One of the most widely-anticipated and dazzling exhibitions has opened at The San Diego Museum of Art— Cafés and Cabarets—The Spectacular Art of Toulouse-Lautrec. And spectacular it is! A brilliant review of the captivating portraits and posters of 19 th  century Paris nightlife—the Belle Epoch era or “beautiful era” of peace, prosperity, and optimism. Lautrec’s art highlights the legendary Moulin Rouge and its’ extraordinary cast of characters. Lautrec was the master at making a moment in...

Three of us worked the thousand-piece Paris scene puzzle over a period of ninety days, completing it just before the deadline I had set of the spring forward  daylight savings time change. Time to live outside. Two very senior seniors and one extremely hip and cosmopolitan thirty something. My latest puzzle fascination began at a spacious lake house in Michigan last summer—a Big Chill  version of Friends . Six of us, usually with a cup of coffee, a beer, or a glass of wine in hand, took turns...

Red Pancake Plant (Kalanchoe Thyrsiflora), 2012 Spring arrived recently, and my favorite place became the garden. San Diego’s sure-fire and steadfast sunshiny springtime weather ended the indoor fireplace season. I am a gardener. My maiden name is Gardner which primarily comes from an English occupational surname for “keeper of the garden.” I am that, but also a lover of plants, the life and death cycle so clearly illustrated in gardening, more each year of my adult life. I’ve had many...