Life Skill #15: Organization for the school year
There are certain truths that become evident at back-to-school time for most of us: The kids still haven't stopped growing and we need to update their comically ill-fitting wardrobes. The...
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Visitors flock to Scotland’s massive equine sculptures
The drive along the M9 in central Scotland is as picturesque as a motorway trip can be. Woods, hills, meadows, sheep. Then you come around a curve approaching Falkirk, and...
Cultivating relationships in college trump choice of school
Her parents sent her to college with invaluable advice, said Ashli Stempel: "Always sit in the front row. You never know who you'll meet." Sure enough, during the first lecture...
Why parents need to communicate with teachers
By this time of the summer, teachers and parents have the coming school year foremost in their minds. Teachers are busily fine-tuning lesson plans; parents are cleaning out the school...
College-bound teens need to learn life skills
When my stepson moved into an apartment at university, we went to the supermarket. Because he liked (and knew how to cook) chicken legs, I explained that if he bought...
How native are your native plants?
Nowadays, the word "native" has taken on a kind of glamour among gardeners. Many a catalog or garden center makes the adjective a selling point, often promising lower maintenance and...
DIY furniture guide nails fresh design
"DIY furniture" has some bad connotations: Light fixtures fashioned from egg cartons, wine racks made of mailing tubes, et cetera. There's nothing wrong with creatively recycling and re-purposing materials, of...
Jeanne Nolan, organic gardener
Jeanne Nolan still remembers when the light bulb went on. She was a Winnetka teenager trying to find her purpose and "really into the environment," Nolan says, "when nobody was...
Easy summer saute from farmers market finds
In recent visits to the farmers market, I've been struck each week by how much has popped up since just the week before. English peas, then Melrose peppers, then baby...
Make your franks fancy with ‘Haute Dogs’ book
"Haute Dogs" (Quirk, $18.95), the new book by Russell van Kraayenburg, deliciously showcases the many possibilities of the hot dog with recipes from around the world, eye-catching photos and more...