Q. Happy 2024! All hopes for a healthy, peaceful, prosperous, joy-filled New Year 🙏🏼. As we consider celebratory bouquets for friends, family, or ourselves: which flowers might be considered auspicious for this new beginning? . A. When it comes to assigning meaning to flowers, the Victorians get the bay wreath.

Q. ‘Let me tell you You’ve never seen anything like that library So many books, so much marble, so quiet..’ So say lyrics from the brilliant musical ‘She Loves Me’, with lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, music by Jerry Bock, and a book by Joe Masteroff. Perhaps you, too, have new

Q. They come in with such hope – nestled in tissue, boxed with festive flourish, topped with an oversized bow. ‘How much are they going to love me?! Imagine the pride of place I’ll have in their lives.’ 5, 4, rip, 2 … ‘Wait, what was that micro-expression – a

Q. The wasps – ugh – were at peak annoying this summer. ‘I’m sorry, did you think we would just let you sit outside?’ Were those giant monsters murder hornets, or just garden variety villains fat from all the sugar water they were stealing from the hummingbirds? To combat this

Q. Chances are we’ll see plenty of Wednesday Addams out and about this Halloween. She’s an iconic character and a fantastic last minute costume choice for those of us with longish dark hair and access to a white-collared shirt. When and how did this bebraided character get her start? . A. Google

Q. We’ve been seeing a lot more pet clothes out and about the street this year – sweaters, coats, booties, bowties, tiaras. Halloween will surely up the ante. What can we expect dogs, cats, bunnies and our other fancy furry friends to be wearing October 31st? . A. The National

Q. The mystery genre is as popular as ever – top 3 in best-sellers for centuries. As the perennial favourite Agatha Christie said: “Give me a decent bottle of poison, and I’ll construct the perfect crime.” Amidst shelves and shelves of cryptonyms and creepholes, which detectives, books and authors have

Q. Fall 2023 doesn’t arrive until September 22/23rd, depending on your time zone. But, for many of us, the crisp of the season is already in the air. What do you like best about Fall? How do your likes stack up against the list below? . A. One Poll asked

Q. Snooty CEO Ned Quartermaine of the Quartermaines slipped poolside, smacked his head, and passed out. Would he wake up from the medically-induced coma that followed? Yes. Would he be himself? Of course not. When Ned’s eyes blinked open, he was his long-snuffed, 80s rocker alter ego: Eddie Quartermaine. It’s

Q. Sometimes we get so busy with the this and the that – the work, the chores, the cleaning – that we forget to eke out time for the stress-releasing hobbies we love. What are your favourite hobbies? What hobbies are most popular in North America? . A. In 2023,