I’m not going to Paris this summer. The world situation being what it is, I’m not going to visit Rome or Istanbul or the White Cliffs of Dover either. I’ll just have to be content to read about them. I’m a sucker for travel memoirs, imagining myself a silent companion along all of those interesting roads. My latest reverie is called “Delicious Days in Paris.” The author takes … [Read more...]
Binge Decorating
I once wrote a column comparing my string of home decorating projects to the children’s book “If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.” For the mouse, a cookie led to a glass of milk, which led to a napkin, which circled back several pages later to another cookie. For me, putting new drapes in the living room led to a new couch which … well, you get the idea. Now, several years later, my … [Read more...]
The Bluebird of Happiness
It’s that time again, the time when I keep my binoculars on the kitchen table. Don’t worry, I’m not keeping tabs on my existing neighbors. I’m trying to attract some new ones. I’m on the lookout for bluebirds. It’s been a big year for other birds at my house. Along with the usual chickadees and cardinals, there have been robins and Alabama orioles wandering around the yard. A … [Read more...]
A Certain Ring to It
I didn’t take him for a marimba kind of guy, and yet there it was. He pulled back his monogrammed Brooks Brothers cuffs and said, “Hello?” Like a custom license plate, a person’s cellular ring tone can be a little window into who he is deep down, freed from all of his grown-up trappings. Of course, it could just as easily be the ringtone set as a program default, but I guess … [Read more...]
The Can Festival
When the word came down, I was positively giddy: Soon, I would get new trashcans. I realize this is clear proof of how easily I can be entertained, but to me new trashcans are a big deal. If you stop and think of all of the things you throw into your trashcans, week after week, year after year … on second thought, don’t think about it. It will make you woozy. Anyway, the … [Read more...]