Hobbies

As Flannery O’Connor famously quipped, anyone who has survived childhood has enough material to write for the rest of her life. That’s good for us because memoir writing is one of the most popular pursuits in retirement, but also daunting for many people…

It’s raining and warm, yes warm, in Chicago this first week of November. Does this mean that the coming winter will be as warm as last year? I never wore my sub-zero coat. Regardless of the weather, books keep us venturing into other worlds. The following books…

A few years ago I was looking after a gallery exhibition. Sometimes artists have to share this duty for joint exhibitions and this was my turn. During a quiet moment on a Saturday morning I noticed a man stop outside the open gallery doors and look in. He then declared in a loud and smug voice, “You guys must really be suffering these days!” He then turned around and walked off…

Turning 60 can be a time of incredible change. But it can also be a time of rediscovery. With more freedom and fewer responsibilities, you might have more time on your hands. It’s the perfect opportunity to explore hobbies and interests that you’ve put aside for years…

Mahjong is a centuries-old game that originated in China and has since become popular worldwide. While the game may appear complex at first glance, its fundamental rules are easy to grasp once you understand the basics. Whether you’re playing the traditional…

Much has been written about the fact that singing is a powerful way to enhance our lives. As a long time singer and vocal coach, I have observed first hand how singing can improve our mood immediately. Lifting our voices in song can bring new life to our imaginations…

A current best-seller – interesting book about nurses in Vietnam. Hannah does an excellent job of spinning a plot around three nurses who bond in the triage centers and then follow each other’s lives post-war. The Army claimed there were never…

Many women I talk to say that creativity and self-expression is something they cannot live without, and that perhaps it has become even more important in their life as they age. How do you express yourself? And how do you incorporate creativity in your daily life?

Get thee behind me summer! In the U.S. we’ve been bombarded by political conventions, extreme heat, and lots of big, fat books. It’s 93° in Chicago as of this writing, but I’m off to the Inside Passage on Thursday for my first visit to Alaska. Rain and 50° are promised…

Claude Monet is perhaps the most widely known of the Impressionist painters, and it was one of his paintings, which a critic disparagingly called only ‘an impression’ of a painting, which gave the group their name. He completed almost 250 water lily paintings of the pond in his beloved flower garden in Giverny, and they […]