My 16-year-old son recently came home from school, freaking out that he might get a B in an AP class. Historically, this has not been his M.O., but at the beginning of his sophomore year it started to dawn on him that it was time to get to work. He was hearing and feeling the […]
In a little Midwestern red brick two-bedroom house in 1960s Deerfield, Illinois, there came a burly gentleman who didn’t speak English. He had a four-foot-long walrus under his massive ruddy arm with a blue bow around its neck. That stranger was my mom’s cousin from Germany, and the walrus was a Steiff, a famous German […]
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Shortly after I got married, my 64-year-old mother lost her battle with breast cancer. Seven years later my father joined her. The loss isn’t any less painful just because you are a grown-up. I was 39 and an orphan. It sounds strange to say it that way, but that was how it felt. “Untethered,” was […]
‘When Women Ran Fifth Avenue’ When Women Ran Fifth Avenue is a fascinating look at the rise of the department store in America. It will make local readers long for the days when we had department stores in Santa Barbara. Julie Satow takes a deep dive into the culture and rise of the female executive […]
What can D do with his fine porcelain dinnerware? This is a question I hear weekly. The market for ceramics has softened across the board due in part to the lack of young buyers. Think of those matched service pieces we Boomers/Gen X’ers requested on our wedding registries: so many sets out in the market […]
I remember when I first moved to Santa Barbara and I saw the exquisite flower of the passion fruit vine, I was mesmerized. This tropical vine that thrives in our Central Coast climate can be found on a leisurely walk through your neighborhood, and at the delightful Frecker Farms stand in the farmers market. The thick-skinned, […]
The sun shone bright on a recent weekday afternoon, and a soft sea breeze rolled through. The handful of outdoor tables at the Veranda cottage at the San Ysidro Ranch, nicely spread out, were slowly filling up. Lunch was being doled out in synchronized fashion, and by a welcoming staff. The latest foodie offering at […]
Preparing for her final year at Berklee College of Music, Makena Tate – a Crane Country Day School and San Marcos High School alum – reflects on how her relationship with music has changed over the years. Dear Montecito, Last month I Ubered to a gig and the driver immediately asked: “Why do you like […]
I have never been a big fan of regret, all at once feeling and knowing its futility. However, if I could go back and meet my younger self, say in my 20s or 30s, I would tell that stonewashed-jeans-wearing girl the following: 1. Stop worrying about what other people think. They aren’t thinking about you […]
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Nasturtium, the beautiful red, yellow, and orange flower that we get to witness bloom wild every April and May here on the Central Coast, is an herbaceous plant that has been used in traditional medicinal practices since the early 1500s. Ojai Microgreens has some featured at the farmers market right now and they make a […]
A Jew and a Palestinian – women, of course – embrace in an otherwise nondescript conference room in UCSB’s Humanities Building. This is not a gesture, not a ceremonial cue for a Special Effect Peace to flood the room like a digital sunrise, not a performative, choreographed moment ablaze with Symbol. Dorit Cypis and Rula […]
As summer approaches, the allure of Sicily beckons more travelers, especially following the buzz generated by the show White Lotus. This enchanting island off the southern coast of Italy offers an intoxicating blend of history, culture, and breathtaking landscapes. In the captivating setting of the shimmering turquoise Mediterranean Sea, fragrant citrus groves, and the dramatic […]
Forty years ago, in an antique shop, NH was intrigued by the somewhat sad face of the Prince of Wales engraved on a bullock’s horn, a pair of mated horns engraved with iconography of Australia in the scrimshaw technique. Engravings on horn, bone, or ivory, usually from a marine mammal, are classic material for scrimshaw, […]
I met a woman a few weeks ago who doesn’t like to get massages. I felt like I needed an interpreter. What could she possibly mean by speaking this heresy? I have heard of people who weren’t into it, but I assumed that like “uptight yoga instructors,” and mean Trader Joe’s employees they were mythological […]
