Is Rainy River District a welcoming community? On Monday evening, my wife and I attended the Festival of India at the Rainy Lake Square. It was a fun event organized by members of the local East Indian community. Song, dance, and music representative of different areas of India were featured. […]
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
I remember the first Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship. On the Sunday of the tournament, I went out on Rainy Lake with Rick Socholotuk to check some fishing boats in the afternoon. We ducked under the low side of the causeway and snapped the antennae that was in contact with […]
The National Post headline reads: “Pikangikum First Nation faces second evacuation in just over one month.” I can’t imagine what it is like to live in that community where two fires have combined into one giant fire shooting a plume of smoke high into the air. I can’t imagine fleeing […]
As I write this week’s column, I can’t help but think of how fortunate we are to be on Rainy Lake. We hosted a party for all of the residents within an island of our cabin this past weekend marking two national holidays. Over time, we have lost track of […]
I am looking out through the windows of our cabin sunroom. It is overcast and warm. The rain that was called for overnight didn’t occur. I can hear birds in the background. The Canadian flag that has flown from our flagpole for decades hangs limp. I realize that my family […]
TREES I think that I shall never see A poem lovely as a tree. A tree whose hungry mouth is prest Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast; A tree that looks at God all day, And lifts her leafy arms to pray; A tree that may in summer wear A […]
I sometimes think that as a resident of the Rainy River district that I have not taken enough time to be a home tourist. I suspect that many of us are that way. As a family, we travelled to Winnipeg to take in the various museums and art galleries. We […]
Sometimes “things happen” as my good friend Phil Bangert would say. This past weekend was like that and it became a bit of a trial. We were heading to the lake. We were even leaving early to try and avoid the lineup moving over the overpass. We were on schedule. […]
As I travelled the highway to Rainy River delivering papers last Wednesday, I could not help but notice the flocks of sea gulls in the field feasting on what I suppose are earthworms. Gardeners love those earth animals as they break up leaves and other vegetation and leave behind rich […]
Every two weeks we put two blue boxes on the boulevard. At our home, the blue boxes contain a mixture of empty cereal boxes, clear plastic containers that once held strawberries or some other fruit, salad dressing bottles and empty gallon jugs that once held milk. Asselin Transportation collects all […]
We finally made it to the cabin. Earlier this year, the International Joint Commission had expressed concern that flooding on Rainy Lake might occur with the record snow fall through the winter and heavy rains last October, but we were able to pull right up to our dock. The lake […]
In the spring of 1980, my wife and I were on our hands and knees with shovels, bare root stock digging holes for shrubbery and trees. Today those same trees and shrubs are coming to the end of their lifetime. We have watched and enjoyed them from the time that […]
