Kristie Smeltzer

What Driving food to the distribution center for the Emergency Food Network. Why Everyone should have access to nourishing food. How it went  Like with most volunteer opportunities, I got more out of it than I gave. The Emergency Food Network is an organization that I have volunteered with in the past and recently rejoined. […]

Every time a period film comes on, I bemoan that community dances are no longer a thing. I love dancing and find there are not enough opportunities to dance in the company of others (especially now that I’ve entered my midlife renaissance). While clubs were fun back in the day, I recently sought a different […]

What do you give people who have everything—especially if they’re decluttering? Experiential gifts have been the answer to that question for some in my family. We did a paint-n-sip night once andhad a lot of laughs, made memories, and left with our own (kinda) matching piece of art. Studio 1050°, a local flameworking and glass […]

Part of summer’s joy is its bounty of seasonal produce. When wild blackberry bushes in the yard of my childhood home presented their delicious fruit, I knew we’d reached the pinnacle of summer. While store-bought berries are tasty, nothing beats ’em fresh from the vine. For a local delight, Chiles Peach Orchard, on the outskirts […]

I’m a sucker for a historical walking tour. Treading where our forebears trod to see current spaces through their historical context reshapes our understanding of places that we thought we knew. Such experiences enable us to learn, in greater detail, about people of the past whose lives were very different from our own. The Albemarle […]