Maple syrup silly season
It must be maple syrup silly season. There has been a dispute about which province is the second largest maple syrup producer in the country. According to a recent Canadian Press article, the Ontario Maple Syrup Producers’ Association has prepared a television commercial that touts Ontario as Canada’s second largest producer of maple syrup. It […]
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose
By the time this column hits the newsstand it’ll be half-past IWD. I was thirty-something when I first became aware of Women’s Day. A workplace colleague asked me if I’d be interested in being part of a committee to address women’s issues in the workplace. I assumed the biggest issue would be having an operational […]
The undoing of Donald Trump
The coronavirus outbreak can’t really be said to have an upside. The illness is spreading rapidly across the world. Containment is an option that is rapidly closing. Management of its spread is becoming the top priority. Which takes us to Donald Trump. Mr. Trump has met every crisis that has faced him—most of them arising […]
Imagine Roaring in like a Lion
In like a lion, or so I’ve heard. It’s March! My, how time flies when you’re having fun. You are having fun, right? I know I must be. There are so many reasons to be in a good mood, these days. Coronavirus, rail blockades, stock markets plummeting, education workers striking and this freaking weather—all reasons […]
The robin, the blue jay and Monsieur Benoit
It wasn’t so much as spotting the robin this morning; it was the screech of the blue jays that whet the appetite to write. I’m not sure how to spell the sound the blue jays make when they get excited; you know, the scream of alarm outing predators nearby. The blue jay call can easily […]
Dear Diary
It’s been another day of long lineups at the grocery store. Our new carbon rationing cards have just been issued, and the Youth Environmental Corps volunteers, in their colourful green uniforms, are checking everyone very carefully as they pass by the checkout counters. The new cards were issued by the federal government, and the Youth […]
Mea Maxima Culpa
I suppose I don’t know where to start. When I was a child, my parents raised me a Catholic. I went to Church on Sunday, attended Catholic School, read my Catechism, took part in “the sacraments” and tried to believe my life could be just like the stories in our Faith and Freedom Readers. At […]
Transcendent Night
Some North American tribes called the full moon of February the Hunger Moon or the Storm Moon. By midwinter the stash of supplies were low and game scarce. I think about all of that tonight. It’s late, past midnight I figure and I find the moon to be calming as it lights up the trail […]
500 million light years away
Researchers based in Vancouver have generated quite a buzz with a paper describing their observation of something called Fast Radio Bursts. Fast Radio Bursts are sudden pulses of radio waves that come from outside our galaxy and last only a fraction of a second. Using a telescope introduced in 2018, the scientists have recorded some […]
Heart of my heart
In the blink of an eye you find yourself asking Google about the shortness of breath you experienced when you were in the grocery store this morning. It has never happened before. Well, it happened a few times before, but it never stopped you in your tracks. It happened before before, but it never made […]