Columns

A program recently sputtering to a start up in a nearby village went looking for folks interested in picking up trash thrown hither and yon.

It’s amazing how we can know someone for years without asking or knowing any of the pertinent questions that would belong in an obituary.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there are fewer people here now than there were several weeks ago.

For decades, foreigners have visited Lakeside and fallen in love with it. They go home with glowing descriptions of the place, using words like “paradise” and “heaven.” Next, they decide that they need to own a piece of this paradise and move, lock, stock and SUV to these shores. Lately, after searching for and finding the “perfect house,” they tear it down and build one that looks very much like the one they left, without regard to the climate, neighbors or anything but the new water pressure system. The next step, of course, is that they discover that the house is too hot in the summer months, so they need air conditioning. “I don’t understand,” says Mr. Just off the Boat, “it wasn’t this hot when we were here last summer.”

Recently some newbie (at least I hope he was a newbie) stopped in at a local business and complained that the neighbors had apparently had a big party last night because they still had the streets blocked off with chairs and such. As a result he couldn’t drive through the street. He also mentioned that there were still people sitting around.

Granted, it’s a little early but that particular croaking-screeching call of the wild that you’re hearing in your garden really is that of the “rain bird.”

A string of seven days to do nothing but relax and enjoy mindless television is rare for anyone in the newspaper business – at last it came during Holy Week.

Even if it isn’t paper grass and tiny marshmallow chicks in a basket with ribbons, Easter is a wonderful gift upon which to ponder renewal. Use it to take in a deep breath, enjoy the days you are given and smile.