After a lifetime of multiple careers, many of us worked with a high level of skill. Competence was necessary. Now, in retirement, how about indulging ourselves in hobbies, projects, or activities where we are less than competent?

Once again, I ended the year by putting thoughts on paper, considering that the many books and articles I have read provided excellent storytelling, gave helpful information on health and wellness, or simply supplied poetic verses that pleased my soul…

You may have seen the recently released report from the Stanford Center on Longevity titled the New Map of Life. It is written not only with longevity of us, the baby boomers, but more futuristically recommends a policy path that will benefit…

There are products that have been with us since childhood. You know just where to find them on the shelf, in the grocery store, in the pharmacy or wherever you and your family shop. Or, do you? In grocery shopping over the past months, I would casually…

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…