I became handicapped this past weekend. A planned fishing afternoon with my visiting son turned into a disaster when I fell off the dock and landed on my back across rocks and water. I had a huge goose egg on my head, a bleeding elbow and a huge bleeding gash […]
Jim Cumming – From the Publisher Emeritus’ Pen
Jim is the former publisher of the Fort Frances Times Ltd. He writes a weekly column and can be contacted at jcumming@fortfrances.com
When I was in high school, I had an English teacher who everyone seemed to hate. It wasn’t until several years later that I realized the gift he had given me. Mr. Bond had a schedule for every one of his Grade 10 students to complete an essay every six […]
We have passed the “dog days” of summer. According to the almanac, the dog days are an approximately 40-day period following the beginning of summer, beginning July 3 and ending August 10 and traditionally tied to the period when the star Sirius (the Dog Star) rises and sets with the […]
Last evening we spoke with our granddaughters. They will be arriving in less than two weeks to spend a week at our cabin on Rainy Lake. They were excited and told my wife and me all their expectations for their week. Swimming, hiking the island, making blueberry pancakes, crafts, fishing […]
This past fall, we looked to buy a new car manufactured by KIA. We were very pleased with our current vehicle, but it was now eight years old. We went to a dealer in Thunder Bay and another in Calgary, only to be told that the vehicle was no longer […]
Across the Rainy River District, tourist camps and outfitters are having a banner year. Camps are full of fishermen and families. Squeals of delight can be heard across the lake as children play and paddle on beaches and docks. Summer in Northwestern Ontario is beautiful and fun-filled. The majority of […]
It was back in 1993 that a fisherman brought up the idea of holding a bass fishing tournament on Rainy Lake. It was kind of a far-fetched idea because no one really fished for that species. Kenora had already established the Kenora Bass International, and it was attracting professionals from […]
The past two weeks have been filled with major announcements for Canada’s future. The first was a decision by NATO to combine Saab’s Erieye extended-range radar and advanced sensor technologies with the Global Express 6500 as a surveillance aircraft, 10 of which are to replace its current Boeing E3 AWACS […]
How many shades of green can one discover as you cross the Canadian prairies at this time of year? I gave up counting as greens in fields turned from vibrant Irish green to a deep, almost black-green. This may be the best time of the year to cross the prairies, […]
I stood proudly on the pool deck of the Canada Games Complex as the words to “O Canada” reverberated around the stands. It was the second of three nights of finals swimming as part of an international invitational swim meet. The Stars and Stripes began the evening celebration, but I […]
At my coffee discussion group the other day, we began discussing some of the barriers that patients in Northwestern Ontario face when medical procedures take place out of province. Rather than having some tests such as CT scans, MRIs and echocardiograms performed in our communities, we are often required to […]
I have been paying attention to the discussions around artificial intelligence (AI). It has taken me all the way back to 1971, when the Fort Frances Times began producing the newspaper electronically. It wasn’t a full-page layout, but it was the start of using computers. The newspaper had purchased a […]
