During the past few weeks, my newsletters and blog posts have been less meticulous than usual. One blog post turned up twice with different titles. Blog announcements on social media didn’t turn up on their usual schedule, and normal postings didn’t happen. All fell victims to . . . summer vacation. It was a bucket
Articles Categorized Lifestyle
OKTOBERFEST STARTS SATURDAY
Saturday is the Autumn Equinox. Lying between Summer and Winter, Autumn has a languid feeling, especially at the beginning. The nights are shorter, but Daylight Savings Time is still in effect. The days are cooler, but not cold. Football comes into its regular season. And best of all, Oktoberfest begins in Munich this Saturday
INGREDIENTS OF AN ALTERED APPEARANCE
Since ancient times women and men have altered their physical appearance to become more attractive to themselves and others. “How ancient?” you ask. Cleopatra used a lip color that got its reddish tint from ground carmine beetles. Before you wrinkle your nose in disgust, consider that modern lipstick formulas contain cochineal or carmine. Cochineal are
SEPTEMBER TRIVIA
September is one of those transitional months. When it begins, the weather is still hot. By the last week, leaves are beginning to change color. The Anglo-Saxons called this month Gerst monath, Barley Month. It was the month for harvesting barley which was processed into a malt barley used in brewing beer. The name September
THE BENEFITS OF TRAVEL
Above the earth in a hot air balloon in Cappadocia. What could be more magical? No stress. No sense of routine. Heightened senses in an unfamiliar reality. It’s a perfect vacation activity, but not something you can do on a four day break from work. Vacation travel raises suspicions. Once upon a time, the average
LIVING SMALL
Once upon a time, most people lived small, but they weren’t necessarily happy about it. This one room cottage is part of the Ulster Folk Museum in Northern Ireland. It looks charming with its thatched roof and graveled pathway. Inside we see a sitting/sleeping area next to the fire, with kitchen materials close to hand.
HAPPINESS
Summer is a happy time for me, but I suspect that’s my preconceived attitude. I want summer to be happy, because it contains so many things I like. Happiness is an elusive concept. We all want to be happy, but we don’t define happiness in the same way, which makes becoming “happy” a bit tricky.
WRITERLY CATS
Cats, readers, and writers just seem to go together. Before Big Box Bookstores and long before Amazon, cats used to be frequent residents in independent bookstores. Alas, the opportunity to scratch kitty ears at the cash register is gone, but readers still cuddle up with cats, as do writers. MARK TWAIN, American humorist, was particularly
BEACH TIME
Since 1991 Dr. Stephen P. Leatherman, better known as Dr. Beach, has released a list of America’s Best Beaches on Memorial Day Weekend. This year, first place honors went to Kapalua Bay Beach on Maui. Hapuna Beach State Park on the Big Island was also on the list, in eighth place. Hawai`i isn’t the only
SWIMWEAR BY THE SEA
Summer will soon be upon us — the time of year when many of us will be seen in swim wear or, as it used to be called, bathing costumes. Summer wasn’t always synonymous with a seaside vacation. A convergence of factors in the mid-nineteenth century introduced the annual ritual to American life. Railways made
LADIES, MOTHERS DAY & AFTERNOON TEA
Next Sunday is Mother’s Day, a commemorative day established by Anna Marie Jarvis in 1911 as a tribute to her mother and all mothers. In 1911 the day usually involved church services. Over time the celebration evolved into a sentimental event with all manner of gifts and cards for mom. In recent years mothers, daughters,
MAY DAY IS LEI DAY IN HAWAI`I
Lei Day, officially launched in 1928, is a popular festival in Hawai`i. Don Blanding, then a columnist for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin, came up with the idea, later saying that at the time Hawai`i had no day that was special. Why not have a Lei Day – a day when everyone could wear lei and give
Packing and Travel Hacks
It’s the end of April. Rain is streaming down my windows. I’m thinking about summer holidays — the kind that require a passport or at least an airline ticket. Although I know I’ll enjoy my destination, there are two things I dread: making the travel arrangements and packing. Travel arrangements are fairly straightforward. Packing is
Moghul & Persian Gardens of Paradise
The Taj Mahal is many things. It’s a seventeenth century mausoleum built by Shah Jahan for his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal. As such, it’s often called a monument to love. Mumtaz Mahal Begum (Exalted One of the Palace) was the Shah’s second wife, and chief consort. She died giving birth to her fourteenth child. Shah
Natural Gardens in China & Japan
Long before Capability Brown improved English landscapes, Chinese and Japanese garden designers created “natural” gardens. Ji Cheng (1582-1642) observed in the seventeenth century that the purpose of a Chinese garden is to “hide the vulgar and the common as far as the eye can see, and include the excellent and the splendid.” In this photo, there
The Landscape Gardens of Capability Brown
Although gardening takes place all year round, it comes to mind most readily in the spring. April is a good month for planting trees, shrubs, and annual flowering bulbs that bloom in summer. These might include dahlias and gladiolas. It’s also time to plant seeds for marigolds and zinnias. If you go to your local