Life

The intricacies of plant patenting came home for me this past year with a shipment of strawberry plants.

How do you make a New Year's party that the whole family can enjoy? For years, I barely acknowledged New Year's Eve to my three kids so they wouldn't know they were missing anything.

“My only regret in life is that I didn’t drink enough Champagne.” — John Maynard Keynes’ deathbed reflection Few things excite and mark a sense of occasion like Champagne.

Lauren La Rose The Canadian Press TORONTO — Sweats? Sweaters? Suits? Or T-shirts and jeans? Comb through your closet and undoubtedly clues will emerge of which well-worn items stacked in multiples may rank among your fashionable favourites.

Telling someone their loved one has died is the toughest task Victoria paramedic Michael Lowey has to perform. “It’s always a terrible, uncomfortable situation,” said Lowey, a 10-year paramedic.

Turkey, Kale and Bean Soup This sustaining soup will make a nice winter lunch served with rolls or crusty bread.

FORT DE SOTO PARK, Fla. - Picture this: You're sitting on a white sand beach, warm sun on your skin. Coconut-scented sunscreen wafts through the air. A splashing noise comes from the blue Gulf of Mexico.

It's inevitable during the holiday season: Kids get bored. But the doldrums are just the thing for unleashing children's creativity. Give them a few ideas and supplies, and step out of the way.

Sheryl Ubelacker The Canadian Press TORONTO — So you’ve decided to take the plunge and make 2013 the year to sell your home.

WENCHI, Ethiopia - The kids in this volcano-rim village wear filthy, ragged clothes. They sleep beside cows and sheep in huts made of sticks and mud. They don't go to school. Yet they all can chant the English alphabet, and some can spell words.