You might call this the ripple effect. One set of knitting needles, wool, a hip grandmother with a cause, and … a teddy bear. Symbol of comfort in our society, the teddy bear has long been the ‘bearer’ of joy, mystery, excitement, travel. A number of women in our community, using their single pebble, their…
The purpose of a vacation, I believe, is to put our souls in touch with the earth. To calm down. To set aside the daily cares which, in the greater scheme of things, are not as important as we treat them on a daily basis. I am on vacation. I’m trying to do just that….
The year 2008. Literally thousands of people pour into Barrie. Some book hotels and B&Bs because they’ve taken booths in Kempenfest, Barrie’s One of a Kind Show of the north. Artisans of every kind come to display their wares, hoping that their price point is appealing and that they go home having made money. Performers…
I’ve been thinking a lot about parents and little kids these days. Maybe it’s because it’s summer. Maybe it’s because when I see all the kids in pure joy in the ball fountain area of Heritage Park, it makes me wish that Heritage Park had even existed when my kids were little. Maybe it’s because…
Paul Hermiston learned at an early age to stand up for what he believed in, to stand alone when he needed to and to care for those he loved with great passion. Born and raised in Cobalt, mining ran deep in his veins and girls ran eagerly into the arms of this dashing young man…
She used to train sea lions at Wonderland. And then she applied to be a school bus driver for Sinton Transportation. As she took her hours at the wheel to earn her B class licence, she confided to HR Manager Christine Johnson: “I don’t know if I can do this, deal with all these children…
When Peter Northcott moved to Barrie in 1971, the two major photography forces in town were Red Favero and Joe Waterer at Camera Craft. Charlie Smith had a studio on Owen St, too. Peter was selling Gaf photography equipment, in a sales territory that ran from Barrie to Wawa. He also had a young wife…
Imagine this, if you will. An old lady, aged 97, looks up at you from her keyboard and asks, mid-email, ‘where the heck IS the internet? It’s the kind of question whose answer needs a context. “Well, Mom, the Internet is like God; it’s everywhere and nowhere!” The answer sat well with Isabel Nash and…
Leave it to the egos of we Baby Boomers to come up with the phrase progressive lenses. Who are we kidding? Our parents called them bifocals; I call them ‘need glasses for everything.’ A long time contact lens wearer for distance only, I’m now at that awkward phase of needing help to see stop signs…
Twenty years ago, Dave Cohlemeyer would have been considered weird. Futurists usually are. Dave adopted and adapted a lifestyle commitment, wound it around his beliefs, nurtured it into a business that is today at the pinnacle of national reputation. Twenty years ago, Dave crammed himself into a little house on the 9th concession of Essa…