Chai-Spiced Snowdrops

As I was working in my garden today, I was thinking that, while I still enjoy it, I am starting to wonder how much longer I will be able to care for a house and a yard. Like many my age, I have been thinking about the condominium option here in Winnipeg.

I am a mother and a grandmother and I am also very concerned about climate change and the need to recognize that our emissions from coal, oil, and gas are warming the Earth. As a climate activist, I do not want to pollute. Yet as a condo purchaser, I would have no control over how the building is insulated, heated and cooled or how much energy it would take to do so.

When I moved to Winnipeg four years ago, I intended to buy a house and install a heat pump, which heats and cools a home using electricity only.

Before that purchase, I phoned Manitoba Hydro and was advised to buy a home built after 1985, when national standards were upgraded to require better insulation. That was no trouble for me, given I had already moved from a 1960s house into a new house in 1989 and even though the new home was larger, our gas bill was cut in half because of the added insulation.

DEAR MISS LONELYHEARTS: I am lonely to the bone. My girlfriend has been away working for the summer, and I promised I wouldn’t cheat on her. But now I have heard through the grapevine she’s seeing a guy who works at her kids’ camp.

I think the source can be trusted, because she’s a friend who cares about me, almost like a sister. Actually I think she kind of wants me herself, but never seems to cross that line. Should I believe her “inside information” when she might be wanting to go out with me herself?

My girlfriend won’t be back until the very end of August and the messages and phone calls back and forth have been less and less frequent. Maybe she’s just busy or getting rested up to see me — or maybe she’s seeing someone else. I’m feeling jealous and I hate it! Maybe I should see somebody else too. Please advise ASAP.

— Lonely and Suspicious, Transcona

U.S. authorities say a Manitoba man falsely claimed he had been kidnapped and taken across the Canada-U.S. border over the weekend.

Roderick Garson, 37, is being held in a county jail near Alexandria, Minn., after he was arrested and charged with falsely reporting a crime.

The arrest stems from a report police received Saturday that a man had been abducted with a weapon in Manitoba and taken across the border into the United States.

The investigation led U.S. authorities to Alexandria, about two hours northwest of Minneapolis, where police located the reported victim and suspect after the latter ran into a local store claiming he had escaped from his 31-year-old unnamed captor.

It’s back and it’s better than ever.

National non-profit ogranization motionball will be returning for its annual event — the 2026 Marathon of Sports Winnipeg — at the Dakota Community Centre Sept. 19. This fundraising event will help support the Special Olympics Manitoba and Canada foundation in hopes of reaching their goal of $100,000.

Local Special Olympic athletes, including the province’s own Alec Baldwin, as well as registered participants will join together to play a variety of team sports such as basketball, kinball and bocce ball.