Having been a fan of the James Herriot books since I was a little girl, I recently did myself a huge favor: I ordered the biography of him that his son wrote, "The Real James Herriot," as well as the photo book with his essays on "James Herriot's Yorkshire." (Herriot was the pen name adopted by... Continue Reading →
The Honeycrisp apple, so I read, took the apple world by storm in the past couple years. And it turns out there's science behind its appeal. A University of Minnesota hybrid that's a little touchy to grow, Honeycrisp was introduced in 1991 but spread slowly at first (the trees take a few years to bear,... Continue Reading →
Today's Valentine's Day, but also the start of the Chinese New Year, one of many holidays I want to adopt. (I'm not Chinese, but then again I'm not a Marine or a mathematician either... in fact few of the holidays below are really mine! Though I'm definitely a Texan, and an Aggie.) Holidays are, simultaneously,... Continue Reading →
A Twitter friend drew my attention to this explanation of Amazon's new push to offer authors and publishers a bigger slice of royalties in return for a lower price per book on the Kindle -- that is, even though the e-book is cheaper, the writer gets a bigger slice. The publisher doesn't go to the... Continue Reading →
Aug. 11, 2013: This is the most-clicked post on the blog, which is terrific. Happy white sinks, everybody! Here's the short version: THE METHOD: Coat the stained part of your white sink with a layer of dishwasher paste -- the thick gloopy stuff you put into the dishwashing machine, not the liquid soap you use... Continue Reading →
Yesterday had been widely touted as an opportunity for some snow, a rarity in our area. Journalists, of course, keep a wary eye on the weather, because the worse it gets, the more important it is that people know what the eff is going on. People come in early, stay late and all hands are... Continue Reading →
Yesterday's NYT had a very interesting story about biologists discovering evidence that humans are naturally helpful to each other -- very young humans, before our parents presumably whap it into us. Of course if we didn't cooperate to some degree we'd have croaked long ago... and if we weren't kind of warlike, we wouldn't have... Continue Reading →
When I made roses from Sculpey III polymer clay for my rose and semiprecious stone earrings, the fine edges crumbled as I was assembling the earrings. Roses made from Fimo clay, though, stood up to abuse -- and by abuse I mean my cats knocking them off the counter and chasing them around on a... Continue Reading →
Glad to have discovered the Economist's weekly "The week ahead" podcast, a civilized way to get your news. They also offer a series of "Tea with The Economist" videos, in which they very literally have tea and a chat with interesting and relevant people. Also, I am in love with Galwaybayfm.ie, where you can listen... Continue Reading →
The teahouse illustrations on the Gmail page change with the times of day too! Here the kitsune is tidying up in her house. It looks like she is a reader, as well.
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