Several years ago I was a guest at LuLu’s, which was then located at Weeks Bay a short distance from the Grand Hotel Marriott Resort, Golf Club & Spa in Point Clear, Alabama where I was a guest. LuLu’s was a tiny dilapidated dive with lots of boats nearby and a bait shop. When you opened the door to the restaurant, you could smell the hamburgers. From the deck you could see beautiful Weeks Bay, and the sunsets were spectacular, much like in Key West, where LuLu and her husband have a home. “It was such a special place,” says Lucy Buffett of her first restaurant.

Debra Prinzing is a regular contributor to the “Los Angeles Times,” “Cottage Living,” “Better Homes & Gardens,” “Fine Gardening,” “Sunset” and other magazines. She lectures frequently on garden and design topics. She lives in Los Angeles.

Today’s shed is not your grandfather’s tool house. Rather, it is a canvas for a fabulous space, and it may serve as a yoga studio, guesthouse, playroom, writing nook, entertaining enclave, or any other kind of hideaway space you can think of. Sheds are, in fact, a great way to add a room to your house without undergoing a big renovation.

Entertaining At Home presents gatherings in the homes of leading tastemakers from the worlds of interior design, architecture, culinary arts, and society who show readers how to entertain with flair and finesse. Curated by Ronda Carman, she reminds us that “this is not meant to be a volume on how to entertain properly, but rather a glimpse of real people at home nurturing friends and family. It is my hope that it is as much aspirational as it is inspirational.” Each page is full of successful strategies and a myriad of ideas for delighting family and friends, with the hosts offering their personal viewpoint and providing behind-the-scenes details that go into creating memorable occasions.

Homes throughout Midtown Jackson will put guests in the Christmas holiday spirit during the Lambuth Area Neighborhood Association (L.A.N.A.) annual Holiday Home Tour Friday, December 6 through Sunday, December 8.

“This year will mark the 27th anniversary of the popular home tour,” said Frank McMeen, president of L.A.N.A.

Perhaps it’s because I am an Aquarian, but like Tracey Rapisardi, author of “Simply by the Sea,” I am a lover of water. I never tire of walking by the ocean or viewing the barges and pleasure boats on the Mississippi River. Years ago I lived a half mile from the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla, California. I treasured getting lost in my thoughts as I walked the beach daily. I spent much of my professional life in Memphis, where I saw the Mississippi River almost daily. Since 1981 I have traveled to historic Natchez, Mississippi, mostly to sit on a hotel balcony in Vidalia, Louisiana and observe the skyline of Natchez; view with high powered binoculars the ever moving, ever changing river; and wave at the barge captains and deckhands. Several steamboats dock in Natchez, and they beckon me to go onboard. (I’m convinced that in a previous life I lived on a steamboat.) At dusk the Mississippi River bridge lights come on, and it is magical. While it is not an ocean, the Mississippi River has almost the same effect on me.