“I’ve heard the expression ‘like white on rice,’ but I’m not really sure if I’m correct in understanding what it means. Can you find me the information?”
English has some very unusual phrases that the patrons and staff of the Newton Falls Public Library have found to be interesting. Our search began in the library’s reference collection. On the cover of Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang by Jonathon Green, which is, according to Evening Star Standard reviewer Jonathan Meades says “. . . a terrific piece of work...
Chipmunks
For those of you who are old enough to remember the cartoon, Alvin and the Chipmunks, they were a trio of brothers who got into all sorts of mischief; the cartoon characters were not too far off from the real thing. Chipmunks are known for eating flower bulbs, getting into bird feeders, and making holes all over your yard,...
Childhood Memories
Close your eyes and think back to a warm summer night, the smell of a camp fire, roasting marshmallows or eating s’mores; when all of a sudden, a young voice yells out “There one is” and all the kids run to the blinking lights slowly rising into the moonlight sky. We all can remember the endless summer nights as...
A File In The Cake?
I’m sure that somebody is going to “rat me out” and tell the Portage Park District that I’ve been pulling up plants along the Headwaters Trail. Indeed, I have been doing exactly that but the evidence will show that what I’ve been pulling up is a vast number of invasive weeds known as Garlic Mustard. Actually, it’s kinda cute,...
Long Live Rock & Roll
We try to make sure our kids knew there’s more to music than the latest artists they listen to or watch on YouTube, so my husband and I expose them to various musical genres in our cars and while at home. While cleaning the house, we’ve been know to subject them to artists including Stevie Ray Vaughan, Motown hits,...
Cat-astrophe!
At one time, there were, give or take, six—yes, six—cats in this house. That was, so to speak, the high water mark, but the tide seems to have receded rather precipitously lately. See, I started out, innocently enough, with just one, chosen from a litter just out of town advertised with a sign that said, “Free Kittens”. He was orange...
Signs of the Zodiac…Part I
This is the last of our foray into astronomy, discussing the signs of the Zodiac. I will divide the 12 signs into two parts. What we, who live in the 21st century, must realize is that people from many different cultures have been looking at the heavens for thousands of year without the aid of telescopes, computer simulations, orbiting...
Skin In The Game
Ever since that piece about plastic surgery and the aestheticians who keep having the gall to send me email about how they can get me a “Facelift Miracle”(as if I needed such a thing), I’ve been noticing a number of items in the news about occasions where the focus is on skin and the display thereof. The first one to...
3 Ways You Can Benefit By Giving Your Smartphone A Rest
America is saturated in smartphones. A Pew Research Center survey reported 81% of Americans own the versatile — and some say, addictive — mobile device. With the smartphone’s capabilities for internet access, social media interaction, running all kinds of apps, and texting, its screen has become the nation’s preoccupation — while face-to-face human conversation seems more of a second option. “Everywhere...
Mission Impossible
I continue my crusade to rid at least part of the Headwaters Trail of the noxious, invasive weed, Garlic Mustard...and everywhere else I spot the stuff, which is lots o’ places. Taking a loop around the back of the South St. Park (Bill Phelps Park, with baseball and softball fields) I encountered several stands of the stuff to go...
It’s That Time Of The Year
You think I know about nothing but cats? Ha! I can literary with the best of ‘em. Watch this: No sun - No moon No morn - No noon - No dawn - no dusk - no proper time of day. No warmth, no cheerfulness, no healthful ease, No comfortable feel in any member - No shade, no shine, no butterflies, no bees,...
It’s All About The Home
Welcome to “It’s all about the Home”. Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jane Ulmer and I am the co-owner of The Wayside Workshop in Aurora. The Wayside Workshop is our family business that my dad started in 1976 in Willoughby, Ohio. We spent about 6 years in Chardon before moving to Aurora Farms where we...
Messages From Mother Nature: The Ladybug
“Excuse me sir, but would you please call me by my correct name…. I am a LADY BEETLE, not a common bug!” Some explanation is in order for our snooty ladybeetle. Lady bugs are really beetles, not bugs. All bugs are insects, but not all insects are bugs. Within the insect world, there are several distinct groups, Butterflies and Moths...
The Name Game
Speaking of winter storms.... This whole naming thing apparently started with the Weather Channel and a Latin class somewhere. This was apparently so that the on-screen prognosticators could get us all to focus on a particular weather event at a particular time and to nudge us toward acknowledging the fact that all of this weather stuff is related rather...
Delightful and Sometimes Dangerous Decomposers
Since mushrooms have been in the news of late, we thought we would try to enlighten our readers about one of the most unusual and extremely important organisms in nature. Ominous sounding names like Destroying Angel, Deadly Galerina, and Poision Pie, are obviously poisonous; but Sulfer Tuft, Jack O’Lantern, and Fly Agaric are equally as dangerous. However Morels, Meadow...
Meet Bob, he is a cool cat!
Bobcats, though seldom seen, are the most common wildcat in North America. The Bobcat, Lynx rufus, is named for its short, bobbed tail. They are medium-sized cats and are slightly smaller, but similar in appearance to their cousin, the lynx. Rumors of Bobcats being seen on Headwaters Trail, in Pondbrook Conservation area west of Aurora, and several other areas...
O, Say Can You See….
Well, it may have been July 4th, but it definitely was a first in a lot of ways…just like what’s going on all over the place lately. How bizarre to have virtually no public displays of fireworks for Independence Day. The locals did try to take up the slack, I notice, as there were booms, bangs and flashes going...
Sentinels in the Snow
Viewing the winter landscape does not have the brilliant reds, oranges, and yellows of fall. It does not have the subtle shades of green we see in the summer. It looks naked, barren, and bleak. But tucked away along streams and rivers is one magnificent tree that really struts it stuff even on the bleakest winter day; the North...
ZZZZzzzzzzz-zzz–zzzzz
Bob snores. I can hear him across a room or in my lap. He has a sort of combination wheeze and whistle. I’m not bringing this up to clue anybody in on my—virtually non-existent--love-life, I’m calling it to the attention of the members of Bob’s Fan Club. He has fans. One of these days he’s going to stop just sitting on...
The Firsts of Spring
In walking outside this morning I heard my FOY red-wing blackbird singing. Saw the FOY turkey vulture, and read that the FOY blue herons have returned to their nesting colonies around north east Ohio. The term FOY has many meanings, but in this article FOY will be used to describe an occurrence in nature, an acronym for First of...
A Stitch In Time!
Here’s one for the Village Piece Makers, you know, the dedicated quilt-makers who every two years come up with a lovely handmade spread to be raffled off at the Christmas Walk. I don’t know how they come up with the patterns—maybe they make them up themselves—but recently the AB-J ran a cartoon (It’s a regular series called Non Sequitur, usually pretty apt for what they put out there) that might get a rise from out local needlewomen, even Ellie Foster Monroe who does “Quilts for Causes”, contributing to efforts that she supports.
April Showers
O.K., if “April showers bring May flowers”, what, in the name of all saints are we going to get based upon our most recent weather extravaganzas? Gonna be some flowers! Speaking of which (Great segue, eh?), I’ve got all sorts of things coming up around here. As usual, I don’t know what most of them are until they’re in full...
Messages From Mother Nature: Aliens or Owls?
Let us set the stage…it is late January; you are lying in bed tossing and turning. It is 2am, wind howling, snow blowing, and it is hovering around zero outside. It is so miserable outside; you think of the old saying “it’s not fit for man nor beast”. Suddenly you hear a whooo whooooooooo whoo-whooo. Then a minute later...
Cicadas Back by Popular Demand… Not!
As we make the transition from spring into summer, the wildflowers are fading, flowering trees and shrubs are ablaze in color, and the mosquitoes, deer flies, and other insects are making their presence known in one way or the other. We are all too familiar with the biting and blood sucking insects that cause us so much irritation, but...
Are We There Yet?
And just where are we going again? By the time that we get there, I’m going to be so out of shape that someone will have to haul me over the line in a wheelbarrow. When the Y closed, it so disrupted my self-designed fitness routine that all of my muscles have declared a national holiday and I’ve had...
How Long, O Lord?
We’re all going to wax Biblical if this quarantine thing doesn’t end soon. Which book? Well, we have several suitable possibilities, mostly Old Testament, such as Numbers: Six feet “social distancing”, Num 16: 20, “And the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron, ‘Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.’ Does that...
God Rest Ye
Well, rest is just what I’m looking for about now, lemme tell ya. I think that we’d be planning to petition somebody for an extra day in the week or an extra hour or two in the day, if we’re ever to get all of the stuff done that needs to be done. How about it? Who’s going to...
“Paw-toe-graphs”, Anyone?
The Porch Kitty Fan Club is still alive and well. The Fabulous Felines’ more-or-less annual Christmas gift arrived just the other day(Since it came on the 5th, I gather that the group belongs to an Orthodox faith and were celebrating the arrival of the Three Kings. They skipped Kwanzaa altogether.) Anyway the package contained a pouch of Crunchy Treats...
Your Attention Please
This is your last warning! The response to our request for personal recollections about Garrettsville--the village itself and, ahem, Greater Garrettsville, the surrounding area--has been, shall we say, underwhelming. John Porter, our very own senior version of the Energizer Bunny, came through with some highlight events, some including his home stomping grounds in Hiram. He also mentioned...
Time Limps On
Well, there was a weekend. The annual garage sale in the village and environs seemed to be going well. Maybe not as many commercial opportunities as usual but plenty of tents and canopies were out sheltering the displays of treasures--not much rain, thank goodness--available to the public. I even bought a small bench at the big Brookover house (the one...
