The staycation, which the New York Times' Michael Wilson described last summer as "the absolute cutting edge of the cultural buzz saw" seems like it's, well, here to stay. Despite the significant drop in gas prices, the generally abysmal nature of the economy will likely preclude most of us...

I have a keen recollection of a conversation that transpired on a houseboat shanty on the Thames that my friend Laura was living on. Her friend Somerset was raving about the salads she was growing in pots in her garden. Fresh lettuce, she enthused, was the most glorious thing...