Fine-living reviewer & adviser. Wine~food~travel~luxury~writer/Photog; Blogger/Public Speaker/TV/Radio Former wine buyer, and manager.
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Joined July 2009
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Love Piglet ~
Sometimes people just need to know your there..☺️
It occurred to Pooh and Piglet that they hadn't heard from Eeyore for several days, so they put on their hats and coats and trotted across the Hundred Acre Wood to Eeyore's house.
Inside the house was Eeyore.
"Hello Eeyore," said Pooh.
"Hello Pooh. Hello Piglet" said Eeyore, in a glum sounding voice.
"We just thought we'd check on you," said Piglet, "because we hadn't heard from you, and so we wanted to know if you were okay."
Eeyore was silent for a moment. "Am I okay?" he asked, eventually. "Well, I don't know, to be honest. Are any of us really okay? That's what I ask myself. All I can tell you, Pooh and Piglet, is that right now I feel really rather sad, and alone, and not much fun to be around at all.
Which is why I haven't bothered you. Because you wouldn't want to waste your time with someone who is sad, and alone, and not much fun to be around at all, would you now."
Pooh looked and Piglet, and Piglet looked at Pooh, and they both sat down, one on either side of Eeyore in his stick house.
Eeyore looked at them in surprise. "What are you doing?"
"We're sitting here with you," said Pooh, "because we are your friends. And true friends don't care if someone is feeling sad, or alone, or not much fun to be around at all. True friends are there for you anyway. And so here we are."
"Oh," said Eeyore. "Oh." And the three of them sat there in silence, and while Pooh and Piglet said nothing at all; somehow, almost imperceptbly, Eeyore started to feel a very tiny little bit better.
Because Pooh and Piglet were there.
No more; no less.
Author - AA Milne
🖼️ EH Shephard
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Great goal. Wish there was a way hearing aids could also be available for all.
As someone who has low vision, this piqued my interest.
Just heard about this donation from @Meta to our veterans. Awesome!
#philanthropy
about.fb.com/news/2026/06/fr…
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Thank you for your thorough coverage. @angelaganote
11 years ago Jacoba Ballard sent me a DM on Facebook begging for help. She believed she had evidence proving her mom's fertility doctor used his own sperm to impregnate at least 7 mothers without their knowledge. He told them he used donor sperm and never used one donor more than 3 times. Jacoba wondered if she knew of 7 siblings.... what if there were more? A lot more?
Nobody would listen to her. Not the police, not the prosecutor, not even the Indiana Attorney General. Throughout the next several months, with Jacoba's evidence, I broke the story.
Today, there are more than 105 known children of Dr. Donald Cline. There was a Netflix special called, "Our Father." There is now a fertility law making what Dr. Cline did illegal.... you can't lie to your patients and use your own semen without them knowing. That is now called Fertility Fraud. Did you know there are also families who were told the husband's sperm was used, only to find out it wasn't?
Dr. Cline died in May. How do the siblings feel about that? Two months before he died, another woman in her 50's just learned that her mother was also a victim of Dr. Cline. She just filed a lawsuit last week.
So many emotions. I wanted to check in with Jacoba and one of her brothers to see how they are handling it.
You can watch my interview or just listen here
youtube.com/watch?v=MFL5sCpd…
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Ooh, pork and pineapple. Great combo!
Al pastor at home sounds impossible until you realize you don’t actually need the trompo.
This version is completely doable in your backyard or oven, and the payoff is worth the planning ahead.
The move is giving pork shoulder an overnight soak with my Mexican Fiesta seasoning, then stacking it on a pedestal skewer and cooking it low and slow until the edges caramelize and crisp.
Slice it thin. Pile it into warm tortillas. And don’t skip the grilled pineapple. That sweet, smoky bite is what pulls the whole taco together.
This is the kind of project cooking I live for. A little patience, a little technique, and a whole lot of flavor.
Want the free recipe? Check out andrewzimmern.com/recipes
What are your go-to toppings for tacos?
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*Pondering, pondering*
This is the kind of trip that changes how you see the world.
Next May, I’m hosting an intimate culinary safari through South Africa for a very limited group of travelers.
This is not a standard safari. This isn’t a tour. It’s South Africa through food, wine, wildlife, culture and access, with every detail thoughtfully curated by Ker & Downey Africa and Heidi Ladell Collective.
Want to join me? Check out the link in my bio.
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Empty counter, line of travelers waiting. Not a good look @Delta @INDairport
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.@Delta We are trying to check in at your counter with 2 minors. No one is here at the @INDairport counter. Any at MUCH appreciated! #Help
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Is it just me, or does everyone pay home insurance for decades then have issues getting claims resolved? Frustrating having no kitchen. @StateFarm @angelaganote
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RIP Hyacinth ~
Rest in peace, Patricia Routledge 🙏🏻
In memory of her, I encourage everyone to read these words of hers from February last year.
Whether young or old, you're bound to get something out of it.
*****
"I’ll be turning 95 this coming Monday. In my younger years, I was often filled with worry — worry that I wasn’t quite good enough, that no one would cast me again, that I wouldn’t live up to my mother’s hopes. But these days begin in peace, and end in gratitude.
My life didn’t quite take shape until my forties. I had worked steadily — on provincial stages, in radio plays, in West End productions — but I often felt adrift, as though I was searching for a home within myself that I hadn’t quite found.
At 50, I accepted a television role that many would later associate me with — Hyacinth Bucket, of Keeping Up Appearances. I thought it would be a small part in a little series. I never imagined that it would take me into people’s living rooms and hearts around the world. And truthfully, that role taught me to accept my own quirks. It healed something in me.
At 60, I began learning Italian — not for work, but so I could sing opera in its native language. I also learned how to live alone without feeling lonely. I read poetry aloud each evening, not to perfect my diction, but to quiet my soul.
At 70, I returned to the Shakespearean stage — something I once believed I had aged out of. But this time, I had nothing to prove. I stood on those boards with stillness, and audiences felt that. I was no longer performing. I was simply being.
At 80, I took up watercolour painting. I painted flowers from my garden, old hats from my youth, and faces I remembered from the London Underground. Each painting was a quiet memory made visible.
Now, at 95, I write letters by hand. I’m learning to bake rye bread. I still breathe deeply every morning. I still adore laughter — though I no longer try to make anyone laugh. I love the quiet more than ever.
I’m writing this to tell you something simple:
Growing older is not the closing act. It can be the most exquisite chapter — if you let yourself bloom again.
Let these years ahead be your TREASURE YEARS.
You don’t need to be famous. You don’t need to be flawless.
You only need to show up — fully — for the life that is still yours.
With love and gentleness,
Patricia Routledge
*****
Once more, rest in peace. 🤍
Elizabeth J Musgrave retweeted
I am told that as a state representative this is the moment where I'm supposed to express my heartfelt condolences and then stand in solidarity with those on the other side of the aisle as we condemn political violence and stand unified as one people.
But we aren't "one people" are we?
The truth is we haven't been for some time now, and there is really no point in pretending anymore, if there ever was.
We are two very different peoples. We may occupy the same piece of geography, but that is where the similarities seem to abruptly end.
I convinced myself for a long time that whenever the left called me a racist, a bigot, a sexist, a fascist, a "threat to democracy" for even the most innocent of disagreements, that it was simply hyperbolic rhetoric done for effect.
And now the "effect" is a widow and two orphaned children, because the left couldn’t bear the thought of a peaceful man debating them and winning.
I don’t think they realize it yet, but murdering Charlie is going to be remembered as the day where we finally woke up to what this fight really is.
It’s not a civil dispute among fellow countrymen. It’s a war between diametrically opposed worldviews which cannot peacefully coexist with one another. One side will win, and one side will lose.
Charlie tried to win that fight through argumentation, through discussion, through peaceful resolution of differences.
And the other side murdered him.
Not because he was “extreme” or “inciting violence” or any other hyperbolic slur they hurled at him. They murdered him because he was effective. Because he was unafraid. Because he inspired others and made them feel like they had a voice, that they were not alone. And he did it at the very institutions which have fomented so much hatred toward conservatives.
I don’t want to “stand in solidarity” with the other side of the aisle. I want to defeat you. I want to defeat the godless ideology that kills babies in the womb, sterilizes confused children, turns our cities into cesspools of degeneracy and lawlessness…and that murdered Charlie Kirk.
Social media is aflame right now with leftist celebration of Charlie’s death.
I wonder if any among them understand what has just happened. If there is a Yamamoto somewhere in their midst warning, that all they have done is awoken a sleeping giant.
I doubt it. I think they gave up such introspection and self-awareness long ago.
I don’t know exactly what will happen next. I just know that it won’t be the same as what has happened in the past.
There will be thoughts and prayers…Charlie would have wanted prayers. Not for himself but for those left behind and for the country that he loved.
But then there will be a reckoning.
My Christian faith requires me to love my enemies and pray for those who curse me. It does not require me to stand idly by in the midst of savagery and barbarism...quite the opposite.
So every time I feel tired, every time I feel discouraged or overwhelmed, I am going to watch the video of a good man being murdered in Utah…I will force myself to watch it…and then I will return to the work of destroying the evil ideology responsible for that and so much more.
Rest with God Charlie, your fight is over.
Ours is just beginning.
Elizabeth J Musgrave retweeted
The Second Lady Summer Reading Challenge is here! Click the link in bio for additional details 📖 #2ndLadySummerReads
Elizabeth J Musgrave retweeted
Two orcas and 12 dolphins are currently stranded in algae-infested, abandoned pools after a park closed down in France.
Horrible.
Activists are calling on the French authorities to take action before the animals get sick, or worse.
French authorities are currently blocking efforts to have the animals transferred to a Zoo in Japan.
Some activists are trying to get the orcas, 23-year-old Wikie and her son, Keijo, 11, transferred to Nova Scotia, Canada.
"The orcas need to be removed from dangerous conditions that are posing significant risks to their health and safety," said Marketa Schusterova of TideBreakers.
Video: TideBreakers. / TT
Elizabeth J Musgrave retweeted
An Indiana man recently pardoned by President Trump for taking part in storming the Capitol on Jan. 6 was shot and killed by a sheriff's deputy while allegedly resisting arrest.
fox59.com/news/indycrime/jan…
