My friend Connie the Cookie Lady announced her retirement a few months ago. "I'm not knitting any more Christmas stockings," she said quite decisively as she sat on her front porch, a spry 94-year old surveying the neighborhood from her lawn chair throne. "Makes sense to me," I replied. "You've knitted 1,352 more than I [...]
Our friend Mike Nofzinger believed “Miracle”, the story of the 1980 U.S. hockey team, was the greatest sports movie ever made. Maybe he was right, but only because no one ever made a film about the 2003 Ripon Triathlon. They will, my friends. Someday, they will. That year, an unlikely trio of Mike, me and [...]
In an effort to provide a little end-of-the-week cheer and, hopefully, add a needed boost to places and people I admire, I'm going to start featuring area businesses that are rising to the challenges of this crazy year. I plan to write about three businesses every Friday. If you know of any similarly admirable businesses, [...]
My friend Cathy is creative, compassionate and, like a lot of us these days, confined. As a result, she's gone a little squirrelly. She and her occasionally ornery friend Newman have provided all of us with a delightful distraction from all the angst 2020 has wrought. "This is Newman," she posted one day. "He is [...]
Our favorite ballroom dancer turns 90 tomorrow and, if you think she is even mildly daunted at the prospect of hitting that milestone in the midst of a pandemic, you don't know the unflappable Janet Mahr. She and her husband of 64-years kicked off their lives together in the midst of a local pandemic when, [...]
