Do you know where your ancestors were 126 years ago? You may know what country they were in; you may know what their profession was or, like many of us, you may have little information at all about them.

    In some quarters, especially among spelunkers, Missouri is known as “the cave state.” It has over 6,000 registered caves, and there are likely many more buried deep within the earth, primarily in the Ozark Mountains but even in Hannibal, Jefferson City, Springfield and around St. Louis.

In St. Louis, September signals the start of autumn – both in perception and reality. In the coming weeks, trees and bushes will move from luscious green to vibrant red, yellow, rust and gold.  There’s a pronounced crispness in the breeze.  Sweaters and light jackets might make a first appearance.  That is the way September goes in the northern hemisphere.

It was once common that the majority of smaller vintners were farmers whose grape vines shared acreage with orchards, olive groves and even fields with corn, wheat and vegetables. Horses, cows, pigs and chickens might be roaming the grounds. In other words, a working farm.

It’s a joy to drive through the Italian wine region in Italy’s Northeast, known as the Piedmont. Especially in early summer, when the landscape looks like an Impressionist painting – the poppy fields dotting the hillsides are an explosion of delicate, bright-red flowers, interspersed with the many vineyards that are just starting to show what will become a green-leaf canopy sheltering the amazing, mostly deep purple grapes.  

While the calendar says that spring officially begins in April, I’ve always looked to May as the heart of the season. Trees, bushes and flowers are in riotous bloom, the sun goes down later and later, and warm days are becoming the norm not the exception. We’re starting to think lighter, feel lighter (after shedding tights, winter coats, sweaters – and maybe a few pounds) and many of us are eating lighter.