The record, 26 novembre 1998, Supplément 1

gggBKSi y*i .fourth * ** mm aa «üpË rA-S.-i-Aas&STiiJI •^ao "¦ *s** THE Advertorial Supplement December 1998 Carrefour de l’Estrie PHOTO: BRUCE PATTON page 2 The Record, CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE • Thursday, November 26, 1998 Bulbs, books and tools for the (SOP) The only good thing about the winter season, from a gardener’s point of view, is that it includes the giftgiving time, when there’s a good possibility of getting some nifty gardening presents.Apart from getting them, the next best thing is being able to give them to someone else, so here are some choices from both the giving and receiving end.If you can’t get the quality of gift that you want at a decent price in a local garden centre or store, you can still rely on the major catalogue companies that have chosen to deliver by one of the dependable parcel carriers.An order placed within the next few days will probably arrive a couple of days later.And some of them will leave off the prices if you specify that you want it delivered direct to an out-of-town recipient.If that same mail strike has left you without a copy of the catalogues mentioned, perhaps one of your friends or a local horticultural-society member has one you can consult.Or you can call the various companies to see what arrangements they can make to get a copy to you.For those with a penchant for indoor gardening, the Cruickshank’s catalogue is full of wonderful bulbs for forcing over the winter.They have open of the best collections of amaryllis bulbs, as well as anemone and lycoris along with crocus and hyacinth.And you can buy a great assortment of bowls and pots and containers to grow them in, from clay to glass and ceramics, or baskets tied up with raffia.GARDEN DECORATIONS There are also very elegant garden decorations and statuary, and Cruickshank’s can supply the fine line of British Barbour outdoor clothing, frequently seen worn by members of the royal family while they tramp through the grounds surrounding their official estates.Cruickshank’s is at 1015 Mount Pleasant Rd., Toronto, Ont.M4P 2M1, phone (800) 665-5605.Every gardener needs tools of one sort or another, and one of the best selections in Canada is at Lee Valley Tools in Ottawa.They have a nice balance between the best of the new ones, many of which they make themselves, and their quality and prices are hard to beat.You might start by buying things from them for someone else, but you’ll soon get hooked yourself.Lee Valley’s main store is at 1000 Morrison Drive at Highway 417 in Ottawa, or call (800) 267-8767.You can see their Web site at www.leevalley.com for information.Books are always a favourite gift item, ad there’s a mass of new ones for all tastes.Here are just a few.The Trees in My Forest (Harper Collins $34) is about a love affair between biologist Bernd Heinrich and his 300 acres of trees in Maine.The loving detail in the way he describes their habits, draws their details and follows their progress makes the book a pleasure to read as well as a learning experience.DESIGN ADVICE There are lots of wildflower books around, but as usual it takes the folks at Organic Gardening to give us a really useful one.It’s a book that could get you using native plants in either wild or cultivated settings, and in combinations that don’t pretend to come out of a fairy story.Very realistic, and very reasonable.The book is A Gardener’s Encyclopedia of Wild Flowers by C.Colston Burrell (Rodale Press, $40).And in the heavyweight category, from the editors of Garden Design gardener magazine comes The Garden Design Book (Harper Collins, about $72 in Canada).As befits one of the leading design teams in publishing, it’s an eye-fêast of wonderful photos that will lead you to look differently at plants and their settings in future.But there’s good solid advice backing up all the pictures, ad not all the locations are based on the impossible perfection that so many coffee-table garden-design books demand of the reader.You can even see your own situation in there sometimes.A seriously worthwhile gift.And on a much less expensive level, another present that’s worthwhile would be your time and effort, to plant a few paper white bulbs and give them as a living gift.Depending on the size of the container, put anywhere from three to five paperwhite bulbs sitting with their bases on three inches of pebbles or marbles, and then add just enough water to touch the base of the bulbs.They’ll immediately sprout roots, and if you keep the water carefully at the same level, within a couple of weeks the bulbs will be sending up their tall stems and opening their fragrant white flowers.For this gift, timing is everything.Plant it and give it as a gift about six days after the roots first start growing.About a week later, the flowers should be opening and giving pleasure to all who see and smell them.Gifts for bibliophiles and wine-lovers (SOP) For late-night readers, the Nite-Owl Book Light is a treasure.This tiny lamp slips between the pages of a book.It has a focused beam and goose-head neck that won’t disturb bed-mates.Runs on two AA batteries, but can also be used with an AC poser adapter $30.Adapter $15.Lee Valley Catalogue (800) 267-8767.P SNOWBOARD "¦ Special S | Bindings included ‘on presentation of this coupon.Valid until December 15, 1998.iTiRWNS Buy - Sell - Trade Hockey - Ski - Bicycle 1821 GALT ST.EAST, FLEURIM0NT • A woolly throw is an absolute essential for a winter afternoon squirreled away with a spellbinding book to finish, Luxurious mohair-and-wool blend blankets from.Designer’s Guild in London come in dazzling plaids of lime green, magenta and orange.$ 180.• Serious readers don't just like to read: they thrive on talking and writing and musing over their latest volume.A reader’s journal, bound in mar-bleized hardcover, offers space to jot down books read and enjoyed or detested, books lent, and extra space for noting memorable quotes and passages.$10.• Sometimes the fine-print can get tin the way of a simmering plot.The pop-out magnifying glass from perfect solution is a handy little gadget with a button to engage the magnifying glass and light.Also great for reading road maps.Requires two AAA batteries $12.• Real readers don’t dog-ear the pages or stuff used napkins between them.Bookmarks make fun and practical stoking stuffers.These bookmarks in bent, twisted and twirled anodized coloured aluminium are really funky and they’re made in Canada, $10 and $18.Wine-lovers.A well-designed, finely crafted sommelier is a necessity for the serious oenophile.Elegant wine-bottle openers, made in France, are adorned with handles crafted of horn, juniper wood and olive wood.$160 to $190.• Wine connoisseurs like to keep track of their favourites, too.There’s beautifully bound notebook with baroque pewter crest.Some space inside to affix labels from memorable vintages as well as lined pages to note names, regions and occasions they were served and meals they have accompanied.$50.• Simple wine-glasses with ample room for capturing the bouquet of a particularly fine wine make a special gift.Byzantine-style Polish crystal wine-glasses by Krosno have coloured bubble stems.$20 each.^ THANK YOU FOR YOUR GENEROSITY.UNITOTAL wishes you happy holidays #,4* HCX »£* ate J jqi 0 unftoN Until Dec.19, 1998, drop off used toys and non-perishables at your participating UNITOTAL renovation centre.In recognition of your generosity, your UNITOTAL RENOVATION CENTRE will give you up to five passes to see a special Christmas movie, “La Croisade des Braves’’ at cinéma Magog on Dec.12,1998.nmmm.wiaiw&iws Matériaux Magog-Orford me.massn 205 Centre St., Magog (819) 843-4441 0 The Record, CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE • Thursday, November 26, 1998* page 3 âfâw Gifts to treasure at museum shops (SOP) Museum gift shops are great for browsing at any time, but during the holiday season they offer particularly imaginative choices for presents to suit everyone on your list.Museums of fine arts have a wide selection of items chosen from all over the world, at a wide variety of prices.Handmade flower-dusted notepaper from Thailand, $25 a box, is especially attractive and some calendars with art motifs, ranging from $10 to $25, include botanical prints pretty enough to frame once the year is done.There are simple, elegant letter-openers from Kenya in assorted polished woods ($30), chopsticks with blue and white ceramic tips ($10), and charming pottery sauce dishes with abstract Asian designs in cream and smoky blue ($5).The blue-a n d - w h i t e Mexican pottery you’ll find would cheer up any table candlesticks are $25 and a plump jug is $50.As always, the shops jewelry collection are worth a look.You can find Ming pottery shards set into silver for earrings, brooches and medallions that cost from $20 for earrings up to $40.There are delicate earrings made of horn and silver, rather art nouveau in style.Glowing Murano glass beads top hatpins, perfect for anchoring headgear in January gales ($15).A stunning silver and polished stone dragonfly ($132) would alight nicely on a collar or pin a scarf.Toys include this year’s new best bets — charming little people in hand-knitted earth-toned woolies.In various sizes, they range from $5 to $25, every home needs at least two, for company.Speaking of homes, there’s a pillowy abode that contains a family of stuffed folks and furniture to match, all removable, and a similar barn containing cuddly stuffed animals, guaranteed to delight toddlers.These cost from >fei S40 to - $60.Three-dimensional note-cards ($3) have tiny birdhouses amid sprigs of greenery.Puresilk scarves (36 inches by 36 inches) have Inuit designs in shades of blue, green, gray, or taupe and are $32 up to $64.For little ones, there’s a floppy bunny in a patchwork pouch: the critter can be snuggled around ice cubes for a cold pack, or heated in the microwave and used as a heating pad ($14).Shops also offer a choice of hand-carved wooden pieces, from classic Québécois figures to ducks sporting spiffy bright yellow rubber boots.Shop sale Art-themed jigsaw puzzles, felt hand puppets and fanciful pressed foam-rubber masks for kids.Some, from Brazil, include monkeys, lions, and rabbits, in crayon colours, and cost $30.Other put-together puzzles in paler hues are close-to-life-size tropical birds swinging from perches, perfect for the nursery or a sun-room.They’re $20 to $48.Seasonal items include tree decorations made of real eggs cut into lacy patterns (or hand-painted), from $12 to $29.Gold-plated insect pins are $8 to $24 and eye-catching animal napkin rings are $53 for a set of six.Pretty painted wooden boxes featuring pears and turtles start at $20.Stunning mahogany and bamboo boxes hold soothing eye masks in silk, sachets and exot-ically perfumed soaps.They start at $75.There’s a selection of antique toy reproductions in cast iron, including roadsters ad tractors starting at $26, perfect for the man who has everything.Or buy him one of the wonderfully comic aviator mobiles, featuring papier-maché magnificent men in their paper-and-metal flying machines.Food gifts (SOP) There’s nothing like a gift of food.It signifies so much during this holiday season — wishes of good health and good fortune, presented in a pretty box or tin.And its message of cheer can be savoured right away or later on, after the gift-giving excitement has died down.Your food gift can be an extravagant container of goodies for a special someone, or a unique item for the gourmand on your list.It could even be a small pot of jam or jelly, tied up in cellophane with an organza bow, for your hostess at a holiday party.But, as usual, you’ve had so much to do, so little time.So little, in fact that you haven’t managed to make those flavoured vinegars (the frost arrived before you picked your oregano and thyme) or whip up that batch of holiday cookies.Fear not.There are lots of store-bought foods that not only delight the taste buds but fulfil the requirement of being just like that “special something” you might well have made yourself.They are all beautiful packaged items that will need only the addition of a card bearing holiday wishes.Dressings of all sorts are high on the list this season.If your gift-giving tends to the sweet, then chocolate might be the way to go.The most unusual we found was a little farther afield, but worth the trip: organically grown crystallized pansies, presented in white and milk-chocolate frames.From the Wireless catalogue, the selling arm of US.public radio, the Chocolate Framed Victorian Pansies come in a purple gift box with story card and weigh in at one pound and have a fairly hefty price tag; $27.50 U.S.plus shipping and handling, duty and tariffs.If your chocolate-fancying is attached to a sense of play, then look for Trivial Pursuit Sporting Edition Mints — mint-flavoured chocolates wrapped in sports questions and complete with an edible chocolate trophy — or the Simpsons Chocolate Quiz Game, where the winner gets the solid milk-chocolate Brains of Springfield Trophy.Both from Marks & spencer at $9.99.The ultimate silly chocolate gift might just be the Original Cow Pie from Wireless, a set of seven milk chocolates, caramel and fresh pecan "cow pies,” nicely boxed, at $19.95 U.S.plus shipping and handling etc.Sweet things take on another guise in the shape of jams and jellies, or traditional holiday sweets and cakes.One of Italy’s classic Christmas foods is pan-netone, the beautifully packaged light fruitcake from Florence that is traditionally eaten with a glass of Spumanti.Cakes range from the “baby” pannetone in small red-and-white boxes at $4.99 to a beautiful high cake wrapped in gold at $17.99 for 900 grams.V fi ORIGINAL iff Ideas Handicrafts & Gift Shop December 1st to December 31st Paintings, Flowers, Furniture, Wools, Dried Flower Arrangements, etc.# Pépinière LAMBERT 623 Des Vétérans Blvd., Rock Forest 564-7711 A A: Bob & Jean Harrison invite you.SLEIGH and WAGON RIDES REGISTERED BELGIUM HORSES rvlILBV MEADOWS 5445 Rte 147, Lennoxvllle (819) 346-2177 1l))}))Hl Check our December Titfes wmRR Tel.346-3797 110 Queen Street Sn-fruy t&e 'pedXcoal ARLIE C.FEARON, TRANSPORT INC.j » Refuse removal | • Excavation 1 • Snow removal 400 QUEEN ST.LENNOXVILLE 562-3473 # page 14 The Record, CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE • Thursday, November 26, 1998 j^Jers Carte de mémoire PlayStation* memory card 79" 2 PlayStation f * di&t - F| Command Dual Shock controller 42" i 27 000 Unité de jeu PlayStation* avec commande Dual Shock PlayStation* system with Dual Shock controller mm*.Unité N64 et 2 commandes N64 hardward & 2 controllers EN MAGASIN LE 26 NOV COMING NOV 26th G*m* Boy * écran couleur | Colour screen Game BoyT dt VW i poms $ PUySbXlon GAGNER IS?WIN Un forfait ûtirt dos neiges, un surf PtayStatiorTS ou u fwu les fiéHUi* an Wfrjaim £n vaauéüf siu tg newrfriîiï.(• A snowboarding trip, a PteyStgfiordfc sncevfooar; See store tôt aetaifs Or; -tent, Carrefour de l’Estrie Galeries Orford (819) 565-0022 (819) 843-3803 Board games for this holiday season (SOP) It’s the day before Christmas and frightfully cold outside.What can you do to pass the time before Santa arrives?Kin from out of town have arrived to spend the holidays with the family, and the little kin hate playing outside.Got any indoor activities planned?It’s Boxing Day and your youngest comes down with the chicken pox.How will you keep him distracted enough to stop itching and the rest of the household happily occupied?If there is a lesson to be learned before the holiday season is upon us, it is this: Always have a Plan B.Even if the weather behaves, your guests love a good sleigh ride and the children stay healthy, it’s wise to have some indoor family activities simmering on the back burner if only to play counterpoint to the chill of outdoor fun.Here are some suggestions that might help you organize a Plan B.Stock up on a few board games — grownups and children enjoy a well-structured game of luck, strategy or knowledge.And board games are a good way for the very young to be initiated into the concepts of waiting for a turn, winning and losing, and thinking things through.Read the instructions carefully on the box before you make a purchase.You know your children’s interests and strengths and weaknesses better than anyone.Keep in mind that the age suitability noted on the box might not apply to your child.Some children are more advanced in logic at a younger age, some slower with hand-eye co-ordination, and others become frustrated if a game requires too much strategy.Getting adults involved in the game is a large part of the fun for youngsters, so grin and bear it if the game is suitable for 3- to 6-year olds and you’re about to embark on the fifth game in a row.So what out there?Veteran members of the board-game family, including Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, Clue, Pictionary and Scrabble, now come in junior versions.Clue Jr., for example, is suitable for 5- to 8-year-olds.Children must discover which pet has hidden which toy in the clubhouse.Arthur Goes to the Library, Green Eggs and Ham, The Cat in the Hat, Barney Memory, Trouble, and Snakes and Ladders are all good choices for 4-year-olds and clever 3-year-olds.Most games for children this age involve simple co-ordination or memory skills.Arthur and Barney are only two in a proliferating field of board games spun off from popular television shows.Wishbone involves collecting clues while learning a bit about classic literature along the way (6 years old and up).Goosebumps — Terror in the Graveyard traps you in a graveyard.The only way you can escape is to destroy the headless ghost (7 years old and up).Other ghoulish games — so popular with youngsters these days — include Are You Afraid of the Dark?(8 years old and up) and 13 Dead End Drive (9 years old and up).Blurt! and Absolute Balderdash are a riot for adults and the older child.Both rely on word skills, and Blurt! does have a junior version available.Master Labyrinth is also a popular choice.One tile anchors what will be a complicated labyrinth you construct with 49 other tiles.The object of the game is to collect as many of the 21 tokens scattered throughout the maze as you can.Each token represents something considered magical during the Middle Ages.It is game that requires some skill to complete, but the younger members of the family may have fun just putting the thing together.Bingo is always good to have on hand.You can hand out holiday treats as prizes.Twister can comfort out the kinks you might have acquired from sitting around playing board games.Can’t forget card games, passed down from generation to generation.You can ask your mom and dad to think way back to remember their favourite card game, or you can rely on your memory.How do you play Go Fish again?Variations on the card game theme are popping up every year, so ask your local toystore-owner to point out what’s new.Jigsaw puzzles, like board games, are a great idea because of the enourmous choice at your disposal.The bigger the store, the larger the stock.Puzzles vary vastly in size — anywhere from eight pieces to more that 3,000 pieces, and the subject matter is equally boundless.Three-dimensional puzzles are all the rage now.Older children and adults can put together the New York skyline or a young child can assemble a 3-D giraffe, elephant or zebra. The Record, CHRISTMAS GIFT GUIDE • Thursday, November 26, 1998» page 15 y.The perfect time to stock up materials (SOP) Here are some of the most versatile craft materials and tools, the ones no home should be without.Now is the perfect time to get them in order.With the holidays approaching, there will be plenty of gifts to make.BASIC CRAFT KIT Fill a traditional toolbox with the following supplies, and you'll be ready to tackle many of the craft projects that inspire you.As your craft kit grows, you may want to organize it in stackable plastic bins, clearly labeled with their contents.• Glues - A hot-glue gun is the ultimate craft tool.The glue itself is an all-purpose craft glue that comes in a solid stick form; you insert one of the sticks into the “gun,” which melts the glue and releases it when you pull the trigger.Hot glue is thick and holds its shape, making it ideal for securing bulky items like buttons, pinecones or even fresh roses to other surfaces.It also dries quickly with a strong bond.Look for a glue gun that operates at a low temperature, which is gentler on delicate materials —and less likely to burn your fingers.Craft-and-fabric glue, like Sobo, is perfect for paper, fabric, leather and other porous materials.• Dremel rotary tool - This ingenious handheld tool is like a drill but smaller and easier to use.It can be fitted with a wide selection of bits, allowing it to drill, cut, grinds, sharpen, buff and polish.• Scissors - One pair isn’t really enough.Use good-quality dressmaker’s shears for fabric, and an all-purpose pair for paper.You'll also want two pairs of pinking shears, one for fabric and one for paper.Fiskars makes several products that are perfect for crafts; the rotary cutter works like a pizza wheel, making long, continuous cuts — straight or decorative, depending on the blade.Paper on craft and tools edgers work like pinking shears, but the cutting blades come in various patterns.You’ll also want wire sips and gardening shears to use indoors for flower arranging.• Ribbon - From organdy to satin to grosgrain, ribbon comes in an astounding array of fabrics, widths, textures and patterns.Always wave and reuse ribbons; just iron them, and they’ll look as good as new.Rickrack, seam binding, satin cord, waxed twine and other trimming and notions are charming alternatives to ribbon.• Bags and tags - Coloured paper bags and crisp, shiny cellophane bags are great for wrapping gifts — just cinch the top with a ribbon.Office-supply stores and art-sup-ply stores carry lots of simple tags and labels that can be personalized with rubber stamps.• Tapes and wires - Floral tape is indispensable when working with fresh or dried flowers.It sticks only to itself, so wrap it tightly in overlapping layers to bind stems together.White artist’s tape is a versatile, multi-use tape.It is easily removed from most surfaces, and it can be write on.Clear tape and double-stick tape are good for gift wrapping.Flexible, sturdy floral wire is a necessity for making wreaths and garlands.Spools of wire in various gauges and colours will also come in handy.• Other tools - You'll also want to stock your kit with an eighth-inch hole punch, an awl, needle-nose pliers, round-nose pliers (good for jewelrymaking and other wire work), a staple gun, a ruler and a tape measure.• Special supplies - On you know what you’ll need to satisfy your creative urges.If you knit, put together a knitting kit.And why not give a craft kit as a gift?Assemble the basics or create a custom kit for wreath-making, candlemaking or any other project as a thoughful, personal gift.GIVE A PIECE OF THE TOWNSHIPS THIS CHRISTMAS Friends and family moved from the Townships, but still missing home?Townshippers’ Association has the perfect gifts for them: Quality t-shirts and sweatshirts with an original Eastern Townships/Cantons de l’Est logo Townships Books Townshippers’ Association memberships Stop in at either Townshippers’ office and do your Christmas shopping! 2355 Galt W, Sherbrooke (819)566-5717 203 Principale, Cowansville (450)263-4422 Some gifts for the nature lovers (SOP) Botanical illustration guide.For most of the world’s most famous horticulturists, illustration was a passion second only to gardening.This 152-page soft-cover book offers historical techniques, detailed drawings and information on photography, handling plants and painting in many media.$27.Lee Valley catalogue, Ottawa.(800) 267-8767).• Snowshoes.The latest models are narrower than ever and made with lightweight aluminium frames for easy maneuvering.Starting at $179.• An acre of endangered Canadian forest is the ultimate gift for the environmentalist who has everything.For $25 an acre, individuals can support the World Wildlife Fund Canada’s campaign to protect 14 of Canada’s natural wonders.Gift acre packages include a Guardian of Canadian Wilderness Certificate, colour decal, full-colour poster detailing hot spots across Canada and fact sheets about the most vulnerable areas, such as the plankton-rich Saguenay fjord, where belugas and blue whales feed, or the Vaureal, a landscape on Anticosti Island with a waterfall higher than Niagara Falls and a canyon 3 kilometres long.WWWF Canada, 90 Eglinton Ave.E, Suite 504, Toronto.