“Life is mostly froth and bubble, two things stand like stone. Kindness in another’s trouble, courage in your own.”
— Adam Lindsay Gordon
This quote that Tania Richley shared by 19th-century Australian poet and politician Adam Lindsay Gordon to accompany her beautiful photograph gracing this month’s cover resonated with us as we contemplate the changing seasons.
This is the time of year that gratitude bubbles up. Between the sugar-spiked fun of Halloween and winter cheer of Christmas there is Thanksgiving, a plateau in the holiday frenzy that allows time to take stock and count blessings after a summer of unexpected challenges.
We’re grateful every month to the volunteer contributors who fill these pages with rich features illuminating life in our nook of the Driftless Area. We’re also treated to regular columns by Doris Green, John Heasley, Kathy Steffen, and, new this year, Patrice Peltier and Etienne White. And we look forward to the semi-monthly contributions of Ainsley Anderson, Marnie Dresser, Mary Friedel-Hunt, Vincent Kavaloski and Jennifer Moore-Kerr. Thank you, all!
One of our favorite monthly features is the “Driftless Terroir” column, which gives voice to a variety of authors on a rotating basis. This month’s feature by Keith Burrows (p. 28) is a delicious example of the way Voice of the River Valley unites our communities of readers — in this case “Driftless terroirists” in Mineral Point, Spring Green and Mount Horeb — and results in creativity you can taste.
If you find yourself each month eager to get the new issue of this magazine in your hands, you have a small but mighty team of volunteers to thank for distributing our more than 4,000 copies to 190 locations in seven counties. Linda Kelen, Mark McCauley and David Rozelle are indispensable to our ability to bring you the print issue each month, as is the flexibility and patience of the printing team at ACP in Dodgeville, and the advertisers whose support pays our printing, mailing and website costs.
As the leaves and temperatures continue to fall this month, we’re grateful to you, dear reader, for motivating us to continue to bring you these pages.
Happy reading,
