Columns

Spring has sprung! It’s time to get out and enjoy all that the season has to offer. Best Kept Secrets Tour   April 4-20 Lancaster County How many times have your driven by a small shop or greenhouse and made a mental note to stop there someday. Well, thanks to this unique tour, that “someday”...

Days before a storm was forecasted to blow across the county, Waltz Vineyards was buzzing with activity. With the ground saturated from two previous storms, the coming rain had the potential to cause grapes to burst on the vine, thus ruining the harvest. Poised on a bucolic hillside in Manheim, the farm’s rolling fields were...

Summer arrives this month, which means it’s time for clam bakes, crab picking and shrimp on the barbie. Or maybe you have a hankering for a crabcake. Either way, Mr. Bill’s Fresh Seafood and The Fat Crab Café can satisfy your cravings for seafood.  The Fat Crab Sandwich features a crabcake and a soft-shell crab....

Part of my routine as a writer is making sure I read the works of my contemporaries. Mostly, I accomplish this through a selection of magazine subscriptions and by keeping up with new material from The Comic Store. I almost dropped the issue of Grendel, Kentucky I was greatly enjoying when I learned the modern spin on...

Photo by Nick Gould Gardening and Nature at Fairmount Situated in a rural setting and with many farmers and folks with green thumbs among our residents, Fairmount is a great place to continue “playing in the dirt.” Many residents plant and care for vegetables and flowers off their patios or on their balconies. For those...

Whether she’s expecting her first bundle of joy or is an experienced mother-to-be, every baby bump can be celebrated! See how two moms-to-be were feted at showers and sprinkles that celebrated the sweet anticipation of a baby’s arrival, plus learn about some trends in welcoming baby. The “Unwrapped” Shower Abby Hobson Shank and her husband,...

It’s the perfect time of the year to take a joyride through the countryside, where you’re bound to discover hay wagons sitting along roadsides filled with beautifully shaped pumpkins and brightly colored gourds for sale. However, if you truly want to enjoy the season, I’d like to recommend a trip to Cherry Crest Adventure Farm,...

Few other trees and shrubs can compete with the sheer exuberance of the crepe-myrtle’s flower display, which comes in late summer when few others are blooming. Its colorful ornamental bark is a highlight of winter. Add good fall color, and you’ll understand why the crepe-myrtle is a first-rate, four-season ornamental. In response to last month’s...

I always go a little crazy after New Year’s and reorganize closets, drawers and kitchen cabinets, discarding anything that no longer fits or, in the case of medicine or food, is expired. This year, I found a bottle of Carolina Swamp Sauce that bore a 2006 expiration date! It was lurking in the back corner...

At age 3, when most children his age were still learning to talk, Randy Miller was singing in front of a church audience. That was 58 years ago; today you can still find Randy singing gospel … and loving it as much as ever. Randy remembers his father carrying him up to the front of...