Treasures & Tidbits

  Denise Barkis Richter is a tenured professor of Journalism/Mass Communication at Palo Alto College in San Antonio, Texas. She received...

Daily Checklist Iron Butterflies Project This is a list of ideas to considering doing regularly while you are sheltering in place.  Many of these ideas came from your postings. Let us know how they work for you. Make your bed – check out Admiral Bill McRaven’s speech...

by Verlie Edwards I love decorating my home – both inside and outside. I also enjoy sharing my decorations with friends and family. I especially find Easter decorations fun to display. However, I will be the only one enjoying many of my decorations on this first...

by Verlie Edwards Changing the filter in your air conditioning unit is a simple task, right? I’ve done it so many times I should be able to do it in my sleep. Well, apparently, I was sleeping when I tackled this easy job on a recent summer evening. I must confess no...

By Verlie Edwards For several years I have used painted and decorated eggs in my Easter decorations. Among my decorations is a small Easter Egg tree adorned with painted eggs and handmade Pysanky eggs. If you are unfamiliar with Pysanky eggs, they are a tradition...

By Jessica Ehrlich It’s flu and allergy season and it seems like errrbody been getting sick! Ain’t nobody got time fuh dat! So, whether you are already sick or just want to avoid it….Here are some killer germ busting ideas that I do, and did do this past week, when...

By Sarah Kessler Ojeda Every day I think of all the important values and personality traits I want for my child and for the children at my school. I try my best to keep a mindful mindset. Parents, teachers and counselors want the best for every child and it is hard to...

By Kay Lynn Means-Darling At the beginning of my sixth decade on this earth, I found myself pretty much all alone.  Both parents were gone, I was a widow and had no children, and my two half-sisters, half-brother, and their children were somewhat at a distance living...

By:  Cyndie Abshire, niece of Mary Reesby Aunt Mary, our Matriarch, has seen and experienced an enormous number of changes in the world over the past 100 years. She became an official centenarian on Aug. 3, 2018. Born in Galveston, the eldest of eight siblings, Aunt...

By Shelley Friend There was a man in my neighborhood who walked every day carrying a backpack.  He was a small man and it looked like he added weight to his backpack. Every time I saw him he appeared to be walking slower the more weight he carried…no ear plugs, no...

by Shelley Friend What a concept, to have everything in its place.  I took an online cooking class two years ago and learned the culinary term “Mise en Place,” which is the French term for putting everything in place. If you ever watch any cooking shows, the chef has...

It is an honor to be talking with y’all today, about the Butterfly Effect. In asking me to do this, I’m assuming Shelley respects my expertise as a neuropsychologist or a father of two teenagers. Since the Butterfly Effect is based on Chaos Theory, I’m going to assume...

by George D. Lewis Sometimes in life we find ourselves falling into a deep well with no way out. As we sit there at the bottom looking up to see if there is help, we often find an empty place and no one in sight.  We sit and stare at the last bit of water and think to...

To celebrate the 242nd birthday of the United States, we thought we'd have some of our contributors write a bit about what patriotism means to them.  Our Founders were definitely Iron Butterflies as they wrote and implemented the Declaration of Independence.  For the...

by Kathy Strain I suppose I have been feeling a little nostalgic lately so I have been thinking more about my youth and childhood. I grew up in the east where the summers were humid and the air conditioners were scarce (the parents always had one in their rooms, but...

by Verlie Edwards I’ve always lived in landlocked parts of Texas, but that hasn’t kept me from loving the beach with its sand, tropical fish and crashing waves. The beach is the only place where I relax and completely unwind. Whether traveling to the Texas Gulf Coast...