Opinion

cinnamon rolls

Bits & Pieces – From games to homemade cinnamon rolls

The holidays are over and the New Year has arrived. School is back in session and most of us have settled down into a routine again. 

My daughter, Tarra, and her son, Mason, came for a few days visit on Dec. 27th. We always have a good time and they usually bring a few games. One of the games we played was Clue, a game I had never played in my life. So, of course, it’s always fun to try to teach the old lady who has to play 100 times before she finally gets it. Obviously, we didn’t play 100 times because I only won one and I think that was by accident. On the other hand, Tarra won most of them with Mason winning a few.

Winter Walk

Good Growing – In a stressful season, seek nature

According to songwriters and composers Edward Pola and George Wyle, this is the most wonderful time of the year, but research indicates it may be that and more. According to the American Psychological Association, two in five adults experience an increase in stress levels between November and January. A nearly equal number of adults say that the increased stress affects their ability to enjoy holiday celebrations and gatherings.

Focus on Faith

Focus on Faith – Reflections and directions for 2024

Isaiah 43:18-19 - “Do not remember the past events; pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.” 

The world that we live in is ever-changing. Some of the challenges we are facing include climate change, wars and military conflicts, global health issues, and poverty to name a few. Each of us face our own personal challenges in life, both individually and as families.

Bits and pieces

Bits & Pieces – The scariest ride of my life!

Happy New Year friends! We made it to 2024 and everyone looks great! Wishing all of you the very best for this new year!

Looking back on past years, I’m reminded of the new year in 1973. It looked like any other new year except for one thing....I was pregnant with our second baby. Back in those days we didn’t have the technology that we do today, like telling what sex your baby will be, your due date, which was a lot more accurate than figuring up days according to your last cycle and even baby’s weight estimate now is more accurate.

Focus on Faith

Focus on Faith – “Not-So-Wise Men”

As with most popular stories, the arrival of the three wise men (or kings) at the manger on Christmas night has been a little embellished. We have a tendency to add details that aren’t actually there in the text. Details that are necessary in order to paint paintings or put on pageants or make movies. The Bible rarely gives us a script ready for reproduction. That’s why we smash Matthew’s Christmas story and Luke’s Christmas story together and put up nativity scenes with as many people (and animals) as we can get.    

The Illinois last invaded downtown Beardstown in October of 1926. (CIPS Photo, Leigh Morris collection.)

Looking Back – The great Illinois 

Illinois is a state, but “the Illinois” only can describe the great river that runs 271 miles from its source to the Mississippi at Grafton.

It is not the nation’s longest river nor its widest. The slow moving Illinois is anything but wild – though she does have her moments. 

The Illinois would not even be navigable for most of her length much of the year were it not for dredging and the locks and dams. In fact, long before the dams and the runoff from cities and untold acreage covered by asphalt and concrete, there were places were a man could easily walk from one bank to another during the summer months.

Roy C. Roberts

Trivia Too – “Hospice” and the end of an era

This is our dad’s last column that will be published. He wasn’t totally finished with this “Hospice” column, and so we are including it to let his readers know how comfortable he was with the decision to enter Hospice care a year ago. 

This column meant so much to our dad--whether he was writing about Beardstown, Sports, Family, Travel, Trivia, History, the War, Humor, and on and on and on. The four of us have each written about areas that he loved to write about and have included them in this column. Thank you for your support over the many years of our father and this column—Ann, Don, Sue, and Chris.

Looking Back – Dime stores, glass bottles and more

Mention the dime store, glass milk bottles and Black Jack gum to even a thirty-something and you’ll likely be met with a blank stare.

Well, let’s take a stroll down memory lane and see what you remember.

Dime Stores: Before Wal-Mart, Kmart, Shopko and such, the five-and-ten-cent store – or just plain “dime store” – was the king of retail. Not only did small towns have them, but a dime store once held a prominent spot on Chicago’s famed North Michigan Avenue.

Focus on Faith

Focus on Faith – We are called by name

Who named you? We all had someone give us our names. Maybe it was your Mom or Dad who named you or perhaps it was an aunt, uncle or grandparent. Our name is an important way that we identify ourselves. For instance, it is the first way that we introduce ourselves to someone else – my name is such and such and what’s your name. 

Shirley J. Unger

This tragedy affects all of us

While the Christmas season is a joyous time for many, it’s also a stressful and sad time for those who have had a life changing event or have lost a loved one.

In our wildest imagination, a mass shooting in our small county of 12,657 would be the last thing to cross our minds, but here we are. Four people died of gunshot wounds and one remains hospitalized. One of those four was the suspected shooter.