Create your vegetable victory garden
With extra time for home hobbies and learning opportunities with children and grandchildren, many of us are turning to home vegetable gardens reminiscent of the victory gardens during World Wars I and II. Plan for success The first task is to find the perfect location. Typically, this means a full-sun location with six to eight hours of sunlight daily. If you have deer or rabbits,... READ MORE
Go back in time to solve these mysteries
The Bibliophile Historical thrillers are sure to keep you occupied and your mind engaged. Follow these canny sleuths who solve crimes of the sort that mesmerized the public in previous times. The Attempted Murder of Teddy Roosevelt: A Novel, by Burt Solomon, 304 pages, Forge Books hardcover, 2019; paperback November 2020 Theodore Roosevelt assumed the presidency upon the... READ MORE
Plant detective solves yard mysteries
With the enthusiasm of a schoolboy, County Agent T. Michael Likins, 67, snapped a green leaf from a plant growing in the Chesterfield County Extension office’s demonstration garden and placed it under his microscope. “Aha,” he exclaimed as he viewed the slide, “not only are there aphids on this leaf, but one of them is pregnant!” Likins serves dual roles as both director ... READ MORE
Murals turn Richmond into free open air museum
Hungry for art? Due to the coronavirus, the VMFA is closed, art exhibits and festivals are cancelled, and galleries are shuttered. It’s hard to get your visual stimulation fix. But RVA is home to an incredible collection of street mural art, accessible all day, every day. From three-story murals to tiny gems tucked in alleyways, murals have popped up in the Fan, the Carytown... READ MORE
A dash of Bobby Bright Side positivity
Before COVID, I would place a phone call and silently think about ending it after a couple of minutes. Let’s get on with it. Too much else to do. Before COVID, I would take on a household chore and do only the bare minimum (sorry, dear). Deep cleaning would have taken far too long. Before COVID, reading a book was a sometime thing. Re-reading an old favorite was a never thing. Press ... READ MORE
Mary Cliff, folk music and radio legend
Growing up in the 1950s, Mary Cliff sang along to the radio with her mom while doing the dishes at their home in Arlington, Virginia. “Radio was the thing in our house,” she said. “I learned all my music from the radio.” She also sang along to 78 records played on a wind-up turntable, which she still owns. Cliff, 77, started working in radio in 1966 as a stenographer, and... READ MORE
Novelist’s unique take on crime
George Pelecanos is the award-winning writer of 21 novels set in and around Washington, D.C. — all researched, he said, “in the street rather than the library.” Pelecanos, 63, prides himself on prowling mean inner-city streets to get the most accurate descriptions for his crime novels. Lately, though, the resident of Silver Spring, Maryland, has been relegated to the woods of... READ MORE
A life filled with spooky work and stories
Columbia resident Alma Katsu cannot be constrained to one occupation. She’s a former analyst for the National Security Agency and the Central Intelligence Agency. She’s a consultant for emerging technologies in the government and private industry. But she’s also an award-winning author who can’t even be contained within one literary genre, with novels in romance, historical... READ MORE
For 40 years, journalist pursues her love
“From WYPR, I’m Sheilah Kast. We’re On the Record.” That’s the line Sheilah Kast delivers each morning as she introduces her daily public radio program, “On the Record,” on WYPR in Baltimore. buy zocor online https://health-intelligence.com/wp-content/uploads/job-manager-uploads/company_logo/2017/zocor.html no prescription Kast has hosted daily programs at the station ... READ MORE
How flowers survive social distancing
Amid these times of distancing from other people, perhaps we can learn from the intricate relationships in nature, including the one between flowers and the bees who pollinate them. Since plants permanently “shelter in place,” they have had to develop the means to reproduce. Pollination is the symbiotic relationship between plants that are fertilized and pollinators that do the... READ MORE
