Donna Vickroy – Page 8

Hunte’s Gardens on the island of Barbados is known as “The most enchanting place on Earth.” (Donna Vickroy/Naperville Sun)

Donna Vickroy: In a quest to visit the world’s most beautiful gardens, we remember to ‘take only photographs’ as souvenirs

March 28, 2025 at 11:31 a.m.

When your hobby is collecting "gardens," as in viewing as many of the world's greatest as you can, the only part you get to keep are the memories and photographs.

Mimi, left, and Gucci are a pair of bonded pitbull mix dogs whose owner can no longer care for them because he has terminal cancer. He brought them to the Naperville Area Humane Society in the hope that someone would be willing to adopt them together. (Naperville Area Humane Society)

Donna Vickroy: Man with terminal cancer hopes Naperville animal shelter can find someone who will adopt his beloved dogs together

March 21, 2025 at 12:36 p.m.

Des Plaines man dying of cancer brings his two beloved dogs to the Naperville Area Humane Society in the hope that someone will adopt both so they stay together.

Was it just five years ago that we had to practice social distancing because of COVID? This group is lined up to pick up pizzas at Palermo’s 95th in Oak Lawn. (Donna Vickroy/Naperville Sun)

Donna Vickroy: As we deal with new chaos, take a page from COVID and practice the four Cs

March 14, 2025 at 12:40 p.m.

These are tough times for empaths. As we watch government service agencies get gutted, as we watch people lose their jobs, as we watch our beautiful national parks struggle to...

Riley Finnegan-Carrion, a horticulturalist for fruit and vegetable gardening at the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, harvests cherry tomatoes.
(RJ Carlson/Chicago Botanic Garden)

Donna Vickroy: Plan now for your bountiful garden later

February 28, 2025 at 11:32 a.m.

Yes, there’s light at the end of this winter. But before you reach for the gardening gloves, or take a hoe out of the shed, or start filling your cart...

The Feb. 19 lineup of storytellers for Stories R Us night at Nik and Ivy Brewing Company in Lockport were Errol McLendon, from left, Ruth Davies, Sandra Vincent, Simi Krishnan and Nicki Alander. (Meredith Morris, Stories R Us)

Donna Vickroy: Did you hear the one about the Lockport brewery that packs the house for live storytelling?

February 21, 2025 at 1:32 p.m.

Since the beginning of time, the story has been the conduit of relationship, the bridge across culture, proof of our humanity, and, when deftly told, a gift for the ages.

Getting old is not for the faint of heart they say, and columnist Donna Vickroy can attest to that as she considers the array of health issues and life concerns she and her friends are facing. (Tribune Content)

Donna Vickroy: Old age can be hell when all you want is calm, order, health and friends

February 14, 2025 at 12:43 p.m.

This is how I expected retirement to be: A nice stroll into a calm, slow, nonthreatening way of life as we put aside the chaos of the working world. Au...

Looking for ways to stay calm when everything seems to be under attack and changing is a trick easier said than done, columnist Donna Vickroy says.

Donna Vickroy: Looking for moments of zen amid the national chaos the only way to stay sane

February 7, 2025 at 12:44 p.m.

It didn’t take long to realize the new leadership’s manic attack on the status quo was by design. It also didn’t take long to realize the “shock and awe” was...

Cook County Judge Sheila Murphy shows the children's room she opened at the Markham Courthouse where children can go while their parents are in court, Aug. 11, 1999. (Frank Hanes/baiduhai)

Sheila Murphy: Cook County’s first female presiding judge, champion for restorative justice

February 7, 2025 at 5:25 p.m.

Sheila Murphy was a Cook County public defender, a private criminal defense attorney and Cook County’s first female presiding judge.

You might know axolotls from video games like "Minecraft" and "Pokemon," but the aquatic salamanders with unique, adorable and popular with people who keep amphians as pets. (Shedd Aquarium)

Donna Vickroy: Amphibian creatures don’t come much cuter than axolotls, and they make great pets too

January 31, 2025 at 12:51 p.m.

You might know axolotls from video games like "Minecraft" and "Pokemon," but the aquatic salamanders with unique, adorable and popular with people who keep amphians as pets.

Eugene Parker, distinguished service professor emeritus in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Chicago, accepts a replica of the Parker Solar Probe at the William Eckhardt Research Center at the University of Chicago in 2017. The Parker Solar Probe's first mission was to fly directly into the sun's atmosphere. (Antonio Perez/baiduhai)

Donna Vickroy: Mission accomplished for late suburban astrophysicist who proved his doubters wrong

January 24, 2025 at 11:28 a.m.

While Earthlings were wrapping gifts and preparing holiday buffets this past Christmas Eve, a rocket named for a south suburban Chicago man was “touching” the sun. Traveling at “a blazing...

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