I was in my 70th year when I asked Carol Madigan to meet me in person, after only a few weeks of exchanging wise cracks via Facebook PM. At this point I was smitten by someone simultaneously wielding a sweet disposition and a Yonkers cutting wit. I was in over my head once again, […]

A good sense of humor can help you in dealing with difficult situations. It appears to be a calming remedy to relax anyone. Here are some health benefits of laughter and humor.

   Living through your 70s is mostly a time of experiencing new diminishments of one’s physical and mental capabilities. It can take as long to get out of a chair as it does to remember what you had for dinner the previous night, for instance. Your gait begins to resemble Tin Man’s in the rain. […]

   As soon as Carol saw the motel room, she didn’t like it. She had picked the hotel, based on my desire to be walking distance to an Italian restaurant (any Italian restaurant) in Big Bear, and her wish to stay in a place where she wouldn’t have to jam the luggage against the door […]

Humor is one of the best ways to engage an audience. Here is how to tell humorous stories.

A road trip is an excellent way to travel, explore and see the world around you. Here are a few tips you should stick to when planning a road trip

   Until I read John Steinbeck’s Sea of Cortez recently, I’d always thought that tidepools were populated and depopulated with the tides. When the tides rolled in, so did sea life. When the tides went back out, sea life followed. I guess I’d thought of those tidepools as the bar and nightclub scene for marine […]

   I was listening to Bruce Springsteen’s “Glory Days” the other evening, focusing on the lyric of a high school pitcher who once had been able “to throw that speed ball by you [and] make you look like a fool.” And I  thought back on some of my own near moments of greatness.    It […]

    One of the signs of dementia is when you can’t dress yourself anymore. I’m getting close. After three years of being told “no,no,no,no,no,” when I appear from the bedroom dressed for a night out, I’ve thrown in the towel. (I should keep the towel, since it’s the one thing that’s insisted upon me when […]

   For someone for whom Italian restaurants are a bucket list destination (I’d rather eat at Sonny’s than prowl the ruins of Machu Picchu), the opening of a new Italian eatery nearby is akin to a Van Gogh immersion exhibit coming to town.    One could make a case that my love for Italian food […]