Home and Garden
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A few mortgage tips to gain 'independence' from a lenderJul 17, 2016 11:00 pm - Biweekly and 15-year loans can save lots of cash, but so can voluntarily adding a mere $50 or so to each monthly payment. Q. Early this year, I took out a mortgage for $...
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Outdoor art installations celebrate iconic Glass HouseJul 17, 2016 11:00 pm - NEW CANAAN, Conn. — Philip Johnson's Glass House, built in this leafy corner of Connecticut in 1949, was always about more than architecture. While Johnson and his partn...
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Lavenders offer beauty and fragranceJul 17, 2016 7:24 am - We may have to travel to the south of France to gaze upon fields of lavender, but we can all grow lavender in our own northern Illinois gardens. They offer beautiful flo...
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The firefly's fortunes rest with usJul 17, 2016 7:22 am - When the sun falls below the horizon, a skinny beetle named Photinus pyralis wakes up and takes to the air. We know it as the firefly, or lightning bug, an insect that t...
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Monarch waystations ensure survival of this beautiful butterflyJul 17, 2016 7:01 am - Q. What is a monarch way station? A. A monarch waystation is a habitat designed to attract monarch butterflies. Your waystation for monarchs can be most anywhere as long...
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Art deco drinkware set a toast to technology of the timeJul 17, 2016 7:01 am - Q. This set was my grandmother's. She passed it down to my mother. I inherited it when my mother died in 1996 at the age of 92. I am 83, but I can remember seeing the se...
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Palm Beach offers its own, distinct styleJul 17, 2016 6:01 am - There are cities that exude style. I am lucky. I happen to live in one. Palm Beach is a town where all the famous and infamous who's-its of the world, that know the best...
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Reducing mosquitoes in the garden helps control diseaseJul 17, 2016 6:00 am - Midsummer is shirt-sleeve weather, an enjoyable time of year to be out and about with family and friends. But it also is the heart of mosquito season, so beware the esca...
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Edible squash blossoms add a burst of beauty to dinnerJul 17, 2016 6:00 am - These days the sun rises on roses, but the best flower show is in the vegetable garden. Squash blossoms open for business at dawn, their huge, golden trumpets proclaimin...
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Less lavish and more modern, art deco is returningJul 17, 2016 6:00 am - If you're tired of tapestries, taxidermy and other crafty kitsch that have taken over mass retail, you're not alone. The defining design trend of the past five years - a...