OK, 2020 was hell on earth in many respects. And 2021 wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. Not to mention 2022. Many of us have already decided that things will be different in 2023. We’ll try to finish off COVID-19, eat better, get more exercise, save more money or finally get around to decluttering those closets. But by the time February rolls around, most of us…
I’ve talked about poltergeists before and we learned that if you don’t actually see what threw the plate at you then it was, most likely, a poltergeist instead of a ghost. Ghosts don’t fool around in the background of life. They are right there to scare the puddin’ out of you every chance they get. But why? Why does a ghostly spirit get his kicks…
Christmas and New Year’s are days of celebration in many parts of the world when people gather with family and friends. One thing many typically don’t celebrate on those days is a birthday. That’s because Dec. 25 is the least popular day in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand to give birth. In England, Wales and Ireland, it’s the second-least popular, behind Dec. 26, when…
No matter what holiday you honor in your home, we decorate our homes to please ourselves and to welcome family and friends during the holidays. Although this time of year seems to be hectic for most of us, transforming our homes with dazzling decorations for the tree, sprucing up the mantel (no pun intended), setting a new, inventive holiday table scape, or hanging an exquisite…
Today I agreed to donate my brain to medical science. (I’ll pause here to allow regular readers of my published opinion pieces to stop laughing.) Twenty-two years ago, after an afternoon of heavy yard work, I reached for a cold beer and sat down to rest. As I brought the bottle up to my mouth I couldn’t keep my hand from shaking. I had to…
Always a bit of an oddity, and itself a colorful exhibition of an Escondido antique dealer’s lifelong hobby, the Roynon Museum celebrating all things dinosaur, went the way of the creatures celebrated within, that is to say, extinct, on June 30, 2019. Applying the lofty title of Roynon Museum of Earth Sciences and Paleontology to its decidedly idiosyncratic exhibit and purpose, museum officials this week…
Immediately after the Escondido City Council meeting on Wednesday, Nov. 15, District 4 Councilmember Mike Morasco approached Escondido City Youth Council (ECYC) founding members. Why? Morasco, a Republican in his 13th year on the council, questioned youth council members about their citizenship status because they quietly opted out of reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at the start of the meeting. “It’s incredibly disappointing to have…
USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service is celebrating National Volunteer Week by thanking and honoring its Earth Team volunteers for their service to conservation. One of those so honored was Commander Theresa Everest, an Escondido resident who knew farming was her next step after service in the U.S. Navy, that included deployment to Kuwait and Afghanistan. Two traumatic brain injuries ended Everest’s career with the Navy and…
Editor’s Note From Nextdoor….. “I just learned today that Knorr’s Candle Factory on Via de La Valle is closing 10/31/23 and they are having huge sale, including holiday decor, to cut inventory. It was always one of my favorite places to shop and such a local tradition. Please support them and stop by. Everyone loves beautiful candles!!” — Chari Chanin As the world, and…
Pala Store may be a hundred yards away from Pala Casino Spa & Resort, but it feels like a creature from another planet. It is, too, for this store lives in a parallel universe, both in space and time. At 3000 Pala Mission Road, the store that has served as focal point for nearly eight decades was, and remains, the only store from Pala at…