Photo credit: Luther Bailey/National Park Service The articles I have recently read about Betty Reid Soskin put me in mind of Mary Oliver’s poem The Summer Day with the closing lines: Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Soskin, throughout her life, seems to have understood […]

A friend who is 10 years younger than me and I have a running joke. Her mother sometimes disapproves of our joint outdoor adventures, so she will frequently say, “Mary Lou is old enough to know better,” all in a joking way. Recently, I arrived at a rural venue…

During a brief summer interval, it seemed safe to do a few-days’ jaunt to visit relatives. Traveling with siblings and visiting cousins, everyone vaccinated and practicing safety, we visited several sites. Just when you think there is little of interest…

This morning I am very much alive. I’m getting in my morning run, doing a little strength work and planning my next travel ventures. Still, that mental nudge comes every now and then. It says, “Be kind to your family. Make those decisions about burial, the remains of your days.”

Back in 1967, when I would do no more than a jog around the park to enjoy the summer days, Kathrine Switzer was training for a marathon that would change the future of running for women. Against the wishes of Boston Marathon officials…

In his recent book Breath, the New Science of a Lost Art, author James Nestor is on a quest for a more healthy breath. In the process he takes us on a historic tour of the formation of the human face. While he digs deep into the technical side of various…

There is a time in life for almost everything, and of course, a time when we put some joys of our life aside. But when? And do we self-select by incrementally cutting back? Now, at the age of 73, there are considerations I didn’t concern myself…

When I am feeling hemmed in, the desire to get in the car and head out on a road trip is never far from my mind. Travel by plane, train or bus is fine, but there is something about an automobile that lends an extra air of freedom…

It is now more than a year since the variations of lockdown and staying at home began. At the point where I was ready to crawl the walls, a month of yoga saved me. As I write this, I have completed a challenge for an on-line 30-day Hatha yoga…

Cookbooks have been a collector item for me since I was gifted with one for my wedding. When I travel, my favorite souvenir is usually a local cookbook found along the way. Every good cookbook tells some sort of story. It may be a story…