From racoons to air conditioning to pear trees, the Fredericksburg Standard- Radio Post’s columnists made 2024 a year to remember. Here are our favorite columns from this year.

1. Publisher Ken Esten Cooke reflected on the blessings of modern conviences and how they’ve changed our lives, in “Sending prayers for the A/C unit.”

His musings were in the wake of Hurricane Beryl, which led to lost power for communities across the Texas coastline.

Texas Type

Ken Esten Cooke

2. Managing editor Christine Granados marked her arrival to “old lady” status with her column “Old age, losing car go together, or do they?”

“Lately, I’ve been having doubts about the benefits of being an old lady, because finding my car in large parking lots has been a challenge.”

Reckless Muse

By Christine Granados 3. Sports editor Cary Burgess shared the overlaps of his two passions in “The story of two intersecting career paths that are equally unpredictable.”

In his column, Burgess compares the difficulties and excitements of his experience in meteorology and sports, and explains how they’re not so different.

The Watercooler Cary Burgess 4. Columnist Phil Houseal shared the joys of the rite of passage known as the music recital in “Recitals, revisited.”

“’Tis the season for that unsettling rite of spring that comes to all multi-generational housesholds: the music recital.”

HOUSE

Phil Houseal

5. Columnist Matt Ward reflected on the film “Anora” in his piece entitled “‘Anora’ takes on society’s fringes in Oscar-contending dramedy.”

Ward argues that the film’s strength comes in layering and developing emotionally rich characters from unlikely sources.

Cinematic Considerations

by Matt Ward

6. Columnist Mark Wieser shared history and his personal background with pear trees in “Pears are a fruit for still life or preserves.”

“Planting trees was my dad’s passion — even before immigrating to Texas. In 1964, I got to stand under the apple trees he had planted half a centry earlier in Germany.”

Culinary Adventure

Mark Wieser

7. Gayne Young kept his zany streak alive in a column about eating, of all things, racoons.

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade. When Nazi Germany leaves you an ever-multiplying and garbage diving legacy, make sausage.”

Outdoors On Edge

by Gayne C. Young

8. In his column “Hindsights,” Michael Barr reflected on the overabundance of payphones once found across town and how the advent of cell phones made them obsolete.

Hindsights

Michael Barr

9. In “Hill Country battle,” Beth McMahon shared about a foe familiar to many Hill Country residents: the scorpion.

“If you haven’t been stung by a scorpion in your house, you haven’t lived in the Hill Country long enough.”

Lawn & Garden

Beth McMahon

10. Managing editor Christine Granados shared a magical perspective on one of America’s biggest holidays: the Super Bowl.

“I haven’t been this excited about the game since 2007, when Jessica Simpson was dating Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo.”