FXBG Advance • 2nd May 2025

AT HOME: Squirrels in the Attic

By Loraine PageCOLUMNISTLet’s get a common squirrel joke out of the way: There are no “suicide squirrels.” Squirrels think cars are giant predators. So while they appear comically indecisive, they are actually trying to determine their best course of action.There’s a lot we don’t understand about squirrels, and that’s because we’re not like them. Or, are we?I had the opportunity once to reside with quite a few of them for an extended period. I was living on Long Island in 2012 when Hurricane San...

FXBG Advance • 18th April 2025

AT HOME: Too Lazy to Think

By Loraine PageCOLUMNISTI think about scrubbing floors for a living. I picture a large expanse of vinyl, over which I'm slowly pushing a sponge. It’s just wipe, wipe, wipe.Of course, there is no such job.Everything in life requires thinking. I get especially frustrated with thinking when I have to write. I manage a few great paragraphs, then my brain quits.It always does this. I go look for my cat to give her a kiss. She is on my bed, curled up in a ball and not looking to be kissed. She opens h...

FXBG Advance • 11th April 2025

AT HOME: Signs of Freedom

By Loraine PageCOLUMNISTWhen people began lining both sides of my street in Fredericksburg last weekend, I went out to investigate.That’s when I saw the signs. Not signs from heaven, real signs that people were holding up earnestly and cars were beeping in support of as they passed by.I burst into tears. I hadn't known so many people cared about the cruelty being dealt to us by the current administration.Before this rally was over, the count would reach 800, while the rest of the country and aro...

FXBG Advance • 28th March 2025

AT HOME: Pets and Other Animals

By Loraine PageCOLUMNISTTaking care of an animal's needs seems to spark a deep love in our hearts.Pets, whether they are common (dogs and cats), or slightly less common (birds, fish, assorted rodents and reptiles, mammals like ferrets and hedgehogs), trigger a nurturing gene.I live with a cat. Boo Boo and I have been housemates, just the two of us, for about five years. We are able to communicate now almost flawlessly, we know each other's habits, and once in a while—when she is feeling needy—we...

FXBG Advance • 21st March 2025

AT HOME: A Different Cinema Experience

By Loraine PageCOLUMNISTWhen Netflix fails me, when I can’t bear to watch the news anymore, I reach for a movie. My first picks will always be a foreign or indie film.That's not to say I never watch mainstream, large budget movies. I do, and I have favorites that I can watch over and over.Always (1989), with Richard Dreyfuss as an aerial firefighter, is with me, well, always. Another is Brooklyn (2015), in which beautiful Saoirse Ronan plays a young Irish immigrant.But discovering a foreign or i...

FXBG Advance • 27th February 2025

At Home: House of Jades & Other Plants

By Loraine Page COLUMNISTIt’s plant time! House plant time, specifically.But isn’t it always?I mean, houseplants stay put—with the exception of maybe the Venus flytrap, which moves “faster than the blink of a human eye,” according to a blog called Tom’s Carnivores.Studies conducted on whether houseplants move or not found they do move, only they move too slowly for you to notice.Time-lapse photography might help catch them in the act, but who has the time?A camera lens directed at me, however, a...

FXBG Advance • 20th February 2025

AT HOME: The Book Club

By Loraine PageCOLUMNISTWhenever I've complained that I'm lonely, a standard piece of advice has been “Join a book club.”It's a great way to have meaningful discussion and lighthearted fun, they say.Recently, I had the opportunity to join book club members at their monthly meeting, offering a chance to watch the dynamics.It was my daughter's book club, and it was her turn to host. She'd selected a book for them to read that happened to be the charming hardcover novel I'd dropped off at her house...

FXBG Advance • 13th February 2025

AT HOME: The Seductiveness of Chocolate

By Loraine PageCOLUMNISTThere's something deeply sensual about Valentine's Day chocolates, outside of having received them from a romantic partner.It feels so good to savor a piece in your mouth. Do you ever wonder why? Maybe you think it has something to do with sugar, the ultimate sin.No. It's the other ultimate sin — fat. The buttery, gloppy, melty element in some foods that satisfies like nothing else.I know it's the fat because of a journal article I read a couple of years ago. One of my fr...

FXBG Advance • 30th January 2025

AT HOME: The Psychology of Color

By Loraine PageCOLUMNISTYou won't know if you're going to like a color on your walls until you paint the whole room and then step back for a good look.You'll be horrified — or you'll be in love. ShareIn my previous house, I painted my living room and hallways lime green. I saved one living room wall for my accent color, which was magenta. Picture the color of a Starbucks dragon fruit drink. That's what I chose.And I was in love.For the remainder of my time in that house, about a dozen years or...

FXBG Advance • 23rd January 2025

At Home: Tea is a Tradition, or Something

By Loraine PageCORRESPONDENT Tea is healthy, say some scientists, while others point to possible health liabilities from drinking your favorite cuppa.I googled whether tea was or was not good for our health. “If it wasn’t,” said random internet guy, “us Brits would be dead.”Fair enough, since it allows me to continue my discourse on tea, in which I go about “getting the tea on tea” in a sporadic manner. My first thought is coffee drinkers may feel excluded. Please know that while I drink tea all...

FXBG Advance • 17th January 2025

AT HOME — Clutter: It's Something To Think About

By Loraine PageCOLUMNISTWhen the new year began over two weeks ago, I resolved to think about clutter. The clutter in my home, specifically. It always disheartens me, but not deeply enough to do anything about it.ShareBut I'm committed to giving it more thought. The sages say everything begins with a thought, so maybe I'm on track for change.What is clutter? I always like to start with a definition. If we (I've included you now) learn what it is first, we can solve it later. If it is something t...

FXBG Advance • 14th November 2024

Reasons Aplenty for Cupcake Shop's Acclaim

By Loraine PageFOOD AND BUSINESS WRITEREditor’s Note: The Advance is pleased to welcome its newest writer, Loraine Page, who will be shining a light on local eateries and more! What better way to start than a piece about everyone's favorite, cupcakes!A shop called Sweet Reasons Dessert Kitchen in Central Park is known for more than the pizazz in its delicious cupcakes. The owners themselves have a little show biz story to tell.ShareAs long-time customers know, husband-and-wife shop owners Lenny...