FIRE! at Total Loss Farm — the case of the missing mailbox
A CURIOUS PHOTO of this lost object suddenly appeared in my email recently, under the subject line “Total Loss artifact.” I gasped when I opened the attachment.
Read more 
Bernie LePage: fourth generation Métis fisherman works southern Georgian Bay
THE DAY STARTS very early for Bernie LePage from late April to early December. He leaves his home in Nobel, Ontario at 3:45 am, then drives 90 minutes south to Thunder Beach, on the tip of the Penetanguishene peninsula.
Read more
The story of a tiny Covid obsession
ONCE UPON A TIME there was a girl named Rose. She loved books and read voraciously. Her dad was a trained pressman who eventually became the head of printing at University of Toronto Press, overseeing the production of hundreds of monographs.
Read more
He was a Toronto industrialist … until they sent him to the sanatorium
THIS IS MY great-grandfather, Robert Kilgour — a handsome dude! It’s a haunting, melancholic portrait, a black-and-white photograph colourized by hand I believe. His beard and countenance resemble Sigmund Freud, who lived during roughly the same era in a different part of the world.
Read more
My cardiologist never smiles, but I still love him
I’VE COME TO ADORE my cardiologist, even though he sometimes delivers disturbing news and forces me to contemplate my mortality every time I’m in his office. I didn’t always feel this way about him.
Read more
Ragnar Relay Niagara: five thoughts
We packed 12 guys into two mini-vans and ran 304 kilometres non-stop. With a start line in Cobourg, Ontario, we traced a big-C around Lake Ontario, finishing in Niagara Falls. Astoundingly, we covered the distance in just over 24 hours, running continuously (but one guy at a time), along with 200 other teams (finish times range from 21 to 37 hours). Our average pace? Just under five minutes per kilometre.
Read more
It’s more fun to be the predator than the prey
AT THE END of last Sunday’s Around The Bay 30 kilometre road race, I felt elated. I threw my hands in the air and cracked a big finish line smile. That doesn’t always happen.
Read more
Five haikus to the root canal
The endodontist
Read more
Zen and the art of bike tripping
When my buddy and I biked across the country in 1976, the only book we carried with us was “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert Pirsig. I’m not sure why.The dense monster of a novel was about philosophy, reason and mental illness – although it was also a sort of travelogue. Maybe that’s what possessed us to bring it along for our own adventure.
Read more
Lost behind enemy lines: Bill and Rocky
IT’S MARCH 1945, just two months before the end of WWII. Bill Barker, 27, is flying his Spitfire on a bombing and strafing mission over Germany. He gets hit by enemy fire, his plane is damaged, but Bill isn’t hurt. He radios his squadron to say he’s returning to base in England as quickly as possible.
Read more