OrlandoSentinel.com - Simply Living

Private land of enchantment can be only 13 steps away

Sun, 11 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I've been spending time every day in an exotic location, but I don't have to travel to get there.

Bad rap on exotic cherry is the pits

Sun, 4 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

I just picked the first fruits from my Surinam cherry bushes. If you've never heard of Surinam cherries, you're not alone. Unless you're from a West Indian or South American country, you're probably unfamiliar with the small red-to-black fruit that grows on this common hedge plant.

Living near 2 screech owls is a real hoot

Sun, 27 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

"Did you know the owl's sitting in the garage?" my son asked me the other afternoon while I was out in the nursery trimming bamboo. "What's he doing there?"

Bill Staines to bring heartwarming songs to Orlando area

Sun, 20 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

If you're anything like me, you have a collection of favorite songs by a variety of musicians. Browse through your library of CDs, old cassette tapes or dusty LPs and you'll likely find only two or three songs on each recording that you absolutely adore. That's pretty much the norm. It's what we've come to expect from most musicians.

Will cell survive dip in loo?

Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:00:00 -0400

and who doesn't these days? -- you've probably come to depend upon it. I know I have.

'Green' product hype can be tarnished with experience

Sun, 21 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Green is everywhere. It's the buzzword of the moment -- a media darling that, when attached to a product, is a surefire ticket to increased sales. The use of the label "green" has become so ubiquitous that you can find "green" offerings in everything from meat to moisturizers, tea to toiletries, beer to light bulbs.

Oh, to end years of nap-envy

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

I'm jealous. I have been for years.

Health takes birthday breather

Sun, 7 Oct 2007 00:00:00 -0400

I just finished eating several walnut-raisin rugallah, a gift to myself for my birthday. It's not actually my birthday -- that happens a few days before Halloween -- but about five years ago, I decided that birthdays were too important to warrant only a single-day celebration. They deserve an entire month.

3 feathery amigos give wing to hope

Sun, 30 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

A well-known saying suggests, "Birds of a feather flock together." But what about birds that aren't alike; do they "flock together" too?

Ignore old guilt, pick up a book and read

Sun, 23 Sep 2007 00:00:00 -0400

Guilt is a nasty emotion. It's a draining, limiting, self-deprecating waster of time, and everyone knows time is too precious to waste.