A pleasant surprise this morning to enter the WGHQ radio studio in Kingston and see the familiar face of long-time morning show host Orvil Norman.

Orvil has been out of action for three months tending to some physical woes. But while he says he's not yet at 100 percent, I'm here to report Orvil looked and sounded great - and he's lost 20 pounds, which I envy.

Also glad co-hosts Sue Wittig and Al Teetsel teed is up for me to again tout some of the exciting things happening at the Freeman as our "Digital First" era continues to unfold.

Didn't get to mention the Ben Franklin Project. But we'll have a lot more to write about that in the paper in the days ahead.

It's an upbeat message I'm touting these days, one I'll be bringing to the Kingston Kiwanis Club as its lunch-time speaker on Thursday.