Archives 2013-07-09

All Saints Breakfast - Saturday October 5th at 9:30. Click here for details.

Lions Club Bowling Event - November 16-2013
The Deux-Montagnes Lions club is having a bowling evening on Nov 16-2013 to gather funds for the Harold Vaage Scholarship fund . This scholarship is granted annually to 2 students of L.T.M. High school. It will be held at the Salle de Quilles situated at Place St.Eustache, 367 Boulevard Arthur Sauvé from 7:00 pm to 10:00 pm. Tickets are $12.00 per bowler, which includes the shoe rental. There will be prizes for each alley. For tickets call Lion Lorraine Mc.Kenna at 450-472-0070 or Lion Dave Byers at 514-602-7054. Come and support your Lions club.

Pub Deux-Montagnes Says Goodbye to Golf Deux-Montagnes
On Sunday October 13th, Two Mo Pub will be putting on a golf tournament on the eve of the closure of the course. The price will be $40 with cart and there will be a small collection back at the pub for anyone that wants food. The first tee-off time will be at 10:30 and the limit is 48 golfers. The spots will be awarded on a first come/first served basis. Don't miss this opportunity to say good-bye to our local golf course. Drop by the pub to reserve.

Click Here For Holy Family Lobster Dinner Pictures

Panda Changes Its Logo
It is with pleasure that the PANDA Basses-Laurentides Sud-Ouest association presents their new logo>>
You will continue to find the same services, expertise and support for Attention Deficit with or without hyperactivity under their new logo!
The change in logo is the result of a decision made to have a unified image for all of the PANDA associations within Québec. To visit the local Panda Website, please click here. For the calendar of of 2013-2014 events and activities go to the second page of this link.

30th Happy Gang Golf Tournament in the Final Days of Golf Deux-Montagnes
The Deux-Montagnes Golf course closes its holes permanently on Monday October 14 but not before it had hosted Ron Kesseler's 30th Annual Happy Gang tournament. Sunday September 29th, arguably the nicest day of the summer/fall, was a perfect day for golf. The golf course was surprisingly in exceptional condition for a course in its last days of operation with 68 golfers making their way through the links. Two teams tied for the best score at -7 and shared the top honor while 3 teams came in at -6 to share the third, fourth and fifth place money. To see many pictures of the day taken by me and Mike Lunny, please click here. Next year, the tournament will be held at the Glendale Golf course in Mirabel around the same date. Stay tuned in early September for exact details. Thanks to Ron for doing this year after year and keeping the tradition going no matter where the tournament takes us. See you next year.

Lions Club Book Fair
The Deux-Montagnes Lions Club is having its 10thth Annual Book Fair on Saturday and Sunday October 19th and 20 from 9am to 4 pm. This popular sale has been very successful in the past, with a wonderful assortment of books for your reading pleasure.There will be approx 25.000 books, in good condition, all classified into categories normally found in a book store in both English and French, including a great choice in Children’s books. Prices are as follows: Pocket books are $0.50 and all hard covers and large soft covers will be sold for $1.50. Children’s’ books are $0.25 each. There is also an Arts and Collectable table with reasonable prices as marked, as well as a Christmas boutique combining books with small gifts beautifully wrapped. The snack bar will serve Soup, Sandwiches ,muffins, coffee and tea. Delight in your new book purchases while having a snack. All proceeds will be used in serving the community.
The location is: The Veterans Hall (formerly The Legion) at 141 Grand Moulin in Deux Montagnes. J7R-3C8 .This is along Route 344, which also leads you to Apple country and beautiful Oka Park. This is an excellent way to pick up your winters reading at bargain prices and have a great family day in the country.
This year again, as the need is great, we are asking customers coming to the book fair to bring a non-perishable food item as a contribution to the Christmas baskets for the Agape association. There will be staff from the Maison des Citoyens at the hall to receive your gift.
For information call: Betty or Martin Hensen: 450-473-1932 or Dave Byers at 514-602-7054.

Dinner and Movie Night at All Saints Church
This Saturday, September 28th, All Saints Church on 18th avenue is putting on a dinner and movie night. The movie is Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and the dinner is spaghetti with a bring your own wine/beer option. The price is just $12 and $5 for children 12 and under. Click here for full details.

A Request From Karen Thornton
I am putting together a book of memories of Gail Erickson (married name Messett) for her daughter who never had the chance of knowing who her mother was. Gail passed away at the young age of 22 when her daughter was only 10 months old and there has been a piece of Chantale's heart missing all of her life. The part that says "Who was my Mom"? I am hoping anyone from Two Mountains that has some happy memories of Gail will send them to me at my e-mail address (lilkaren5@hotmail.com) so I can print them off and add them to her book. This book will be from everyone who partakes.
Also, widower Dan Messett would love to get in touch with two of Gail's best friends, Vicky Lions and Barbara Clark. If you can help with this request, please contact Karen at the above email.

We Are Back
As many of you noticed, I was away on the Golf trip with Ron 'Arnie' Potter. We toured Ottawa, the Muskokas and Toronto regions. We got back on Friday September 20th and we documented the entire trip with lots of pictures. It all started when I won a 30 day ClubLink Trial Membership at the end of August. The membership ends next Thursday so the blog will be updated because we will be playing in Mont-Tremblant next week and the fall colours should be starting. To see and read about it, simply click on the golf ball in the .com above. If you don't see a golf ball then you may not want to click it.

Information Session on the Reform of Employment Insurance
On Friday, September 20th, the Riding Association of the New Democratic Party of Rivière-des-Mille-Îles will present Hans Marotte of the Mouvement Action Chômage et Alexandre Boulerice, Member of Parliament for Rosemont-Petite-Patrie for a public information session on the reform of Employment Insurance.
The event will be a 5 to 7 (Happy Hour as Anglos call it) for all people interested in this issue. Hans Marotte, Alexandre Boulerice and Laurin Liu (Member of Parliament for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles) will each address the issues. A live musical group will provide entertainment,
The cost is $20 per person. From each $20, $10. will be divided between these two important organizations : Droits et Recours Laurentides and Droits et obligations des sans-emplois, both of which defend the rights of workers.

Creative Seniors Reminder

Myrna Goyetche will be facilitating the “Circle of Learning” discussion group this fall at the Horizons on Monday afternoons. Participants decide what topics they wish to discuss based on common interests, personal passions and knowledge. Participants and/or invited guest speakers present topics and then everyone gets in on the conversation. Last winter's topics included the War of Vietnam, travel, colour theory and art, the evolution of underwear, Apartheid and more. The fall session is scheduled to start on Monday, September 16th. For detailed information regarding registration and cost please follow this link.

You may also take note of the many other programs being offered by Creative Seniors this fall. Click here to read about them all.

Eddy Ewenson Golf Invitational Raises $20,000
On Saturday September 7th, Troy Ewenson held his 7th annual golf tournament now named in memory of his dad, Eddy. This year, he decided that the proceeds would go to the Danika Brunies family to help pay for some upcoming surgeries. The total raised was an astonishing $20,000. This will pay for two surgeries that are scheduled for next year.
To read about Danika's story, please click here.

Lions Club Garage Sale
The Lions' semi-annual garage sale will be held on September 14, 2013, from 9am to 3pm at the Lion's Den, 111 - 13th Avenue. We would like to invite everyone to come and check out our treasures. Also, there will a bake sale, cabbage rolls for sale. Bring the family for lunch. There will be French fries and hot dogs to enjoy

Municipal Election Campaigns Are Starting to Heat Up
As many of you know, all municipal elections in Quebec are held every fourth year. This is the year and every city will be going to the polls on Sunday November 3rd. In less than 2 months we will be voting for a new mayor since Mayor Marc Lauzon will not be running again. There are four candidates vying for the position. Two candidates (Denis Martin and Denis Joannette) are running with a full slate of 6 councillors and two (Jamshid Ghavami and Eddy Johnson) are running as independents. It' surely will be a hard fought battle over the next 2 months and hopefully our new council will steer our city in the right direction. I will try to keep you up-to-date right up to election night where I will attempt to keep you posted our the results as they are coming in. If you remember 4 and 8 years ago, the central computer system run by the provincial government was brought to its knees as the results from hundreds of municipalities started to come in at at once. Many candidates are using social media to connect with the voters. Although a casual user of social media, I am not a huge fan of it. This website will stay neutral in the race for the 7 seats that will lead the city's future. I will, on request, post material from any of the campaigns unless they are direct attacks on other candidates or past administrations. I will also include any party's events in the 2mo calendar if I am contacted to add these. I will eventually set up a page dedicated to the municipal election which will contain links to the candidate's websites and will be the place to go for elections results as they happen.

Here is a request from Jamshid Ghavami, who will be holding a public Q/A session on Monday October 7th. Click here for details. To visit Mr. Ghavami's website please click here.

Happy Gang Golf - One of the Final Tournaments At Golf Deux-Montagnes
Ron Kesseler's 30th Annual Happy Gang golf tournament will be one of the last tournaments to be played at the Deux-Montagnes golf course. The golf course has been sold to the city of St-Eustache and will be developed for housing and expansion of the industrial park. The tournament will be held on Sunday September 29th at 9am. The format is 3 man Vegas with 2 threesomes teeing off at once to keep everything honest. The cost of golf with cart is $40 plus $25 in the kitty for the cash prizes. You can make your own team of 3 or Ron can assign you to a team. Everyone is welcome. To register please send an email to this address ( ronk@2mopaul.com ) and Ron will get back to you with details. Next year's 31st edition of the tournament is already booked at the Oka Golf Course. Contrary to what you would think, the owners at golf Deux-Montagnes are keeping the course in great shape this year. This could well be your last chance to say goodbye to our local course that was a quite the golf challenge since it had been trimmed down to 18 holes in 2004, again because of urban sprawl. I will probably playing the course into October if conditions (and weather) prevail.
In September however, as many of you know, I will be playing many times on ClubLink courses such as le Fontainebleau and Ilesmere. I was the lucky winner of a 30 trial full membership when I entered a contest after a member/guest day at Fontainebleau in August. On the weekend I had the opportunity to play Ottawa area ClubLink courses and planning a little trip to the Toronto area to take advantage of the prize. If you are interested, the whole story with pictures will be (almost) live through this site. Simply click on the golf ball in the .com at the top of this page.

Exercise For Independent Living Starts On September 17.
The autumn session of this 8 week program will be starting on Tuesday September 17th at 9:00am. The classes will be held at the newly renovated Heritage Social Club. You can attend this course, given by Dale Hammond O.A.S. P.T.S., either once a week or twice a week for maximum benefits. The cost is $4 per class or $32 for the season or $64 to attend on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Call Dale at 450-473-5985 or click here for all the info.

Auberge Beaux Reves Golf Tournament
On Friday September 13th, Hannes Lamothe, owner of Auberge Beaux Reves and Spa, is holding his annual golf tournament at Golf le Chantecler. It's an all inclusive affair with lots of contests and prizes. If you are not into golf, you can turn the day into a Spa and Relax day while your spouse is hacking away at the grass on the links.

4 Korners Offers Caregiver Conference
On Tuesday Sept 3rd, at 10:00am, the 4 Korners Resource Center is offering a 2 hour conference for English speaking Caregivers. The session is called I Care, Supporting Care Partners Along the Dementia Journey. It is free and is funded through funding from L'Appui which is an organization specifically for caregivers. You are asked to RSVP in advance by calling 450 974 3940 or 1-888-974-3940. For all the information regarding this please click here.

Team Canada Retains the Wyder Cup for 5th Straight Year

The Wyder Cup's 12th edition was played out last weekend at the Maplewood Golf resort in Bethlehem New Hampshire. The weekend featured great weather, great golf and great friendships with our neighbours to the south. Although the score seems a little lopsided, many of the matches were settled in the final holes of each round. The definite highlight shot of the weekend was Danny Kesseler's hole-in-one on the 142 yards 8th hole in a scramble match while he was paired up with his dad, Ron. It was a first for Danny but the second in Wyder Cup history. Danny honoured the tradition of buying the round for all the players as he set up 90 beers in coolers greenside on the 18th hole. Great shot Danny! Pictures will be ready shortly and will be available on the Wyder Cup link on the left. In case you hadn't noticed, the above picture was an attempt at spelling WC on the 18th green. We definitely have to work on that for next year which happens to be the 100th anniversary of the Maplewood golf course. Donald Ross designed the course and it was opened in 1914. Donald Ross is a well known golf course designer who moved to Boston in 1899 and designed over 400 courses until his death 1948. His most famous designs include Pinehurst #2, Seminole, Oak Hill and the Inverness Club. Playing Maplewood is like going back in time and this year it was in fantastic shape. A very short course by today's standards, it's a long hitter's dream until it becomes a nightmare on the fast and sloping greens. Built on the side of a mountain, the greens all break away from the top even though you eye says different. To read more about Golf Hall of Famer Donald Ross, please click here.

Parking for Rent Next to Grand Moulin Station
Everyone who drives to take the train at the Grand Moulin knows that parking is at a premium, especially on the after the 7 o'clock train. Parking will be available at St Jude School for a monthly fee of $115. Pay by the month with no contract. It will have snow removal and will be secure. The address is 122 St-Jude street. Call 450-621-7805 to reserve a spot.

Doris Stevens MacMillan - 1919 -2013
In St-Eustache, Doris passed away on August 3rd, 2013 at the age of 94 years. Beloved wife of the late David MacMillan and mother of Gary (Chantal). Family will receive relatives and friends from 11:00am to 1:00pm and service will begin at 1:00p at Urgel Bourgie, St Laurent. Location is 3955 Cote-de-Liesse, Montreal. The online obituary can be accessed through this link.

Rocky Holt Softball Tournament Coming This Weekend (August 9-10-11)
This year the Rocky Holt Softball tournament is as strong as ever as 18 teams will be vying for the crowns. There are 3 divisions of 6 teams so there will be action non stop action at Olympia Park for all 3 days. Come out to cheer on your favorite teams and players.

Creative Seniors Fall Session Registration
Creative Seniors, a project of the Heritage Social Club in Deux-Montagnes is once again offering programs this fall that will be sure to pique the interest of many seniors in our community. Some of the old favourites are back as well as new offerings in the form of day long workshops. Register and delve into areas such as pottery, working with fabric, quilting, art or join a stimulating discussion group. Reunite with old friends and meet new people in an invigorating social setting. You'll be glad to know that our popular weekly lunches will also be starting up again in the fall.
For more information regarding programs, start dates, pricing and how to register please click here. You may also pick up a detailed information package at the Heritage Social Club or at 4 Korners as of August 9th.
Our knowledgeable and enthusiastic facilitators are looking forward to another fun filled season. We hope to see YOU there!

All Saints Breakfast - Saturday August 3rd at 9:30 for Danika Brunies
This Saturday, All Saints Church on 18th avenue is holding one of its breakfasts. All donations will be given to the family of Danika Brunies. Click here for more information on the breakfast. If you want to learn more about Danika, you can click here to get the story on what she is going through.

We Are Back From The Rock
As you may have noticed, there hasn't been much activity on my site in the last 2 weeks. The reason is that we were spending 2 weeks in Western Newfoundland. Most of the trip was sightseeing except for bookending the trip with visits with family. Myrna was born in Grand-Falls so there are still many relatives there. We kept a log with pictures during our trip. That can be accessed by clicking here or by using the Our Trips link on the top of this page.
Being away during last week's big storm back home, we didn't realize how much damage was done. Some people and businesses in Two Mountains were without power for 4 days. There was no damage at our house except that my main computer doesn't seem to want to turn on. It was off the entire time and plugged in to a surge protector but it seems dead. It is the computer I use for most of my work so until I revive it, I will be limited to what I can do. I suspect (and hope) it is the power supply. For now, I can only edit these web pages but cannot do any video editing or register my golf scores. I will breathe a lot easier once I find out it can be brought back to life.

Cardinal Golf Course Clubhouse Destroyed by Suspicious Fire
On the evening of Monday July 22, the newly renovated Cardinal clubhouse was totally destroyed in a blaze that looks like it was deliberately set. A criminal investigation is ongoing. This will be yet another setback in the golf courses that are the nearest to Two Mountains along with the closure of the Deux-Montagnes links at the end of the year. The future of Cardinal was already a little hazy with a lot of rumours regarding its sales to developers. Although those rumours were denied by Mr. Cardinal, developers have probably been eyeing this piece of prime real estate. This fire may be the accelerant to such development. There is also a lot of talk about the land that the UFO golf course currently occupies. Apparently, that piece or parts of that property is in the process of being sold.
The golf industry as a whole, it seems, is going through hard times especially in Quebec. This year, the weather has not cooperated and attendance is down at almost every golf course. I talked to Guy Cardinal a couple of years ago and asked him now many employees worked at his golf course. At the time, he said he had 64 people working there. To me, that seemed a lot for an 18 hole golf course with an executive 18 hole on the side. So in combination with a bad year like this year, you understand that it must make it hard to make ends meet. Alas that is the story for many courses around.
For more on the Cardinal fire, please click here.

Two Mountains Gets Electronic Information Signs
The city recently installed 2 electronic signs to convey information to its citizens. One is in front of city hall and one on the median in front of Olympia arena. I heard the cost was somewhere around $85,000 but I am not sure. The signs themselves are very nice but the current infrastructure (ie. light posts) especially for the city hall one seem to obstruct their view somewhat. Below are pictures of the 2 newly installed signs.

Legion Br. 185 Annual Golf Tournament Saturday August 24, 2013
The Legion is proud to announce that this year, once again, they will be hosting their Annual Golf Tournament to raise funds for the Veterans of Canada! The tournament will be held at Bel-Air Golf Course. The tickets will be sold at the cost of $65 each, which includes golf, cart, supper and prizes. If you want to join just for dinner only you may do so for $10. The tickets will be available at the Legion Br.185, 141 Grand-Moulin, Deux-Montagnes, Quebec. Reserve early! The deadline for subscriptions to the tournament is August 14th!

School Tax Hike Record High
Anyone receiving their Sir Wilfred Laurier School Board tax bill might be in shock this week. Unless they are just picking on me, the tax bill increased over 22% from last last. 3% of this hike can be explained by 'normal' roll value increase of our property. The other 19% is blamed on the decreased financial subsidies from provincial government according to SWLSB chairman Nick Milas. He also blames the increase with the following statement: 'As a minority language school board, we have a smaller pool of tax payers to draw from for our funding....' . Does this mean that as the exodus of English people, who are disgusted with the current oppression of their language, continues, the tax burden of supporting a 'minority' school board will continue to see this kind of exorbitant increase. Personally, as a retired person with a pension that is no longer indexed, I may have to leave the province not because of language issues but because provincial, municipal and school tax bills far outweigh any of the advantages of living here. What are those again? If you want to read the entire message from the SWLSB you can click here.
These 2 particular things caught my attention. Firstly bragging about the fact that the board has a 82% graduation rate. For me, knowing that our future means that almost 1 in 5 people around us has not been able to finish high school is not something I would be proud of. The SWLSB's motto is Investing in Our Future. If I was on Dragon's Den, my statement would be; I'm out. Secondly, in the ABC's of school taxes. The A mentions that parents of these children must pay taxes to the school board as per the Education Act. OK I wasn't going to get into this, but I have willingly being paying school taxes since 1979. My decision (or God's will) to avoid procreation as to not overload the education system, really has done nothing for me. For 35 years, I have invested in our future. Now they tell me that the Education Act says that only parents must pay. This might even apply to parents whose children are no longer in school, especially the ones whose kids were part of the 18% who didn't take advantage of the 'free' education. I don't really think that bowing out of paying school taxes is an option but this increase is way over the top and if not responded to, the SWLSB may think they have carte blanche for future increases. The default 3% property value increase per year should more than cover the school board expenses. They should not have to increase the amount per $100 evaluation.

Annual Strawberry Social at All Saints Church
The All Saints Church on the corner of 18th avenue and Normandie is having their annual Strawberry Social this Saturday (July 6) at 2pm. Treat yourself to a nice helping of Quebec strawberries with REAL cream, scones and a coffee or tea. All this for only $8 or $4 for the kids. For details and how to get tickets, please click here. You can drop in after visiting the garage sale at Holy Family. The sale is to raise funds for the Forever Young Theatre Company for their upcoming October production.

Second Edition of Cité des Arts
The Little Yellow School House and its organizing committee the ACDM (Cultural Association of Deux-Montagnes) will hold its second annual City of Arts on July 13 and 14. The event will be held at Central park with 52 artists taking part. There will be lots of activities for young and old including a kids drawing contest where the winner will be presented with a rag doll inspired by his/her drawing. There will also be circus workshops and the somehow popular face painting. Details of the 2 day program can be found here. As you can see on the right, it's the cultural happening of the summer in Two-Mountains. Hope the OQLF is on vacation.
Also, a reminder that the art gallery inside the yellow schoolhouse is also open to the public from Wednesday to Sunday from 10am to 6pm until September 1st. Click here to view a couple of pictures from the press conference and the gallery.

Heritage Social Club Golf Tournament
The HSC will be holding its annual golf tournament on Saturday July 27th. This year sees a change of venue and format as it will be held at the Lachute Golf Club and it will be a 'Vegas' format. The $100 price tag includes breakfast at the course, golf with cart, prizes and a dinner back at the club by Chef Gary Mitchell. There are still a few spots left for the 8:30 start. Click here for details and on how to register. If you can't make the golf but would like to share an evening with some fine athletes, the cost of dinner is $25.

Danny Klimas Canada Day Parade Marshal
The small but intense Canada Day Parade at noon on July 1st featured Danny Klimas as parade marshal. You can click here for pictures from the parade, park and fireworks. The rain managed to hold off until just after the fireworks but the band, John McGale Blues Force featuring Jimmy James, continued to play until almost midnight. The entire day was a success and everyone seemed to have a happy Canada Day!

Relocation of Calendar Icon
Hello faithful readers. Just a note to tell you that I moved the Two Mountains calendar icon and link. It's now on the heading bar instead of the sidebar. The calendar also includes links to all the local organizations. If any organization would like me to include their event or link to the calendar feel free to contact me. The 'email me' link is on the side bar although it may not work for you as it tries to open the Windows mail client on the PC which might not be setup on your machine if you use external mail such as Hotmail, gmail or Yahoo. For those cases, you can just send an email to pgoyetche@yahoo.ca . The links on top also include a link to the city website as well as an easy to read AMT train schedule that is kept up to date. The Legion link has been moved to the side bar. Happy linking!