While I’m an elder, I hadn’t given a lot of thought to dying, that is until my brother, who’s 20 months younger, announced in...
Thinking About Death
While I’m an elder, I hadn’t given a lot of thought to dying, that is until my brother, who’s 20 months younger, announced in a recent late-night phone call that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. (To preserve my brother’s [...]
Pat Taub
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Celebrating Christmas in a Climate-Changed World
GUEST POST by JANET WEIL “Someday soon we all will be together If the fates allow Until then we’ll have to muddle through somehow So have yourself a merry little Christmas now…” — By Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane Judaism is my religion, but I do have a favorite (secular) Christmas song: “Have yourself a merry little Christmas.” [...]
Pat Taub
Impeachment Hearing’s Stars, Rethinking Gifts, Family & More!
Impeachment Hearing’s Stars Hats off to Ambassador Marie Yovanovitch and Dr. Fiona Hill. Both women testified this week in the impeachment hearings. They were professional, calm and collected, speaking in respectful tones as they described Trump’s corrupt, mishandling of US- Ukraine polices. Trump was true to form as he tweeted [...]
Pat Taub
Yes, To Teaching An Old Dog New Tricks!
“Don’t try to explain a lot to her. She’s too old to get it.” (Two clerks at a Best Buy referring to an older woman in the market for a new TV.) This is typical of the way older adults are stereotyped in our youth-obsessed culture. I won’t stand for it! I’m in my eighth decade, and I’m anything but set in my ways. I continue [...]
Pat Taub
My Picks for Winter Reads
While I’m not a fan of cold weather and snowstorms, winter is my favorite reading season. I read all year long, but I read differently in winter. It’s when I indulge in slow reading, lingering over beautiful passages and re-reading treasured authors. I love the backdrop of winter reading: my phone’s ringer turned off, a fire in the [...]
Pat Taub
The Week I Became A Little Old Lady
Even though I’m in my 8th decade, most days I feel youngish, energetic and in step with the world, old, but not really old. This past week my self-image was radically challenged when a few random encounters forced me to recognize that I am often seen as a little old lady–a likely stereotype given my short stature and thin frame. [...]
Pat Taub
CA Fires, A New Diet, A New Play & More!
California’s Fires I’ve been following the horrific California fires, and grateful that my son who lives in Santa Monica has been spared evacuation and fires near him, but I can’t stop thinking about the long term implications of California’s raging fires. Does it mean as the climate activist, Bill McKibben, asserts that California [...]
Pat Taub