We are moving quickly into that final stretch before the big day! I finally got my upstairs tree up on Sunday. But as I was dragging it in from the minus-34 temperature, and the needles and branches were following off, I did think to myself, “Why do we do this […]

In what has become a tradition over the past decade for me and my friends, we took our annual late-season moose hunting trip up north last week for the last few days of the 2016 Ontario rifle season. We like the late-season hunting because we can use snowmobiles to get […]

Christmas Day will arrive shortly. My friend, David Iwanyszyn, posted a photo on Facebook on Sunday night showing off the Christmas tree in his home loaded with gifts and wishing everyone a “Happy St. Nicholas Day”—a Ukrainian tradition. On the eve of Dec. 19, children receive gifts from St. Nicholas. […]

I was at a mall in Vancouver last week—a really big mall comprised of three levels; a shopping maze that even the brightest of us would struggle to find his/her way from. I’m fairly certain a GPS should be standard issue upon entrance to the mall. I wasn’t shopping, not […]

I am compelled to take photos of old abandoned houses. I can’t help myself. I used to have my camera in my car specifically for this purpose whenever I was behind the wheel. Now I have an iPhone that simplifies the process, though the quality of my photos may have […]

“One of the advantages of being disorderly is that one is constantly making exciting discoveries.” A.A. Milne, of “Winnie the Pooh” fame, penned that quote long ago. But I’ll bet you a box of chocolate-covered cherries he stole it from his wife, Dorothy, when he overheard her whispering what he […]

Most of the time I would be ever so grateful to be one or two inches taller. For a short time when I was 10 years old, I towered above everyone else in my class at Sixth Street School. Alas, then my growth hormones decided they had better things to […]

Driving through Fort Frances on Sunday evening, I was surprised by all the outdoor lights that are illuminating yards in our community. From large blow-up snowmen to white lit deer and moose and dancing lights across the front of homes, the darkness that falls shortly after four in the afternoon […]

“I laughed so hard my water broke . . . and I’m not even pregnant.” A story goes with those words—words I recently found inside a card at a card shop, but not just any card shop. Let me explain. Le Tablier Blanc was a card shop on College Street […]

Emo once again hosted a wonderful weekend of “Holly Daze!” The parade was just awesome! Maddie and Marlee each brought a friend along and this year with our “dog” theme, we not only tossed out candy canes but milk bones for all the dogs watching the parade! Marlee’s friend, Ella, […]

Ice-fishing really has evolved over the past couple of decades when you consider that we’ve gone from sitting on a bucket using tree branches for strike indicators to having insulated portable shelters, power augers, and high-end graphite rods. The annual St. Paul Ice Show took place this past weekend and […]

The Ontario government must believe that we all have better bladders in winter than in the summer. I make this comment having travelled numerous times to Thunder Bay and noticed all the pull-off rest stops are now blocked and marked as closed. The gates are across the entrances and even […]