Hints from Heloise is a column I remember reading years ago. It was a way to soak up the most unbelievably useful advice on doing things like keeping mold from growing on parmesan cheese, keeping flowers from wilting and how to fold a cloth napkin into a swan. Try as I might, I generally forgot the tips before I had occasion to use them but for a moment or two,  Heloise made me feel much more equipped for life than I had been.  

One of the papers that I can buy in Port Aransas carries the column.  A lot of it is now reader’s tips with “thadda girl” comments from Heloise. “I don’t like to put wet tea bags in the garbage, so I decorated a coffee can with foil,” wrote one contributor, “and put it on my counter. I put used tea bags in it during the day, and then dump them all in the garbage at once.”

I probably will never do that.