We’ve officially made through the darkest days of the year, in what turned out to be a pretty grey and drab winter in Huron and Perth counties.

Now, though, the sun is setting at 6 p.m. or later and it will continue to shine its light past 6 p.m. until the first of November, with each day of the spring getting longer until it gives way to summer and fall, and we again begin our preparations to hunker down.

It’s glorious to have these extra hours of daily daylight to spend outside, whether it’s family activities, extra ‘me’ time with walks in the sun instead of under the cover of darkness, or more time to tackle the never-ending list of outside chores.

This issue marks the beginning of Year 8 for Huron-Perth Boomers, an accomplishment of which our family is very proud. With each passing year I wonder if we will ever run out of topics that interest local older adults or educated and passionate local contributors to write for us.

I will forever be amazed at the knowledge, expertise and talent in our area, and there seems to be more topics than space to address them all in our pages. This issue we’re introduced to ‘By Us For Us’ guides, which help people navigate living with dementia, written by people living with dementia. We also take a trip to Hawaii, and look at how fire shaped the early days of the Huron Gaol in Goderich. We get an inside look at navigating new love after age 60, as well as the need to be resilient.

Thanks, as always, to all our contributors, and I hope all our readers have a wonderful spring!