Life Style & Travel

SANTA MONICA—Paul Cummins is a man whose accomplishments in the educational world are beyond anything most can imagine. He is a long-time Los Angelino and educator who completed studies at Harvard and Stanford. He has worked as a headmaster, and started several charter schools in the Los Angeles region. He co-founded Crossroads School in Santa Monica in 1971 and he...

UNITED STATES—Just as many flowers attract pollinators with color, some types of fruit employ color to get the attention of birds and other animals. Just as many flowers reward their pollinators with nectar, fruit is its own reward to the animals that eat it. The only catch is that those who want the fruit must disperse the seed within....

UNITED STATES—Austere hedonism. It’s an approach that springs from my morning espresso. Alone, beautiful, black and biting. More often than not that single espresso is enough, more than enough, though I balked at it as a caffeine-swilling kid. Take it back; serve me a real cup of coffee—that was my attitude. Now what a difference! That little cup when...

UNITED STATES—For those who do not remember ancient history, this wet stuff that fell from the sky recently is known as “rain." It used to be more common, particularly through winter. It has an unfortunate way of getting everything exposed to it quite wet. It makes soil muddy. Yet, rain has many attributes. It is composed of water, so...

UNITED STATES—The other day a friend commented to me that he never remembers his dreams anymore. I thought about that and realized I haven’t had a memorable dream lately either. That changed this morning when I awoke from a real Duesy of a dream. This is how I remember it: I find myself overlooking a large modern-style mostly glass mansion...

UNITED STATES—Mild winter weather on the West Coast limits the choices for autumn color. So many of the trees, shrubs, vines and perennials that get so colorful where autumn weather is cooler do not get so colorful here. Mild weather also allows so many more evergreen plants and plants that do not get colorful in autumn to thrive here...

UNITED STATES—Is it mere coincidence the seasons of giving and saying thanks come on the heels of a holiday known for its ominous ultimatum, “Trick or Treat?” Not likely. Indeed, most of us have a lot to atone for by the time December rolls around. If we haven’t overindulged in Halloween candy, we’ve surely played some frightening prank that...

UNITED STATES—I was on the porch when a man came walking down the street and stopped to look at the front of the house. It was Lawrence, right on time. I met him that morning on the patch of sunlit earth in front that wasn’t doing so hot sprouting the grass seed I’d scattered. Unlike leagues of other prospective...

SAN FRANCISCO—Wyeth Coulter, 18, held his last charity pumpkin sale in San Francisco on Tuesday, October 27. Coulter had been growing pumpkins and holding fundraisers for the past 11 years to help local charities in the Bay Area. Coulter was only 8 when he founded the project that united his love for autumn and Halloween to benefit the homeless community.  At the time,...

UNITED STATES—In the wild, trees do just fine without any help from anyone else. They certainly are not stupid. Their roots disperse for adequate stability. Their trunks grow upward as limbs spread outward for adequate structural integrity. Trees only need help in landscape situations because they are expected to perform so unnaturally. From the very beginning, their trunks are...