Set out the tea and mince pies and have yourself a Happy Christmas courtesy of AcornTV! Many new productions are being aired since they have been diligent in following set Covid protocols, so it has been exciting to have favorites and new programs popping up from the new seasons of Vera and Midsomer Murders to brand new treats like The Long Call and Dalgliesh.
Jingle Bells, Silver Bells, Carol of the Bells…Ring a Bell? Yep, it’s Christmas/Hannukah/Kwanzaa/Holiday time in the Valley. It’s gift-giving time, forget-your-diet time, get-something-for-yourself time. At The Great Food Search, that means—Good Stuff! Let’s dig in!
Right after Thanksgiving, Jewel Moore, my aunt, proclaimed: “What we need is some good old-fashioned Christmas spirit, with lots of peace and quiet, no drama, no chaos, or I’ll have a hissy fit!”
Here is your weekly reminder that there are also new articles up on our other website KRL News & Reviews! Every week there will be book reviews and giveaways, plus sometimes pet articles, theatre articles, and more! And listen to our new podcast!
It was late and the gates were long since closed. The place was strewn with red and green decorations and smelled of fresh-cut pine. The participants were assembling for the party now, most wearing the uniform of their branch of service. Lots of chin rubbing and gentle nodding and subtle saluting, as if to say, this, this is nice. A nice touch. The cool weather. The almost full moon. There had been music earlier and it hung in the air like a found memory.
This weekend the College of the Sequoias Performing Arts in Visalia will be presenting It’s a Wonderful Life: A Live Radio Play by Joe Landry streaming via Broadway On Demand. We took a moment to chat about the show with its director, Chris Mangels, who is Professor of Cinema & Theatre Arts at the College of the Sequoias.
It’s that most wonderful time of the year, when an avian-titled holiday mystery from bestselling author Donna Andrews is released into the wild! For this thirtieth entry into the long-running series, blacksmith Meg Langslow is unfortunately not currently on a skiing trip with her husband and twin sons. That is an indirect – and direct – result of her being forced to host wildlife artist Roderick Castlemayne and his subjects in her home.
These two series by Tonya Kappes are all-time personal favorites: A Camper & Criminals Cozy introduced in 2018 and Killer Coffee Mystery in 2017. I am quite invested in the diverse characters along with their love lives, friends and family, and methods used to solve a murder. Both series are set in tourist-friendly small towns in Kentucky, but one revolves around running a campground while the other a coffeehouse. Both have strong females who have suffered personal set backs, but have successfully reimagined their personal and professional lives, made great friends, and found true love…oh, picked up a few fur buddies, too.
I would imagine that not many family traditions can be traced back ten thousand years. The Gates family, like many families who trace their roots to Mexico, can do just that. Lesley Olvera Gates, her husband Tony, their two daughters Maddy and Morgan, and their extended family, continue a tradition of Christmas Eve tamale making and eating that Lesley remembers as an integral part of her earliest childhood memories—and it literally has ancient beginnings.
Here is your weekly reminder that there are also new articles up on our other website KRL News & Reviews! Every week there will be book reviews and giveaways, plus sometimes pet articles, theatre articles, and more! And listen to our new podcast!
