It's a Way of Life!

Do you think you could live on an Island? Do you have what it takes to be a member of a rural community accessible only by ferry, plane or boat?

Here's a bit of a test to find out if you have the right stuff . . .

Do you flash your Rolex, brag about your car, name drop about who you know, or what blue blood schools your kids attend?

Getting noticed . . . do you dream of a huge house and a garage full of cars designed to impress others? Think you are special, put on earth to be awed, sought after for advice and your presence?

Do you have an ego needing stroking? Have an attitude needing attention? Are you a gold digger? Do you want to live in a gated wealthy snobby community and is your life about money - only money?

Think you were always destined for greatness? You don't strive to keep up with the Jones - that you are the Jones.

Translation - you are NOT built for living on Drummond Island and being part of it's rural, Up North, close-knit community.

Impressing others and having the latest material items is not what living on Drummond is all about. It's about helping others, serving your community, not calling attention to yourself.

Drummond Island, simple, real, honest living.

Outdoor campfires, picnics, paddling a kayak. Snowshoeing the ledges or cross country skiing through a silent glade. 

Folks on Drummond get excited hiking a shoreline trail and seeing three deer drinking from the lake. Enjoying a sunrise on Potagannissing Bay with a mug of hot coffee. A family of loons paddling by. Island people attend and get excited to help out at a church bean supper for a family that was burned out or struggling with cancer.

It is not about who you know . . .  it's not about being exclusive. It's about others. People come for a day, stay a life time. You don't need a lot of money . . . that's not what impresses people in "Vacationland". On Drummond they help others, check on the elderly, coach youth sports. Teach Sunday school.

IT'S A WAY OF LIFE! 

Something Called Community . . .

"Money is like blood. It needs to keep moving around to keep the economy going. When money is spent elsewhere—at big supermarkets, non-locally owned utilities and other services such as on-line retailers—it flows out, like a wound." ~ David Boyle

Here is a list of the top ten reasons why you should both expect that locals use your business and why you should support your fellow businesses. Remember, it is a two-way street! If you expect your neighbor to shop at your retail store, you need to return the favor and use their service.

 

Shopping local boosts the local economy because more of the money you spend in your local independent business stays in the community then if you shopped at a big-box store or out of town. 

Shopping local creates jobs. Small, local businesses are the largest employers nationally. When we support local shops and services, we are supporting the process of creating local jobs. 

Local business support community groups. Local businesses are more likely to support local events, schools, charities and sports groups. When you shop at a local business you are in essence supporting your community.

Shopping local supports the character of Drummond. Drummond’s friendly and authentic small community atmosphere is created by the people and the businesses. Our distinctive shops and services contribute to our quality of life and to the character of Drummond Island. Shopping local keeps these businesses here.

Shopping local increases our tax base. When you support and invest your day-to-day dollar in Drummond business you are contributing to our tax base which improves the services we all benefit from. No local business means higher taxes for everyone.

Local businesses invest in Drummond Island. When we support local business we support the future of our community. Businesses owned by Drummond Island folks are less likely to leave the community and are more invested in our success.

Supporting local business encourages investment. Research is stating entrepreneurs and skilled workers are more likely to invest and settle in communities, like Drummond, that preserve and support independent and distinctive businesses. 

Local business offers choices. Over the long term, successful local businesses are able to supply products based on local needs, interests and demands rather than based on national sales strategies. 

Shopping local saves services. Private and public services tend to cluster around shops. As retail merchants disappear, so do services such as hairdressers, banks, restaurants, and other businesses. 

Shopping local saves you time and money. By not traveling to out of town shops, you are saving on fuel (money and the environment) and time. By buying local and what you need, rather than all those “deals” on your way to cashier at a big box store, you are saving money and reducing items that will just go to the landfill anyway!

I have inherited a belief in community, the promise that the gathering of kindred spirits can both create and change culture. We don't accomplish anything in this world alone  - whatever happens is the result of the whole tapestry of one's life and all the weavings of individual threads from one to another that creates something good. Something called community.

What is Life?

It is the flash of a firefly in the night. 

It is the breath of a buffalo in the wintertime. 

It is the little shadow which runs across the grass 

and loses itself in the sunset.” 

~ Crowfoot (c. 1821–1830 – 25 April 1890; Chief of the Siksika First Nation)

Photo credits: Fireflies @ Night: Masahiro Miyasaka; Buffalo in Winter: Anonymous; Shadows on Grass: Candis Collick; Drummond Island Sunset: Paul Strom; Crowfoot: Library and Archives of Canada

 

Time to Take Time!

"Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience". 

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 

 There is time – and that is often the hardest thing for me to acknowledge. There is time today.

 

 

Unfortunately, I am often too worried about returning on time, finishing on time, running out of time that 

I forget it is time to take time. 

Time to walk slower – to match my gait to the leisurely pace of those whose path crosses mine.

To enjoy the sunlight . . .

and the sound of the breeze rustling through the trees.

When it appears there is no more time, 

that I have only a few days and then only a few hours, 

and finally only a few minutes – 

I need to remember there is still time.

There is always enough time if I remember that the time is now.

“Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.”  - Will Rogers

Smooth Sledding . . . !

Eyes wide with fright. Tears frozen on your cheeks. Fingers encased in woolen mitts frantically grasping at anything within reach – rungs, ropes or the friend your legs are precariously wrapped around.

You race at breakneck speed down the snow covered slope. The rush of frosty winter air whooshes past. Your screams are muffled by the scarf bound tightly round your neck and mouth. You are as close to flying as you can get. You are invincible as you plummet down the hill.

 Tumbling off in a flurry of jumbled body parts you whoop and laugh all the way back to the top for one more amazing run.

You are . . .

SLEDDING!

Snow, snow, come on, snow!

Here it is, ladies and gentlemen! 

The original “Heikki Lunta Snow Dance Song!”

Now I’ll sing my song
To make the snow come down
And I’ll do my snow dance
Whoops! I almost lost my pants
I’ll holler and yell,
And really give it h#ll!

It’s Heikki’s snow dance song,
Heikki’s snow dance song

We gotta have some snow by the 4th of December
“Heikki Lunta, make it snow!” 
say all the Range Club members
The races are only three weeks away
And if I don’t make it snow, 
I’ll go back to making hay

It’s Heikki Lunta’s snow dance song,
Heikki Lunta’s snow dance song.

Snow, snow, snow!

Now I’ll dance some more,
And I’ll really know the score
How to make it snow,
Come on, man, go, go, go!

Don’t even slow down
till the snow starts falling down

It’s Heikki Lunta’s snow dance song,
Heikki Lunta’s snow dance song.

Snow, snow, come on, snow!

 "The Heikki Lunta Snow Dance Song" Written by David Riutta 

(P) 1970 WMPL Radio 

Hancock, Michigan

And now for Da Yoopers Heikki Lunta 
Snow Dance Song! 

(Just want to make sure 
all our bases are covered!)

A Thanksgiving Day Prayer . . .

 We return thanks to our mother, the earth, which sustains us.
We return thanks to the rivers and streams,which supply us with water. 

We return thanks to all herbs,
which furnish medicines for the cure of our diseases.

We return thanks to the corn,
and to her sisters, the beans and squash, which give us life. 

We return thanks to the bushes and trees, which provide us with fruit.

We return thanks to the wind,
which, moving the air, has banished diseases.

 

We return thanks to the moon and the stars,
which have given us their light when the sun was gone.

We return thanks to our grandfather He-no,
that he has protected his grandchildren from witches and reptiles,
and has given to us his rain.

We return thanks to the sun,
that he has looked upon the earth with a beneficent eye. 

Lastly, we return thanks to the Great Spirit,
in whom is embodied all goodness,
and who directs all things for the good of his children. 

 ~Iroquois Prayer from the 1800's