It is always good to get a letter from old Fern Judd of Elliot Lake, waaaay up North.

Fern, as he writes, "migrated from Hamilton's old North End some years ago."

I'll cherish this latest letter because the black flies are rife in his area at this time of year and they are feeding off Fern and his nice wife, June. And it sounds as though there won't be enough of Fern left to write letters if those pesky flies have their way.

Here's part of his letter:

"Right now, neither June nor I go into our yard very often as this is black fly time. Those suckers bite worse than most mosquitoes and are harder to see, hear or feel until the blood begins to flow.

" I have some six or eight bites on my forehead and a couple on my wrist.

"As a result, both our gardening season and sitting out enjoying our garden house has shortened by a month."

Gee, I was gonna visit, but ...

Ted Wilcox is a lifetime Hamiltonian with a passion for sports, community and, most of all, family.