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Catch up with me in the Sunday paper
My columns and features appear often in The Oakland Press and several other daily newspapers in the MediaNews Group. My columns typically run on Sundays in the Homefront section — in the print editions and online — and periodically in the “Vitality” magazine supplement. You’ll find an archive of my previous columns and feature stories online here.
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Labor Day weekend
“Summer nearly does me in every year. It’s too hot and the light is unforgiving and the days go on way too long.” ~Anne Lamott, humorist and author Sure, we complain about summer’s heat and humidity, but who really wants to see it end? We tend to think of Labor Day weekend as summer’s farewell — but the season isn’t officially over until the autumnal equinox on September 22. So let’s not rush things. For the next three weeks, I plan to savor every day of summer that’s left. I’ll spend more time outside, for starters, knowing it won’t be long before my garden is buried under fallen leaves. A…
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School supplies for Mom
“I found I could say things with color and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way — things I had no words for.” ~Georgia O’Keeffe Shopping for brand-new supplies was a favorite back-to-school ritual when my son was a child. Is there anything more fun than browsing through aisles of colorful pens, markers, crayons, and notebooks? Even if you’re an empty nester, you can recapture the fresh thrill of back-to-school shopping — and maybe discover a new craft or hobby of your own. That’s the topic of my new Oakland Press column. You can read it in the Sunday print edition (August 14) or look for it online here.…
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Emotional baggage or timeless treasure?
“If a gift has come to you wrapped in obligations and tied tightly with a ribbon of guilt, then it’s not really a gift at all.” ~Peter Walsh, professional organizer Organizing an estate sale is probably one of the toughest things we have to do after our parents die. If your folks collected as many family heirlooms as mine did, you’ll face the emotionally loaded task of deciding which items to keep and which ones to sell or give away. And what happens when your grown kids don’t want to inherit the family treasures? For starters, it helps to learn and understand the generational differences in what we value. My…
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Anatomy of a skin cancer scar
“Writers remember everything…especially the hurts. Strip a writer to the buff, point to the scars, and he’ll tell you the story of each small one.” ~Stephen King, Misery Unprotected sunbathing was a youthful indiscretion for many teenage baby boomers. Going for the burn, we’d spend endless summer days on the beach, often slathered in baby oil. It rarely occurred to us that we’d pay a high price later on. We didn’t know that sun damage was cumulative. At midlife, my skin sent a series of wake-up calls in the form of age spots, wrinkles, and several bouts of skin cancer…. To read the rest of my story in The Oakland…
