Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, I have been unable to travel. So in April, I decided to take an imaginary journey around the world, and I have been sporadically sharing stories about the adventure. The last place that I “visited” was Kazakhstan. Today’s journey takes me to Sochi, Russia. (the pictures were taken much closer […]

  A few months ago, during the lockdown, I wrote a blog post, titled “Pennies from Heaven (with link!).” In it, I talked about coming face to face with all of my insecurities and inadequacies. I was on an inner journey, and it was a pretty bumpy one. At the end, I emerged with the

As a journalist, I believe that the job of a newspaper is to hold up a mirror to the world, to show the readers a reflection of life as it is occurring. The goal is to reveal everything about society, both good and bad, without commentary. Thus, the newspaper becomes an image of a moment

  When I was eight years old, I was afraid of bees. I thought that I could get stung at any moment because, for reasons unknown to me, bees liked to land on me and use me as a chair. Eventually, I calmed down and I learned to coexist with bees. The day came, however,

These days, I don’t travel very far. I go to work and I come home. Sometimes, I go to the farmers market. On Sunday, I went to church. The first time since March 8th. It was nice to be back, and it was different. The church service was held outside, under a tent. No singing.

There are times when I think that, once we finish all of the phases of re-opening, everyday life will just pick up where it left off. The world looks normal. Is it really possible that danger lurks behind such a placid surface? The flowers are blooming and the lake is often a beautiful shade of

Two years ago, I had joined the Becker Farms CSA (community supported agriculture) for the season. When you join a CSA, you pay for every week that you get a box of produce. I had the option of ordering a box every week or every other week. My other option was the choice between a

There was no Independence Day parade today. The length of the self-quarantine/lockdown made planning a parade impossible. Maybe there will be a parade at another time. Or maybe not.Who knows? So I didn’t get up early to take a quietly peaceful walk to the start of the parade route. Instead, I gathered my clothing and

Today was a good day. I spent most of it working on a garden on the side of the park office. My goal was to rehabilitate the overgrown garden. There was shrubbery to be pruned, a tree to shape, and weeds to remove.  As I continued with my project at the park, I thought about