And the eight-year-old boy — The play: amazing, I thought! We were excited to get tickets to see Hamilton before it had sold out and looked forward to a fun evening of dinner in the city before going. …

The drawbacks and benefits of finding paradise in the tropics — We thought we’d found our piece of paradise at an RV park in the tropics of the Yucatan; however, it didn’t take long to realize that the ‘paradise’ part may be a myth. After we’d purchased our own palapa, which was basically a grass roof over a large patio with…

What is the atmosphere like today — within and without? — I looked out the window to check the atmosphere. Was it misty, foggy, smoky or clear? I wondered, upon arising that pre-dawn morn, Knowing the smoke would make me feel quite forlorn For those thousands of acres that had already burned And breathing in smoke can be harmful, we’ve learned. …

A story from the life and times of a suitcase — The Pullman was jerked up from the corner. “Oh, good God! What’s this? I was happy living in my peaceful place in the attic. I didn’t even mind the cobwebs. So now what? Nobody seems to want me unless there’s a big trip coming up, and I’m getting too old…

How she surprised herself when danger appeared — Dining out with friends we hadn’t seen for a few months, Peggy and her husband Rob, the music was too loud to talk together. While the guys discussed guy topics like sports and stuff…yawn…Peggy and I began chatting about dilemmas, and what we thought we’d do in certain situations. …

..and Its Gruesome Secret — My husband, Leon, and I left our home in Oregon on our trip south in mid-October. We pulled our small RV trailer, which was a fun convenience, yet a burden when dodging traffic or wanting to explore unfamiliar roads. As we wandered down some of the tiny red roads shown…

Is there such a thing, really? — I wrote this when I went back to college after my divorce several years ago, when feeling many different kinds of emotions about life at that time than I feel today, but this seems to make sense to me even now. First of all, what is altruism? I have always…

How to accept imperfection — I said in my article Getting in the Groove: “The creative mind can be a blessing and a curse,” which was to say that while having the talent to create is a magnificent thing, it is sometimes difficult to know where to start, or, once begun, when to finish. …

Finding the groove with your creativity and staying there — The creative mind can be a blessing and a curse. The ‘blessings’ are obvious, but the ‘curse’ comes when your mind conjures up so many magnificent ideas that it doesn’t know where to begin with any of them. But finally, when something percolates to the top of the list, and…