The usual style of my columns is snarky sarcasm or social satire. This month’s essay is more whimsical. As with many of my others, it was inspired by items in the news and then acquired a life of its own.   Many local libraries are hosting fun events for children in their communities: sleepovers for their cherished stuffed animals. The child brings the stuffy to the library and leaves it overnight. The library takes pictures of all the toys together and when they’re picked up by their owners the next day, they go home with a photo documenting their adventure. No word on whether they have ..read more

A recent TV program on political scandals reminded me of a euphemism that was popular during one of those scandals. Former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford had gone to Argentina to spend time with his mistress. Their relationship had been a secret up until then. He told his staff that he would be hiking the Appalachian Trail. When his affair came to light, the phrase: “Hiking the Appalachian Trail” became a euphemism for having an extramarital affair. I love that expression! It’s a civil way to say something critical. It set me to wondering what other clever euphemisms and idioms I had for ..read more

 As we get older, it becomes more and more difficult to do our own pedicures. I’ve put together some guidelines especially for seniors. I’m also including some information to help you allocate time for the job.   The first thing you’ll want to do is to collect all the tools you’ll need for your pedicure. You don’t want to have to stop part way into the process to search for something essential. If you’re a senior, here’s what you should gather up. ·      3.5 or 4.0 magnifier reading glasses ·      Nail clipper for arthritic hands ·&nb ..read more

 On the First day of Christnukkah my true love sent to me A Star of David On A Pine Tree.   On the Second day of Christnukkah my true love sent to me Two Challah Loaves (With spectacular braiding!) And A Star of David On A Pine Tree.   On the Third day of Christnukkah my true love sent to me Three Wise Men, Two Challah Loaves, And A Star of David On A Pine Tree.   On the Fourth day of Christnukkah my true love sent to me Four Kvetching Yentas, Three Wise Men, Two Challah Loaves, And A Star of David On A Pine Tree.   On the Fifth day of Christnukkah my true love sent to ..read more

 The holidays are upon us and that means lots of meals, both at home and dining out. We almost need a PhD in Culinary Arts to plan a proper menu these days. There are some obscure food acronyms that we all should be aware of as we choose our meals. I’ll get to those later. This is a good time to reacquaint ourselves with important eating terms. Also to learn a new term that I’ve coined to better describe where today’s food issues have taken us. As a refresher, let’s start with the difference between a gourmet and gourmand.   A gourmet is someone who knows everything about food, espec ..read more

September is my birthday month and it seems like a good time to jump in on the debate over gender pronouns. If you’ve noticed emails or letters with “she/her” or “he/him” after the name of the person who sent the message, you’ve already been touched by this debate. It’s gained fairly wide acceptance rather quickly and has likely left many of you wondering what the heck it’s all about.   I’m not sure who or what started it. Perhaps androgynous young people did. Or those transitioning from one sex to another. Whatever the answer, a common solution seems to be to refer to everyone as “they/t ..read more

    Summer is here and many folks are making plans for their visits to the beach. That usually means the seashore. I grew up in a lake community and we lived there all year round. I never developed an attraction for the ocean. All that sticky salt and sand in places I won’t mention here. It’s been years since I even thought about going to a beach. The older that I got, the less my body seemed to want to be seen in a bathing suit.   Something changed this year. For reasons that I won’t take space explaining, I lost at least twenty pounds this Spring. Rest easy; it wasn’t because ..read more

 A few days ago I was struggling to brush my teeth. My dominant hand is still partially paralyzed. The toothpaste kept rolling off the brush. When I was in marketing at Colgate Palmolive, one of my assignments was in oral care. I learned that the brushing action and flossing are actually more important than the product. Put another way, I remembered that a “little dab will do you.”   Suddenly, I became captive of an earworm from the past, with the jingle: “Brylcreem, a little dab ‘ll do ya!” burrowing into my ear. “Brylcreem, you look so debonair! Brylcreem, the girls will all pursue ..read more

Recently I learned that one of my band mates had died, apparently quite suddenly. None of us knew he was seriously ill. It occurred to me that with all the health issues I’ve been dealing with over the past few years, my demise would hardly come as a surprise. More likely friends would wonder: “Which ailment was it that finally got her?”   The more I thought about it, the more I realized that I’ve been playing Medical Whack-A-Mole. When I finally get one illness under control, another one pops up to take its place. Many times, it was the treatment for the first that caused the next one. L ..read more

Lately we’ve seen a lot of mentions of retro in the media. Generally it’s in reference to clothing styles, but other categories have also appeared. Here’s some framework for the term “retro.” It typically refers to items and styles that are between 20 and 40 years old or so. Using today as a benchmark, that means from 1983 to 2003.   You might be wondering what the difference is between “retro” and “vintage”.  As a rule, vintage items are authentic of the period in question. Retro items are derivative; they’re new items that imitate the vintage period. I’m going to keep this simple a ..read more