Dear << Test First Name >>, Quarantining is  a new way of life when traveling from one state to the next –  as I found out last month when I traveled from my home in Florida to the state of New York. Along with my husband, I quarantined in a privately-owned apartment on the Lower East Continue reading

I celebrated my 73rd birthday two days ago. Here’s the whine: I’m in New York City. Every museum is closed. Broadway is dark. No inside dining. I’m in New York City and the doctor has ordered me to stay off my feet due to my very slow healing ankle injury. Maybe just a tiny, teeny Continue reading

We all have talents and as the number of candles on our birthday cakes increases, many of us learn to be both comfortable and protective of our talents and to even exploit them for the greater good. I am not a farmer –I don’t plant and harvest wheat or rice. I don’t raise livestock. I Continue reading

His name was Alfred and he was 21 years old, just like me. He was married with one child, just like me. Unlike me, though, Alfred was a high school drop-out with no kind, loving parents to see to it that he got a chance for a college education. His father had abandoned the family Continue reading

Okay. Who am I kidding? I keep telling myself how well I am coping during this pandemic and period of national and global unrest. Then I look at my ravished cuticles – picked at incessantly. Then I acknowledge my poor sleeping situation. Then I realize how often I walk around my house gnashing my teeth. Continue reading

Peanut butter and banana nut muffins From Thug Kitchen Ingredients: 2 cups whole wheat pastry or all purpose flour 1 tbsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 cup peanut butter 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar 3/4 cup plain almond or other non-dairy milk 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 regular size bananas) Continue reading

Eating your weight in Doritos and Oreos while binge watching all that you can on Netflix? Unmotivated to clean closets, tackle the rising wave of clutter, ride your bike, take an online yoga class? You are not alone. Dave Portnoy tweets: Quarantine is like airport rules for eating. Everything is fair game. Moiz Ali tweets: Continue reading

Memorial Day is fast approaching – a holiday which honors those who died while serving our country in the armed forces. This week’s newsletter is composed of short vignettes about my dad’s experience in the Army Air Corp as a ball turret gunner on a B-17 during World War 2. Most of these reminiscences were Continue reading

Yesterday, I was clever so I wanted to change the world. Today, I am wise so I am changing myself. – Rumi A young woman went to her mother in the midst of enduring the pandemic – complaining about how things were so hard for her. She was tired of the social constraints. And the Continue reading

Over the years, I’ve written SO MUCH about mothers, mothering, lack of mothering, tedium of mothering and love of mothering. This year I diverged from the pattern and recorded some videos instead. Happy listening! An alternative to worry: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_lLtTIJ5jF/ To tell or not tell questionable tidbits of family lore to your kids and grandkids: https://www.instagram.com/p/B_xaNmPpE_r/ Continue reading