Front Range Burner

Samantha Bee is a weary Tiger Mother...but not too weary to author an excellent article on the subject in the Wall Street Journal . http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903596904576516753267688990.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

I know I promised a review of the WSJ Review Section here. But first...presenting my herb garden in midsummer! The aroma of lemon balm and the butterflies flitting through cool shadows distracted me from indoor activities. The yellow plant at left is St. John's Wort and next to it is oregano with lavender blooms. Lavender is below and to the left. In front are chives, lemon balm, more oregano and hops vines to the right. We're actually planning to use the hops berries to flavor beer this fall!

It's a delight to wake up on a beautiful Saturday morning to muscular, engaged prose. That's why I've been reading the new Review section of the Saturday WSJ instead of heading straight to the gym. Review and its sister section Off Duty help me get my mental engines revved up and ready for a multidisciplined weekend. For instance, today's Off Duty section leads with a command to take three days off in Jackson Hole, Wyoming by reporter Benjamin Percy. Okay! The commands continue: "peel off your clothes and soak the travel grime off your skin" "drag on your wetsuit and board a bus that grumbles into Teton National Forest"  "throw down $10 for the round-trip shuttle that motors you across the water to the Cascade Canyons trailhead" "suck down a gin martini and chew your way through an elk steak" "grass hisses beneath you as you bump along, your teeth gritted into a smile" "eat up some asphalt". Double okay! I...

Reading a cover of Beth Slifer and her Vail interior design business in the Denver Post , I was thrown off by the line " comfortable, functional and timeless with a dollop of opulence." I can deal with the word dollop (but just barely) in recipes, but it's too precious and patronizing to press into use elsewhere. Word fads are addictive. I'm alarmed to see "dollop" cropping up as often as burnt orange colored vehicles on the highway. Last week, moneycontrol.com emblazoned " Emerging markets will see dollop of fund flows " on its home page. Puleeeze! An interview with the mystery author Dean James described him as " churning out sprightly feel good reads with a heavy dollop of humor and a twist of murder and mayhem." Even the New York Times has fallen for the dippy word. A book interview in today's issue says, "During this visit to Nana Selma, Rayne relives his troubled but nurturing boyhood, and also gets a dollop of histo...

It's a whole week devoted to farmers' markets! Go visit your local market this week and hug a farmer...or at least buy a bag of produce. The market comes to my hometown of Golden, Colorado on Saturdays and it's usually packed with people. Farmers' markets these days sell ceramics, pizza and burritos, and windchimes in addition to produce. You never know what you are going to run across! My mother has begun the ritual of visiting the farmers' market every Saturday. She loves the Rocky Ford cantelopes and the ripe tomatoes. Plus, it gets her out of her apartment and walking places in the fresh air!

The Elevator Pitch has become an American institution. Here, "This American Life" and "Planet Money" conspire to explain the speed-living phenomenon. Going Up?