Columns

Long, cold snowy winters are nothing new to the residents of the Marion area. From the earliest lumbering days, when a good covering of snow was an advantage in the moving of logs, to the beginnings of the snowmobile days,…

The new year is here and already the middle of January is already past – last Monday actually.We’ve had some bone chilling cold, lots of snow and wind to greet it, along with the local TV weatherman’s promise of some…

Recently, I was gently lectured by one of my clients. She was putting a special emphasis on one of the psalms that I often sing and pray. “This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be…

By Maggie ConklinPeanut ButterCookiesDuring the Gulf War quite a few years ago, my friend Robin Sullivan and I made chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies, then mailed them to a couple Boyce boys who were serving overseas. We vacuum-sealed, lovingly…

By Scott SullivanEditorWormholeBBC Sky at Night speculated last week about wormholes, space-time portals between dimensions. We pass through these between Saugatuck, Douglas and reality each day.My favorite is on board an Interurban bus. Step up, a door wheezes shut and…

It’s been a whole week since I’ve worked into a conversation that my grandson and his fiancé both graduated from the Medical College of Georgia. Unfortunately, along with this new title comes a challenge. Ain’t no way I’m going to…

I have a confession to make. I’m a local newspaper addict. I write them, I sell them, and most importantly I read every single one I can get my hands on.Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately depending on your viewpoint, I also…

Living near a lake is a wonderful way to spend your golden years, although those golden years might at times seem more bronze than gold. Being physically fit is a big plus, because one is able to participate in more…

Mom Nature granted all of those wishes for measurable snowfall in these parts this week. And amply so, cutting a big swath across the middle of the mitt with 11” of wet snow reported in nearby Leota. Now that’s a…

By the time this issue hits the presses, it will probably be all over, but it sure makes for pretty scenery when a winter storm actually hits the area.Unfortunately, it also a “pretty” big mess when it finally ends, and…

After hip replacement surgery and a scheduled knee surgery, I still say I’m not getting old even though my age, and sometimes my body would disagree..Turning 30 never bothered me. Ditto when I celebrated my 40th. But now that I’m…

Every now and then I am confronted with news items and stories of people who have been sexually abused by clergy. It breaks my heart. While we wish it never happened, the truth is that sometimes it has. There is…

“Our flag is our country’s symbol of ideals that are meant to last.” -Pam Munoz RyanWelcome to 2024. May your worst day this year outshine your best day of 2023. May we all have more love for each other and…

If you’ve read my columns for any length of time, you know that I do not care much for the hubbub of the New Year’s Eve celebration rituals. And so it was this year. Midnight came and went in these…

Ever wonder why it is that the person who gets the last word in, wins the argument? How many times as parents we argued with our children and ended the argument by saying, “I don’t want to hear another word…

With temperatures hovering in the mid-twenties, I’m glad today [Wednesday] is a stay-at-home-and-work-on-the-computer day. Of course, that’s most days these days…No fireplace like on the river in our big camper, but the furnace is working hard to keep us both…

This is the final column for 2023, so because this year has been filled with so much stress and worry, I’d like to have the column dedicated to items of a less serious note. We are all getting Out and…

While I love holidays and especially Christmas (after all we are loaded with grandkids), I can’t say I’m completely sorry that the holiday is now officially over once more.It’s been a tough year for the whole world actually with the…

It is not possible that 2023 is almost done. We know that time does not fly and that this feeling is just an illusion of our age, but the year seems to have passed at warp speed. Perhaps it is…

Wow! Another year has come and gone, and we’ll soon be flipping the calendars to 2024. We just celebrated the winter solstice, the darkest day of the year, and are moving on to gradual longer daylight days. I like to…