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Living in the tropics, I have to find ways to feel the seasons change. I love the fall, but here it’s always summer. To get me in the spirit, I go to Joann Fabrics and look at all the fall decorations and fabrics. Then I take a walk through my neighborhood with the dog on our former trick-or-treating path (no kids in the house any more).

This week, I wrote a short article about all the costume shops I could find in Broward and Palm Beach Counties. What I’ve discovered is that there are temporary costume shops popping up all over the place, just in time for Halloween. It proves that Americans are really into this holiday, and I love that. Of course, when my daughter was younger, I made all of her costumes. What a blast that was! We sure had fun.

One of the things I learned while researching costume shops is that it is much more expensive to rent a costume than it is to buy one. The reason? Rental costumes are made far better with much more detail, and they withstand repeated use unlike purchased Halloween costumes, which fall apart quickly.

So if you’re longing for that fall feeling, why not start thinking about your Halloween costume now? The holiday is right around the corner!

The bad thing about putting together a monthly calendar about things to do and places to go is that it makes me want to do everything and go everywhere. Where have I been all these years not knowing what was going on in my own community? How much have I missed?

In the past week my husband and I have been to three movies as part of the Gateway Theater Classical Film Festival. We’ve seen Singing in the Rain, Some Like it Hot and yesterday we saw Hitchcock’s North by Northwest. I’m a huge Hitchcock fan. Every minute of that movie is riveting. And no matter how many special effects movie makers can make now and how advanced photography and film are now, no one can top those old movies in so many ways. The way people talked back then, their clothing, the interior decor of buildings used in stage sets, the cars and trains and just the charm of the actors and actresses are things that can’t be matched now for some reason.

As a journalist I get press releases announcing events all day long. After just finishing writing the October Events Calendar for Greater Ft. Lauderdale, I’m overwhelmed. The Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival is starting, there are several excellent annual art festivals and craft shows coming up, some terrific concerts, and now I’ve come to find out there is a very large Chocolate Festival. There are hundreds of vendors and chocolate samples, pastries to purchase, chocolate bars, cakes, cookies and ice cream to eat and chocolate to drink. Are you kidding me? Like I can survive  chocolate festival like that? How much of that can you eat in one day before it kills you? What ever that amount may be, I will consume it. Are there doctors on hand at the event to help those who have overdosed? I truly wish I did not know about that Chocolate Festival. Keep me away! I’ll sick to non-eating events. Heck, after reading about all that Elmo’s going to be doing there, I even felt like I’d truly enjoy Sesame Street Live; my only child is 20 years old, but who cares?

And so it seems all I can do is mark up my calendar and get out to experience as much as I can with what’s going on around here. I just cannot bear to miss all the wonderful events in my community, now that I know they’re out there waiting to be enjoyed. Do you know all that’s happening in your neck of the woods?

Here in Broward County, Florida, Early Voting is in full swing. What a great time this is to teach our kids – no matter what their age – about their right to vote. When my daughter was very young, I used to bring her with me to the poll and showed her how I voted. She loved getting an “I Voted Today” sticker and was proud to participate. As soon as she turned 18, she had her Voter’s ID Card and was eager to vote in her first-ever election as an adult.

As Americans, we have the right to vote, as well as the right NOT to vote.  I figure that no matter who is running for office, what the current political situation is, I want to take part in making my voice heard, and I’m glad I’ve passed this responsibility on to my daughter.

If you happen to live in Broward and have any questions about voting, read this.

Since I’ve been putting together Greater Fort Lauderdale Events Calendars every month for the past three for About.com, I’ve realized just how many wonderful (and affordable) performances there are in my own community. From free concerts to plays, and from charity benefit concerts to stand up, it’s truly overwhelming. Lately I’ve made an effort to take advantage of more shows and events. I recently saw Earth, Wind and Fire in concert at Seminole Hard Rock Live and attended Dancing Under the Stars on Hollywood Beach. We all need to do our part to support the arts, and the best way to do that is to attend local events on a regular basis.

During my recent family vacation in Guntersville, AL we tried to buy tickets for a live musical at the local theater, but the the shows were all sold out way in advance. It occurred to me that, since the town is small, that was the only live theater in the community. Residents get excited about the opportunity to see a live show, because there aren’t too many around. It made me appreciate the seemingly endless opportunities to explore the arts here in South Florida.

How do you support the art in your community?

I have lived in South Florida since 1978 and visited often from a young age. I was so fortunate to have been here before the traffic and congestion, housing boom and strip shopping mall phenomenon. I used to drive from work – NW 36th in Miami to a special dentist in North East Palm Beach for 6 months in 1985 every Friday night. It only took a bit over an hour to drive those 75 miles during “rush hour.” There was never any traffic. Now that drive would be 2 to 2 1/2 hours easily.

I recently had the opportunity to interview Deborah Sharp, a Fort Lauderdale native and author, who grew up in the heart of Fort Lauderdale. She shared her memories with me and talked about her mystery novel series. I think you’ll really enjoy what she had to say about the way things wee here in the 1950s and 60s. Here’s the article.

My only child is about to turn 20 years old, but my life is still all about children. As an author who regularly dresses in millipede costume, I am surrounded by little people all the time. How lucky am I?

I often find myself comparing the young kids of today to my daughter’s early years. It hasn’t been all that long, yet a lot has changed. For starters, there seem to be more choices. Choices in education, books, sports, electronics and choices in new products in general. This is very noticeable in fashion for kids. There are more and more stylish, affordable as well as sophisticated, luxury clothing.

I don’t know about you, but I love to shop in small boutiques and get a real kick out of finding a high quality bargain in consignment stores. Well, if you live in South Florida you’ll want to read my latest article on About.com, listing some great children’s boutiques and consignment stores in Broward and Palm Beach Counties.

Driving through rural Alabama, I noticed the quaint little doctors’ offices tucked away in historic buildings and the pint-sized medical centers built to serve a variety of small communities. In essence, residents don’t have many choices when it comes to finding a doctor or health facility in these remote areas; they just appreciate that there’s a doctor in their small town.

It made me grateful too, for all the choices I have in healthcare at home in bustling South Florida. This includes the fact that I live 3 blocks from Memorial Regional Hospital, one of the best hospitals in the country. I guess I have to give up the quiet, wide open spaces for the modern conveniences (and myriad of choices) of living in a very populated area. But I’m fine with that.

Should you ever need a list of the Broward and South Palm Beach hospitals, their specialties and contact info – and I hope you never do – here’s my article on About.com. I’ve done a lot of the homework to make it easy for you to find the hospital that best suits your healthcare needs.

Photo courtesy of Frank Toral

Please read my article on About.com about Frank Toral, an extraordinary Fort Lauderdale attorney who established The Toral Family Foundation to help people and their families challenged by Traumatic Brain Injury.

What are you doing this July 4th? As usual, we are throwing a party for friends and will be watching the Twilight Zone Marathon on SyFy. After a BBQ and our Patriotic Parfaits, we’ll head off to watch fireworks. Here’s a list of every place you can watch fireworks in Broward County.

This Independence Day, treat your family and friends to individual patriotic parfaits made from gelatin, instant pudding and non-dairy topping. They’re light and creamy, so delicious and gluten-free. Even those who are not big fans of gelatin seem to love this dessert. You just might want to make it an annual tradition in your home.

Ingredients

• 1 3 oz. box of berry flavored (blue) gelatin
• 1 3 oz. box of strawberry or cherry flavored (red) gelatin
• 2 3 oz. boxes of vanilla flavored instant pudding
• 1 16 oz. carton of non-dairy topping, such as Cool Whip
• 1 cup boiling hot water, divided
• 1 cup ice cold water, divided
• 1 1/2 cups of skim milk
• Blue food coloring
• Red food coloring
• 6 large strawberries
• Red, white & blue sprinkles (optional)
• Mini toothpick flags for decoration

You’ll need 3 mixing bowls, a whisk, a measuring cup and 6 wine glasses or goblets.

 Make the Gelatin

Place blue gelatin powder in a bowl and whisk in 1/2 cup of hot water, mixing for a minute or two until gelatin is dissolved. Quickly add ice water and whisk briskly until gelatin starts to bubble and foam. Place the bowl in the refrigerator. Repeat these steps for the red gelatin and place bowl in the refrigerator. After 15 minutes, take the bowls out of the fridge and whisk each one so the gelatin does not harden too much along the sides and bottom of the bowls. Make sure you use a clean whisk each time so you do not start to mix the blue and red colors. Place the bowls back into the fridge for 20 more minutes.

Make the Pudding

Empty the two packages of instant pudding in a bowl Mix in the skim milk and whisk it all together until smooth. (The pudding will be much thicker than you would normally make it, because you are using much less milk for this recipe than the package directions calls for.) Place the bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes.

Mix it Together

After gelatin has been chilling for 20 minutes, take all 3 bowls out of the fridge. Put 1/2 of the pudding mixture into the blue gelatin and the other half into the red gelatin. (If the pudding is so thick that it is hard to whisk, you can add a small amount of water or more milk to it before adding it to the gelatin. But do not add too much to make it thin or runny.) The pudding is yellow and will change the color of the gelatin a bit, making the red a lighter pink and the blue a tad green. Add 1 even cup of non-dairy topping to each bowl and whisk that with the gelatin and pudding until smooth. At this point you can add several drops of red food coloring to the red gelatin mixture and several drops of blue to the blue gelatin, to create stronger colors. Chill the red and blue gelatin mixtures for 20 more minutes.

Assemble the Parfaits

Line up six parfait glasses. Place an equal amount of blue gelatin mixture at the bottom of all the glasses. Top each with 2 heaping tablespoons of non-dairy topping. Take care to keep the ingredients from mixing together; you want to see the distinct layers of the parfait. Top each white layer with equal amounts of red gelatin mixture. Then top off all the parfaits with a dollop of non dai

I've completed another experiment in fabric dyeing.  Last time around I used oak bark and fresh water; this time I've used California Live Oak acorns instead.  The recipe is simple:  place the garments in a couple gallons of water with the acorns both rolled into the clothing and thrown into the water as well.  Give it a couple of weeks to sit.  The results are as you see them here.  I used a couple of old white tee shirts, a white turtleneck and a white polo shirt, all cotton.

Rolling the shirts produces a sort of tie-dyed effect.  Lots of fun.  I may do more of these for gifts.

Michael McGrorty

Guess what I did this morning?  I mean, after I took the picture.

That's right; I went out and got interviewed for a library job.  And in about ten days I'll do it again.

A note on apparel:  usually I wear a white shirt, but this time I threw caution to the wind and wore this mustard-hued wonder which was obtained from a thrift store.  For some reason its owner sent discarded it new.  The necktie is an old favorite of mine, and simply the least offensive one I could find to make a combination.  The very bright light in my hand is an idea I've been working on for a while now, which chose just that moment to come to fruition.  I'll let you know more about that later.

Michael McGrorty