Music to my ears - by Michael Roy

Tuesday holiday sends week askew

Every once in a while, we all have a couple days, or even a week, when we feel like completing work is harder than usual. This week was one of those for me. I think the Fourth of July holiday was what threw everything off. One big factor, the Janesville Journal had to change its schedule...

Fond farewell to Father Mulligan

Father Brian Mulligan had his last service at St. Ann Catholic Church on Sunday, June 25, and what a bittersweet ending to his time in Janesville it was. My introduction to Fr. Mulligan was a few months into the pandemic in the early summer of 2020 when I interviewed him on his arrival to St....

What a great school year it was

As JWP athletic director Paul Brunner announced last week, the Bulldogs and other area schools have officially finished all of their sports activities. The senior athletes have ended their high school careers and are all now enjoying their summer. What a school year it’s been. It was the first...

Summer festivals up and running

I began my tour of many summer fairs and festivals with Bullhead Days in Waterville. This time, I enjoyed the decadence of freshly deep fried bullheads, the usual buttered bread, and fries. I do regret using the salt shaker for my fish, though. Not only did it pour salt, but it turned out...

Learning to trust my intuition

This past week, I got a hard lesson on life. No, I didn’t get humbled, although that’s certainly happened often enough. In fact, I received the opposite lesson, that maybe I do know what I’m doing more often than I think, that sometimes, I should rely more on my intuition or my gut to tell me...

Memories, time, slippling by

One school graduation in our area down, two more to go. I always knew Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton graduated its students earlier than most schools. However, I didn’t realize NRHEG graduated in June like Waseca. Another school year passed by in no time. It only felt like two months ago that...

Thinking back to the before times

We’re nearing the end of May…and what a long month it’s been. Actually, the past few weeks haven’t been as super busy as the same time span in other years. We are slowly nearing the end of the school year. Graduations will be taking place (St. Clair already had theirs almost two weeks ago),...

Season inspires peace, reflection

I hope everyone had a great Easter. The weather over the holiday weekend had to be some of the best in a long time. This week, I made an effort to attend churc: Faith Ryan over at St. Ann Catholic Church in Janesville asked me if I wanted to be one of twelve people to get their feet washed...

We call this ‘spring’ in Minnesota

You know it’s springtime in Minnesota when you have severe thunderstorms throughout the day followed by a blizzard overnight. I’m guessing Mother Nature didn’t get the memo about April Fool’s Day. Friday was a crazy day. In New Richland, we had some thundersleet in the morning, and I am pretty...

Sprinting into spring sports

Well, we’re officially back in that time again; spring sports season is here! We’re pushing to get the preview out for the local area schools’ teams next week. But in true track and field fashion, local area track teams are already sprinting headlong into the season with indoor track meets at...