Receipts Are Important People
UNITED STATES—Whenever you buy something, you always get a receipt. For most people, they keep the receipt until they get home, than it’s tossed in the trash. I’m going to share something with you that many of you might think is bonkers crazy. For the past 12 months, I have KEPT every single receipt of any item (including food)...
A Miracle On 42nd St.
UNITED STATES—Out came the shotgun from behind the door. The old artist stood at the threshold and extended the barrel. His hand trembled. Gil Talbott steadied his hand just as he’d steadied it to chisel the newest statue that crouched in his garret on the top floor of DeVille Manor. This statue was a sandstone Christmas tree and, beside...
Collecting Seeds For Next Year
UNITED STATES—Where winters are cooler, the deteriorating stems of flowers that bloomed last year either got pruned away already or got knocked down by the weather, and are now rotting on the ground. Around here, where the weather is milder, and some flowers only recently finished blooming, used up flower stalks still stand in stasis. Most but not necessarily...
Potted Plants For Christmas Color
UNITED STATES—After all the Christmas decorations get put away for next year, and the Christmas tree eventually gets undressed from all its ornaments, and retired to the compost pile or greenwaste, all the pretty seasonal potted plants remain. Some will bloom, or at least maintain their current bloom, for months. Some might eventually get planted out in the garden....
Christmas Cooking 101
UNITED STATES—With less than 2 weeks before Christmas is upon us, many are already planning their meals for the big holiday. Rather that includes you taking a dish to someone’s house or perhaps you are playing host to the holiday, Christmas dinner or brunch can be just as stressful as Thanksgiving. However, there is one slight difference: Christmas is...
New Media
UNITED STATES—There they are again with that rustling, crackling energy on the streets. They travel in packs, little islands of smugness among us old timers; there they are shielded by a sense goofy camaraderie in the implacable gulf that springs between them and us who were here first. It would be breaking an unwritten law to hail them in...
Jack Frost Was Sneaky Again
UNITED STATES—Timing is very important in gardening. Even when the weather in autumn still seems like summer, spring blooming bulbs must be planted on time. Bare root fruit trees will become available while they are dormant, and will need to be planted before they wake up. Roses need to be pruned before buds for new canes swell later in...
The Gold Chain
UNITED STATES—I’m taking DeVille out for a walk or he’s taking me. I cannot tell which. We go up Cahuenga to the dog friendly market (my Jack Russell terrier/chihuahua can go in and smell where he was last time and pee). It’s kind of gross but still lovely to go to a store in comfort instead of trying to...
Christmas Trees And Cut Foliage
UNITED STATES—There should be no guilt associated with a cut Christmas tree. They were stigmatized many years ago, when some people believed that they were harvested from forests, and more of them likely were back then. However, most of us now know that, except for a few that actually are harvested from the wild, Christmas trees are grown on...
“Star Wars: Battlefront II,” Most Controversial Game Of Our Time
UNITED STATES—"Star Wars: Battlefront II" has a very high bar set before it; it is a "Star Wars" game, so it must appeal to the growing fanbase, it is a sequel to the popular "Battlefront I" and a continuation of the beloved 'Battlefront' series, and it is designed to fill plot holes for the Star Wars saga. It does...