Published April 30, 2009, 7:56 PM EST

by CLAUDIA W. ESBENSHADE

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - It's gardening time again, and many people are taking to their yards and flower gardens — including senior citizens.There are special precautions that should be taken by older people when they garden, said Jerry Rush, a physical therapist with CPRS Physical Therapy in Lancaster."The e...

Published April 30, 2009, 7:32 PM EST

by CLAUDIA W. ESBENSHADE

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - Pretty papers are abundant in the scrapbooking aisles of the craft stores. I love to buy an array of colors, patterns and sizes — and not for any specific reason other than they are beautiful.Use the papers to create a fun wreath for your front door. Take down that traditional grapevine wreath...

Published April 30, 2009, 5:00 AM EST

by CATHY MOLITORIS

LANCASTER, Pa. - The best seat in Peg and Jeff Kay's house isn't actually in their house.It's the swing on their new front porch.The Kays, who live in Manheim Township, added a spacious front porch to their 19-year-old home earlier this spring."It's a wonderful way to enjoy the outside and keep ...

Published April 29, 2009, 5:00 AM EST

by MARY BETH SCHWEIGERT

LANCASTER, Pa. - Timm Wenger was 19 when he got his first real taste of the world outside Lancaster County.Wenger grew up on a dairy farm near Manheim, raised on a diet of good ol' meat and potatoes.Before he went to college, he'd never even had Chinese takeout.Now Wenger and his wife Kristina are determined...

Published April 29, 2009, 12:01 AM EST

by Ken Hoffman

LANCASTER COUNTY, PA - This week I reached out for a pint of Chocolate Chocolate Chip ice cream from Graeter's, the four-generation, family-owned ice-cream maker in Cincinnati.I'm not going to make you wait — this is the single most delicious thing I've ever tasted. Halfway through my pint, I was startin...

Published April 28, 2009, 5:00 AM EST

by SUSAN JURGELSKI

LANCASTER, Pa. - The expression of mental illness is seldom black-and-white.There's hue, too.And who says you can't color inside and outside the lines?In a buoyant art exhibit opening Friday, celebrating the broad strokes of people with mental illness, there are shades of gray, as well as ribbons of the rain...

Published April 27, 2009, 10:32 AM EST

by SUSAN JURGELSKI

LANCASTER, Pa. - Forget senioritis-related slacking.Students in Jennifer Wood's Public Relations 4 class at Millersville University can't slump before the finish line ... or be unprepared to deal with mall cops.This semester, the real-world mission of a core group of Wood's class, all seniors, is to do m...

Published April 26, 2009, 4:01 PM EST

by CLAUDIA W. ESBENSHADE

LANCASTER, Pa. - There is beauty in nature all around us.And there are people who create beauty from nature — the fibers of nature, to be exact.Kachina Martin of Adamstown is one such artist. She transforms merino wool roving — essentially, unspun wool — into wearable felted works of art and relies...

Published April 26, 2009, 12:10 AM EST

by STEPHEN KOPFINGER

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - Four-year-old Sarah and 15-month-old ErinMarie Russo are as healthy as most kids their age, scampering around the living room of their Manheim Township home when not climbing over the couch to watch "SpongeBob SquarePants."Their mother, Laura Shanahan, wants things to stay that way.And she...

Published April 26, 2009, 12:09 AM EST

by STEPHEN KOPFINGER

LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. - The Roman Catholic Church supports umbilical cord blood storage and use as an alternative to embryonic stem cell research, which the church opposes.That issue came to the forefront in light of President Barack Obama's March 9 executive order that reversed former President George W. Bush's po...