One night when I’m in pain, I ask my partner to put his hand on my back and simply rest it there. I’ve had three back surgeries for nerve damage and I also have postherpedic neuralgia, a complication of shingles. I’ve tried myriad medications and alternative treatments, too. Nothing helps as much as my lover’...

Twenty-five years ago, I had the honor to direct Humboldt County’s first local production of Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues.” It sold out every seat for three nights. Back then, Eureka Theater board members — none of whom had a vagina — refused to put the word “vagina” on the marquee. It simply read, “Mo...

When British poet laureate John Betjeman was asked what he regretted not long before he died at 77 in 1984, he supposedly replied that he wished he’d had more sex. In our 50s… Despite children and work and moving forward with still strong sexual attraction, we always found time for lovemaking. And more good n...

I was born and raised in Kansas and received my religious guidance from my grandmother. Our church believed that lipstick or dancing were the devil’s work. That should give you a clue that sex was not a topic discussed at the dinner table. Remember when Elvis was on “The Ed Sullivan Show”? I was excited. I tu...

I am no longer the fragrance of apples. My hair spilling down and around my partner’s chest is only a distant memory. My curves ... are gone. I am medicated powder in the folds of my belly and under cotton flannel, Arnica on my hammer toes. Our blanket, old, frayed and favorite, protects from this reality, en...

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

In the coming year, I will turn 80 — a reality I sometimes find unfathomable. But given our national discourse, I find many of today’s realities unfathomable. What I find most troublesome however, is how I am coping with these realities. Among my circle of friends, concerns surrounding aging, death and dying ...

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...