Jim Cumming – From the Publisher Emeritus’ Pen

I have a confession to make. I really like a ham-and-cheese omelet. I also enjoy my “Egg McMuffin,” my Tim Horton sausage-and-egg breakfast sandwich, and Subway’s sausage-and-egg breakfast meal on flat bread. One of my treats at the cabin on the weekend is a big breakfast of bacon, eggs, and […]

At 113 years of age, the Rainy River Valley Agricultural Society’s annual fall fair in Emo gets underway tomorrow with the midway cranking up the sound during the day. Then on Friday and Saturday nights, the roar of stock cars racing around the track will be heard for miles in […]

I am sitting in the sun porch of our cabin. A light breeze out of the north is rustling the needles of the pines. A woodpecker is nearby batting its head against a tree to get at some bugs. The Bearskin flight to Thunder Bay just flew overhead. I am […]

My mother-in-law has just sold her home in Markdale, Ont. Her father had purchased the home in 1920 and it has been in the family for 92 years. Annually, our family would travel to meet gramma and grampa, and it was always to the family home. Their cousins from Waterloo […]

This is “Bass Week” in Fort Frances. Anglers competing in this year’s Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship have been plying the waters of Rainy Lake for the past week. You can see rooster tails flying high in the sky as those sleek fibreglass bass boats skim across the water. The […]

We are reaching the midpoint of summer and it has been a season of unusual heat. The waters of Rainy Lake have had surface temperatures that arched over 80 degrees F. The real water temperature is a much more modest 74 F. Even those who really are not into swimming […]

There is no end to the discussion of weather. If it is cloudy, we complain about it. Too much rain and we are not satisfied. Crisp winter days have us complaining about cold car seats. And now with hot summer days, we are complaining about the warmth. We just can’t […]

Over the last several months, I have had those niggling thoughts that “I am not as young as I used to be.” There has been nothing conclusive. There have been some signs. Another columnist in the paper tells you that age is only in the mind. My mind keeps telling […]

Canadians will celebrate Canada Day this weekend. Across the country, we will move to the outdoors in droves to enjoy this first summer long weekend. Traditional Canada parades, barbecues, picnics and fireworks will mark the day for most of us. Canada became an independent nation in 1867 under Queen Victoria […]

I watch with fascination the TV commercials that show a Ford automobile parallel parking on a street. I remember how many practice hours I spent learning to put my father’s ’65 Chrysler into a tight space. We have seen robot vacuum cleaners. We have played with robot toys and marveled […]

Here at the Fort Frances Times, Tanya Cumming attends to everyone’s safety. She constantly is reminding everyone about health and safety rules, which often includes information about nutrition, diet, exercise, and working with computers to reduce the risk of injury. I like to think that our workplace is a very […]

Municipalities across Ontario complained that former premier Mike Harris downloaded many provincial costs to them. But in doing that, the Conservative government transferred additional funding to offset some of those. In a more subtle method, Premier Dalton McGuinty—in a bid to eliminate the provincial deficit—has handed over to Rainy River […]