Zest & Aplomb

Travel

Old Tombstones And Famous Graves? Yes, Please!

As Halloween and Day of the Dead approach, it seems appropriate to spill the beans on one of my more unusual sightseeing activities: I love visiting graveyards!

Some of my friends and family (husband and children especially) find this desire of mine to be not only macabre but also abhorrent. I don’t mean it to be. I like to visit cemeteries for the same reason I read obituaries of people I don’t know –– because I think individual lives deserve another look.

In truth, I am mainly only interested in old cemeteries. The kind in which the tombstones are so weathered and worn, you can’t always read the words anymore. I also love “unusual” cemeteries, such as those in ghost towns, or pioneer graveyards, or above ground, such as those in New Orleans, etc. And while visiting celebrity graves and tombs is not my true pastime, I do get a slight thrill when I run across them.

How do you feel about this? Interesting or scary? Or pointless? Do share! Here are a few of the notable graves I’ve come across:

October 28, 2021 by Gwen Dawkins

Lifestyle

It’s Raining; It’s Pouring…

By Cheryl Ryan

and I could not be more excited! We’ve got our first storms this weekend and it feels and smells so fresh. Here are a few things from around the web for your storm reading pleasure.

If you’re looking for a new raincoat here are some to choose from.

You might want to check your makeup for phthalates. Recent reports confirm that it’s bad news for our health. You can use some of these apps that we wrote about last summer to check the ingredients in your cosmetic products.

This pumpkin muffin recipe is delicious and will go perfect with your morning coffee or tea.

October 22, 2021 by Cheryl Ryan

Lifestyle

SLEEP – We All Want It. Some Get It. Many Don’t.

By Cheryl Ryan

I’ve been a pretty good sleeper throughout my life and I’ll take it. I know people that consistently suffer from lack of sleep and it is brutal. I usually get 6-7 hours which is below the recommendation for my age but it mostly works for me. Unless I’m in one of these ugly patches. Patches when I only get 3 to 5 hours a night for days on end. And that does NOT work for me.

I’ve been in one lately. I’ve been waking up at 2 or 3 in the morning and I can’t go back to sleep. It starts with looking at the clock, then moves to daytime to-do lists, and on to worrying about those to-do lists. Some of it is important, most of it ridiculous, but none of it can be solved in the middle of the night. And the more I think about it the more awake I get, working myself into a full blow tizzy. It’s horrible.

October 16, 2021 by zestandplomb

Wellness

Could I Be A Germophobe Now?

By Cheryl Ryan

I can’t tell you how many times my husband has come home from a business trip with a raging cold or flu declaring that he knew he shouldn’t have shaken some person or other’s hand. He traveled a lot in those days but he still refers to some handshake every time he gets sick. I didn’t travel as he did but I did end up working for a company that hosted several conferences per year in cities across the U.S.

During those travels, I spent an entire week shaking hands constantly and I still maintained my typical pattern of getting sick only once or twice a year. Consequently, I never worried too much about handshaking. But sitting next to a very sick person on a airplane has always made me want to run for cover – but that’s for another day.

October 8, 2021 by Cheryl Ryan

Lifestyle

Falling Hard For Fall Right Now

Fall is my favorite time of year. I especially like the beginning. The sun starts to get low in the sky which makes it less hot while casting beautiful shadows and lighting.

I also get to start thinking about soups and stews – my favorite thing to cook. I’m looking forward to trying a shepherd’s pie this year. I’ve never made one but this one looks really good.

I love the family-themed Halloween costumes trend. My daughter asked me what they should be and I said a rooster, chicken and baby chick. I thought it was cool but we’ll see what they end up doing. I also thought it would be fun if Gus could be a baby Yoda but I don’t know any of the other characters to go with it. Here are some ideas if you get asked so that you can seem cooler than me.

October 2, 2021 by zestandplomb

Design

The Rich Art History Of Downtown Los Gatos; Still Flourishing At Gallery 24

By Cheryl Ryan

Walking past Gallery 24 Fine Art on University Ave in Los Gatos always lights me up. Some evenings I see entire families with their faces pressed against the window taking in the vibrant artwork of local artists hanging from the walls of this beautiful old building. Not to mention, my own excitement when walking through the gallery and discovering a new artist or piece of work for the first time.

Recently, I had the pleasure of interviewing Carol Waittes, who along with Bob Hunt, manages the business and accounting side of the gallery, leaving the artists to do what they do best. Through the arm of the Los Gatos Morning Rotary Club, generous rent pricing by the building owners and the artist members themselves Gallery 24 Fine Art is flourishing and continues to represent a long history of art in downtown Los Gatos.

September 26, 2021 by zestandplomb

Travel

San Jose del Cabo’s Flora Farms –– Worth The Hype!

By Gwen Dawkins

With so much of our lives turned upside down by Covid, including travel, I was thrilled to get away recently to Los Cabos (A region of Baja, Mexico, which includes the nearby towns of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo). Despite being a native Californian, it was my first trip. I had been feeling left out over the years with everybody I know having a favorite hotel, restaurant or surf spot in the area. And of course, I wanted to see the famous El Arco –– the widely photographed rocky arch at Land’s End.

September 22, 2021 by Gwen Dawkins

Lifestyle

The Days That I Listen To Music Are Better

By Cheryl Ryan

Of course, we need to listen to the news but there is just so much of it. The days that I never turn on the news are good. The days that I listen to music are better. And the days that I bust out a dance or a song are the best.

So let’s talk music. A few years ago I told my husband that I would not go to one more Rolling Stones concert and that he’d have to go with a friend from now on. We’d already gone four times and I just couldn’t keep listening to the same rock songs over and over. I told him that I would go to concerts if he found some good new music. He ran with this plan and wholeheartedly started searching. We asked our kids what they liked and starting looking for music stations on Pandora and Spotify.

September 16, 2021 by Cheryl Ryan

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