We encourage BDCL members to attend our 2021 AGM on Sunday, April 25 at 4:00 PM. You will join in via Zoom. Register by clicking the big ol' button:

Eventbrite will record your registration. On the morning of the AGM they will email the Zoom link to you.

Here are the minutes of the 2020 AGM and the agenda for this year's. If you're not sure if you are a current members, write to Mark, membership@bonniedoon.ca.

Bonnie Doon Centre is introducing a variety of green initiatives this year!

They say: "Our goal is to increase community engagement for a greener and more sustainable environment and to reconnect people to their natural environment. We hope to achieve this through various educational signage within the Centre, workshops and interactive activities. Since this project would have a direct impact on our community, we would absolutely love to partner with Bonnie Doon Community League and get the local kids involved as much as possible."

Bonnie Doon Centre will be:
- offering butterfly raising kits to neighbourhood children
- adding 2 beehives to the roof with a professional beekeeper to tend it;
- planting pollinator-friendly plants in the planter boxes around the parking lot;
- installing 2 "tower gardens" (hydroponic indoor gardens) to one of the vacant stores to grow 80+ varieties of vegetables to donate.

Project Butterfly
 
Bonnie Doon Centre will give out caterpillar kits of butterflies (Painted Lady Butterfly Rearing Kits) to kids to adopt and nurture. Once these butterflies metamorphose into adults they can be released. Given the delicate nature of these caterpillars, they need to be ordered and picked up at Bonnie Doon Centre by the latest April 29, 2021 before the Chrysalis stage. Limited quantities available. If you’re interested in getting FREE caterpillar kits, please complete the attached Order Form and email it to Customer Service at guestbon@morguard.onmicrosoft.com.

Local gardener Rachel Altman-Napier wrote to us with this tip...

A little birdy told me some people in our  community were getting squirrelly over cleaning up their yards. Before you get busy as bees cleaning the memory of our Edmonton winter from your sights, remember that our little buggy friends are still asleep in our leaf piles and our mud pits. Our garden leftovers and mulch mess are nurseries for bees, ladybugs and many more. Try your hardest to resist until temperatures stabilize to an average daily temperature of about 10 degrees Celsius. This will give the little critters a chance to get out of your way. This could give you a chance at a pest-free and naturally pesticide-free garden.

Everything in its time,  there will be time for everything. So let the butterflies thank you later and your community thank you now.

If you need help with your garden, Rachel's service is listed in our local business page.

Boy, have we got a deal for you! So much fun, so much helping your neighbourhood!

Because of the pandemic, the league has not been able to host yoga classes, the playgroup, pot luck suppers, etc. But this is a good time to improve the hall's interior. We are going to repaint the lower parts of our two-colour walls.

We hope that you will volunteer a small amount of time to help us paint. We're thinking maybe 90 minutes, maybe a couple hours. We've bought the paint, masking tape, TSP, etc. Details about our work environment:

• we will cap the team at eight people
• we'll run the HVAC during the painting (to exhaust the air)
• we'll provide snacks and bevs...
• and masks & music
• and you'll be working with volunteers with big hearts & a great attitude!

We you're interested in helping out. Please write to Bill, civics@bonniedoon.ca. We'll figure out a day and time that works for people.

(And credit to Mark Twain for his painting story!)

Saint-Thomas d'Aquin in Bonnie Doon is home to a Saint-Vincent de Paul group and they are holding a donation drive and bottle drive on Saturday, March 6, 2021.  Details below:

Edmonton community leagues who use Mailchimp to send email to their members can update their  subscriber list from the EFCL membership sales data. The process below assumes you are comfortable using Excel (or Google Sheets or the like) and have been using Mailchimp.

1. Login to leagues.efcl.org
2. Use the Membership Report (Range) button to download recent sales
3. Open the downloaded XLS file
4. Remove rows with Newsletter set to N
5. Export (Save as) the resulting rows as a CSV file
6. Login to your Mailchimp account and go to the Audience dashboard
7. Chose Manage Audience, then Import contacts
8. Chose Upload file to load the CSV file you just created
9. The next page has a lot going on: you will likely accept Mailchimp's defaults, which in our case have Audience set to "Bonnie Doon News" and Status = Subscribed
10. Next on the page is Select groups; if you use Mailchimp groups, you'll know what to do
11. Last on this page: in our case, we do not choose to Update any existing contacts (but this is because we use Mailchimp's groups; your situation might be different)
12. Continue to the next page
13. Mailchimp gives you the chance to tag your new subscribers: we tag them efclOnline
14. Continue to the next page
15. Don't let this page throw you; your job here is simply to match the EFCL column names with the names Mailchimp recognizes...
16. Use the right arrow to get to First Name, click on the column header and choose First Name(s)
17. Mailchimp should already have recognized EFCL's Last Name and Email columns and should now say it will use 3 columns total
18. Click Finalize import
19. The next page will say something like 21 contacts will be added (enjoy this feeling!)
20. Click Complete import

I hope this helps. If my copy & pasted process above has errors, please reply to this blog post or write to me, abundant@bonniedoon.ca.

happy neighbouring,
Mark Gordon

ps, Mailchimp offers a guide to importing subscribers and troubleshooting tips

BDCL has financial support from the city for seniors and others who need assistance clearing their sidewalk and front walk of snow. Here is how it works in Bonnie Doon:

• If you or a neighbour knows someone who lives in Bonnie Doon and is physically unable to keep their walk clear of snow, BDCL can help. You or your neighbour can tell us their name, address and situation (age or disability):
  
  • write to support@bonniedoon.ca or
    
  • leave a voice message at 587-206-6540 or
    
  • text a message to 587-206-6540
    
• We will recruit a nearby young person (pre-university age) who can clear your snow.
• We will pay that person $35 a month (through April 30), so long as they honour their obligation to keep your walk clear of snow.
  

Our goal is to help some Bonnie Dooners and at the same time nurture connections between neighbours.

Angelika is offering her Zoom yoga classes to BDCL members, hoping to help us feel connected to our neighbours. Details:

• Wednesdays from February 3 through March 31, 2021
• 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM
• Open to all members of the Bonnie Doon Community League (join)
• For the link to the Zoom sessions, email your name and membership number to Mark at abundant@bonniedoon.ca.
  

You may find it handy to have this equipment:

• yoga mat or rug
• chair with no arms, or a stool
• small blanket
• strap, belt, tie or scarf
• ball, big or small
• space at a wall

And if you have them:

• wooden and foam yoga blocks
• stick or a wooden spoon

About Angelika and the class

Angelika has been a student of yoga for 26 years and has held yoga teacher certification with the Yoga Association of Alberta since 2002. Her specialty is “yoga for stiffs” and she is most excited to introduce yoga to people who consider themselves inflexible and may have always be too scared to give yoga try. She teaches gentle body sensing yoga and joints and glands movements from the Himalayan Hatha Yoga
Tradition.

Students are encouraged to move within their own comfortable capacity and to practice ahimsa (non-harming, non-violence), beginning with their own bodies and minds. Because her classes are drop-in with no registration required and strength, flexibility and limitations vary widely, students are asked to move to suit their unique body and mind needs. Angelika leads students to tap into their own inner awareness in order to become their own experts regarding what their bodies need to thrive. Advanced students are welcome to join and modify movements to challenge themselves to progress from the level they are at.

Angelika does use movements which are done lying or kneeling on the floor but will not judge anyone who can’t get there. (She’s been there herself.)

A league member has asked us to post this. Please write to support@bonniedoon.ca if you can help.

Due to illness in the family (not covid) we are seeking urgently a responsible and reliable person for driving to the hospital daily and help around the house (cleaning and food preparation) for the next 3 months at minimum. Approximate hours would be 6:45 to 9:45 AM and 6:00 to 8:00 PM, salary according to experience. Thank you.