Magicians on stage know how to make their viewers imagine that magic is taking place. In Elly Griffiths’ novel The Zig Zag Girl , the back...

 Plants from the Botanical Garden Sale On our deck: Len has potted the herbs that we bought from the Botanical Garden sale. At the sale: the...

Reading Anthony Horowitz’s 2011 sequel to the Sherlock Holmes stories really makes me appreciate the skill of Arthur Conan Doyle — both in t...

 

  How to Not Know This book — just published today — offers a combination of interesting insights (from time to time) with a lot of conventi...

1950s: A child in an Iron Lung, a device to save the lives of those whose lungs were paralyzed by polio. His face is reflected in a mirror t...

 In the Garden On the Table Alice brought us Satchel’s Ribs for dinner. Mac and cheese, coleslaw, potato salad, and cornbread too. The ribs ...

“Anyone can cook aloo gobi, but who can bend a ball like Beckham” BEND IT LIKE BECKHAM An old but very amusing film. “Bend it like Beckham...

Pancake Breakfast   Blueberry Pancakes with powdered sugar and (later) maple syrup. Photos © 2026 mae sander

Photos © 2026 mae sander.

This was the final tour on our cruise in the British Isles. Birds Seen from the Ship Thus begins the challenge of catching up with all the p...

Here, in no particular order, are some of the photos I took when touring two Great Houses along our route in the British Isles last week. Th...