The Virginian-Pilot and The Ledger-Star, Norfolk, VA

Eggplant encyclopedia Knowing when to harvest your vegetables can be difficult when you're growing a new crop. Good color and firm flesh are usually good signs. But one crop that always seems to raise questions is eggplant. An eggplant is ready to harvest when the fruit is fully colored and has achieved the mature size for the variety. Seed should be white and the tissue firm. If the seeds are brown and hard, the fruit is past eating quality, so harvest the fruit sooner next time.

Crossvine Local Grower Crossvine

Botanical name Bignonia capreolata Family Bignonia (Bignoniaceae)

Step Away From the Shoes: To Pack Light, Get Picky

By Lisa A. Flam The Associated Press

Want Songbirds? Use Incentives. Use Incentives to Attract Your Favorite Songbirds

By Dean Fosdick The Associated Press

A Couple Small Steps Can Lead to Big Catches

By Mark Taylor The Roanoke Times

Torpedoed | Last of 8 Parts a U.S. Bomber Targets a German Submarine. This Is the $2 Bar Code. Is This the Right One? If Yes, Delete This Note and the Green Background Box Sunday

By Diane Tennant The Virginian-Pilot

Actor's Camera Phone Captures Life's Cabaret

By Susan King Los Angeles Times

The Preparation Gap

From wire reports A recent report shows that U.S. employers continue to struggle with an ill-prepared work force, finding that new hires lack crucial basic and applied skills.

A Job with a Playground View

By Christy Barritt Correspondent

Dear Martha

By Martha Stewart Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia

Settling On a Name for These Spiffed-Up Benches Antiques and Collecting Antiques and Collecting

By Terry Kovel WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE between a settle, settee and sofa? All three evolved from the "bench," a furniture form with a flat wooden plank seat long enough to hold two or more people.

Don Westlake: A Wildly, Wryly, Wisely Funny Storyteller

DONALD E. Westlake's final caper begins thus: "Dortmunder did not like to stand around on street corners. A slope-shouldered, glum-looking individual in clothing that hadn't been designed by anybody, he knew what he looked like when he stood for a while in one place on a street corner, and what he looked like was a person loitering with intent."

Footnotes

Newsweek cites book by norfolk author as one window on our times A book co-written by Norfolk's Mike D'Orso has landed on Newsweek's list of 50 books that illuminate our times.

How the Asian Giant Awoke to Challenge Us

By Keith Monroe Special to The Virginian-Pilot

Cook It

"EASY LIVING" is my cooking philosophy for summer months. No one wants to spend hours in the kitchen when days filled with light and warmth beckon you to enjoy the outdoors. When entertaining during this season, I look for simple and stress-free dishes . Grilled Lemon and Mint Kabobs are such an entree. A marinade prepared with a minimum of ingredients, including fresh mint, lemon juice, garlic and olive oil, takes only minutes to assemble.

War Revelations Lead to History Project

By Lia Russell The Virginian-Pilot