For Easter, Dr. Floyd and Mary Clingenpeel decorated the bronze statues of two girls jumping rope in their front yard at 305 Hunterdale Road, Franklin.

Mary made the floppy hats and Floyd found the oversized eggs online. For winter, they kept the statues warm with mittens and scarves.

“It’s a little bit crazy, but it creates a little bit of interest,” said Floyd, a gynecologist with OB-GYN Physicians in Franklin.

The Clingenpeels purchased the statues when their first grandchildren, Ella and Natalie, both 7, were born within 30 days of each other.

Ella is the daughter of their son, Joel, a pediatrician emergency room doctor in Chesapeake. Natalie is the daughter of son, Clarke, who works for Siemens in Franklin, Tenn. Ella has a sister, Nora, 5, and Natalie, a brother, Taylor, 5.

• U.S. News &World Report recently featured a story about Al Faison, who returned to school after losing his job with the closing of International Paper in Franklin in June 2010.

The article focused on community colleges, calling them the “bread and butter” for folks like Faison, who look to be retrained after losing their jobs.

Faison looked for work at a nearby shipyard after losing his job of 25 years at IP, but without transferable skills, the 47-year-old would have had to start at the bottom in a more physically demanding job, according to the article.

Today, while receiving federal unemployment benefits for people who lost jobs to foreign trade, Faison is in the sixth semester of a three-year retraining program in radiography at Tidewater Community College. He is expected to graduate in May 2013.

Faison also is doing a clinical rotation as an X-ray technologist at Maryview Medical Center in Portsmouth.

• Charter Business and Insercorp recently hosted a Business After Hours event at Fred’s restaurant through the Franklin-Southampton Area Chamber of Commerce.

Mike Pollard, an account executive with Charter, welcomed the 30 attendees, each of whom left with a door prize. Winners for the night received a Kindle Fire from Charter and two dinner-cruise tickets for the Spirit of Norfolk from Insercorp.

Appetizers included shrimp and David Rabil’s home-roasted peanuts. Hamburgers and hot dogs also were served

Charter Communications is a Fortune 500 company and the fourth-largest cable operator in the nation. Charter provides advanced video, high-speed Internet and telephone services to 5.2 million customers in 25 states.

Insercorp is headquartered in Franklin and provides website development.

GWEN ALBERS is managing editor of The Tidewater News. Her email address is gwen.albers@tidewaternews.com.