Yesterday, my husband was in the E.R. yet again, with difficulty breathing and clearing his lungs from fluid buildup in a long-term battle with congestive heart failure. Every day is a struggle for him, just as it is for so many others around us. A year ago, I shared this blog from my longer speech at a Women's Faith Retreat in 2014. I need to be reminded of my own words, and of God's faithfulness in so many ways. Thinking others might need the comfort in knowing God truly is there at our side
Approaching a new legislative session in January, we unfortunately continue to face the same set of challenges and crises that many of us fought to address at the beginning of 2022.
In other words, the agenda remains the same. We must stay committed to a comprehensive set of goals to help grow local and state economies, focus on the financial burdens facing middle-class families and small business owners, and make public safety an urgent priority.
From combating crime to job creation
Turkeys can now relax; their season is over while we humans have stepped from November (Thanksgiving) into December (Christmas) with hardly a moment of transition. We are one week into Advent; hanging of the greens at church occurred this past Sunday. For nearly all faiths, this is the Season of Lights. Pagan holidays emphasized light because December brings the longest nights of the year, and asking the gods to send the sun’s light again seemed a survival necessity. The Jewish Chanukah cele
December 5th is a day my/our Dutch ancestors celebrated Saint Nicholas Day or Eve, part of traditional European Christmas celebrations for centuries. My cousin Sytske Visscher in the Netherlands shared that “St. Nicolas Day/Sinterklaas Day is celebrated on December 5, or the weekend before or after. According to the myth, the Bishop of Myra in Turkey (St. Nicolas) was born on December 6 and started to give presents to the poor members of his congregation on the evening before, December 5. Fami
by Annie Holmquist
A few weeks ago, I came across a story in The Washington Post about a young woman, Rosie Grant, who scours graveyards across the country looking for recipes to make.
Recipes in a graveyard? Yes, it does sound weird, but Grant was intrigued upon hearing the concept. The first gravestone recipe she came across was featured on Naomi Odessa Miller-Dawson’s grave and was for Spritz cookies. Grant whipped up a batch and shared the results on her TikTok account. Its success
Do we remember what it was like to view the world through the eyes of a child? Sometimes yes, but a lot of times no … too often, I see the world through the lens of adulthood, from the various angles of life that have come my way. We all have much to learn in being a living example of Christ’s love for us… for He who came to this earth as a newborn babe, to experience life through the eyes of humanity while being fully God, came with a purpose… to redeem us from our sinful selves. And every onc
What a rapid run through November we are making. Days are flitting along like leaves blown by November winds. Thanksgiving is a week away. Am I prepared for the holiday season that follows? No, I am not! But somehow, we always manage to celebrate royally, ready or not. I enjoy Thanksgiving because it is about family and gratitude. There are fewer dizzying activities like wrapping gifts, running hither and yon, and all the hullabaloo that goes with Christmas. The weather is usually better
If you know me well, you know that fall is not my favorite season. Oh, don’t get me wrong - I enjoy the brightly colored leaves, sunshine in a beautiful crisp blue sky, the cooler temps, the lack of stifling humidity, and the pungent odor of smoke from a well-run woodstove. But, the darker, dreary, and shorter days with leaves fluttering down to mulch the earth as they leave behind the stark contrast of bare tree limbs against a gray sky tend to bring a sadness for me. I much prefer spring an
My high school sat in the middle of sunny Portland, Maine and was a long, large building that from a distance looked more like a prison than a high school. But it was an old high school, one of the oldest, and it was only a block or so from the unofficial center of town, Monument Square. Off to one side of the square was One City Center. In One City Center were a couple radio stations, one of which was the local alternative station and that station used an outside area on what was probably the t
Before I retired, I looked forward to the weekend. But often found that once I got there, the chores on my list seemed to never end. There was no escape! They needed to be taken care of… though I’d much rather enjoy a respite with my hobbies – sewing, gardening, taking a walk, reading an in-depth well-researched historical book, or just relaxing on a bench in my gardens enjoying nature's beauty and listening to the birds. But the demands of responsibilities in every-day life like paying bill
November, the month of golden topaz gem stones and heaps of topaz leaves fallen from trees. November is a month of birthdays; my husband’s is today and one son’s is at the end of the month, with several family members in between. Kerm’s birthday means strawberry shortcake tonight. That is his choice over any cake I could bake. My eldest brother shared my husband’s November 3d birthday. Kerm was born about the time Frank went to war in WWII but regardless of their age difference, they both ag
First it was the “Great Resignation.” Then it was “nobody wants to work anymore.” Now it’s “quiet quitting.”
Yet it seems like no one wants to talk about what I see as the root cause of America’s economic malaise – work under contemporary capitalism is fundamentally flawed.
As a political philosopher studying the effects of contemporary capitalism on the future of work, I believe that the inability to dictate and meaningfully control one’s own working life is the problem.
Democrat
I don’t pretend to have all the answers. I know how prone I am to fret and worry. I often don’t take my concerns to the Lord in prayer right away, but tend to stew on them and think I have to fix the problems myself. On the flip side, there are times I wait longer than I should to implement what God wants me to do. Yet, time and time again, our gracious God has been faithful to see me and my husband through difficult situations and painful losses, showering us with blessings throughout those
by Monica Groth
While leading one of our Historic Downtown Walking Tours last month, I learned some fascinating history from our knowledgeable trolley-master Mark Delgrosso. Mark brought to my attention that the four buildings that existed on the corners of the intersection of Lake and Church streets at the end of the nineteenth century bore very interesting nicknames which tell us a little about their histories.
No longer standing, the opulent Reynolds Mansion once graced the interse
It feels so good to feel good again! As some of my friends know, my blog absence last weekend was due to being bedridden with covid, despite vaccines. And I’m very thankful to say that tho he continues to deal with daily CHF/congestion/edema struggles, Ed did not get covid… at least not yet. In fact, we celebrated our anniversary with Sayre/Athens, PA’s Greater Valley EMS giving Ed an IV to help relieve fluid retention. It’s a service thru a government grant to help keep patients from going t
Band names are a slippery slope. Coming up with a quality band name is damn near impossible. Few have done it, thousands have tried. You want to sound cool, which is a tall task. But you don’t want to sound like you’re trying to be cool. Ultimately, you want something that will look good on a club’s marque, looks dope as a sticker and isn’t super regrettable down the road. Well, if you’re band makes it that far, which is also damn near impossible.
My cousin was in a band once that was calle
It’s been an unrelenting reality for the past two years: New York is not safe.
Yet Albany’s powers that be still don’t get it.
Public opinion polls keep sending the message: Too many New Yorkers, in too many places throughout this state, do not feel safe where they live, work, and raise their families.
Albany ignores it.
New York’s citizens blame state government policies for creating a pervasive climate of lawlessness and for emboldening society’s violent, out-of-control
“I like the fall --- the mist and all. I like the night owl’s lonely call --- and wailing sound of wind around….”*
Especially do I like those things if we have a cozy fire in the wood stove and a c up of hot chocolate in hand. We are well into October and Halloween is approaching. If you don’t like Halloween, how about “All-Soul’s Night” and “All- Saint’s Day” instead? Festivals marking the end of the growing season seemed also to have evoked the memory of those who’ve gone on. Our Hal
I love the change of seasons. But it almost seems to happen while our backs are turned and we’re not quite paying attention. Like this fall. Suddenly, we realize the leaves are turning colors, the weather is cooling down, winds are getting brisker, and fall is here for sure. Many birds who had been singing all summer while they cared for their nestlings have hushed their songs and, a month or more ago, prepared to take off on their migratory routes for warmer climates.
Some friends ha
It wasn’t long ago in this column -- in early September in fact – that I asked the question, “Will Governor Hochul turn her back on farmers?”
I asked it after a New York State Wage Board, established under a 2019 law known as the “Farmworkers Fair Labor Practices Act,” finalized its recommendation to lower the mandatory overtime pay threshold for farm workers from the current 60 hours to 40 hours.
Following the Wage Board’s action, Governor Hochul was given 45 days to send down the
We are in the last quarter of the year; October, whose birth stone is the fire opal and flower is the marigold, takes us into mid-fall. My flowers still in bloom are chocolate eupatorium and monkshood/wolfbane/aconite (ref. Harry Potter). Leaves on trees are turning, days are crisper and darkness comes too soon. It is the season of glowing. We were recently away for a few days on Cape Cod. Our sons and their families joined us to de-stress and find a change of scenery. We went on a whale w
Remembering the dad I treasure, who taught us well in the ways of life... I remember a lot about him. In fact, it would be fair to say that I had put him on a pedestal while growing up… not a wise placement for anyone. But it seems he could do anything and everything, a jack-of-all-trades, almost perfect in my little girl eyes. Though none of us can measure up all the time, there is One who is perfect… who forgives all our failings… our heavenly Father.
There is so much my Dad, Ralph, tau
Editor's note: This article was originally published in August 2022
As we sit here, over ten years removed from the premiere of Game of Thrones, three years since the show ended, and now on the cusp of the premiere of House of the Dragon, a Game of Thrones prequel, it can challenging to take stock of the show’s legacy. On the one hand, there were the massive set pieces and battles, shocking deaths, and breath-taking episodes, i.e. the stuff you are likely to remember fondly. On the o
.jpg.9a1b803c9eb089f33d6fce3e22df1e3a.jpg)
