By Laurie Carmount Special to the Times Published April 13 2017 Climate Change is a hot topic heard daily in our media. There is much concern and debate about it. For this reason the programming…
Spring Clean-up Series: Range of Motion
By Laurie Sweig Special to the Times Published April 13 2017 A little while ago I saw this post on a social media site of a guy attempting to touch his toes. It took him…
What lurks below?
By Jim Poling Published April 6 2017 I can’t delay any longer. It is April and it has to get done so I’ll just have to screw up my nerve and get on with it…
Absence of good government
By Jim Poling Published March 30 3017 The New York Times ’ columnist Paul Krugman wrote recently that the Republican party now governing the U.S. is not ready to govern. I would add this: There…
Here are the news
By Jim Poling Published March 23 2017 I woke this morning with a head like a fermenting pumpkin ready to explode. No I do not have a late winter cold. It’s just that I’m stuffed…
A word on words: authors’ choices matter
Erin's Editions By Erin Kernohan-Berning Published in County Life March 9 2017 I recently had the opportunity to attend a talk by André Alexis author of the Giller Prize winning Fifteen Dogs . His third…
It’s not what you think
By Laurie Carmount Curator Agnes Jamieson Gallery I s Art “elitist”? Art is a reflection of society. There is little else that could be more about humanity. Why is it then that some people think…
We are story
By Jim Poling Published March 16 2017 Richard Wagamese completed his life journey last week leaving behind the only thing any of us leave: his story. It is a brilliant inspiring story. A homeless street…
The winter-spring battle
By Jim Poling Published March 7 2017 There is good news and not-so-good news about the weather for Haliburton County over the next three months. The not-so-good news: What we saw this week is likely…
Report from Snowpocalypse
When you’ve lived much of your life in snow country grossly swelling snow banks are no big deal. Certainly nothing to worry about. Last week surrounded by snow banks towering 12 to 14 feet high…
Stuart McLean's illumination
News of a death does not always bring only dark sadness. Sometimes it brings illumination. That was the case last week when we learned that Stuart McLean an unpretentious Canadian icon had passed away. He…
Reading to understand each other
By Jim Poling Published Feb. 16 2017 The number of Canadians who say they read books is continuing to drop. That’s not good news because reading books is known to make us better informed citizens…
Making the forest great again
By Jim Poling Published Feb. 9 2017 A dark and heavy despondency had fallen over the forest. The creatures who worked and lived there brooded over their declining state of affairs. The beavers complained about jobs…
It's about the birds
By Jim Poling Published Feb. 2 2017 Canada is a country of great diversity so it is odd that we might still want to single out anything as especially special in identifying our nationality. Yes…
A return to 'normal' winter?
By Jim Poling Published Jan. 26 2017 So winter returns to normal this weekend. Sort of. Daytime temperatures are forecast to be below the “normal” of minus five starting this weekend. Overnight lows will drop…
Extra! Trump's inauguration speech
You read it here first! Through fantastic reporting I have obtained Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration speech. Obviously I can’t reveal how I got it except to say that brilliant reporting was involved. So while the…
Toilet tissue in a bonfire
By Jim Poling Published Jan. 12 2017 Few things hurt more than making a mistake that costs money. It hurts even more when the mistake is combined with being ripped off. I made a mistake…
Better than the last?
By Jim Poling Published Jan. 5 2017 The hootin’ and hollerin’ over the passing of the old year has subsided as we move along trying to make this one better than the last. More folks…
A cash-for-access party
A courier arrived at my door and handed me an envelope embossed with the Canadian coat of Arms. You know the one with the scowling lion and a silly unicorn each holding a flag. I tore…
Our drug overdose epidemic
Back in 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) arrived in Toronto from China. Roughly 400 people got it 43 died Ontario declared a public health emergency and the rest of the country lived in fear…
Deja vu all over again
By Jim Poling Published Dec. 8 2016 There are none so blind as those that cannot see. He didn’t say those words but that’s the real message delivered last week by Michael Ferguson the federal…