Columnists

A place at the table

Posted: Feb 27, 2015 at 8:40 am   /   Columnists

Food Security. Food Insecurity. Either way you chop and sauté it, many people do not have access to healthy, nutritious food. And I’m not talking about people who live elsewhere. I’m talking about people who live in the County. Proof that food insecurity exists in our community is that we have two food banks in […]

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Champions tour in Naples

Posted: Feb 20, 2015 at 8:53 am   /   Columnists

There were typical, somewhat nasty, breezes pushing golf balls around the fairways at TwinEagles Golf Course in Naples throughout the weekend. They did not affect Colin Montgomerie significantly, as he carded a five-under-par 67 to lead the field after the first round. I spent the day following Rod Spittle, Marco Dawson and Gene Sauers. Dawson […]

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Liquor laws

Posted: Feb 20, 2015 at 8:51 am   /   Columnists

Much like the United States, Canada has unique laws governing interprovincial commerce in wine that can be directly attributed to prohibition efforts of the early 20th century. There is less bureaucracy for a wine merchant in California to export to Alberta than to ship from state to state. It can be even worse in Canada. […]

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Crows

Posted: Feb 20, 2015 at 8:49 am   /   Columnists

It was just the other day, when Jack was arriving, that I was watching the southern sky. Like a slate-shingled barn roof yes, but more like the silver screen of a drive-in theatre. I watched as crow after crow after a hundred more crows moved through the dusk of February. A rookery, I think that’s […]

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A mature product

Posted: Feb 20, 2015 at 8:46 am   /   Columnists

Does any one of these images of chewing gum stick with you? How about the prototypical American GI from the second war era, with the confident swagger and the can-do attitude and the gum chewed rather nonchalantly? Or the 1959 Lonnie Donegan skiffle music song, Does your chewing gum lose its flavour, on the bedpost […]

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Family day with Dick and Jane

Posted: Feb 20, 2015 at 8:44 am   /   Columnists

Ah, Family Day. I know, every day should be family day when you’re part of a family. Or so I’ve heard. But Family Day makes me think about how much I need to have one day to focus on embracing the fun side of having a family. Since 2007, LOML and I have made a […]

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Preparing for the ACE Group Classic

Posted: Feb 13, 2015 at 8:54 am   /   Columnists

It’s a little overcast here in Naples, Florida, on Monday morning. Corey Pavin has half a dozen golf balls on the putting green, and is trying to coax them into the cup. A light shower turns into a serious downpour, and Pavin takes refuge under an umbrella. For the most part, the putting area and […]

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A touch of dryness

Posted: Feb 13, 2015 at 8:52 am   /   Columnists

Prohibition was, in many ways, the culmination of a temperance movement that encouraged laws prohibiting the sale of alcohol as far back as the early 1800s. In fact, the first recorded accounts of Prohibition date back to the founder of the Xia Dynasty, who banned alcohol throughout his Chinese empire. Upon his death, his son, […]

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Artefacts and Horses

Posted: Feb 13, 2015 at 8:48 am   /   Columnists

I’m not sure why the image of the piano comes to mind. Sure, the rhythm of snow on the windshield is conjuring; the distant shoreline of Adolphustown in the grey of 5 p.m. plays like the Goldberg Variations; the ceiling of cloud, the amber glow from the deck lights of the Glenora ferry? Time to […]

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Clinging to yellow paper

Posted: Feb 13, 2015 at 8:46 am   /   Columnists

I was not particularly surprised when I read a headline in the print edition of my daily newspaper that stated, “Yellow Pages looks to the next chapter.” I was so certain the article was going to tell me the iconic directory was moving to an all-digital offering that I almost didn’t read it. But when […]

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