Why newspapers? Why now?

Many of the older people around us grew up reading newspapers constantly. Older people commonly sat at tables in coffee shops and gas stations and in the breakroom at their jobs and read old newspapers that were lying around and used the articles to start conversations.

Stray Thoughts: Reflections on Charlie Kirk

Like millions of Americans, I found myself at a loss for words, and lost sleep and some tears over this man I had never met. It was abundantly clear to me that this man was the thought-leader and the cultural phenomenon of the modern era.

Exercise and arthritis: What really works

If your joints ache after sitting too long or make crackling sounds when you get up, you’re not alone. More than half of older adults in the U.S.

Little Pasture on the Prairie

Yesterday, we attended the wedding of my husband’s niece. For some reason the topic of how old we’ve all gotten kept coming up.

CANDLES AND MIRRORS: That’s the way the cookie crumbles

I am a cookie snob. No need to stroll through the cookie aisle of the grocery store. Sometimes I consider all the additives that allow those plastic packages to sit for months or more, but mostly I don’t like the taste. Even the fresh, bakerymade confections have little appeal.

On the spectrum

I had a friend in high school who was generally considered a bit odd. He didn’t dress quite right, never knew how to “read the room,” and often talked far too long and in far to much detail about computers – at a time when very few households even had one.

What questions do you have?

We have all heard it before. Before the end of the visit, the doctor will usually ask, “Do you have any questions?” That is usually the precise moment that my mind goes completely blank. Every question I can think of seems silly or embarrassing.

Little Pasture on the Prairie

When I signed on to take over the community garden plot on the edge of town, I had a pretty good idea that I was biting off more than I could chew. And I mean that literally – I knew it would be a lot of work, but also that it would (hopefully) produce far more than I could eat.

CANDLES AND MIRRORS: Try it! You’ll like it!

“Just eat one bite. You need to try it.” It was one of the rules at our supper table when we grew up on the farm. Most often, the rule applied to vegetables. Asparagus, cooked spinach, carrots. We were expected to put one spoonful on our plate.

Stray Thoughts: Shelly

She was a baby in the mid-seventies and never forgot the winters of her youth or that one particular drought in the nineties.She struggled through the lean times when food was short, and without any resources, she was underwater half the time not unlike many of the residents of her neighborhood.