Neil McGowan’s play “Disposable Necessities,” having its premiere at Rogue Machine in Venice, is part sci-fi yarn, part comic farce and part timely social commentary. It’s hard to pin down its style, but one thing is certain: McGowan’s rich imagination challenges our expectations at every twist of its deliciously disturbing plot.

The action is set in the not-so-distant future, when the privileged of society become essentially immortal, able to download their identities into new “modules” — bodies of the recently deceased. Those enormously expensive bodies aren’t available to the have-nots, who must content themselves with providing carcasses for the affluent. Gender fluidity has taken on a whole new meaning in this brave new order, with people swapping sexes according to what is available. Youth and beauty, as always, drive the marketplace.

Once celebrated author Daniel (Darrett Sanders) is now a has-been supported by his wife, Al, nee Alice (Billy Flynn), who opted for a male module to advance her stalled career. (It worked.) Daniel got a new module way back when, but he’s clearly showing his age, so Al is nagging him to re-up and get a shiny new self. Their son, Chadwick (Jefferson Reid), went African American this time around — a cultural appropriation made all the more hilarious by Chadwick’s clueless attempts to adapt.

When Daniel’s old friend Phillip (Claire Blackwelder) arrives in the body of a nubile young woman, the sexual politics among the characters grow ever more complex and comical. Despite Al’s hectoring, however, Daniel is resistant to change, as is his estranged daughter Dee (Ann Noble), who has a particularly pressing reason for wanting to get out of her old body, pronto.

David Mauer’s scenic design has the right touch of the high-tech without veering into parody, as do Christine Cover Ferro’s shrewdly updated costumes. Matt Richter’s lighting, Christopher Moscatiello’s sound and Michelle Hanzelova’s projections all lend to the subtly futuristic ambience.

Director Guillermo Cienfuegos and a lively cast tear into their material with brio. As women play men, and vice versa, the actors could be accused of occasionally slipping into caricature, but what matter? They serve the piece’s comic rhythms and nail down the laughs — or, conversely, the pathos. Just don’t lay bets on where the story ends up. You’ll lose.

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What’s the big deal about a bunch of birds hanging out in some wetlands?

If you’re asking yourself that question, please raise your finger to your lips, tell yourself to hush and follow us to the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge.

My name is Catharine Hamm, and I’m the travel editor for the Los Angeles Times. Allow me to introduce writer-photographer Julie Graulich, who, with her husband, Kirk, visits the refuge almost weekly. There they find that nature can nurture, help with healing, offer a way forward after a loss.

Until Nov. 7, 2018, the Grauliches lived in Paradise, Calif. After the Camp fire, their home was uninhabitable. They spent five months in a motel and now live in an apartment in Chico.

The refuge has become their refuge in the face of loss, which didn’t end with the fire. You can read the story behind her story in this week’s End paper, which comes, not surprisingly, at the end of this newsletter.

In between, we talk about the end of SuperShuttle service and what it means for getting to LAX after Dec. 31; offer another animal discovery story, this one from Arizona; reveal a way to travel without any clothes (not naked, of course); and explain what’s and who’s behind the growing discomfort, in some corners (but not L.A.’s), with facial recognition. We also have one last-minute gift suggestion and more tips on enjoying an airport (yes, it’s possible) and how to avoid packing mistakes in winter.

Settle in, grab a blanket and a cuppa and follow us on a journey that’s all about hope and survival.

To life

When your new normal is anything but, where do you go? Julie and Kirk Graulich find solace and a center at these wetlands about 70 miles north of Sacramento. He drives the six-mile auto loop; she rolls down the window in the back and keeps the camera at the ready. Her increasingly practiced eye and lots of patience give you a window into one of life’s more difficult but valuable lessons.

Animal instincts

When relatives relocate, make sure they go to an interesting place. That was one of the great things about having a daughter in college in Flagstaff, Ariz., Jan Molen writes. On their many visits, they’ve been able to indulge their love of animals at three places along Interstate 40. Read about Keepers of the Wild, Grand Canyon Deer Farm and Bearizona.

Don’t bother to pack

Taking your clothes with you on your trip? So 20th century. Join the modern age at W Hotels, which will allow guests to have a “destination-curated wardrobe awaiting right in their room,” W’s Anthony Ingham says of the magic of Closet Concierge and partner Rent the Runway, available for guests at W Hotels in Hollywood; Aspen, Colo.; South Beach, Fla.; and Washington, D.C. Be warned, however, that it’s BYOS (bring your own shoes). Oh, and you have to give the stuff back.

SuperShuttle shutting down

SuperShuttle, citing regulatory and competitive issues, is going out of business after Dec. 31. The company, whose yellow-lettered blue vans made the run to area airports in California and around the world, was born 35 years ago in Los Angeles. Its exit leaves some riders asking, “Now what?” For some, there are no easy answers; our On the Spot column gives you some options, some better than others, especially if you have a lot of luggage. (Best solution, I think, involves cash bribes to family members.)

Season’s greeting card

If you’re looking for that Hallmark holiday moment (not the one related to the recent controversy), you can do no better than San Juan Capistrano, Lori Basheda writes of her weekend escape — she calls it a “slow-rolling getaway” — to the south Orange County town that’s home to the seventh mission founded in 1776, the same year the Declaration of Independence was approved.

Saving money by going upscale

You’d think the lap of aviation luxury would come at a price. It does if you’re talking your own jet or even flying “empty legs” (space available on private jets), but otherwise, it doesn’t necessarily, Jessica Roy writes of her experience with JSX. Amazingly, the last-minute ticket she and her husband bought for a Thanksgiving trip to the Bay Area cost less than a commercial flight — plus they took their dog for free.

Facing the facts

The use of facial recognition at U.S. airports has raised some questions, at least at Seattle-Tacoma airport, Christopher Reynolds writes. Not so much at LAX. Seattle is taking a conservative approach, wanting to make sure regulatory guidance is in place before saying yes to the technology. Find out about LAX’s stance and what it means for you.

What we’re reading

When you’re researching Europe, you want an authority, and the person who quickly comes to mind is Rick Steves. Now the man who has led so many Americans all over Europe has a new twist on seeing the Continent: “Europe’s Top 100 Masterpieces: Art for the Traveler,” by Steves and Gene Openshaw. Besides creating an itinerary, you’ll get a well-written review of the pillars of Western art.

If you’re heading to chillier climes, you’ll want to pack smartly to get the bulkier winter wear in your bag. But there’s danger ahead, Will Robinson. Writing for Smarter Travel, Caroline Morse Teel helps you avoid travel quicksand, explaining why those lovely cotton shirts are exactly wrong for the frozen north, why those mittens may be cute and even cuddly but a pain, and why you’ll hate yourself if you forget your shades.

With your Christmas bucket of fried chicken from KFC, you could get a triple-berry tiramisu cake … if you were in Japan, Makiko Itoh writes in Atlas Obscura. That’s but one of the fancy cakes (and probably not the fanciest) you’ll encounter in the country, which is known for its Christmas confections. Take a look at these pieces of art that look (almost) too beautiful to eat.

Why subscribing to the L.A. Times is the best gift ever

Every day is a journalistic gift. Where else can you read about the incredible Rosa Porto, whose bakery is an L.A. institution? Or find L.A.’s 101 best restaurants? Or the maps that show what a quake like the one that hit Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2011 would do to us? It’s an incredible window to our world. Please subscribe as a gift to yourself. Thank you.

You also can have the world delivered to your world through our abundant newsletters. They’re written just for your interests. Besides this one (and its Vegas-loving cousin), you’ll find dozens that speak just to you. And they’re free. Go to our newsletters center to check them out.

Finally, let us hear from you. You don’t have to wait for a special time of year. Drop us a note at [email protected] and tell us what you like or want more of.

End paper

Julie Graulich and I go back to 1997 during our days working at the Salinas Californian newspaper. She worked in administration and was always the voice of reason, ready with a quick smile and a word of encouragement. I worked in the newsroom, and I was always … insane. Thanks to Facebook, we do keep up with each other, but the more I looked at her posts, the more I couldn’t help but notice her beautiful nature photos. One thing led to another, and an incredible story was born.

But there’s a postscript, which she has given me permission to share. I’ll let her tell it as she recounted in emails, lightly edited, to me:

“Around the same time that my sister, Diane, told me she had terminal lung cancer, Kirk had spotted a great horned owl sitting in a hollowed-out tree on the Sacramento National Wildlife Refuge. It was close to the road, but the owl never moved or tried to fly away, which we thought odd.

“The next time we went, we looked for the owl, and there she was in the same spot, but this time we realized she was not alone. That’s why she didn’t leave. She had a little one to protect. The next week there were two owlets, and we were elated.

“We went back weekly over several months and watched her little family grow up. I looked forward to the trip each week. It was the only thing that got me through watching my sister deteriorate.

“Each week after our trip to the refuge, I would take the laptop over and show Diane the new photos. She was so happy to see the pictures.

“These little guys gave me a few hours each week of joy and awe. They gave Diane something to look forward to, and they gave the two of us something to talk about besides the fact that she was at the end of her life.

“About the time she died, the owls fledged. Just like that they were gone.

“The first few months after Diane’s passing, a single tiny feather would occasionally fall out of the sky in front of me. I’d like to think they were from Diane.”

A few days before her story published, Julie emailed again. She said she was feeling a little silly about believing the feathers were a sign. They were “most likely a coincidence with no real meaning,” she said in an email to me.

Or maybe not. Just before the story ran, she was having lunch at a restaurant. “I was about halfway through eating my salad,” she said, “when a tiny white feather came from above and behind me and landed on the tip of my fork …

“I sat there for a moment, frozen, looking at the feather. I looked around but the tables around me were empty.

“I told myself it could have come from someone’s down jacket, but I guess it doesn’t matter how it got there. I know it was for me.”

Wherever you are, travel safely and well, and remember we’ll be here to welcome you home.

If you’re fretting about how long it’s taking to get your Global Entry renewal, take a breath. If you’ve submitted your application and its status continues to say “pending,” your privileges will last a year beyond the original expiration date.

The program, which gives approved applicants expedited re-entry through U.S. Customs and through airport security screenings, has proved popular and is receiving as many as 7,000 applications a day, Customs and Border Protection said.

The backlog, which CBP said earlier this year totaled 300,000 applications, is now up to 350,000, CBP said.

If you submitted your renewal before the expiration date and it still has not been approved, CBP has granted a year of extra time in which you may continue to use the benefits of the program.

The approval process was slowed in the summer when CBP personnel were dispatched to the U.S. border with Mexico to address what the agency called a “humanitarian” and “security” crisis. The LAX office that handles interviews closed June 23. That left the Long Beach office, which is open 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, as the only L.A.-area office.

As a result, those who were summoned for an interview found wait times of as much as four months before the first available appointment. Some desperate travelers drove to other CBP offices in such places as Calexico, Calif., about 230 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, or Otay Mesa in San Diego, about 145 miles south of downtown L.A., to complete the interview process. Others were able to finish their application process upon return from a flight abroad.

The Los Angeles office at 11099 S. La Cienega Blvd. reopened in late October but is not yet fully up to its previous operational capacity, CBP said, as it continues to reintegrate staff after their absence; CBP could not say when it would be back to preshutdown levels. That office is open 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Monday through Friday for what CBP called “limited appointments.”

The program, which costs $100 for five years, has two components: Global Entry is designed to speed your way through Customs upon your return to the United States. Customers check in at a kiosk, complete a questionnaire, have their fingerprints scanned, then are directed to baggage claim and the exit.

PreCheck, a program of the Transportation Security Administration, lets approved travelers go through security screening without removing their shoes, belt or light jackets or taking their liquids (3.4 ounces or less) or laptops out of their bags. It is available separately through TSA for $85 for five years.

An alternative to Global Entry — but only for Customs entry — is free and available by app. It’s called Mobile Passport and it also expedites you through Customs. It does not involve an interview process. Waiting times are minimal, CBP said of the Mobile Passport, which it called an “underutilized” option.

Mobile Passport recently announced it would begin helping travelers with passport renewal, including urgent requests for new documents.

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Three reasons to check out this airfare sale right now: It’s Dubai, the glittering capital city of the emirate of the same name. The flight is a reasonably priced nonstop. The sale covers most of the year, but the booking window is tight.

That’s the 4-1-1 on the end-of-year sale on Emirates nonstop. Here’s the “why” of seeing Dubai, according to Fodor’s travel guide: “Think white-sand beaches, eternal heat, Bedouin culture, austere natural beauty, bustling souks, space-age architecture, international cuisine, theme parks of almost every nature, shopping and more.”

And more shopping. There’s so much shopping, in fact, that it has its own festival. The 25th shopping festival begins Dec. 26 and ends Feb. 1. “With more than 1,000 brands participating across 4,000 outlets, shoppers and deal hunters will find offers of up to 75% across the city — on top of showstopping performances, immersive experiences and family-friendly celebrations,” the Kahleej Times said of the upcoming event.

Fare: From LAX, $900 round-trip to Dubai, including all taxes and fees, on Emirates.

Restrictions: Subject to availability. Departures must be made Jan. 13-Nov. 15. You may return no later than Dec. 10. Fare must be purchased by Dec. 23.

Info: Emirates, (800) 777-3999

Source: Airfarewatchdog

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Donny and Marie Osmond recently closed their 11-year run at the Flamingo Las Vegas. The hotel-casino’s steakhouse shut down too. Now, the resort plans a new $10-million restaurant this spring called Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse, a swanky, white-tablecloth restaurant that will inhabit the space of Center Cut steakhouse, which closed last September.

Bugsy & Meyer’s calling cards will be prime dry-aged steaks, fresh seafood, pre-Prohibition cocktails (drinks such as Tom Collins, the sidecar, aged whiskey drinks) — and a secret food menu offered only in the Count Room, a speakeasy-style cocktail lounge off the main dining room.

“The No. 1 request of guests is where can I get a great steak, so we’re going to deliver that here,” said Eileen Moore-Johnson, the hotel’s regional president. “This restaurant will be a nod to Flamingo’s 73-year history, a throwback with modern touches.”

Named for the Flamingo’s 1946 founders, Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel and business partner Meyer Lansky, the restaurant takes design cues from Siegel’s midcentury Hollywood roots and Lansky’s Art Deco Miami. Renderings show dark woods, buttery leathers and rich textiles blended with bright jewel tones, intricate floor tile patterns and, of course, plenty of flamingos (painted ones on the walls, live ones in the resort’s outdoor habitat, which will be visible from the restaurant’s patio).

“We want our guests to feel like they’ve traveled back in time,” Moore-Johnson said. “We built the space then designed the dining experience around the room.”

Guests will enter the restaurant through a vestibule that resembles a 1920s bakery then pass through an unmarked entrance, speakeasy-style, into the kitchen. “They’ll feel the sizzle of the broilers and get the dry-aged aroma of the prime steaks, which will be on display in a glass-enclosed aging room so everyone can see them,” said William Becker, vice president of food and beverage for parent company Caesars Entertainment.

Those broilers will turn out some of the Strip’s top steaks and seafood, Becker said. “We’ll be buying USDA prime beef … then dry-aging it here for another 14 to 28 days,” said Becker, who is also a chef. Beef short ribs, lamb saddle and steak Diane will feature prominently on the menu.

So will seafood, which will range from grilled items to raw fish crudos, pokes and tataki preparations. ”We’ll also serve a specialty item each night that ‘s not on the menu such as imported Wagyu beef, tuna belly toro or charcoal-roasted meats. We want to be known for those roasted meats, and they’ll only be available in limited quantities each day. That means when they sell out, they’re gone,” Becker said.

There will be vegan options in every category of the menu. “Plant-based options are important to us,” he said.

Desserts will also arrive with flair. Becker said guests should expect to receive a table-side show when presented with upgraded version of classic desserts, such as a soufflé, strawberries Romanoff or baked Alaska, an ice cream cake topped with French meringue that’s often lighted on fire for a dramatic presentation.

Because Bugsy & Meyer’s will be an ode to old-school Vegas, classic cocktails will be front-and-center. An oblong bar ringed by plush booths (for snacking, canoodling or both) and black-and-white historical Vegas photos will be focal points. So too will a couple of roving cocktail carts pushed by servers who will mix classic old-fashioned cocktails on demand or pour Champagne for seafood towers and oysters plucked from the dining room’s prominent raw bar.

And that speakeasy? The Count Room refers to the secure room where casinos and banks count their cash. Guests will access the secret hideaway through an unmarked door known only to servers and insiders, said Flamingo spokeswoman Chelsea Ryder said.

Once inside, there’s another secret worth sharing: an insiders-only food menu that includes a Wagyu chicken fried steak, chicken and dumplings (ask for the “stool pigeon,”) short rib sliders (“knuckle sandwich”), and white beans with smoked ham (“freedom to the pigs”).

Bugsy & Meyer’s Steakhouse is slated to open in early 2020.

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Consumer finance pioneer Steve Streit, a former disc jockey who put prepaid debit cards in the wallets of millions of Americans, is retiring as chief executive of Green Dot, which has seen its stock plummet this year amid an onslaught of competition from a new generation of financial technology companies.

Streit, 57, will also retire from the board of the Pasadena firm’s holding company and as chairman of Green Dot Bank effective Dec. 31. He will transition to the role of chief innovation officer as an independent advisor. Also retiring as part of the management shake-up is Chief Financial Officer Mark Shifke. Green Dot board Chairman William Jacobs will serve as interim CEO pending the appointment of a replacement.

Streit, in a statement issued by Green Dot, said that October marked his 20th anniversary at the firm he founded in 1999 and was “the benchmark for when I promised myself and my family that I would retire from my role as Green Dot’s CEO.” He said a search for a successor had begun this year and that the recruitment process should be “even more productive with my retirement public.”

Whoever is appointed chief executive will be walking into a challenging environment.

Green Dot’s core business is selling prepaid debit cards, which can be loaded at stores by customers who may not have a traditional banking relationship. They are available at more than 100,000 retailers nationwide, including Walmart, which also sells a card issued by Green Dot that is branded as the retailer’s own popular Walmart MoneyCard.

Streit survived an effort in 2016 by San Francisco hedge fund Harvest Capital to oust him, saying the company was underperforming. The fund got members on the board and Green Dot’s revenue and profits rose. This year, however, profits are down.

The company lost $530,000 on operating revenue of $240 million in the quarter that ended Sept. 30, after making a profit of $4.6 million on operating revenue of $231 million in the same period a year earlier. Also, profits have fallen this year for two successive quarters after hitting $64 million in the first quarter. That has taken a toll on the stock, which has fallen 72%, from a high of $84 in January to $23.18 at the close of the market on Thursday, when it fell 10.4% on the news of Streit’s departure.

“It’s been an interesting ride,” said Joseph Vafi, an analyst at Canaccord Genuity, who traced many of Green Dot’s sudden problems to a tidal wave of competition from a “ton of new upstart online virtual banks” that have swept up potential customers.

They include Chime, a San Francisco digital bank built around a mobile app that doesn’t charge monthly fees and offers overdraft protection up to $100 without fees. Another prominent competitor is Square, a mobile payments company founded by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey.

In response to the competition, Green Dot this summer introduced its Unlimited Cash Back Bank Account, which offers 3% cash back for online and mobile purchases, no overdraft fees and 3% interest on savings.

“The Green Dot products are really quite competitive. You can’t really fault Steve. If you want to fault him for anything, he was thinking that the Square customer wasn’t his a couple of quarters ago, but it turns out they are,” said Vafi, who added that the competition has decreased potential new customers while also increasing Green Dot’s churn rate, forcing it to boost spending on marketing.

Green Dot has had success selling its financial technology services to other businesses, he said. That includes Uber, which issues an Uber Visa debit card to its drivers for payment, and Turbo Tax, which provides refunds through a Green Dot-issued card.

Green Dot also handles the cash portion on Apple Pay accounts, including cash transfers and payments. Vafi said he expects the company may choose a successor who can help grow the enterprise end of the business.

Streit started his career as a disc jockey — billed as “Streiter the Heater” and the “Ayatollah of Rock ‘n’ Rolla,” — and was a radio programming executive when he was laid off in 1999 with a golden parachute.

He used his nest egg to found the company under the name Next Estate Communications, thinking teenagers would use the card to make safe online purchases. But when Rite Aid and CVS pharmacy stores sold the first Green Dot cards in 2002, it turned out that his customers were credit-challenged adults.

The company took off from there and went public in a successful July 2010 initial public offering that saw the company valued at $1.8 billion after its first day of trading.

Since then, the company has fended off many challengers in the space, and over the last few years has built up its business with employers, who directly deposit employee paychecks into Green Dot-issued cards. It also offers mobile banking services through the Apple and Android app stores.

NEW YORK — 

Pregnant women, people older than 65 and people with weakened immune systems should throw away store-bought salads made with hard-boiled eggs because of a food poisoning outbreak linked to a Georgia company, health officials said Thursday.

Seven people in five states have been reported ill so far, including someone who died in Texas, officials said.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said peeled, hard-boiled eggs sold in bulk by Almark Foods are the outbreak’s likely source. The eggs were sold to retailers and food service operators in plastic pails and could be used in salads. The CDC said retailers and food service operators should wash and sanitize any surfaces that may have come in contact with the eggs or packaging, since listeria can spread easily.

The warning does not apply to Almark’s hard-boiled eggs sold directly to consumers. Nor does it apply to eggs hard-boiled at home or in restaurants and stores.

The CDC also said people at higher risk for listeria should confirm whether a store or restaurant is using Almark’s eggs before buying or ordering products with hard-boiled eggs. If the store or restaurant does not know, officials say not to buy the product.

Pregnant women and people with cancer are 10 times more likely than others to get a listeria infection, while people on dialysis are 50 times more likely, the agency said. People who are 65 and older are four times more likely.

A person who answered the phone at Almark Foods in Gainesville, Ga., said the company had no comment. The company has four manufacturing facilities and delivers nationwide, according to its website.

In a letter to the FDA in August, Almark said it had taken corrective actions after two swabs taken by the agency in February at its facility tested positive for listeria.

For Arik Tendler, growing up in a family of stone fabricators and entrepreneurs meant everyone worked. At 5 years old, you’re cleaning the floors. At 10, you’re assisting the professional stone fabricators with simple drilling, and by 15, cutting and installing stone.

Decades later, Tendler graduated to spearhead Caesarstone’s entry into the U.S. market in 1999 (his family was the first fabricator for Caesarstone in Israel, where the quartz-surface company started). And he continues to draw on that early, hands-on education — what he calls his “biggest strength” — in his new role at countertop competitor Cambria as president and chief executive of Cambria-California, overseeing West Coast fabrication, distribution and sales.

“I’m 55, so I have 50 years’ experience in this business,” he said. “I’m one of the first fabricators to ever cut quartz and watch it quickly take over. I know what fabricators want. I’ve been a builder and know what clients are looking for from a professional side, not just the design side.”

With its headquarters in Le Sueur, Minn., parent company Cambria is the largest U.S.-based manufacturer of engineered quartz surface products, with 160 designs available.

Tendler said recent trends reveal a love for “the grayish zone — white to black and everything in between.” For more adventurous types, Cambria is also offering vibrant takes on some of its popular gray staples — such as Brittanicca Gold, a bold, warm version of its classic Brittanicca, one of the company’s biggest sellers.

Other trends he identified include less-ornate counter trim and simpler, flat-edge designs; matte over gloss finishes; more use of quartz as shower walls, fireplaces and backsplashes (sometimes spanning all the way to the ceiling); and waterfall islands with stone flowing over each side to the floor.

Cambria traces its roots to the family dairy business of Minnesotan Stan Davis, who started working as an apprentice making butter in 1936. Beginning in 2000, his son and grandsons branched out into quartz processing. In January, to celebrate that venture’s 20th anniversary, the company will launch 20 new surface designs.

“We’re playing with warm grays, the black side of the gray palette and a very interesting blue,” Tendler said.

How did Cambria get its start as a family-run business?

One of my reasons for joining Cambria is its background — a family of entrepreneurs, American-made, 20 years in the business with tons of passion. That’s No. 1. You see it in the employees and the product itself. It started in the 1930s in the Minnesota area, and the Davis family bought Cambria at an auction in 2000. So in 2020, it’s going to be 20 years.

Why do you think quartz has increased in popularity as a luxury countertop?

It’s a perfect combination of the upsides of natural and man-made stone. It’s cold and heavy just like stone; zero porosity, which means almost zero maintenance; it’s durable and scratch-resistant with a lifetime warranty and looks like natural stone. Quartz took off in the ’80s and it’s still No. 1 by far. It took over granite, marble, laminate — you name it. It’s one of the hardest minerals after diamonds, so there’s no need to seal it, and in order to scratch it you really have to abuse it.

Can you tell me about Cambria’s signature line of Life + Style tabletop products?

These are the items that are not necessarily countertops, like a quartz cheese plate and coasters. I was amazed to see how people like it.

What about your kitchen and bath design planner?

You can find it online, but it’s also part of our bi-yearly Cambria Style magazine. It’s a tool to help you find the right solutions. If you’re going to redo your kitchen there are a ton of options out there, so we are here to help you plan.

Christmas and I go steady for about a month. Then we break up. Everything in moderation. Well, except the holidays.

Last week, I tipped the tree lot attendant 20 bucks, which is pretty generous. I once worked a charity tree lot myself, so I know the backbreaking work and how the sap coats your palms like layers of stale honey.

Looking back, maybe the $20 tip wasn’t enough. After all, I’d made a lot of stupid jokes during the tree-buying process and also talked the kid attendant down on the price.

“Dad!” scolded my younger daughter, Rapunzel.

“I’m not some chump,” I assured her.

Though I am kind of a chump. I just hate to be one so publicly.

Honestly, you could just give me candlelight for Christmas and I’d be happy. Candlelight and my kids, maybe a passive-aggressive pet wolf that lies at my feet while I cook, snagging bits of flying bacon and other schmutz.

I’m a sucker for the sizzle of the stove. And the candle glow of early winter — in the windows, in the choir faces, in the skies that resemble big bowls of silver soup.

I’m a sucker for everything, I suppose.

When I was a little drunk the other night — on wine and friendship — I impulsively ordered my lovely and patient older daughter a beautiful sweater while sitting on the couch.

It looked really terrific, but what doesn’t look good online? Satan looks good online. Even wolves look good online, which I think is how we ended up with this one.

Anyway, the sweater looked like a puddle of baby sheep. When it arrives — if it arrives — the sweater will probably be made of plywood and there’ll be one sleeve missing. That’s how online shopping works, especially if you’re a little drunk on wine and friendship.

Look, Christmas feels all on my shoulders this year. Used to be my late wife Posh took on much of the overspending, so now it’s up to me to overspend.

At this point, I’m just buying things to buy things, which was always Posh’s guiding principle when it came to gifts.

Then there’s the food. In the kitchen, I keep looking for shortcuts. Chili in a can. Pre-sliced potatoes. A little plastic boat of dried-out deli chicken.

But I’m finding at this late stage in my life that there are no shortcuts. You get back exactly what you put into things.

The big test is Christmas. You get exactly what you put into it — or maybe a little less.

I must be something to watch during the holidays — just ask the kids. I can pull a schnitzel just watering the tree. Or burn my tongue on another big spoonful of schmutzenvogel, an old family recipe made of pheasant lips, garden gloves and gin.

Of course, my biggest fear is that my son will grow up to be just like me, though he deserves better. The other day, one of his sisters and I were listing all my teen son’s best attributes and came up with:

• After he eats, there are always little crumbs in the corners of his mouth.

• He falls asleep so easily.

• Good with wolves.

Amazing, right?

Plus, he is the most affable and resilient teenager ever. I’m really starting to love the skinny idiot. He is my true north. He is my Christmas candle.

Guess we are all candles, if we choose to be. We can brighten a holiday in the simplest ways — a joke, a phone call, a note to an old pal.

Listen, I know Christmas can be confusing: Figgy pudding? What the fig is that? And where did this Trans-Siberian Orchestra come from? (Don’t tell me Trans-Siberia, because even I know that’s not a country anymore.)

What a mess sometimes. Yet within the holidays are these very human moments — these sizzling little interludes that make us smile and carry on: the sore schnitzels, the bungled shortcuts, and especially the unexpected kindnesses of strangers and friends.

As you may know, we live in a wobbly three-bedroom house built by cretins, without a single nail, apparently, in half an hour. To hold it together, they mixed paste with cherry pie.

Our house flutters like a sail in the chill December wind and jumps a little whenever the UPS truck rumbles past. If you hang something on the wall, the wall falls down.

But as Christmas nears, our house just glows — with Posh’s memory, and the beautiful echoes of the wry Chevy Chase references our late older son used to make.

It glows with the candlelight of their smiles, come and gone.

And with fresh laughter too, like when Rapunzel gets her insanely thick winter mane caught as we decorate the tree.

“Ouch-ouch-ouch!”

“What?”

“I’m caught!”

I know, kid. We all are.

It’s Christmas.

NEW DELHI — 

Police banned public gatherings in parts of the Indian capital and other cities for a third day Friday and cut internet service to try to stop growing protests against a new citizenship law that have so far left eight people dead and more than 1,200 others detained.

Thousands of protesters stood inside and on the steps of New Delhi’s Jama Masijd, one of India’s largest mosques, after Friday afternoon prayers, waving Indian flags and shouting slogans against the government and the citizenship law, which critics say threatens the secular nature of Indian democracy in favor of a Hindu state.

Police had banned a proposed march from the mosque to an area near India’s Parliament, and a large number of officers were waiting outside the mosque.

The protests have targeted the new citizenship law, which applies to Hindus, Christians and other religious minorities who are in India illegally but can demonstrate religious persecution in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan. It does not apply to Muslims.

Critics say it’s a violation of the country’s secular constitution and the latest effort by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindu nationalist-led government to marginalize India’s 200 million Muslims.

Modi has defended it as a humanitarian gesture.

The protests began last week at predominantly Muslim universities and communities and have spread across the country and now include a broad section of the Indian public.

A law banning the assembly of more than four people was in place in parts of the Indian capital as well as in several cities in northeastern Assam state and the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, where a motorized rickshaw driver was killed during a protest in Lucknow.

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A total of eight deaths have been reported so far, including five in Assam and two in southern Karnataka state.

Authorities erected roadblocks and turned areas around mosques in New Delhi, Lucknow and other Muslim-dominated areas into security fortresses to prevent widespread demonstrations after Friday prayers.

Police temporarily held 1,200 protesters in New Delhi alone on Thursday and hundreds of others were detained in other cities after they defied bans on assembly. Most protesters were released later in the day.

While some see the citizenship law as a slight against Muslims, others, including some Hindu conservatives in Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, fear it will encourage immigration to India, where public services for its 1.3 billion people are already highly strained.

“In effect, some of the BJP’s own rank and file, the very people the party has sought to help, have come out against the law,” said Michael Kugelman, deputy director of the Asia Program at the U.S.-based Wilson Center.

Kugelman said that the government’s failure to respond to the protests, except to accuse political opponents of orchestrating them, is “likely to galvanize the protesters even more.”

The protests come amid an ongoing crackdown in Muslim-majority Kashmir, the restive Himalayan region stripped of its semiautonomous status and demoted from a state to a federal territory last summer.

They also follow a contentious process in Assam meant to weed out foreigners in the country illegally. Nearly 2 million people were excluded from an official list of citizens, about half Hindu and half Muslim, and have been asked to prove their citizenship or else be considered foreign.

India is also building a detention center for some of the tens of thousands of people the courts are expected to ultimately determine have entered illegally. Modi’s interior minister, Amit Shah, has pledged to roll out the process nationwide.

Critics say the process is a thinly veiled plot to deport millions of Muslims.