Imagine this! It’s a glorious summer day. Waves lap the shore of Kempenfelt Bay. A splendid cabin cruiser rocks you gently in the water. An attentive aesthetician gives you a body massage with essential oils that are matched to enhance your body type. You enjoy a deep cleansing facial, including exfoliation of dead skin cells,…
Remember your days in science class? You know, when we learn that something falls at a speed of 32 feet per second, squared? Or, when you learned about the theory of relativity? This takes me back a few years to my tiny daughter, in her first week of kindergarten at Codrington School. “Mummy,” she wailed,…
Mary Bailey grinned at me this winter as she ushered me to my seat at Gryphon Theatre. Mary has been a loyal usher and theatre guild volunteer since its inception in 1973. Tireless, friendly, and always pleasant, Mary had a story to tell. She was amazed at an assignment given to her grand-daughter Marla and…
There’s nothing Joan Jarvis can do about the cold. We live in Barrie. It’s cold. But this tiny woman has used her end of work and early retirement years to bring warmth and food, blankets and safety where there was none. It’s Joan who developed Barrie’s program to feed street people in our community. Most…
Thelma Cockburn has courage. It takes incredible courage to process your own pain, work through it, identify it in others and build a system which makes a difference in people’s lives. And because she’s at the helm of a program that helps people deal with life’s inner hurts, Thelma must be prepared to speak publicly…
Wow! Have you seen the flower pots downtown? They’re gorgeous. Huge sidewalk pots, spilling over with fuschia petunias and hanging pots of petunias, geraniums, lobelia… bravo to the Downtown Improvement Board and its contracted gardening expert. What a nice shopping environment.… It’s funny how a brain takes on information Every day as I drive to…
My friend Heather (I wrote about Heather awhile back… she gave us a unique summer gift of two caterpillars called Leafy and Gizmo) suffered a stroke on her 51st birthday. It’s been six months now, and Heather is struggling to regain some use of her left arm and leg. A virtual team of supporters are…
Coincidence is a funny thing. About six weeks ago, I began planning a website. Purpose of the website is to publicize the federal government’s Self Employment Assistance Program, which I have the privilege to deliver. As well, I want to promote my own communications and training business, work I do in addition to small business…
John Maltby is 63 years old. He’s a father and a grandfather. And he’s a father in law. He is also suffering with ALS, more commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. With books like Tuesdays With Morrie, by Mitch Albom; and the public struggles of brave souls like Sue Rodriguez, we know more about ALS…
My friend Penny is the mother of three of the world’s most energetic boys, spaced a year apart. While they were whipping around a Georgian Bay island one summer, Penny was talking about her “winter” life, and the cocktail parties that she and her husband frequently gave for his business. At one of these events,…