“When you get into your 80s, it’s a whole new ball game,” my mama has told me so many times in the past few years. She’s 82 and daddy’s 85 and the past few years have been a struggle of one type or another. It doesn’t look like there’s an end in sight. Mama’s the […]

“Seniors have special issues,” says Beverly A. Potter, a California psychologist who goes by the moniker DocPotter. And then she launches into a litany of them: aches and pains caused by arthritis and other diseases common to aging, anxiety and depression due to isolation, chronic trouble sleeping. All these conditions, she says, can be treated […]

Daddy has been feeling well enough to work outside with mama and fix a few sprinklers. That was until all the fires began to rage. Now he’s not feeling so good! If you live in California you may find out the quality of the air in your area by visiting the EPA Air Now website. […]

The older I get, the more I look back into my family tree and realize that the people I came from were or are amazing and yes — inspirational. From my granny who raised fourteen children on her own to my Choctaw great-great-great grandfather who could have gotten land from the government for free but […]

My maternal grandmother — perhaps the kindest, calmest, most creative soul who ever walked the earth — taught me to knit when I was very young. It’s a gift that’s kept giving over the decades, and by now, it’s a well-worn addiction. I reach for the needles first thing upon awakening and more than a […]

Though “transitioning” and “resilience” are oft-mentioned buzzwords these days, few people put them in the same sentence as “aging.” But that’s the whole raison d’etre for the Resilient Aging Lab, which encourages seniors to think in new ways about changes that come about with the passing years. The Lab’s mantra is: ‘Aging is inevitable, but aging […]

Without doubt, many medications improve seniors’ quality of living, some even save their lives. But if not managed properly, the drugs they ingest can also sicken or kill them. In fact, an estimated 100,000 older Americans die each year due to mismanaged medications. As the number of medications a person takes each day increases, so […]

Corn on the cob, blackberry cobbler, fried okra and tomatoes warm from the garden — these are the foods that take me back to my childhood. What summer foods take you back to your first taste of summer? It’s been a strange gardening year here in the Sacramento Valley. First the weather was totally wacko […]

If you have a chance to catch the special on PBS called Fading Away – Alzheimer’s, it’s worth the watch. It follows families who are dealing with the disease and how it affects their lives going through the stages of this devastating dementia. Every 67 seconds someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. There is so much […]

For over 50 years, my parents have had the same bank. My parents are people who are extremely good with money. They worked hard for it and spend it very frugally. Regardless, their money is now causing them headaches. They grew up in the Great Depression, so being wise with money is something my parents […]