Keith Dryden

Elsewhere Alibi is the Latin word for elsewhere. It is used in law to indicate you couldn’t possibly have robbed that bank because you were at your Aunt Minnie’s at the time it occurred. In everyday terms it is what we use to get us off the hook. We don’t want to tell a friend […] Read more

The trophy Three years ago when we were on a bed and breakfast tour of Nova Scotia a cousin gave us a plastic plate decorated with pictures of Don Messer and his Islanders. We brought it home and our Maritime-born son-in-law made it the feature of an elegant oak golf trophy. Since then this “Jubilee” […] Read more

Rough ride The loonie has dropped, the stock market is in a turmoil and our financial gurus are looking around for someone else to blame. It’s the Asians or the Russians or the Quebec independence movement or declines in commodity prices. It couldn’t possibly be that allowing free rein to the stock-market economy might have […] Read more

Happy 75th The Western Producer has survived as a weekly newspaper for 75 years and is now contemplating another remodelling job of the editorial department. After retiring from the staff seven years ago when we were still using one paper clip where in flossier times we might have used two, it gives one a feeling […] Read more

Facing disasters The tidal wave that drowned at least 1,600 people in Papua, New Guinea, has local residents wondering what they did to cause such a disaster. They talk darkly of how teenagers decapitated a statue of the Virgin Mary just one day before the event occurred. Another version is that a few days before […] Read more

Nervous season Don’t get between a Liberal and his telephone when the prime minister is contemplating Senate appointments. This example of Senator Dave Steuart’s wit could also be applied to a farmer and his combine in the harvest season. Yet a crowd of farm people took a day off from harvesting Aug. 9 to attend […] Read more

Savors sweet The human sense of smell is the inspiration for a major industry. Great factories would be idled, vast segments of retail shelves emptied were it not for the acquired preference of people for pleasant scents. Common scents, on the other hand, such as body odor or jungle breath, are a one-way ticket to […] Read more

The British red An old school atlas surfaced recently. It showed the vast territories around the world that were part of the old British Empire all depicted in red. Most of those territories, including Canada, now have gravitated to another color although most maintain loose ties to the Commonwealth. Remaining under the Union Jack are […] Read more

The silly season This is the summer silly season. When newspapers headline stories about those Regina women who shed their upper garments in public as a blow for women’s liberation, you can detect the silly season is here. In summer, readers have more social distractions than they can handle with fairs, slow-pitch tournaments, fish derbies, […] Read more

Say ‘thank you’ In every community of any size there is a go-getter who is continually organizing activities for the entertainment and edification of fellow residents. Such a person is valued above rubies. The community sports day, the fall fowl supper, a fund raiser for the local hockey team, homecoming celebrations, the district history book, […] Read more