A couple of weeks ago, I bought a bag of stones to use in the bottoms of flower pots. They are just common stones. It didn't even cross my mind to see where they came from; one figures that bloody stones that aren't polished, just dredged up from a stream somewhere, washed, and packaged, are available everywhere in the world, including our sizable ( Read more... )

I think that part of the reason I often don't get much accomplished on Sundays is that it is the best radio day of the week. As most of my intimates know, I don't own a TV, haven't for years, and have no desire to own one. Not quite as well-understood is the fact that I'm more single-minded than most people; I can't focus on two things at once, ( Read more... )

I read with horror this morning on the Naked Capitalism Web site that wealthy Chinese are buying up French vineyards. So now, one has to worry about tainted "French" wines. We can no longer simply reject products because they say "Made in China." If the subject wines are produced in France, even if the owners and employees are 100% Chinese, the ( Read more... )

Yesterday, I had to go over and pick up my cooler at my friends' in Newtown. I had forgotten it on Thanksgiving Day and left it at her sister's in Perkasie. The guys were in NYC at the Giants' game, so I took Mrs. O a piece of the apple pie I made Friday. She was headed out to the Lenox outlet store near Oxford Valley and asked if I wanted to go ( Read more... )

This morning, for the first time, I opened the bag of Sumatran coffee beans I had bought at Whole Foods last month, a medium dark roast. I had a couple of spoonsful of French roast beans left over and mixed the two. Very nice result, but I'll be interested to see how the Sumatran tastes on its own this weekend. That's the more pleasant half of this ( Read more... )

It doesn't matter how much you pay. It doesn't matter how well-respected the brand. If you buy any product that is "Made in China," the chances are huge that it's going to be a piece of crap defective. After a few years of looking for a hand mixer that was made anywhere but China, during which time I checked new models and used ones in thrift ( Read more... )