It was about 2012, I think, that I joined this amazing club.

I was going to retire in a year and was looking forward to doing things of my own choice, rather than what my job dictated. Also, I already knew a long-time HNPNC club member, Ray Blower. After our volleyball and baseball games, Ray and I would compare the birds we saw at our backyard feeders and talk about other wonders of nature. It is certainly easier to join a group when you already know someone!

Here is a bit about who I am. I spent thirty years teaching elementary school in Halton, mostly in Milton. My main areas of teaching were French Immersion and Special Education. One of my favourite subjects to teach was Science, so I did a fair bit of learning
about the subject in order to teach it. It is a real challenge to learn and teach specialized vocabulary in a second language! It was great fun, though.

After being an HNPNC member for a short time, I recall telling friends about the wealth of knowledge in our club and the amazing breadth of topics shared by our speakers. I remember being fascinated by the topic of ethical photography and the tale of putting
together the bones of a blue whale that had beached on the shores of Newfoundland. Then, there is Calvin, a pie-bald salamander, whose life we have been following for a few years. Those are but three of the fascinating presentations our club has offered in the
relatively short time I have been a member.

Please welcome Helen Pettingill to the role of Financial Director and Pedro Pereyra as Acting Secretary. Thanks to Helen Pinchen and David Williams for their work over the past few years. We are happy to have experienced members Ian Jarvie, Don Scallen, Fiona
Reid, Louise Bissegger, Bill McIlveen and John Beaudette continue to guide club business and assist those of us who are new to our role. Kudos to Imogene MacDonald for putting the newsletter together. Note that we still require a Secretary. Hint, hint! Pedro is a very
busy man who has stepped in to help for now.

In these times of pressure on the natural world, it behooves us to learn what we can do to care for nature and pass the knowledge forward. We can’t be complacent, thinking that someone else is caring for the earth the way each of us as naturalists would!

Yours in nature,
Margaret Beaudette, President HNPNC