It’s August and school is about to begin. Former students of mine now have their own kids and grandkids riding those clunky yellow buses. When I first got on Facebook, their familiar names began popping up, and many—with some trepidation—asked, “You aren’t going to correct my spelling or grammar, are you?” Read more

The excesses of August can be summed up on one day, the 8th being the day to, ‘sneak some zucchini onto your neighbor’s porch’. Even as we lose 2 minutes of daylight every day of the month, the heat continues to build, gardens overproduce, both vegetables and weeds, and after four months of direct solar heating, the northern oceans begin to share their excess heat with the atmosphere, spinning the evaporated water into monster storms we call hurricanes. Summer may be fading but it’s not going quietly. Read more

Dear readers, as I settle in to write this column, it’s a rainy Sunday afternoon. Rainy days have a certain appeal to them, don’t they? I often feel a good book calling my name, along with a nice cup of tea (Earl Grey, hot, for my fellow Star Trek fans). Sometimes after reading for awhile, my eyelids become heavy. That’s another awesome way to spend a rainy afternoon - taking a nice nap. Read more

When I was six years old and my sisters were four, we often stayed with my grandparents in the summer. They lived in rural southern Illinois, the year was 1970, and we girls loved visiting them. Anyway, my grandfather needed to take a few things to the local refuse collection site, aka “the dump”, as it was commonly referred to back in those days. He loaded the items in the car, along with three very energetic little girls. No car seats or seat belts - back then kiddos just ping-ponged around in the vehicle. And off we went to the dump, on the south end of town. Read more

Dear readers, I haven’t written much about Hallie and Bella lately, and a few of their biggest fans have asked for a column devoted to them. Here you go! Read more

The Commission on Aging is highlighting the many valuable local services available to older citizens. Very few seniors in Louisa County are familiar with the Southeast Rural Community Assistance Project, Inc. (SERCAP) which is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focused on improving the quality of life for low-to-moderate income individuals and seniors living in the Southeast United States.  Although SERCAP is located in Roanoke, Virginia, it serves Louisa County. SERCAP counsels individuals and/or groups on renting, foreclosure prevention, building or improving your credit, budgeting, identity theft prevention, and home maintenance education. Read more

I am writing this month’s letter about birthdays. This may make you think that July is my birth month, and that may be true. However, I know at least one friend who put an erroneous birthdate into his Facebook profile to mislead anyone trying to mine his account for hackable data, and maybe I am doing the same with this column. I don’t think of this mild deceit as actual lying, but more akin to putting doggie poo in a nice box and leaving it on the seat of an unlocked car. If a hacker or thief thinks he is taking something of value, let him learn about karma. Read more