SUMMER
2023
Good News for North Queens
The Good News for North Queens community newsletter is published quarterly by the North Queens Medical Centre Association - Since 1998 Public submissions are welcome and should be sent to submissionsnqmc@gmail.com The deadline for next issue's submissions is August 15, 2023
Count Your Blessings, Don’t Curse Your Woes The daffodils are shooting out in all of their glory and many of the perennials are beginning to poke their heads up through the ground. Soon we will have flower beds and bushes full of wonderful color. The maple trees are busy shedding red buds and pushing out new leaves. Two loons are busy diving for their morning breakfast. Swallows have been checking out the bird houses for nesting and are zooming over the water eating as many blackflies and other bugs as they can. A pair of mallards are near the beach each morning diving for a tasty meal. The finches are turning a bright yellow and of course, the robins are busy searching the yard for a juicy meal and are fat with eggs ready to be laid. Haven’t seen the barred owl as of yet, but hear it every day. We are healthy enough to work the flower beds, get the veggie garden soil ready to plant, clean up branches blown off the trees over the winter and get the float ready to put out on the lake. We can now sit out in the sun for a bit after lunch. Got the lawn mower out yesterday and checked to make sure it would go. Zoomed on first pull! Got the power saw out, cleaned it, reset and sharpened the chain, checked the oil and gas and tried it out. A buzzing roar told me it was ready to go, and the chunking up of a fallen tree determined that the sharpening job was adequate. I have gotten the quad ready for fishing. I take the dog for a few walks every day, which is great for both my physical and mental health. We are very blessed to have a roof over our heads, food in the fridge and great friends. The town is small enough that when we walk into a store, we know the people serving us. I entitled this small note, “Count your Blessings, Don’t Curse Your Woes” on purpose. If I were to write all the little and big problems in our lives, it would cover a much greater space then the three small paragraphs above. It doesn’t mean that I never think of them or address them as best I can. It means that I do not dwell on them. It rains on the good and the bad. But when we see what the sunshine brings, we can focus on how the rain, itself, helps. If you don’t believe this, then just think of how thankful you are when we have a good rain when the woods are really dry. The point is that if we focus on our woes, we miss out on the sunshine. Our physical and especially our mental health pays a price. A good friend told me not to focus on my worries. He is very smart. Knows exactly what he is talking about. I cannot do this for anyone but myself. Count your blessings, you will be pleasantly surprised. Don’t forget to look on the North Queens Medical Centre Facebook page. You will find our fundraiser under “Collective Caring”. There are many wonderful things to make a bid on. Our town businesses, and some from Liverpool and Bridgewater graciously donated many of the items up for grabs. Thank you so much to those who donated, and to those busy bidding and helping us make money to keep our important health centre in good repair. We give a big welcome to Janie Ryan our new admin person. She is very personable and a great asset to the health team. Thanks Janie, we can only hope that you will enjoy being with us as much as we enjoy having your cheerful face at the desk. There will be a digital copy of the newsletter on the Facebook page from here on in. Our association AGM will be coming up on June 7th at 7:00 p.m. in the Hub. We will have guest speakers, one of whom is Margo Walsh-Leaman. She will be talking to us about the on-going search to replace Renate with a new Nurse Practitioner when she retires in June. Please be patient as the medical staff continues to serve us as best as possible at this time. We will get a new person. Please plan to attend the AGM and bring your good suggestions to help.