Sally Slaughter has been taking classes at Norfolk recreation centers since the 1980s. Today, she takes step aerobics and Pilates at the Lakewood Dance & Music Center. In the past, if the Talbot Park resident was sick or on vacation, she would make up the same class later in the week.

Looking for a change of pace from hectic power shopping this holiday season? Serenity shopping is right around the corner.

Many of Norfolk’s top attractions – museums, the zoo and more – have gift shops with eclectic options.

When Toni Hempfer picks up her children from the YWCA’s after-school program at Mary Calcott Elementary, she knows they’ve already had a nutritious dinner.

The program gets meals to serve its students from Virginia Kids Eat Free, a nonprofit run by a Norfolk couple.

Whether Ocean View is truly “America’s First Resort” is open to debate, but that may become the tag-line on a proposed Virginia license plate touting the neighborhood.

On Wednesday, Roscoe Callaway grabbed a gold-colored shovel and smiled wide as he and other city and civic leaders scooped and turned soil during the groundbreaking ceremony for the Southside Aquatic Center.

NORFOLK Since the 1940s, Fannie Fulcher-Jones has been a frequent visitor at Calvary Cemetery on St. Julian Avenue.

She has picnicked there and been part of Memorial Day observances. She pays homage to relatives buried there, on plots her grandfather bought in 1925 and her father in 1942.

Jody Watkins pulls out a photo of himself at age 4 that captures perfectly how he is making a living today.

In the black-and-white snapshot,

Watkins stands next to a several-hundred-pound baby elephant.

“Elephants chose me,” said Watkins, the elephant manager at the Virginia Zoo. This path was “predestined for me, without my approval.”

Even animals are feeling the economic pinch these days.

Some pet owners are finding themselves unable to provide the care they used to offer their four-legged companions.

That prompted Pam Painter, a member of the Friends of the Norfolk Animal Care Center, to establish a food pantry for cats and dogs. The Pet Pantry offers cat and dog food to pet owners who have fallen on hard times.

NORFOLK In preparation for next year’s groundbreaking of the Col. Samuel L. Slover Library, the interim Norfolk Main Library will close Nov. 1 and remain closed during construction, the city has announced.

Reductions in the city budget the past three years because of the sour economy have resulted in economic hardship for some city employees.

Workers have not had a pay raise in that time, and with fewer employees at City Hall, people are being asked to do more.

“We have city employees who are hurting in a big way,” Councilwoman Angelia Williams said.