Zinnia and the village it represents

Angelkeep’s annual patio pot of zinnia always provided entertainment.  A clipped bloom became a kitchen window mini-bouquet. Hummingbirds, swallowtails,...

Old news is still pretty interesting news

It is not unusual for people to stop by the News-Banner office with some old newspapers they’d found. “Would we be interested...

Angelkeep off the Street Fair midway

Meet friends. Elephant ears. Rides. Corn dogs. Parades. Yellow jackets. Games. Taffy apples. Bands. Fish sandwiches. Market Street Industrial Tent. Free acts....

From Rwanda to the Bluffton Street Fair

Writing about travel has always been one of my favorite topics to share with our readers and is certainly a labor of...

Angelkeep Journals: Work before (Street Fair) pleasure

Long ago,, this columnist fried a full skillet of brats sautéed with onion and pepper strips. The idea was to pre-eat a...

Lessons from ‘1,000 Books before Kindergarten’

My 4-year-old and I finished a journey this month that we started nearly three years ago; we finished 1,000 books before kindergarten.

A day in a rural Rwandan community with five artisans

Aristotle coined the phrase, “The soul never thinks without an image.”  I think of those seven words often, including...

A new mattress; Farewell Jimmy; Small-town cops

A few odds and ends as we — my wife and I — recover from a wonderful journey only to catch some varied...

A nothing special day

Last Friday was a fairly quiet, nothing special day. The last business day before a holiday usually is.  The...

Angelkeep Journals: A chance of 10,000 lifetimes

What are the chances of a native, common, juvenile, red-tailed hawk spending an entire hour posing on the Angelkeep patio two to...