Backyard beekeeping on the rise

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Concern about the plight of the honeybee has sparked a surge of interest in backyard beekeeping in Northern Virginia.

Interest is so high that two local beekeeping clubs say they are being stretched to keep up with the demand. Introductory beekeeping classes offered in Loudoun and Prince William counties fill up quickly every year, and waiting lists carry over from one year to the next, beekeepers in both counties said.

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Washington Post, April 30, 2015

School controversy defused

After receiving heavy pushback from mid-county residents, Prince William County Schools Superintendent Steven L. Walts backed down from a proposal to move the Mary G. Porter Traditional School from its location in Woodbridge to a site known as the Ferlazzo property, at Spriggs and Minnieville roads.

Instead, the school system will proceed with its original plan to build a facility that will serve local residents at the Ferlazzo site, Walts said…

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Washington Post, April 26, 2015

School site controversy

The Prince William County Board of Supervisors is using the power of persuasion and its control of purse strings to try to defuse a controversy that has erupted in recent weeks over plans for an elementary school that is scheduled to be built in the mid-county area.

The school board is considering a staff recommendation to move the Mary G. Porter Traditional School from its current location in Woodbridge to a site at the intersection of Spriggs and Minnieville roads. That site, on land previously owned by the Ferlazzo family, had been planned for an elementary school for children who live in the mid-county area, scheduled to open in 2016.

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Washington Post, April 19, 2015

Death and life

It feels like death is being shoved in my face today.

I’ve been reading a book called Listening to Your Life, a compilation of daily meditations by Frederick Buechner. The reading for today was about Jesus’s death on the cross, and how that was a good thing for humanity.  This is a concept that, try as I might, I have never been able to fully understand or appreciate.

This awakened memories of the horrific shootings at Virginia Tech that occurred exactly eight years ago, a murderous spree that hit very close to home. I would like to think that something good came from that awful tragedy, but for the life of me I am coming up empty.

I opened the Washington Post and read about the suicide of a sophomore at William and Mary, my son’s alma mater. The young man, Paul Soutter, was to have appeared in a play about the stresses of college life. He was the fourth W & M student to take his own life this year.

On Instagram, I saw freshly posted images of my friend Lacey, who took her life almost two years ago. Her friends still regularly send messages through social media saying how much they loved and miss her. She had seemingly been unaware of how many people cared about her.

I circle back to the reading from Buechner, and try again to understand how anything good can come from the death of young people. If anything, for me, it is this awareness: Life is precious. Protect it, cherish it.