Vicki Baker Imagine the opera—a ridiculous affair with people dressed in outlandish costumes with Viking-style horns protruding from their metallic headgear, bellowing from the depths of who knows where in some incomprehensible language, while wealthy oldsters dressed to the nines sit in utter boredom. It’s so daunting and dull, dingy, obscure, and pretentious. Those are…
Vicki Baker Oh Spring, how we missed you! Fields of wildflowers blanketing the Lone Star State, including our gorgeous state flower, the bluebonnet. But there’s another beauty making its short-lived but glorious debut—tulips. Longing to bring these magnificent blooms into our homes, Girls on Wheels (Lois Reinhart, Susan Hebert, Karen DiPietro, Nancy Burns, Cassie Richardson,…
Vicki Baker Huddled inside on a wet and dreary winter afternoon, we reminisced about the past fun-filled time spent outdoors on a warm, sunny day. Girls on Wheels (Nancy Burns, Vicki Baker, Cassie Richardson, Karen Dipietro, Susan Hebert, and Shirley Monge) dove into Dallas’s foodie scene and sampled the best of the city’s Tex-Mex cuisine…
Vicki Baker According to Laura Ingalls Wilder, “A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing.” The power of laughter is mighty indeed. A healthy sense of humor is necessary to help us cope, especially during the tough times in life, whether through pain, sickness, grief, loneliness, or…
Vicki Baker Sure, we could chomp through a Milky Way, savor a creamy Dove square, or keep things simple with a Hershey’s bar. But real chocoholics know exactly how to take it to the next level—with light, smooth, and deliciously melty chocolate truffles. They’re a luxury, usually reserved for special occasions—until now, because the cocoa…
Vicki Baker ‘Tis the season. We love this festive time of year. We love the dazzling lights, sparkling decorations, delectable sweet treats, cold wintery weather, and sing-along carols. We especially love the holiday shows and entertainment where we become immersed in a full-on Christmas experience—a chance to escape the to-do lists and the stress of…
Vicki Baker Who would have thought that good old-fashioned soap would, more than four millenniums after its invention, still be one of humankind’s most powerful tools in fighting disease? Over the past couple of years, we’ve been reminded of this fact and of the simple magic of hand washing, with its unequaled germ-killing (and lifesaving)…
Vicki Baker More than a century ago, the Western artworld found a new subject of interest. As Europeans advanced the colonization of Africa, they began returning home with a variety of exotic art pieces unlike anything ever seen. European modernists such as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse incorporated elements of African masks and sculptures with…
Vicki Baker The aroma of a whole compendium of cuisines wafted through the air: Korean barbecue, Mongolian hot pot, dim sum, pho, teriyaki. Grocery stores stocked with the freshest produce, meat, and live seafood from Hong Kong, Vietnam, Indonesia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, and other Far East countries. Chinese and Indian medicine practitioners, experienced in alternative…
Vicki Baker Steee-rike! The foul line is approached. The ball is thrown. A swoosh is heard as it races down the narrow track toward a group of club-shaped wooden objects. At the last split second, the ball curves into the pocket between the number 1 and number 3 pins. Then, the crash as all 10…