Hello Mid-Ohio Valley farmers and Gardeners. Here on the farm it is always around Memorial Day that my grandmothers’ peonies are blooming. Most garden peonies grow two to three feet tall and mature plants may be three to five feet wide. Peonies bear three to six-inch diameter, fragrant ...

CHARLESTON — Here we are, eight days out from the June 9 primary election and it’s crunch time for statewide candidates still trying to still influence voters who are marking absentee ballots, taking part in early voting or waiting to vote a week from Tuesday. I traditionally vote on the ...

Look for another epidemic, not long after the one involving COVID-19. The new one will feature lawsuits linked, of course, to the coronavirus. It may begin when a restaurant owner is sued by a former customer who insists he wasn’t seated far enough away from others to avoid contracting the ...

Several days ago, I thought I was going to write this column about the purported Patriot Day Rally to exercise Second Amendment Rights in Kentucky. During the rally, some whack job drove up in a pickup truck, brought out an effigy of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear and hung it from a tree, with a ...

Our champion walkers Thomas Cox, of this city, and C. Hendricks, of Lauckport, are at Wheeling, participating in the thirty-six hour go-as-you-please walking match. Cox is the champion of West Virginia and seems likely to win the Wheeling prize. This is the second time that Hendricks was ever ...

Way before the coronavirus started we use to see advertisements everywhere to support our local business in the area. Now that the stores and businesses are re-opening, supporting them has become more important that ever. With people being confined to their homes because of the virus ordering ...

Last weekend we celebrated our heroes who died for our liberty. In World War II my father was a Marine fighting in the Pacific. Like most combat veterans he never talked about combat. Dad told us about crossing the equator and his time in Australia and New Zealand. As we got older he would ...

Private school admissions will give plenty of laughs and drama in ‘Tiny Imperfections” by Alli Frank and Asha Youmans. Josie is working as director of admissions at a prestigious day school in San Francisco to provide a good life for her daughter. Her alma mater, Josie was a scholarship ...

The water in Charleston Harbor was still. It reflected the cotton candy clouds hanging in a clear summer sky. The breeze was pleasant as it softly cooled people working in the harbor. The Portuguese ship, known as the slave ship, sat unmoving on the giant mirror. Bit John Martin was in ...

You’ve heard of “the butterfly effect.” If not, the Cliff’s Notes version is that the most minuscule action on our plant can spread and, like ripples in a pond, grow until it has gargantuan effects. Well, the butterfly may turn out to be a lightweight, compared to the COVID-19 virus. ...

Hello Mid-Ohio Valley Farmers and Gardeners. Memorial Day or fondly remembered as “Decoration Day” traces its roots back to the Civil War here in America. Graves of fallen soldiers from both sides of this bloody conflict were decorated with flowers. Christened officially in 1971 by The ...

Sometimes on one of those late spring days when Memorial Day comes, you can almost see them, marching, marching onward, the legion of forgotten dead. In the soft stillness and solitude of a country graveyard in the evening hush, occasionally you can hear the muffled beat of a drum as the ...

AUTHOR’S NOTE: I published this column last Memorial Day. This coming Memorial Day will be quite different, with most events and parades canceled. Even Alumni Weekend in St. Marys is canceled, where I would have celebrated the 20th anniversary as a member of the Class of 2000. The ...

“I have to believe that, when my eyes are closed, the world’s still there.” *** Teaching, as a profession, has many unparalleled-highs and many unmatched-lows. It is a profession that supplies something daily that you aren’t prepared for or aren’t equipped to handle. It is also a ...

It is astounding these days the degree to which people are willing to display beliefs and behaviors most of the rest of us came to understand were just plain WRONG generations ago, and to top it off with a willful lack of understanding about the way our democratic republic — and, more ...

Continuing to use the works of John A. House, the items below will conclude our 2020 jaunt into the “Silent Cities of the Departed.” *** Edelen Cemetery Following is an excerpt of John House’s chronicle of his visit to the Edelen Cemetery in 1927: “The old Edelen Graveyard is ...

This is the time of the year when so many students are looking forward to their graduation day where they can finally celebrate by changing the hat tassel and throwing their hats in the air. However we must start with the graduations starting when the child is in elementary school going into ...

For those trying out the Keto diet, and want a simple recipe to make in it instead of just french fries (which I have been guilty of) comes the new book, “I Love My Air Fryer Keto Diet 5-Ingredient Recipe Book” by Sam Dillard. The beauty of this cookbook is the faster prep time, having it ...

This is “break out” week for Lynnda and me. For over two months our travel consisted of a weekly trip to the grocery store and me going to physical therapy. This week we got our hair cut for the first time since mid- March. Saturday, we get to dine in at our favorite restaurant. Sunday, we ...

Downtown PKB’s Taste of Parkersburg typically serves as the official kickoff to summer for our vendors and participants. We love all the planning and preparations that come together to make for a fun-filled evening in Bicentennial Park. Those who attend love the tasty samples from area ...