As I get older, I notice a few things that are different from my youth.  My doctors are, for the most part, the same age as my own children.  It makes me have a harder time in doctor appointments. I pay less attention to current styles of clothing and haircuts.  I love fresh fruit, but… Continue reading Dream On

We moved often during our marriage.  One move, we used a small rental truck and jammed all that we could into it from the house.  I reached up and pulled the back hatch of the truck down.  I felt success as a relatively novice mover.  However, the door had six inches to go before being fully closed… Continue reading Crazy Families Turn Left

This is the first year and a  half of my husband’s retirement, for now.  I encouraged him to become a Lyft and Uber driver.  There are hoops to jump through to do these to make a little extra cash.  One son does this in Los Angeles as well as working full time.  I can’t do… Continue reading Retired

Don’t say anything at all.  Your mother told you that, mine did as well.  Give me a pen, however, I have been known to write polite negative newspaper columns that upset forty year old men living with their mothers and soup kitchen coordinators. I have apologized, in writing, and actually on the telephone.  For a… Continue reading If You Can’t Say Anything Nice…

I had memorable Christmas seasons leading up to the actual holiday.  The season  began after Memorial Day. I was in control, and I had stretched a budget of three hundred dollars into homemade gifts for all and a meal or two as well.  I played holiday music as I made ornaments for our Christmas tree.… Continue reading When Christmas Hit Menopause

We have all written at least one holiday happy letter.  I did, more than one.  I usually wrote them in February, a boring month at our house.  I mixed fact with fiction as I wrote the letter.  I am much older now and there is a sense of panic around the holidays due to things… Continue reading Holiday Letters

It is windy today. The wheel of misfortune is spinning and so are the recycling bins of well-meaning citizens.  The blue box containers are whisked out of the driveway and down the street. The contents of these containers dump meaningless flotsam and jetsam .  Mother Nature rains on her own parade.  I have watched a… Continue reading Recycling Roulette

I often get up at three a.m. with a headache.  There is never so much as a children’s chewable aspirin in the house to help me out.  When I do not have a thing in the house to take for a headache, I get a headache.  When I have not cleaned the house for two… Continue reading Basic Training

I have to start decorating for Christmas early.  It is not happening at all this year, due to an unscheduled trip to south Florida to spend quality time with my ninety-one year old father-in-law.  We drove.  I have advise to give to you.  Don’t drive from the far north to the deep south in the U.S…I… Continue reading Christmas Light Fight

Years ago, my mother cooked her last Thanksgiving turkey.  I did not send her my holiday letter that year because she was “in” it, in all her holiday glory.  I roasted her with the turkey that year. Her neighbors photocopied the published article and hustled to my mother’s house to share it with her. Later… Continue reading The Incredible Shrinking Turkey