Pete Hamill, the self-taught, street-wise newspaper columnist whose love affair with New York inspired a colorful and uniquely influential journalistic career and produced several books of fiction and nonfiction, died Wednesday morning. He was 85.

Unlike many writers, I don’t journal. I write for a living, so by the end of the day I’m all out of words.

Last week, many Spokane gardeners made the journey over the pass to the annual Northwest Flower and Garden Festival in Seattle. I know because I kept running into Spokane gardening friends at every turn. The display gardens were beautiful, the seminars inspiring, and the shopping, well, let’s just say it will take a while to pay it off. There were four major trends at this year’s show. First, the featured plant was the new breeds of upward facing hellebores or Lenten roses. Hellebores are semi-evergreen plants that bloom in late winter and very early spring. With our lack of snow and warmer winter, mine were blooming in early February.

This is about a delightful little adventure involving lost jewelry and lost memory and a bit of kindly detective work that solved the mystery dubbed “The Extraordinary Ordinary Book.”

I’ve been told I have a way with words.

I don’t remember ever having 20/20 vision. I got my first pair of glasses in fourth grade, my first pair of contacts at 15, and my eyesight continues to decline.

The rustling sound gave me pause.

Native plants have become a big part of our gardening in the last decade and for good reason. Native plants provide habitat for insects, birds and other wildlife as well as reduce the amount of work and water needed to keep a garden looking good. However, information on how to identify them and then grow them well can be a little hard to find.

Having lain dormant for many months now, my inner Grammar Goddess feels the need to rise up and spread her wings in celebratory and protective guardian-angel mode, this time to pay homage to a fighter for truth, justice and the proper usage of the oft-maligned and misused apostrophe. Behold the hero: John Richards. A retired copy editor from Boston, Lincolnshire, England, in 2001 he created the Apostrophe Protection Society with the singular aim of preserving the correct usage of this much-abused punctuation mark. Richards announced earlier this month he is withdrawing from the public fight and closing his organization.

Later today many of us will sit down to a hardy meal of traditional Thanksgiving foods like turkey, mash potatoes, sweet potatoes, Brussel sprouts and green bean casserole.

An advice columnist who has accused President Donald Trump of raping her in a New York City department store dressing room in the 1990s sued him Monday, saying he defamed her by calling her a liar whom he had never even met.

My son Sam is married.

Our backyard apple tree is messing with my mind.

Some women might chafe at being their husband’s third choice.

It’s amazing how a fresh coat of paint and updated décor improves a home’s entryway.