Life Style & Travel

  UNITED STATES—Like diamonds, special people are made more endearing by a flaw. Oprah Winfrey would be well nigh insufferable if it weren’t for her erratic and faddish dieting which humanizes her and endears her to legions of fans who find in her a source of comfort and motivation. Oprah hobnobs with presidents, is the only African-American billionaire (according to...

UNITED STATES—Sweetgum, flowering pear and Chinese pistache are the most reliable trees for flashy autumn foliar color, especially in such mild climates. They may not seem like it this year though. After a late start, only sweetgum is coloring well. Flowering pear trees that are beginning to show color farther inland seem to lack their typical bright yellow and...

UNITED STATES—You know what the rat race is? The rat race is our surrender to the will of others, be it to the boss or allegiance to the clock. The upshot of this surrender is constant hurry, the internalized go-go, and the frenzied sense that we are perpetually late and harried by a scarcity of time. As a result,...

UNITED STATES—For many of us our mouths are already salivating as the impending holiday months are upon us. Bonding with family, joking and sharing a few laughs are a few things on the list. The one thing we can’t forget about is the big family feast, full of great foods and delicious desserts. For many pumpkin pie is a stable...

UNITED STATES—Look around you and develop new eyes, eyes sensitive to inertia. Inertia here meaning the second definition offered by Webster’s New World Dictionary, “a tendency to remain in a fixed condition without change; disinclination to move or act.” Habitually focus on rooting out inertia in ourselves and things around us, and it will renovate and change our lives....

UNITED STATES—The coloring of foliage is a bit slow this autumn. The cooling nights after such warm weather is bringing some of the deciduous foliage down while it is barely yellowing. Honeylocust and black oak have already gotten notably sparse without much notable color. Hopefully, the more colorful sweetgum, flowering pear, pistache and gingko trees will retain their foliage...

  UNITED STATES—Overheard in a café: a plump happy lady chirping, “There is nothing more wonderful than a toasted bagel slathered with cream cheese.” This is blasphemy to those of us low-carb folks who embrace fresh, easily digested foods that aid in maintaining svelte bodies and yet 1/4 of the lady has a point. The wonderfulness of a bagel with...

UNITED STATES—It may seem to be too early to be concerned with narcissus, daffodil and grape hyacinth, but this is when their bulbs go into the garden. Once established, these familiar examples, as well as early bearded iris, can be the most reliable for colorful bloom at about the same time early each spring. Crocus and freesia bloom just...

UNITED STATES—As the name implies, 'annuals' need to be replaced 'annually'. What is worse is that they do not even function for an entire year, but only for a specific season. Cool season annuals mostly work from autumn to spring. Warm season annuals mostly work from spring to autumn. Calendula is a popular cool season annual that may not...

UNITED STATES—Time was schoolchildren and serious adults lived with the gripping fear of The Bomb, the very real possibility that the earth and its people could be blown to kingdom come. Today the killer wears a Santa Claus suit. The apocalypse is generosity itself: it is an obscenely wide gamut of food choices. To face so many choices is honestly...