A collection of Clara's writings over the past years.

This Year’s Letter from Clara
Every year at about this time, Clara of Timmins ON, writes us a letter to give us the news. This is Clara’s update.

Fall Newsletter 2006

Most people like furry cuddly animals, but not me. I’ll give you some hints about what I like. It’s slimy, it has no legs or arms, it lives in oceans around the world, and it can kill you if you’re not really careful. If you guessed a shark, you’re wrong. I’m talking about stingrays. Here are some interesting facts about stingrays. They are slimy because they hide from their prey by burrowing into the sand at the bottom of the ocean. The slime is a layer of mucous that allows them to slip easily into the sand. The mucous also protects them from getting caught by their prey because it makes them slippery. They move through the water by moving the sides of their bodies like a fan. They have a single barb hidden under their tails that is used to poison or kill their enemy. For example, if you step on a stingray as it is hiding in the sand, it will inject you with its poison and you may have to have your foot cut off! However, if a stingray bites you with its mouth or your finger gets stuck in its mouth it will feel like sandpaper but it won’t harm you. A stingray is not vegetarian like the manatee. The stingray’s mouth is on its underside. It feeds on shrimp, squid, and small fish by slurping them up from the bottom of the ocean floor. You might think that stingrays sound dangerous but they really aren’t. They are a nice creature to get to know as long as you don’t bother them. I have fed stingrays before and it feels like a vacuum cleaner running over your hand when they slurp up the fish from you. I wouldn’t like raw fish for 3 meals a day!

Spring Newsletter 2006

I’ve had a great time writing about living up north. This article will be the top best things about living up north! I bet by the time you’ve read this article your bags will be packed and you’ll be off to Timmins!!!

Up north there are tons of bears and moose because there are homes and enough food for all of them. The down side is you might find bear droppings on your lawn. The upside is you might get to see them in person!!!

Ice fishing is when you dig a circular hole in the ice and then put a fishing line in the water. The stick moves which indicates that you have a fish. The down side is that you have to gut the fish in the freezing cold. The upside is the delicious fish you get to enjoy!!!

In northern Ontario the weather is so cold, we get days off school.

Every winter we get massive snow hills and banks. They are fun to slide and do neat tricks off them!! I think that is one of my favourite things to do!

The last thing would be Blueberry picking. I love to pick blueberries. We live one street away from the woods.

Fall Newsletter 2005: Up North

It’s been another great summer in Timmins Ontario. I have lots to tell you about so let’s get going!

This year there have been tons of bear sightings. Many people that live on my street have seen and heard bears, because we live down the street from the woods. One night my mom went to our garage and heard a bear knocking over the garbage cans outside. She was scared half to death. The bears seemed to be all over the city this year, climbing trees in backyards and even eating leftover popcorn outside the movie theatre.

But that doesn’t compare with the day last year when we saw a moose on the loose, running down the middle of our street! Behind the moose was a police car with the sirens wailing, chasing it back into the woods. That was quite a sight!

This year my dad said I was old enough to go for a ride in his float plane. Early one morning we drove to the lake where the airplane is parked. First we had to make sure the plane had enough gas and then we had to take the sponges out of the front of the plane near the propellers (if you don’t put sponges in the holes the birds might make a nest). I had to put on my life jacket and a set of headphones with a microphone so my dad and I could communicate over the noise of the plane. Then, we buckled up, my dad drove the plane to the end of the lake and we took off!  It felt weird taking off because you sail right up off the lake. We flew over camps (my grandfather waved at us from his long dock!), cottages, trees, and big lakes which are so plentiful in northern Ontario. I spotted my school from the air and the hospital and all my friends’ houses. I flew over the huge open pit mine near Timmins called Falconbridge and I saw tons of monster trucks from the sky. It was a great ride.

Another fun thing that I did this summer was to go to my grandfather’s camp for the weekend. I got to drive the big boat with my dad on the way to the camp. When we were there, we first cleared the camp of the dead mice that had gotten into the traps that week. I went fishing with my dad and we caught a big moonfish and a little pike. My dog Ben smelled really bad that night and we finally figured out that he had rolled in moose or bear droppings – he wasn’t allowed to sleep in the camp that night!  Late that night it was pitch dark and we saw tons of beautiful shining stars. You can only see a beautiful sky like that up north!

Clara (9½)

Spring Newsletter 2005:

Hello again, it is me, Clara, from beautiful northern Ontario. I am writing another article for Bob’s newsletter. This time it’s about spring in Timmins.

Spring in Timmins is nice. The birds chirp, flowers grow and snow melts. In spring pussy willows come and when they bloom they feel very soft and cuddly. There are lots of activities in the spring and we always stay busy. Now the snow is gone so my sister Carolyn and I like to skip to songs. We also go to our favourite parks. In spring we can bring our bikes out from the shed. Carolyn, Risa (my other sister) and I like to use chalk on our driveway and it is fun! This year Carolyn is learning to ride a two wheeler without training wheels and she is doing really well! In spring I can play outside often instead of staying inside. The bad thing about spring is that my cat Mitten likes to hunt birds. It is not pleasant to watch her come to our door with a limp bird hanging from her jaws! Sometimes, if we are lucky, the bird will still be alive and if we pull Mitten away from it she will leave it alone and the bird will fly away.

These are some signs of spring that we see in Timmins. The first sign is the fresh air that we feel that is not polluted with smoke and smog. Canada geese fly overhead in V shapes and make loud honking noises because they are happy to come home. We see people take their ice fishing huts off the lakes before they sink into the water. Another sign is that people grease up their snowblowers and skidoos before putting them away for the summer. In Timmins, a sign of spring is that people go camping for the May Run. The May Run is when people go camping for the long weekend in May and they usually come back miserable because it snowed and rained. One sign of spring at my house is that our dogs start coming in with tons of sand on their paws and they get all muddy too. That’s when my mom complains that we have too many pets!

This spring was unusual because usually the snow would still be on the ground in late April. Flowers are already starting to grow and they are beautiful. If you saw Timmins in the spring, you would think it is beautiful too!

Winter Newsletter 2005: