Life Style & Travel

UNITED STATES—Germinating seedlings know which way is up. Perhaps they just know which way is down. They cannot see, hear, taste, smell or feel anything like we can. Nonetheless, they know which direction to extend their first root and stem. One thing that they can perceive is gravity. Gravitropism, which was formerly known as geotropism, is how they respond...

UNITED STATES—Meet Eliza’s accomplice: Roger worked for a production house in Hollywood and had slickly edited together breaking news flashes about a terrorist group that was going to release a geriatric bomb in different parts of the globe. From the Hollywood Hills to Lake Cuomo, in Italy. Flashes appeared of people in black ski-masks that revealed only their eye-holes...

UNITED STATES─So many people have been telling me just watch a movie if you’re bored, and I tell them I’ve watched so many movies I just cannot watch anymore. I think this is particularly the case when it comes to watching movies on cable TV. It’s like we pay all this money for all these channels, but there is...

UNITED STATES─I might get some flack for this, but I’m being completely honest here, that I have saved so much money since the country has gone on a virtual shutdown. While I would be exaggerating things slightly by saying the country has shut down, because in all actuality it hasn’t, but it feels like 80 percent is out of...

Author’s note: This continuation of the unfinished story “Lost” is the order of the day. Even as we are thrust by brave new times into deeply moving explorations of the new and near, as we are keeping close to that seldom enjoyed place home, I take it upon myself to carry on also with the old and dear and...

UNITED STATES—A plant 'variety' is a group within a species that exhibits distinguishing characteristics. A 'cultivar' is simply a cultivated variety. The first five letters of 'cultivated' merged with the first three letters of 'variety' to form the word 'cultivar.' A variety should be self-perpetuating to some degree, and may be naturally occurring. A cultivar perpetuates by unnatural means,...

UNITED STATES─There are a lot of things that people are doing to occupy their free time after being laid off, fired or forced to work from home in the midst of an economic crisis. Many are glued to the couch and the TV, others are writing, others are reading, but the one commodity which I was surprised to learn...

UNITED STATES—Every palm tree in local landscapes is exotic. Simply put, all palms are originally from somewhere else. The desert fan palm, the only palm that is native to California, came from isolated colonies in desert regions many miles away. In fact, most plants in common landscapes are exotic. Landscapes composed of Californian plants likely include some plants from...

UNITED STATES—Listen, I’m wearing a mask, er bandana until I can find a mask. It’s been weird and amazing these last eight days of quarantine. I see it all from my pinhole, onto the world, Hollywood, USA. Weird times. Like I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody stopped me at Hollywood and Vine and offered to sell me a circus. But I...

UNITED STATES—The need to deadhead so early in spring is one of the few minor consequences of spring bulbs. Long before it becomes necessary to deadhead zinnia, canna and rose, the first flowers to bloom as winter ends are already finished. Many are those of spring bulbs. Their lingering deteriorating bloom can be slightly unappealing. What is more of...