Illuminating
After seeing the magnificent, illuminated pecan in Bartonville, I had to share another illuminated beauty, on Montclair Drive in Colleyville [Field of Beams, December 2024].
John Graeve, Tri-County EC | Fort Worth
Sweet Memories
My grandfather (Erwin Kresta) had a farm in El Campo with an orchard of orange and tangerine trees that were so productive he let people come and pick fresh fruits [Everybody’s Beeswax, December 2024].
Next to that he had over 50 beehives, and the bees would visit the fruit trees daily—fruit-infused natural honey.
What I’d give to have some of Grandpa Kresta’s honey.
Ron Faldik, Bryan Texas Utilities | Bryan

Hokyoung Kim
A Step in the Right Direction
I’m new to going to a lease with my husband, and after reading this, I will be sure to pack a compass [The Lease of Our Concerns, November 2024].
Rosie Strode, Tri-County EC | Cresson
Y2K in Hindsight
I remember very well in 1999 the news media blowing the whole Y2K issue completely out of proportion [Black-Eyed Peace, December 2024]. This was nothing less than fearmongering brought on by the computer industry to get everyone to purchase billions of dollars’ worth of new computers.
Glenn Arthur Rebber, Heart of Texas EC | Valley Mills
You’ve given people like myself a huge compliment, and I’m glad you are so blissfully unknowing. I was one of thousands of software engineers working obscene hours ahead of the new year to keep the world running smoothly when the calendar flipped to the year 2000.
It was not a “supposed” glitch but very, very real.
Cindy Nichols, Magic Valley EC | Weslaco

Shaw Nielsen
Calling All Kilgoreos
Our former newspaper owner, Bill Woodall, coined the phrase Kilgoreos for those of us in Kilgore [Vegan Panhandlers, July 2024].
Pam DeCeault, Rusk County EC | Kilgore
You Say Tomato, We Say New Jersey
I was delighted to read about the tomatoes once grown around Jacksonville [Culling Time, July 2024]. I too traveled with a saltshaker in summertime, but on my bicycle to the farm stand in my small New Jersey town.
Having been in Texas for five years, we’ve learned how to grow some good cherry tomatoes and determinate varieties before the brutal summer heat, but you really haven’t experienced a grand tomato until you’ve had a Brandywine that has slowly ripened all summer in that acidic Jersey soil.
Martin Frappolli, Pedernales EC | Austin