My circle of acquaintances happily includes many who make their lives in horticulture. Their answers to my idle query, “What is your favorite tool?” ranged from humorous—a professional gardener, 5-gallon bucket and a radio—to the obscure, among them the intriguing swan hoe, an ingenious asparagus knife with scuffle attachment and a number of beloved Japanese […]
One of the most iconic images from the classic holiday film A Christmas Story is the fishnet stocking- and black stiletto-clad leg lamp that causes quite a stir when Ralphie’s dad, Mr. Parker, displays it in the front window of his home at Christmastime. With its fringe-trimmed shade reminiscent of a can-can dancer’s skirt, the […]
It’s an open concept world and we’re just living in it. And while the kitchen-living-dining layout creates accessibility (and visibility), it’s a challenge to decorate. John Kriebel, a designer at The Artful Lodger, has a solution: swivel chairs. “I use them as a great connector for entertaining,” he says. “You have two places guests and […]
Finding a house in downtown Charlottesville isn’t easy, but Kate Stephenson managed to do it when she spotted a commercial space for sale just north of the Downtown Mall. Like many onetime residences, the brick building had been serving for decades as offices. When she first walked in, Stephenson definitely noticed a “law-office” look—acoustic tile […]
Don’t call Brian and Andrea Hubbell flippers. Even though they admit what they’re doing sounds a lot like that, the husband-and-wife team behind HubbHouse think they can come up with a better term, one that conveys their more thoughtful approach. “We’re definitely not a quick-flip company,” says Brian. “Quality is really important and the process […]
During the autumn of 2017, our newspapers and newsfeeds were filled with stories about sexual harassment in the film business, television and other industries where powerful men behaved badly. In December, “the silence breakers” of the #MeToo movement were named Time magazine’s Person of the Year. The sheer number of cases reveals a pattern that […]
The University of Virginia’s i.Lab is where good business ideas go to become great ones. Local entrepreneurs and their teams apply for the incubator program in January, and if they’re one of about 20 groups selected after a Shark Tank-style round of pitches, they’ll be admitted into a 10-week program where their start-ups are provided […]
Bicycles are a great way to get around. They’re economical, eco-friendly and good exercise. But their design never made much sense to television and film editor and director—and lifelong bike rider—Scotty Wilson. Bikes are big, bulky and not easily transported from one place to the other (unless the bike is the transportation); they’re a pain […]
Talking with Chris Newman about the farm he runs with his wife, Annie, you get the feeling you’re glimpsing the future. Newman likes to think ahead; he was still in his 20s when he and Annie began planning to become farmers after retirement, which was decades away. They lived in Washington, D.C., then; he worked […]
In December, the Republican-led Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal its own 2015 ruling about how Internet service providers should be regulated, saying it was eliminating “heavy-handed micromanagement” of the Internet. Many users saw it differently, and lamented what they saw as a loss of important safeguards. At the heart of the FCC’s ruling is […]