Cape Girardeau/Scott City Monday: Chicken Parmesan with pasta and sauce or beef Stroganoff, Italian-blend veggies, garden salad, garlic bread and chilled pears or pudding and cookie. Tuesday: Pepper steak with peppers and onions or poppyseed chicken, brown rice, Lima beans, mixed veggies, whole-grain hot roll and spiced peaches or strawberry shortcake.

“Oh, my,” we often say to ourselves, “If only my life was less stressful, I’d feel less like a balloon, about to burst,” and we continue on, feeling swamped, yet failing to recognize that we are frequently the catalysts that perpetuate the worries, dreads and fears in our lives. We are the ones that decide to accept invitations, perform unnecessary jobs, make the choices to have children, to buy a house and make other decisions before we think about it.

At the Cape Girardeau County Archive Center, we respond to a lot of questions by email and in person from people who want to know more about their family history. We love the opportunity to help fill in gaps in people’s knowledge, and we accomplish this by finding ancestors’ names in the historical county records (deeds, tax books, estate papers) and in the Cape Girardeau County Genealogical Society’s library.

George Jones sang a hit song in 1965 called "The Lovebug". I don’t think his song was actually about an insect. But some of the song’s lyrics seemed to indicate so. The lovebug is a small insect that has a black body with a red head. It is about half of an inch long. The lovebug is native to North America, most notably along the southern Gulf Coast. This insect often swarms twice a year during its breeding seasons in spring and autumn.

Maybe 50 years ago, I heard a story about “sweat deposits” or “sweat equity". It’s been long enough I don’t remember what the original story was about, but I sure remember the facts. “Sweat equity” is where you have to make a physical work investment in the growing of the produce, before you can benefit from the harvest. You can buy the produce where your sweat equity is in the form of cash. But you can’t expect the produce free. You have to have invested sweat somewhere in the equation or the process.

There seems to be an abundant crop of pears this year. Many of you know I work full-time at the Cape Senior Center, and we have had many clients bring in fresh pears. I have given recipe suggestions to many of our clients, but I came across this recipe that sounds delicious. I really enjoy cranberries; so I was excited to find this recipe to use up some fresh pears while combining them with one of my favorite foods...

I really try not to be, but I think that, maybe, I am drifting into food snobbery. I have found excellent food in the oddest, most unlikely places, and I have the most fun when a place genuinely surprises me. But these places usually surprise me exactly because I expect not to be impressed, because of some preconceived notion I may have about an establishment, or maybe because of the way a restaurant looks. I try not to, but I am undeniably being judgmental...

__Cape Girardeau/Scott City__ Monday: Mushroom meatballs or sweet and sour chicken, brown rice, seasoned carrots, winter-blend vegetables, whole-grain hot roll and chilled pineapple or blonde brownie. Tuesday: Chicken salad with whole-grain crackers or sub sandwich on bun, spinach salad, sweet and sour beets and Mandarin oranges or lemonade cake.

Dodger is a 2-years-old male who needs a farm life. He loves to run and chase squirrels away all day long and would be happiest on a farm. He doesn't mind other dogs his own size but prefers females, and doesn't like cats or small dogs. He also prefers to be outside most of the time. If you have room in your heart and home for Dodger or any other pet, visit us at 359 Cree Lane near Jackson any weekday or weekend from 8 a.m. to noon. Visitors are always welcome to play with our pets...

I took this photo the evening of Thursday, Sept. 5, at Jean Whitaker Park in Chaffee. These flowers are of an ornamental plant called crepe myrtle. It looks as if someone dusted parts of the flowers with a white powder. This crepe myrtle is being attacked by a fungus called powdery mildew. This fungus usually starts during wet weather and, although we are currently in a monthlong drought situation, the powdery mildew persists on this and nearby plants.

We crave consistency. Even the most spontaneous among us have regular patterns in which they conduct life. We drive to work on the same roads, store toothbrushes in the same location and fix our coffee in the same way. We thrive in patterns of consistency. However, we live in an inconsistent world. The Bible reminds us that our lives are brief and uncertain (Job 7:6; Psalms 39:5, 102:3; James 4:14). Yet the Bible also equips us to navigate the unknown.

One of the greatest privileges of being a church member is the opportunity to learn from and relate to a diverse range of people. Our congregation is a beautiful tapestry of different generations, races and international members, all bound together by our shared faith in Jesus. Each member, regardless of age or background, plays a vital role in our community, and it is through mutual respect that we can truly appreciate the value each person brings.

So was it the parent’s fault? To be honest, who really knows other than God. I sure don’t. If we are being judgemental we’d say it was the dad’s example that the kid’s went bad. But on the other hand, we could say the kids who went to the good was because of the mother’s example. But honestly, who knows? The dad now is getting up in years, kind of like many of our friends, and he realizes the cruddy example he presented to his kids. He’s never said anything about his kids, but it has to be on his mind. He’s cleaned up and even looks and acts better, but he has to be a troubled parent.

In 1919, a young Vietnamese man along with some friends drafted a document of civil rights for the Vietnamese people living under French colonial rule. They mailed the letter to the leaders at the Versailles peace talks. It was ignored. Ho Chi Minh, returned to Vietnam in 1941, after traveling the world between 1919 and 1940 studying politics, especially Russian communism and later Chinese communism, determined to oust the French from Indochina. Ho came to the United States in 1912 interested in American democracy. He would make his way to Britain and eventually France, where he was introduced to socialistic ideology.

Jayne Ervin, owner of Jayson Jewelers, grew up in Cape Girardeau with a city grandmother and a country grandmother. She says her city grandmother, Grace Erlbacher Dace, was a classy lady, always well-dressed, with hair and nails to match. As a young girl, Ervin remembers being attracted to her “costume jewelry and pretty rings.” Her country grandmother, Helen Blattner, was more of the outdoorsy type, and a good businesswoman. ...

As summer comes to an end, we are looking at our new routines of school drop-offs, watching the grandchildren play in their favorite sports and saying goodbye to our RiverWalking exercise at Cape Splash. As if time doesn’t move fast enough, it may seem like it is on double speed during these busy times, which is why I want to talk to you more about how we can still eat healthy on the go...

November is weeks away, but a life altering choice is looming. With only two options in the running, tempers are flaring. I try to remain neutral on controversial topics, people needed help and I was determined to find answers. To PSL or not to PSL, THAT is the question. ...

“Fee-fie-fo-fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman.” If you’re as old as I am and grew up on fairy tales not superheroes, you recognize that line immediately. It’s from the tale of Jack and the Beanstalk. ...

The SEMO District Fair is in full swing, and everyone loves fair food. I often think about different fair foods and wish they were available all year long. Certainly through the years, fair foods has changed drastically. Not only in variety and what’s available, but in price. Who would have thought you would pay $5 for a cup of lemonade? ...

Get ready for family fun that brings the region together in Cape Girardeau at the 168th-annual SEMO District Fair, Sept. 7-14 at Arena Park. This year, the SEMO District Fair Board’s main focus is safety. To enhance security, they have added a six-foot fence around the perimeter of the fairgrounds, as well as walk-through metal detectors each attendee will enter through...

1974 50 YEARS AGO In September 1974, President Gerald Ford was of a very forgiving mind. On Sept. 8, he pardoned former President Richard Nixon of all federal crimes committed during and after the break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate Office Complex. ...

The assignment: 500 words about a billboard, which is about a meme, which a TikTok video was about before it made it into a meme I was on the road again, in the middle of the 3,000 miles I would drive this past May. I’d been put there by a life-loss as indelible as it was inevitable, given the eventual mortality of one’s mother. I felt like I imagined a pinball would feel, if it had to burn gas to roll...

I have been fortunate in different ways. One way is having experienced photography as it has developed and evolved throughout the past few decades from film photography and darkroom printing to digital imaging, iPhone cameras and generative artificial intelligence. Along the way, I have been able to embrace these changes...

I’ve long known I’m a bit of an oddball. I could fill a column with proof of that assessment, but I’ll focus on just one for now. Studies show the vast majority of people anticipate a fresh start with new opportunities and goals as December draws to a close each year. On the contrary, for more than 45 years, as a student and then as an educator, my internal calendar caused me to become giddy — really! — with New Year anticipation as July drew to a close and a new school year drew near...

Violet “Val” Grant grew up in a large family in Sikeston, Mo. Her mother, Hattie, birthed 18 children, with Grant coming close to the end at No. 16. Her dad farmed while her mother worked at home. From a young age, Grant had a fascination with watching her mama make up all kinds of recipes in the kitchen. ...

I found a crawdad in the pool and thought I knew what I should do. I fished him out and took him down across the street to a little pond. The pond seemed like the perfect place for a lonely crawdad to spend his days. But what if this was a spot he hated,...

Leopold has been my home for my entire life. While I have moved once, both of houses I’ve lived in have been in this little town. And of course, that begs the question: What is your definition of small? My definition is a graduating class of 15 kids, which was once 13 tiny kindergartners. ...

My parents and Marge’s parents were born in the early 1900s. Both of our parents grew up around settlers who moved to the Sandhills of Nebraska to start a life there and hopefully a better life. My grandparents traveled to the Sandhills in wagons pulled by, probably, mules. They built homes from materials that were available, which was sod. They learned how to do without or to fill the needs by their own ingenuity or efforts. They were naturally “thrifty” or careful where they spent their pennies and nickels.

In 1866, a gentleman and his family by the name of Gonner came to America. He was a talented civil engineer who was born in Pfaffental, a suburb of Luxembourg. Choosing a career as a construction engineer, Nicholas Gonner was in charge of building a stone arched bridge over the Mosel River in Remich, Luxembourg, that ultimately was destroyed by the German army in World War II. While living in the area, he met his future wife, Anna Marie Dittlinger.