What Theresa Loe is doing proves that a large farm isn't a prerequisite for a modern grow-your-own lifestyle. On a mere 1/10 of an acre in Los Angeles, Loe and her family grow, can(装罐)and preserve much of the food they consume.

    Loe is a master food preserver, gardener and canning expert. She also operates a website, where she shares her tips and recipes, with the goal of demonstrating that everyone has the ability to control what's on their plate.

Loe initially went to school to become an engineer, but she quickly learned that her enthusiasm was mainly about growing and preparing her own food. “I got into cooking my own food and started growing my own herbs (香草) and foods for that fresh flavor,” she said. Engineer by day, Loe learned cooking at night school. She ultimately purchased a small piece of land with her husband and began growing their own foods.

     “I teach people how to live farm-fresh without a farm,” Loe said. Through her website Loe emphasizes that “anybody can do this anywhere.” Got an apartment with a balcony （阳台）? Plant some herbs. A window? Perfect spot for growing. Start with herbs, she recommends, because “they're very forgiving.” Just a little of the herbs “can take your regular cooking to a whole new level,” she added. “I think it's a great place to start.” “Then? Try growing something from a seed, she said, like a tomato or some tea.”

    Canning is a natural extension of the planting she does. With every planted food. Loe noted, there's a moment when it's bursting with its absolute peak flavor. “I try and keep it in a time capsule in a canning jar,” Loe said. “Canning for me is about knowing what's in your food, knowing where it comes from.”

    In addition to being more in touch with the food she's eating, another joy comes from passing this knowledge and this desire for good food to her children: “Influencing them and telling them your opinion on not only being careful what we eat but understanding the bigger picture,” she said, “that if we don't take care of the earth, no one will.”

    It was Mother's Day morning last year and I was doing my shopping at our local supermarket with my five-year-old son, Teayson. As we were leaving, we found that only minutes earlier an elderly woman had fallen over at the entrance and had hit her bead on the concrete. Her husband was with her, but there was blood everywhere and the woman was embarrassed and clearly in shock.

    Walking towards the scene, Tenyson became very upset about what had happened to the couple. Ile said to me. “Mums it's not much fun falling over in front of everyone.”

    At the front of the supermarket a charity group had set up a stand selling cooked sausages and flowers to raise funds. Tenyson suggested that we should boy the lady a flower. “It will make her feel better,” he said. I was amazed that he'd come up such a sweet idea. So we went over to the flower seller and asked her if we could buy a flower for the lady to cheer her up. “Just take it,” she replied. “I can't take your money for such a wonderful gesture.”

    By now paramedics(救援人员) had arrived, and were attending the injured woman. As we walked up to her, my son became intimidated by all the blood and medical equipment. He said he was just too scared to go up to her.

    Instead I gave the flower to the woman's husband and told him. “My son was very upset for your wife and wanted to give her this flower to make her feel better.”

    At that, the old man started crying and said, “Thank you so much, you have a wonderful son, Happy Mother's Day to you.”

The man then bent down and gave his wife the flower, telling her who it was from. Though badly hurt and shaken, the old lady looked up at Tenyson with love in her eyes and gave him a little smile.

    A few years ago I had an “aha!” moment regarding handwriting.

    I had in my hand a sheet of paper with handwritten instructions on it for some sort of editorial task. It occurred at first that I did not recognize the handwriting, and then I realized whose it must be. I finally became aware of the fact that I had been working with this colleague for at least a year, maybe two, and yet I did not recognize her handwriting at that point.

    It was a very important event in the computerization of life-a sign that the informal. Friendly communication of people working together in an office had changed from notes in pen to instant messages and emails. There was a time when our workdays were filled with little letters, and we recognized one another's handwriting the way we knew voices or faces.

    As a child visiting my father's office, I was pleased to recognize, in little notes on the desks of his staff, the same handwriting I would see at home in the notes he would leave on the fridge—except that those notes were signed “dad” instead of “RFW”.

    All this has been on my mind because of the talk about The Rise and Fall of Handwriting, a book by Florey. She shows in her book a deep concern about the fall of handwriting and the failure of schools to teach children to write well, but many others argue that people in a digital age can't be expected to learn to hold a pen.

    I don't buy it.

    I don't want to see anyone cut off from the expressive, personal associations that a pen still promotes better than a digital keyboard does. For many a biographer, part of really getting to know their subjects is learning to read their handwriting.

    What some people advocate is teaching one of the many attractive handwritings based on the handwriting of 16^th-century Italy. That may sound impossibly grand-as if they want kids to learn to draw by copying classical paintings. However, they have worked in many school systems.

    I'll be the first to admit that I am a technophobe(对技术有恐惧感的人). Who would have guessed that a website would help repay a 20-year-old loan?

    I'll always remember my last day at school. My best friend, Jenny, had organized a party in the Sixth Form Common Room.

    Jenny asked me to go to the supermarket with her to buy all the snacks. "I'm really looking forward to this party, Stingy," she said. Everyone called me Stingy instead of Debbie because they thought I didn't like to spend money. Actually, it was true.

    "There's lots of money in the kitty. Let's go crazy!" Going crazy meant buying enough snacks to feed an army. It came to ￡19.90, which was a lot of money in 1982.

    Jenny gave me a guilty(内疚的) look. "I've left-the kitty money in the common room. Can you pay and I'll give you back the money?"

    "Sure," I replied, trying to look relaxed. "Neither a lender or a borrower be" was my motto(座右铭) but I didn't want to look stingy. I gave ￡20 to the impatient shop assistant.

    Well, the Party was a great success. So great that I completely forgot about my loan until I was flying to America the next day.  I was going to live with my uncle's family until I started university.

    I tried to get in touch with Jenny but her family had moved. My ￡20 was lost. Until...

    I'd heard about a website called Friends Reunited which helped people contact old school friends.  My husband helped me log on and find my school. There she was, Jenny Frost.

    I'm now married with a beautiful daughter called Debbie. Does anyone know how to get in touch with Debbie "Stingy" Jones? I still owe her ￡20!

    We met two months later and the ￡20 was returned, plus interest(利息) of course. After all, I'm a bank manager now, so loans are my business.

    Broad Band: by Claire L. Evans. Portfolio, 2018（$27）

    Though often outnumbered by men, women stayed in the booming field of computing. In this inspiring tale, writer Evans records the contributions of some B. ROAD of the many women who aided the rise of the modern Internet. Memorable characters include Elizabeth "Jake" Feinler, an information scientist who helped researchers navigate the Arpane and Stacy Horn, who started one of the first social networks, Echo.

    The Wizard and the Prophet: by Charles C. Mann. Knopf, 2018（$28. 95）

    The human population is moving toward 10 billion—some experts think we'll nearly hit that mark by 2050. How will the earth feed, house and otherwise support such a crowd？Environmental thinkers usually fall into one of two camps: those who prefer conservation and controlling consumption, like William ems, Norman Borlaug, for example, Writer Mann carefully record the lives and thought of the founder of these two philosophies.

    A Lab of One's Own: by Patricia Fara. Oxford University Press, 2018($24. 95)

    In World War I many women in the U. K. replaced their aprons with chemical suits and stepped into previously male-only fields of science, where they led war research efforts. Science historian Fara illustrates the lives of many of these forgotten women. Although the era marked a major step forward for women scientists, many worked for small wages in an environment of discrimination. In the nearly 100 years since, women have come a long way, Fara writes, but the glass ceilings remain solid and the pipelines leaky.

    Atom Land: by Jon Buterworth. The Experiment, 2018（319. 95）

    Butterworth takes readers on an amusing journey through the unknown OMS world of particle（粒子）physics. The first stop is "Atom Land," where Butterworth explains how electrons, protons and neutrons come together to build up everything we know. As the journey unfolds, we learn about lesser-known particles. Thankfully, our ship is equipped with tools such as mathematical equations（方程式）and a "laser light" that lights up the darkest of concepts.

    When my father married my mother in 1943, he gave my mother a 1937 crown coin and told her to keep it in the back of her purse and not to spend it. This would mean that she always felt that she was protected and would always have money if she really needed it.

    When I was married in 1970, my husband, who had heard this story, obtained a 1937 crown coin for me and I have always kept it in my wallet, and I have always had enough for my needs.

    A friend recently fell on hard times, partly through external (外部的) circumstances and partly through poor planning. Friends and I have loaned her money, paid her bills, given her food, and even tried to teach her budget techniques, but none of them has been a solution. She has just slipped deeper and deeper into financial trouble and depression.

    Last week she looked pale and unwell, very depressed and hopeless, very sad for a friend to see and I then thought about how the crown coin, a physical reminder of another's care and love had protected me, so I went to the bank for a $ 100 dollar-bill.

    I told my friend the story and asked her to keep the $ 100 in the back of her wallet. It turned out that she didn't have a wallet, so she put the money in a little pencil case where she kept her coins. She immediately felt better—"I feel rich, and thank you for being a good friend," she said, and we were both a bit teary.

    I went home and remembered a little wallet I had that I'd never used, and thought, "I'll give that to my friend." I opened it, and inside, found $ 100.