I ran into a friend at the post office the other day. She had a December Senior News clutched with her holiday cards and junk mail, and wanted to know the January topic. She wants to write something, she told me, for perhaps the 20th time. “Transitions,” I said. Changes coming in 2026. I recited my bit about ...

“What a wondrous thing a hummingbird is — a flash of life and color.” — Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

In parts of the Southern Hemisphere, where the New Year happens in mid-summer, one tradition is to wear white to the beach and jump over an incoming wave while clutching a flute of champagne. Here in Humboldt, that’s a good way to find yourself too intimate with a cold sneaker wave — although that’s the goal ...

One thing — among many — that makes Trinidad special is the weekly Song Circle on Sunday afternoons. Free to anyone who enjoys singing, the group gathers to sing from two songbooks that include a vast number of classic folk songs from the Beatles and Judy Collins to Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger, accompanied by p...

When life shifts — new chapters, uncertain moments, unexpected turns — one thing has the power to steady us: friendship. It’s the laughter that shows up in hard seasons, the encouragement that reminds us we are not alone, and the quiet support that fills the spaces where words fall short.

“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ‘It will be happier.’” ― Alfred Lord Tennyson “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.” ― Dolly Parton

What makes a gathering of people magical? Well, it’s the waiting for everyone to drive up the drive. It’s the hellos and the hugs and stories of the trip and how the dogs fared. It’s waking up in the morning to, “Who wants coffee? I got some on to brew.” Pancakes? Waffles? Eggs? Scrambled or fried? While brea...

As I was sitting down to write this piece, I saw a story in the Times-Standard about North Coast Ophthalmology closing because the retiring owners have been unable find anyone to take over the practice. Regular readers of Senior News will be aware that we’ve been tracking the declining medical scene here in H...

On Leap Year Eve 2020, I retired from the federal government. I thought I would be traveling to exotic locales, but COVID stopped my international travel plans. Living on the East Coast, I visited national parks during the pandemic. This led me to move to Humboldt County in October 2020 to breathe clean air, ...

The state housing department has adjusted its measure of what it means to be “poor” in California, the nonprofit news source CalMatters reports. For housing purposes, a single person without dependents earning $109,000 is considered “low-income” in five California counties — Marin, San Francisco, San Mateo, S...

I gave up New Year’s Resolutions designed to improve myself several years ago. Let’s face it — that ship has sailed. Resolutions sound much more like a wish list for FedEx or DoorDash to deliver … ASAP. This New Year, I have only three things I desperately want to drop out of the sky and land on me without ma...

I have seen my fair share of grief with death over my lifetime. I lost a father at age 12 from excessive drinking, and an older brother whom I was close to, from suicide when I was 18. My mother died at 72 from a heart attack when I was 36. My older brother died at age 49 of melanoma when I was 38. The good n...

Eleven smiling faces, including my own, captured in a photo 24 years ago. It was a Saturday afternoon and we were enjoying a late lunch at the legendary Berghoff’s in downtown Chicago. My friends had gathered for a three-day weekend to celebrate my 50th birthday. The echo of laughter from that weekend still r...

In November, I wrote about sarcopenia — muscle loss — and how it can negatively affect aging. This time, it’s about a second disease affecting older adults, osteoporosis — weak and brittle bones. These diseases can often occur together. When that happens, you can lose your independence — a major fear for seni...

The older I get — and I’m already pretty old — the more I think about transitions. I’m sure you know what I’m talking about, and don’t feel bad if you’re thinking about it, too. At our age, it’s important to understand that a transition is a word, phrase, sentence or group of sentences that relate a preceding...

One of the most lasting and wrenching transitions of my life was losing my brother Woody 30 years ago. I was 47 and Woody, my best friend and confidant, my ally, my teacher, was 54 when he died of complications from AIDS. Some of the light went out of my world. I always think of Woody at this time of year — h...