Opinion

Wendy Vaughan has lived in the Cochrane area most of her life. Her parents, James C ‘Jim’ and Matilda ‘Tillie’ (maiden name Zuccolo) Richards, homesteaded land 30 miles west of Cochrane in 1936.

I will never get over the feeling that June is the end of a year and September the beginning. Too many years in school have left this imprinted on my mind forever. Because of this I have two items I want to cover in this column.

If I’m home for lunch on a Monday, I enjoy turning on the radio and listening to CBC’S “The Next Chapter,” hosted by Shelagh Rogers. It showcases the lives and works of Canadian authors.

As has been my Saturday noon-hour custom for years, I arrived at Cochrane Coffee Traders, ordered my usual half cup of light roast, and took one of my favourite tables in the balcony. Except, that Saturday wasn’t quite usual; I was by myself.

Tweets and texting, or is it only a problem if it’s an email? Does it really matter? What cold-hearted, insensitive things we think we are sharing privately become instantly, devastatingly public in these days of social media.

May Long Weekend. It is the weekend that officially kicks off spring for many Albertans – though the weather is usually winter’s final gasp before it finally decides to release us from its icy grip.

The other night my 10-year-old daughter said that she wants to find a girl from Fort McMurray so she could raise money to replace a favourite toy that was lost in the fire. It made me proud to see the empathy she has for our fellow Albertans.