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I’m on day three of being unable to speak. Actually, today I can make little croaking noises but I’m told not to try. Rest those vocal chords. Did I bring this on myself? No and Yes. I’ve had a nasty virus…

This year I made Michael a Valentine’s Day card. I meant it to be professional-looking, but in the end it looked like an elementary-school art project, complete with construction paper and glued on copies of photographs.

I don’t know about you, but when I look at this baby’s picture, my first reaction is: Good Lord, get that child some cosmetics, stat! We need to fix that baby’s skin!

This afternoon we were driving into town, and I looked up at the mountains across from the river and yet again marveled that this is our home town. We’re still in the discovery phase – new hiking trails, new restaurants, new….everything.…

It is so easy to forget – especially during the holidays – that there are more than one million people incarcerated in the United States. In New York State, the number of men and women locked up is roughly 60,000. 

The Weatherman and I are settling into our new home in the Hudson Valley. We’ve been exploring our new surroundings, and almost every day, we turn to each other with wonderment and say, “We live here!”

When I got married, I had to convert to my husband’s football team. I learned all about the game. I wore the NFL swag. I even went to the Super Bowl, back when the face price of the tickets were $40,…

Is it weird to be sentimental about kitchen appliances? This was our first Thanksgiving in the new house, but I was surrounded by old favorites – my preferred roasting pan, my gravy separator, the dish I always use for the cranberry…

I’m no good at being noble, but it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.

“Because of the intense polarization of social media and even our respected media, it’s very hard to make any kind of objective and well thought-out comment on all of the world’s problems and how they are being addressed by our government.…

Jimmy Cliff, the great reggae singer, had a great song on his “Harder They Come album” called “Limbo.” It was not about the dance but the concept of limbo – meaning an intermediate state or condition, an uncertain period awaiting a…

My little granddaughter has several favorite books she wants to hear over and over, including such scintillating titles as “Cars and Trucks” and “Giant Work Machines.” This is the same little girl who likes to scoot backwards in the bathtub, saying…

Everyone says that moving is extremely stressful, and Lord knows, I agree. I’ve been packing up the house we’ve lived in for the last 35 years, in anticipation of moving.

When did it become a thing to bring your mother to a house showing?  Our house has been on the market for three weeks, and I can’t tell you how many times buyers have brought their moms to the showings. Now,…

Every year, I get a breast MRI, because I’m at high-risk for breast cancer. It’s not the most pleasant 25 minutes, but I’m grateful the technology exists to get such a detailed screening. For this scan, you need to be flat…

Not. So all I will say on this subject is that I now remember why I only sell a house every 35 years or so. And since the house is on the market, I will not be publishing any gory details.…

SAG-AFTRA, the union that represents thousands of screen actors, has joined screenwriters who walked off the job in May. The writers and actors want a better contract, and also protection against artificial intelligence encroaching on their jobs.

When I had my first baby, my husband took the morning off. I had a scheduled caesarian section, and he was not permitted in the operating room.

As a Corrections Officer (Writers Division), I’m the first to admit that I’d make a lousy realtor. I wouldn’t have the knowledge, patience, or savvy to sell a house.

Babysitting our 19-month old granddaughter this weekend. I think we may have overdone it today…

Please, please, please – can we retire the word “toxic” from our daily vocabulary? Toxic people, toxic relationships, toxic workplaces.

Today, I have asked Chat AI to write a short and funny blog post. This is what it came up with: “Title: The Trials and Tribulations of Online Shopping”

I collect old magazines. Since I write semi-regularly for Good Housekeeping, I was particularly thrilled to come across this November, 1930 issue.

When I tell people that my Mom is 99 years old, I get two kinds of responses. The first is along these lines: “Bless her! You are so lucky to have her!”

SUNDAY: Spent the day with my 99-year-old Mom in the Emergency Room. She is okay, for now. Let’s just say it was stressful.

The last time my husband and I shopped for a new home, the was no Internet. It was 1988, and we visited homes with a realtor, who handed us a piece of paper on each property with the house’s specs –…

The Grammar Police lists the following offenders, recently sighted in our area. Please note: we are desperate to stop these bad actors before they become repeat offenders:

I’ve been writing for AARP a lot lately and, if  I do say so myself, I love their publications. That said, I often find myself shocked at who qualifies for senior. Mind you,  membership starts at age 50, but that means…

What I mean is that this morning my husband and I drove north about 45 minutes to snag an hour with our 1-year-old granddaughter.

I love to eavesdrop. There, I’ve said it. I overhear a sentence or two, and then I’m off to the races, imagining the whole story.

My baby’s baby is sick. It’s nothing serious. My granddaughter has a stomach bug and this, too, shall pass.

For the last two weeks, I’ve been working on a magazine story about estrangement between adult children and their parents. Researching the article really frightened me. 

If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do for them is to present them with copies of ‘The Elements of Style.’

I’m writing this from my daughter and son-in-law’s house. On Tuesday, at about 3 am (okay, I guess technically it was Wednesday morning) a huge pine tree fell, just missing the bedroom and clipping the front porch.

I don’t watch much TV, which means that half the time, I don’t know what my friends are talking about.

I’m writing this on Veteran’s Day, one when I always think of my late Dad. Like so many of his generation, he fought in WWII, and had, as they said back then, “a hard war.” I know my Dad liberated at…

In the early 1980s, I regularly went to an aerobics class at the YMCA in Manhattan. It was taught by a member of the music group “The Village People” (the one who wore the Native American headdress, if you must know).…

Today these two got their claws trimmed at the vet’s. When they were brought out of the exam room after what should have been a routine tech visit, there was carnage. 

It’s not quite 8 pm on my birthday, and I’m snuggled onto our family room couch, post-dinner. My husband is also on the couch (it’s a big one – deep and forest green) perusing his phone.

“Dishonesty in writing is the one unforgivable sin.”  I just read that sentence in an essay on writing advice. I was trying to clear my email box before sitting down to blog something pithy.

“Don’t forget about your old mother while you enjoy that baby.” That was ten minutes ago, in a phone call from my (yep, 98 1/2 year-old) mother.

Each week when I visit my Mom, we go through her mail and papers. My mom is 98 years old and legally blind, but mentally sharp. I noticed her local newspaper had arrived and asked her if she wanted me to…

I’ve written thousands (yes thousands) of articles over my career, and I still can’t predict which ones are going to get traction. Pieces I spend days laboring over get no notice, while something I write effortlessly in one sitting gets a…

You know how dozens of news headlines pass before your eyes every day, and you get overwhelmed? And how you are saturated with emotion over the war in Ukraine and the constant mass shootings in this country and the January 6…

It’s not so hot out, but our air conditioning broke, and after making a somewhat labor-intensive dinner last night, I couldn’t face multiple boiling pots and a hot oven tonight.

On the one hand, I’m beyond excited about a long-planned family get together. We are going with my kids, their spouses, my granddaughter and my beloved brother-in-law to the Adirondacks. It’s been a long time since we’ve been under one roof.…

Thank you for calling CareMount Medical. If this is a medical emergency, pleases hang up and dial 911. We are experiencing extremely high call volumes and appointment requests …

Yesterday morning, I visited with my seven-month-old granddaughter. I hadn’t seen her in about 10 days, and marveled at how much she’d changed in that short period. She was sitting up unaided.

“Be sure to drink plenty of water when you get home to flush out the toxins,” the massage therapist told me. The toxins? I’m sorry, had I unknowingly swallowed pesticides on the massage table?

Yesterday, my husband and I had our first all-day babysitting job for our 6 month old granddaughter. And tomorrow she spends the night at our house. Although we all lived together as we got through Covid, these are our first solo…

Earlier this week, I mentioned to my daughter that I thought I had Covid “Brain Frog.” Irritated with my slip, I corrected myself. “I mean, “Bran Fog,” I said.  Sigh.

Why did I think that if I dodged it this long, I was not going to get Covid? I felt especially cocky after getting my second booster. Even afterwards, I always wore a K-95 mask while out in public.

I’m in possession of a 1926 guide to health, written by the then President of the Chicago Theological Seminar. It’s full of wisdom and guidance and right now I’m enjoying the chapters of adolescence. 

I’m in this weird state where I’m having lots of things published, but I don’t feel like writing. I always feel like writing, to the point where I have long been contemptuous of the idea of “writer’s block.”

How’s that for a concept? I didn’t make it up, but came across it on a podcast. It’s kind of brilliant. Because somehow email has become a job in itself. “Ugh, I’ve got to get through my email.”

You didn’t back up? Those are words you should never say to anyone who has lost days, weeks, or years of work on a computer. Most of us who have experienced the stomach plunging, heart-racing, dry-throated realization that everything you’ve been…

We keep hearing about how Covid has constrained our lives. Well, that is not the experience of my cat, Van Gogh.

I’ve heard a lot about the “sandwich generation” – middle aged people who are coping with their aging parents and their own kids. Well, I’d like to make a pitch for what I’ve dubbed the “panini generation.”

Every few months, I put together the alumni news from my college classmates. This involves: -An initial plea for news -A follow up desperate plea for news -A final plea, which include statements like, “Thanks to the THREE classmates who have…

I’m writing this on New Year’s Eve, facing big decisions on our celebratory plans tonight. Should we eat in the kitchen or the dining room? Not change into pajamas until after dinner?  Maybe wear our nicest pajamas? Stay up until 9:30…

I try not to get attached to material things. But I have a thing about my wool hat. Maybe it’s because I’ve hung on to it for so long   – at least since the early 1990s. We’ve seen a lot together.

Last week I wrote about deal breaking phrases. Today I need to address the kind of overwriting that drives me to distraction. In fact, if you saw someone driving alone but yelling inside her car recently, that was probably me, listening…

I’m almost done listening to the first batch of audio books for awards season. As always, there are strong entries and weak ones. At this point, I have instituted a new rule for sorting finalists. If certain phrases come up, I…

I am not mocking Sally Field’s Oscar acceptance speech.  In fact, I’ve always completely related to it.

I imagine my brain as crisscrossed with storylines and word patterns. Words are my work, my pleasure and my play things.

“I’m going to call your daughter, ” my Mom told me. “I think she could use some reassurance.” “That’s kind of you, Mom,” I replied. “She’s doing fine and feels well, but I’m sure she’d love to hear from you.”

The menu: grilled swordfish, lemon orzo, roasted vegetables and key lime pie. I love to cook but all that chopping and grating can get boring over time. Unless you are listening to a great book while you cook. In fact, “book”…

Many of us can’t wrap our heads around why so many people won’t get the Covid vaccine. I’m pretty tired of reading about conspiracy theories, distrust of the government, and on and on.

I feel sorry for today’s college students for many reasons, Covid among them. Next to the pandemic, this may seem minor, but I also feel sad that they are asked to respond to questionnaires about roommate preferences…

In the mid-1960s, my parents had a dark blue Mercury station wagon. On the passenger door, painted in red script under the window, were the words “The Rolling Stones.”

A few weeks ago, I was reading a funny essay by David Sedaris and came across this paragraph: When Trump was President, I started every morning by reading the New York Times, followed by the Washington Post, and would track both papers’…

Monday feels like a month ago. At the beginning of the week, I was still up in Adirondack heaven. On top of all the other beauty, the wildflowers are out in full force, as you can see above. Can’t wait to…

No, no – it’s not heaven, except for me it kind of is. This was taken yesterday from the top of a mountain in the Adirondacks. The one below is taken in the early evening, down at the lake.

I think I’ve now seen pretty much everyone I was missing during the pandemic. First, came the reunion with my kids, which has now been magnified times three. As soon as we were all vaccinated, my husband and I flew out West…

A few weeks ago,  I wrote about corrections in the print and digital journalism world. But humiliation and embarrassment isn’t only relegated to mistakes that make it into the story.

Let’s start by saying that I recognize my good fortune. I have health insurance, limited as it may be. And my medical problems to date are all mechanical – that is, I have parts that are giving me problems, but not…

I remember the first time a reader requested a correction for an article I wrote. At the time, I was a “copy girl” for The New York Times. This was back when dinosaurs roamed the earth, and newspapers were only print,…

Last week I interviewed several survivors of 9/11. The interviews were for an article I’m writing about the 20th Anniversary of the attacks. It’s hard to believe that this September will mark two decades since that awful day.

I’d long fantasized about what it would be like to hug my (adult) children again after 14 months of Covid-induced separation. Both my kids live on the West Coast and I’m in New York.

Last night I finished “Klara and The Sun” by Katzuo Ishiguro, and I feel like a cherished friend just left town. I loved this book. Loved it. Loved, loved, loved it.

I wanted to write about something happy and spring-like, but I’m still reeling from the week. First, the initial reaction to the Derrick Chauvin verdict. White people I know: “Justice!” Black people I know: “Accountability. But not justice.” Fair enough.

The breakup seemed sudden, but the relationship problems must have been simmering below the surface for awhile.  And I didn’t delete my account – only suspended it. Call it a trial separation, though at this point, I can’t see us getting…