Life

Mad As Hell

Columns

I couldn’t help myself. Despite my husband’s and brother-in-law’s urging to just “let it go,” I didn’t. I think something in me simply snapped. In an instant I was out of my seat inside the McDonald’s restaurant in Elm Grove last week. What brought me to my feet was anger. You see while sitting there watching a couple of preschoolers playing inside the kiddie area of the business, there were sounds and sights that caught my attention. With a clear view of the entrance to the McDonald’s parking lot, I saw and heard three small cars speeding into the lot. One by one ...

The Past Uncovered

Columns

It’s amazing what a pothole can tell us about the past. For most of my childhood years growing up in the Woodsdale area, I never knew that Bethany Pike was once a brick road. Well, at least that’s what the sizable pothole on Bethany Pike near Hamilton Avenue has shown us. In recent weeks, the surface of the road has eroded enough to unveil the hidden gem of red bricks. While I have been dodging the growing depression in the road, I also have been fascinated to know more about the road. Letting my imagination run wild, I can picture the early automobiles that first put tires on ...

Letter Perfect

Columns

The year before my mother passed away, she sat down and wrote me a letter. Although at the age of 90 her eyesight and hearing were failing, she managed to put pen to paper. Despite the challenges of her senior years, her cursive handwriting was impeccable. My mother was a believer in the written word and passed that thinking along to her children. She insisted thank-you notes be written when receiving gifts. However, my mother was also the product of a generation that wasn’t outwardly affectionate with words. Mom was raised by her father and older female relatives after her own ...

Respect For Resilience, Strength And Deep Roots

Features

If only it could talk. It’s tall — very tall, and I can tell it once was a hefty tree with loads of branches. While I’m not sure what type of tree it is, I know it has survived more storms and weather events than we could imagine. Its bark has been picked nearly clean by insects, a variety of tree-dwelling animals and birds. Almost naked of all protection, this product of Mother Earth situated along a country road not far from our home, is nearly void of any color. Much like the spots on my own aging hands, the tree is mostly bone white, pocked with dots of brown. Apparently ...

Silas Powell Band Returns To The Pennyroyal Opera House

Out & About

FAIRVIEW — The Pennyroyal Opera House will host a bluegrass show today, Friday, March 7, featuring the Silas Powell Band. Powell is a fifth-generation picker from the small town of Salem, W.Va. He is quite talented on a variety of instruments, but the mandolin is his passion. He has ...