Another year, another challenge, and we hope everyone had a safe and happy New Year's Eve. After a couple of days of spring-like weather, winter is back once more, and now we're in for the "long haul," as far as winter weather is concerned.

The school offered a baby-sitting service set up in the gymnasium for parents who wished to go out on New Year's Eve. There were many children there, and it certainly solved a problem for many. It not only was a fundraiser for school funding, it furnished a safe environment for children, along with entertainment and treats; a New Year's Eve party of their very own.

Another great idea was the Band-a-Thon last Friday evening. It proved that the Les Cheneaux community is really getting behind the "Funding the Future" program to help the school's financial situation. At times there were as many as 87 people playing in this band and each one had a sponsor. The evening netted more than $7,000 for this special fund.

Betty Patrick's birthday was January 6, and Bruce Patrick's is right around the corner. He will be 93 January 11. Bruce is now residing at the Long Term Care facility at Mackinac Straits Hospital in St. Ignace. The Patricks have lived in Cedarville and operated a resort business here for many years, and we send good wishes to both of them.

I hope everyone is feeding the birds on these stormy and snowy days. There is a veritable feeding frenzy at my feeder. I'm sure the little creatures are having a hard time finding any natural food, with the snow cover we have.

A final story from Bruce Patrick about his school days, in honor of his birthday:

"This is about the Edge wood School, where I went until I was through the fifth grade. The Clark Township school system had five oneroom schools, plus the Hessel School that went through the eighth grade, then Clark Township would pay tuition for pupils to go to Sault Ste. Marie or Pickford schools to finish their 12th grade schooling. After fifth grade, I went to Cedarville School to finish my 12 grades.

"In the early fall and winter, Ed Dutcher hauled us to Cedar - ville in a huge, seven-passenger car. After the snows came, the township hired Rube Sher lund, with a team of horses. They had a huge sled, covered from end to end. Rube Sherlund drove this sled on this route. He took the route so long that he said the horses just made the route without his even driving them.

"After many years, the township got a big bus to haul us, winter and summer. The township had a plow, but it was not much good when the snow got deep, also where the wind drifted the snow into huge banks.

"My father and his brother, Curt, went to school on Marquette Island, two weeks in early fall and two weeks in the spring; four weeks total. Dad and Curt went to school by boat, rowing across the channel in the early fall, before the ice formed. They went to school in the spring, when the ice had gone out. There were no roads to keep up by the township, so water transportation was the only way to go, except to walk, or snowshoe in the winter months."

I close this week with an appropriate "thoughts to live by" quote from Anne Bradstreet: "If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant; if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome."