What games taught me about interior design.
How a game helped me design our home
Ooh, baby, it’s a wild world
If you look closely, you will see evidence of an aphid attack on our new rose blooms. https://videopress.com/v/TGy1FMhp?preloadContent=metadata A hawk dogfight. OUR BACK YARD seamlessly flows into open space, and from our vantage point on the patio, it’s one big high-def, wrap-around entertainment center for watching nature at work. While sipping coffee, a coyote might …
Things we no longer buy at the grocery store
Surprisingly easy things to make at home instead of buying at the grocery store.
For the love of art: Meet this creative couple
Collaboration in the world of visual arts is a rarity. But allow me to introduce you to a couple that have created a perfect blend of their skills. And their collective output is consistently provocative, aesthetically enlightening, and just downright whimsical and entertaining. A frog for the garden. Water-based putty over wire mesh. Repurposed bolts, …
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O Christmas Tree, just what else can you be?
BOXING DAY IS OVER, New Years is just around the corner, and families around the world are all thinking the same thing: time to take down the ornaments and throw out that tree. Doing cursory research and a little back-of-the envelope calculation, I estimate as many as 100 million conifers out on the street, just …
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Hand-made gifts are the best
IT’S BECOME SOMETHING OF A FAMILY TRADITION to hand-craft our gifts. Since we have been in lockdown for the past umpteen months, there really was no excuse this year. Sister Francine and her husband, Mike, created this beautiful little rabbit out of redwood. They aren’t sure of the genesis of the wood stock, but I’ll …
The perfect Ciabatta bread
We’ve written before about our experiments with Ciabatta, Italy’s response to France’s baguette. After some tinkering with the recipe, we believe we have arrived at the optimal combination of ingredients. What’s more, it is very simple and easy to make. 3.25 cups (650 grams) flour1.5 cups (350 milliliters) water1 tbsp (15 g) sugar1 tsp (5 …
A lumbering tale: From Maine to California
When I was 14 years old, my family relocated from a rural enclave in Connecticut to an even more remote region in the great state of Maine. My siblings and I were a bit dubious about this move, but our parents promised it would be an adventure. We'd have our own 100-acre farm, high on …
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The 15-minute project that took a week
It should have been easy. Two screws and five color-coded wires. At least, that's what I thought on Monday when I decided, just before breakfast, to upgrade the old thermostat for one of those new fancy "smart" devices. You know, the kind of gizmo that displays a beautiful HD screen, which, of course, you don't …
