It’s time to say goodbye to winter the only way we know how — with a Free Family Skate at the Optimist Arena on Saturday, March 20 from 4:30PM – 6:00PM

Come get reacquainted with your neighbours after a long winter hibernation!  Or if you’re a hockey parent, today you can skate too!

There might be hot dogs (still trying to line up a BBQ) and there might be prizes.  There also might be people telling you about the LCA and what we do and how we need a new chairperson next year.  But this isn’t a time share “presentation” — you can push right past us and skate, skate, skate!

Now, if you have a BBQ to lend, or want to help on Saturday, Amy Mader would sure like to hear from you.  You can email her at amy@lcaregina.ca Pretty please!

Photo by Nemo’s Great Uncle

Maybe it’s the spring-like weather we’re having, or maybe it’s Mrs. Arndt’s year round passion for planting, but we’ve been talking a lot about gardening this winter.

We’re contemplating starting a Lakeview gardening program or gardeners’ group this spring.  At this point we are just putting together some ideas for what this program could entail.  First thoughts are that we could arrange for an occasional speaker on topics of interest, such as Introduction to Vegetables, Pruning Trees, Saving Seeds, etc.   Other ideas may include garden tours, casual meetings, whatever – the possibilities are endless.

Ideally it would be great to get things up and running before the spring 2010 planting season.  If you have any ideas for this program, would like to organize this program, or would like to be involved in any way, please contact Amy Mader by email at amy@lcaregina.ca or phone 565-2864.

If there is interest and a leader emerges, then we can launch a new program before the snow melts!

Photo Credit:  Grow Regina

The weather is finally cold enough to announce our 2010 Winter Registration night — Tuesday, January 12, from 7PM – 8PM at Athabasca School.

Registration night is how you can register for all programs run by Regina Community Associations — regardless of whether they are run by Lakeview Community Association.    We’ll have tables for our programs and a special table for City Wide registrations.

Also, the January LCA meeting will be held the day before Registration Night, on Monday, January 11, at 7PM, also at Athabasca School.   We had a big mix up in December and were locked out of the school, but that’s all worked out so we can get down to business on Monday.

Topics for discussion include:  Registration Night, program changes, our recent paper newsletter (you got one in the mail, right?) and possibly increased noise levels in the Southern edge of Lakeview.  So come on out, say Hi, share your views and lend a hand!

Photo credit: Proggie

This website has been one of the neat additions to the LCA lineup over the past year.  We launched the site with the objective of sharing everything we know about the community, so you know what’s going on and what needs your attention.

So far, the sites been a big success.  We’re getting lots of subscribers, and people are coming to us with ideas for articles.   Once in a while we even get an email telling us you like informal tone of the place — that makes us very happy indeed.

We’ve discovered a flaw though — it’s becoming clear that I’m a bottleneck.  There’s much more going on in Lakeview than I can get posted on the site.   To fix that, we’re looking for volunteers to write and post articles to the website.

If you like writing, we can teach you how to post on the site (it’s easy!)

If you like telling people things, and always wanted to try writing, we can help get you writing, and then teach you how to post.

As Friend of Lakeview Lily Tingley likes to say  ”many hands make light work.”  If we can get two or three energetic editors lined up, we can get back to posting twice a week and keeping you in the know.

Interested?  Curious but a little nervous?  Don’t worry.  Fire off an email and we can talk about it!

Photo by Sancho Papa

Hi.  Whether you’re having a Thanksgiving meal today or earlier this weekend, we wish you all the best.  As I write this the sun is finally coming out so maybe we can get back to autumn for a while.

While the pumpkin pie was baking today I fiddled around with an email newsletter.  We want to reach out to everyone in the community and not everyone subscribes to the site, so I thought maybe an email newsletter might reach a few more people.

We haven’t exactly figured out when we’ll send newsletters vs. e-newsletters vs. website posts, but we’ll be sure to keep you posted.

You can read the newsletter as it was sent out [it's kinda neat], or check out the text below.

Happy Thanksgiving!

…

We Need To Talk

The main reason the Lakeview Community Association exists is to get residents of Lakeview connecting with each other.

Usually we do this through our recreational programs — people visit and get to know each other while their kids skate or play soccer, or while you get a water break during adult fitness classes.

These days there are a lot more ways to connect with each other via the internet.   This preseason* newsletter covers the top ways you can stay connected with your friends and neighbours through the LCA.

In Person

There’s nothing better than looking your friends in the eye and talking about how things are going in Lakeview.  We know you agree because our fall and winter registration nights are so loud!  It’s like a twice-a-year family reunion, and we love it.

There’s also a very important meeting each year called the LCA Annual General Meeting.  It’s a Really Big Deal because that’s the meeting where we set our priorities for the year. This is the meeting where, back in 2004, we decided to upgrade Kinsmen Park South or in 2005 started a high school scholarship program.

Our next AGM is Monday October 19, 2009 at 7PM at Athabasca School, in the library.  The current LCA executive has some cool ideas for the upcoming year and we’d love to get feedback on them.  We’d also like to hear about what you think needs to happen in Lakeview.

One note:  The AGM is also where we elect the executive for the coming year.  That shouldn’t scare you.  We have a healthy, happy executive and while we’d always welcome new people, we aren’t desperate for executive members this year. So please come without fear!

Paper Newsletters

We’re back in the groove of sending two paper newsletters each year.  Jessica Tiefenbach created a rocking newsletter for fall 2009 in August and is already starting on the winter newsletter which will be out in mid-December.

Our newsletter is informative, entertaining and every household in Lakeview should receive it.  It can get out of date fairly quickly though, which is why we’re trying to do more online.

Our Website…

Our new, revamped LCA website is now a year old and boy oh boy are we getting good feedback.   “Funny”, “best ever” and that type of thing.  Sure it looks nice and it’s just quirky enough to be fun, but it’s also got a metric tonne of good information.

We’re taking the approach that everything that goes on in Lakeview is worth knowing about, whether or not we run it.  Well over half of the posts are local community news, although all the good LCA stuff like program dates and meeting dates are in there.

…Delivered to Your Inbox!

Don’t you hate when your sports league or club keeps droning on and on “You gotta check the website!”   We sure do.  Who can remember all the websites you need to check?  How exactly are you supposed to know that something changed?

We figured that it’s not fair to you to make you remember to keep checking on the website for news, so we set up a handy-dandy subscription service.   Just head over to the site, check out the E-News and Updates section on the top right of every page,  enter your email address in the box and you’ll get each new article emailed to you on the day it’s posted.

We don’t post too much — maybe 1.5 posts per week at most.  So we won’t clutter things up, we promise.

FaceTweet?  TwitBook?  We’re doing that too.

We’ve done the landgrab and set up a Facebook Page and Twitter Page.  There’s still work to do to get everything tied together, but if you use either service please fan/follow us!

And if you’re a Facebook Power user, drop us a line on our fan page.  We’d love to hear from you!

Share, Share, Share!

Here’s the deal:  What we really yearn for is for people in Lakeview to know what’s going on.

You are clearly a Wonderful Person who wants to be part of the community.  That’s why you have an LCA membership and are getting this newsletter.  But we need your help because most likely, your next door neighbour isn’t in the loop.   Think of what things must be like for them.

None of us should suffer the heartbreak of missing out on spring soccer, or Irish Dancing, or the Fall Artist’s show.

Nobody should move to Hillsdale or Lakeridge or (*gasp*) Windsor Park because everyone up their knows your name and people like you there.   We like you here.  Yes we do.

So please, please,  share this information with your friends.   Forward this email. Subscribe to website updates and forward those too.   Use these little updates as conversation starters at parties or in line at Hill Avenue Drugs.  You’ll feel great and likely keep your friends living in Lakeview.  That way we all win.

Until next time, Happy Thanksgiving — Lakeview style — from your Lakeview Community Association volunteers!

*PS –  we’re calling this the ‘preseason’ newsletter because we’re experimenting with ways to reach out to our membership. So let us know what you think! When we get the kinks worked out we’ll start the ‘regular season’.

Photo by JosiahRitchie. You were expecting turkey, perhaps?

I admit it — posting has been sparse here lately. That’s not because there’s nothing new going on in LCA land though. It’s more that we’re busy actually doing the stuff. Please fill the library on the 19th to learn about what we do, so you can tell all your friends and reinforce your reputation as the smartest person on your block!

The Regina Lakeview Community Association Annual General Meeting will be held on Monday, October 19 at 7PM at Athabasca School in the school library.

The AGM is a pretty good deal — All Lakeview Residents are invited and LCA members* are eligible to vote on a series of important items, like:

• The Annual Report: Hear what we’ve been up to in the past year to help make Lakeview the best neighbourhood in the city.
• the 2009 – 2010 LCA Budget: Learn about the projects we plan to take on this year and influence what we do.
• 2009-2010 Executive Elections: Have your say about who leads the association.

*LCA Memberships will be available prior to the meeting to ensure you have a vote.

Photo Credit: reinvented

Here’s a friendly reminder to come out to LCA Fall Registration is Tuesday, September 8 at 7PM at Athabasca School.

Come sign up for LCA programs and other community association programs all from one location.  If you’re not sure what to do this winter, you could do much worse than our adult fitness classes or indoor power cycling.  Or how about Mini-Mites Hockey for the kids?

As usual, we could still use a couple volunteers to help out at a table.  Volunteers get to register first and keep the lines moving for everyone.    If you can help for an hour, email Stacey to let her know and come over at 6:30PM to set up.  Thanks!

Photo credit: Proggie

Perhaps it was the late summer warm snap that caused it.  Or maybe the rush to enjoying time off before school started.  All I know is that the last couple LCA posts have been rife with half truths and misunderstandings.  So here’s a post to correct that which needs correcting, along with some Brand New News!

Prairie Artist Guild / Art Gallery of Regina Fundraisers

It’s increasingly apparent that, at best, I am an Arts Community wannabe.  Case in point:  last week I reported that the Prairie Artists Guild was holding two events on the same day at different parts of the city.  How was that ever going to work?  Beats me, but I didn’t think to check it until Bonnie McBride pointed out my erroneous reportage.  So here’s the truth:

The Prairie Artists Guild Fall Show and Sale is October 16-18 at West Harvest Inn

The Art Gallery of Regina “Feast For the Eyes” event is October 17 somewhere around the Neil Balkwill Centre on Elphinstone.

LCA September Meeting is Actually in August

We’re moving our September meeting up two weeks to Monday, August 31 at 7PM, at Mark’s house.  We’re deviating from our usual ‘Second Monday’ in order to get prepared for Fall Registration Night which actually comes before ‘Second Monday.’

That’s right, Second Tuesday comes before Second Monday — now how was I supposed to figure that one out?  It makes my head hurt to ponder this arbitrary ‘calendar’ system that the government has imposed on us.  At least I think the government’s to blame.  Or maybe it was those guys behind the DaVinci Code.  Am I the only guy who found that show to be confusing?  I mean, how did they end up in Scotland?

So, to recap.  The September meeting is in August.  August 31, 7PM at Mark’s house.  Email Mark directly for directions if you want to attend — we’d still love to have you visit!

Second Annual Stay Home and Snuggle Day

Talk about blowing a deadline!  I was all geared up to promote Stay Home and Snuggle Day again this year but completely forgot about it until the day itself.  Hope you all stayed home and celebrated the fact that the kids are back in school once again.

If you did celebrate Regina’s newest holiday, let us know in the comments below.  You don’t have to go into huge detail or anything, but we’d love to know that this Day for Parents is taking off.

Did you get our Fall Newsletter?

I did!  It’s a lovely yellowy newsletter tucked in the fold of the current Sunday Sun.  I believe the printers call it ‘goldenrod’ but I might be mistaken.  Six pages of community informationy goodness in easy to carry paper format!

Special thanks to our newsletter editor Jessica for working all summer to pull this together.

Now, if you got the Sunday Sun but there was no lovely LCA Newsletter inside, or if you didn’t get the Sunday Sun at all, please let us know.  We’re going to post the newsletter on the website soon but we can also email you a copy too.

Photo Credit: Shira Golding

While we’re enjoying the sun and the Regina Folk Festival, our energetic newsletter editor Jessica Tiefenbach is putting the final touches on an interesting and very informative Fall Newsletter.  I got a sneak peek at the newsletter this afternoon and I really like it.  I think you will too.

You should be getting the latest LCA newsletter along with the Sunday Sun within the next two weeks.  But if that’s  not soon enough for your fall planning, the LCA website has been completely updated with new meeting dates, program dates (for both adult programs and kid programs) and registration night information.  So get your daily planner and a pencil and get busy!

Photo by jamesyu