Columns

Greetings, Chafflings, Chaffers and Chafflettes! It is time again to separate the wheat from the laughs, in the ever-spinning downward spiral of introspection that is our weekly foray into the untold depths of the trenches of human humour.

Last month, two immigrant families drowned in the St. Lawrence River trying the cross the border into the U.S. at the Akwesasne reserve near Montreal.

What are about two metres (six feet) tall, made of copper or aluminum and stand at attention, like soldiers on guard, at regular intervals along the peak of a roof? The answer is: lightning rods.

Welcome back to The Chaff-eteria, where we serve up heaping trayfuls of pure, unadulterated Chaff to satisfy even your wildest cravings for the good stuff.

Watching Dazed and Confused, the coming-of-age film set in 1976, the other night, one of the teachers, on the last day of school, issued this warning as the calendar neared July 4 of the United States of America's bicentennial year...

April, in our family, seems to be a time for visiting my doctors, with trips to Kitchener to see my heart specialist and London to see one of two people overseeing my prostate cancer treatment.

Turning the page, A hidden life, Cue the poop (emoji) slinging

A 'win' is just the beginning, Checks and balances, Across the aisle

In the first ever travel edition, The Chaff headed to Chicago and turned an enquiring eye towards the most serious man in all of songdom - musician, truest President, and King of Halloween, Nick Lutsko

Sometimes, living right beside someone and watching their actions from a bit of a distance can just about drive you crazy. No, I'm not talking about my own neighbours, I mean our neighbours in the United States of America.

The stars above the Village of Blyth were beautiful after dark on Easter Sunday. I know this because I was staring at them intently for about an hour or so.

Once called consumption and also labelled the White Death, tuberculosis (T.B.) is a deadly disease that, throughout history, has struck many people, not only locally, but throughout the world.

There's no chance I was the only one who read over that quote from North Huron Reeve Paul Heffer in Scott's budget story last week more than once with confusion and, frankly, fear when thinking about what the next four years may hold.

Welcome to "The Chaff", a weekly column that is definitely completely serious and totally dedicated to being absolutely and fully serious about all of the most serious and important and serious issues affecting us, seriously...

One of the problems of being my age is that you sometimes miss the good things about today because you're thinking about the good things of times past.

A universal milestone, Commander in cuffs, Wild and consequential

Over the weekend, as I watched my two-and-a-half-year-old daughter try to swipe on our television screen and manipulate the goings-on via touch screen, I realized how much has changed from when I was a child to now.

So, the Canada-U.S. agreement last week to shut down illegal immigration through Roxham Road in Quebec put me on the spot. Am I happy, as a Canadian, to see an end to people who are avoiding the rules to enter Canada...

Growing more dire, Diminishing returns, Just around the corner

It was in January of 1900 that a number of former Huronites, who were making a new life for themselves in Toronto, decided to form a group called the Huron County Old Boys Association (HOB).

After turning 40 last year (readers may remember my series of columns that was both heralded by critics and championed by mass audiences), it's hard to consider myself "young" anymore. Sure, in some relative terms, I am young, but in many other ways,

Three things came together to suggest this column last Friday.

Up in flames, No Pride in play, Those closest to you

Roll up, Pay up, Measure Twice, Cut Once, Inevitable Conflict?