By JAN MAIN At last – with warming temperatures, we can look forward to dining outdoors and greater freedom! Perhaps we could have a few friends join us? Safely of course, with social distancing. Almost like the “olden days” when a backyard barbecue was a regular activity. Nothing is taken for granted anymore. The thought […]
By JACQUELINE CORRIGAN Nothing says the beginning of summer more than rosé wines. Many countries make them. The most famous being from Italy , Portugal and France. As we canʼt fly to any of these places right now we can, however, imagine ourselves there as we live in our own little Mediterranean corner of the […]
By ALI RAZA I never expected to find a job in journalism during a global pandemic. Seriously, how do you even plan for something like that? Pandemic or not, the news never stops. While most of us have been inundated with stories surrounding COVID-19, I’d like to offer a friendly reminder that while global events […]
By ANN BROKELMAN First an update on Wol the great horned owlet: Three weeks to the day after he was put in a new laundry basket nest, Wol both branched and fledged. The roller coaster of emotions from watching this little owlet have everyone who helped feeling exhausted. On May 8 I went up to […]
By MARY FRAN McQUADE You’ve carefully tended those tiny seedlings for weeks, and now it’s time for them to go out into the wide world of your garden. If you’re a new veggie parent, you may be wondering what happens next, now that they’re out there on their own. Fear not – I talked to […]
By TOM TREI Sunday, May 3, was a sunny, warm spring day with sparse groups and individuals going for walks on the Boardwalk and Queen Street East. The crowds were far less than what one usually encounters on a typical warm spring or summer weekend, with most people trying to maintain some social distancing, though […]
By PATRICK BEEDLING A visit to Kew Gardens on a weekday morning in April left me with the impression that Toronto had lost its big city feel. Aside from a family of geese and a few people out with their dogs, my four-year-old daughter and I found ourselves alone in the deep outfield of the […]
By NATHANIEL ERSKINE-SMITH The curve is bending and our economy is slowly beginning to re-open, but we need to remain vigilant. As individuals, we need to maintain our determination and keep our physical distance from one another. As governments, we need to move much more quickly to scale up rapid testing and contact tracing efforts. […]
By WAYNE WALDER I wonder…..has the angel of death in the story of Passover touched us? In the old story her touch is misfortune, yet her touch is perfectly normal. We all face misfortune, illness and death at one time or another. But in this pandemic, COVID-19 has touched the whole world at the same […]
By BERNIE FLETCHER “Endurance was our only resource.” (Diary entry of Robert Buckham, Feb. 2 1945.) There isn’t much to celebrate in these troubled times, but May 8 marks the 75th anniversary of VE Day, Victory in Europe Day. For one Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) pilot it was the end of a desperate and […]
