Living in Aurora, Town of Aurora, Ontario » Chris Watts

Aurora Street Festival, All The People I Don’t Know & Know

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Mon, 10 Jun 2013 05:02:02 +0000

I bet I captured almost all the people at the Aurora Chamber Street Festival walking along the Yonge Street last Sunday June 2nd, 2013. If you would like to find yourself on my photos then you can check out my Facebook album ‘Aurora Chamber Street Festival, June 2, 2013‘ – oh and good luck.

For the small town, town like Aurora, we really do have a great community here. I would never thought that I will be able to walk the longest, busy street festival and met so many people I know, and I like it because I have then more stories to tell.

Unfortunately, some people still think that I am from SNAP. What do you think? Perhaps it is time to get my own tag saying – NOT MEDIA or JUST A BLOGGER.

Michelle, Autism Support Services

When I arrived I thought no problem I only need few pictures and I will be out at no time. How wrong was I? Believe or not, three hours later I was finally back at my car.

The first person I spotted was Michelle who is offering Autism Support Services at her booth. I met Michelle last summer during play days at Chris Watt’s house, and if I recall I did meet her once at the Aurora Public Library. Small world, or just small Aurora.

Watson’s Family Karate, Mike and Joan Watson, Aurora Chamber Street Festival

I arrived a bit earlier for Arron Morris’, The Manatee Band performance. So I stopped by Watson’s Family Karate booth to photograph interesting karate demonstrations. I used to do kickboxing at Watson’s when I was much younger, but I slowed down now and Tai Chi is just all I need. I didn’t get a chance to say hello since I had to run back to the Newmarket Jazz+ Festival booth.

Charlotte Watts, Aurora Chamber Street Festival

As I was walking back I spotted Chris Watts with his two girls. It was fun chatting with Chris once again while Charlotte was enjoying her ice-cream.

Johnmark, Cracklin’ Kettle Corn, Aurora Chambers Street Festival

Eventually I got to the end of the street festival that physically ended at the Wellington Street. And who do I see there in the corner? The Cracklin’ Kettle Corn booth. These guys sell the best cracklin’ popcorn at the Aurora Farmers Market every Saturday. Here meet Johnmark if you haven’t yet.

Batman, Aurora Chamber Street Festival

Never know may be that was the real Batman. At least he looked like he was. Since I stopped twice by the Batman’s booth (can’t remember who he was representing) I can assume that I know him. He kept posing and I kept taking pictures, probably thought I was from SNAP.

Alexandra Riccio, AHS Community Development Assistant & Matthew

It is always good to see Alex from the Aurora Historical Society. She is my source to all the good happenings at the Hillary House. Also I got to meet her brother Matthew. Not to mention I run into Catherine Richards and Suzanne Reiner in the busy festival crowds.

A Couple, Aurora Chamber Street Festival.

I don’t know who these two are on this picture (above), but I liked the outcome.

Matt Maddocks, Aurora Chamber Street Festival

Once I made a turn at the Wellington Street I was more or less heading home. On the way back I met my good friend Matt Maddocks. We chatted for a bit and decided to finish up our conversation some other time.

David Heard, Aurora Chamber Street Festival

I didn’t even get chance to stop by David Heard’s booth, but he always seems to spot my camera’s and wave at them, or me.

Frank Klees, Aurora Chamber Street Festival

Couldn’t miss this. I have decided to snap few pictures of Frank Klees as I was passing by, MPP for the riding of Newmarket—Aurora. Next thing I am being directed by one of the guys from Frank’s booth what pictures to take. Again, I was mistaken to be from media, but he didn’t really care when I told him I fly solo. I also got picture with Frank Klees (the longest photo taking ever). Got to know him finally. We talked about me and then I really headed home.

This is not all the people I have met on that day. There were many more. Most of you are reading this blog so you know who you are.

When I finally arrived at my car I got a surprise email from Gina, Tristan’s mom. Tristan and my son Matthew are both in the same school and same class (JK). We sometimes see each other at the school in the morning dropping off our children or picking them up.

She wrote me: ‘It’s so funny, I have been reading your blog since I moved to Aurora (a year and a half ago). I found it when I was first trying to learn what the town had to offer. Your site is fantastic by the way. What’s funny, is I only just realized that its you that writes the blog. I didn’t make the connection before for some reason, but I just recently recognized you from the photo on the blog.‘

… and that email made my day!

At The Council Meeting For The First Time, Different Experience

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:46:26 +0000

It was my first time at the council chambers for the Town Council meeting on April 9th, 2013. I have to admit that it was a totally different experience in comparison if I were to watch this meeting on the Internet. Not to mention so many familiar faces there.

Council Meeting, Town Hall, April 09, 2013

I did bring my photo gear to capture the council meeting moments. The beginning music from Tom Taylor’s public forum presentation was an interesting spice, however, I can’t say that the rest of the meeting was exciting. I left after one hour.

A while ago my friend Chris Watts did a review of blogs/media in Aurora and that gave me an encouragement – and boy I really needed to get out after reading his post. I looked back how little I have done, how much I have neglected, however, my camera never stopped clicking.

But then when you look at the window NOW and see the winter blast back – I am back to my writing board again. So much for taking my camera for a walk. I don’t necessarily enjoy cold and so does my camera.

I am also happy to write that there will be couple of new blogs coming out soon and hopefully we can get blogging rolling in Aurora once again.

To conclude, I think I will leave out my feedback and criticism on the council meeting for the community FOCUS site, and in the meantime enjoy few of my photos. This was my first attendance, but not the last.

Public Forum, Council Meeting, Town Hall, April 09, 2013

Council Meeting, Town Hall, April 09, 2013

Colorful Aurora Farmers Market, When The Music Plays

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 23:55:11 +0000

The Taoist Tai Chi presentation in the park on Saturday at the Aurora Farmers Market was another hint that I should be going back soon to my Tai-Chi classes. I guess I got intercepted by flow of the positive energy thus got motivated – and I will be calling my teacher sometimes this week.

The weatherman called for thirty percent chance of rain that day – but not for that morning.

Taoist Tai Chi Lady

The market is a truly almost prefect place to visit. All we need a homemade lolly-pop stand and then it will be prefect. Kidding aside, we have great community here in Aurora and our weekly market caters everything (lolly pop or no lolly pop), even if it is just meeting your friends.

Just a year ago, I can tell you that we came to the market and spent an average 15-20 minutes – playing with Matthew at the playground and then heading for the popcorn. Because of this blog I met lot of people here in Aurora, just the same way we met lot of neighbours in the past four years on our street because of Matthew.

Matt Maddocks chatting with Diane Buchanan

It was a good day on the farmers market. Chatted a bit with Chris Watts who writes Temporary Sanity blog, then met with Matt and Deb. Briefly was introduced to Diane Buchanan from the Auroran, and on the way home I got to meet John Abel. I recognized few faces in the crowd as well – Councillor John Gallo and Councillor Michael Thompson.

Some of you already know about my little community blog project I started few months ago – the community FOCUS livinginaurora.com. Well so far so good and as anticipated. The content is growing, traffic is picking up and this is because of a few good contributors who regularly write about Aurora, and there will be more.

Note, everyone is welcome to write, anything Aurora related or if you Auroran you can write about Aurora and everything else. This site is great opportunity to be heard in the community.

If you have not met Matt Maddocks on the Aurora Farmers Market at the Town Park, you can meet him at the community FOCUS site. Matt writes regular column Point of Privilege on our community site where he touches on town’s political issues. He has also great appreciation for town’s culture and history.

Aurora Farmers Market, Town Park

Music in the park is a must. In my previous post I already wrote how hard it is to leave Aurora Farmers Market when the music plays. And speaking of music Councillor John Abel who also regularly writes can tell you all about amazing talent we have here in Aurora. You can read all about it in his latest post Music Scene in Aurora – Local Talent Showcase.

Town Park Musician

I never fail to take photos of the front door of the former Wells Street Public School even if it is blocked by the Aurora Farmers Market crowds. The school is going to be converted to lofts, one of a kind lofts here in Aurora. In the past I have written few posts about the school as I was allowed to go inside and photograph the building before conversion. I have one more post on the go this month to show you children’s art from the Wells Street school.

However, I am not the only one writing about the new lofts in town. On our community FOCUS blog site, Andrew Fogliato writes regularly on our Lifestyle focus page about real state market in the Town of Aurora. Andrew knows Aurora very well because he grew up here.

I know that some of my readers are not Aurorans, so if you are looking for an exciting place to live, a place like Aurora, Andrew will be the right person to meet and discuss your real state needs.

Former Wells Street Public School

What can I say. It was a very eventful day on Saturday.

A Young Bystander

Leaving Aurora Farmer’s Market

Click on the first image to view complete gallery of the photos shown below – vegetable accents, creative treats, millions of soaps, tasty popcorn-s, run away popcorn boy and more. Few more weeks and Aurora Farmers Market will be closing for the season. Enjoy.

Aurora Strategic Plan, Focus On How, Less On What, Hint Do Heritage Retrofits

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 07:18:52 +0000

Sometimes it is easier to start from scratch rather to continue with the existing system. In my mind I think we as the community really need to focus how we are going to make our Aurora a better place to live in the next 20 years and it is up to the town to lead the project and provide us with the results of the strategic plan that is going to be implemented.

The idea of the strategic plan is a wonderful idea. Too many ideas for the strategic plan are not. It is easy to say we want this and that, but how we to do it is the hardest job.

Hillary House, Aurora

I wrote this post couple of weeks ago, Sheppard House Green Face Lift, Home To Windfall Ecology Centre. Let me talk about this again in the Aurora Strategic plan context. The Sheppard House is one of the heritage houses in Aurora and currently is undergoing a heritage retrofit program to reduce its energy consumption by about 75% while preserving its heritage aspect. The project is led by the Windfall Ecology Centre, the environmental non profit organization who is also residing in the Sheppard House.

I have educated myself more on their heritage retrofit program reading this excellent detailed 25 page assembled Guidebook.

On the side note, in this guidebook in addition to the Sheppard House photo (the model work), there is a photo of the Hillary House, a primary suspect for my recommendation.

Hillary House, Aurora

Aurora has a very rich history that needs preservation and regular maintenance. Aurora needs to fully engage the mentioned above heritage retrofit program. This item is a must for the Aurora strategic plan.

The recent two sad stories hovering in the town, the George Browning house potential demolition plan (a must read post 100 Watts : The George T. Browning House by Chris Watts) and Hillary House potential six hundred thousand refurbishment costs. The Hillary House was a total surprise to me. I hope these numbers are not just guess-estimated.

Hillary House, Aurora

Well, the strategic plan does not starts tomorrow. We must think about it now. Unfortunately, this written now will be yesterday’s now, and we are already a day behind.

Not sure if the George Browning house has a future, unless it is relocated but then the true heritage aspect will be broken. However, the heritage retrofit program would be excellent for Hillary House. But then would that be an additional cost to the six hundred thousand? Something I don’t know.

You can read the guidebook document yourself because underlines lot of excellent environmental benefits, not to mention the key message – it will preserve and conserve. Technologies are available and program is available. It may be experimental but I believe it is doable.

Hillary House, Aurora

So going back to the beginning of this post. It is always easy to start something from scratch, but of course if there is nothing in place. However, if we do have something in place such as heritage building and we up to for demolition (example Browning House), we often forget to think about or completely ignore the fact how much energy and resources it takes to demolish the old and build new standing structure.

Now we have an option, the retrofit program. It is now or tomorrow up to Town of Aurora to engage and may be offer additional incentives to the heritage building owners to drive the encouragement.

Printed Phone Book Use, I Found One Use, A Relief

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Mon, 12 Sep 2011 20:41:50 +0000

If anyone is interested Michael (Michael’s Blog) may still have the printed phone book for sale – Phone Book for Sale!. Back in January Michael wrote how useless are the printed phone books. I agreed.

When not so long time ago we received another printed phone book at our door, and probably everyone in Aurora did, Chris Watts (Temporary Insanity) had his nice commentary in his post, ‘They printed the whole internet into a book…and its free?‘ I did not object.

Printed Phone Book

But then I think there is a still hope for the printed phone books.

On the weekend I have visited Nature’s Emporium in the Newmarket to buy some natural lollipops. Matthew is going through the candy mania, and we are trying to avoid anything with colors and artificial flavors.

On my way out I picked up free magazine alive, Canada’s Natural Health and Wellness Magazine, a September issue.

How can possibly printed phone book be healthy for you?

Later that day I started to read. I hit the Ask the experts page. A whole page to answer this question: ‘I’m suffering from constipation. How can I deal with it naturally?‘

We are getting closer.

Caroline Farquhar, RHN, specializes in natural digestive care, detoxification, and internal cleansing. The answer is coming from the expert. She had nine natural remedies.

Remedy one … blah blah blah. Remedy number nine – read on.

‘Position yourself correctly when using the toilet. Keep your feet raised on a stepstool or phone book for proper eliminative posture (knees above the waist).‘

Disclaimer. Consult your physician or other health care professional before using to determine that the thickness of your phone book is right for you.

Aurora High School Teachers Photo Journey

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 05:08:08 +0000

A while ago, (June 2011) I have published post (Aurora, A History In Pictures Collectible Book Arrived With A Surprise, An Old Photo) about a photograph that arrived in the mail inside the Aurora, A History In Pictures, a book by W. John McIntyre I have purchased on Amazon.

In a matter of few days of posting about the photo I was contacted by the descendant and grandson of J.H. Knowles, former Aurora Councillor Bob McRoberts.

Book and Photo, Miss Humphrys & Mr. Knowles, Oct 18, 1943

Also, by talking/writing to a couple of people prior the telephone call, instead of having one descendant per family, that is Knowles and Humphrys, I had leads for two Knowles in town. My life was getting complicated, but only for a day or so. I like to sleep on my decision no matter how urgent they are. And what will few days of thinking do to the photo that not many knew about and was lost for many years. My scanner wasn’t working properly, so that helped to get that extra ‘decision’ sleep and get the photo to the right person.

By listening to Bob McRoberts family history and doing some research in the old Aurora Era newspapers from 1940s, a decision was made. I delivered photo to Bob McRoberts. Delivering by mail was out of question. The photo was lost for many years, so this time wasn’t going to happen. Not to mention the Canada Post was going on or was on strike around that time.

We made a surprise delivery to Mr. McRoberts. During our chat for few minutes, he also showed us another picture of his grandfather J.H. Knowles. It was a picture from the army. I couldn’t believe how prefect the photo was. I really mean perfect. No scratches, no nicks and no fading, and it was also older photo than the one I delivered to him. Well, there is an excuse for that, the photo of the teachers was on the road for many years, and only protection it had was a book.

The results of my findings were published in The Auroran this week (Week of August 02, 2011 Volume 11 Number 40). I wrote Letter to the Editor, Journey of the lost photo from Aurora (pg 6, pdf file) and Bob McRoberts let The Auroran publish the photo (pg 4, pdf file). Few words were written under the photo for which I am very thankful. That was definitely a big surprise. That was also my first ever Letter to the Editor published in The Auroran, and it was very generous of Ron Wallace to let mention my blog.

To find the new place for the photo was a joint effort of few people in Aurora, including Bob McRoberts himself. I also had a nice chats with David Heard (A Step In Time), emails with Chris Watts (Temporary Sanity), and Michael Suddard (Michael’s Blog) hit the nail in the head with his comment here and confirmed my findings. Michael is now residing in Richmond Hill; however, he always calls Aurora his home.

‘Anna, It just hit me. The person you may have a photo of is J.H. Knowles the former Principal of Wells Street Public School. He had a house on Catherine Avenue (J.H. Knowles House) and is related to former Deputy Mayor Bob McRoberts somehow (grandfather?). House reference here:
http://www.town.aurora.on.ca/aurora/index_e.aspx?ArticleID=478

Miss Humphrys may be a teacher at that time at Wells Street Public School at the time because of the context of the way the photos are referenced (Mr. Knowles & Miss Humphrys) as students would politly call them.
In the Aurora a History in Pictures there is a picture of Wells Street Public School with all the glee club in front with Mr. Knowles, the Principal, included.

Baldwin’s Restauarant has a small copy of the photo on their website near the bottom of this page: Baldwin’s Restaurant has a small copy of the photo near the bottom here: http://www.baldwinsrestaurant.com/history‘

That was a very interesting journey to be part of and I will always ask myself – why me?