Nobleton Notes
Santa Claus will be having breakfast at Nobleton United Saturday,
By Angie Maccarone (905) 859-5174
Sears annual colouring

contest

It's time for the Sears annual colouring contest. All children from Nobleton, King City and Schomberg, between the ages of five and 12, are welcome to enter. Prizes are awarded in individual age groups, along with one grand prize.

This year, children are being asked to draw their favourite winter scenes, using paints, crayons, or colouring pencils.

This could also be done as a school art project, as was the case at St. Mary Catholic School last year.

Entries will be accepted from Dec. 3 until Dec. 21 at the Sears Catalogue Store at 5870 King Rd.

For more information, call Frances at (905) 859- 6654. Book Fair and Christmas

Pageant at St. Paul's

The Youth Group of St. Paul's Presbyterian Church meets tonight at 7 p.m.

Yes, this is the weekend for our 10th annual Christian Book Fair. Come out Saturday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to see the wonderful books, CDs, DVDs, Christmas cards, wrapping paper and many more terrific gift ideas we will have for sale. Stay for tea or coffee and goodies, and catch up with some friends while you get out of the cold. There is something for everyone on your shopping list.

Also, Sunday evening at 7 p.m., the children will be performing The Mystery of the Manger Christmas Pageant. This is always the perfect way to get yourself and your loved ones into the Christmas spirit. If you are unable to make the evening performance, there will be two other performances on Tuesday and Wednesday at 9:30 a.m. when our local schools come to visit us.

Join us Sunday morning as well at 9:45 a.m. as we worship God. Nursery care (for children five years and younger) is provided during the service and Sunday school for all ages follows at 11 a.m.

For more information about any of our activities or events, please contact the church office at (905) 859- 0843.

Horticulture

The Romans said "possunt quia posse videntur¿" meaning "they can because they think they can¿" so we gardeners can learn to recognize the botanical/Latin names of plants because we think positively.

Karl Linné (later Karl von Linné when he was knighted by the king of Sweden) is the father of the classification of plants. Better known as Carolus Linnaeus, the Latinized version of his name, he gave up his practice as a medical doctor to research and teach in the field of botany at Uppsala University in central Sweden. As a traveler and explorer, he brought many plants previously unknown in the west to the attention of botanists and horticulturalists here.

As Latin was still the international language in the 18th century when Linnaeus lived (1708-1778), he used it to name and classify plants, and this custom is still carried on by botanists today. Keep in mind many new words came into late or mediaeval Latin that are not found in the classical version of this language.

Although botanical names are thought of as being Latin, sometimes a plant's name includes words from other languages especially Greek. Phlox (torch), iris (rainbow) and rhododendron (red tree) are Greek and tulipa, native to Turkey, comes from "tulip," the Turkish work for "turban."

Some 20 years before he began assigning botanical names to plants, Linnaeus invented a system of plant classification into which he fitted all plants so that their relationship to one another was clear. Thus all roses were classed together in a group he called Rosa. The individual rose types in the genus such as rugosa roses, damascene (damask) roses, gallica roses and tea roses were called species. Rose species now include the modern grandifloras, polyanthas and floribundas. Individual roses in a species are called cultivars (short for cultivated variety) and have fancy¿ names such as Peace, Tropicana, Champlain and Queen Elizabeth.

Linneaus also brought together all groups or genera that were related into a large group he called a family. Roses, strawberries (genus fragaria) apples (genus malus) and plums (genus prunus) all share basic characteristics and all are members of the rosaceae family.

The botanical name doesn't always relate to the flower or bloom. It may come from the seed, shape or texture of the leaves, stem or root. Geranium comes through the Greek word "geranion" to the Latin word "geranos," meaning "crane" because the seed pod resembles a crane's bill and, in fact, the common name for geranium is cranesbill. Nigella (love-in-a-mist) gets its botanical name from its black seeds. The wide sharp pointed leaves of one plant looked like the short sword that Roman soldiers carried, called a "gladius" and the plant was named gladiolus.

The early spring blooming flower called iris reticulate got its name because its bulb/corm looked like it was covered in a tiny net, and reticulatus is Latin for net. Because the leaves of forget-me-nots looked like the ears of mice, its botanical name became myosotis - Latin for mouse ear.

Some plants were named for their strong association with people. Yarrow was thought to have been used by the Greek hero Achilles (Trojan War) to treat the wounds of his men and thus it earned its botanical name achillea. Paeonia (peony) was named for the physician Paeon of Greek myth who was changed into a flower. Generally, the botanical/Latin name makes good sense and is reasonably easy to understand. Therefore, with a little effort, we can say of botanical names Caesar's famous phrase "veni vidi vici" - "I came, I saw, I conquered!"

The Nobleton - King Horticultural Society send congratulations and best wishes to Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip on the occasion of their 60th wedding anniversary.

Seniors' euchre

Nov. 20 euchre winners were Helen Groombridge, Deanna Hill, Iva Hilliard, Murray Hilliard and Walter Hilliard and Herb Workman. The next get together will be a meeting and euchre Dec. 4 at 1:30 p.m. at the Drop-in Centre.

St. Mary's Christmas

Family Day

Join us at our 10th annual Christmas Family Day for a day of celebrating the birth of Jesus and a visit from St. Nicholas, as well as a wagon ride, carol singing, making crafts, eating a hearty lunch and just sharing memories. All this will happen next Sunday (Dec. 9), starting with a wagon ride at 11 a.m. and ending at the the arena in Nobleton. Tickets are on sale now for $25 per family. Please set aside this day and attend this worthwhile event, sponsored by the Catholic Women's League of St. Mary Catholic Church.

Nobleton United

Church

This Saturday (Dec. 1), is our Breakfast with Santa. Come and enjoy pancakes and sausages, and have the opportunity to sit on Santa's knee.

Children will receive a free gift. For more information, please call Lynn at (9050 833-8472. No reservations required.

Sunday (Dec. 2) will be our White Gift Service. Please take this opportunity to bring forth your nonperishable food items. Our service is at 11:15 a.m. After the service, please join us for a time of fellowship with coffee and cookies.

The annual UCW pot luck Christmas Dinner is Dec. 10 at 6 p.m. All are welcome.