By Elizabeth Wheeler
Blueberry picking, that late summer ritual of voluntary tedium and toil, is my idea of peace on earth, as long as I don’t have to do it for a living.  It is a quiet pleasure, standing in a fully laden berry patch, branches drooping under the weight of dark blue fruit, chittering birds and buzzing insects, berries thunking against the bare bottom of the pail, then the softer thud as berries meet berries.  The “king” fruit at the end of clusters, the first to ripen, are the biggest, …

by Steve Chase
There was music planned each morning at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, even as they opened the gates in Telluride Town Park. On the first morning, a bagpiper stood ready.
As the rope was dropped and the first several dozen Festivarians began a sprint for the prime tarp locations on the grass in front of the soundboard tower, only yards from the stage, the piper played a highland ceòl beag. In a tradition at the Telluride Bluegrass, you can claim your spot for the day with a tarp, although etiquette …

 
David: It’s been a hot one over the past few weeks, which has brought up some interesting situations in our wine world. This month we’ve wanted to focus on what to drink when it’s hot hot hot, and how to keep those refreshing beverages cold cold cold.
Christian: My mouth is already watering at the thought of an icy cold drink. We’ve often preached against serving white wines too cold, but some will benefit from that extra chill. Personally, I love a good young champagne or sparkling wine at a very …

 
by Amy Mathews Amos
Amid the ongoing coverage of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, a major development in how we use and manage offshore waters has gone virtually unnoticed. On July 19th  President Obama issued an executive order directing federal agencies to develop plans to, in effect, zone the oceans within U.S. territorial waters, a plan somewhat similar to the way local governments zone on land.
Before Tea Partiers cry foul about a new intrusion by the federal government, we should look at what the high seas have become.
Most of us have …

By Doug Humphreys
There are few things as peaceful as paddling a canoe. Simply looking at the long, subtle lines of the craft will ease the tension in a tight chest. A solo float down a quiet creek will suck the stress out of the most frazzled soul. Listening to water droplets as they fall from a paddle can induce a trance that will make the realities of life nothing more than a fuzzy dream.
Of course if you fill that same boat with a three-year-old girl, a five-year-old boy, and a …

By Doug Vaira
 
HypnoCoffee’s Wake-Up Call
With no hopes of finding a decent cup of coffee in tiny Thomas, W.Va., husband-and-wife team Tony and Summer Williams set out to brew up their own in 2008. The result? HypnoCoffee, a bean roastery and retail coffee shop that eventually moved to Davis in 2009.
The couple received barista training from Counter Culture Coffee, which has coffee training centers throughout the South, and this, as Tony says, “fanned the flame of desire into a full-blown forest fire of passion for a simple beverage.”
Now, in addition to …

By Emily Suranno
 
Delegate Nancy Peoples Guthrie told the Observer that the West Virginia legislature would enact a ban on texting-while-driving only after a delegate or senator lost a loved in a fatal crash. For many West Virginia families, that won’t help.
Richard and Susan Steadman of Bridgeport, West Virginia, lost their lost their son Talon in a single-car crash in August 2009. Police determined the 16-year-old local high school football star had been texting while driving. The Steadmans told the Observer that they were not aware of bills that had been …

By Dominic Valentine
Despite several attempts, legislation banning texting while driving has yet to be enacted in West Virginia. According to Delegate Nancy Peoples Guthrie the first bill concerning banning cell phones while driving, House Bill 4047 introduced in 2008, was the closest we have come thus far. “We had enough support in the House and Senate, but at the last minute Senator Browning from Kanawha County included a provision to provide funding for cell phone towers in his county. It was one of the most absurd amendments I had heard …