OPINION For the love of words — bee offers new delights

LAURA MCFARLAND Managing Editor

Attending hogmanay, a traditional Scottish celebration of New Year’s Eve, is a longheld dream of mine.

“But maybe I need to say that a little quieter,” I said, as the context was seeing the word while perusing my official binder of words a few minutes before the start of the 49th annual Richmond Times-Dispatch Regional Spelling Bee, held March 9 in Mechanicsville.

I’ve been helping with the spelling bee for several years, acting as the recorder in case a child or parent challenges a decision on a word. It’s not a glamorous job, and, thankfully, I am rarely called upon to put my replay skills into action. However, it does come with the aforementioned binder (lime green this year) filled with a whole host of new words I don’t