Maud sniffs longer in the winter. Not casually or politely. She lowers her nose to the snow with the intensity of a detective who has just stumbled onto the one detail that explains everything. Her body tightens. Her focus narrows. The rest of the world disappears as she inhales with purpose, tugging me toward snowbanks […]
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Anger has become the background noise of modern life. It hums constantly, sharpens easily, and corrodes quickly. Outrage travels faster than context. Certainty is rewarded more than curiosity. If the 1920s were remembered as the Roaring Twenties, the 2020s may well be recalled as the Raging Twenties—an era shaped by algorithms, saturated with distortion, and […]
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Warning: This story contains a discussion about suicide A white heart framed in black and filled with pale stones rests in the ground at Langmaid Park, just off Water Street in St. Andrews. A few blocks away, another punctuates the landscaping at Salty Towers Inn, a gathering place beloved by locals and visitors alike. Farther […]
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We bought a dog bed for Maud when she was a puppy, which in hindsight was very optimistic of us. It was immediately clear she would never use it. Instead, she installed herself in our bed like a permanent fixture, often wedged directly between my husband and me, her head on the pillow with her […]
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Every late January, long after the Christmastime visitors have made their goodbyes and the New Year’s Eve revellers have caught their breath, St. Andrews settles into a welcoming winter pace. The town never fully sleeps; it simply exhales. And just as the season begins to stretch out ahead, the Winter Warmer Festival arrives, turning the […]
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A fatal fire in Second Falls is under investigation after firefighters responding to a camper trailer blaze early Saturday morning discovered one deceased individual. Eastern Charlotte Fire Rescue was dispatched shortly before 8 a.m. on December 27 to reports of a camper trailer on fire, with initial information indicating there may have been someone trapped […]
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Maud was born on Dec. 29, one of those inconvenient, post-Christmas, pre–New Year’s orphaned birthdays that humans tend to resent. People with late-December birthdays always speak in the fragile tones of hostages: “No, it’s fine, really. Christmas counts for both.” It never does. But for a dog, it’s perfect. The humans are home, slightly dazed […]
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If there is a season in which Charlotte County reveals its truest self, it is Christmas. And nowhere is that more visible than in the annual Santa’s Helpers on CHCO-TV. Over five hours of live broadcasting, the community raised $63,371, with even more donations pouring in afterwards. Every dollar raised goes directly toward supporting children […]
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In the fluorescent hush of hospital waiting rooms, where beepers break the silence and barely audible talk shows play in the background on TV screens, an 84-year-old artist began to draw. The sketches were quick and wry: porters in a blur, the choreography of chairs, the small absurdities that gather around illness. Nurses photocopied them. […]
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Since she was a puppy, Maud has accompanied us to work at the TV station. What began as a quiet office companion quickly turned into an accidental on-air presence, her head popping up behind the news desk like a rogue sock puppet during a live broadcast. And from there, she became a fixture of CHCO-TV […]
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