"Summer is the time when one sheds one's tensions with one's clothes, and the right kind of day is jeweled balm for the battered spirit. A few of those days and you can become drunk with the belief that all's right with the world."
-Ada Louise Huxtable

There are plenty of reasons to love summer: backyard barbecues, warm nights, relaxing in a pool, ice cream, family vacations... the list is endless.
After struggling our way through a tough winter and a cooler-than-normal spring (at least at this late May writing), we can only hope summer wraps around us like a blanket just out of the dryer.
In this edition, as usual, we offer a mixed bag of easy summertime reading.
Ken Williamson has had a love for old tractors for more than five decades and writer/photographer Ted Brown offers a profile of Williamson and his unique collection.
Maintaining that theme of vintage transportation, Andrea Lefebvre takes a look at The Platelayers Society, a group of British Model Railway buffs who run the largest model railway show in Canada.
The amazing artwork of Laura Kingsbury is the subject of a story by Patti Post while Nelia Raposo introduces readers to local Master Gardener Belinda Gallagher who has agreed to join the Sideroads family as a regular columnist, sharing her immense gardening knowledge.
For the nature-lovers, naturalist/photographer Kerry Jarvis provides a list of butterflies one can expect to see hovering throughout Halton Hills in the summer.
Those are just a few of the stories we have for you, along with our regular features like the calendar of events, book reviews, Keeping Fit with Caroline Harris and Sideroads Gallery.
Okay, now it's time for a little breast-beating. We're thrilled to report that Sideroads of Halton Hills was named the best special section at the 2007 Ontario Community Newspapers Association annual awards competition in April.
We followed up that award a few weeks later by taking top spot in the Best Cover (magazine) category at the Metroland Media Group awards. (For the record, it was our autumn 2007 edition that featured a photo of a farmer in action at the Halton Plowing Match.)
We're thrilled those in the media business have chosen to acknowledge our efforts but, we really hope this magazine continues to strike a chord with you, the reader.
As always we welcome your comments, letters and story ideas. Please send them to editor John McGhie by e-mail to jmcghie@independentfreepress.com
or sideroads@independentfreepress.com
or mail/drop off at
The Independent & Free Press
280 Guelph St., Unit 29
Georgetown, Ont.
L7G 4B1