Midway through summer, wind and rain visited my home during the night. Had I been nervous about a storm, I would have been nervous for my tomato plants. I have two, 2’ x 8’ elevated […]
Category: 2021
Julia Smith of Nachtigal
For singer/songwriter Julia Smith,
Music is art, created in the soul. […]
Honey From A Rock
It was UTTERLY RIDICULOUS and made absolutely no sense whatsoever, and yet there God was, speaking it into our hearts. “Have another baby,” He said. “Start again,” He said. “Go back to the beginning. I want this for […]
My passion is to leave a trail in Haiti of curious kids who can make an impact on their country.
Lisa Berg
Last year was a time of deep, deep, deep cleaning at the Johnson house. Imagine finding aged chemicals older than you. Camping fuel? Fertilizer? We had it all. But what do you do with it all, right? For those residents of Greene, Christian, Dallas, Polk and Webster counties, you make an appointment at the Household Chemical Collection Center and let them discard of the chemicals properly. For more information, visit their website. Make an appointment by calling 417.864.2000. The employees are so nice and so helpful. You drive up to the door, and they unload the items from your ride. Have questions about my experience? Comment below.
AND ALL THE DOGS MERELY PLAYERS by Amy Tyndall The play As You Like It by William Shakespeare features a rather melancholy character named Jaques, who wanders around the forest ruminating on ideas. He famously says: All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts We named our dog Jacques after this character. He is not melancholy, and he never ruminates. But he does chase a frisbee, and he also wags his entire back end when he sees us. We are greatly enriched since he made his entrance onto our family’s stage.
I needed to stop trying to do things like others were doing them, and start taking advantage of my own talents.
Dr. Stephen Spates
Brats, Peppers, Onions
I was trying to think of something interesting to make this coming Labor Day. I decided on bratwurst sandwiches based on the classic Italian sausage, peppers, and onion sandwich. For a twist on the side […]
3 Unexpected Lessons Learned
No matter where you go, no matter what you do, you’ll always be my babies. I’ve spoken those words to every student I’ve had over the last 13 years. The advent of social media has […]
According to Dr. Katie Kilmer, assistant professor of biology and health at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, lightning bugs/fireflies are specialized predators and feed on other insect larvae, snails and slugs. “They are important to help maintain a balanced ecosystem,” she says. Medically speaking, “lightning bugs create their light using two chemicals, luciferin and luciferase, both of which are used in research on cancer, multiple sclerosis, cystic fibrosis and heart disease,” Dr. Kilmer says.
“All of my songs mean a lot to me,” says Julia Smith, singer/songwriter of Nachtigal. “But these are currently some of my favorites and I think sum up my overall style.” Listen now. Read more about Nachtigal in the September issue.
Gone was the girl labeled unworthy. In her place stood a young woman on the precipice of a future many believed would never come.
Carie Hinkle
Dr. Stephen Spates
Every fall season, when a new school year begins, I think about my first year of graduate school. I was excited to begin a new journey as a graduate student in communication studies. I also […]
Heather Zoromski
I recently saw a quote that said, “Ten years from now, make sure you can say that you chose your life, you didn’t settle for it.” I don’t know who said it, and since I […]
Hear me. I cannot see myself becoming an expert gardener. I laughed off the completely ridiculous notion of Master Gardener. However, I will try, try, try again. I also vow to expand my garden interests, experiment with different varieties and learn, learn, learn. This year, one of the newcomers is the pink bumble bee tomato from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. My mom says the unripe cherry tomato looks like a watermelon. My mom is correct. A teeny, tiny, little, cute-as-can-be watermelon. One of the “we’ll just see what happens” ideas I had this year was to allow vegetables and flowers to hangout in the same garden. So far, so good. I have several hard-working, there-each-morning worker bees, pollinating this and that. Finally. It took time for the bees to show up, but I am thankful they are here. // Julie Johnson
