Check Out These Great Pictures From Under The Lock

You can't get much more Canadian than playing a minor league hockey tournament outdoors under the historic Lift Lock in Peterborough.

Picture by Laurie Downey

Check out these great pictures Laurie Downey took on Saturday (February 4th) at the Under The Lock tournament and sent to us to share...

Picture by Laurie Downey

Picture by Laurie Downey

Picture by Laurie Downey

Picture by Laurie Downey

Picture by Laurie Downey

Picture by Laurie Downey

Picture by Laurie Downey

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Just A Zamboni At The Timmies Drive Thru In Lakefield

Photo: Roberta Hubble & Lakefield Herald

You never know what you'll see going through a Tim Hortons drive thru. On January 30th, Zamboni driver Graham Wilkins was coming from the Ontario Speed Skating Oval in Lakefield and decided to hit up the Timmies there for coffee.

Only in Canada, eh!?

Photo: Roberta Hubble & Lakefield Herald

Hey @Ptbo_Canada you can't get any more Canadian than this! #Lakefield #SpeedSkatingOval #Timmies pic.twitter.com/2ApYYsKhxF

— Heather Watson (@HeatherWats0n) February 3, 2017

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Here's An Otter Sliding Across The Frozen Trent Canal In Peterborough

The Weather Network posted this hilarious video of an otter sliding across the frozen Trent Canal on the Trent Severn Waterway in Peterborough. For Pete's sake, get this dude some skates and a hockey stick...

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A Lakefield Woman's Hooded Owl Blanket Has Gone Completely Viral Around The World

Lakefield's Michelle Moore has gone viral before with her shark blanket designs from her company MJ's Off The Hook Designs, but the mother of four has never seen anything like what she's experiencing now with her hooded owl blanket design she just released.

Michelle Moore

Moore, whose crochet patterns (shark, dolphin, dragon, to name a few) sell around the world, did a Facebook post Tuesday, January 31st on her new hooded owl blanket that has gone crazy viral, with more than 25 million views and counting, and hundreds of thousands of shares.

This is the picture of the hooded owl blanket design she posted to Facebook, announcing the release of the pattern...

Moore, who is blown away by the response, tells PTBOCanada how the design came together, and how the "Likes" to her Facebook page have gone from 37,000 to an astounding 104,000 and counting since the post:

Michelle

"I just recently designed a hooded unicorn blanket before Christmas and its sales have been doing amazing. After making the unicorn, I could totally see it working amazing for an owl, the fringe replicating the feathery wings. I also used a more detailed shell stitch to give the blanket a beautiful feathered look. I was certain that people would love it because the continuing popularity of owls. When I started designing hats, owls were always a top seller and one of my favourite designs to make. I had no idea that this design would go viral but the blanket is beautiful and people are obsessed with owls so I guess it just clicked like magic for people to rapidly start sharing. The design was brand new—just released on Tuesday. That evening's Facebook post had 1.6 million views when I woke up Wednesday morning, and has continued to skyrocket in views since. Before the owl went viral, I was at 37,000 page Likes and now my Facebook page is at 104,000 and growing."

We can hardly wait to see what pattern this entrepreneur releases next.

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66 Feet Of Separation: A Peterborough Woman Writes About Her Amazing Personal Discovery On Her Street

Last year, the City of Peterborough proudly announced the digitization of its historical directories, with the oldest volume dating back to 1858.

"It's wonderful that the City can use modern technology to make these valuable historical resources more widely available," said Mayor Daryl Bennett. (City of Peterborough Media Release - July 19, 2016)

Having an interest in local history and being new to Peterborough, my husband, Rob, and I were curious about our property. Now, I have to start by admitting that the online directories are easier to research having attended the Open Doors event at the Peterborough Museum & Archives last spring.

In addition to tours of the state-of-the-art facilities, the knowledgeable staff at the Archives showed residents how to look up information in these directories. Using the same techniques, we went searching for the original owners of our home on Albertus Avenue.

This is when something completely unexpected happened. I noticed a familiar surname from my family tree. What were the chances, having just moved to a City with no known family connections, that a relative was living across the street?

Albertus Avenue

A Google search found a newspaper article from the 1930s with my grandmother's family visiting relatives in a community not too far away. A shout-out via social media to my sister, who has spent years researching the family tree, confirmed the local connection.

In a short space of an afternoon, my neighbour and I learned that we are the direct descendants of cousins who immigrated to Canada in the 19th century. Just like those who are still coming to Canada today, they traveled to this country seeking a better life and opportunities for their families.

Pictured in photo: the Stainton cousins—E.J. Rath, Catherine Hawley, Diane Werry and Brian Lee at a Christmas gathering on Albertus Avenue.

That's another example of the power of open data in the digital age: It can even transform a name on a family tree into a neighbour.

—guest post by Eleanor Rath

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GoFundMe Campaign Set Up For 16-Year-Old Peterborough Teen Fighting Brain Tumor In Toronto Hospital

UPDATE: July 3rd, 2017 -> Melissa's dad Rick tells PTBOCanada the great news that his daughter is cancer-free: "Melissa is overwhelmed with the emotion and the lost time," says Rick. "She just got back from her last round of radiation Friday and has a lot of catching up to do." Indeed, Melissa is planning to get her G2 license, take at least one summer course, and start Grade 12 in September with all her friends. Rick wants to thank the entire Peterborough community for their tremendous support of the family during this trying time.

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UPDATE: February 16th -> Sadly, Melissa's status in that the diagnosis was changed to cancer. Her treatment continues. Our prayers to her and her family.

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UPDATE: February 1st -> The surgery went over 10 hours and she's recovering now, the family tells PTBOCanada. It's a benign tumor and 90 percent is out—it's very rare for her age and a large size. She will need visual testing for quite some time and hormone therapy. "The Dolishny family is overwhelmed with the support from family and friends, but in particular the Peterborough community," Rick tells us.

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ORIGINAL POST

After suffering blury vision and nausea, 16-year-old Peterborough teen Melissa Dolishny was recently diagnosed with a tumor in her brain that affects just about every facet of her life—vision, balance, digestion, sleep and more. She’s now blind in one eye with reduced vision in the other.

After being diagnosed recently at Toronto Sick Kids, Melissa has been moved to Toronto Western Hospital where doctors will be removing the tumor. This will be followed by months of therapy and rehabilitation.

Melissa

Melissa's father Rick

Melissa's father, local entrepreneur Rick Dolishny, tells PTBOCanada that "no matter the outcome of the surgery, there will be challenges." He adds that the support from the community has been amazing, "from our friend's offer to initiate a GoFundMe fundraiser, to the nonstop texts and tweets from friends, to the support from our family, to friends from Kenner, to the Peterborough community."

Living an hour and a half away from the hospital, the Dolishny family is in urgent need of assistance as they have transportation costs, parking, food and basic expenses of living away from home, and trying to uphold the expense of their family home in Peterborough. The GoFundMe campaign has just been set up to help the family through this trying time.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family. Please give what you can and share on your social media pages.

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City of Peterborough Comes On As Major Funding Partner For The Innovation Cluster

The Innovation Cluster has announced $300,000 in funding from the City of Peterborough to assist in the operational costs of the new downtown incubator devoted to innovation and technology start-ups. The expanded downtown incubator in the VentureNorth building will put Peterborough on the map as a city for start-ups to grow and succeed.

Many people are surprised to find out that the Innovation Cluster is a not-for-profit organization that does not take equity in the start-up companies that it supports—a model that many other incubators adhere to.

As a not-for-profit organization, the Innovation Cluster relies on support from its major funding partners: the Province of Ontario through the Ontario Centres of Excellence, the Peterborough Region Angel Network, Trent University, Fleming College, and now the City of Peterborough.

The funding from the City will in part be used to subsidize the open concept space for start-ups that are accepted into the Cube for a period of time, reducing the financial burden of getting started for early stage companies.

Successful applicants will forgo the significant expense of rent initially to focus on other important aspects of building a company. The funding will also help to expand the Innovation Cluster’s unique programming that is designed to sky rocket clients' businesses.

The unique and modern downtown space provides entrepreneurs with an inspiring, motivating and collaborative environment to operate their start-ups out of with full time access to mentors, advisors and hands-on workshops. The renovations of this space are expected to be completed in early February.

With more than 60 incubated and virtual client companies (and counting), two locations and only four full time staff, the Innovation Cluster is looking forward to expanding its current operations to better serve these incredible future job creators.

“This funding will allow for the Innovation Cluster to focus on what we do best and help entrepreneurs in Peterborough and the Kawarthas,” says President & CEO Michael Skinner, who is ecstatic that the City of Peterborough has joined the cause to help entrepreneurs create new high tech jobs.

In 2010, Canada had over 100 operating business incubators. In these incubators, 900 client firms raised revenues in excess of $93 million while creating full and part-time employment for more than 13,000 people. The five year survival rate for incubator clients has been reported from 75 percent to as high as 87 percent, much higher than a start-up making a go of it on their own.

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Peterborough's Karan Leal Has Been Selected One Of Canada's Outstanding Principals

St. Patrick Catholic Elementary School Principal Karan Leal has found herself in some prestigious company, having been selected by The Learning Partnership as one of Canada’s Outstanding Principals of 2017.

A group of staff, students, parents, clergy and fellow educators nominated Mrs. Leal for the award, which is among the highest honours for a principal in public education.

Principal Karan Leal with school prime minister and Grade 8 student Jodi Overwijk.

“I was extremely touched by the nomination,” Mrs. Leal says about hearing she had been selected. “When I found out, it warmed my heart deeply.”

Now celebrating its 13th year, The Learning Partnership’s Canada’s Outstanding Principals program recognizes the unique and vital contribution of principals in publicly funded schools. The 40 principals, nominated by parents, colleagues, and community members, and chosen by a national selection committee, are being celebrated for demonstrating innovation, leadership and for employing creativity in finding solutions and opportunities within their school communities.

They will be awarded for their accomplishments at the annual Canada’s Outstanding Principals gala on February 28th at the Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel.

Mrs. Leal has been an educator in the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board for more than 31 years and has been principal at St. Patrick CES for five years.

“The staff here at St. Patrick are incredible—they all have special gifts, so my role in many ways is to empower them to go out and explore their gifts to the fullest,” Mrs. Leal says. “And because of that, we have the ability to offer an incredible wide range of opportunities for our students.”

Under Mrs. Leal’s leadership, St. Patrick has been recognized as a gold-level Ontario EcoSchool and the school offers a wide-range of extracurricular activities for students such as a robotics club, math and problem-solving teams, school musicals, talent shows, spelling bees, public speaking competitions, Skills Ontario teams (robotics, videography and cardboard boats) and an array of sporting opportunities.

Mrs. Leal also helps organize the school’s annual Christmas hamper campaign, where gifts and food are collected and hand-delivered to underprivileged families in the community.

Those who nominated Mrs. Leal talked about her ability to inspire students and staff alike, her collaboration with the local parish and parent communities, and her strive to create a welcoming, inclusive school environment where students have ample access to technology.

St. Patrick CES hosted the first ever Board-wide Robotics Competition in November 2016. Principal Karan Leal said her role as a Principal is to empower her staff to take chances and to embrace their talents and interests. Students at the school benefit from an array of extracurricular activities as a result.

“Karan has a strong commitment to the growth and wellbeing of her staff and students, which makes her an outstanding educator and leader," says Maria Kennedy, Parent Council Chair 2011-2016. "She takes time to celebrate student and staff achievements and she creates a school environment in which parents are welcomed and respected."

“Perhaps the greatest testament to Karan Leal as an outstanding principal is found among the students of the school," says Rev. Msgr. Michael Heffernan, of Our Lady of the Assumption in Keene. "One finds a great love and respect for Mrs. Leal by the pupils. And…I have found her to be supportive in my role as pastor as we work together, educating and strengthening the students in their faith and moral development."

The winners of the Canada’s Outstanding Principals program will benefit from an exclusive five-day executive leadership training program at one of Canada’s top business schools, the University of Toronto’s Rotman School of Management. The program will introduce them to leadership and management practices presented by business, government and education leaders as well as Rotman faculty.

The 2017 winners will join the prestigious ranks of the National Academy of Canada’s Outstanding Principals, which now boasts over 400 members. The National Academy offers principals ongoing networking, mentoring and professional development opportunities so they can enhance their leadership skills.

—guest post by Galen Eagle

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