October 3, 2026
Opinion
Blessed Assurance – Pursuit of excellence
In my considered opinion, most people in the world want to do things as well as they can. We all pursue excellence as a rule; we just sometimes come up a bit short in the execution. Afterall, we all have different gifts and things that we are good at doing, but some folks have the deep drive as well as innate talent to do something excellently.
Thoughts from the Crossroads – Poplar Forest
Dear Readers, for many years I’ve wanted to visit Poplar Forest, down near Lynchburg. For one reason or another it never happened. Well, thanks to a little extra push from America’s 250th anniversary, I finally made it there! It was a wonderful visit. Here’s the story.
Thoughts from the Crossroads – Mt. Vernon
Dear Readers, I made another pilgrimage to an America 250 locale - Mt. Vernon. Famous home to George Washington, the father of our great country. It was a picture perfect weather day, and Rick joined me. We decided to forgo the house tour this visit, since we’d seen the interior several years ago. There were many other things on site to accomplish, and only about five hours in which to do so. With the ideal weather, we chose to focus on the outdoor portions of the estate.
Blessed Assurance – Acting out
Ienjoy having children as part of worship. They bring spontaneity, joy, energy, inquisitiveness and wonder to what’s going on. There are times, however, where they are in an emotional state where they just need to act out. Sometimes life is just a little too much for them and they have a meltdown – sometimes right in the middle of the Sanctuary. While the parents are mortified, all of us who have been parents of young children know that these things will happen, and we rush to comfort the parents once the “event” has passed. Truthbe- told, in our world today it’s not just the children who are acting out – folks who are long beyond their childhood lose their minds and act out in ways that are both visible and harmful.
On & Off Earth – Mushroom season at last
This column took a bit of a veer on May 21st with the news that all of Louisa had moved from severe to extreme with the latest update of the state drought map. Because, at that same moment, I heard the first rain drops of our forecast wet spell begin to fall on my roof. The drops continued all evening and by morning there were 1.5” in my rain gauge.
Blessed Assurance – Things that last
My father was a selftaught “handyman”.
Thoughts from the Crossroads – Alien death ray
Two things happened over the past few days: 1) I thought we were under an alien attack; and 2) I learned that although my husband and I both speak English, we don’t always communicate well. Yep, pretty much an ordinary week in the Schupp household!
Hugh Hammond Bennett
Why does land wear out? Hugh Hammond Bennett found out in Louisa County. The misunderstood problem of agricultural land use in early America led farmers who tilled the soil to just move on to better land because there were limits with repetitive tillage and deteriorating soil quality. Things changed in 1905. Hugh Bennett and another soil scientist compared adjoining land parcels with identical soils and differing production capability. One parcel was forested; the other cultivated. The forested parcel has never been cultivated; the other parcel had been tilled and planted year after year. Surely, Bennett thought, the soils were identical in the beginning. What changed? The difference was erosion throughout the cultivated parcel with accompanying loss of topsoil. Bennett studied soils in the United States and in other countries to reach his conclusion that soil erosion was a serious and unappreciated problem for the planet and all who live on it.
Thoughts from the Crossroads – Rebranding
If you get to hang around this planet long enough, you’ll notice that most things get rebranded sooner or later. For example, my grandmother wore a girdle.
A late ‘thank you’ to a Louisa comedy legend
“Monty Python and the Holy Grail” fractured my brain as a young adolescent.