including a great 40 foot putt to save bogey on the long 11th hole. At 89 years young, Clary can still teach us a few tricks on the links.
Here are the results and pictures.

Click here for Pictures of the Tartan BBQ

Rock 'n' Roll Memories Show Saturday May 26
Tickets for the Rock 'n' Roll memories show and spaghetti supper are still available. This show is on Saturday May 26th and is for a good cause, the he MUHC Youth Oncology Clinic. The supper and show tickets are only $40 with a special 2 for $60. This show has had rave reviews. It is at the Veteran's Hall which is the front part of the Legion.  For more info, click here.

The Ride is On!
Last week, I reported on one of my colleagues going off on a motorcycle ride for charity (see
4 articles down at Give to Ride). Yesterday, Tuesday May15th, he left Montreal at around 1:30pm. This is a solo trip and he has been hit with very lousy weather yet in just over 24 hours, he has already crossed 14 states off his list. He still has 35 left and Mexico. Visit his site once again and you can track him in real time. After looking at that, don't complain about driving to Myrtle Beach. The site is give2ride.com . I am hosting his site and I have room for a couple of more url's with my host. If you would want a site for yourself, let me know and we can work something out. I am cheap but not easy.

In The Air Last Night (Phil Collins Tribute Band)
The tribute band In the Air Tonight played the Olympia last night to pretty good crowd. (There were still seats available at show time). The 10 piece band was fantastic as they did renditions of the many Phil Collins songs with a few Genesis song thrown in for good measure. The lead singer Steve Gagné stays in character for the entire show. Maybe he thinks he is Phil but it works and the musical talent shines. If you were there, I know you enjoyed it and if you missed it here is a track from his website. It will give you an idea how good this band really was. Here is their website. The Olympia is a great venue for concert and here is hoping that we get at least one concert in each spring program that can be enjoyed by the English community.

Lack of Updates Lately
Many of you have commented on my lack of updates in the last few weeks. Many also know why this was the case. I was actually on vacation and updating a whole other part of my site with pictures and text of our 2 week vacation. If you have gone or are planning a trip to Hawaii, you might be interested in looking at these pages. Here they are. I will be posting more pictures at one point. The only problem is selecting from the 1100 pictures I took. So it may be a while before I get around to it.

Give To Ride.
One of my colleagues, Stéphan Bolduc is an avid motorcyclist and is also part of our charity committee at work. For the second time (he first did it in 2003) he is participating in the Iron Butt Rally which cover 11,000 miles in 11days. It's not a race but it certainly is a test of endurance. This is happening in August of this year, but in May, Stéphan decided to do a practice rally by himself and at the same time try to raise funds for 5 charities. In the last 2 weeks of May, he will travel though 49 states and 3 countries. A journey of 10,000 miles plus the drive back from Alaska. I don't know how he does it (I fell asleep driving home from work today) but it's quite a feat. For this trip, he will have a 2 way GPS system on his bike and people will be able track his progress. So far people have pledged over $10,000 towards the charities and our company will match most of these donations. Take a look at his website that I will be maintaining while he is on his ride. www.give2ride.com

Only Two Tartan Thursday Suppers Until the Summer Break.
The popular Tartan Pub Thursday suppers are coming to an end with a twist. Instead of Thursday May 17 the supper will be held on Friday May 18th. The meal will be a repeat of the great BBQ supper that was served up on the last Thursday in March (pictures). The shift of date is being done because many people will be in from out of town on that weekend for the golf tournament. We will certainly break the 70 steak record of March. Once again, you will have to register in advance for the steak supper as we have to know how many people will be eating. The regular Thursday suppers will then resume in the fall. Also coming up in May (Sunday May 20th) is the annual Spring Golf Open. The registration for this event will be posted very shortly. I predict the weather will be great because last last the tournament was cancelled for the first time ever due to weather. 

Are You A Real 2 Mountainer?
Here is a test to see if you are a real Two Mountainer. On Saturday May 5th, this is what you have to do. Get up in the morning and go for a coffee at Cafe Lola to wake you up to set up a table at the LTM Garage Sale (check the 2mo calendar for details). At 3pm you go home and take a quick shower before heading off to the Legion for their Spring BBQ (5:30 to 8:00 / $6.00). You ask to be served early to make sure you can get to the Olympia for the Phil Collins tribute band and you top off the night with a few brews at the Tartan. Passing grade is 60% any 3 of these events will qualify you as a true 2 mountainer.


Boston Hangs On To NA Cup For Another Year
The LTHC once again have shamed Canada by not getting back the North American Cup and leaving in the hands of the Boston Boys for a third year in a row. This now leaves the LTHC with a record of 28-4-2. The game was a nail bitter as no one took more than a one goal lead. With Boston making it 4-3 with 10 minutes left the Laval Teachers never got back the goal. We are all hoping the LTHC coach Richard Allard is well enough to play next year as his coaching record now sits at 0-3 for the NA Cup Match. We want to thank all the fans for coming to watch even though they weren't all cheering for US. They endured the very cold Bonaventure Arena and managed to stick it out for 90 minutes. Actually if it had been sticking out, it might have frozen off.

Check out 4 new favourites.

Big Game TODAY!
The Boston guys had their sticks sharpened for the North American Cup this Saturday at 1:15 at the Bonaventure Arena on Cote de Liesse (Click here for directions). The Cup should be polished on its way up here as it has been in Boston for 2 years now. The plan so far is to try and recapture the cup and then go downtown (I think @ Brutopia on Crescent) and watch the game and have a few refreshments. The Boston boys are staying downtown, so we will leave them to their tomfoolery. Everyone is welcome to come and cheer for Canada (LTHC) on.

What's That License on the First Page?
I realize that there are a lot of younger readers (who am I kidding) of this website that might not know what the license plate is on my entry page. There was a time that you had to have a city license on your bicycle otherwise the cops (who had nothing better to do back then) would actually pick up your bike and put in their trunk and bring it to city hall. Every year (I don't remember when it stopped) you would have to go to city hall and register your two-wheeler and put this metal plate on the wheel using the hole that you see on the left of the number. I remember as a kid that you would try to get the lowest number possible. One year (I think 1972) I got number 1. My dad being mayor may have helped a bit. If anyone knows when this practice stopped and how much it used to cost, drop me a line.
The story about this particular license (1961 # 460) is interesting (to me anyway). Geoff Bliss found this on the lot where my current house is. When we bought our lot in 1984, there was a abandoned cottage on it. In the summer, you could barely see it from the road as everything was growing around it. The old shack was being used as a hideout and 'play' house for the local kids. It was also a popular spot for ditching circulars. I would sometimes find stacks of 50 or more of the same circular or catalog in the front porch. Obviously it was easier than to actually distribute them to surrounding houses. When we finally decided to build a year later, the bulldozer had no trouble with the shack. It almost fell by itself and other than a cement staircase, it was gone in the matter of hours. Now we're playing house on that land.  

WNDL Finals and Banquet
The Wednesday Night Dart League turned into the Saturday Afternoon Dart (SAD) for the 21st time in its history. As Rod Stewart would sing, let the pictures tell the story. Click Here. Thanks to the Tartan staff for their great service, to Gerry for the food, to Brendan for the music and President Paul Fougere who did the stats all year and prepared the day.

Bernie Making Waves in a Foreign Hockey League (FHL)
As many of you know, my brother Bernie had gone over to the other side. He has taken a sabbatical from the LTHC and gone to play with 'les autres' in St-Eustache (Don't ask him who he voted for in the elections). He will however join us for our Boston game which I will talk about later. From all reports, he is still playing at a superior level proven by the fact that he received a special award for the season from les Franç
ais called 'le talent'. Roughly translated, it means: at your age, we can't believe you don't have a walker, never mind that you can still play hockey. Anyway, if you click on his picture, you will see the award, I would like to draw your attention to the Freudian slip on the t-shirt which I am not sure Bernie saw when he sent it to me.
Getting back to the Boston game. As I reported earlier in the year, our LTHC Boston trip did not happen for the first time in 33 years, however the Boston boys decided to come up to Montreal and defend their North American Cup title. The game is on Saturday, April 14 at 1:15 (to 2:45) at the Bonaventure arena. That is on Cote de Liesse right beside Le Bifthèque steak house. You are all invited to come and cheer for your favorite country. We are waving the admission fee, so you can come and see 'le talent' at his best.

4 Korners Holds Its 2nd Annual Golf Tournament
The 4 Korners Family Resource Centre will be holding a golf tournament at the Victorien on Saturday June 9th. Last year's tournament was a success despite awful weather and this year's promises to be even better. The dinner will be emceed by Ernie Butler of the Comedy Nest with special guest comedian Phil Shuchat. Why not come and support the 4 Korners Resource centre who provide programs for children, youth, seniors and families. If you don't golf you can come for supper and enjoy the show for $35. Click here for more info

Tartan BBQ a Success!
There is no better way to bring in the spring than to take the snow of the BBQ and cook up a major league steak (my apologies to my vegetarian readers). That's what Ron did for 65 people attending the special BBQ supper on Thursday. The meal was fantastic and thanks to Ron, Garold, Gary, Kim, Jane and Dennis for serving up a doozy. Everyone gave top marks to the supper. I will have pictures posted (probably Saturday morning) as I stayed there too long to produce a slide show. Click here for the slide show.   

Another Beautiful Spring Day March 25, 2007
Yesterday, around supper time, a nice coating of snow fell in Two Mountains. There was no wind with the temperature around 0, the snow delicately fell upon the branches and stayed there. It was a little too dark to take pictures but this morning I ventured out on the lake with my camera. Don't worry it was shallow where I was. I took a few pictures that I might try a submit to the 2 mo calendar next year. I have posted one on my POM (picture of the Month) page. You can click here or on the P0M logo above to see it. I hadn't posted one for February because I had so many I couldn't decide. It's there if you go to the previous POM at the bottom of the page.

Drive for the Cure
I am passing on the following message from Danny Klimas. I would like to get a foursome into this tournament, so contact me if you are interested.
Believe it or not spring has arrived! It is also the time of year that I send out your invitation to participate in our “Drive for the Cure” Golf Classic that will be held on Tuesday June 26, 2007 this year, once again at the exclusive Le Fontainebleau Golf Club. Click here to find details for the event and we hope that you will be able to support us either through your participation and or sponsorship. So as not to avoid disappointment, please register early as space is very limited. We promise to once again show you a special day both on and off the course while we raise funds for research into cancer. If you have any questions, please contact me. We look forward to seeing you there, Danny Klimas. You can e-mail me by clicking here.

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