Football, Soccer, Fussball: All the Same to Me!
It will amaze my family and friends that I’m even attempting to write about soccer, while my acquaintances in the land of Fussball will...
On the Menu: Dirt, Bugs, and Fungus!
A “sweet” memory recently surfaced: At our annual exchange program family potluck, one of the German students nervously confided that her American mother’s contribution...
’Tis the season …
In this week’s On Fertile Ground are the topics of my December:Real vs Artificial: A Christmas Tree battle!The debate ranges! Both may be in...
Many Happy Returns of the Year!
A few days ago I saw a TV promotion about commemorating the 100th birthday of Charles Schulz. Had the cartoonist not passed in 2000,...
Time for giving back
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one in a series of outreach columns from the Champaign County Board of Developmental Disabilities.As you probably know, the Champaign...
THE Thanksgiving Snow Event!
I have lived through two blizzards. The one I remember, because I experienced it, occurred in 1978. I drove through the remains of it...
Stand up! Sit down! Fight! Fight! Fight!
The people in history I find most inspiring are those who stand up for their fellow human beings, individuals who use their power, their...
When they read aloud to us
Recently, I have been thinking about my mother reading books aloud to us girls during our preschool years. Of course it happened: that’s how...
A clover lawn? Is he nuts?!
No, I’m not, at least not totally. Hear me out! This just might work in some situations.Growing a beautiful lawn requires a great deal...
What I learned in October
It is report card time for lots of local schoolkids following their first quarter of learning about the ABCs, exponents, photosynthesis, and the three...
