Posting Date: 01/28/2013

"The winds are zero. That's what we like," Gayle McCoy told the small crowd of balloonists Friday morning, Jan. 25, when they were preparing for a day in the air.

McCoy is the official Balloonmeister who has helped bring the Mesquite Balloon Festival to the city the last two years.

While his weather report for that morning was very favorable, it was grim for the rest of the weekend.

Nonetheless, about a dozen balloon owners began unpacking their gear and preparing for at least one day of fun. [Read more]

Posting Date: 06/01/2012

While I was visiting family in Ohio over the Memorial Day weekend, I received an email from a friend asking if I knew who Amy Livingston was. The name sounded familiar but I couldn’t quite place it with a face.

Sitting in my brother’s backyard sweating through the earliest heat wave the area had experienced in years, I kept wondering about Amy. I flipped open my laptop and turned on my cellphone hotspot that gives me Internet access wherever I go.  [Read more]