This past weekend, I went through a horribly traumatic experience.

Autumn has arrived in our garden and many plants are taking the hint and dying back for winter already.

Years ago, there was a game show that asked, “Are you smarter than a 5th grader?” Now, I’ve known for quite some time that, unequivocally, I am not.

Usually, I leave the column complaints to my grouchy sports counterpart, Nick.

As it is often said, “fools rush in where angels fear to trod,” so by the end of this column I may be considered to be the fool.

My dad was a sports guy. He loved them. He played them, coached them, and managed them.

l want to begin this week with an apology. I have been drying flowers, especially hydrangeas, for over 25 years and even had a business in Charles Town selling dried and fresh flowers.

You’d think for someone who majored in Communications, I’d have more of a hold on how to do it properly.

We are living in strange and unparalleled days in our country today.

March of 2020 brought with it a number of changes and all it took was the introduction of the word COVID.

In this week’s column I have done some reflecting on a passage of scripture that came up several days ago in the Church’s lectionary.

Last Monday morning, I was placing my breakfast dishes in the dishwasher when our oldest daughter came out of her bedroom, took one look at me, and asked, “Why are you dressed already?” I answered, “I have to go to work.”

We have temperatures in the sixties at night and eighties during the day. I don’t know about you, but this feels like fall weather to me.

In my impressionable youth, I was a BIG Barbie gal.

Reflecting on Matthew 16: 21 -28

On their 40th wedding anniversary, my dad presented my mom with a ruby necklace that he’d picked out and purchased all by himself. Our entire family was speechless.  

I’m aware that this is to a religious column but for nearly 23 years or so I have dealt with issues that are of a grave concern to the churches.

As always, August is throwing us a curve. This year it’s cool rainy days and even cooler night temperatures.

Last week I wrote about some of the challenges that the teachers were bound to face once school starts on Sept. 8.

If you are not already in the habit of keeping a pen and paper on your bedside table, I heartily recommend that you start.

In response to Dr. Anthony Fauci’s expressed concern about a prevalent “anti-science” bias in our society, Franklin Graham posted on his Facebook: “Science isn’t truth—God is.”

It may seem like these hot days of summer are going to last forever but it won’t be long until the days turn warm and the nights will have that chill in the air making it feel as if football season is ready to kickoff.

August has had more rain than usual and the major beneficiary appears to be the weeds.

I’ve been trying to follow the back-to-school stuff as closely as possible, and even if you don’t watch the school board meetings live on Facebook just to see me in the background, you may have seen some articles with my byline about the start of school right here in the Review.

It has been nearly 6 months since my family would meet twice a week at a local restaurant to have breakfast together. It was a regular routine every Tuesday and Friday morning.

In our world of instant access to a mind-boggling amount of information, it’s easy to find facts.

These are lazy days in the garden, spent mostly gathering the harvest and staying cool. This is a good time to look through your catalogs and decide which spring bulbs you need to order.

We have friends who homeschool their children. We have friends who send their children to private schools.

Roughly 1 in 10 adults in the U.S. has a recent prescription for a pain medicine, according to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention survey. Six percent of those prescriptions are for opioids.

What are some of the strongest factors that affect your health and life span? Contrary to what you might think, your interactions with the health care system have less effect on how long you live than socioeconomic factors.

Basic Christian Faith. That phrase was also the title of a college religion course that I was required to take back in the day.

“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” [2 Peter 3:9]

I’ve not known a time that I can remember when the United States did not stand behind Israel. Yet, we have a president today who reportedly thinks Israel should not defend itself against terrorists groups, such as Hamas. I guess Israel is supposed to roll over and play dead while terrorists …

This is not a time for a lot of extended visits to the garden, but when you’re there, pick a few extra to give a friend or to leave at the senior center.

In the 1990s my husband and I liked the song, “Peaches,” sung by the alternative rock band, The Presidents of the United States of America. It starts off with the lyrics, “Movin’ to the country. Gonna eat a lot of peaches,” followed by, “If I had my little way, I’d eat peaches every day.”

The day I applied for this job, my mom drove me 2-and-a-half hours to Romney. I made her stop in Capon Bridge so I could take pictures next to a big carved bear outside Bent River Woodworks. It was a super-cute photo, if I do say so myself (and I do).

With all of this talk about stuff going by the wayside in our society today, it has kind of gotten me thinking. Some of this stuff I’ve never even heard of. What the heck is a correspondence course? I never had a MySpace and I’ve never driven a car with a stick shift. Yikes.

I was reading a devotion today and it is so fitting for what is going on in this United States of America. The title of the devotional was “God Loves Us All.”

It seems like there are 2 topics of conversation anymore — it’s either COVID-19 or politics. And talk to the right people and they will tell you that COVID-19 is a direct result of a conspiracy on the part of one political party or the other.

We have been going out to the garden to water the plants in the morning. It’s been too hot and humid to do much of anything outdoors during the day and the evenings aren’t cooling off much either.

A few weeks ago, my mom couldn’t start her tractor. She asked my husband to look at it. He did so happily.

I texted my mom last week and asked her if she remembered Pete Briggs.