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Cooking may be a joyful pursuit for many. Look at what everybody has been making and showing off on sites during the pandemic. And at other times they cook, too, or otherwise, there wouldn’t be so many cookbooks, food blogs, food sites, cooking shows and movies with a chef as the star or assistant. Yet, not everyone shares our passion. Some view it as an arduous, mind-boggling, time-consuming task that requires too many ingredients, too much measuring and certainly too much waiting. “Who needs to prepare something that you consume in several bites and then have nothing to show for...

We grew up in an era where most of our parents, their friends, and even ourselves and our peers divided up tasks once married. Usually, the man did the messy inside and outside stuff—dishes, garbage, fixing the toilet and changing light bulbs if handy, yardwork and maybe grilled—and cleaned the grill afterward. The woman got the stereotypical female work—wash, iron, clean, cook, set the table, grocery shop—unless we did it as a pair (Margaret’s late husband always went with her to shop and Barbara’s liked to do the wash). We also took over the carpool, care of a sick child...

The coronavirus pandemic is an extential disruption that has affected and infected every aspect of our lives. This includes our best laid summer travel plans. How do we get from point A to point B without worrying like Edvard Munch's The Scream, “Will I catch the virus if I take a train, plane or bus or use a public bathroom?” As a result, many of us opt to rent or buy an RV or camper that comes with its own bathroom, kitchen, sofa and bed.   For shorter treks or for those who can’t afford to rent or buy an...

When we got tired of work, reading, walking, baking and feeling sad about the world’s state of affairs, we tried to toss aside our COVID-19 fears, turn on the TV, not to news but to laughs, drama, romance and a little whodunit and generally avoid violence if we could. Here’s what we have most enjoyed during these last few months. Escapism is now needed more than ever. We’ve listed 10 series that have held our interest and are featured in no particular order.   Enlightened…When you need to laugh and remember that you’re fairly normal at a time when nothing...

“Living with a degenerative disease [a medical condition that causes a tissue or organ to deteriorate over time] is like living next door to a bully. You never know when he is going to come over and ring your bell and knock you on your keister,” says Karen Duffy, 57, in her just-released book, Backbone: An Inspirational Manual for Coping With Chronic Pain (Arcade Publishing, 2020.)  The author, a former actress and model, writes that it took seven years of chemo drugs and long hospital visits to get her disease to a manageable and chronic condition. She now lives with...