The Tayles of Emileeeeee Mcpheeeeee

There are moments in life when you realize adulthood is just making increasingly expensive decisions with increasing confidence. For me, that moment arrived looking at a McDonald’s commercial advertising the new Creamy Parmesan & Bacon Quarter Pounder. The price? Roughly $15.99 for the combo meal. Curiosity is a powerful thing and so my friends is melted cheese. The burger itself is a handsome…

linda seccaspina has a story about Paul McCartney, a song, and what sounds like a very specific kind of audacity. READ- The Day I Tried to Long Tall Sally Paul McCartney That’s exactly where we’re headed — a personal encounter with a Beatle, the nerve it takes to sing at someone famous, and what happens in the moment you actually do it. Let’s start with the story itself. The Day I Tried to…

Please note that this is not a fictional story that it really happened to me and Steve in Oakland California 15 years ago. However, I have told his tale my way LOL On a Saturday afternoon of suspiciously agreeable weather, when the hills of Oakland were draped in their usual cloak of shadows and secrets, a very tall man appeared behind our car as though summoned by the landscape itself. He had…

The “Glorious 12th” refers to historical and traditional events that take place on July 12th or August 12th, depending on the context. If you are looking for local history, the “Glorious Twelfth” is Orangemen’s Day , which has a long-standing Carleton Place parade tradition. The “Glorious Twelfth” celebrated the victory of William of Orange at the Battle of the Boyne. When James the Second…

Did you know July is National Baked Bean Month? Before slow cookers, pressure cookers, and electric ovens beeped for attention, there was a much simpler kitchen timer: the sunrise. If you wanted a pot of perfectly cooked beans, you buried them in hot sand, covered them with earth, went to bed, and trusted that Mother Nature wouldn’t let the raccoons RSVP to dinner first. Sand-baked beans—better…

Here’s one for the record books: the Great Disappearing Act of Watson’s Corners—starring eleven-year-old Wesley Barrie. It was 1900, and Wesley had been sent out on what seemed like an ordinary country assignment: repair a fence near Patterson’s Lake. Being an industrious lad, he didn’t stop there. He even hoed the family melon patch before deciding, apparently, that he’d put in enough hours for…

2006 There was a time when the best book reviews in town weren’t written by literary critics or bestselling authors. They were written in careful pencil by eight-year-olds whose biggest concern was whether a snowman looked friendly enough and whether a story had enough funny parts.mYears ago, the Grade 3 class at Caldwell Street Public School in Carleton Place shared their thoughts on a…

If there was ever a child born with impeccable timing and questionable luck, it was young Fanny Farah Farkentelli. She arrived in the world just off Haight Street in San Francisco, into a prosperous Italian family that believed good food solved nearly everything and good tailoring solved the rest. Her mother was a gifted milliner and dressmaker whose hats could stop traffic, and whose gowns…

Sitting in a Cowansville High School grade 9 art class in 1967 I wondered how I could do a book cover art project and relate it to the latest “crush” in my life. I can’t remember how the word eagle came into play right now, and wonder if it might have been my crush’s nickname. But, there I was showing art teacher Miss Marion Phelps my idea of doing a cover for a book called The Eagle Has Landed.…

From Albion Road wetlands- click Long before automobiles, paved highways, or grocery stores on every corner, survival often depended on determination, endurance, and hard work. Few people embodied those qualities better than Bridget Neville, affectionately remembered as “Granny Neville.” Though much of her life has been lost to history, the stories that survive paint a picture of an…

The Carleton Place Literary Walk—often called the Local Author Walk—is a permanent tribute located outside the Carleton Place Public Library that honors the region’s literary history. It will feature a series of plaques commemorating celebrated writers with deep ties to the area, such as Hardy Boys ghostwriter Charles Leslie McFarlane. Local author Mary Cook’s plaque will be raised on Friday. It…

Photo Burt Elsner There was a time when a summer in the Ottawa Valley wasn’t complete until someone in the car announced, “Let’s drive to Almonte for Peterson’s.” That simple sentence could empty a living room in seconds. Children scrambled for their shoes, grandparents smiled knowingly, and parents pretended they were making the trip for the kids, even though they were just as eager for a cone…

Goofy’s –Now Sinclair Square. Before there were drive-thrus on every corner and freezers full of frozen desserts, ice cream in Carleton Place was an event. It wasn’t something you grabbed in a hurry. It was the reward after swimming, the promise at the end of a shopping trip, or the excuse for an evening stroll across the bridge with family and friends. The story begins with the town’s dairy…

The Dr. Feel Good Scoop  – Linda Knight Seccaspina For most people, ice cream is deeply linked to positive childhood events like birthday parties, summer vacations, or rewards for good behavior. People love ice cream because it is a “feel-good” food. You had to go to a candy store or drugstore to get ice cream in days gone by because home freezer storage was rare in those days. The ice man would…

John Foliot, Lanark–Lanark Heritage Preservation Society from– The Disappearing Older Buildings — The Kitten Mill — Speech– Lanark Heritage Preservation Society Dr. Edwin Holmes’s old stone house is much more than an old building. (read-Calling Dr. Edwin Holmes — The Two Holmes Homes). It is one of the last remaining pieces of Lanark Village’s early history. Built from local limestone by skilled…

The Rideau Queen was famously known as one of the most luxurious “palace steamers” on the Rideau Canal during the golden age of steamship travel, but unlike many of her sister ships, she never suffered a catastrophic, headline-grabbing disaster or fatal onboard accident. While she operated safely throughout her peak commercial years, her history is often intertwined with notable close-call…

In 2020 I wrote about Banshees (above) around the Rideau Canal and in 2022 I wrote about the Banshees on the March Road. So today in 2026 I decided to rewrite the 2020 one into something that will last in your mind forever. By the way I could not find that Banshee story in the news archives..:( The Scream of the Banshee Before the streetlights glowed outside kitchen windows and before ghost…