A few years back, when I was the sports writer here at the Times, word got out one summer that Wayne Gretzky was in the Fort Frances area. It wasn’t a completely wild premise. The Great One was a teammate of local NHL’er Mike Allison with the Los Angeles Kings […]
Columnists
I never cease to be amazed at celebrity-hood in the late 20th century. It comes so hard, and yet so easily. One day it seems a million miles away. And the next day a million dollars close. And that’s the way fame arrived earlier this year for 97-year-old Jessie Foveaux […]
What will happen to all the people displaced by new machines, long-lasting materials and new methods? How will they earn a living? How will they find their place in society? Common concerns! Good questions! Difficult to answer. Macro-responses are beyond any company, union or government. Humans have yet to invent […]
When a book stays on the best-seller list for half a decade, it’s time to sit up and take note. What could it be that still attracts scores of readers to Stephen R. Covey’s “7 Habits of Highly-Effective People” after all this time? Maybe it’s just that everyone wants to […]
If you’re like me, you sometimes get tired of discerning what’s ahead, planning and scheming. It’s summertime. So forget that future stuff for today. Come, wallow in the past with me. I want to tell you about my brother, Gord. You know Gainsborough’s famous painting, “The Blue Boy”? The anemic […]
Ever since the dawn of recorded history, man has cherished the eagle as a symbol–of freedom, of strength, of fierce pride. The Romans carried eagles of gold with them to war, and when the Americans sought a symbol for their country, the great white-headed eagle seemed made for the purpose. […]
I’m torn between two moods today. On the one hand there’s the black despair of what could happen yet in life–the sickness, the pain, the loneliness, the want. And I know enough about living to know such despair is not without its reasons. But on the other hand, there’s the […]
The grass is green and the phlox are pink. The hostas are blooming and the fall’s apples will soon to ready to pick. The dill is ready for the cucumbers, and the chocolate mint makes wonderful tea. It’s the life I’ve always dreamed about. Living close to the earth. Surrounded […]
The motto of the Scouts is, “Be prepared!” It’s something we should all take to heart. The Pearl of the Orient is always prepared. “Take a bath and change your underwear. You never know we might be in a car accident,” she’s cautioned me before many a motor trip. However, […]
Anyone who has a garden of any kind, or lives in the country, knows there are a lot of things which attack our plants of all kinds. Here are just a very few of the common ones. oColorado Potato Beetle: This is the common “potato bug,” about 3/8 of an […]
It’s been almost two months now since Phoebe came into our lives. Phoebe, the beautiful white dog, the dog that almost glows in the dark. Phoebe tucks us in at night and gives us a welcoming lick first thing in the morning. Her job is taking care of us, and […]
Safety has no season but summer, with its outdoor activities, seems to be when the discussion of it comes to the forefront. When the bass tournament at Fat Frantic was full swing last month, for instance, lures of every description were whizzing through the air like deer flies over Drizzle […]






