For me, the concept of ant-ridden food, ants in bed and ants all over the bathroom just doesn’t cut it
When you spend a few years living up the coast in a forest, you learn about the seasons. And I don’t just mean the obvious: winter, spring, summer and fall. There are literally hundreds of others seasons: pink salmon season, humpback whale season, rufous hummingbird season, rhododendron season, Steller sea lion rutting season, black bear…
Amidst the turmoil, simple acts of kindness: feeding a homeless man, art classes for apartment kids, and Wood Camp with Steve
My wife and I had dinner with old friends last month. One continues to work in the final year of distinguished academic service as a professor; the other has recently retired from a career in planning and consulting. In these situations, I find that our conversation tends to focus on the partner who has made…
Big cities were going to be nirvana for artists, designers and technology freaks. But high costs are leading them to happy lives in rural settings instead
Way back in 2003, urban planning guru Richard Florida was in Calgary to lecture on creative capital, the emerging millennial wave and the new cool concept of Bohemian index. Big cities like Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal were going to become the new nirvana as a wave of musicians, artists, designers, architects, writers and information technology freaks swarmed…
Fitting in to a small community requires loyalty, persistence, desire and a sense of the character – and characters – around you
When you move from the city to a small town on the B.C. coast, you become the beneficiary of many gifts. Some take awhile to acknowledge and some are obvious straight away. To start with, everyone you do business with makes more of an effort than they do in the city, where retail anonymity rules.…
Unlike in large cities, you don’t really have a favourite coffee shop in small towns; your locale is based on whom you are going to meet
Where I live, the metropolis is a small town of about 20,000 folks. Those of us who live out in the country (locally referred to as ‘highway people’), have to go into town at least once a week to do errands and shop. When we do, we often have meetings in coffee shops. Unlike my…
The CRTC hopes to identify what telecommunications services are necessary for all Canadians, along with how to fund them
The CRTC is in the midst of a review of basic telecommunications services in Canada, which includes public hearings due to begin in April. As part of the review, the regulator hopes to identify what telecommunications services are necessary for all Canadians and the means to fund universal access to those services deemed necessary. Current…
Ontario cropland has increased since the 1950s, while farming efficiency also improved