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 […]

Growing up, it was a rarity when we actually ate at a restaurant or even fast food. Come to think of it, there weren’t many fast food places around when I was growing up. So that left the meals and cooking up to mama. Well, she’s 82 and she’s about ready to throw in the […]

Nurture and nature — both make us the people that we are. When I started taking a little time to really think about the people I come from, more things in my life make a lot more sense! I know where I get my love of sports, my passion for good food and digging in […]

I’m writing this blog today on the Fourth of July and I can’t dare think about an Independence Day without remembering the summers of my childhood. Almost every July was spent at my two grannies’ houses back in Oklahoma. They lived in little bitty towns but that didn’t matter. My cousins also descended on both […]

Being a hero is not just for those who do one heroic deed, they are for people like my daddy who was a hero every day of his life. He’s always been my hero. From my earliest memories, no one would dare compare to him. When I was very small, he worked three jobs to […]