Lifestyle

Funerals can be expensive. There’s no doubt about that. In 2017, the median cost of a funeral was listed as $7,360 on the National Funeral Directors Association’s website…

The Internet is still growing in leaps and bounds, even though it’s been around for a few decades. Every year, more and more of the things we do every day can be done over the Internet…

It’s Christmas day. People have been preparing for months and you’ve happily ignored all the excitement and stress, knowing that none of it applied to you. What do you do when, by choice or chance, you are one of the millions of people around the world spending Christmas day alone? Read More

Taking better pictures isn’t just about learning some neat tips and tricks to improve your skills. It’s also about being inspired to take better photos. As a photo instructor, my job is to do both: I show my students how to work their cameras better…

Our motive to create a support system extends beyond the need for social connection and to avoid loneliness. Many women, especially those of us without an immediate family, are at risk of isolation and spending too much time alone…

I was talking with a friend this morning who said, “I’m already exhausted… and the holiday season just began!” She went on to say that she barely had time to enjoy Thanksgiving because she spent so much time…

I recently got an email from two of my siblings asking my opinion on a family matter. Apparently, one of our aunts used to send a tub of popcorn to each of her grown-up nieces and nephews, every Christmas…

One by one I picked up the memories wrapped in each ornament and hung them on the tree. Pictures materialized in my mind of a beloved’s head bent while creating these ornaments in his shop, little fingers gingerly gluing a star on a felt Christmas tree, a friend’s offering of a token of nature, a sister’s foreboding of a life passing. These are my company in the dark days of December. Read More

“Living abroad is a lot of work,” I tell people who ask me what it was like to live in Mexico for decades. I recently moved back to the United States, and I thought I’d share my first-hand knowledge with everyone…

If the approach – or should that be onslaught? – of the festive season makes your heart sink, then here’s something to bear in mind: How you feel about Christmas depends largely on the perspective you choose to take – and note, I said ‘choose…’