Do you know Yo-Yo Ma? He doesn’t call me at home to ask advice, nor do we meet for coffee to exchange stories, but I do consider Yo-Yo Ma my friend. I’m not sure he is aware of that fact but I don’t think he would mind me saying so. […]
Columnists
There is that frozen moment in time between this second and the next when all possible scenarios play out as a movie in which I’m in a long, long hallway and being sucked toward an inevitable fate. . . . I was on a reconnaissance mission of sorts in my […]
Over the past weekend, I was invited out to Shoal Lake #39 to participate in its second-annual fisheries conference. Headed by band councillor Karen Kejick, there’s a push being made by Shoal Lake #39 to open the walleye fishery on Shoal Lake for both sport-fishing and commercial fishing activities to […]
I’m back in “Boot Camp,” where most of the food is green, protein is lean, and exercise takes a sweaty, heart-pumping front seat to an evening of good TV and a glass of wine (or two). Leave it to me to procrastinate until just four weeks before Christmas before putting […]
Everyone needs to get a ’flu shot. I know we can find many reasons to avoid the shot, such as “It takes too much time,” “I don’t like needles,” or “Often it really isn’t effective.” The excuses are easy to come by. However, let’s just debunk some of the excuses. […]
I find myself travelling again. I was aboard a flight last week—doing my impression of a sardine. The man sitting next to me was typing on his laptop and his elbows were spilling over into my seat, though he tried to contain them. His legs are twice as long as […]
Other than a three-month stint working for a contractor friend of mine just out of university, and a couple of years on the supply teacher list in Kenora, the only jobs I’ve ever had have been related to the fishing and outdoor industry in some manner. My first guide trip […]
Winter has arrived in parts of Rainy River District but we still have bare ground here in Emo. No complaints, though, as it will be great if our farm yards get some frost into them before the snow falls. I did have to spend most of Saturday getting all the […]
When I sleep, or rather when I try to sleep (“try” being the operative word in that testimony—a word that comes laced with the potential for failure), I tend to think and recall every wrong turn I’ve made. The morning comes with hope, positive thoughts; a sunny disposition. But at […]
Way back in 1904, H.J. Pettypiece, MPP, addressed the Empire Club at a noon luncheon and his topic of conversation was the taxation of railways. He complained then that Canadian railways were not paying their fair share of taxes to villages, towns, and cities in Ontario. Some 112 years later, […]
Here we are the middle of November and still enjoying amazing weather! I realize this will be coming to an end but we certainly have had a good run. For instance, we unrolled bales and baled them into square bales this past weekend and actually were hot. Meanwhile, I’m feeding […]
Life is busy and there isn’t much downtime. I used to think the busiest chunk of my life was when my kids were “littles,” but even then I found time to read a novel while they all played together at the park. Now I can’t remember the last time I […]
