Myrna Wood by her Garden (Photo: Sandra Dowds)
In this issue:
Health Benefits of Spending Time in Nature by Geoff Craig
Naked Eye Astronomy October | November by Steven Burr
Moonset by Emily Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake)
Word searches (incl. answers) by John F. Foster
County did you know? by John F. Foster
Kids Korner by Cheryl Chapman: Acorn Painting and Leaf Rubbing
Upcoming South Shore Events
- Myrna Wood, founding member of South Shore Joint Initiative passed on September 26. A Celebration of Life will be held on Monday, November 3 at Waring Hall, 395 Sandy Hook Rd., Picton, ON K0K 2T0 from 4:00 to 7:00 PM. All are welcome to share stories and remembrances. For additional information on this event you may contact (613) 476-7492.
- Join us as three astronomers share their experiences and astrophotography from a recent venture to Chile. This Astro Talk on the view from the Atacama Desert will be at Picton Library, Flex Space on the lower level, 208 Main Street, Picton, ON K0K 2T0 from 2:00 to 5:00 PM on Sat., Nov. 8, 2025. To learn more about the Astro Talk, go here.
- Join the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada (Belleville Chapter) to explore the cultural significance of the solstices and equinoxes and find out why these celestial events occur. This Astro Talk on these events will be at Picton Library, Flex Space on the lower level, 208 Main Street, Picton, ON K0K 2T0 from 2:00 to 5:00 PM on Sat., Dec. 13, 2025. To learn more about the Astro Talk, go here.
- Mark your calendar for the SSJI’s first-ever Square Foot Art Show and Sale. The Arts on Main Backroom will showcase square foot artworks by local artists who are inspired by SSJI’s work to protect Prince Edward County’s South Shore. The venue is The Arts on Main Gallery, 223 Main Street, Picton, ON K0K 2T0 from Fri., Jan. 23 to Wed., Feb. 18, 2026.
Are you an artist and want to get involved? Learn more and confirm you participation here. Contact Cheryl Anderson at [email protected] ASAP or not later than November 28, 2025 or phone 613-849-7743.
Myrna Ann Wood
August 16, 1936 – September 26, 2025
(Obituary thanks to Amy Bodman)
The youngest of eight siblings, Myrna Wood (Aiken/Schoenfeld) was born to Rolly and Ferne Aiken (Crouse) in Grundy Center, Iowa. After the passing of Ferne in 1939, Myrna was adopted by Fred and June Schoenfeld whom she lived with until graduating from Grundy Center High School in 1954. Myrna spent a year at Iowa University. After a few years moving through various locations in the United States, Myrna moved to Canada in 1959 with her then husband Robertson Wood of Winnipeg. Important time was spent in Montreal working with well-known left-wing activist and intellectual, Stan Gray. The couple moved to Hamilton after the 1970 FLQ crisis.
Myrna Wood became a trail blazing Second wave feminist and was one of the founders of Canada’s first Women’s Liberation Movement in Toronto. In New York City she helped to organize a city-wide Women's Liberation group including women from Students for a Democratic Society. In 1969, she co-wrote an essay entitled "Bread and Roses" with Kathy McAfee calling for a movement to organize working-class women. She was active in the Canadian Women’s Abortion Caravan and took part in the protest in the House of Commons gallery for which she spent a night in jail. Her sense of social justice extended from women’s issues to combating racism and to labour rights and unionism.
Myrna was a career activist, but her wage work was mostly in public libraries. She loved books and libraries and valued them as public institutions. She was a talented sewer and knitter. Her interest and awareness of bird life was discovered while working as a librarian in Hamilton.
Myrna Wood and Terry Sprague (Photo: PECFN)
Upon retirement in 1994 Myrna moved to Prince Edward County with a new passion for birds and birding and soon became an activist for nature. Myrna, with Terry Sprague, was a founding member of Prince Edward Point Bird Observatory and Prince Edward County Field Naturalists (PECFN). She and Terry also were involved with the formation of the South Shore Important Bird and Biodiversity Area. As the longest-serving board member of PECFN, her passion for the natural world led to her spearheading the fight against Industrial Wind Turbines in Prince Edward County’s South Shore – a major migratory pathway. Later Myrna was a founding member of the South Shore Joint Initiative.
Myrna is survived by her sister Marillyn Akkerman (Aiken), her nephew Gregg Akkerman and remembered and missed by her many friends in Prince Edward County. Her wisdom and her legacy will continue to inspire us all.
Special thanks to Joyce Beaudrie and family of Harmony Home Apartments, Brad Gunn of the Prince Edward Family Health Team, Dr. Blackbyrne and Hospice Prince Edward. A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.
Donations to South Shore Joint Initiative or any other local environmental organization, Prince Edward Public Library and Hospice Prince Edward would be appreciated.
Health Benefits of Spending Time in Nature
📝 Geoff Craig
On Prince Edward County’s South Shore, a vision is taking shape: the South Shore Footpath Project. Still in its planning stages, this initiative led by the South Shore Joint Initiative (SSJI) envisions a low-impact walking trail that winds across the County’s most ecologically rich landscapes. The idea is simple but powerful—create a footpath that connects people to nature, and in doing so, strengthen both community wellbeing and conservation.
At this point, the South Shore Footpath exists on maps, in conversations, and in the imagination of volunteers and supporters. But even in its early planning phase, the project is grounded in a truth supported by science: walking in nature is one of the best things we can do for our health.
Why Nature Heals
We live in a busy world, full of noise, stress, and constant demands. Stepping outdoors—even for a short time—changes everything. Research shows that walking in green or natural settings lowers blood pressure, reduces anxiety, and improves mood. The sounds of birdsong, the sight of open water, and the rhythm of footsteps on a trail all help the body let go of stress.
Beyond these immediate benefits, nature restores our ability to focus and think clearly. Psychologists call this “attention restoration.” After a walk through a meadow or along a shoreline, our minds feel fresher, our creativity sharper, and our energy renewed. These aren’t luxuries—they are essential to good health.
Lake Ontario off Gull Pond (Photo: Lesa Berec)
The Joy of Walking
Walking is one of the most accessible forms of exercise. It doesn’t require equipment, memberships, or training. A comfortable pair of shoes is enough. For children, walking outdoors sparks curiosity and wonder. For older adults, it provides a gentle but effective way to stay active. For everyone, it offers time to breathe, reflect, and move at a natural pace.
Shoreline by Gull Pond (Photo: Lesa Berec)
Walking also brings people together. Friends who walk side by side often find conversation flows more easily. Families bond over shared discoveries—an unusual flower, a heron rising from a wetland, the sparkle of the lake at sunset. Communities thrive when people gather outdoors in places that are welcoming and inclusive.
The South Shore Footpath, once built, will offer exactly these opportunities. Even in planning, the project is already sparking conversations about health, recreation, and conservation in the County.
Park Prescriptions: Nature as Medicine
Doctors are increasingly recognizing the benefits of time outdoors. Across Canada, the “Par” (Park Prescription) program allows healthcare providers to prescribe time in nature as part of a treatment plan. Patients might be encouraged to walk in a park three times a week, or spend regular time outdoors to support recovery from stress, depression, or chronic illness.
The results are impressive: people who follow their “prescription” report improved mood, greater physical activity, and even reduced reliance on medication. It is healthcare in its simplest, most natural form.
SSJI is working to include Par principles in the South Shore Footpath Project. The vision is that one day, doctors could “prescribe” walks along this very trail, giving residents and visitors alike a free, accessible, and restorative way to improve their health. It’s a vision where community wellbeing and nature conservation go hand in hand.
Conservation Through Connection
The wellbeing benefits of nature are deeply connected to conservation. When people spend time outdoors, they begin to care more about protecting the places they visit. The Bruce Trail in Ontario is a clear example: what began as a simple footpath is now supported by thousands of volunteers and donors dedicated to preserving the Niagara Escarpment.
The South Shore Footpath can follow a similar path. As people experience the calm and beauty of the County’s rare ecosystems—alvars, wetlands, grasslands, and migratory bird habitat—they will be inspired to help protect them. Each walk can become both an act of personal care and a step toward safeguarding the environment for future generations.
South Shore of Monarch Pt (Photo: Lesa Berec)
Planning With Care
Because the South Shore is ecologically sensitive, the project is being approached with great care. In this early planning stage, SSJI is focusing on mapping possible routes across public conservation lands, with hopes that interested landowners will join the effort in the future. The goal is not to rush but to create a trail that is respectful, sustainable, and inclusive.
Volunteers are already exploring potential routes, recording wildlife sightings, and imagining how a footpath could allow people to enjoy the landscape without harming it. It is a community project in the truest sense—built on vision, patience, and shared values.
A Warmer, Healthier Future
Imagine standing on a trail with Lake Ontario stretching out beside you, the sound of waves mingling with the chatter of sparrows in the hedgerow. You take a deep breath, feeling stress melt away. Your shoulders relax, your steps fall into rhythm, and for a moment, all feels right with the world.
This is the experience the South Shore Footpath Project hopes to make possible for everyone. It may take years to bring to life, but even in planning, it is already inviting us to reflect on what matters most: our health, our community, and our relationship with the natural world.
By supporting projects like this, we are not only building trails—we are building healthier lives and stronger connections. The South Shore Footpath reminds us that wellbeing is found not in rushing but in walking, not in screens but in landscapes, not only in medicine bottles but in the gentle, timeless rhythm of nature itself.
MOONSET
Emily Pauline Johnson (Tekahionwake)1
IDLES the night wind through the dreaming firs,
That waking murmur low,
As some lost melody returning stirs
The love of long ago;
And through the far, cool distance, zephyr fanned.
The moon is sinking into shadow-land.
The troubled night-bird, calling plaintively,
Wanders on restless wing;
The cedars, chanting vespers to the sea,
Await its answering,
That comes in wash of waves along the strand,
The while the moon slips into shadow-land.
0! soft responsive voices of the night
I join your minstrelsy,
And call across the fading silver light
As something calls to me;
I may not all your meaning understand,
But I have touched your soul in shadow-land.
1 - Johnson, Emily Pauline (Tekahionwake). 1922. Moonset in “Flint and Feather, 8th ed.”
The Musson Book Company, Toronto, Ontario.
Two Poems … J.C. Sulzenko (1)
October sunrise
weaves a shawl of thanksgiving
pearl gray, scarlet fringed
Cormorants file east
their histories strung along
the lines of waves
(1) - Sulzenko, J.C. 2017. Two poems… in “South Shore Suite, 1st Ed.”. P. 6. Point Petre Publishing, Milford, ON.
She Walks the Shoreline … J.C. Sulzenko (2)
She walks the shoreline
below dunes, high as ten men.
Geese mutter, shuffle.
She ascends the soft, steep slope
past trees grown tall without soil.
She pauses, sighs, slips
Into a white-powder bowl.
Distant waves chant.
Grasses trace the wind’s cycles
in perfect semicircles.
Boot prints, small paw prints
suggest a way to the shore.
She follows until
she stands, a pilgrim,
to worship on virgin ground.
Stillness, such stillness.
Even the wind quiets.
Fresh tracks to the left:
pads much larger than a dog’s,
no human tread to tame them.
Taking flight, she careers
down a harsh diagonal.
Geese fan to the bay
in pale sunlight, find solace
in the elegance of swans.
(2) - Sulzenko, J.C. 2017. She walks the shoreline… in “South Shore Suite, 1st Ed.”. P. 3. Point Petre Publishing, Milford, ON.
County did you know … Autumn Plant Riddles
📝 John F. Foster
1) I am globe-shaped. I have vertical lines. I grow on a vine on the ground.
Who am I? _________________________
2) I am a giant grass. I have an elongated yellow fruit. I have tassels.
Who am I? _________________________
3) I have branches with velvety hair. I have crimson foliage in Autumn. I have a persistent red fruit cluster.
Who am I? _________________________
4) I have red stems and branches. I grow near wet areas. I have white fruit.
Who am I? _________________________
5) I have leaves that turn yellow. I have a very large red fruit. I grow wild or in orchards.
Who am I? _________________________
6) I have pods at the top of my stalk. I have brown seeds with silky parachutes. I have very large leaves.
Who am I? _________________________
(See Answers in The South Shoreliner – Vol.6 No.6 – December, 2025)
Photo Gallery
Amy Bodman, Cheryl Chapman, and Cheryl Anderson
at Milford Fall Fair (Photo: Gurpreet Patheja)
Editor's Note
This is the 32nd edition of The South Shoreliner. The editor would like to thank the following for contributing to this 32nd edition of The South Shoreliner: Amy Bodman, Geoff Craig, Steve Burr, Emily Pauline Johnson, J.C. Sulzenko, John F. Foster, Cheryl Chapman, John Lowry, and Gurpreet Patheja. Contributions make the newsletter readable and interesting. For the next and upcoming newsletters, contributions of articles, photos and events are always welcome.
-- John F. Foster, The South Shoreliner Editor
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