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Living in the shade of our wonderful trees

Yesterday, beginning the turn into our driveway, I stopped. Our front yard birch tree, its leaves shimmering in the light breeze, captured my attention. I usually take its beauty for granted, but this time I needed to pause to appreciate its splendor. We planted the cluster birch with its four strong trunks six years ago. I haven’t named the tree, but he surely is a member of the family now. How did he get that big? And fully symmetrical? And luxuriously leafed out? He is now 10-15 feet taller than our roof peak and about 30 feet wide. I shouldn’t be proud of this handsome tree – ...

School bell rings again

Although it has been more than 20 years since I retired from my job of teaching school, I still feel nostalgic when it is time for school to begin. I guess the saying “once a teacher always a teacher” applies. I have used my skill of teaching off and on during those years, but nothing formal. For about 10 years I enjoyed being associated with Vacation Bible School at our church. First, I taught the nursery class, then I went on to become the director. My grandchildren were young enough to participate so it was fun. The youngest one wanted to be able to attend in the worst way. When ...

If the shoe fits, wear it in comfort

My Dear Richard has wide feet. I sympathize as he searches for the right shoe in size 10 EEEE. Shoe stores have very little for him. He scored once, fourteen years ago in New York City, and once in Canada in 2015. Mostly, he searches the catalogues, but finding handsome tassel loafers in 10EEEE is similar to winning the weekend lottery. Nada. Sneakers ARE find-able. However, he’s finicky about wearing them to weddings and funerals. Plus, they don’t do a thing for grey flannel slacks and a blazer on a special night out. Just ask his wife. My lovely friend, Pat, is tall and ...

Giving students a PASS has many benefits

By SEN. JUDY WARD The Pennsylvania Award for Student Success (PASS) program and Gov. Shapiro’s repeated public support for it continues to receive much-deserved media attention. The situation in our low-achieving schools is at a crisis level, and children are suffering every day because of that. What can we do about it? We can continue to increase funding for Pre-K through 12th grade education, and the Senate-approved fiscal year 2023-24 budget does this to the tune of more than $1.1 billion dollars. After several years of historic increases in education spending, Pennsylvania ...

These days, it’s easy to put a spin on something and pedal it as if it is the undisputed truth. Take legal skill games, for example. Fear-mongering arguments pushed by the Pennsylvania Lottery and casino industry take great efforts to ignore both the facts and the law. A recent Pennlive editorial claimed, “Gambling in Pennsylvania needs the strong oversight only casinos can guarantee.” PennLive’s Editorial Board apparently is of the opinion that the lottery should be run by casinos. What I hope might finally put an end to the false narratives is legislation I have ...

The perils of canning

Last week I did a history of canning jars. This week I will concentrate on what went into the jars. There were several trying times. I really cannot remember which event came first, although if I looked back in my diaries I could find out. I have kept a diary for close to fifty years with events that were important to the farm. One year there was a sugar shortage. If you were going to can fruit and jelly you needed sugar. When I went to the store, I could only purchase so much sugar. I had to ration that to get my canning done. The family had honey bees. We caught our first swarm ...