Voters Must Enable Leaders To Get Things Done
The talking heads on Sunday morning returned, time and time again, to the articulated desire of the electorate that those in government “do their jobs” and “just get things done.” If that’s true, then the electorate has to grow up …
Pledge A Polite Fight Ahead
At year’s end, we yearn for a peaceful, coherent existence in the coming year. We long for an end to division, name-calling, and gridlock. It’s tempting to issue a call for a kinder, non contentious ...
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Paradise Reimagined
The mythical Phoenix was reborn out of fire. Paradise California has been through the fires of Hell this fall, virtually destroying the town. The last count I saw was that the Camp Fire had destroyed ...
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1776- While They Were Meeting In Philadelphia
Turns out, the world didn’t stop, breathless, while the Founding Fathers met on the Atlantic seaboard to foment a revolution. West of the Revolution gives us a glimpse of what else was happening on this continent ...
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Stage Directions For Old Age
Thoughts found on a handwritten note in my mother’s desk. Perhaps something she heard on NPR. She pulled it off.
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Beauty Is Therapeutic
To the extent that healing thrives on positive emotions, I should beat lung cancer due to the utter beauty Kathleen Bennett brings to my house. Once a week, gorgeous flowers from her garden show up ...
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New World Foods Are International Hits
Tomatoes, Potatoes, Corn and Beans. Answered my questions about how foods native to the Western Hemisphere became central to cuisines world wide. You can add to the veggies in the title, peppers, peanuts, and chocolate as ...
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Why Countries Behave The Way They Do-It’s GEOGRAPHY
International relations makes a lot more sense when you look at a map. Or at least look at a map after reading Prisoners of Geography. In fact, the author highlights 10 maps that explain why ...
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Butterfly Buddy
Thunbergia alata= black eyed susan vine May be perennial in zone 9 and warmer Butterfly friendly, though I can’t find information on just which butterflies it attracts. Bay area butterflies
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Planting For Butterflies
Double the beauty in your garden when your flowers attract butterflies. Little is such fun as watching butterflies swoop through the garden, adding their own color to the plantings. I’m moving beyond the three kinds ...
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Wash, Rinse, Repeat: Removing Pesticides From Produce
Tap water and baking soda can rid fruits and vegetables of pesticide residues. Low tech, cheaper than buying organic, and effective. So says research from the U. of Massachusetts, Amherst and echoed by Consumer Reports. ...
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How Sick Is Our Approach To Sick Days?
Fighting a battle with acute bronchitis since before New Years gave me time to think about employers and sick leave. I’ve hardly been in the office both because I’m useless sick and because I’m contagious. ...
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My Mother Always Said
My kids and my staff at work are no doubt tired of hearing me quote my mother. But it’s striking how many of her lines ring true, or at least memorable. Learn to read ...
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