Air travel makes travellers sick. If my personal health were used in support of this thesis, it would be irrefutably proven. I can’t remember a flight I have taken where I didn’t get sick and my recent all-night marathon from Dawson City was no exception. I was struck down with […]

Can I change? Can any of us change? Carol Dweck says we can, and I’m inclined to agree with her after reading her thoughts on “Growth Mindset.” Her work is changing how we teach children and how they learn, but its principles can be applied to any of us, school […]

When these words find their way into the Fort Frances Times on Dec. 27, I will be departing Dawson City. Like so many before me, we come in search of gold in its many forms. Many courageous and tenacious people set off to find adventure in Dawson City. In 1898, […]

“We are all cells in the same body of humanity” ~ Peace Pilgrim I watched a film on Netflix the other day as I hid under a blanket with my hot water bottle in an attempt to keep warm with the minus-40 temperature hurling around outdoors. The film’s title is […]

I was thinking of heroes the other day while I was walking in the snow and the minus-38 C temperatures. “Mighty Mouse” was important when I was little. He was a good guy, as most flying mice tend to be. He was always ready to save the day; he even […]

It is my father’s birthday today (Nov. 29). I loved that we shared the same day number for our birthdays, as though that made our connection greater; that only he and I could understand. I miss him and I think of him every single day. I wish we could sit […]

So many difficult stories flood the news today and many of them threaten our sense of well-being, or at the very least muddle our perception of who we are as members of a community, as Canadians. As with most ostriches, I turn the television off and cringe and hope things […]

I came all the way from Wolfville, N.S. to Dawson City, Yukon, travelled the 7,392 km, to hear the extraordinary music of Beòlach, a multi-talented group performing the magic of Cape Breton music. I didn’t come all that way just for the music, of course. But had that been the […]

I heard this morning, as I write this on Oct. 29, that one of the most precious people in my life has gone. I scarcely can imagine the sun will continue to shine without Annie Lahti; that spring will ever come again and that I will find my way home. […]

I have a raspberry seed from my morning toast and jam stuck in my molar–the molar just ahead of my missing wisdom tooth (top right to be precise). I can hear the voice of Joe Friday from “Dragnet.” Just the facts, ma’am. I have flossed and brushed and picked and […]

Charles Lindbergh carried a copy of Robert Service’s poems during his record-setting non-stop flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. Lindbergh was prepared for the monotony of the trip and the drone of his monoplane, “The Spirit of St. Louis.” Even Lindbergh knew that Robert Service’s poetry, which Robert preferred […]