Summerland residents and visitors who enjoy Lookout Park should be feeling pretty hopeful: the construction aspects of the long-anticipated improvements to the east end of the ocean view community recreational area are almost complete – but there’s still a three-month waiting period for the official opening. The project will open to the public in December […]
“Ernie?… Ernie?… Ernie?… Ernie?…” “Sorry, can’t play right now, Jack.” “Why?” “Because I have some writing to do.” “Why?” “It’s for my column?” “What’s a column?” “About 700 words.” I laughed. Jack didn’t. “My column for the Montecito Journal is due. I have an allotted space to fill.” “What’s a lotta space to fill?” “About […]
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SUPPOSEAll my life I’ll cherishSo much I can’t forget –The things that didn’t happen,And the girls I never met. I wrote those lines a long time ago. But for most of us, the sentiment, no doubt, remains true, no matter where we are in life. The great question of how different things might be now, […]
As I waltzed through the mostly empty streets of Summerland this past Sunday, the cowboy ballad “The Cowboys Lament” (aka “Streets of Loredo”) came to mind: “As I walked out on the streets of Laredo.As I walked out on Laredo one day,I spied a poor cowboy wrapped in white linen,Wrapped in white linen as cold […]
I have never been much of a hobbyist – but for a few years in my teens, I was very keen on postage stamps. This fizzled at about the same time I got interested in girls – but to this day, whenever I receive a letter with a stamp I haven’t seen before, I tear […]
George Floyd was killed by police officers over a claim that he had a fake $20 bill. How much power should be given to property versus to humanity? Property vs humanity is in the forefront of my mind now. Imagine that someone has lived in a home for over 30 years. But in a matter […]
“Fair Play,” as I understand it, means abiding by the rules. But what if the rules are unfair? That, in a sense, is the human predicament. No matter how honorable and decent you are, a tornado (which I like to think of as God’s air-raid) can wipe out everything you have, including your life – […]
From the Gandhi of the USA John Lewis (1940-2020), activist and congressman, penned an essay that ran in The New York Times on the day of his funeral. Lest we be reminded, or perhaps you missed it if you were hiding under a rock, here are a few highlights worth remembering or even clipping out […]
This story begins with a confession: I didn’t know how to be a villain – and never got over it. When I was eleven years old, my Hebrew school was bringing out a magazine, and needed contributions. I somehow volunteered to write on a topic someone had suggested – “How to Be a Villain.” No […]
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Per instructions, I moved my face really close to my computer monitor. “Look into my eyes,” the doctor said. Was she going to hypnotize me? Make me cluck like a chicken? “I just want to watch your eye movements to rule out a few things.” “I can roll them around in a circle. Watch.” “Ah, […]
People sometimes flatter me by saying that I am their hero – because I have managed to make a living by the unconventional means of marketing my own thoughts. There may be some merit in inventing – so to speak – a new profession. But, in general terms, I don’t consider myself a heroic character. […]
Longtime fixture Summerland Oriental Rugs has moved their showroom across the street to the former home of Clive Markey’s Pine Trader. Longtime treasure-filled Summerland Antiques Collective re-opened a few weeks ago and has been buzzing with activity adding to the retail mix… Carpinteria’sPorchis moving from Santa Claus Lane to Lillie Avenue (into the space formerly […]
Trying to catch up with Shane Brown, creator and owner of the newly opened home and garden lollapalooza called The Well, in the indoor/outdoor spaces formerly known as The French Bulldog, Café Luna, Mediterránee Antiques, Summerland Rugs, and more, is a bit like trying to catch a fish with greased hands. “I get things done! […]
One of the most famous lines of all poetry (originally written in Persian a millennium ago, but first translated into English in 1859) comes from a book called the Rubaiyat, and is about a “moving finger,” which “writes, and, having writ, moves on” – and nothing we can do can bring that finger back, to […]
