Classic Travis and chocolate moon

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Classic Travis

Travis Woods of The Classics Recovered Band knows his way around a guitar, and a squeeze box. Even though I’d been typing up press releases about this band’s area appearances for years, I just met Woods, of Buna, in connection with Southern Summer Night. His band has played for charities such as the American Cancer Society and St. Catherine School in Port Arthur. Woods said that by the end of this year, his gang is hoping to claim they have helped raise $1 million for area good causes.

Here’s another cool fact: Woods has played steel guitar for Shoji Tabuchi, and will return to his Branson, Mo. Theater in August to play the squeeze box.

Tape trick

Remember when this column kind of started out as reader household hints? I welcome more. Send them to me at ddoiron@panews.com and let me know I can use your name and city.

I’m putting this shout out because I just witnessed Tammy Domingue do some Scotch Tape trick. She made a roll about an inch long with the sticky side out and quickly removed some Sharpie ink from plastic. She says it works on all kinds of surfaces. I’m a big fan of generic brands, but I’ve got to have a real Sharpie and real Scotch tape. Here the two collaborate for a  great tip.

Best for baby

Is your Southeast Texas fig tree loaded? Great. Give some to a pregnant woman. Figs, yogurt, almonds and whole grains are great for hair health while expecting. That’s a tip from “The Modern Princess: A Simple Guide to Pregnancy & Baby’s First Year. Men, tell your women they are beautiful when they are pregnant. Women, if you have a few dollars to splurge, invest in nice gold earrings that will still fit after you gain and lose weight, and consider a nice bag that can double as a diaper bag. Take a ‘babymoon” vacation.

These are more unexpected tidbits from Princess Ivana Maria Pignatelli Aragona Cortes, who has compiled this useful book. How to design the nursery, a packing list for the hospital and a few recipes are tossed in for good measure. Advice is varied, and here’s a good one for everyone: Don’t waste time on worrying about things that aren’t likely to happen. Focus on positive results.

Sweet summer read

If space travel means a spa buffet where sauces come out of spigots in the wall, book my transport. The future is funny in “Chocolate Chocolate Moons,” about a “fat girl” of the future. Her husband runs a pizza place on Mars, where beings are tall and thin because of the gravity. But Molly Marbles already weighs less in moon pounds than earth pounds, so she’s ahead of the game before becoming a security guard at a culinary institute. Jackie Kingon’s novel is funny, and one of the most amusing things is how our future generations are portrayed as knowing abut our time in history in askew versions. After all, none of them were around then. Molly and a Martian must solve the crime of who poisoned Chocolate Moon candies, and Molly’s former heavy Earth Guy, who is now a hunky spokesperson for the low-cal Freedom Plan, may be involved. This book is funny, and wholesome.

ddoiron@panews