Art

For more than 40 years, a hardcover book with a red cover, filled with handwritten observations and details about a long-ago adventure, sat nearly forgotten on a shelf as the book’s owners, retired Superior Court Judge Marshall Hockett and his wife Debbie, pursued careers and raised a family.

With Thanksgiving approaching at gigabit speed, we’re all gearing up for the big day with a main course of stress, and side dishes of angst and doubts about menu choices, modes of preparation, presentation (and dinner guests). To help make this feast a delightfully memorable one, I’ll now take your questions and offer cooking tips.

In Neil Simon’s classic comedy “The Sunshine Boys,” a long-retired vaudeville duo agree to set aside their decades-long animosity to re-team for one last performance. But some old habits die hard. The 1972 comedy gets a funny and spirited workout at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach, which is the ideal venue for the play. It presents Simon’s works more than any other local professional theater and its longtime artistic director, David Ellenstein, has long provided senior actors — like Simon’s 70-something vaudevillians — the chance to show audiences that they’ve still got it.

Marina Alberti, a senior at San Dieguito Academy High School, was one of three local artists selected to help beautify the Skyline School campus in Solana Beach.