Build Your Own Water Garden
Region: New Mexico
If the idea of a tranquil woodland pond in your own back yard appeals to you, go ahead and create one! With materials available today, in about a month you could have a peaceful water garden, reflecting billowy white summer clouds, just a short walk away. Creating that garden is no more difficult nor expensive than establishing a traditional one. To create a traditional flower garden, you simply use existing s... more
Views: 1778Orienteering: the "Treasure Hunting" Sport
Region: New MexicoOrienteering can appeal to the very young, the senior citizen, the weekend walker, or the competitive athlete; anyone who likes the outdoors, who enjoys treasure hunts, or who likes to live by his or her wits; or for anyone who gets lost or turned around in unfamiliar territory. But it’s especially made to order for anyone who just wants to have fun. Orienteering participants are hunters—but not in... more
Views: 1591Death Encapsulated in Stone
Region: New MexicoThe waning of the tombstone epitaph takes with it the chance to peek into an ingenuous era, a time when survivors seemed compelled to squeeze on tombstones the essentials of a loved one's life and the accident or disease that carried them away. When people drowned, for example, their epitaph often described how it occurred. After a 62-year-old Coventry, CT man drowned, a monument was erected: "in Memory of Capt Jo... more
Views: 1020Tombstones Tell a Story
Region: New MexicoTo today's reader, epitaphs on old gravestones are often maudlin, sometimes heart wrenching. And the curious custom the writers had of describing their loss in trite or comic verse seems in today's society, to trivialize the event. Pity the poor pharmacist who may have sold medicine to M.S. Donald Robertson in 1848. Robertson's epitaph fingered the seller forever as contributing to his demise: "He was a peace... more
Views: 1568Adult Children Are Returning Home
Region: New MexicoThat collective sigh of relief that radiates across the country every summer as graduates head off to school or launch brand new careers is sometimes cut short in mid-sigh as the kids stride right back into their parents’ lives. Stan and Barbara Peterson had just begun to savor pleasures they had enjoyed when they were first married: impromptu weekends away from home, lazy Sunday breakfasts, and the stra... more
Views: 1908Sleep Well Tonight
Region: New MexicoDrip … drip … drip. Yip… yip … yip! Insomnia. When every drip of the bathroom faucet echoes in the night like World War II. And the yapping of the dog down the block assumes the cadence of a Japanese mantra. Insomniacs. They're kind of like the calf lying down with the lion. According to Woody Allen, they can lie down together, "but the calf won't get much sleep." Neither ... more
Views: 1545Living With Osteoporosis
Region: New MexicoIf you want to avoid one of America’s most crippling diseases, here are two pieces of advice that won’t be too hard to swallow: Don’t let yourself get too thin—and eat plenty of pizza! Now, ordering up a pepperoni pizza with extra cheese has some major dietary liabilities, but the mozzarella presents one redeeming factor: As a source of calcium, it can help prevent osteoporosis, a... more
Views: 1915Depression -- There is a Way Out
Region: New MexicoZiggy is lucky. He may walk through the cartoon pages with a black cloud hanging over his head, but he can escape from the cloud with the simple stroke of a cartoonist's pen. Others aren't as fortunate. The great Russian writer Dostoevski struggled with the cloud. So did Abraham Lincoln. Even astronaut Buzz Aldrin descended into a deep funk after his historic space flight. Now the black cloud has a name -- depressio... more
Views: 1594Corny But True
Region: New MexicoAmerica’s favorite vegetable has lent its name to more things than you might imagine. Food names, of course: cornbread, corn beef, corncake, corn starch, corn flakes, corn flour, corn grits, corn meal, corn muffin, corn oil, cornpone, corn chip. And the curiously named corn dog, which has nothing to do with America’s favorite pet, but everything to do with a cholesterol-altering trip to the County Fai... more
Views: 1283Scientifically Souped-Up Foods
Region: New MexicoAs scientists begin to understand how plant substances work, they look ahead to the time when they can apply their knowledge either to improve on or to supplement Mother Nature. Genetic engineering and selective breeding could ultimately create plant stocks with more healthful phytochemical “fingerprints.” Scientists already know that all foods are not created equal. A green apple, for example, doesn&rsq... more
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