By Jim Poling Sr.From Shaman's Rock I yearned recently for a dose of nostalgia so I bought Carl Bernstein’s memoir Chasing History: A Kid in the Newsroom. Bernstein and I had much in common as kids…
Thoughts from a woodpile
By Jim Poling Sr.From Shaman's Rock The first sounds of winter’s retreat come from snow melting off the metal sheets covering my woodpile. Plink . . . plink . . . plink. Slow, almost imperceptible. …
Letter to the Editor: Feb. 23
The following is a Letter to the Editor submitted for the Feb. 23 edition. Ice racing is family driven To the Editor, This past Family Day weekend of 2022 saw a great group of racers…
Letter to the Editor: Feb. 16
The following is a Letter to the Editor printed in the Feb. 16 edition of the Minden Times. There is policing and then there’s policing To the Editor, Do Canadian police forces respond similarly or…
Xi and Bobby McGee
By Jim Poling Sr.From Shaman’s Rock I shouldn’t have had that extra glass of wine before going to bed. I savoured it while watching the news, forgetting that late-night wine and late-night news combine to…
Letters to the Editor: Feb. 9
Letters to the Editor submitted to the Feb. 9 edition of the Minden Times. Big thanks to Canoe FM! To the Editor, The Volunteer Dental Outreach for Haliburton County (VDO) would like to express deep gratitude…
What’s up with the weather
By Jim Poling Sr.From Shaman's Rock It’s February! Time for happy dancing and thumbing noses at the month just expired. January was wretched. A coronavirus that would not go away. Threats of war between the…
Sharing is not always caring
By Sue Tiffin Last week, someone who works in media elsewhere in the province told me that as the truck convoy filled the streets, so too did angry, misinformed emails in their inbox. The emails…
Letters to the Editor: Feb. 2
Letters to the Editor submitted to the Feb. 2 edition of the Minden Times. Road repair and resurfacing To the Editor, The following is an open letter to the councillors who decide on road repairs: 1:…
Following a convoy of courage
By Jim Poling Sr.From Shaman's RockI am proud to report that I was one of the journalists covering that heroic highway convoy. It was a courageous event that demonstrated the strength of human spirit. It happened…
Freedom
By Sue Tiffin This week marks the anniversary of the time Canada’s first confirmed COVID-19 case was reported in Toronto in 2020, and this upcoming Sunday will mark two years since Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus…
Letter to the Editor: Jan. 26
A Letter to the Editor submitted to the Jan. 26 edition of the Minden Times. Beautiful lights in the dark : A thanks to the snow plowers on Hwy. 35 To the Editor, They’re coming ...…
Hooked on SUV
By Jim Poling Sr.From Shaman's Rock I have a confession to make: I am an addict. Not tobacco. Not drugs. Not alcohol. I’m addicted to a television show. It’s odd, because I’ve never particularly liked…
Letters to the Editor: Jan. 19
Letters to the Editor submitted to the Jan. 19 edition of the Minden Times. Ice racer appreciates green light from council To the Editor, I would like to applaud the unanimous vote on Jan. 13 by…
Snow day
By Sue Tiffin It’s been a long, hard winter but not for the usual weather-related reasons. For some days leading up to Christmas, I wondered if it would be a touch on the green side…
Learning to live in the future
By Jim Poling Sr. From Shaman's Rock The kids are back in school, which is a good thing. Excellent education without COVID-19 infections is the hope of all. Canada has good education systems with teachers…
Letters to the Editor: Jan. 12
Letters to the Editor published in the Jan. 12 edition of the Minden Times. We’ve been here before To the Editor, I’ve been doing what many others have likely been doing during the pandemic – projects…
Being a friend
By Sue Tiffin Generally this space is dedicated to thoughts on more local topics and so it might be odd for you to find yourself, now, reading about American actress and comedian Betty White, but…
Dreaming of life without digital
By Jim Poling Sr. From Shaman's Rock How sad that the sweetest dreams never last long, or come true. Just the other night my fantastically happy dream evaporated into the shrill ring of my mobile…
What we’ve learned
By Sue Tiffin Reviewing the papers of 2021 to compile the annual Year in Review section for this week’s edition was at times a heavy task as the COVID-19 pandemic carried on throughout a second…
Surviving lives in the forest
By Jim Poling Sr.From Shaman's Rock There was no finer sight for a New Year’s morning. At the edge of a freshly snow-covered clearing behind my place stood a whitetail doe and her fawn. The…