Let’s be clear. Blogs are blogs. Power Point Presentations are not. According to my more seriously-minded techie pals, PPP are something else entirely. They are more, well, seriously minded. Humph! After watching a PPP listing ten potential benefits of them, we seemed almost on the same page. I especially honed in on (1) Broadening…
HERE WE GO AGAIN, with DORIE
Who doesn’t keep some kernels of wisdom tucked into their hip pocket to pull out when needed. For me, my pocket runneth over with pithy tips. Here are just two: 1. PEOPLE LIKE TO BE THANKED. (My mother) While growing up, I knew whenever someone gave me a gift, a thank you note was…
THIS LITTLE PIGGY WENT to MARKET
Not long ago, when walking to a music concert with my friend Wendy, she asked, “Do you miss your garden?” That question, out of the blue, had nothing to do with our ongoing chatter and was rather innocuous. “Yes,” I answered. “Yes I do.” Although we quickly moved on to more important topics – her…
#fromage friday (SAY CHEESE, PLEASE)
THE PAST As a kid growing up in Iowa, I knew three cheeses: Velveeta, Maytag blue and Swiss. My Mom always kept a 16-ounce block of Kraft’s processed cheese in the fridge. In Newton, located 140 miles from my home town of Manchester, Maytag Dairy Farms with its herd of prize-winning Holstein cows was producing…
SUMMER’S FLEETING, TIME FOR SLAB PIE
As an amateur photographer, using a point-and-shoot Canon PowerShot which isn’t even manufactured anymore, I have one rule: Never let the picture get in front of the experience. That’s why I missed a magnificent opportunity to photograph the illusive Sharp-shinned Hawk during a recent birding field trip. We were studying the astonishing number of Violet-green…
A PARIS LIFE
Dear Miss Manners, When I was in Paris recently, I attended a small dinner party with four other American friends. Our gracious host and hostess live in an apartment with a balcony view of the Tour Eiffel. During our marvelous dinner we set our Apple watches for “on the hour” alarms to catch the 5-minute…
SUMMER’S HOME STRETCH with FRIENDS
THE COSMO GIRL I first met Karen Kribs, above, fifteen years ago when we joined our mutual friend, Nancy Alciatore, for a month of immersion study at the Institut de Français located on the Côte d’Azur in Villefranche-sur-Mer. Nancy, fluent in French, tested into the Advancé 1 class. Karen and I, both neophytes, were placed…
WANT the RAINBOW? WELCOME the RAIN.
Not for one moment do I begrudge water-deprived California a drop of moisture. After suffering through five years of drought, losing 102 million trees in its stricken forests, this state needed a miracle. Obviously Mother Nature heard the plea, tweeted Mt.Olympus and Zeus, the Greek god of clouds, rain, thunder and lightning answered the call….
GO FISH: BRANDADE de MORUE
This post is dedicated, with fondness, to Dr. David Yokum, who was a prominent thoracic surgeon and catfish guy. Being Iowa born and bred in the Fifties/Sixties meant odds are heavily weighted to a meat-and-potatoes palate. In the Corn State then there were approximately 200,000, 150-170 acre family farms. Each August at the Delaware County…
ELOISE of THE PLAZA HOTEL & ME
As I walked to The Gant’s front office recently, I was followed by a young man and his son headed in the same direction. During that 3-4 minute walk, the little guy, probably 6, never stopped asking questions, one after another. Honestly, not one breath. How is that possible? At some point I glanced back,…
MY LEXUS & ME: 7,200 MILES LATER
Where to begin. This is my last LIGHTSonBRIGHT postmarked from California. In mid-November I left Aspen, barely escaping the first snow flurries, knowing it would be springtime before my return. The left side of my brain, where my logic is warehoused, kept telling me this was a good thing. My heart, where most of my…
VIVE LA FRANCE: A TRIBUTE
Last Saturday evening I planned to have dinner with friends before leaving Aspen for the winter. Then, Friday the 13th happened. Paris was bloodied. France, bruised. The six of us, who had all experienced and enjoyed the City of Lights as well as the country itself, were shaken. After watching the events play out throughout…
