Many of the nation’s 40 million family caregivers are caught in a bind made worse by state policies requiring them to work a number of hours in paid jobs every month to retain the insurance coverage provided by Medicaid, called Medi-Cal in California. They simply cannot take time away from their caregiving duties to do […]

My mama often complains that my daddy spends too much time watching television. He loves sports and those crazy judge shows along with James Garner in Rockford Files. He tries to ignore her but in the end, she does make a difference. Too much time watching the “boob tube” will indeed turn your brain to […]

The stories of your family and the people you come from are locked away in your elders’ minds. The holiday season is the perfect time to ask them, “Who am I and who did I come from?” If you don’t think the answers will be very interesting, just hold on to your hat! There’s a […]

Yesterday my BFF and I started out for town to do the last of our Christmas Shopping. I got a little more than I bargained for. Lesson learned — watch out for those cement car stoppers. After a successful trip to the Tractor Store and the Dollar Tree, Linda and I headed on over to […]

When the sun fails to shine through the clouds and the weather turns cold a lot of us get a little blue. My daddy is one who hates the winter. He’s like an old bear who decides it’s time to hibernate. He turns up the heat, gets in his recliner and chooses to snooze — […]

The fervor sets in around the middle of October, when pumpkins appear, seeming to beg to be carved into jack-o-lanterns and homeowners give in to the newish tradition of putting up ornate and ghoulish yard decorations. Then comes the demand to focus on being thankful, with gatherings of family members and the hand-wringing over serving […]

Yes, I need to lose weight and get more exercise but neither one of these will be my New Years’ goal. Too many years I focused on my outside when it came to making New Year’s resolutions. This year will be different. I’m going to work on the inside first. The older I get, the […]

“Oh, I really used to love to shop,” says Marnie Stuart. “I’d get all dressed up in the morning and head out, and stay at it all day long. Sometimes, I’d come home and then regret not getting some item or another — and I’d go right back that afternoon and get it.” But Stuart, […]

I love taking photos and have since I was a kid. I also love looking at the really old pictures passed down through the family. It’s really sad when there are some pictures and no one seems to know the names and relationships. It makes me wonder. How many years will it take before no […]

“I flew solo,” says Jane Barton, recalling that “by nature, nurture, and necessity” she became the primary caregiver for her mother who suffered a long and debilitating illness. Barton was only 15 years old when that solo flight began. Decades later, she says the biggest lesson she learned from the experience is still indelibly etched […]