It’s Wednesday, August 30, 2023 at 7:14pm and I am sitting on my screened-in porch writing this column. I am over-looking my 100-year-old oak trees just a few yards from where I sit. Birds are chirping. The early evening sky is a startling blue. And sounds of traffic just beyond my walled yard intermittently break Continue reading

It’s Wednesday, August 30, 2023 at 7:14pm and I am sitting on my screened-in porch writing this column. I am over-looking my 100-year-old oak trees just a few yards from where I sit. Birds are chirping. The early evening sky is a startling blue. And sounds of traffic just beyond my walled yard intermittently break Continue reading

My friend Lynne Billing sent me the following information:  A psychologist, Carla Marie Manly, watched the new Barbie movie and had this to say about cinematic therapy: This form of ‘cinematic therapy’ I experienced watching Barbie is a legitimate concept. Films have the potential to improve our mental and emotional health. When cinematic content inspires us to discover and become our best Continue reading

Everywhere I look in my house, things are in in disarray The books on the topmost shelves of my living room wall are stuffed together in no particular order  The suitcases of every shape, size, and color are haphazardly piled in the corner of the garage between the pile of broken flower pots and endless Continue reading

My husband is turning 76 years-old today. We were born in the same month, in the same year, in the same city and in the same hospital. My  mother left the hospital with me the day his mother checked into the maternity ward to give birth to him. In less than a week, we will be celebrating our Continue reading

How do I really feel now that I am turning 76 years old tomorrow? Constantly adjusting to the aging process can be an energy sucker:     Clutching the bannister when using the stairs – no more bounding up and down effortlessly.      Ditto for getting out of bed. The operative word now is SLOWLY. No leaps. My Continue reading

A lot of people have happy places. My sister’s happy place is a city where she spent a lot of time visiting when growing up: Tampa, Florida. A friend loves nesting at home on the couch with her deaf cat. Another friend tells me her happy place is working as a dental hygienist and that Continue reading

This is the only sports column I have ever written and intend to write. This is Part 1 and next week will be Part 2 and then: NEVER AGAIN. It all started with my grandfather, Frank, who frequently went to see the Cincinnati Reds play at Crosley Field in the 1930’s. He was such an Continue reading

I Really Did Think I Was Alone I thought most of my contemporaries were kicking back their feet     Leisurely going through their days     Taking an exercise class      Traveling to Spain     Lunching with the girls     Playing a little pickleball     Doing something totally frivolous at whim And here I was    Continue reading

It’s located in a very pleasant, but generic, office park off a major highway. That’s about the only ordinary thing I can say about this storefront named Loft 181. Because Loft 181 is NOT ordinary. Billed as a “boutique-style” shop, Loft 181 caters to a very unique segment of the population: girls in foster care and girls and women Continue reading