Galwegians-June 2022
The Galway Hall continues to become more active as the restrictions allow. Tai Chi regularly meets on Monday mornings. There have been several planning meetings for the Kinmount Agricultural Society and an AGM. The Greater Harvey Historical Society uses their office spaces at the Hall regularly. An exercise group meets on Wednesday mornings. The Galway Hall is also a local polling station for the upcoming Ontario Election on Thursday, June 2nd, 2022.
The Galway Hall Board meets on Monday, May 30th to finalize plans for our upcoming Strawberry Supper fundraiser on Saturday, July 2nd. Check out our website, www.galwayhall.ca for all the pertinent details regarding times and tickets. All this information should be posted in early June, after our meeting.
Save the Date
STRAWBERRY SUPPER
GALWAY HALL
Saturday, July 2, 2022
www.galwayhall.ca
FOG’s “Shamrocking Galway” project is growing, literally. Most of the peat pots are starting to sprout their purple leaves. Speaking of leaves, our beech trees that have held onto their dead leaves since the fall finally released them in the second week of May. Almost immediately, the beech trees were filled with their new, green leaves. Ah, Mother Nature is amazing!
Since personally tracking the “Good Friday” weather lore for several years now, this year was by far the least accurate for this lore. On this 2022 Good Friday morning, the winds were from the south-west and very strong. Since that morning, with 38 of the 40 days done, only three days had winds from the south-west. Despite the big winds on Good Friday, 8 of the 38 days since then were quite calm.
Weather-wise, Good Friday morning had cool temperatures. This is one trend that did continue for 23 straight days, broken by the start of the five days of above-normal, summer-like temperatures. 13 days had precipitation; rain, snow, or ice pellets. 3 of the days were ‘Bluebird Sky days’.
Our immediate area was spared on Saturday, May 21st from the violent storms that ripped across Ontario and Quebec. The term used to describe this storm was a “derecho storm”. Environment Canada noted that this term is rarely used because most thunderstorms do not meet all the criteria. To be a derecho storm, it has to have; high winds (100+ km), a wide swath (>400 km), and cover a long distance. Saturday’s storm had wind gusts of up to120 km in places, its swath was 600 km wide, and it started in Michigan and ended in Maine, covering over 1 000 km. It was a deadly storm as well due to its suddenness and shear power.
From a nature point of view, May is an eventful month. Migratory birds pass through our area. Northern (Baltimore) Orioles have been reported by a few observers as have the Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks. Our plan to keep our bird feeder filled did work as it has attracted two pairs of these grosbeaks. The flying squirrels have also taken advantage of the feeder. On the downside, so have the grackles and blackbirds and the blue jays. When our feeder is emptied, it will not be refilled. The season will be over until the bird feeder routine commences again in mid-August.
Tree swallows were noted skimming across Clear Bay during the last days of April and into May and then they were gone. The good news was that there appeared to be more of them this year, with numbers between 20 and 30 swallows.
There have been several moose sightings reported on the Galway Road, Clear Bay Road, and White Boundary Road. One report was from a group using the Galway Hall. They saw a moose walking through the cemetery that is next to the hall. A bobcat was also reported, seen along the Galway Road near the bridge over Union Creek.
May also brings our provincial flower into bloom. Did you know that there are five types of trilliums in Ontario? They are; White, Red, Painted, Drooping, and Nodding. Of course, when the trilliums are in bloom, the black flies ‘boom’! Luckily, so far, (as of the Long Weekend), these annoying insects have not been totally overwhelming.
Did anyone stay awake into the wee hours of the morning of May 16th to view the total lunar eclipse? For once, the skies remained relatively clear for the viewing of this phenomenon. On June 14th, there is a full moon, known as the Strawberry Moon. This moon is also classed a super moon and so it may appear slightly larger in the sky than normal. There are no major meteor showers this June. However, there are always fragments of one form or another of dust, falling upon the Earth. These are known as ‘sporadic meteors’.