Browsing: Lifestyle
The more frequent watering of containers with established annuals during the hot summer days will leach nutrients out of the medium, resulting in “hungry” plants that will have reduced growth and off-color foliage. (RJ Carlson/Chicago Botanic Garden)
His body odor was horrible, to the point where it was hard to stand next to him. And this was an outdoor party! As he and I chatted, he mentioned that during his first year of college while staying in the dorms, he went through three roommates, all of whom “inexplicably” moved out and switched rooms after a few weeks.
It seemed to me that she has a lot of anxiety around this issue, which, to my mind, is not off-base, and rather than being told to “breathe through the anxiety and live in the moment”, she could be given a proactive, practical piece of advice that could set her mind at ease so she could actually live in the moment without fear.
Ashton Kroner plays with her service dog, Ariel, on Aug. 18, 2021, at her home in Crystal Lake. Kroner is a veteran of the United State Marine Corps and veteran outreach coordinator for the Road Home Program at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. She was stationed in Afghanistan in 2011 and 2012. (Stacey Wescott / Chicago Tribune)
In Topeka, Indiana, a few miles from the Teaberry workshop, Elaine Jones smooths experienced hands over a blue-and-white field of patchwork stretched taut in a quilt frame. Jones, 62, hit on the idea of starting an endless quilting bee, where visitors can gather for an hour of stitching alongside Amish women who grew up with the craft. Visitors come for the chance to stitch (and for the homemade lunch) and soon realize they have much in common with the famously plain-living Amish, Jones said.
Dear Upset: These adults are your son’s children. Evidently your son didn’t get the family memo about how important it is to appropriately express gratitude for a gift. You obviously lay the blame for this rudeness on your daughter-in-law, but you should share your frustration with your son. He’s their parent, too.
Picture a precious log cabin, almost dollhouse-like in its proportions. A campfire sits outside, with a pile of wood on the small porch, next to a comfy wicker love seat. Inside, a little wood stove and snowshoes are tempting draws for a return visit come winter, when guests can read the Nordic literature at the little wood table, pages lit by the cabin’s twinkling string lights.
Dear Amy: In a response to the “Testy Traveler,” the traveler who was bothered by her chatty seatmate on an airplane, my response to talkative seatmates is, “I hope you don’t mind pausing our conversation, but I must rest my mind, now.” I then close my eyes and relax.
Dear “You’re My Mom”: Your son says this to you because it is true. Furthermore, you have obviously raised him very well because you have encouraged him to find his biological family members, and, having done so, he recognizes how challenging this is for you. He sounds sensitive and kind.
The beetle on your flower is called an Oriental beetle (Anomala orientalis). It has a similar biology to the Japanese beetle, and the grubs are almost impossible to discern between the two. It is attracted to many different ornamental flowers, but is usually a very minor pest, so it does not need to be controlled.