When they return from a vacation, I suspect my readers have an experience similar to mine. I’m surprised the hurley burly of the everyday world has changed not a whit. Old political feuds continue. North Korea has fired another rocket. China remains complacent. Russian hacke
IF ONE COULD TALK WITH RUDYARD KIPLING Rudyard Kipling’s poem “If” offers advice on character building and how to weather the vagaries of one’s fellowman. Unfortunately, it says nothing about coping with electronic devices, which is natural enough as the man died in 1936.
Maybe it’s because I live alone, but I spend a good deal of time arguing with my reading material, especially those essays or books that are nonfiction. My complaints aren’t content to be voiced in my head but are expressed out loud, as if the author were perched in the armchair a
Yesterday, I offered a few savings suggestions to pad your retirement account. (Blog 8/8/2016) Today, I’m going to recount a few ways to protect income after you’ve retired. Elizabeth O’Brien encourages us to plan for the unpredictable by setting aside money for emergencies
On a recent Saturday, I escaped from the retirement center with two delightful fellow inmates. I wanted to learn how to ride a bus, something I hadn’t done in years. Fortunately my new friends were game to show me the ropes. One supplied me with a ticket. The other gave me ins
My material grandmother used to warn her daughter that by laughing so much her teeth might freeze — no easy feat in the tropical country like Costa Rica. Happily the threat didn’t dissuade my mother who loves to laugh to this day. As she’s passed her 100 birthday, it’s
My mother turned 98 in February. She does pretty well for her age but of late, I’ve noticed changes. She has trouble finding words to express herself and little skills, like knowing how to use a knife and fork, sometimes escapes her. When I intervene by filling in the missing word o
The last time I visited my mother, I spent a lot of time searching for her glasses. She’s legally blind, so the glasses don’t provide much benefit; but she was upset when she couldn’t find them. I rummaged in the obvious places then moved on to her microwave. Nothing there. Fi
When I was a senior in college, I earned my tuition by working as the assistant to the woman in charge of food and dormitory services. Originally, she’d owned a restaurant in New York but came to Oregon when her husband got a promotion. She found the city too sleepy for her liki
THE SECRET OF FRIDAY LUNCHES Yesterday, I didn’t take my usual walk through the park. I walked to my bank instead. It took me through an area I seldom pass and I was surprised to discover the changes taking place. Several businesses, most of them restaurants, had sprung up and as I