Pass-Along Plants
The prevalence of nurseries and big box retailers today makes it rather easy to find any manner of plant life to add to one’s garden or yard landscape, but in the early days of the South, diversifying...
View ArticleFather’s Day
As Sunday marks Father’s Day and the first official day of summer, this week, News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams brings us a childhood remembrance of time spent with her own father on mid-west...
View ArticleWalk-Ins Welcome
This week, News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams takes us back to a day when her youngest son was just a toddler. The day didn’t start out too memorably or very good at all really, until a chance...
View ArticleBeloved Bovine
From dogs and cats to chickens, goats and donkeys, News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett William’s home is a bustling menagerie of animal life. In this week’s essay, she tells us the story of Luciana, a...
View ArticleThe Trouble with Mangoes ENCORE
The sweltering heat of sub-tropical summer has taken hold here in Southwest Florida. On the bright side though, it’s the time of year when delicious mangoes abound. While our taste buds may relish...
View ArticleLike Mudder Like Son (ENCORE )
Summer’s seemingly constant rainstorms have long been a fact of life here in Southwest Florida. And besides helping to replenish groundwater stores, it creates the perfect conditions for something...
View ArticleSummer Holiday
Southwest Florida’s sweltering summer heat is upon us and while we wait for reprieve from milder fall and winter weather, that’s got News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams thinking about the...
View ArticleNaming Mollusks
Much of Southwest Florida’s beach front is known for great shelling opportunities so it’s only fitting that for this week’s essay from News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams we delve into the...
View ArticleNight Vision
Our world can feel like a very different place under the cover of night. And away from the light pollution at the rural Alva homestead of News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams, night time can be...
View ArticleBaby Gator
Today’s encore essay from News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams takes us to the Calusa Nature Center in Fort Myers and her first hands-on encounter with a baby alligator. Cradling the docile...
View ArticleLabor Day
For many Americans the upcoming Labor Day holiday is little more than a chance to relax and enjoy a three day weekend, but its historical intent is to recognize the creation of the labor movement and...
View ArticleInvasive Exotics
One downside to Southwest Florida’s sub-tropical climate is that a vast array of non-native species from Brazilian Pepper to Burmese pythons make themselves right at home here. They don’t just survive;...
View ArticleRaising Kids in Southwest Florida
Any long-time listener or reader of News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams can tell you one thing for sure: she LOVES this place. Although she’s not a born native, she’s quick to defend her status...
View ArticleRain
Wednesday marked the first official day of autumn on the calendar, but here in Southwest Florida it certainly doesn’t feel any different. National Weather Service meteorologists say we can blame the...
View ArticleMessage in a Bottle
The first recorded messages in bottles date back to the ancient Greeks around 310 BC when philosopher Theophrastus used it as part of an experiment to show that the Atlantic Ocean flowed into the...
View ArticleTom Gaskins’ Knees
Along U.S. 27 in Palmdale, which was once a major transportation artery, stands what remains of one of Florida’s lost tourist attractions: Tom Gaskins’ Cypress Knee Museum. For decades the site was...
View ArticleDaylight Saving Time
Don’t forget to set your clocks back an hour this weekend as Daylight Saving Time ends this Sunday November first. Many of us relish that extra hour just as much as we loath losing an hour each...
View ArticleBarren
Any long-time reader or listener of News-Press storyteller Amy Bennett Williams knows that her rural Alva homestead contains a motley mix of animals including a donkey, geese, horses, ducks, dogs,...
View ArticleIntoxicating Colors of Southwest Florida
For Southwest Florida residents who hail from the north and didn’t grow up in the subtropics, the fall season can be a strange time; especially this year with our unseasonably warm weather. Instead of...
View ArticleGirl Versus Vine – Vine Wins
The holidays are upon us and folks are already hard at work putting up festive light displays and decorating homes. Southwest Florida flora can provide some creative natural holiday decorations, but...
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