We had houseguests for a few days, a young couple with three young children. They spoke highly about their Vitamix machine. They talked about making sorbet, ice cream, soups, sauces and nut butters. They said you can throw practically anything in there and make…

I thought I read the instructions carefully for our new toaster oven. I set the Function knob to “Toast,” turned the Toast/Timer knob to past 10 and back to the desired darkness setting. The only problem was that the bread…

I was always so impressed with those store-bought pop-up books in which I could see something that popped out really far. My own pop-up card images do pop out, and they look impressive. But they probably pop out no more than three or four inches from the page. I went back to my collection of store-bought pop-up books. And there it was – a magnificent pop-up that towered above the page. I was determined…

CRUNCH! CRUNCH! I love it! When a crunch is the sound of something healthy I’m eating, I go ape. In this case, the crunch comes from toasting a soft whole wheat tortilla in our new toaster oven. Before we purchased our $20 toaster oven from Target last month, I tried…

I don’t think I’ve ever told you how happy I was to have discovered recently that I could use my electric shaver in the shower. Funny, I just never thought of trying it. Before I made this great discovery, I used a…

As you may know, I recently completed a Shutterfly book of 90 poems I wrote about 50 years ago. It is time to give it another try. What better place to do that than here in this essay.

Most Wednesday mornings I drive to TreePeople, a beautiful park in the Santa Monica Mountains. I have been identifying and mapping their trees and shrubs. On each visit, I look forward to the fresh air, healthy walks, more tree and shrub discoveries, and to discussing my ideas with my friend, the arborist.

When I was a grad student, 1963-1966, I wrote more than 100 poems. Most were love poems. Many were humorous. Some fit neither category. Fifty years later, I am joyously reading these poems. As of today, I have read and copied 62 of my poems. It’s quite interesting how much they tell about my life’s journeys at that time. It … Read More

I just got a call from my wife’s friend, Sarah. She got a new Mac computer this week. Tomorrow evening my wife and I are going to her house for dinner, and for Sarah’s…

Have you ever looked in your tee-shirt drawer for something to wear that was not worn before? How can you tell? Look for dirt on the shirt? Smell it? Try to remember what you wore last week? Want a solution? Here’s what I did recently.