Life Style & Travel

UNITED STATES—Up at high elevations and out in deserts, where sunlight is most intense, plants can actually get more exposure than they need. The bluish or grayish glaucous foliage of the Colorado blue spruce from the Rocky Mountains, and the century plant from the Sonoran Desert, is actually designed to reflect a bit of sunlight so that the foliage...

UNITED STATES—She was crouched asleep, knees to her chin, by the sink in the laundromat. When I rushed around the corner, she started like a frightened animal. It’s hard to say who was more frightened, she or me. “This place closes at 11,” I said. “Where’s there a grocery store,” she said, gathering up a couple flowered, brightly colored pieces of...

UNITED STATES—More flowers bloom as winter becomes early spring than at any other time of year. For many flowers, bloom is significantly accelerated this year because winter was so very warm. Flowering cherry, purple leaf plum and most of the stone fruit trees (such as almond, cherry, apricot, nectarine, peach, plum, prune and all their various hybrids) have already...

UNITED STATES—Indifference is freedom from our own capriciousness, a pivotal quality for cultivating life success and industriousness. Indifference means being unenslaved by outcome. Being open to all the charming and not-so-charming possibilities multiplies the chances for contentment. Tony de Mello (inspirational wiseman) compares it to ordering soup at a restaurant. You have your heart set on French onion soup,...

UNITED STATES—Exercise is something that we all must do to maintain a healthy body and spirit. Lately reports have been surfacing left and right that the amount of time that you exercise is not as important anymore, but the level of intensity that you do has more impact on the body. Ok, let’s say this is accurate, why has...

UNITED STATES—Citrus trees that are grown from seed take a few years to mature enough to produce fruit. As they mature, the juvenile stems are outfitted with thorns that are even nastier than thorns on adult growth! Because most citrus has been extensively bred, seed grown trees are very likely to exhibit genetic variations. This is why citrus trees...

UNITED STATES—When I meet an idol back stage it is seldom easy to convey all their work has meant through the eons, how it has filtered through and shaped my life. It happened to me last week in Beverly Hills where Dick Cavett was playing himself in “Hellman v. McCarthy." All through high school I used to have lunch...

UNITED STATES—California is a big place, with more environmental diversity than any other state and most other countries. It includes rainy and cool forests of Del Norte County, and dry and hot deserts of Imperial County. The snowy mountains of Placer County and the mild coastal plains of Los Angeles County are here too. There are hundreds of miles...

PALM SPRINGS—Celebrating its fourteenth season, Native FilmFest will be presented March 3-8, 2015 by Agua Caliente Cultural Museum at Camelot Theatres located at 2300 East Baristo Road in Palm Springs. One of the most highly regarded events of its kind, the festival features the best in films by, about, and starring Native Americans and other Indigenous peoples from around the...

UNITED STATES—A journalist posed an intriguing question to me. Knowing what you know today, what would you have chosen to do differently in your writing methods? Top of the list would be to develop independent judgment as soon as possible. This quality of judgment plays as vital role in health and nutrition as in becoming the next Ernest Hemingway. Independent...