Holidays? Already? Hear me out. You know that dream you have of the holiday season when your days are spent baking cookies, sipping cocoa by the fire, enjoying all of the local holiday events in your community with your family, and perhaps looking forward to a family getaway right after the holidays? The beauty of…
Wisdom and Wonder: The Magic of Fairy Tales
In my 1967 edition of “The World’s Best Fairy Tales: A Reader’s Digest Anthology,” which sits at my elbow as I write these words, former children’s librarian Marie Cimino introduces this 800-page collection in this way: “In this world, virtue is always rewarded, evil is punished, the weak are helped and the youngest can be…
Why Follow Your Conscience?
During World War II, a group of college students calling themselves “The White Rose” wrote leaflets against Nazism and were executed. Another person of conscience during the war, German industrialist Oskar Schindler changed the fate of 1,200 Jews, whose families now thrive, and they honor him today. Sadly, communism survived World War II and continued…
5 Homeschooling Tips From a Successful Pioneer
Although we didn’t know it then, my family was what is now referred to as a pioneer of the modern homeschool movement. I still remember being stopped at the grocery store—several years after we began our homeschool journey—being asked why I wasn’t in school, inwardly wincing at the alarmed or confused look I was sure…
Don’t Make These Stir-fry Mistakes
“It has to be done, so it might as well be done by me,” I told myself as I dumped the thawed package of supermarket potstickers into the vegetable stir-fry. I may be crazy, but it’s a lock that my kids will like it. So how crazy could that be? Trying to make a stir-fry…
‘The Poet of Childhood’: Remembering Eugene Field
Most journalism is ephemeral. The news reports, opinion columns, and commentaries on sports, fashion, health, and dining are brushed aside by tomorrow’s headlines and shifting interests. Here today and gone tomorrow are the usual watchwords in the Fourth Estate. We readers may have our favorite writers—I, for example, particularly relish the editorials by Conrad Black,…
With Meal Planning, Think Cost per Serving, Not Price per Pound
Pop quiz: Which is the better buy? Pork tenderloin for $2.97 per pound or boneless pork chops at $3.47 per pound—taken from my local supermarket’s weekly ad? If you answered the tenderloin, you’re in good company. Most of us would, but we’d be wrong. Price per pound can be misleading because not all cuts of…
Retired State Senator in New Battle Against Domestic Communism
A Vietnam War veteran and former Virginia state senator is at the center of a new battle: pushing back on domestic communism in the United States. After 16 years in the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate, Sen. Richard Hayden Black withdrew from the office in 2020, but not the community. On June 22, he spoke…
Parenting Matters: Become a Dynamic Parent
In his book, “The Four Signs of a Dynamic Catholic,” Matthew Kelly describes four characteristics that separate dynamic Catholics from “other” Catholics. While reading his small book, I kept thinking these same characteristics define dynamic parents as different from “ordinary” parents. I have adapted these principles as they apply to parents below. Dynamic Parents Read…
Ask the Vet: What to Know Before Buying From an Online Pharmacy
Q: Our six dogs and cats are on preventives throughout the year to protect them from heartworms, intestinal parasites, fleas, and ticks. We want to continue buying them from our veterinarian, but he can’t match the prices we found online. A friend learned the hard way, though, that some online pharmacies sell counterfeit medications. How…
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