SPARKLING CLEAN
If you’re going to spring for some bling this holiday season, make darn sure you throw in a couple hundred extra bucks to keep all of your special someone’s jewels sparkling clean. And who better than your local jeweler to make it happen. For the most part jewelry stores use ultrasonic cleaning (as well as steam cleaners, but that’s a bit much for at-home cleaning), which is high-frequency sound waves that create a vibrational pattern causing millions of microscopic bubbles to form. During the high pressure stage, the bubbles collapse or implode, releasing enormous amounts of energy. The bubbles attack the cavities and crevasses, pulling all debris off the jewelry. “The wattage is the most important thing for a jewelry cleaner,” says P.J. Naomi of Paul’s Jewelry, who suggests a machine that has at least 70 watts of power. Just about every jeweler in town has access to ultrasonic systems from his or her suppliers, but don’t wait till the day before Christmas. Paul’s, for one, doesn’t stock the cleaning systems and needs a couple of days to get them in. “These are commercial grade; they’re made for the jewelry industry,” Naomi says. Prices start at about $180. — Leslie Turk

GOOD, CLEAN FUN
Stock the stuffings with some Cajun humor this holiday season. State Rep. Jonathan Perry, an Abbeville Republican, is a former winner of the International Cajun Joke-Telling Contest. He’s now peddling You Know, a feature-length DVD of a recent sold-out performance at the Grand Opera House of the South in Crowley.
An attorney by vocation, the first-term lawmaker and Kaplan native says he thinks his popularity as a comedian actually helped get him elected. In the House, Perry is assigned to the Administration of Criminal Justice Committee, as well as the Agriculture, Forestry, Aquaculture, and Rural Development Committee; Ways and Means; and the Joint Legislative Committee on Capital Outlay, no laughing matter. On stage, he’s one funny dude. You Know is available for $19.99 at Perry’s Web site, cajuncomedy.com .  — Walter Pierce

TASTES, TAILS AND TALES
Janice “Boo” Macomber has a lot going on. The Abbeville native retreats to Camp Peace, south of the Boston canal, still standing proud after Hurricane Rita, with a coterie of women. They cook, laugh, tell stories and just hang at a paradise in the marsh only reachable by boat. Macomber’s stories run the gamut from her hippy days backpacking from Hawaii to Holland to her “white witch” decade in the French Quarter. At the behest of friends and family she created a cookbook, Tastes, Tails and Tales with the High Priestess of the Bayou, (that’s what her friends call her), where stories and stirring intertwine in a tribute to her love of the wet world we live in. A book sale and signing at the Paul and Lulu Hilliard University Art Museum bookstore takes place on Saturday, Nov. 21, from 1-3 p.m. Or to order a copy, $15, contact Macomber at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it , or call 344-7360. — Mary Tutwiler