Q: My recently planted Carolina jasmine vine and rose bush are being shredded by cutter bees. I’ve been told there is no insecticide to kill or deter them. Is this so? Both of these plants are adjacent to other plants but the others are not affected. I’m at wits end seeing perfect circles in the leaves! Also, why would you want cutter bees?
I have something in common with the late modern artist Pablo Picasso. In 1907 he experienced a revelation when viewing early African masks at the ethnographic museum at Palais du Trocadero. My revelation was in 1997 at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco where these same treasures were lent by Belgium’s Royal Museum for Central Africa. Both Belgium and France had colonies in Africa where modern art as we know it was born at the hands of indigenous tribal artisans.
The world I was born into no longer exists. By the middle of the last century (wow, that sounds so long ago) the human population had risen sharply and was already orders of magnitude greater than the historical average.
One-of-a-kind collectibles are interesting and often not expensive. In the 1980s, a Navajo Indian decided to make a stuffed toy from a Pendleton wool blanket. Today, a vintage Pendleton wool blanket in good condition can sell for hundreds of dollars. But 30 years ago, a worn Pendleton blanket had a lower value, so it was cut up and turned into a toy.
It really was a fairly ridiculous thing to do, considering I was flat broke until my tax refund arrived.
For years, it was enough to park a barbecue grill next to a picnic table on a patio and call it an “outdoor kitchen.” But over the past decade, Americans have taken backyard cooking and dining to a new level, adding elaborate cooking islands, outdoor sinks and refrigerators, even outdoor TVs.
Baseball may have been first mentioned in the United States in 1791, when city officials in Pittsfield, Mass., banned playing the game near the town meeting house. Years later, a group of “experts” decided that the game was invented by Abner Doubleday — a decision that is now called a myth.
It’s impossible to flip through a home décor magazine, read a design blog or scroll through a Pinterest feed without noticing furniture painted in classic neutrals or bold pops of color.
Q: I want to install a wood floor over a concrete slab in my downstairs bedroom. What kind of flooring material is needed, and how do I install it?
