Life Style & Travel

  UNITED STATES—Research has shown time and time again that Americans are getting less sleep each and everyday. A bigger issue involves recent reports that show children are getting less sleep during the day as well.  For adults, it’s something we expect, for our children not so much. To hear that children are getting less than seven hours a sleep...

  HOLLYWOOD—Receiving a query about losing 30 pounds in 30 days from a holy man who is a fit water-drinking vegetarian laid bare the intense curiosity in rapid weight loss which one chapter of my book promises. In “Fat to Emaciated in 30 Days,” the knowledge is there in plain sight, though somewhat canaballistically  hidden within a series of questions...

UNITED STATES—Ferns are an odd group. They lack the color or fragrance of flowers, or the branch structure of shrubbery, trees or vines. Very few turn color in autumn. They provide only green foliage. Yet, as simple as this seems, the generally evergreen foliage that ferns provide is some of the most distinctive foliage that can be found in...

UNITED STATES—‘Jewel Mix’ nasturtium starts out so colorful with various shades of yellow, orange and red, including rich reddish brown and almost white pale yellow. They happily sow their own seed to replace older plants. However, as new plants replace old, the variety of color diminishes. Brown and pale yellow are the first to go. Red then becomes scarce....

UNITED STATES—For gardening, this is one of those in between times of year, when summer chores are under control, but it is a bit too early for much of the work that will need to be done in autumn. Automated watering systems have already been adjusted for the longest and warmest days of summer, so will only need to...

UNITED STATES—A plant that is an annual lives less than a single year. One that produces vegetative foliar growth one year, and then blooms and produces seed the next year is a biennial. Technically, any other plant that lives any longer is a perennial. That certainly does not narrow down the definition much. Therefore, the term ‘perennial’ used in...

HOLLYWOOD—David, a reader of the Grady Diet, recently wrote, “One thing I'd like to learn more about: exercise in the morning.  Could you give me a more detailed run-down on the specific exercises you do in your 20 minute pre-breakfast session?” Think about the part of your body that needs the most work, and build exercises around that. Parts of...

It is no coincidence that the deep dark green color of the foliage of Monterey Cypress is so similar to that of Monterey pine. Both inhabit coastal regions that are so often foggy that they need to absorb as much sunlight as possible. On harshly exposed hillsides where there is plenty of sunlight and not much competition with other...

HOLLYWOOD—No more dashing and didactic figure has haunted Hollywood than Cary Grant. Of the two screen actors Marlon Brando watched carefully, one was Cary Grant, the other Spencer Tracy. Alfred Hitchcock himself said, “If I could have chosen, in life I would have preferred to be Cary Grant.” Cary Grant wasn’t always Cary Grant, suave and debonair: he was Archibald...

UNITED STATES—It is embarrassing when my mother teaches me a practical gardening technique that I should have known about, especially if the particular technique is as simple and downright silly as what my mother does to protect ripening fruit from squirrels. A friend of hers suggested it; and it seems to be significantly more effective than the few fancier...