Columnists

Stop, Hesitate, Refuse

Posted: July 29, 2021 at 9:30 am   /   Columnists

Well, I thought it wouldn’t come to this, but LOML and I have told close family members they are not welcome at our house because of their COVID-19 denial and their vaccine refusal. I did, originally, type “vaccine hesitancy”, but I don’t think they’re hesitant. They refuse to be vaccinated. The mom of the group […]

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Just Around the Corner

Posted: July 22, 2021 at 9:54 am   /   Columnists

Ah, July! You are already half-past. How did you manage to roll-on-by so quickly? I’ve hardly had a moment to think about what I’d like to do during the “summer” and here we are looking toward the first days of August. In my mind, I have always thought of August as the Sunday evenings of […]

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Where is our vision on that?

Posted: July 22, 2021 at 9:52 am   /   Columnists

The County’s long-awaited Destination Development Strategy Report landed before Committee of the Whole last week for comment. And there is a lot to chew on in the report. How many more tourists can the County accommodate? Can it host them with a smile? Can it discourage some types of tourist while encouraging others? How much […]

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Step three beckons

Posted: July 15, 2021 at 10:12 am   /   Columnists

On Friday, Ontario will move on to Step Three of its three-step COVID-19 recovery plan. And the floodgates will verily open. Outdoor social gatherings may be held for up to 100 people. Indoor gatherings for up to 25 people will be allowed. Restaurants will be open for both indoor and outdoor dining, without table size […]

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July, the P word and birthdays

Posted: July 15, 2021 at 10:00 am   /   Columnists

It’s Sunday evening. Like most of you, I’m tired of The Pandemic. I’m tired of writing about it. I’m tired of living it. I’m just, plain and simple, tired. But, I’m not sure if I’m ready to go back to “the good old days”, because I can’t imagine getting too close to people outside of […]

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Old dogs, new tricks

Posted: July 8, 2021 at 9:55 am   /   Columnists

Near the end of their lives, my parents struggled with technology. Dad felt his career disappeared when engineering and design firms switched to CAD systems. Although I’m sure Dad’s drawings were as accurate and far more beautiful than computer-assisted, hand drawings and plans weren’t as fast and were more difficult to share with a client […]

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(Charitable) Adventurers in Space

Posted: July 8, 2021 at 9:54 am   /   Columnists

Maybe they all grew up watching the dashing, pompous and utterly incompetent Link Hogthrob captain the Swinetrek segments on that old television series The Muppet Show. Because there’s a confluence of the energies of Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson and Elon Musk around space travel. Mr. Bezos has announced that he will enter orbit on his […]

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Conform, reform, reconcile, denial

Posted: July 1, 2021 at 9:33 am   /   Columnists

So many emotions, none of them good. We’ve had just over two weeks of eye-opening revelations and there doesn’t seem to be an end in sight. I’m afraid, as humans, we’ll become insensitive to the horror of what will be “unearthed” over the next weeks or months and years. For certain, someone thought the horror […]

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Almost Cut My Hair

Posted: June 25, 2021 at 9:13 am   /   Columnists

“Almost cut my hair…” That was the first line in the dirge performed by David Crosby on the 1970 album Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, It spoke of the hippie’s existential crisis—that he would even contemplate cutting his shoulder-length hair was a sign that things had gone badly wrong. Mr. Crosby—who today sports long white […]

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With Glowing Hearts and Fireworks

Posted: June 24, 2021 at 9:37 am   /   Columnists

Yep, it’s Father’s Day as I write this week’s column. As fathers go, I had a pretty good one. He worked hard. He loved his kids. He loved Mom. He loved to swim. He loved a camping trip. He loved skating and playing hockey. He loved drawing and planning on paper. He had a big […]

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