It’s Jimmy time. Yes, while many of you are gearing up for the deep freeze at the Winter Classic with the Maple Leafs or Red Wings or toasting the new year at a posh hotel in New York or Jamaica, I’m home in Toronto counting my blessings and staying close to my overtaxed radiators so I can stay warm while I type up my list of Jimmy Award winners for the year that’s about to come to a close. I was immensely lucky in this past year and was able to visit some astonishing places and do some amazing things. Read more
Cape Breton
ON THE CABOT TRAIL IN CAPE BRETON – It’s like going back to your high school reunion and finding that sweetheart from grade nine even prettier than you remembered. I drove the Cabot Trail once before. But it was with three kids and my wife in a mini-van maybe 16 years ago. They’ve since changed, of course, as kids do, but at the time I remember them looking at my wife and I as we drove along beautiful beaches and high sea cliffs and thinking we were crazy. “We’re not view people,” my daughter said, or words to that effect, Read more
CAPE BRETON, NOVA SCOTIA – I pulled into the Nova Scotia tourism centre on the tip of this island and got to chatting with a woman about my two-day visit. We talked about where I was going and what I was writing and where I should stop. And then she paused for a minute. “Have fun,” she said. “Do us proud.” No problem on that front, my dear. Short of landing in a hurricane, I can’t imagine anyone not having nice things to say about this slice of Canadian paradise. Over the course of a little more than 48 hours, Read more
