Columns

Lessons learned

Recently one of our best students was disqualified from our essay competition because she unintentionally did not follow the rules. It was too bad as she wrote a very good essay, and I shared her disappointment.
Birthday celebrations include aviation cupcakes. Submitted photo

Birthday celebrations include aviation cupcakes. Submitted photo

A no-fare air fair in Fernandina

The crowd mingles, conversations fluttering with anticipation as guests grab a flute of champagne, turn to the sky. On the horizon, a speck appears, a small plane, coming closer. Then the sound, a low rumble rising in pitch as it gets closer, low to the ground, bearing down on the group.

An eclectic town with a cool, soothing vibe

Nashville is routinely and deservedly awarded the title of Music City USA. On a smaller scale, Fernandina Beach could now be a nominee for Music Town USA. Like the waters of Egans Creek, an inflow of music talent arrives regularly in Fernandina Beach.

Even in the worst of times, God is up to something special

Funerals force us to confront the ultimate consequence of mankind’s fall: we all die. At funerals, we grieve and get angry. And sometimes we can’t help but wonder: Where was God? And why didn’t he intervene? We want answers. And most of all we want divine action.

Behold the Lord’s hand

Behold the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither His ear heavy, that it cannot hear; but our sins have hid His face from us, that He will not hear. God has not lost any of His power nor His love for us, but there is a problem.
National Library Week

National Library Week

National Library Week

I wish that when you opened the newspaper to this article it would be like a musical birthday card with confetti spewing out and the song “We are the Champions” playing softly in the background because this article is all about National Library Week, and I would like to celebrate the services and...
Wood working by Mike’s Makings. Multi-media art of pelicans by Our Glass Creations will be at the Fernandina Beach Art’s market tomorrow. Submitted photos

Wood working by Mike’s Makings. Multi-media art of pelicans by Our Glass Creations will be at the Fernandina Beach Art’s market tomorrow. Submitted photos

Only two more markets before the Shrimp Festival

The farmers markets close just one day a year and that is the Saturday of the Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival. The downtown Fernandina Beach Market Place farmers market will be open two more times before the Isle of Eight Flags Shrimp Festival; there is no market on May 6.

Call me quirky

Have you ever been dubbed “quirky”? I have. A great many times since adolescence. Perhaps it was the fact that I drank coffee at age 8. Maybe it had something to do with my adoration for Whoopi Goldberg at age 10.
John Muir, circa 1896, was the first president of the Sierra Club and started the preservationist movement in the United States. Part of his journeys across the United States brought him to Fernandina, through Callahan, toward Waldo and ending in Cedar Key. Along his way, he journaled about Florida’s flora and fauna. Submitted photo

John Muir, circa 1896, was the first president of the Sierra Club and started the preservationist movement in the United States. Part of his journeys across the United States brought him to Fernandina, through Callahan, toward Waldo and ending in Cedar Key. Along his way, he journaled about Florida’s flora and fauna. Submitted photo

A traveler’s memoir: A celebration of Earth Day

Globally, we come together on Earth Day to celebrate our home and raise awareness of environmental protection.
Photo courtesy of UF/IFAS Photo Big Cypress National Preserve houses more than 30 orchid species, including the Ghost Orchid. Usually blooming in the peak of summer, the Sphinx Moth visits the orchid at night, using its long proboscis to collect nectar, which ends up spreading pollen to other Ghost Orchids. It was believed that only the Giant Sphinx Moth pollenated the Ghost Orchid until 2019, when researchers photographed a PawPaw Sphinx Moth feeding from a Ghost Orchid.

Photo courtesy of UF/IFAS Photo Big Cypress National Preserve houses more than 30 orchid species, including the Ghost Orchid. Usually blooming in the peak of summer, the Sphinx Moth visits the orchid at night, using its long proboscis to collect nectar, which ends up spreading pollen to other Ghost Orchids. It was believed that only the Giant Sphinx Moth pollenated the Ghost Orchid until 2019, when researchers photographed a PawPaw Sphinx Moth feeding from a Ghost Orchid.

Marvelous adaptations – the orchid

Recently we explored the world’s largest plant family – the Asteraceae family, better known as the Daisy Family. It contains more than 32,000 species of plants. Our second largest plant family looks rather different and is surprising to many – the Orchid Family or Orchidaceae.