Like many retired householders in this down economy, I have dawdled this year over home improvements. But the week before Christmas I was feeling energetic and determined that I needed to bite the bullet and take care of some long overdue tasks. I went over to Harold K. Smith Materials and asked Keith if he…

Only in Idyllwild can you go from photographing legendary jazz vocalist Herb Jeffries for his 98th birthday in the morning, to photographing jazz legend-to-be Casey Abrams at his welcome home block party in the afternoon. Gina Genis Idyllwild/Laguna Hills “Only in Idyllwild” may be sent one of four ways: e-mail to beth@towncrier.com, call 659-2145, Ext….

On Saturday night, Sept. 15, upon returning home from having dinner at Café Aroma, I noticed the center stone of my wedding band (nearly a one-carat diamond) was missing. I immediately felt it was hopeless finding it, but we decided to look around. We retraced our steps of the evening, first searching our home, our…

I love homemade pretzels. I put in my order for 10 at Honey Bunns and Joe, figuring I could make it back up the Hill before they closed at 3 p.m. However, being a school teacher for Hemet Unified School District, my after school efforts to help just a few more students delayed me in…

This week you are again challenged to identify the particular spot depicted in this Hill photograph. It might be the exterior of a building or surrounding grounds of a commercial, governmental or nonprofit premises, or a public place in Idyllwild, Pine Cove, Fern Valley or Mountain Center. The prize is tickets to the Rustic Theatre,…