7 ways to organize and store holiday decorations
Decorating a home for holidays is quite popular. A survey from the National Retail Federation found that 53 percent of respondents said they were planning to decorate their home or yard for Halloween in 2023. Lombardo Homes polled 1,000 Americans in 2021 and 94 percent said they celebrate Christmas in at least some way, and 84 percent said they...
Feathers, Fowl, and Finances: The Increasing Toll of Yuletide Celebrations
In a surprising turn of events, it appears that the cost of procuring the items featured in the classic holiday tune, "The Twelve Days of Christmas," has experienced a notable increase of approximately 4.8%. At the forefront of this upward trend are the turtle doves, ostensibly due to their relative rarity. When was the last time one encountered such...
Beyond the Regifting: Discovering the Fascinating History of Fruitcake
Certain sights and sounds are ingrained in the holiday season, from twinkling lights to carols piping over retailers’ sound systems. Amid the shelves of holiday wares and delicacies, fruitcake makes its annual appearance. Fruitcake, sometimes referred to as plum cake or Christmas cake, can be prepared in various ways. However, a dense bundt-type cake dotted with dried, candied fruit and...
Making Time for You
Being a small business owner is both rewarding and challenging. While handling finances, marketing, inventory, sales and a million other responsibilities, it’s easy to neglect taking care of yourself. It’s crucial to prioritize your well-being for your business’s long-term success and health. To get you started, here are a few tips. Define Your Work Hours: By setting clear start and...
Reasonable Accommodations for Disabilities in the Workplace
Many people have heard of the “Americans with Disabilities Act” (ADA) or even the phrase “reasonable accommodation.” It seems few outside the Human Resources community understand what is involved with either. Here is a good start: do not model your company’s compliance or employment practices after anything you see on a TV or streaming series. While the scenarios on...
Requiscat in pace…I guess
All of you Latin scholars out there no doubt recognized that phrase, often abbreviated as R.I.P. and translated as Rest in Peace. Well, it’s had an outbreak here at the ranch; our feline population has undergone some major changes. Boy, has it ever. First off, Ruffian, of the inside cat contingent, took off one day and could not be persuaded...
The Old Road: Old cars, old classmates and teen angstSkip’s 1950 MercuryThe Old Road: Old cars, old classmates and teen angst
It is 1963. I’m a football player in 11th grade. I’m in English Class at Maple Heights High School. I’m in the first row, third seat back nearest the window (A potential escape route if the building gets bombed, or more likely, if I say something stupid and bomb myself). In the first seat is our alternate quarterback Melvin...
The Frost Spirit Comes
That line comes from John Greenleaf Whittier, who was once considered one of the premier poets of American literature. Raise your hands out there if you remember his name at all…. That’s what I thought. The whole of the quote–found in the OFA– is this : “The Frost Spirit comes! And the quiet lake shall feel…The torpid touch of...
Let’s Get The Mantua Center School Back On Track
So, who is to blame here? We seem to be a society fixated on pinning the blame on someone or something. The war is over people!!! Blame? Forget the blame (Hint, Hint)! Forget the name calling!! We’ve now documented and recorded for posterity the sometimes sordid history! The world-renown magnificent school building, constructed in 1914, has sat vacant, and...
Serving Fun and Community Impact: Grand Opening of Pickleball Courts and Several Upcoming Fundraising Events Around the Area
This was a “Really Big Dill”…the Grand Opening of the Park Avenue Pickleball Courts at the Craig Moser Park on Park Avenue across from the Y. This was to officially launch the use of the newly-created facility. This event was organized and attended by members of the Garrettsville Pickleball Association, as well as numerous individuals interested in learning more...
What in the Weird?
Yes, indeed, There is all kinds if it out there…weird, I mean. For instance, the other day there was a short piece on line about a political uproar in Wisconsin, where politicians–mostly Republicans, I fear–were in an uproar about passing a law against naked bicycle-riding. Seems to me that would be a self-limiting enterprise to start with, but what do...
The Vacant Castle Part II
From 2020 through the greater part of 2023, things ground to a halt due to the COVID plague. Different plagues and famines likewise hit Shakespearean England 800 years ago and they seemed to last for years and years. People died, people migrated to the new world. Here in our world in 2019, gatherings, town meetings and such were curtailed...
The Importance of an Employee Handbook
One of the questions I answer the most is “Does my organization need a handbook?” Yes, every organization should have a set of written policies so everyone knows what is expected. A policy can be in a formal handbook but could be shared with employees in other ways, including posting on a bulletin board. I recommend a handbook...
Gruel to Gourmet: A True Breakfast Alchemist
Well, as an Autumnal au Revoir, we’ve just had a beauty. It’s nearly all downhill from here on out, I fear. There seem to be numerous warnings about an “el Nino winter” and how we could be in for a freezer bowl this time around after having been just barely noticing snowflakes last winter (Was there more than one...
The Vacant Castle
This is the continuing story of the Shakespearean-like little hamlet, Mantua Township, Ohio. A comedy of errors, it is loaded with irony, sometimes silliness, sometimes idiocy. To bring readers up to date, it’s a story that often features people of honesty, compassion and empathy. It also has a distinct Machiavellian side. Are some of these people really bad...
Mantua’s Stonehenge
Our story begins in 1914 when a new school building was built in Mantua, Ohio. Designed by a world-famous architect to new fireproof standards it is one of the very few examples left in existence—a true Stonehenge of sorts. Life went merrily on as usual for the next 90 years until 2004 when the school system, faced with state requirements consolidated all their holdings and created one new central elementary school. What to do with this magnificent old building? Why, offer it to the Township government for a ridiculously cheap price. They could certainly make good use of it since their current buildings are meager, not in the best condition and God forbid, made of matchstick wood (easily flammable)... Let us continue our transition into modernity.
Iva’s Input: Amen to That!
Got inspired at church on Sunday( This is not an automatic occurrence, I have to confess. I get distracted…and sometimes sleepy, truth be told). Meaning, of course, that The Rev came pretty close to matching my point of view on a whole bunch of things. He also tossed out some statistics that were sobering and even scarey from some...
Iva’s Input: And We’re Off!
Fairs end. School starts. Games/competitions–football, soccer, volleyball., golf, cross-country–are on ( Just got an invitation to a Quiz Bowl event too). It’s crazy out there. Hang onto your hats…or any other item of apparel which you might find inhibiting…it’s all happening Now! I finished the summer with a Grand Tour de Force, hitting three fairs–Lorain County Wellington Fair, Portage County...
The Old Road: “I Need A Christmas Tree Truck”
“Could you fellas find me an old truck, actually maybe two or three of them, to put on my Christmas tree farm? They don’t have to run at all. I want to create an old time atmosphere and experience for my customers. I’ll have Wintergreen Tree Farm stenciled on the sides. I want things to look rustic and old,...
What a Week That Was
Started out with the first football game of the season. That went well…for us, anyway. Then on Saturday there was an outdoor wedding, for which the weather was absolutely perfect (Doesn’t always turn out that way), followed by the fifty-year reunion of the Class of ‘73 (They’re the ones who collected class dues or something to put together a...
The Old Road: First Fishing Day in May 1955
It was a Saturday in May of 1955. I am 9 years old and have been waiting for this day since last fall. Fishing with my grandpa Charlie, my dad and me, it did not get any better than this. We got up at about 3:30 AM. It would be a looooong day that typically wouldn’t culminate until about...
Lost in the Digital Wilderness
I had been intending to do this particular piece on my laptop, thus ending its long retirement from meaningful operation, but that just did not happen, for a number of reasons. See, I have had this device for quite some time, not forever, but long enough, but it had mostly served as my access to the Monday edition of the...
Thoughts From the Big Store
Every so often I make my way out of town(Somebody else is in charge as soon as I cross the village limits, just so everything does not “go to hell in a handbasket”. So far, so good.)and I frequently take the opportunity to “people watch” –especially when I go to one of the “BIG” stores, where there are a...
Dad Deserves the Best: Father’s Day Gift Ideas That Will Impress
Many families have their own unique Father’s Day traditions, but it’s not uncommon for those rituals to cross familial lines. For example, gift-giving is one popular Father’s Day tradition many families share. With that in mind, anyone looking for the right gift for Dad this Father’s Day can consider these ideas. Personalized Photo Album: Gather cherished family photos and create...
Home Sweet Home, both of ‘em
My current abode being somewhat the worse for wear, I was recently inspired to “go home” to Wellington to get one more look–maybe the last…or close to it–at the old homestead before someone new gets to call it “home.” So, anyway, it was a fine drive to Lorain County and even after all of these years, I still notice how...
May be… Maaayyybe not…
I was thinking that May would be pretty quiet, once the monumental trip to Chicago was over, things might calm down, I might be able to kick back, relax, let the mind wander (as it is wont to do), do some stuff that had fallen by the wayside, as often happens, get some things done, maybe. May be… First of...
Vancura Valedictory
So…here’s my plan: Nearly everyone who knew Barry Vancura knew that he was all about Christmas. He loved shopping for gifts, getting just the right gift for everyone on his list–which was extensive, getting “a deal” on the items which met his exacting criteria, decorating for the holiday (What ? You think that he didn’t have a hand–or at least...
All You Need is Love
Well, not exactly. The Beatles got a lot of things right but this sentiment is not really gonna cut it when it comes to public works…like, say, the Portage County Park District. Saturday, April 22, was the annual Portage Park District Foundation recognition benefit dinner event, giving credit where credit was due to many of the folks (not all, mind...
April Fooled!
So far, April has been fairly nondescript…except for the tree falling on the front porch, of course. And there’s no a whole lot going on after Easter, unless you’re into Earth Day–like the Portage County Park District, which will hold its annual Awards event on the twenty-second in Kent–or are interested in the new moon (which means that you...
Hoppin’ Down the Bunny Trail
Most interesting Easter in a while. Got an invitation to brunch which I had to turn down because it landed smack in the middle of church, which ran long on account of technical difficulties to start with, then just because it’s Easter, involving all sorts of “pomp & circumstance” and majorly long hymns of celebration (Charles Wesley never could...
