Life Style & Travel

MALIBU—As seen on PBS! It is the perfect family event! World Champion Dancers: Scott Doherty & Tyler Schwartz star in “An Irish Christmas!” Take a journey through Christmas in Ireland with superb dancing, singing and Irish traditional music celebrating the international spirit of the holiday season. “An Irish Christmas,” features an award-winning cast of Irish dancers led by World Champion Dancers...

UNITED STATES—Looking across a sea of white-enamel washers in the laundromat, Brendan watch the receding back of Radcovich. Brendan felt a pang at his candor in telling Radcovich about his marriage in Denmark. To his boyfriend. Why did he have to go and say that? But it was essential and true; of course he had to say it. Radcovich took...

UNITED STATES—Now that winter is only two weeks away, and many deciduous plants are defoliating and dormant, it may seem as if there will be less work to do in the garden. After all, not much is growing. The funny thing is that this is the best time to sneak up on some of them, and prune them while...

UNITED STATES—Eric Radcovich fit in, and Brendan didn't. That was how it was in college. Eric was into fitness and brought to the apartment a device that imprisoned your ankles and then you could hang upside down and develop a six-pack. Eric owned heat. That was how he came from the other apartment to live where Brendan had been...

UNITED STATES—Most of us Californians are probably wondering what that means. Sugaring season is more familiar to horticultural enthusiasts in New England, Canada, and more recently, in Alaska. It is the time of year that sugary sap get harvested from maples, and in Alaska, from birches. Maple sap gets refined into maple syrup and sugar. Birch sap makes birch...

UNITED STATES—Most of us Californians are probably wondering what that means. Sugaring season is more familiar to horticultural enthusiasts in New England, Canada, and more recently, in Alaska. It is the time of year that sugary sap get harvested from maples, and in Alaska, from birches. Maple sap gets refined into maple syrup and sugar. Birch sap makes birch...

UNITED STATES—Brendan Howe watched the hypnotic tumblings the drying socks and underwear through the glass circle of the dryer door. It was his first time here in the laundromat in the new neighborhood where he had moved after the divorce. Scribbling in a small spiral notebook, he sat in regimented plastic chairs, bolted to the floor. An attendant watered hanging ferns....

UNITED STATES—Thanksgiving is less than a few days away, and for those hosting the feast of all feasts, they are likely, if they haven’t already, planning their list of items to prepare. So let’s take some time to discuss the importance of the side dishes. Yes, many speculate that the turkey or the big bird is the most important,...

UNITED STATES—Traditional horticultural technology that was so common in the orchards, that were likewise more common, was more practical than so much of what we do in our modern home gardens now. Orchardists got good insects to take out the bad insects. They got mulberry trees to distract hungry birds from maturing apricots and prunes. They even got weedy...

UNITED STATES—Jay Leno. Tim Allen. Jerry Seinfeld. What do they all have in common. They’re comedians? Well, yes, but they also have, some would say, an unhealthy obsession with cars. But that’s not uncommon, is it? Lots of people are into cars. There are competitive sports devoted to America’s love affair with the automobile. One form of motorsport was...