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Celebrate National Quilting Day

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Spring is blooming in quilted splendor at the library


VIRGINIA – We are celebrating because March 16 is National Quilting Day! The Going to Pieces Quilt Guild is happy to hang quilts in the Virginia Public Library. The quilt maker this month is Bernadine Seablom from Aurora. 3-D Popstar is the name of the pattern used to make this beautiful star-studded quilt. Bernadine led a mystery quilt activity using […]

The changing of the season brings about some musings on spring

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“In spring, a young man’s fancy turns to love,” or at least that’s what was penned by Lord Alfred Tennyson over two hundred years ago. I wouldn’t argue his thought since I myself was a serious victim of the love bug one spring, or more specifically, March 8, 1972. That’s the day I asked my wife, Lindy, out on our […]

“Think spring,” says artist Ann Gradishar

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“Think spring,” says artist Ann Gradishar. She shared this photo of her lovely painting of flowers in a vase with HTF. Ann lives in Aurora and has been painting for over 50 years.

At springtime, “our thoughts turn northward”

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I never imagined myself as a snowbird, yet here I am!


My husband and I traded our little fifth-wheel camper for a trailer house in Tucson, AZ. It is much larger, and though it is only a single wide, it feels spacious to us. It does not rock in the wind or wiggle when someone walks through; it doesn’t have tanks that need emptying or filling. And it doesn’t need to […]

Grab some bean bags and give it a shot

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Introducing Iron Range Cornhole! Come join in the fun


IRON RANGE: Bean bags! It’s a game my family and friends have enjoyed for years. It turns out there are a lot of people nationwide who take this backyard game to a whole new level. Would you believe that you can watch cornhole on ESPN? My husband and brother-in-law are obsessed, to put it lightly. It was during one of […]

A woman with “the grounded faith of immigrant optimism”

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Remembering June, who hoped for the best in all people


I recently returned home from Evanston, Illinois after attending my mother-in-law’s funeral. June Spandet Foster lived 100 years and three months. Over the last 20 years she battled Parkinson’s disease day in day out with a reasoned steadiness that inspired her friends, family members and caregivers. When the end finally came, it really didn’t seem like her illness won. It […]

Watch what you say in a candy shop

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Leo: Help yourself to the candy, kids. And they did!


We enjoyed a fair amount of time vacationing with our kids when they were young. A few extensive trips took us across the country, but more often than not, we chose the theme of “Explore Minnesota” in bite-sized increments. One trip might find us camping on Crane Lake, the next, a three-day discovery of Bemidji and the next, a trip […]

Going back to school to build unique bookshelves

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Doug steps out of the classroom and into the woodshop


I wish that I had paid more attention in school. Undoubtedly modern school psychologists would have labeled me as having had a learning disability, such as attention deficit disorder or some other impediment to learning with a fancy name. But when I was in school, they called it not paying attention, laziness, failure to apply oneself, or daydreaming when I […]

A Leaper shares what makes Leap Day special to her

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I was born February 29, 1960. Yep, that’s right, 8 other babies and I were born on Leap Day at the Children’s Hospital of Orange County. My mom still has the newspaper article and picture of us in our bassinets. My original due date was March 7, and my mom had really hoped I wouldn’t be born on February 29. […]

Quilt on display is a “LOVE-ly” addition to VPL lobby

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Love quilt features heart blocks exchanged by friends


VIRGINIA – The February quilt selection from the Going to Pieces Quilt Guild is a “LOVE-ly” addition to the Virginia Public Library lobby. An original creation by area quilter and guild member Barb Tupy, it is a perfect selection for a month when we all are busy telling our loved ones how much we love them. In this instance, it […]


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