Living in Aurora, Town of Aurora, Ontario » Evelyn Buck

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

Winter Wonderland At The Aurora Community Arboretum, A Guest Photo

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Mon, 31 Dec 2012 22:12:19 +0000

What a wonderful opportunity to conclude the 2012 year with a guest photo – a beautiful landscape of the Aurora Community Arboretum. A photo taken by Tom Yates. I don’t think I ever posted guest photo on this blog but sometimes I have to break the rules and may be stop being little ‘selfish‘.

Aurora Community Arboretum, Winter Photo 2012, Photography by Tom Yates, Portcullis

Few days ago (December 27th, 2012) I was cleaning Matthew’s bedroom and as always was thinking about something. Suddenly a thought came (Matthew would say an idea flew into my head). I left everything undone and sat in front of my computer at the office – just like that. The thought was to go and check out Evelyn Buck’s blog.

So I did and while I am reading her latest post that day titled The Good The Bad and The Ugly I came across section that read ‘Anna, if you are reading this post, maybe you could make contact with June and ask if you can share this and other beautiful photographs regularly presented in the Arboretum News.‘

After getting nice jolt of goose bumps on back of my spine I wrote Evelyn and Tom.

To make this long story short, Cllr Evelyn Buck tried to share beautiful greeting card she received from the Aurora Arboretum on her blog and wasn’t able to do so. So she called for help – ‘I have tried and tried to reproduce a Christmas Greeting received from Aurora Arboretum. The photo is spectacularly beautiful.‘

And she is right the photo is spectacularly beautiful and I am honoured to be able to showcase it on my blog. I never been to the Arboretum in the winter time and now I got an itch. I often forget how open fields and trails in the winter away from the major roads can still be covered with a prefect snow blanket creating winter wonderland scenes.

This time this scene was photographed by Tom Yates a member of the Aurora Community Arboretum. I also encourage you to visit Arboretum web site for more photographs (2012) of this scenic place. And while you are there, don’t leave. I was very intrigue by the information on that site – especially all the gardening and tree planting activities. I always wondered where all the trees came from whenever I took a long break from visiting; and I am not talking a small trees either.

Happy New Year 2013 Again!

July 1st Canada Day Celebration In Aurora, Faces That Shaped This Year’s Parade

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Fri, 06 Jul 2012 03:41:33 +0000

I think every face shaped Aurora’s Canada Day celebrations on July 1st, 2012, those in the parade and those in the audiance. If I could capture every face and every expression and the feeling of each person, I would – ‘the spirit, the patriotism and the smiles‘.

Town of Aurora Canada Day Parade

The clear blue sky, perfect light and the beautiful downtown facade were only few elements letting me capture the moment. I think on that day I have captured the spirit of all proud Aurorans, and most of all proud Canadians.

Unfortunately this will be the last post of 2012 parade because I could go on and on. However I am looking forward for next year’s celebrations which will be even more special.

Town of Aurora Canada Day Parade

Mayor Geoffrey Dawe, Town of Aurora Canada Day Parade

Perhaps one more thing. On June 12, 2012 during the council meeting Councillor Evelyn Buck gave intriguing speech reflecting on the success of the historical Canada Day Celebrations of 1963 (Aurora’s 100 year anniversary) and 1967 (Canada’s 100 year anniversary).

This speech was to encourage public participation, or more so people of Aurora to participate and to organize the next year’s (2013) party for 150 years of Aurora. We compiled Councillor Buck’s speech into a post which you can read on our community FOCUS site – Councillor Evelyn Buck Remembers Canada Day Celebrations in Aurora.

That and many other things gave me an idea to start people’s history page on the community FOCUS site. I think it will be nice to have something that is written by people of Aurora or former Auroran’s remembering our town.

Historian will give you facts and people will give you their experiences. These experiences will be gone if not recorded. I encourage you to participate and share your stories. A story is not a story if not shared and I bet many of us have them.

Evelyn Buck with her daughter Teresa, Town of Aurora Canada Day Parade

Councillor Paul Pirri, Town of Aurora Canada Day Parade

2012 Aurora Citizen of the Year Brian North, Town of Aurora Canada Day Parade

Town of Aurora Canada Day Parade

Jan Freedman Aurora Farmer’s Market, Town of Aurora Canada Day Parade

Mountie, Town of Aurora Canada Day Parade

Theater, Town of Aurora Canada Day Parade

Shriner’s Float, Town of Aurora Canada Day Parade

Oh Summer Is Almost Over, Fall Accents, Town’s Chaotic Communication

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 05:05:21 +0000

Climatologist say that we are for a nice warm fall, and I am glad. I picked up some little accents of fall the other day walking Nokiidaa Trail boardwalk, and here they are.

Chaotic communication – what is that? Something that I think is worth writing about. Read on.

Yellow Leaves, Nokiidaa Trail Link

Fine Grass, Nokiidaa Trail Link

Ripe Berries, Nokiidaa Trail Link

I am not sure if Chickadees are fall birds. I see them through the summer but I do see more of them in the fall. I thought may be because they are so small and do not stand out that much among other birds during summer. Chickadees do stay with us for the winter.

Chickadees, Nokiidaa Trail Link

Chaotic communication. Few months ago Town of Aurora introduced social networks such Blogger, Twitter, Flickr and Facebook to further communicate with the residents of Aurora. I cannot even be nice about this idea. It wasn’t the brightest idea on the world.

Let me do some dissection here.

Blogger. To maintain blog on the regular basis requires dedication, time and resources. To date blogging (last post on May 16th, 2011) and the Blogger logo from the town’s website were phased out. I must give a credit to the writer or whoever was maintaining the blog. It was well written and professional, however, some posts were just repeats of something we know and too long. But there was some good substance there.

Town of Aurora Twitter Account

Twitter. Ouch! I have no idea why Twitter is such a success, I just don’t understand it – may be because it is so simple. Now by looking at our town’s twitter account – I see chaos. If my tax money is paying people to tweet anything and everything – I say take it down, or put some order to it. I really don’t need to get a tweet about the Earthquake on top all other media telling us the same. No substance here.

Town of Aurora Facebook Account

Facebook. I don’t know, just seems overkill. Another place to visit to find out more about Aurora events, such as Nokiidaa Trail opening in Aurora Ontario (Sept. 7, 2011) which was only for the town officials. I guess they made it happen and got it to work, they deserve the ceremony. Just an idea though, wouldn’t be nice to involve Aurora residents. After all Aurora is one big team – what happened to celebrating together?

Going back to Facebook, I am trying to understand the purpose of the Facebook, and I cannot. The information again is random.

Flickr. Someone gave up on it on June 8th, 2011. No comment.

Not to forget there is also town’s Newsletter and the website.

More thoughts …

Four social networks (one out, the Blogger; one not active, the Flickr), a newsletter and town’s website – and all feeding just random information. Do I have that much time to visit all? No. Blog is capable to accommodate all, the news, the photos, the videos and anything else that can be categorized accordingly. But blogging is hard to do, so town of Aurora chooses an easy way out – tweeting, facebooking and flickring. The big question is who is maintaining all this nuisance? The current communication scheme has no added value for the residents of Aurora. Even with that many platforms, there is still lack of communication and professionalism.

So here, just little more thoughts …

The Aurora communication department can set up a single blog on their website. Assign simple categories such news, upcoming events, notices, and other useful categories. The process must be carefully planned out to ensure effective flow of information and proper categorization of information. The information must also be in line with the information posted in the Banner and the Newsletter. Residents will benefit by accessing one source. They can easily subscribe to blog Feeds.

Reporting on activities in our town should be left to the local media such as The Auroran or The Banner. Let them do the talking and keep them in business by attracting more readers. The social networking platforms are not for the Town of Aurora, and it does not add value to our taxed dollar.

The solo opening of the Nokiidaa Trail link by the town of Aurora officials sparked all above thoughts about the whole communication scheme in the town. I would like to thank Evelyn Buck for providing informative answer (It Was Not A Grand Opening) on the comment I made on her blog with regards to the openning on September 7th, 2011.

Communication must have purpose, and if there is none then there will be chaos.

Petch House, That Is Strange? Alive Again

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 19:28:51 +0000

Three months elapsed since April 21_st, 2011 – my first visit inside the Petch house. Destiny of the 160 year old log house was then unknown, but was promising.

On July 28 of the same year I am inside the Petch house taking photographs again. It was different this time. The natural light, better for photography, entered through the windows and the roof, and from the corners of the heavily deteriorated logs. Much more was uncovered and there was much more to see. This time the house was giving off different sense of feeling – a positive one.

Embraced and nurtured by nature for many years, the Petch house was happy to have friends inside once again. Friends that were now effortlessly working to save the weak standing structure on the side of Leslie Street in Aurora.

Petch House, Deteriorated Corner, July 28th, 2011

The house is being restored by Peter Van Nostrand and his team. It is interesting to know that the Petch house is restored by someone who has deep roots in Aurora community. The house would not have survived one more year, so they say, and I was able to see it myself. The photographs do not lie.

For many days the house was being aired and cleaned. The results are stunning. The house inside is beautiful again. Of course it does not look like any decorated house we live in now, but if you have sense and appreciation for the workmanship and the skill people had back than to build their own houses, the beauty is there.

The Petch house is definitely on the new journey. It will never be the same, meaning original, but it will be a stronger, renewed, restored log house that will survive many more generations to come.

It will never house a family again, but it will definitely have a valuable purpose in our town. I am so honored to be part of the project and photograph the restoration process that is in place now. This is all thanks to Katherine Belrose – it is a life time opportunity to be part of the historical event that is taking place here in Aurora.

Our experience and technicality of the restoration from July 26th-28th, are now published on the The Friends of Petch House website – Petch House Layers Tell Us Many Things by Katherine Belrose.

The Petch house will have a new location once restored. I will miss this log house, not for long, but still standing lonely on the one side of Leslie Street. The house will be gone, and never know, that beautiful country road view may go with it in the near future.

Petch House on Leslie Street

Later that day …

I wondered into the garage. I knew I put my sealed plastic container somewhere. I found it sitting on the shelf, the same shelf I placed my Petch box three months ago. This time I had a rusted nail from late 1800s and I wanted to include with my other collection, with the deteriorated log pieces I collected back then. They were just wet dark pieces of wood that fell on the ground and were about to fall apart even more if disturbed.

Piece of Deteriorated Wood Log

I gently opened the box, and I saw it to my disbelief to be alive again. The color of the wood chips changed and some sort of plant species was rooting itself to the wood chip which I have not seen before. Separated, but not far from the Petch house, the pieces were glowing and breathing the same way the Petch house was blooming on the day I photographed it, July 28, 2011.

Town of Aurora Museum Future Locations Proposed

Anna Lozyk Romeo — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 04:21:43 +0000

For 13 years I was planning to visit our museum in Aurora. Well surprise surprise – we don’t have one anymore. I guess that’s what happens if you plan your trip for too long – there will be no trip, as for now there is not trip to the museum.

Since museum is a recent buzz word in the town news, and no body really talks about where and what. I have decided to throw some ideas on the table here.

First collecting some information.

‘For Councillor Evelyn Buck, one of her commitments is bring a museum back to Aurora. Noting that the Aurora Historical Society has asked for additional funds for a curator, she said that she was intent on that being met.‘ – a quote from the newspaper article ‘Budget drops again’, THE AURORAN, Week of March 29, 2011, Vol. 11 No. 22, pg 1, 12.
‘The York Region District School Board is going ahead with plans to put the Wells Street School site in downtown Aurora up for sale, while extending the Town’s deadline to make an offer of “fair market value” until June as requested.‘ – a quote from the newspaper article ‘Want to buy a school?, THE AURORAN, Week of March 29, 2011, Vol. 11 No. 22, pg 1, 12.
‘The Aurora Historical Society was founded in 1963 and is run by a dedicated number of volunteers. The society has worked tirelessly for the last 47 years to support and preserve the history of Aurora through its operation of Hillary House National Historic Site, the Koffler Museum of Medicine, and the Aurora Collection. The AHS played a major role in restoring the Church Street School (Aurora Cultural Centre) which is now where the Aurora Collection is stored. The vast artifact and archival collection includes over 8,000 items as well as a rare book and reference library.‘ – a long quote from the newsletter ‘The Aurora Historical Society – Profile’, Aurora Cultural Centre Highlights, Winter 2011, pg 6.

Aurora Cultural Centre

The above items give me a good start here. I don’t know how did the Museum change hands with the Aurora’s Cultural Centre (better explained by Evelyn Buck here); however, as Evelyn Buck is determined to find a new home for the Aurora Museum, I thought that I will be determined here to throw some ideas on the table. Excuse me if they are repeats, because I am sure that lot of ideas were probably already thrown around the table somewhere.

As my thinking process goes, here are some keywords or buzz words in the recent news – Wells Street School for sale, Petch House – don’t know what to do house, Aurora Library needs funding, future Town of Aurora hall renovations, Aurora Cultural Centre – blooming.

Now that I brained-stormed, here are my suggestions for the new Aurora Museum location(s):

Aha, Wells Street School for sale. 8,000 artifacts seems a lot plus rare book and reference library. Why not buy this place, and set up museum in the Wells Street School. It is already historic site.
Aha number two – we don’t know what to do with Petch house? Well why not make this a new place for Aurora’s Museum, it is after all a historic place.
Personally this one is my favorite. Why not set up exhibits around the Aurora. That is, if Town of Aurora hall is going to be renovated (supposedly), why not make a provision for display cases for some of the 8,000 artifacts. Add some display cases in the Cultural Centre. The rare book and reference library move to Aurora Library and have some artifacts placed there too. This option gives greatest visibility and access to the archives for those interested, and for those who are not but will be when visiting town hall or library.

Aurora Cultural Centre

Everything cost money. I don’t think that finding a place is only Councillors job. The Historical Society should layout some proposals. All you have to do is pick a place, do cost analysis, that is cost of proposed property, cost of move, cost of materials, cost of restoration, cost of future maintenance, etc.

I think this should be easy project to do. Give few alternatives, I am sure quotes are free from those who want the job. After all, I don’t think I should be the one here telling everyone what to do. The bottom line is that we need the Aurora Museum back so I can finally complete my planned trip.

So here is my take on the next location for the Museum, and what is yours?