Features

Around my place, a goldenfronted woodpecker is showing up to peck at a hanging suet block. But another bird watcher near me has reported a more unusual visitor.

Recently, I was given the task of writing a garden piece on the topic I wish I had. Sounds like a writer trap, doesn’t it? Though I am still writing that piece, I will tell you I wish I had planted more Luminary phlox last spring.

The annual Big Day worldwide bird count was completed on Oct. 9 and some 32,000 people sent in checklists totaling 7,269 bird species. Most checklists came from the U.S., and the fewest came from Brazil.

San Marcos Public Library

My journey this year for Thanksgiving will find Judy and me at home eating turkey and pie without a gathering of family or friends. The virus is disruptive to our flow of annual events; it has changed the shopping, celebrating and traveling patterns for all of us.

Holiday in the Gardens will hold its Moody Gardens Festival of Lights from Nov. 20 to Jan. 2 as Festival of Lights enters its 20th year. Guests can attend the Opening Day of Holiday in the Gardens on Nov. 20 as Santa Claus parachutes in to illuminate the mile-long light trail, which is one of the largest holiday lighting events on the Gulf Coast.

Sometimes the process by which life changes can resemble something like magic. This is how Walter Thorington describes his journey from financial analyst at the University of Texas to the owner of a record store. More than magic, though. It’s transformative, lifechanging, alchemical.

Holiday entertaining season begins on Thanksgiving. Anyone who has been tasked with hosting Thanksgiving understands the commitment required to prepare a delicious meal for guests, which often encompasses appetizers, several side dishes and, of course, turkey as the centerpiece. Guests attending a Thanksgiving dinner can give holiday hosts and hostesses a break by providing dessert.

Tom Mula’s play, “Jacob Marley’s Christmas Carol,” opens on the Wimberley Players stage Nov. 26 and runs through Dec. 12.