It's always interesting to note what happened to newsmakers of the past, so it was enjoyable to catch up with Barbara Roorda Basemann in today's Ramblin' column in The Gazette. If you read that column, you know Barbara was the one and only police officer ...

Following is a list of area gardening events in Eastern Iowa for the month of May 2008. If you know of other public events, add it in a comment or send an email to: cindy.hadish@gazcomm.com Thurs. May 1 through Sat., May 3 - Annual tulip festival in ...

Lynn Perry, market master of the Cedar Rapids Eighth Avenue farmers market, pointed out that both the Noelridge and Eighth Avenue markets were left out of the list published in Sunday's Gazette. We're still trying to figure out what happened. Both were in the original list ...

(Note: this list is from 2008. Look for the 2009 list on this blog - Cindy) Following are a sampling of farmers markets that operate in Eastern Iowa. A list of markets across the state is available at the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship Web site ...

What seemed like a straight-forward proposal turns out not to be with the Cedar Rapids City Council and the Oakhill Jackson Neighborhood's plan for a community garden. Rick Smith's Eye on the Island blog mentions the red tape the group has encountered. Following is the ...

Singles have been told that a good place to meet the love of your life is in the produce aisle of a supermarket. You can exchange knowledge about fresh vegetables and maybe telephone numbers. But it's not often you hear of a couple exchanging wedding vows among the lettuce and watermelon. Alison ...

Fellow Gazette staffer Todd Dorman is looking for some recommendations for great Mexican food over on his blog, 24Dorman. So, foodies, where do you like to get your south-of-the-border fix? Recommended so far: Villa Patio in Marion (one of my favorites), La Salsita, Gringo’s (really?!) ...

Earth Day is Tuesday, April 22. Here are some of the ways you can help do your part to lead a more environmentally friendly lifestyle…   A great Web site: www.earth911.org has a “find a recycling center” search engine in which you can type in your zip ...

It takes a little chutzpah and a lot of effort to ask people for money, even when it's a good cause like the $1.75 million campaign under way to help with an $8.1-million project to renovate and purchase equipment for Virginia Gay Hospital in Vinton. (See today's Ramblin' ...

The Illinois earthquake that shook people awake shortly after 4:30 a.m. Friday as far away as Des Moines, reminded me of my experience with the 1989 earthquake that halted the San Francisco Giants-Oakland Athletics world series. I wrote about it when an earthquake hit the Los Angeles area. ...