By Vivian Collings Taylor Swift’s lyrics capture the season all too well. Just like a favourite movie over too soon, the summer madness has reached its finale. Much faster than it came, it’s gone. Big…
An apple a day…
By Vivian Collings I went for a motorcycle ride with my dad on Father’s Day.We drove through the Highlands, enjoying the hazy skies, a rocky landscape, and bright green trees, attempting to disconnect from reality…
A COVID silver lining
By Vivian Collings It’s been a couple of months since I sat down with Jenn Mills in the principal’s office at Haliburton Highlands Secondary School to chat about her new position, but I still think…
Listening to understand
By Vivian Collings Places where people gather in Haliburton daily, for whatever the reason may be, are pure magic to me. Castle Antiques is one of those places.Sitting among items loved long ago with a friend,…
Heroes wear pyjamas
The “nightmares” that I remember are often very vivid because they are real-life scenarios; missing a deadline for work, making a big mistake, embarrassing myself in public, etc.While I’m asleep and dreaming, it usually feels…
A dream playground
By Vivian Collings It’s been a couple of months since writing about poverty in the Highlands in one of my editorials.With the launch of the fundraising campaign to build a new playground in Head Lake…
Ahead by a century
By Vivian Collings Although what we see outside our windows right now is similar to looking through a monochromatic filter, Haliburton’s recently been going green in another way. We have some really refreshing environmental initiatives…
An aging population of volunteers
By Vivian Collings St. George’s Anglican Church has decided to end their Shrove Tuesday pancake dinner after hosting it for almost a decade. For the past two years, it was cancelled due to COVID-19 health…
A troubled bridge over water
By Vivian Collings I’m sure many people living on the east side of Koshlong Lake Road past the bridge have been “weary and feeling small” for the past couple of months.The sentiment is there in…
Where’s our empathy
T he temporary closure of Robinson’s General Store came as a pretty shocking blow to Haliburton County last week. If you live here or cottage here, you likely know about the iconic store; the heart…
It’s the little things
By Vivian Collings What a year that was; for me, for you, for the world. While going through the Echo archives to put together the Year in Review for 2022, it felt a little like…
Of difficult choices
By James Matthews Life is rife with tough choices. None of them should be weighing whether or not to put a meal on the table for your family or keeping the heat on during a…
Giving the gift of opportunity
By Vivian Collings We are really good at giving the gift of experiences here in the Highlands; especially to our kids and youth. That makes my heart full. It makes me really proud to live…
The elephant in the County
By Vivian Collings I’ve started this editorial a few times, each with a different subject, a different headline.My first topics weren’t bad ideas, I’m just having a hard time ignoring the elephant in the room.I’m…
Beating the November Blues
By Vivian Collings In this week’s upcoming issue of County Life, Janet Trull called this month No-vember in her piece called November calendar. That is my sentiment, exactly. Let’s be honest; if you live in…
An important day of discomfort
By Vivian Collings I will likely only use the adjectives favourite and sad, together, to describe one noun: Remembrance Day. It has always been one of my favourite days. It has also, naturally, always been…
Hello to my hometown
By Vivian Collings Two songs have been playing on repeat in my head for the past week: Hello, Goodbye by the Beatles and Changes by David Bowie.The two lines in particular, “You say goodbye, and…
Until later …
By Darren Lum Thank you.Two simple words with great weight.I am grateful to everyone who gave their time, but, more importantly, opened their homes, their lives and their hearts in sharing their stories. I am…
You have power
By Darren Lum Maybe it’s an exaggeration to believe voting is pivotal to the next four years, but I wonder.Our participation in democracy depends upon the votes we cast. It requires our attention. I believe…
Nothing is something
By Darren Lum There’s lots of time.Twenty-fours to be exact for each day. One hundred sixty-eight hours in a week. Six hundred seventy two hours in a month. Eight thousand sixty-four hours in a year.…
Every day there is truth, but not reconciliation
By Darren Lum A walk in the woods always leaves me feeling free. Free from stress. Free from the daily grind of life. Just free. Thousands of children didn’t feel this freedom when they were…