Lifestyle Columns  

Alas, Lancaster County, I hardly knew ye.

Following last week's column where I spoke in favor of gay marriage, I expected so much angry mail, I was planning to put a fake beard and sunglasses on my column photo. Instead, out of 45 e-mails I received, the most I've ever gotten since this column be...

When you hear the term "rare earth metals," you probably think of China and the rising price of energy-efficient light bulbs.


That's because almost all rare earth metals are mined in China. Spiral fluorescent bulbs are one of the more common items that use such materials and more stringent mini...

WEIKERT, Union County — Imagine being in the original Yankee Stadium, watching Mickey Mantle take batting practice.
That was me one glorious morning last week.
Except I was on Penns Creek, a fabled limestone trout stream in the mountains that draws anglers worldwide this time of year when a hu...

It was a chance meeting.
Boy Scout Troop 267 of Silver Springs was canoeing down the Susquehanna and had stopped at the Blue Rock Boat Launch at Washington Boro.
Jeff Schmidt, a waterways conservation officer for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, happened to be at the landing.
For some time...

The man walked into the bedroom, his eyes taking everything in, and he frowned.

He was heartsick, almost despondent. From the expression on his face, it appeared that his life was crashing down around him.

"It's not a very big master bedroom," he said, or something to that effect. "That's a co...

 

There's fishing. And then there's hunting for fish.
Successful attempts at both result in a fight with a fish on rod and reel.
But while one is a somewhat blind effort, the other is a spot-and-stalk affair.
"A lot of guys think the only way to fish is to cast a lure and hope a fish hits it...

We recently returned from a trip to Florida, where a grandson was celebrating his Confirmation. Our route was familiar, for the most part. We've made this trip many times and we're familiar with differences between the "Rebel" and "Yankee" states.
We expect gas prices to be lower in Georgia (and we ...

A winner has been announced in the Fulton's second Discovery Project new play contest.

It's "The Baby Game" by Michele Aldin Kushner.

According to Kushner's website, the play is about two couples — one straight, one gay — who are promised the same baby by a young birth mother, who ...

The Cliosophic Society is no more.

The Lancaster organization dedicated to lectures and discussion concluded its 133rd year and shut down forever early this month.

"Our declining membership has made it impossible to sustain our activities in the way we would wish," explains Dennis Benchoff, ...

It can be very easy to be creative with leftovers — leftover material, that is.

This week's project can use up the leftover fabric from the covered switch plates we made in the last column. It will also make your room's lampshade match your switch plate, but not in a matchy-matchy kind of w...