When you usher in the New Year at the tail end of a pretty substantial winter storm, it makes me sort of wonder what kind of year will 2026 be like. Though the snow is incredibly pretty. Orillia Matters newspaper mentioned in a January 5th, 2026 article that “Typically, Orillia receives about 280 centimetres of snow over the course of an entire winter”. At the time of the article they surpassed 300 centimetres of snow. And it was still only early January. With what we received the past couple of weeks they are well on track to match or surpass last winter, which received a total of 460 centimetres of snow. Shortly after the article was published there was a little bit of temporary relief in the heavy snow with a January thaw. We are back into solid winter again. In 2025 we had a crippling ice storm. And we also had a very hot, dry summer, which led to a complete outdoor watering ban in my village of Hillsdale. Weather aside, here are a few other things that happened this past year.

LOSSES AND BEREAVEMENT

This past year I lost three dear souls who were at one time regular parishioners from the Hillsdale church, which closed in May 2022. This included Myrtle, a very dear elder. At the three point charge I currently am lay pastor at, we lost Marlene, our organist at the Esson church. She was such a dear soul. Lynne’s mom passed away on June 5th. Lynne originally went down to help her mom get more care. While there, Lynne’s mom had a medical emergency and passed away a few hours later. With being executer of the will, it meant she needed to get the house cleared out and sold. There was a lot on her plate. This past December 31st, our next door neighbor Terry passed away. He has been our neighbor the entire 33 years we have lived here in Hillsdale. He is deeply missed. Also Hillsdale lost their beloved Guardian Tree. It has been a grieving process for me with that in itself. In the cooler autumn I planted a sugar maple sapling as a way of coping with the loss of the Guardian Tree. Obviously I will never see the day when it is its’ full glory. But I had to do something.

CROSSING GUARD DUTIES AND CHURCH LAY PASTORING

I’ve been continuing on with the church lay pastoring at the three churches and crossing guard duty. Before January each year our wonderful church moderator checks in to ask if I am okay to continue for another year. A schedule is drawn up, which is usually around 32 Sundays a year. This gives me several Sundays off throughout the year to recharge my own batteries and spend time in the Bible without thinking about a sermon to prepare for. But it also gives the congregations a break from listening to me speak each and every Sunday. Which is important. During the week and my Sunday’s off I try to make sure I listen to a few podcasts and sermons by a broad range of teachers from various perspectives. Gifted Christian teachers who have the the ability to apply eternal truth to my daily life. And I read some selections from the many Christian blogs I follow along with portions of books and magazines, too. Every other week my wife and I attend attend a home Bible study/care group. Sunday’s I am not preaching my wife and I will often either attend Willow Creek Baptist Church or Elmvale Presbyterian Church. With the passing of the dear organist who used to play at the middle church, my wife Lynne has been playing the organ or piano at the middle church at Esson and the piano at the 3rd church at Uptergrove. Each congregation is so extremely appreciative. Not only are they parishioners, they are also dear friends. A very special honour was to be the guest speaker at a memorial day service at Knox Presbyterian Cemetery in Oro Township. I found it very humbling to stand in the pulpit where ministers in the past have stood for 180 years. People attend the service from all over. It is a big event where attendees have the options of sitting in the church, sitting on original benches under the row of mature maples or bring your own lawn chairs. Not only was the service broadcast outdoors, you could also sit in your car and hear the service on FM 87.9. Much like the technology in the drive-in theaters these days. This is where my Grandpa and Gramma and my Uncle Lloyd and Uncle Bernal are buried.

With the crossing guard, the municipality contacts me in the middle of summer asking if I am willing to return for another school year. When I say yes, they then write up a one year contract. Much like the three church congregations, the crosswalk children and their parents are always so appreciative. It really gives me a great deal of purpose. I love the children at the crosswalk so much. They are so mannerly and give me so much joy. Sometimes I will read about crossing guards who remain at their jobs into their 70’s and occasionally even into their 80’s. But I remind myself the crosswalk in Hillsdale on Ontario Provincial Highway 93 is not your typical crosswalk. Highway 93 is extremely dangerous. In a news reporter post on social media yesterday, a driver rolled a van off the highway and onto a pole within this village of Hillsdale yesterday. A comment on the post from one of the wonderful students I used to cross (now graduated from high school) read, “When I lived there. The speeding through was non stop. Kids everywhere going to the store, on bikes!”

A parent the other day mentioned that she worries for me with the speed so many drivers are travelling through my crosswalk, and that so many are driving while on their devices. In one morning shift last November police were monitoring my crosswalk specifically for distracted drivers. Using two pursuit cars, twelve distracted drivers were pulled over and charged. Many more drivers could easily been ticketed, but the officers were busy writing tickets for the drivers they pulled over. Whether it is a year or two or more, unfortunately there is going to one day be a decision that this will be my last year as crossing guard. Reaction times are everything. But as one gets older, they do tend to slow both physically and cognitively. Most drivers are travelling over the speed limit. It is not unusual for some drivers to speed through my crosswalk at 70 or 80 or more kilometers per hour in a 50kph zone. Some while even on their devices. I have to be realistic. I daily need to be on top of my game. I do try hard to keep my body and mind sharp as I age. Nimble and quick in reaction times both physically and mentally. For the safety of the children. And for my own safety.

RANDOM THIS AND THATS THIS PAST YEAR

The downstairs bathroom was renovated this past year. This was long overdue. Several times we have had water come in during spring melt. The worse was in 1998 when the float on the sump pump stuck and the pump didn’t come on. The bathroom was on a plywood subfloor. It was rotten and has been removed with the renovation.

In the end of October I purchased a 2020 Nissan Leaf, as repairs on my Prius was going to cost more than it was worth. The Prius was the best car I have ever had. It was very hard to say goodbye. I’ve really enjoyed the Leaf so far. It is my 1st full electric vehicle. It has a much smaller range than most other electric cars on the road. You also lose a lot or range also in the cold winter months. So I pick and choose my trips and the days I go out in the winter. Car ownership is so expensive. Unfortunately there is no public transit or biking infrastructure in my village of Hillsdale. Being on a major highway there was a flag bus stop here when we moved here 33 years ago. Which I used from time to time. For at least 20 years the bus stop has been gone, sadly making the automobile the default means of transportation here. In a climate crises, we desperately need other more climate friendly options than building more highways, which induces more cars on the road.

This past year I wrote 15 articles on my 2 blogs, 8 on this my main blog here, and 7 on my Christian church blog called My Sunday Blog. Posts on the church blog are usually based either a portion or an overview of my sermons preached at the three churches. I have 900 subscribers to my main blog and 88 subscribers to the Christian blog. Throughout the entire year the Christian blog has been outperforming my main blog in both visits and views. Not complaining, but am not sure why. Because of the extra amount of traffic it has been seeing, about 3 months ago I paid to have the Christian based blog advertisement free. Just like my main blog.

Between the two blogs I have about 40 unfinished articles still in draft form. Once I lose the momentum on an article, it is hard for me to get it back. With the church blog, if I don’t get an article finished within 3 or 4 days of the church services I preach at, the article is probably not going to get finished. Because I am busy preparing for the next Sunday. With this main blog, it is usually about a month. Some unfinished articles go back to 2016 when I spent a month adventure touring with my daughter Naomi in New Zealand. Some other unfinished articles are from my time running in Mexico in 2019 with the Monarch Ultra. Over the 11 years I have been blogging I have probably deleted another 40 unfinished articles. But the odd article I have actually pushed through and finished many, many months later. So there always is hope.

RUNNING and HIKING

This past year I have done far more walking and hiking than running. I try to aim to hike at least a dedicated 7 kilometers a day. Particularly Sundays though, I don’t usually make my target. This is a far cry less than the virtual “races” I completed during Covid. The most challenging one was when I covered 3,224 kilometers in 4 months in the Great Virtual Run Across Tennessee. This was dedicated hikes and occasional runs excluding normal steps one takes throughout the day. I always love hiking with others. Particularly if these people are living encyclopedias on flora and fauna. Such is the case with my former co-worker friend Alicia. One hike with Alicia was in Copeland Forest. The other was in Tiny March, which is a couple of miles northwest of Elmvale. Another highlight was being part of a group nature hike led by 80 year old naturalist Bob Bowles on October 4th. This was part of the 10th anniversary celebration for Copeland Forest Friends (which I am a member of).

In 2025 I did run two races. The first was my 8th consecutive 50k at Pick Your Poison on the last Saturday of April. The 2nd one was an extremely hot and humid 21k at Summit 700 at Blue Mountain in early July. Since then I really haven’t run much. With receding gumlines, I was often dealing with gum infections. They were particularly bad in the latter half of the year. I didn’t want to get my heart rate too high from running in case I dropped dead of a heart attack. On December 23rd the dentist pulled two infected bottom front teeth and gave me a very strong course of antibiotics. He was concerned I’d get sepsis and spend Christmas in hospital. The antibiotics cleared the infection fine. In fact I lost 8 pounds in 3 days, which I am guessing was inflammation. Though wonderful to have the infection cleared on the one hand, I have been dealing with side effects from the antibiotics on the gut microbiota. I’ve been prescribed medication for this now. Though still uncomfortable, I’ve now been able to run two kilometers without stopping. I have once again signed up for the 50k Pick Your Poison. Hopefully as I continue to get better, I’ll be able to stretch those distances further.

The thought has crossed my mind of stepping away from running and focus solely on hiking. After all, there are some epic long distance hikes I would love to complete before I get too old. But then I look at my ultrarunning legend friend Hans Maier., which reminds me I am not that old. At 85, he is still running strong. In fact, now that he is in this age group of 85 and above he is rewriting the Canadian ultrarunning record book. His 50km at 85 in 11:48:04 at That Dam Hill trail race, surpassed Charles Benovoy’s 1995 time of 14:50:01. At 85, he’s run 50 miles in 20:27:13, a new benchmark. At 85 he’s run a new benchmark in the 12 hour distance at 51.167 kilometers. At 85 he’s broke the record in the 24 hour distance, by running 93.031km, surpassing Charles Benovoy’s 1995 distance of 64.745km. The last I have seen Hans was in 2022 at Pick Your Poison. Hans tried so hard, but didn’t make the cutoff. He was 82 at the time. Hans always runs the ultra distances. The year 2022 was his last year at Pick Your Poison. He shared with the directors that, “the terrain was becoming too technical to complete in the allotted time”. I’m 17 years younger and am having a hard time finishing in the allotted time. Hans’ new records are such an inspiration to me. And yes, I will continue to run.

MONARCH ULTRA

I’m continuing as a committee member of the Monarch Ultra. With the distance I live from Peterborough to Hillsdale, I really can’t do hands on stuff. So my role is primarily promotion on social media. Planning has just started for the 4th annual Monarch Race and Festival in Peterborough. We hold it each year on the 3rd Saturday of September. This year it is September 19th, which is 7 years to the day when the 4,300 relay that followed the migration route of the monarch butterfly left for Mexico. After a successful film festival run with honorable mentions and a couple of awards, The Monarch Ultra documentary is now publicly available. Where to watch? Click on the YouTube link below to watch it and don’t forget to share!

https://youtu.be/3axNQpHBmXM?si=KgoFlNxa45qA5Vh-&t=2