May 2022

Lung story short

LUNGS

Watermark Theatre - April 21, 2022 English playwright Duncan Macmillan’s 2011 two-hander Lungs flies by in a fleeting 80 minutes, yet it spans a ...

Michelle MacCallum

Challenge accepted

When I called Michelle MacCallum to chat, she just came in from a walk in the woods where she was foraging watercress. We talked about the beautiful a...

Fine spring evening

We were stepping out one fine spring evening admiring the glories of the season, the poplar catkins, the plump elderflower buds, the greening thyme, a...

Still no protection

In March of 2019, I wrote a column on the province’s lack of protection for our flora and fauna not listed under the federal Species at Risk Act (SA...

From the beginning

Talking with beer crafters on PEI—Trent Hayes

At the end of 2021, we looked at the four basic ingredients needed to make beer. The role that water, malted grain, hops and yeast play are key. These...

Kathleen Flanagan

Curious & engaged

Kathleen Flanagan has worked her entire life in early childhood education. She was born in New Jersey and went to university in Boston. In 1975 she mo...

Buying in season

Helpful tips for budget-friendly plant-based eating

Eating plant-based can seem like a very costly thing to do. And while that may be true at times, especially if you are eating all organic fruits and v...

Ice breakup

The sea ice is breaking up along the shore. This last incarnation of winter is a noisy affair with ice cakes cracking, dripping and splashing, and wav...

Flowers & pollinators

When wandering around a forest, it is the overall health of the ecosystem that most often captures my attention. Is there a diversity of trees, shrubs...

Will you join us?

The popularity of plant-based food has been steadily growing for years now. In fact, the number of people in North America who eat plant-based, increa...

A bob-bob-bobbin’

I’ve had several conversations recently with people who were surprised to see American robins hanging around this winter. These birds are usually th...

Jay Gallant

In the zone

For more than 15 years, Jay Gallant has been sharing parts of his story to help create safer and braver spaces across PEI for gender diverse folks. He...

My friend Floyd

During the recent COVID–19 shutdown limiting personal contact to two friends, we chose our neighbours Floyd and Pauline Thomson. Day or night their ...

Rosehip jam

Snow fell silently all night and the morning revealed a world wrapped in a sparkling silver mantle. The sun raised one sleepy eye above the horizon, r...

Takako

Bounty of nuthatches

Red-breasted nuthatches are commonly sighted across Prince Edward Island. They boldly frequent bird feeders, looking for protein and fat. If you build...

Something About Snow

Brent MacLaine

SOMETHING ABOUT SNOW Something about snow today—its flatness in the cold, windless field. The pale sun tries but fails to warm it, even though it ...

Sobia Ali-Faisal

Building a home

You may have heard the saying “build it and they will come” and if you ask Sobia Ali-Faisal, she’ll likely say that’s exactly what has been ha...

Takako

A Christmas Carol

Review | By Sean McQuaid

Charles Dickens’ classic 1843 novella A Christmas Carol has many virtues, among them its near-infinite adaptability. Everyone from the Muppets to th...

Beloved customs

I was raised by custom; you could say I was custom-made. My parents were immigrants and at Christmas especially they clung to the familiar and comfort...

Winter birding

There are days in December when it is difficult to venture outside of a warm house. The winter winds are howling, some form of snow/ice/sleet is threa...

Takako

The fermentation

Exploring the basic beer ingredients, part four—yeast

Having examined the role of principle raw materials used in the brewing process, we have essentially reached the most important piece in the creation ...

Pillars of Creation

Judy Gaudet

PILLARS OF CREATION Solar winds are blowing up the pillars of the Eagle Nebula 7000 light years away from Eldon, where terrestrial winds are shapi...

Sara Roach Lewis

By her own rules

Sara Roach Lewis doesn’t like to play by other peoples’ rules, and she has cultivated a life and a business to help other women build businesses t...

A small, dark gem

Review: Tuesdays & Sundays

Tuesdays & Sundays is a theatrical sucker punch to the gut; a swift, sharp jab that knocks the wind out of you. A dense one-act play running just ...

History swings

Review: Greetings: An Army Musician’s Message Home

It’s a long way to Tipperary (or so the old song goes), and lately it’s felt like an even longer way to Georgetown. I last visited two years ago, ...

Harvest time

The potato army moved in before sundown: one International Harvester tractor, two stub-nosed John Deeres, two Allan windrowers, one Allan potato harve...

Trees in Winter

I know it is early, but November always gets me thinking of the colder months ahead. Most of us know the importance of trees in winter, especially in ...

Hops for the best

Exploring the basic beer ingredients, part three—hops

Up to this point, we have looked at the role water and malted grains play in the making of beer. For thousands of years this duo has been crucial in c...

Mitch Cobb

Crafting change

Folks likely know Mitch Cobb as one of the guys behind Upstreet Craft Brewing, but you may not know that he has an interestingly varied background in ...

Takako

Great-Grandmother’s Garden

Richard Lemm

GREAT-GRANDMOTHER’S GARDEN Pansies have the faces of lost children. Iris unfurls its violet flag for my son churned into the mud of France. Foxg...

Flavours ingrained

Exploring the basic beer ingredients, part two—malt

We recently took a look at water and how it plays a major part in the brewing of a well made beer. Water’s chemical composition and attributes have ...

Clouds

The tide is low at noon so we pack a lunch (cheese and crackers, beer and chocolate), slather ourselves with sunscreen and head down to the Cove. We p...