By Jim Poling Sr. Movies set in times past sometimes reflect times present. I was thinking about that while re-watching the Hollywood classic Chinatown starring Faye Dunaway and Jack Nicholson. A brief refresher: Nicholson plays…
An enormous toll
By Chad Ingram On Monday in front of the cenotaph at the Village Green in Minden residents will gather for a solemn annual tradition. Members of the Minden Legion’s Colour Party will march in the…
Gone but not forgotten
Slap!!! That is the sound of my hand crushing the life out of the last mosquito of 2019. The mosquitoes stayed late this year possibly because of the wetness and lack of frost. I can’t…
Emergency declaration
Last week members of Haliburton County council declined to pass a resolution declaring climate change an emergency but did have a long discussion about it and passed a lengthy resolution making it clear the local…
Thoughts while waiting for winter
Reflections during a dismal post-election pre-Halloween week: Presumably and hopefully blackface will not be part of Halloween costuming this year. It was when I was a child. The only concern back then was expressed by…
Behind the scenes
By Chad Ingram THE 2019 FEDERAL election concluded Monday night a lukewarm finale to what has been a tiring and cynical campaign and one that certainly neither of this country’s two main parties should be…
Predictions for winter
The acorns are the first alarm. Night breezes rustle the oaks shaking their capped nuts from their branches. I hear them hitting the steel roof above my bedroom. My slippers crack and crunch them when…
Thankful
Flowers have been ripped from the window boxes and beds. In the shed and in the boathouse deck furniture and lawn games and lifejackets have all been stowed away and tomorrow my dad will perform…
Mudslinging
By Chad Ingram This federal election has devolved into the country’s two major parties asking us to choose which of their leaders is less terrible. All political campaigns involve negative advertising attacking one’s opponents. However…
The story of Trumpinocchio
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin was a solitary child with no interest in things that amused other children. His sole plaything was a fat red crayon with which he drew world maps. His crayoned maps showed a…
And no birds sang
By Jim Poling Sr. Fifty-seven years ago last week – Sept. 27 1962 – Rachel Carson published Silent Spring the book that really got us thinking about what we are doing to the environment. Silent…
Get out of their way
By Chad Ingram A distasteful trend as of late has been the number of adult residents of the county who seem to think nothing of insulting and mocking local teenagers on social media because they…
Among the oaks
There is no better place to sit and think than on one of the rocky outcrops offering entrancing views of the magnificent Haliburton landscape. I am sitting on one now staring down at the mysteries…
Meet your candidates
By Chad Ingram The federal election campaign is underway and amid a few exploding proverbial bombshells the major party leaders are busy making stops in communities across Canada and making promises while they are there.…
Real news
The writ was dropped last week which means the next federal election is just more than four weeks away and that Canadians will be faced with a deluge of ads and information during the next…
Resetting thinking for the future
Relax people. Let’s refocus and reset our thinking. We need not allow septic tank politicking for the Oct. 21 federal election to distract us from thinking about the critical issue affecting us all: What is…
The four stages of competence
By Laurie Sweig The stages of competence define how we learn. Four very distinct stages have been identified. Here’s the breakdown: • Stage One - Unconscious incompetence: We all have to start somewhere, and this…
The unfair cottage tax
By Jim Poling Sr. The campaigning has yet to hit full stride, but federal election day is just over a month away with plenty of serious issues to debate. There is one issue that…
Waste wizardry
By Chad Ingram This column is about a digital application for waste disposal and recycling, which is a lot cooler than it sounds. During their meeting last week, Algonquin Highlands councillors were given a…
A sign
By Chad Ingram During the Labour Day weekend we took a family day trip to Fenelon Falls which was excellent. It’s been years since I’ve spent much time there and it’s apparent there’s an ongoing…