While there are many directions to go with “it,” I choose the following one for now. As far back as I can remember, I have understood and practiced the policy of working with people who are smarter than I. Starting in kindergarten and throughout early education, I had teachers who were smarter than I. I learn...

Some three days after my wife, Janet, died and my four-year stint as her carepartner ended, I — barely knowing who I was now — emailed my friend Mara to ask about dogs that might need adopting. Whoever I was now, or would soon discover I was, after 24-hour-aday carepartnering for Janet, I was reaching out for...

Our fava and tart endiven Fallowed be thy bane Thy kingdom’s sun makes roots grow long In earth as it does in raised beds Give us this day our daily veggies And forgive us our pests as we forgive our weevils Lead us not to temptation but deliver us from Walmart For thine is the kingdom, the kale and garbanzos...

Dear Mother Earth, Thank you for planting me on Elm Street in Massachusetts, back in 1948. Too bad your elm children died from Dutch elm disease. However, the maple brothers moved in and did well. I tried to capture the beauty of their autumn leaves but didn’t have enough Sears catalogs or phone books.

About 51 years ago, my wife and I decided to take a West Coast vacation from our home in Minnesota. We had been married for about one year. Two days before we were scheduled to leave, my wife said she had a bit of a stomachache and was feeling nauseous. We made a quick trip to the doctor’s office. Imagine our...

The California Department of Aging periodically features shout-outs to programs for seniors throughout the state that work. In March, the Humboldt Senior Resource Center’s Mobile Café Program received a gold star from the department. The Older Californians Nutrition Program’s “Success Stories 2026” included H...

Joshua Howe, a physical therapist with Redwood Coast PACE, enjoys helping improve people’s confidence in their own abilities so they can continue doing things that matter to them. Physical therapists (PTs) work with people who have injuries or illnesses that affect their movement and range of motion. They hel...

“It ain’t in books,” Jack Hitt used to say. The longtime owner of Northtown Books considered bookselling a public service, a tradition still in practice the day the store burned down in January. Jack had once been Arcata’s police dispatcher. During a time on the East Coast, he was an ambulance driver. Upon hi...

Most Senior News readers will recall the Big Three networks on the family B& W TV. Back then, journalists often reported uncomfortable facts about U.S. military aggression, top U.S. administration corruption, labor strikes, police violence, etc., asking difficult and persistent questions holding public offici...

• Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him? • If people evolved from apes, why are there still apes? • Why is it that, no matter what color bubble bath you use, the bubbles are always white?

Want to find romance and true love in your “later years”? Hit the pool. That’s where Marlene Parsons, 78, and Edward La Rue Sr., 83, not only lit a spark but tied the knot.

People often assume hospice care must be quiet and serious all the time. And yes, there are many meaningful and emotional moments. But there is also a surprising amount of laughter. When people reach their 80s or 90s, something remarkable happens — their filters disappear. Here in Humboldt County, that can ge...

Humboldt County seeks citizens to serve as members of the county Civil Grand Jury for the 2026-27 term, beginning July 1. The jury consists of 19 members plus alternates to act as an independent body reviewing and investigating citizen complaints about the workings of city and county government as well as oth...

Every Wednesday morning, as little hands glue and piece together their projects at the Sea Goat Farm Stand in McKinleyville, you’ll often spot a few smiling grandparents joining in, cutting paper leaves, threading beads and sharing stories as their grandkids laugh beside them. Wild Hearts Learning isn’t just ...

A trio of Humboldt writers and theatre folk team up at the EXIT Theatre in Arcata this month for an original play that explores one man’s life transitions and discoveries that “shed unexpected insights on today’s polarized America.” “Ali, Cosell, My Dad & Me” by Michael Bickford, presented by Creekside Arts, ...

I met Maybelline at the farmers’ market one Saturday in October, after the first torrential rains. She and her sister dog were with their human, who I’ll call Phillip. The dogs were wet and cold, shivering and moving slowly, then reclined in a doorway on cold concrete with Phillip. I went and got a beach towe...

A pastor entered his donkey in a race and it won. The pastor was so pleased that he entered it another race and it won again. The local paper’s headline: PASTOR’S ASS OUT FRONT. The bishop was so upset by this that he ordered the pastor not to race his donkey. The next day, the headline was: BISHOP SCRATCHES ...

A fancy winery’s sommelier passed away, and the winemaker began looking for a new taster. An unkempt old wino showed up to ask for the job.

To the Editor: This letter comes in response to the great stories and experiences your writers so wonderfully shared with all your readers in the March issue [“The Reading Habit”]. I grew up around books. Our mother read us a story most nights before bedtime until we got into reading ourselves and checking ou...

To the Editor: Thank you for the acknowledgement of Redwood Coast Village’s 10th anniversary [Tasha Romo, “Redwood Coast Village — 10 Years of Aging Well,” March Senior News, page 11].