BY EILEEN BRADY
THE NEWS JOURNAL OF WILMINGTON, OHIO ​

I learned to swim in Cowan Lake. 
The lake, a short drive (or very long bike ride) from our Cuba home, served as the community pool for people who could not afford, or did not want, a private-pool membership. 
It was a vacation destination for people who couldn’t fly to the coast but wanted their children to experience a beach excursion.
It still is.
Even though I was lucky enough to take vacations along the coasts, where big ocean waves outclassed the ripples from a Cowan Lake sailboat, I simply loved being in the cool lake in the heat of the summer, with other kids to play with and sand castles to build.
We even went to Cowan Lake in the winter, sledding down the hilly path leading to the beach parking lot. 
In recent years, state budget cuts have led to a decline

BY EILEEN BRADY
THE NEWS JOURNAL OF WILMINGTON, OHIO ​

They pinned 3-year-old Marcus Fiesel’s arms behind him, wrapped him in a blanket, then encased him in tape and left him in a closet with a fan so they could attend a family reunion. Apparently, when they returned, they burned his body to hide the evidence of his death.
His foster parents, Liz and Dave Carroll Jr., have been charged with his murder, putting an end to the charade created by the Carrolls, who claimed the child had wandered off, sparking hundreds of Cincinnati volunteers to search in vain.
“This little boy has touched so many people,” said state Sen. Gary Cates, R-West Chester.
Plans for a Marcus Fiesel memorial park are in place, but to me, the greatest tribute possible to this lost life comes in the ripples of interest in fostering children. 

BY EILEEN BRADY
THE NEWS JOURNAL OF WILMINGTON, OHIO ​

“C’mon — it’ll be an opportunity to observe odd human behavior,” I told my husband, trying to convince him that helping at a yard sale could actually be fun.
He wasn’t buying it, but I was semi-serious.
I’ve spent three recent Saturdays helping with different yard sales, and I’ve spent the past three summers stopping here and there at yard sales around Wilmington, so now, of course, I’m a certified yard-sale expert.
That’s a weighty confession for a former yard-sale snob, just recently converted after a
25-cent, brand-new Ralph Lauren toddler dress showed me the error of my ways.