By Laurie Sweig I love moving my body. That may not be a surprise to anyone. I have always maintained some level of fitness. My fitness has ebbed and flowed over the years but it…
Finding ancient treasure
By Jim Poling Sr. I love when spring cleaning uncovers a treasure of the past.There it was among the rubble of a long-forgotten junk box: a once valuable tool and an important piece of history.…
A bad joke
By Chad Ingram On April Fool's Day, just a day before the Easter weekend and two days after hinting Ontarians shouldn't make Easter plans, Premier Doug Ford announced another “shutdown” in the province amid the…
The time of awakening
By Jim Poling Sr. The spring forest is deceiving.This is supposed to be a wonderful time of awakening. The sounds and movement of new life should be exploding all around me.Yet it is sleepy and…
Snap, crackle, pop
By Laurie Sweig It doesn’t take much effort for my body to make sounds during certain movements. During a squat it seems to be my right knee that crackles but the left knee is silent.…
Mountains on matchsticks
By Chad Ingram Municipal treasurers, other staff members, councillors and, well, I'm just going to go ahead and say everybody, probably, must be relieved that another budget season has come to pass. And while the…
Creating happiness
By Jim Poling Sr. Feeling unhappy?Many Canadians are. We just placed 15th on the latest United Nations’ World Happiness Index. That’s down from eighth three years ago.Well, cheer up. You can take a course to…
Iodine
By Laurie Sweig I can’t say that I give a lot of thought to the amount of iodine I’m consuming. I’m only thinking (and writing) about it now because it came up during a workout…
Third wave
By Chad Ingram At this point it's almost a familiar feeling, a sense of “here we go again,” watching new daily confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Ontario approach 2,000. Spring is here and so is…
Racist or just plain stupid?
By Jim Poling Sr. There are clues, but the sensational British royalty whodunnit remains unsolved.Would-be detectives are poring over statements, reading between lines, sifting the clues but no one has found any solid evidence of…
Please protect wetlands
To the Editor, Wetlands enrich our lives. They are places where we can observe and learn about a diversity of plants and animals while enjoying a quiet, natural environment. But wetlands accomplish much, much more.They…
Make take out/ordering in healthy
By Laurie Sweig Going out to a restaurant was always a treat. Sometimes it was to try something I would never cook, and sometimes it was to avoid cooking altogether. This pandemic situation that we’ve…
Happy trails, Mike
By Chad Ingram That voice. That unmistakable, instantly identifiable voice. For nearly 18 years, Mike Jaycock has been a foundational personality and ubiquitous presence at Canoe FM, the county's volunteer community radio station. In short…
One year forward
By Sue Tiffin We joke that it’s March again, but feels like it’s still March, acting as though the point last year when much of the world acknowledged the need for an abrupt pivot in…
Instant gratification
By Laurie Sweig It’s taken me a long time but I’m figuring out the perils of instant gratification. Instant gratification is defined as the desire to experience pleasure or fulfillment without delay or deferment. Sadly,…
Pandemic as political cover
To the Editor, Using the pandemic for political cover, the Ford government is fast-tracking Highway 413, cutting through 55 kilometres of prime farmlands, conservation land, waterways and protected areas. The corresponding urban sprawl will destroy…
The great birdsong mystery
By Jim Poling Sr. Our first guess at the source of the bird tweets, twitters and cheeps was a robin.We were in the living room one afternoon when the racket began. It was sharp, penetrating…
Parade of memories
By Chad Ingram Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, I have continued to work from the Minden Times office most days of the week. The office has been closed to the public at various points, but I…
Find calm
By Laurie Sweig I am not a fan of getting stuck in traffic. Specifically, the bumper-to-bumper type that has you inching forward at a rate slower than any sloth I’ve seen on a YouTube video.…
Primary concern size of setbacks
To the Editor, Re: County to post FAQs for publicI read with interest your article.Following this issue since it lately came to my attention, it strikes me that the property owners might need to create…
Rotisserie chicken for dinner?
By Jim Poling Sr. It is cold, snowing and the car headlights snap on as twilight descends over the final kilometers of the trip back from the Big Smoke.Twilight means it is dinner time and…