Jim Cumming – From the Publisher Emeritus’ Pen

I have been thinking back over this past weekend about the many retail changes in Fort Frances and across the district. LaVallee, Devlin, Barwick Stratton, Pinewood, Bergland all had small general stores that carried everything from nuts to groceries servicing the immediate community. When I began composing ads back in […]

Ontario residents will be waiting in line over their computers for the next several months. And area residents will probably be waiting in line even longer. On Monday just before nine in the morning I went online to discover how long people over 80 would wait to register for an […]

This weekend we will move our clocks forward to daylight savings. It was a year ago that we realized that the pandemic was upon us. A year ago, this coming weekend, Marnie and I were on our way to visit our granddaughter in Calgary. We had originally thought of flying, […]

It is frustrating living in Northwestern Ontario with the COVID virus crawling through our communities. We look south and see how quickly residents in northern Minnesota are being vaccinated. We watch with bated breath as our seniors at Rainycrest receive their second vaccination. With a second outbreak in Rainycrest staff […]

The outside temperature now says seven degrees. The sky is blue and today there is a little brisk wind from the west. There are waves on the upper river and walkers have left their dens for outside exercise. It is amazing what a difference one week can make in your […]

It is “Family Day” as I write this column. It is much like Christmas; we are together but separated. Our children are both 1700 km away from us. In many ways, “Family Day” is not as it was supposed to be. Planned by politicians, the “Family Day” February holiday was […]

Over the weekend I read an interesting opinion piece by Patrick Smith in the New York Times. He is a singer, songwriter and has worked in the oil fields of North Dakota. His opinion piece forced me to rethink my view of pipelines and the rush to clean energy. I […]

Hindsight is a great marker for examining the roads we take. Looking back, I had a chance to buy “Apple” stock at less than $8.00. Through many splits, the stock was trading at $134 on Tuesday. I didn’t buy. Similarly, it is important to look back when we examine decisions […]

Most of the time when I go ice fishing I travel via snowmobile and I pull a portable shelter built onto a sled. I can put all of the gear that I need for a day on the ice inside the sled, cover it up and I’m good to go. […]

Last Wednesday I watched the unfolding of the transfer of leadership in the United States. It was impressive pageantry that we do not see in Canada. And as I listened to the singing of “America the Beautiful” by the choir, I remembered back to elementary school as we sang those […]

It is surprising how some jobs you once detested help break the monotony of daily life under the COVID-19 emergency lock downs. Take for instance the thought of snow shovelling. Under normal circumstances, I would probably have looked at it as a chore; something I had to do, but not […]