Regular readers of this column know I very seldom name names.  I’ve always felt my immediate family is fair game but anyone else is off limits.  This time that changes. A bit of backstory.  From Where I Sit first appeared in a local weekly newspaper in April 2002.  A few months later when it became… Read more »

Dear Barb: I have three young boys in public school.  We live in a rural community in Ontario.  Yesterday morning I received a phone call from the principal at my children’s school because my son had arrived at school at 8:50 am rather than 9:00 am.  Ten minutes! I was enraged! I have had several… Read more »

Artist: D.O.A. Tour: Canadian Fight Back Tour Coming from their summer tour that took them across Europe and Asia, D.O.A. are right back at it for their Canadian Fight Back Tour.  D.O.A.  have never been shy when it comes to political issues, and nothing has changed in the face of the current political environment.  The… Read more »

Hope blew in the day Cuddles nicknamed me “Nicee.” Names spark hope and sometimes save necks—but always pep up writers’ pens.  So, observe—and name—the whatchamacallits of the world, says author Barbara Baig (2015). To master names, buy kids’ encyclopedias.  While reading an encyclopedia of science, I learned makeup comes from petroleum—yes, grease á la ground—ooze… Read more »

“How is school going?” For students the world over, that question often invokes feelings of stress and anxiety about interactions with classmates.  It’s been that way since the first cave family sent their kids down the mountain to an educational quarry.  Essay deadlines and academic struggles are unavoidable if we are to succeed in university… Read more »

Do you get heebie-jeebies from 100% dark cocoa?  Grossed out by sewage-lips from Buckley’s cough syrup?  Cross-eyed from steaming showers?  These things might not feel good.  But are they healthy? I believe the best gauge of health is sickness.  History’s healers surely studied health while sick.  Why?  Sore tummies make us sensitive to foods, heat,… Read more »

For an essential and versatile ingredient found in nearly every meal you’d think we have better ways of cooking the yolky contents.  But when it comes to eggs, we resort to the mundane poached, scrambled, or pan-fried varieties.  Occasionally we might treat ourselves to an eggs benedict, but few of us have experimented with making… Read more »

For most of us the ability to travel by air is a treat and a blessing.  We’re not required to do so for high-powered careers or trans-continental love affairs.  We’re usually heading out on vacation and already in a good frame of mind. Oh, sure we get ticked off by the high ticket prices, the… Read more »

Dear Barb: Hi, my brother is addicted to opiates.  His wife and two kids have suffered extensively from his addiction, as have my parents.  He has tried many times to get off the drugs but it hasn’t worked.  He mostly lives on the streets and has no income to speak of.  He often shows up… Read more »

Learn how to paint words—in your writing, life, and dreams.  Creative people think thoughts as vivid as movies, says author Barbara Baig (2015).  So, daydream Gone with the Wind in words.  But first, study your dreams. Once, I awoke during a dream, but the dream kept playing.  So, I quietly watched the dream like a… Read more »