Living in Aurora, Town of Aurora, Ontario » Children

Trees Mural By All The Wells Street Children

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 04:46:38 +0000

Drawings, sketches, paintings, coloring-s – and they are all trees. The following captures are captures of the big giant tree assembly on the wall inside the former Wells Street Public School. I don’t have all the details but at some point children were asked to draw trees that were going to be displayed on the wall. Most likely they are trees from Aurora – or are they?

Not sure if the display is still in place or was removed. I fill you on more details soon as I find out. However, I would love to here more about this tree project if anyone cares to share more details from the past. Or even better – may be one day a blog passer will recognize something familiar.

I enjoy art. I am not stack on one style. I like many and there are some I am not fond of as a whole but elements of it. So one of my favorite art styles is children’s art. Its honest, innocent, intriguing, imaginative, and sometimes full of emotions.

If you like analysis then let me tell you what you will see below – trees with green leaves, yellow leaves, no leaves, evergreen trees, trees with fruit, trees with flowers, trees with a hole, coconut trees (nice imagination), trees with tire swings, trees with bird houses, trees with tree houses, blue trees, grey trees.

Then there are single trees, bunch of trees, and sometimes a forest. Trees surrounded by houses, playing children and flying birds. Trees at night and trees during the day, and trees during a summer, fall, winter or spring, and trees on the sunny day. Trees on the hills and trees with mountain on the back. Trees, beautiful trees, from around the world and not just Aurora – yes I found picture of a coconut tree.

Hayley S.,Stacey, Melissa Ellard, Janice S, Kyle McRoberts, Former Wells Street Public School

‘In nature, nothing is perfect and everything is perfect. Trees can be contorted, bent in weird ways, and they’re still beautiful.‘ ~ A quote by Alice Walker.

Lisa Cross, Bryan Peckhover, John Davies, Former Wells Street Public School, Aurora

‘Storms make trees take deeper roots.‘ ~ A quote by Dolly Parton.

Zachary Gore, Nikita Haxter, Lauron Cleverdon, Ryan Steele, Former Wells Street Public School, Aurora

‘Trees will improve property values, take pollutants out of the air, help with water runoff.‘ ~ A quote by Michael Bloomberg.

Zachary Gore, Nikita Haxter, Lauron Cleverdon, Ryan Steele, Former Wells Street Public School, Aurora

‘I was in my yard and thought that the tree was a living being. We take trees for granted. We don’t believe they are as much alive as we are.‘ ~ A quote by Ziggy Marley.

John Gallagher, Paul K., Andrew Healy, Elyse Copland, Meredit, Quincy D., Former Wells Street Public School, Aurora

‘Just touching that old tree was truly moving to me because when you touch these trees, you have such a sense of the passage of time, of history. It’s like you’re touching the essence, the very substance of life.‘ ~ A quote by Kim Novak.

Davis McMaster, Erio R., Meredit, Former Wells Street Public School, Aurora

‘Schoolchildren and older people like the idea of planting trees. For children, it’s interesting that an acorn will grow into an oak, and for older people it’s a legacy. And the act of planting a tree is not that difficult.‘ ~ A quote by Clive Anderson.

Michael Hamamy, Melissa Ellard, Ryan W., Robert Jackson, Michael Cowing, Nick, Former Wells Street Public School, Aurora

‘If you cut down a forest, it doesn’t matter how many sawmills you have if there are no more trees.‘ ~ A quote by Susan George.

Stephanie Gallagher, Kendra McDonald, Kevin Burns, Former Wells Street Public School, Aurora

‘A great thing about these trees is that they are excellent for cleaning, both groundwater, and of course, air.‘ ~ A quote by Mike Lowry.

Michael Cowing, Joey Maisonneuve, Emily Twiddy, Danielle Charron, Charlene Singleton, Former Wells Street Public School, Aurora

‘You will find something more in woods than in books. Trees and stones will teach you that which you can never learn from masters.‘ ~ A quote by Saint Bernard.

Robyn, Colin Ogilvie, Morgan Peterson, Former Wells Street Public School, Aurora

Aurora Farmers Market, In The Past It Was Old Post Office & General Store

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 04:09:13 +0000

The Aurora Farmers Market is definitely not just a place to buy local but also it is a gathering place ‘Your Meeting Place In Aurora‘. Another place to buy, but there is more. A place where we meet others. A place where children have fun. A place where we escape.

It is so typical these days in Aurora to say I will be at the Farmers Market or I meet you at the market. ‘I hope we get a chance to meet up one day, maybe over a coffee at the market‘, once Matt Maddocks wrote me, and I hope so too.

I don’t know many people, but I know Katherine Belrose (Friends of Petch House) very well and we always got to chat on the market. Her Pioneer booth was exciting one last Saturday, and was well aligned with the Senior’s Day.

Now, where else would you meet, it is so simple, and most of us know the way to the market on Saturday morning. And if you don’t know where it is, on Saturday all signs lead to the Aurora Farmers Market.

Our Farmers Market definitely has a social component built in. It is really nice to see people chatting with each other. Vendors shop among themselves. People buy with enthusiasm. Re-usable bags are being filled to the top.

I great place for children to get out, visit the playground, cool off at the splash pad and then head out for a nice cookie or pop-corn treats, or even have full lunch.

On August 13th the market had a very busy day. It was Senior’s Day, a very eventful as you will see in my later post. Busy shoppers buying a lot of good healthy food, fruits and vegetables especially this time of the year at the peak of the farmer’s harvest. It is easy to capture the essence of the market with my camera, but this time it was in the air. A strong aroma of fresh veggies and herbs traveled throughout.

Aurora Farmers Market started in 2003. In the past it was the Old Post Office gathering:

‘From its opening on November 24, 1915 until its closure in 1967, the old Post Office played an important role as a focal point of activity in the life of Aurora. The central platform for mail deposit was a convenient stage for citizens to express their opinions on matters of local concern. Before the advent of home delivery, collecting the mail was an opportunity for neighbours to socialize. Its clock has chimed the hours for generations of Aurora citizens.‘ Source: Town of Aurora Website.

‘The Post Office officially opened on November 24, 1915. The building soon became an important place for people to gather and spend time with their neighbours and colleagues. The letter drop, located in the middle of the building, was often used as a platform for speakers. The welcoming addresses for soldiers returning from the First and Second World Wars were made from this platform. The chimes of the tower clock announced the time for the community then as it does today.‘ Source: Town of Aurora Website.

Nothing lasts forever. Times change. The General Store was once a gathering place too:

‘In 1951, the general store operated by Mr. Larry Rubin and his brother Lou became the Aurora I.G.A. Foodliner, a supermarket. There were incentives to visit the store: special prices, door prices and a draw for twenty-five dollars. The store had everything except a meat department, but that was soon added. Aurora then had one stop food shopping on Wellington Street East. This was convenient, but it did cut down on meandering, shopping and socializing along the town’s shopping district.‘ Source: ‘Aurora 1945-1965, An Ontario Town at a Time of Great Change’, by Elizabeth Hearn Milner, pg 50, 2007.

To conclude my photo journey of the Aurora Farmers Market on August 13th, let me say that – there is always room for a garden.

To view the gallery below, click on the thumbnail image, and then on the image to preview all photos from August 13, 2011, Aurora Farmers Market. More photos from the same day related to Senior’s Day and Pioneer presentation coming next.

A Sidewalk Will Be Installed In The Future, Safety Concern Almost Resolved

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 16:47:45 +0000

The results are in for the requested sidewalk I blogged about before in the following published posts: A Practical Mother’s Day Gift To Come, Hopefully and National Access Awareness Week In Aurora, A Sidewalk.

I expressed my concern to the Superstore in Aurora and to the Town of Aurora about the safety of the pedestrians who access the store property, mainly pedestrians such mothers with strollers.

For three years I walked from St. John’s Sideroad and Pinnacle Trail at least once or twice a week along with my son to the the Superstore and accessed the store from the North-West corner. To access the Superstore property I had to either push the stroller against oncoming traffic along the East side of Earl Stewart Drive, or push the stroller on the grass on the same side of the street. In both cases accessing and leaving the Superstore property was difficult and unsafe.

Last Friday I was able to photograph one more case to many others I have seen, a mother with double stroller leaving the Superstore property. In this example, she is actually using side of the road with cars driving beside her in the same direction to get to the lights.

Pedestrian, North-West Side of the Superstore

I was very pleased with the result, the time it took to resolve this matter and how it was handled by the Accessibility Advisor. The Town of Aurora Infrastructure and Environmental Services division has reviewed the concern and recommendations, and determined that a sidewalk can eventually be placed within the Town’s property line. At this point the Works Department is in charge.

Pedestrian, North-West Side of the Superstore

As more residents of Aurora are commuting by public transportation and walking, the safety and ease of pedestrian access to properties must be considered. My general recommendations to the Accessibility Advisory Committee in the letter were as follows to emphasize the importance accessing the property and not just the building itself:

1. Access to retail properties must be designed for pedestrians as well as drivers.
2. Pedestrian access must include people with physical challenges.
3. People with physical challenges must include parents with strollers.

Pedestrian, North-West Side of the Superstore

Unfortunately, the Superstore has a very poor accessibility all around. Both North-West and North-East side especially do not have properly constructed access. The ease and safety on the North-West side will be resolved by the town in the near future. The North-East side of the store already has sidewalk, so technically speaking it is safe. However, the ease to access the store property is not. This may not go well in the future residents on the other side of Bayview Avenue.

Pedestrian, North-West Side of the Superstore

It is sad to say that ‘the customer is always right‘ saying not always works. The customer is only right when there is monetary spending on the customer side, but when the vendor is paying to make the customer happy, often there is a communication break up.

To conclude let me share with you this story. I always wanted to share it, and this time fits perfectly in the whole accessibility scenario. Few years ago we had a family of skunks (three of them) on our backyard. The animal services told us that by law they cannot remove them. They recommended to make the access to the property difficult, and they will leave on their own. We did, and they left our property, probably to other property that had an easy access.

Something to think about. I guess.

Children Eat Well, Not!

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 02:09:07 +0000

In the past few months I have attended about four main events.

Matthew our three year old have gone to all four of them, and this is what he was served.

Event One

Fries and Chicken Sticks, Ketchup on the Side.
I put my served dish in front of Matthew, they had no choice but serve me again.

Event Two

Fries and Chicken Sticks, Ketchup on the Side.
I put my served dish in front of Matthew, they had no choice but serve me again.

Event Three

Fries and Fried Chicken, Ketchup on the Side.
I put my served dish in front of Matthew, they had no choice but serve me again.

Event Four

Fries and Fried Chicken, About 1/2 Cup of Ketchup and About 1/2 Cup of Plum Sauce.
I put my served dish in front of Matthew, they had no choice but serve me again.

How wacky is that, while we adults were served almost healthy meals, grilled meat, roasted potatoes and with lots of vegetables, all the kids were served fried ‘what-ever-it was’ food.

National Access Awareness Week In Aurora, A Sidewalk Request

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 05:59:22 +0000

This is a follow up to my previous post A Practical Mother’s Day Gift To Come, Hopefully. Last week on Friday June 3rd I hand delivered my proposal letter to the Superstore located on the corner of St. John’s Sideroad and Bayview Avenue to add the sidewalk. As everyone knows the mail service is on some kind of dispute at this moment so I wasn’t going to let it sit in their storage.

That day I walked the same path. At the store I gave it to one of the ladies at the Customer Service desk. I addressed to the store manager. After all the receipts have the store manager’s name listed for concerns and issues. The accessibility to the property for the pedestrians is my concern. Its been a few days and I hope it was read by now. However, I will give couple of weeks as I am sure I am not the only issue on their list. I shall then follow up if I don’t hear anything in couple of weeks.

Secondly, as I already revealed it is the North-West corner of the Real Canadian Superstore that has a very poor and unsafe accessibility to the property for those who commute by foot, especially parents pushing children in strollers.

Intersection of Earl Stewart Drive and St. John's Sideroad, Aurora

I also took Barry’s recommendations to write to the Town of Aurora Accessibility Advisor to hopefully amend their guidelines. The following is a clip from my cover letter.

‘While I am awaiting their response, I would like to give you an opportunity to review my proposal to Superstore. I believe the Superstore example should justify my recommendation to amend your Accessibility Guidelines to include property access points in addition to building access points and all pedestrians with or without challenges. The three main points that I would like you to consider are:

1. Access to retail properties must be designed for pedestrians as well as drivers.

2. Pedestrian access must include people with physical challenges.

3. People with physical challenges must include parents with strollers.‘

As per Weekly Notice Board from The Banner Tuesday May 31, 2011, page 4, May 29 to June 4 was a National Access Awareness Week that read:

‘The Town of Aurora is proud to acknowledge May 29 to June 4 as National Access Awareness Week in an effort to raise awareness of the importance of equal access and full participation of persons with disabilities in our community.’

Perfect timing for the National Access Awareness Week. We are now ‘driving’ society. We use cars every where. Superstore is a perfect property with a driver access only. There are stairs on the East side of the building, but how good that entrance is for the parents with strollers.

Hopefully the Town’s Accessibility Advisor will take this matter seriously. The letter was deposited to the Large Item Deposit Box. However, I yet to find out that I should have deposited into the Treasury Deposit slot. Well there was a nice man on the parking lot probably someone who is working for the Town of Aurora and he said that he will inform Bill of my large item in the deposit box. It is are really good feeling to know that people care and help you out.

As I am always trying to include photo from the Town of Aurora in my posts. Here is a photo of the street where I am hoping for the sidewalk. Now if you look closely on the far back right side of the photo, behind the big tree with no leaves, you can see some green trees. Well all the trees at the South-East corner of St. John’s Sideroad and Bayview Avenue were cut down last week. I am very disappointed. This corner looked unrecognizable when we drove by, in fact I asked my husband, ‘Where are we?‘.

Darn I also missed the photo opportunity. I had it on my list, but someone was faster than me. Well, my source of the below photo, probably the only photo, is Google Maps, Street View – a very handy tool.

South-East corner of St. John's Sideroad and Bayview Avenue

No Middle Ground When Comes To The STOP Sign

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Tue, 17 May 2011 16:51:34 +0000

When comes for a driver to stop at the STOP sign here in Aurora there is no middle ground. What I mean, drivers either do not stop or go out of their way to stop and back the car to make an extra space for the pedestrian to cross the road.

Let me talk about the illegal act first – an act of no stopping on the STOP sign. Just to add – not just illegal act, but dangerous act at the same time. Eight times of out of ten, whenever I cross street with my child, drivers do not stop. They cut me off and turn their heads other way. If the driver cannot look into your eyes, then he/she knows its wrong. Then why do it?

This is a STOP sign!

As a result, I don’t trust STOP signs any more. When I see a car coming, I wait. Some stop for me, a small population of drives; and some – not even a rolling stop. The small population of good drivers sometimes waits for me to get to the STOP sign, some back their car to make more space.

Wouldn’t be just nice if everyone did stop. It is a shame to even write this post. We all passed the driving test where stopping on the STOP sign and RED light is a must. Why do we stop during the test, and why not on the real road? May be we all need a reminder – How to Stop at a STOP Sign. Simply, when I am at the STOP sign first, I have the right of way.

Well I carry my weapon with me – my camera. Should I or should I not use it, that is the question? I don’t think it is my job to do the policing. My job now it to watch my back.

A Practical Mother’s Day Gift To Come, Hopefully

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Sun, 08 May 2011 04:34:12 +0000

Where I live everything necessary for me is in the walking distance, the McKenzie Marsh, the Arboretum and local supermarkets. We don’t have second car at this moment, so I often walk to the near by store to pick up few things. Last year I was pushing Matthew in the stroller, but this spring he is able to walk long distances, including the store. I am not really in favor to push the stroller or to pull the wagon, because once I get closer to the supermarket, the access is not very safe.

Definitely the whole parking lot layout and store location is geared toward drivers. I checked around the whole building, and all they have is stairs on the other side. Good for nothing, really.

Happy Mother's Day

I thought and thought about it – what can I do? I put down task for myself to write to the store manager to see if he or she can do something. Accessing store’s parking lot with the stroller is not safe. In order to access it, you have to go on the road and push the stroller against the traffic. There is an alternative to go all the way around the store, and then the parking lot and then stroll back through the parking lot – probably good additional 15-20 minutes of walk. No way, especially if I have to carry bag full of groceries, and three year old in the stroller.

Couple days ago, I was hanging out at the soccer field with my Matthew. I met up with lady with three children. A one year old in her arms, and two other children walking beside her, probably 3 and 5 year old. Inside the double stroller she had flowers. I asked her if she came from the Superstore. Yes she did. I asked her if she needed help with the stroller going up the hill. She refused and thank me for generosity.

Oh my, I had difficulty with one child and the stroller accessing the store, but three children and double stroller – I have no idea how she did it.

I got inspired. Next week I am going to invest some time and write proposal to the store. I got few ideas how it can be done. I find that the best way to make someone do something is not to complain, but give them a solution. So this is what I am going to do.

This is going to be my little project in honor of walking mother’s in Aurora. I will keep you updated of my progress and fill you in with details as I get going.

Happy Mother’s Day.