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USA … USA

I'm sure many have been and/or will be sitting in front of their televisions watching some, much, or even most of the seventeen days of Olympic competition coming from Rio de Janeiro. Along with the competitions in arenas, venues, in or on water, or on sand, there have been many stories of inspiration, dedication, overcoming injuries, overcoming odds, personal conflict, sacrifice, and size of heart. We've seen athletes in the spotlight for the first time, many not yet out of their teens, and we've seen some "grandparents" of Olympic competition, one Romanian gymnast now having competed ...

National Potato Day

Sometimes I think I just enjoy a challenge.How much - really - can one say about today's commemorating National Potato Day? We all know what they are. Nobody debates its pronunciation as they do "tomato." Many of us enjoy them in a variety of ways but how much time - really - does one need to devote to musing on potatoes?Instead of hurrying to the Internet for help as is my wont, I turned first to a favorite, "Too Many Tomatoes, Squash, Beans and Other Good Things, a cookbook for When Your Garden Explodes," by Lois M. Landau and Laura G. Myers. "Exploding" gardens is hardly a problem ...

Ready Or Not, Here Comes School

The opening of school is up in the air where I live. There is an ongoing contract impasse and the teachers have authorized a strike. They have worked under their old contract for two extra years. I only remember one other strike. I was not involved as a teacher, but of course my children were. It is hard to fault anyone, but the impasse is unfortunate to say the least. Depending if it happens and for how long, the educational process will be interrupted and tempers are sure to flare.I feel sorry for those entering their senior year with such uncertainty. I also feel sorry for those ...

Chautauqua Institution Presents Cultural Themes

As summer comes to an end, Chautauqua Institution is proud to announce the program lineup for Week Nine of its 2016 season. The week, which began Saturday and concludes Aug. 28, features presentations by renowned guests such as artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center Wynton Marsalis and actor Wendell Pierce, as well as performances by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO), singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter and more.Chautauqua Institution's nine-week summer season features morning and afternoon lectures focusing on weekly cultural themes. The morning lecture series will ...

Editor’s Note

Another year, another summer of "jeeze, this summer is flying by."Maybe it's age - growing old seems to make everything fly by no matter what season it is; maybe it's having three school-aged kids and a wife who teaches - the calendar always seems to revolve around their activities; or maybe it's just how it's supposed to be.Western New Yorkers know the story - there's summer and then there's three other anything-can-happen seasons. We've had years where my Halloween costume never looked right because it was hidden under a winter coat and hat; and Christmases where I needed flip-flops ...

The Ride Around The Lake

I do some writing for the tourism bureau here in Chautauqua County, which, by the way, does an excellent job marketing our area.And they proposed a few writing ideas for a fall blog post - including a piece about driving around the lake.It got me to thinking about that ride - something I've done often in my life, especially when I was young and made the trip with my grandmother and great-grandmother on the occasional Sunday.Make no mistake: this was a big excursion.We'd pick my great-grandmother up at her house with the apple tree out front and she'd slowly walk to the car and get in the ...