I’m getting into the holiday spirit more than usual this year. After taking a couple of friends to the Toledo Museum of Art for an Art Hour in which we made small glass pumpkins, I’m now into decorating. The nice, sunny weather last week and weekend made the roadside stands so inviting for buying some fresh apples and pumpkins. Even though they’re only decorative, I can’t resist the gourds with lots of warts and odd shapes and colors. They just look like fall.

This weekend I plan to make some hot, spiced apple cider. Maybe even an early pumkin pie or two. Now that the weather has turned cooler, I don’t hesitate to heat up the oven.

My mom bought me a 3 foot tall plastic skeleton. He/she/it has a surprising number of joints that move. Even its jaw. Fun to pose. It did startle me a bit when I posed it in a seated position on the bird feeder out front, looked out the window about an hour later and it had done a back flip off of the feeder. It’s now safely straddling the railing near the front door. Be very afraid!

Back when I attended Ball State University, the broadcasting and print journalism departments barely talked to each other. I don’t know if that’s changed since then, but the world of gathering and distributing news certainly has. The lines are blurry thanks to online and mobile delivery.

What I mean is many newspapers are attempting to shoot video stories. TV and radio news outlets are learning to write print format for web stories and now posting some still photos. The skills required for various reporting formats is now more similar than ever.

It’s not unusual for people working in the FOX Toledo Newsroom on any given day to shoot a story on video, come back and log the sound, write and edit a story, then compose an internet version of the story. Possibly then add a Tweet or Facebook update.

So students, be aware that specializing in just one style of writing is no longer really possible. Aspiring reporters will do well to study the shorthand headline, the conversational audio style of writing and the more Associated Press traditional style used in web stories. Teachers, if you’re not teaching how these work together, you really should conisder it.

I recently took a quick little 2 1/2 day trip to Florida. Somehow got lucky enough to mostly dodge the stormy weather. Still feels like summer in the Tampa-St. Pete area, at least it did when I left.

I’m making this the subject of my blog because I was so impressed with a couple of small touches at the hotel where we stayed.

In this era of cutbacks and layoffs and squeezing every possible bit of revenue out of businesses, the resort’s pool offered dispensers with sunscreen. Really good smelling sunscreen. There were also two ice water dispensers, one flavored with sliced citrus, the other strawberry, with cups to keep people around the pool hydrated in the 90 degree heat.

I don’t know how much it costs this hotel to do the sunscreen and the water. Probably a small amount in their overall budget. But I was so impressed with these unexpected extras, things you didn’t have to leave and go searching for. Things pretty much everyone needed. That little bit of extra service and luxury is enough to make me want to stay there again if I’m ever in the area. It was nice to see a business weathering the recession with attention to customer service still firmly in place.

I didn’t get as much weekend house cleaning done as I might have liked, but it was both a busy weekend and a good one.

My Saturday started with the Conquer Chiari Walk Across America.  It’s a disease few have heard of but it’s fairly common, affecting one out of every 1,000 people.  It’s a defect of the spine or brain that can be genetic or brought on by trauma.  Shows up in kids and adults, females and males.  I met people Saturday at the Monclova Community Center who have survived numerous brain surgeries to give them relief from the pressure of spinal fluid that just doesn’t move and drain as it’s supposed to.  Brave people.  Sweet people.  Despite the loss this year of a large corporate donation, organizers told me they are optimistic that can match last year’s fundraising total this year.  The money goes toward research to develop better treatment or a cure.  Here’s the link if you’d like to learn more or donate.  http://www.conquerchiari.org/walk%2011/flyers/TOLEDO-OH%20FLYER.pdf

Later in the day I helped to staff the FOX Toledo booth at Perrysburg’s Harrison Rally Day.  If you’ve never been, it’s a large street fair in downtown Perrysburg.  Vendors include food, crafts, art and various merchants.  There we got to meet many viewers, including kids with cool face paint.

Sunday, the City of Toledo and the local chapter of the American Red Cross put on an indoor music festival at the Erie Street Market titled Frogtown Rocks.  My job there was to make some announcements on the microphone and introduce three of the headliner bands, including the one pictured here, East River Drive.  They performed an upbeat mix of motown and classic rock with energetic lead singers who really got the crowd involved.  The event was not as well attended as everyone involved would have liked.  Maybe it was the nice weather, maybe it was because it was happening on a Sunday night.  But Frogtown Rocks was well planned and organized.  Great bands.  Thanks to those of you who did come out, have a good time and support the cause.  Also thanks to those of you who said hello to me and our current Face of FOX Toledo, Heather Cook.  I’m writing about this after the fact, because if they do it again and you hear about it, you might want to put it on your calendar.  A great night of entertainment.

Ten years after the attacks, there was at least a little bit of fear that someone would try to mark the day with more of the same.

Thankfully, as I write this on Monday, September 12th, 2011, yesterday was mostly ceremonies and remembering, not dealing with something terrible and new.

I personally marked the afternoon at The Toledo Museum of Art taking a class with a friend. Doing something peaceful and creative felt right. I watched a little of the file video of coverage of the attacks as I was getting ready. Spent some time thinking about how our lives and our country has changed since then. Listened to speeches about resilliance on the radio. I am thankful the day passed without incident.

I sometimes get frustrated with the concept of the modern U.S. healthcare system, because the focus often seems to be pushing pills after you are sick, as opposed to first helping you figure out how to avoid or recover from illness.

But after visiting a relative in the hospital recently, my eyes were opened to the impressive individuals, including technicians and nurses who work with patients. They keep them clean, feed them, answer calls for help, administer meds, talk to them. It had been a while since I’d spent much time in a hospital. I’m thankful for that. But I’m also thankful for the caring and patience the various caregivers offered my family member. I made a point to thank some of them for the great job they were doing. I’m guessing they don’t hear that kind of thing enough. It’s certainly reassuring for anyone who might end up needing hospital care to know that such people are there, doing such important work every day.

Let me introduce you to my new phrase, really just an adjective-noun combo; country confetti. Think of it a bit like “Kentucky chrome”, a euphemism for duct tape.

My definition for country confetti is anything that sticks to you when you’re out in “the sticks”. Substances can include hay chaff, grass clippings, maple tree helicopters, dust, dirt, cobwebs from a barn, pollen, seaweed, assorted insects. You can probably add to this list. Country confetti is the reason yard work requires a shower afterward. Maybe you’ll find it useful in conversation.

One of the things I love about our FOX Toledo Talk Back interview segment is the interesting things we learn and people we meet.

Today our guest was Del Grace, promoting “The Kings & Queens of Sacred Steel”. We’ll air the segment in FOX Toledo News at 10 on Wednesday (8/17/11). He talks about music events going on Friday and Saturday. Admission is free. www.sacredstrings.com has additional details.

What I learned is that the steel guitar sound many of us associate with Hawaiian music or bluegrass has also been popular in many African American churches since the 1930s. Del told me he grew up in such a church and has been playing since he was 9 years old.

Now he helps to promote and preserve the heritage by gathering other steel guitar players from around the U.S. for an annual jam session and performance in Toledo. It’s a piece of American history, of music history and something we have the chance to experience this weekend right here in the Glass City.

As a kid I remember family reunions were mostly potluck picnic affairs involving a lot of folding chairs and people sitting around and talking. If we were lucky, the adults would choose a location with a playground. If not, we generally got antsy pretty quickly, unless some favorite cousins were there.

These days family reunions often involve custom printed t-shirts, competitive sporting events, even opening ceremonies. As likely as being assigned a casserole or salad, you might also have to bring an odd list of equipment.

I was lucky enough to be invited as an honorary family member to the family reunion of two good friends from high school in Indiana over the weekend. It was held in a clearing behind thier parents’ barn. Big pond, a steep hill for a homemade slip-n-slide that kept both kids and adults entertained for a long time. Around lunch time, we were divided into four teams. Each was assigned a different color headband.

Events included volleyball, whiffleball, cornhole, horsehoes, water golf and a race involving three people in each canoe and the person not rowing having to nab a greased watermelon out of the water. Some capsized.

Rain and long team sport games meant we didn’t get to some of the planned events. I’m told in past years there was one of those tug-of-war contests where much of the losing team ends up in the pond. Still no one was disappointed. We played until we were tired. Talked trash among teams. The winning team even got medals. OK, plastic medals, but good for bragging rights just the same.

Another friend here in Ohio told me an egg toss was part of her family festivities. There were also pirate costumes. No family renion I remember was anything like that.

If your family has any fun traditions like these, I’d love to hear about them.

This spring I begain my first experiment with those upside-down hanging tomato planters.

I won’t say I’m giving them a thumbs down just yet, but this weekend after a visit to my parents’ farm in Indiana, I saw just how far behind my hanging planters are. It’s a fairly scientific comparison, because they have tomato plants in their garden that came from the same seedline flats as my hanging plants did. Their plants are a lot bigger and covered with large tomatoes. Mine are just now starting to form small fruits on medium sized plants.

Water is probably part of it, but I’ve hardly missed a day, especially during the hot, dry spell we recently had. I used the premium potting soil with extra moisure absorbers and plant food. I followed the directions.

I’ve been blogging about this because I run into people every now and then who are curious about growing tomatoes from their patios or back decks. I became curious watching those amazing commercials.

Here’s my take after trying two of the planters. Not the most attractive things. Takes some skill to get the soil and seedlings in there. You might want to enlist the help of a friend. Needs more regular watering than tomatoes planted in the ground. Fun to watch from the window for progress. Still waiting to harvest my first hanging tomato. Probably wouldn’t buy a planter like this again, but I might use the ones I have another year. Planting them in the ground is just easier and from what I can tell produces better results. If you live in a small space, that might be a good reason to buy them.

If you don’t have your own tomatoes growing, you can find local ones right now, along with corn and peaches at farmers’ markets and roadside stands. From what I hear, the birds ate many of the local blueberries. Maybe the dry weather? Enjoy the bounty.