“Beautiful and inspiring” aren’t words you expect to connect with books about cancer, but that’s exactly what Hollye Jacobs’s The Silver Lining is, and why you want it.
Grace & Wit
What a Month! Part 2-Santa Fe, Stomach Bug, SWAT Team, Quick Draw, La-La Land
Like I was saying, August posts have been a little light because August days have been a little busy. What I want to know is what happened to the “lazy days of summer”? Am I just a girl who can’t say no, or are we all just doing 72,000 more things than we used to do? What’s going on?
What a Month! Part 1: CityKids Storm the Ranch!
Whew. And you wonder why I haven’t posted more. (Or maybe not.) And I wonder why I still haven’t finished my book. Here’s the answer. It starts with a rodeo. August 4: Yup, when I landed back here in Californee we went straight to the rodeo in Santa Barbara. I love me a rodeo for five… Continue reading What a Month! Part 1: CityKids Storm the Ranch!
A Great Trick for Hanging Belts
For those of us not sunning in the South of France this August, we can always enjoy staying home and organizing something. Nothing gives greater satisfaction for so little expense.
Well maybe a few things, but you won’t find those at the Container Store. This you will.
How to be Charming
How to be charming? Oh I wish I knew. Sometimes I think I know. Sometimes I think I am. Definitely not always. Some days are better than others. Surely that is true of even the most effortlessly charming people on earth. Charm is a quality, but it’s also a skill…
Beautifully Handmade Wooden Jigsaw Puzzles, and What They Can Do for You
Here’s a fun summer activity that can be done in groups or alone, all ages, requires no athletic prowess or (mercifully) the wearing of a bathing suit, has no calories, does not need Wi-Fi, and… is soooooo good for you.
Just Another Night at the Ranch… Starring Shirley Jones and the Cassidy Brothers
How often do you have in your living room an Academy Award-winning actress, a Tony Award-winning costume designer, an Emmy-winning composer, and a Grammy-nominated bona-fide teen idol all at once?
We did when we hosted a singalong with Shirley Jones and Shaun Cassidy and decided to make an evening of it. Rancho La Zaca was filled with music, laughter, and a tear or two.
Letter From the Loire – Part 2 Coming Up. Meanwhile… a Highlight
Visiting this marvelously whimsical folly (is that redundant?)–the Pagode de Chanteloupe– was a highlight of a recent, sometimes rainy, romp through the Loire Valley of France. Feast your weary eyes. Your not-weary eyes, too, of course.
Southerners and the N-Word, for the Record, Y’all
In some accounts there is the suggestion that because Paula Deen is from the so-called Old South, there may have been a time where it was acceptable to say n*****. Well I’m from the Old South, too, many generations of it, and it was never okay to say that word in our house. Never.
Little Life Enhancer: A Handy Way to Clean Dental Devices
Here’s a nifty little case for cleaning retainers and bleaching trays. You know how grotty they can get. It’s called a FreshKase, and you put your dental thingie in it and pop it in the dishwasher. Boom. $11.95. A good little travel case, too.
Sidney Poitier Sums Up the Meaning of Life
Do you watch CBS Sunday Morning? It is the best thing on television, beating out even Downton Abbey in my book, though that’s not exactly an even comparison. Last Sunday morning I had it on while I was dressing–okay I wasn’t quite dressing I was just getting out of the shower, and there was Sidney… Continue reading Sidney Poitier Sums Up the Meaning of Life
Baby Birds Leave the Nest
We’ve had an abundance of birds nesting around the house at Rancho La Zaca this year, and I love it. Birds’ nests fascinate me.