Letters – Our Readers Write: Autumn 2025

Ideas that blossom

When I got my summer copy of In The Hills, I really liked the “Gardener on the Roof” article by Don Scallen [summer ’25]. I run Brighter Future Homes in Shelburne, and as someone who builds and designs biofilters to purify the air indoors, I’m always interested in learning about plants and the benefits they can have on buildings and our environment. I plan to build my own berm-style home with green roofs sometime in the near future!

— Brad Reid, Shelburne

Creatures great and small 

This is a great set of photos of things that are right under our nose [“Life in the Milkweed Patch,” Notes from the Wild, August ’24]. Thank you for putting this in your magazine. The colours of flowers and visitors are so vibrant. Just beautiful.

— Darcy Grube, Bucks County, PA (previously of Caledon)  

Inspiration for life

I was so happy to read about Gary and Pat [“A Lifetime of ‘Doing,’” winter ’23]. They certainly live exemplary lives. Gary was the vice-principal at Thistletown Collegiate where I taught and he later became a superintendent with the Etobicoke and Toronto school boards. He also served for many years as president and past president of our district RTO (Retired Teachers of Ontario). Fond regards, Gary and Pat. Yes, I’m still kicking around! Ninety-three now and counting.

— Abe Plaatjes, Mississauga

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Editor’s note

Poet John Drudge sent us this poem earlier this year, but its autumnal gold, crickets and “sharpening air” felt like fall to us. Drudge lives in Caledon with his wife and two children. A social worker by profession, this Pushcart Prize nominee has also authored seven books of poetry and appeared in numerous publications. Thank you for this heartfelt ode, John.

Up in Caledon

The Caledon Hills
Rise and fall
In a rolling harmony
Of greens and golds
Where the wind
Is a storyteller
And the maples and oaks
Quietly listen
With morning spilling
Sugary light
Over barn roofs
And stone fences
And the mist curling
In the warmth
Of dreaming fields
Against a chorus of crickets
And the call of a lone hawk
Cutting circles in the blue
And the roads
Coiling through deep valleys
With farmhouses huddling
Against the sharpening air
Blowing woodsmoke
Into wide-open sky

by John Drudge

CORRECTION

In the summer Letters, we misidentified artist Susan Powell’s residence as Caledon. Powell was gracious when we contacted her: “Technically I did live in Caledon for many years! And yes, I have been living in Hillsburgh for 29 years.”