Nine years ago, during a particularly difficult period in my life, a period devoid of any sense of accomplishment whatsoever (I was job hunting at age 57), I decided to learn a second language, Spanish…

In any economic downturn, and heaven knows we’ve seen our fill by this stage in life, it’s easy to anticipate that women will be among the hardest hit. The Covid-19 pandemic has been no exception. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics…

The first soldiers killed in battle are the musicians, for music’s power to inspire. It can change a person’s mood in minutes. It can give form to otherwise incoherent, nascent feelings. Music can take years off a world-weary spirit…

Even after the printing press’s invention and the mass production of books, for centuries, an average person could only afford a few books. Those they owned weren’t just read, they were digested completely, the entirety of their contents committed to memory…

How does the idea of a road trip or a vacation sound to you right now? Pretty good, I would venture to guess. In every vacation, we take two pleasure trips. One is the trip itself. The other is the anticipation of the experience – the planning…

Some time ago, brain researchers warned that lack of sleep is a public health crisis. According to the CDC, one in three adults in the U.S. do not get enough sleep. On the daily level, lack of sleep causes mental distress. When you are tired, the world is tired…

Eventually, to maintain a healthy diet, you must cook. Two years after moving to Mexico part-time, I began writing a cookbook, The Lazy Expat: Healthy Recipes That Translate in Mexico. It’s for travelers, snowbirds and expats trying to cook “their food” in Mexico…

A few days ago, I went to my gym and headed for one of two empty rowing machines only to be stopped by a young man of sub-average fitness. He and his buddy had corralled three sets of lighter weights (the ones most popular in a gym)…

One evening after attending a book club meeting in Mexico, I came home and discovered a desk drawer open, along with a window blind raised near the front door. Checking the rooms, it appeared nothing had been taken, leading me to believe…

In the last quarter of 2020, for the first time in history, the average cost of a new car crossed the $40,000 mark, according to Edmunds. That was before insurance, property taxes and gas. Once papers were signed, the average payment calculated to…