By Laurie Sweig Practical Fitness Published May 10 2018 I’ve been inspired to help out with our garden this year. Over the past couple of days I’ve been out cultivating the soil with one of…
Tale of two nations
Published April 19 2018 It was a lifetime ago but I still remember my father bending his tall and lanky frame reaching down to clasp my hand and walking me across the invisible line dividing…
Toddle-luma luma
By Jim Poling Published April 5 2018 The first rain showers of April scattered brief and chilly as they were in the past week have brought out something more than just the promise of May…
Look to the forest
By Jim Poling Published March 27 2018 Spring came in February. Winter followed in March. What April will bring is anyone’s guess. This winter’s wild weather swings confirm for many that our climate is changing…
Ontario's debt crisis
By Jim Poling Published March 22 2018 In all the recent dark and depressing news about governments and the people who run them comes a pinprick of light. Small and distant like a far away…
Nobody's kid sister
By Jim Poling Published March 15 2018 The United States just isn’t going to put up with it any more. Tired of forever being screwed over by beady-eyed Canadians and sleazy Mexican drug lords. Bad…
And the winner is . . .
Interesting things are missed when there is so much news happening around the world. The Valentine’s Day school massacre in Florida the prime minister’s Indian debacle this winter’s weird weather (snow in Rome and San…
Escaping winter madness
There are few refuges during a brutal winter; so few places to hide and stay calm and warm. It’s not the weather that has made this winter brutal. It has had its violent ups and…
The crisis Trudeau ignores
By Jim Poling Published Feb. 22 2018 Few people notice or really care but there is a daily newspaper crisis inCanada. It is a crisis that has huge ramifications now and certainlyover time for our…
The spy who fed me shrooms
By Jim Poling Sr. Published Feb. 15 2018 The tiniest things lead to the most important discoveries. With nothing else to do I was thumbing through news photos on the Internet. Boring stuff. Trudeau dabbing…
Bedtime sweet spot
By Laurie Sweig Published Feb. 8 2018 Generally speaking very few people get enough sleep on regular basis. We have all experienced the pressures of trying to do just one more thing before we turn…
Political pipe dream?
By Jim Poling Sr. Published Feb. 8 2018 It’s time that we all started thinking and doing politics differently here in Ontario and elsewhere. The way we do politics is old and rusty. Our political…
The dead and the dazed
By Jim Poling Published Feb. 1 2018 They just don’t get it do they? Our neighbours to the south I mean. Only three weeks into the new year and they already had experienced 11 school…
What is NEAT?
By Laurie Sweig Published Jan. 25 2017 NEAT is not really that neat. It has contributed the expansion of waistlines everywhere. NEAT stands for Non-exercise activity thermogenesis. If you’re reading this article sitting down at…
Play less nice
By Jim Poling Published Jan. 18 2018 Just as I was beginning to think that 2018 is going to be a kinder and gentler year I turned on the television. Definitely a mistake. Exploding on…
The year of the twins
By Jim Poling Published Jan. 11 2018 The New Year brings huge news – there will be no nuclear war with North Korea. That’s my New Year’s scoop based on a remarkable discovery. Through deep-dive…
Mechanically challenged
By Jim Poling Published Dec. 28 2017 If there is reincarnation I want to come back as a motor mechanic. That’s because my current life has been a series of misadventures with machines that burn…
Christmas memories
By Jim Poling Published Dec. 21 2017 The best Christmas presents are memories. Happy memories of times spent with special people some now gone. Memories that never break or wear out and are as wonderful…
Drowning in plastic
By Jim Poling Published Dec. 14 2017 Sometimes I worry about the strangest things. Like yesterday I worried whether the plastic drink cup I saw tossed from a car window will end up in the…
Drama from the Brits
By Jim Poling Published Dec. 7 2017 I’ve not been caught up in and enraptured by the romantic British drama of Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle. Much of the world has and is…
Bugs and the end of life
By Jim Poling Published Nov. 30 3017 The bug season is well beyond the coming winter so it’s safe to write about what wonderful creatures insects are. They do wonderful things for us; pollinate our…