Last week, my husband Bill and I lost a dear friend.  Dorothy was our neighbor the last five years.  She became part of our family and we feel like part of hers.  Below she is in her kitchen, where we often visited and enjoyed time together. The day after she passed, some of her children, […]

I can close my eyes and remember, “The Moment” that the coronavirus became real for me.  Perhaps you can, too.  March 15th, 2020, I was in Cracker Barrel with Bill and our two kids, Joy and Ab, and four of our six grandchildren.  Not worried about face masks or social distancing.  Just enjoying the morning […]

Bill and I are in Texas this month.  In our cozy little camper.  We were grateful to head south to escape the cold Illinois weather.  We’d been to Florida a few times, so decided to try another spot. Little did we know we’d experience frigid temperatures, ice, and snow.  Loss of power, water, cell, and […]

COVID 19 has consumed much of our nation’s public and health official’s energy in 2020.  Rightly so.  The pandemic has had an unprecedented effect of our country, with 22 million cases and nearing 400,000 deaths. Another public-health disaster is also taking more lives than ever.  It is one that had the public and health official’s […]

“Have yourself a merry little Christmas Let your heart be light From now on Our troubles will be out of sight Have yourself a merry little Christmas Make the Yule-tide gay From now on Our troubles will be miles away The words to this song are familiar.  One of my favorite Christmas tunes.  Lilting, heavenly, […]

The Ladders is one of those emails that come into my inbox that I read most of the time.  It speaks to trends in the workplace, resume tips, job hunting ideas.  And sometimes the authors of the site have insightful thoughts that I pass on to friends and family.  This week’s post by the site’s […]

Social distance, self-quarantine, an abundance of caution, smize – these are all terms I didn’t hear much prior to the current pandemic.  I knew what they meant, except smize.  That one was new. I found that “smize” is a term coined by Tyra Banks in 2009 on the television show “America’s Next Top Model.”  Smizing […]

Black Panther was not a movie I’d seen.  And I feel embarrassed to admit I knew little of the career of Chadwick Boseman.  When I heard on the news that he had died and the accolades from so many pouring in, I was saddened, impressed and curious about who he was. Chadwick Boseman was born […]

I’ve always liked the song, “I Get by With a Little Help from My Friends.”  John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote it in 1967 and it was the second song on the St. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band album.  The chorus goes, Do you need anybody?                                     I just need someone to love                                     Could […]

I don’t watch horror movies any more.  I hate that feeling of being scared and out of control, so I just say “No.”  I especially dislike the ones where you think the worst is over, you can take a breath, nothing more horrific can happen, and then, SHOCKER, it does! I’m feeling like that now […]