By Bob Gaydos
What is the opposite of inchoate? Incho what? Who even cares? Antonin Scalia and The New York Times apparently. I have more relevant language peeves.

By Shawn Dell Joyce
OK, I’ll admit it. January often tests my commitment to eating local. I’m running low on things I canned, dried, or froze over the summer, and most farms are closed. Meanwhile, the grocery store produce aisles are brimming with ripe watermelons, peaches, grapes and other fresh produce flown thousands of miles from the tropics to our frozen black dirt. Why would anyone pass up this fossil-fueled abundance? How to do it.

By Shawn Dell Joyce
The view of Montgomery as you enter through Ward’s Bridge. The pastel painting is the newest in a series of paintings celebrating Montgomery’s bicentennial. A portfolio of prints of these paintings is available to benefit the Montgomery Historic Museum. www.ShawnDellJoyce.com

By Carrie Jacobson
Some creatures are made for this weather, and Sam is one of them.

By Michael Kaufman
One day there will be a plaque on the wall in the Baseball Hall of Fame in honor of Lester Rodney, sportswriter for the Daily Worker, who helped pave the way for blacks in Major League Baseball.

By Rich Gigli
REFLECTIONS – The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?
– Edgar Allan Poe

By Shawn Dell Joyce
PORTRAIT OF AMY: This week I’ve been working on a portrait of the late Orange County doyenne Amy Bull Crist. The portrait will be donated to the new educational center in her name being built on her family’s ancestral farm of Hill-Hold. I had only a photocopy of a photo to work from, and am not sure I’ve captured her. I would love to hear what you folks think.

By Shawn Dell Joyce
No Impact Man asked himself this question and found himself on a year-long challenge of living lightly in New York City with his small family and leaving little or no environmental impact. His family’s experience has recently been turned into a documentary, a book, and an online challenge at www.noimpactproject.org.

By Carrie Jacobson
And here is the new year, fresh as the untrodden snow. Until …

By Rich Gigli
CARDINAL – For some people a CARDINAL may represent a Baseball Team, Religious Status, Bank, Newspaper, Numbers, Rules or a Bird. But for some, this crimson feathered creature may represent the seven wonders of the world: TO SEE, TO HEAR, TO TOUCH, TO FEEL, TO FORGIVE, TO HOPE, and TO LOVE.
Happy New Year