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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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,...
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)....
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
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...
DANG!! Where Did I Put My Ruby Slippers??
They’re not around here, that’s for darn sure. Maybe they’ve made it to Kansas, though it would be more likely that they’d wind up...
H&G Amish Style
At the Amish Home & Garden Show, which took place just last weekend, there’s one thing you can count on finding, no matter what...
Easy Riders?
Well, they did it again. They came. They saw. They caught a break in the weather and had a very successful Road Apple Roubaix on...
Winter Wonderland?
So… I’ve been wondering a whole bunch of stuff about this so-called winter which we have been having. It seems that there are records...
WWJD: Finding A Place To Park
When you’re a “nomad” traveling in a camper van finding a place to park for the night can get tricky; by “tricky” I mean...
Unseasonable?
If it’s Thursday, this must be Springtime. There was a book or movie once-upon-a-time about someone taking a European tour–one of those guided rat-races through...
A February Spring Is Not Worth A Thing!
So opines the Old Farmer’s Almanac (Actually the Old Farmer says it’s “not worth a pin,” but I took a few poetic liberties to...
