Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Lawyers are fond of noting there are only three courtroom strategies to pursue in any legal case. First, if the facts favor your client, argue the facts.

The joy and wonderment of youth is a gift like no other. Just when the burdens of the world begin to feel unbearably heavy, I am blessed by the children's' voices that help light up my life, as well as the lives of those around me.

I watched the huge muskrat swim toward the bank of the Jordan River below me. Zooming in with my long camera lens, I snapped a shot to give to Mahoning County native Karl Gebhardt who was about to be baptized (we're talking "dunking" here) in the shallow river.

On this, the occasion of my 10,000th birthday, I would like to say ... oh, OK, I'm not really 10,000 years old.

I'm too busy. We'll start after the corn is planted and the hay is made. We tried them before and they didn't work.

Given the sad state of affairs in today's affairs of state - record federal budget deficits, record trade deficits, illegal domestic eavesdropping, the sale of key U.

The deeper the joy, the more devastating the heartbreak. The journey across this life brings a mixture of both and somehow we must be strong enough to hold it all.

Joy is found in simple moments if our eyes and our hearts are open. Today, from the back porch of what will soon be our new home, I watched nine deer amble across the hay field, just about 75 yards from where I stood, only the white board fence separating us.

(Note: Editor Susan Crowell is traveling with an agricultural trade mission to Israel. This is her first report, filed after arriving in Tel Aviv.

It is almost spring and the first specks of bold, new colors are sprouting among us. No, not spring flowers silly.