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Watching And Waiting

I see him every day. He’s hard not to miss as his white fur coat overflows his large frame. Even in his typical sitting position, the big white dog casts a sizable shadow. He sits in the same spot in a neighbor’s yard, but I’m not sure where he belongs. This past summer he was seen running full force and jumping into another neighbor’s nearby swimming pool. In the winter when most animals curl up and brave the cold, this dog enjoys sitting in the snow for hours. I’m not sure of his breeding, but he is quite an impressive sight as he sits tall in his favorite spot. I ...

Music Memories Are The Best

Sometimes the best gifts are those that simply fall in your lap. We can make lists after lists for Christmas or birthdays or other special occasions in the hope of giving and receiving the perfect present. However, the unexpected, the “I never thought of that” gift simply just happens sometimes. I received such a gift, actually a number of such gifts, recently that made me smile. A friend, someone nearly 20 years younger than me, offered my husband and I a large box of unwanted old record albums he had acquired. Since I am a great fan of the “oldies,” I jumped at the chance ...

Red Light, Green Light

I was sitting patiently in my vehicle at the traffic light near the Warwood Shopping Plaza the other day. There was a fair amount of traffic on W.Va. 2, and I find it’s usually best to exit the plaza via the street with the traffic signal. Now this particular intersection is a no-turn-on-red location. That’s because a great many of the tenants from the Garden Park Apartments tend to cross the street there. In other words, there is a cross light for pedestrian safety. However while waiting for my light to turn green, I noticed a vehicle across the intersection had pulled onto ...

What To Do, What To Do

You’ve seen them. They are hard to miss. They stand at various corners and even at intersections at malls and The Highlands. They carry signs that indicate they are homeless or simply in need. One very cold night last week, I saw a young man standing in the doorway of a downtown building. The building is often busy with workers, but it was after hours and it was closed. The young man had taken up residence for the night in that doorway. He had a blanket rolled into a sleeping pallet tucked in the corner. A backpack sat at his feet while he studied his cellphone. I wondered why he ...

No Free Rides

Ever since I was old enough to understand about money, I wanted to earn my way. With 11 siblings, allowances were pretty much unheard of unless you were told specifically that you would be paid for washing the car or raking leaves. Even at the preadolescent age of 12, I could earn some money by babysitting in our neighborhood that was experiencing a true baby boom. There were jobs to be had, but babysitting was sporadic. There was no guarantee each week of earning enough money to purchase my heart’s desires. At 50 cents an hour, babysitting wasn’t always lucrative enough to allow ...

Ready For A Night On The Town

There was a time in the Ohio Valley when streets were teeming with people on Saturdays in downtowns for shopping or for the nightlife of shows, movies or dance clubs. The population of many cities, such as Wheeling, supported these crowds and activities. During those years, you could open your local paper phone book and find listings for just about anyone who lived in your town or the businesses that were located there. Before the invention of the Internet, a phone book was an invaluable tool, especially for someone in the news business. The countless times I perused the yellow ...