By MARY RICHE DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 19, 2023 — I love celebrating my birthday. And I like the pivot point of a birth date, giving me reason to reflect on the past year while dreaming about the year ahead. On my birthday in late 2021, there was absolutely nothing, not even a distant glimmer,…
PHOTOS BY MARY RICHE DES MOINES, Iowa, Jan. 21, 2023 — There was a beautiful snow Wednesday evening into Thursday morning. We got four inches on our patio in Des Moines, eight inches around our apartment in Jefferson and nearly a foot in areas on to the northwest. That made Mary Riche decide to spend…
By MARY RICHE DES MOINES, Iowa, Dec. 30, 2022 – My husband Chuck Offenburger and I received so many wonderful holiday cards, photos and letters with personal messages that, yes, it seems a bit lame to send holiday greetings and recap our Christmas travels and celebrations in a column. I’m hoping you’ll indulge me in…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER SHENANDOAH, Iowa, Dec. 11, 2022 — While driving Saturday morning to my hometown in southwest Iowa, it occurred to me that 2022 marks 50 years since I’ve actually lived here. (Another thing that occurred to me: On the route I took between Des Moines and Shenandoah, you cross the East Nishnabotna River six…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER OMAHA, Neb., Dec. 17, 2022 — One of the extended Offenburger family’s greatest successes, my first cousin Dr. Richard O’Brien, and his wife, soulmate and perfect partner for 65 years, Joan O’Brien, were both memorialized Thursday morning at St. John’s Catholic Church in the heart of the campus of Creighton University, their alma…
By PAM KENYON WAUKEE, Iowa, Nov. 20, 2022 — Like the gravy sliding from its pool atop the mashed potatoes toward the green bean casserole (which is OK), or toward the wild rice casserole (which is also OK), or toward Grandma Joy’s red Jell-o salad (which is NOT ok), most all of my childhood Thanksgiving…
Photos by MARY RICHE/Text by CHUCK OFFENBURGER ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., Nov. 19, 2022 — The artist’s Slovakian last name, “Chihuly,” sounds like some kind of folk dance, doesn’t it? And, let me tell you, his glass artistry makes your imagination dance! On our way to a stay on Marco Island, Fla., we overnighted in St. Petersburg,…
By MARY RICHE DES MOINES, Iowa, Nov. 6, 2022 — These days, I’m moody as all get out. I’m probably cranky and no fun to live with, though my husband assures me otherwise. I’m frightened that I might be living in a state and country that retreat to values opposite of mine, after all the…
By MARY RICHE DES MOINES, Iowa, Nov. 1, 2022 — It’s not every day that a couple of septuagenarians marry, then return from their honeymoon to hear a lot of their friends saying, “We sure enjoyed your honeymoon!” Of course, I’m referring to readers of our social media posts who tagged along virtually, not in…
By CHUCK OFFENBURGER SHENANDOAH, Iowa, Oct. 29, 2022 – It was just one night in a friendship that’s stretched 70 years, but I’m sure going to treasure it the rest of the way. Last Saturday evening, Oct. 22, my Shenandoah High School classmate Denny Howard – one of my best friends since we were about…
