Author Archives: jimholleran29

     Enough already. Cut the whining.     Bills fans — the North Country is loaded with them — need to stop embarrassing themselves. There is no vast conspiracy within the National Football League to rig games, to boost the fortunes of the Kansas City Chiefs, or to persecute the Buffalo Bills.   Just to beContinue reading “Chicken Little: The sky is falling and NFL refs are rigging games”

   Every once in a while, the universe, the fates, the heavens, perhaps even the highs and lows of your personal history have a way of sending you a wake-up call. Perhaps you stop to appreciate the twinkling lights reaching across from the Canadian shore. Maybe you drive past your childhood home and recall aContinue reading “A lesson in life’s priorities arrives in a packet of letters”

   Bob O’Shea has parked The Billievers bus for the season outside his Ogdensburg home. His beloved Buffalo Bills will travel to play the Chiefs on Sunday for a berth in the Super Bowl, but even that 1,239-mile trip to Kansas City, MO, might be too long for this member of Bills Mafia.   O’SheaContinue reading “North County fans go the distance to support their teams”

   It wasn’t hard to spot a trend for readers in 2025. It seems every book club in North America will be reading “Horse’’ by Geraldine Brooks.    At home, my editor was busy collecting photographs, planning questions, and searching online for Kentucky Derby Pie recipes ahead of hosting her book club friends to discussContinue reading “‘Horse’ still book club favorite, but librarians offer their picks”

   The spine of the book caught my eye as I sifted through a bin of sepia-tinted newspapers, teacher manuals and college course materials. I spied “A. Barton Hepburn: His Life and Service To His Time’’ and “Joseph Bucklin Bishop’’ embossed in gold lettering on a dark green cover.    My mother, Eileen, a laborContinue reading “Uncovered treasure walks me through Ogdensburg history”

     This line seemed sarcastic and funny and it nestled firmly into my undersized brain. I used it for the first time about 20 years ago during Pre-Cana preparations at our church.     We were conducting our presentation on Couples Communication in the school gym with eight of the 32 couples gathered around our table.Continue reading “Time to remove my foot from my big, fat mouth, and jettison tired, sarcastic lines”

    Oh, he’s making a list,   And and he’s checking it twice   He’s gonna find out who’s naughty or nice     Apparently, I made the naughty list. The word did not come down from the North Pole or The Elf on the Shelf. Not even three spirits in the night. No, I was informed byContinue reading “As a shopper, it’s certain I’ll be getting a lump of coal”

   Christmas music has been jingle-belling across the airwaves since early November. Many of us complain it airs too soon, and by December 26, we claim to be sick of it. Yet we still listen.     I have two holiday stations on my truck radio pre-sets. When John Tesh breaks in with his psychobabble, IContinue reading “A Christmas music trivia test for roasting on an open fire”

    Can’t catch the Christmas spirit? Torn between Bah and Humbug?  Had a near-death experience with a reindeer?     You can receive a Christmas booster shot this weekend in a trip less than three hours by car from Ogdensburg. The 78th anniversary celebration of the beloved Hollywood redemption classic, “It’s A Wonderful Life,’’ will overtakeContinue reading “Seneca Falls bills itself as ‘wonderful’ Bedford Falls”

     Ahead of the Thanksgiving weekend, with Christmas up next, Colin Merna suggested a column idea at a basketball gathering.    “You could write how holiday travel has changed since we were young,’’ suggested the former OFA and Rochester Institute of Technology basketball player.      Memories of car travel in the mid-1960s didn’t trickle intoContinue reading “Before cell phones on trips, we whined — ‘How much longer?’”