Lorna Demeria Sometimes it seems that we are always having to say goodbye.  So far 2014 has been a year of goodbyes for us.  Some of them have been happy, some bitter-sweet and some of them seriously hard.    We lost a very special dog early on in the...

As we all kept an anxious eye on the ice jams this year, the banks of the Tobique ran over and the saturated ground flooded the basement at the SPCA Shelter in Arthurette. None of the resident cats were hurt, but it made quite a mess and the shelter...

Al McPhail The 2014 spring freshet (that word sounds so innocuous) taught us much about ourselves, our community and its future. Here’s my summary of lessons learned (or more accurately, lessons taught…unfortunately it appears some among us learned absolutely nothing).   1. We learned that the much-maligned relocation program,...

Rod MacIntosh 2014 will mark the 13th consecutive year of the Gathering of the Scots Festival in Perth-Andover, NB. Born from a single concept in 2002, “The Gathering” has grown every year to become Perth-Andover’s largest festival of the summer and one of the fastest growing cultural celebrations in...

Stephanie Kelley The Second Annual Women’s Day took place at the River Valley Civic Centre on April 26, a glorious spring day. Over 40 booths were set up to display an array of a wide spectrum of goods and services available in the River Valley. It was also a...

Stephanie Kelley Falls Brook Centre had a booth set up at the Women’s Day event where Emily Shapiro was demonstrating a really nifty method to recycle old newspaper into totally biodegradable seedling pots to start your garden seeds in.   She was using a wine bottle with a “punt”,...

There are/will be times when one is simply faced with a shortage along the lines of “facetious nonce words” or “face-saving nonsense words”! Such was the situation when she of the lardaceous rear, which shape reminded me of lautenclavicymbals and/or something right off of the Pribilof Islands, suggested shrilly...

the old man in the hat Mother’s Day in our part of the woods always seems so appropriate with our surroundings springing to new life and new sounds. The budding of the trees, tulips pushing up through dark earth and the cacophony of returning songbirds announcing spring’s arrival. New...

The Demographic Factor Francine St. Amand In recent issues of Blackfly, I discussed the Educational, Environmental and Economic factors in the pitch to restore and redevelop the flood-prone areas – primarily on the Andover side – as a naturalized park. This park would allow space to integrate other community...

By Linda Nicholas Editor’s Note: On April 25 a Social Enterprise Development Dialog was presented at the Pond-Deshpande Centre in Saint John. Several folks from Perth-Andover attended the presentation, the following essay is from Linda Nicholas, who attended the dialog. Social Enterprise is For Profit Businesses creating Shared Values…...