With daffodils and crocuses blooming, it’s a great time to freshen-up the interior of our homes. We’ve all heard the expression, "Spring Cleaning," and for me, there’s more to it than just cleaning!
When preparing your home for sale, there are many inexpensive improvements that will bring you greater value and help sell your home faster.
When you make a mistake, do you beat yourself up emotionally or can you forgive yourself and let it go? Or are you quick to blame someone else or a situation?
Your kitchen is the “Heart of the Home”—make it a feast for the eyes! Lighting is essential to creating a functional and stylish center for nourishing both body and soul. No matter your personal style—without great lighting choices, a kitchen can remain lackluster...
"Each morning, I’m reminded how blessed I am to live in a town surrounded with trees, gardens, flowers, birds, and a slew of gardeners that would rather putter in their gardens than battle the freeways. Jacksonville’s gardens are exciting and varied.."
Growing up, my dad had a funny way of teaching me to be both accountable and self aware; when things went awry and I proceeded to blame someone or something else, he would say, “I don’t want to be the one to mention names, but the initials of the person at fault is Michelle Elizabeth Gregg,”
Words are powerful. Words hold the course of life and death, redemption and judgment. Words are the molecular building blocks of creation and human interaction. Words seal transactions, heal transgressions and are more potent than destiny...
In today’s world the question arises… what is the definition of ethics, for often it seems to be lacking in at least some of our public officials. At least the daily headlines keep telling us that...
Make plans now for one of the most entertaining and tasty events of the summer! Our “Best of Britt” benefit on Thursday, June 26, is an evening filled with all the best parts of Britt—great music, great food and great wine!
I was out with a friend the other evening, enjoying a real Manhattan in a real bar (at night no less, and mid-week; the stars must be in some rare alignment), and in the course of conversation my friend said—in a rather Eeyorish way (witty, humorous and severely cynical) that he could see his future, and what he saw looked a lot like a trailer park.
I’ve been working on this article since Christmas Eve when our dog of 12 years passed away. Since then and up until the last couple weeks, we’ve been grieving and I’ve been trying to make sense of why we are all so broken-hearted over an animal?
The days are getting longer, the sun a little warmer, the daffodils and buds in the trees are peeking out. If we pay attention, we can feel and see that Nature teaches us about the most important part of Life itself: Awakening!
Contrary to local lore, James Clugage and James Pool did not make the initial gold discovery in Southern Oregon. However, they may well deserve credit for triggering the Southern Oregon gold rush of 1852, and they definitely deserve credit for staking claims to what proved to be a different kind of gold mine—the donation land claims that became the City.
In the mid-1800s, the promise of gold and free land lured fortune seekers and settlers to the newly formed Oregon Territory. They were soon followed by merchants who amassed their own wealth selling supplies to the miners and farmers. This ongoing series shares the stories of these pioneers and their times. Henry Klippel was one such immigrant.
In the early 1900’s you could scarcely open a newspaper or magazine without seeing an advertisement for Brilliant Cut Glass. In the form of a vase, ice cream dish, a goblet, or fruit bowl, several glass companies wanted the consumer to buy their beautiful cut glass items for the bride or for Christmas gifts.
This month, I was amazed and delighted by a treasure of a garden that exceeded my expectations. Ron and Aurelie Danko, on South Oregon Street, have a small and unique wedge-shaped lot, on which they built their home with a Tuscan mustard-colored stucco retaining wall surrounding it.
After a record-setting dry and cold winter with little-to-no precipitation and some of the coldest consecutive days on record, it’s a good idea to check how your plants have fared.
We’ve barely received enough moisture to keep temperamental plants alive through this dry winter. I found myself watering some of my […]
One key to growing old gracefully is limiting television to network evening news and the Turner Classic Movie channel. Network anchors are all attractive, middle-aged or older men and women. Most commercial spots on the news sell pharmaceuticals to older, attractive men and women. Teenagers, twenty-something’s and even thirty-something’s are pretty much absent, making the process of denial so much easier.
For years, the primary retirement plan was a company pension plan. At retirement, a retiree would receive a fixed sum, or a pension, paid by the employer. By offering a superior pension plan, employers, the government and labor unions attracted good employees...
An incident occurred on my recent vacation that some might call coincidence… but I know better. My wife and I were strolling around a crowded street fair in Palm Springs when, quite unexpectedly, we heard a voice behind us cry out, “There’s the mayor of Jacksonville.” Sure enough, it turned out to be a couple who were also vacationing from Jacksonville.
In our Unfettered column last October, we told you we were looking forward to five movies scheduled to open before the end of 2013. We hadn’t seen them; they weren’t in theatres yet. We chose them because of the buzz they generated, and because their trailers, which we watched on the web, seemed tantalizing.
I hate snakes. Hate is a strong word, but there it is. So imagine my excitement this time last year when we entered the year of the Black Water Snake. I knew it was going to be a wild ride, and not just because I hate snakes: I knew it because a year whose symbolic energy is turmoil and transformation ain’t going to be easy. Your best shot is to embrace your inner Bette Davis and croak, “Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy year.”
If you are already off track with your New Year intentions, your foundation may need some work. Our bodies are exquisitely designed with a map of energy centers, referred to as Chakras, that can help us be aware of what needs our attention...
From the time we accept responsibility for our little darlings we want nothing but the best for them. We devote our lives to making sure their experiences are both enduring and valuable. We recall our own experiences and use them as lessons to teach our children what to do and what not to do...
One of my favorite focal points in any landscape is the trees. Like me, the sheer number of trees is most likely one of your favorite things about living in Jacksonville...
Pink Depression glass; pink custard glass; pink dishes; pink linens—anything pink! Pink is a beautiful color to decorate with when combined with other vibrant colors of the season. February, of course, lends itself to decorating with pink...
Nothing cuts to the quick of reality faster than burying the young. For one brief moment time slows down enough for us to come up out of this world’s ether and see life in its natural state; brief and fragile, precious and final. No exchanges, no returns.
2014 looks to be the year of the “repeat home buyer,” as interest rates rise and home prices increase—worsening affordability will discourage some first time home buyers. These won’t be the only changes as foreclosures slow, inventory stabilizes and the process of getting a mortgage becomes less hectic.
Here’s how it works. In theory. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences mails Oscar Nomination ballots to its 5000-plus members—producers, directors, actors, cinematographers, etc.—so they can vote for the best productions offered throughout the year...
Our 2014 Classical Festival announcement in January was an exciting one, as our new Music Director Teddy Abrams announced the full lineup of programs and guest artists for the concerts this August. This season is full of great music, exciting soloists, and fun events...
New Year’s Eve 2013 marked the end of my third year as mayor, an occupation which seemed most improbable to me when growing up—it was a different world back then. This thought crossed my mind while recently watching an old Hopalong Cassidy film...
The other morning I sat down to my bowl of homemade muesli, sprinkled it with hemp and chia seeds, and doused it in almond milk. I stared at it and thought, I never imagined in a million years that I would be eating raw muesli with almond milk—and liking it. And from there I began to ponder how my life really isn’t anything I imagined it would be, once upon a time...
If everything you ever wanted showed up at your door, would you let it in? When something good happens, does the fear of it being too good to be true block your ability to receive and enjoy?
Jackson County has had an incredible year in the Real Estate Market. Home prices in most metropolitan areas of the United States grew significantly in 2013, with the national median price rising at its fastest annual rate in eight years.
The topic of Primitives is vastly overwhelming. I have seen fantastic primitives that date back to Colonial days. The early American settlers and pioneers set the standard that so many try to emulate today...
This time of year with our focus on Christmas, I’d like to offer a few tips on indoor and outdoor holiday lighting for your festive home. Lighting is an important consideration in making our homes festive, warm, safe and inviting.
Life moves pretty fast. We think we have time enough both present and future but it’s a lie. The tyranny of the urgent so often prevents higher ideals from ever taking form. The sad irony is the higher ideal almost always involves helping others outside our circles...
It was almost a century ago, 1916 to be exact, when a young man, only 18, was put on a boat by his six older brothers and shipped off to America before the Turkish army could conscript him...
Jacksonville, it seems, is the ultimate unanticipated destination. We all know why we left our old stomping grounds—too much traffic, too impersonal, etc...
This month brings us Thansgiving—A time to reflect on our reasons to be thankful—I would like to take this opportunity to...
My eggs have all hatched. This is what I thought last week as I sat on the porch in the morning, my children back in school. I thought about them being gone, and about my book being finished, and my mother entering the last chapter of her life, and about ...
Since a big part of our Thanksgiving celebration is geared around food preparation, I though I’d share a tried and true recipe for Joy-Full Life.
By mid-October family life seems to get back into the full swing of things. School schedules are in place...
Peggy Peffley has a “bionic garden”...always exploding and taking over!
Very soon, we’ll be tucking indoors for long sessions away from the chilly outdoors. To be comfortable outdoors, we layer up...
Do you have enough money saved for retirement? Financial planners usually use the “25 Times Rule” to determine...
With summer winding-down, there’s something about the back-to-school season that’s filled with promise of new beginnings...
Over the years people have asked me how we’ve survived living and doing business in a small town for so long...
This is an updated version of the article that appeared in our November 2013 print issue.
Fall is in the air and the leaves are changing colors. Should our decor follow suit?