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…

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,…

JEFFERSON, Iowa, Oct. 29, 2022 — Friends in our town of Jefferson gathered at the country club on Sunday evening, Oct. 23, to give my bride Mary Riche and me a fantastic toast on our recent marriage and a welcome home to Greene County. It was a grand time, as you’ll see in these photos,…

Photos by MARY RICHE/Text by CHUCK OFFENBURGER GRAND JUNCTION, Iowa, Sept. 23, 2022 — The Democratic Party seems alive and well in Greene County, judging by a turnout of 88 people at the party’s annual fundraising dinner here Thursday night. Inspired by a fiery speech from Deidre DeJear, the party’s nominee for governor, the crowd…

Photos by MARY RICHE/Text by CHUCK OFFENBURGER WAHPETON, Iowa, Sept. 22, 2022 — I felt like we’d almost checked-in at Grant Wood’s Art Colony in Stone City, back in the 1930s.  But instead, it was the second annual “Okoboji Writers Retreat” that former Des Moines Register columnist and WHO radio talkshow host Julie Gammack and her…