I never make New Year’s resolutions which means I never have to deal with the shame and stress of inevitable failure. Sure . . . I’d love to lose ten or fifteen pounds, and I’d love to swear off Kawartha Dairy’s pralines ‘n cream ice cream for the rest of my life, but I know these things are never going to happen. The same applies…
Wow! I can’t remember the last time I spontaneously applauded at the end of a movie, but I did after the credits starting rolling for The Housemaid, based on the 2022 novel by Freida McFadden. Ordinarily, I would not sign up to see a psychological thriller, but I didn’t know what the movie was about when three of my gal pals and I ventured off…
The other day as I was browsing through seasonal messages I’ve posted in earlier years for inspiration, I came across one I thought was worth repeating: Enough already! Dear Santa: For the most part, I’ve been a very good girl this year, more nice than naughty, and I’ve generally tried to be a better person throughout the year. By Santa standards, that should qualify me…
The reason I haven’t posted a book review in several months is because it’s been that long since I’ve had my hands on a good book. I’ve started many and after a few dozen pages, I gave up. That all changed with The Road To Goderich, a book of historical fiction written by Linda McQuaig. If you read Roughing It In The Bush or Life…
As someone who has trouble hearing and wears hearing aids, it would seem contradictory that I find restaurants these days to be unbearably noisy. Is it a consequence of aging and me getting grumpier, or are restaurant noise levels higher than they’ve ever been? Even after making all the necessary adjustments to minimize background noise in my hearing devices, I still find it impossible to…
Many years ago, when I was still toiling in the corporate world, I clearly remember thinking, “I can’t wait to retire. Then, I’ll have time to attend the annual Toronto International Film Festival.” Ever since I was a child attending the weekly Saturday matinée with my friends in our small town Aron theatre (which is still operating thanks to a dedicated team of volunteers), I’ve loved…
I blame technology. Since I retired twenty years ago, I find myself wondering how I ever found time to work at a full-time job outside the home. Have you ever calculated how many hours you spend in a week sitting in front of your computer or on the phone managing your personal affairs—and I don’t mean the romantic kind? Between updating my banking information with…
The last straw with a hairdresser I loyally supported for more than a dozen years ended the day she charged me $270.00, not including tip. That was for a cut and highlights for short hair, and I paid in cash. I suspected she made a mistake in the application of the toner when it had to be done a second time, a correction I should…
An email from my friend Debby the other day reminded me of how difficult it is for boomer gals to source cosmetics for our demographic these days. Ever since Hudson’s Bay bit the dust, boomer gals no longer have a place of our own to buy beauty products. Whenever I needed a new Estée Lauder lipstick or Lancôme mascara, I would toddle off to my…
I’ve been struggling lately with how to reconcile my intense love affair with Amazon with my intense dislike of its owner, Jeff Bezos? As a minor shareholder of Amazon stock and a major fan of Amazon’s online shopping service, I have a vested interest in its success. Hardly a week goes by that I don’t have their boxes or bags greeting me at my front…
Traffic in the Greater Toronto Area, particularly downtown, has become so horrendous in recent years that it’s a challenge to go anywhere either by car or public transit without wanting to slit your wrists. I avoid going downtown whenever possible, but when the occasion is a childhood friend’s 79th birthday, it’s worth the hassle. For my big trip downtown, I was fortunate enough to snag…
When boomers were getting married (for the first time) in the sixties and seventies, we were encouraged to buy quality furniture, good china, silverware, and the best of whatever we could afford. Affordability was certainly a determining factor and a highly subjective metric, but we did the best we could with the funds available to us. It came as a surprise to me when, now…
A recent article by Ann Hui in The Globe and Mail got me thinking about intergenerational communication and inspiration. Hui wrote about about older boomers and other seniors taking in-person Aging and Health classes alongside Gen Zs at the University of Toronto. How open are we to different perspectives from people who do not see and experience the world the way we do? Young, laptop…
According to the various flooring manufacturers, different types of floors require different and highly proprietary combinations of secret chemical ingredients for safe and effective cleaning. Any deviation from using the recommended products could void your warranty, and your floors will look like you live in a barn. In fact, I’m beginning to think the average barn has cleaner floors than I do. I try very…
Just when I finally feel confident that I’m walking out in the latest and most flattering pair of jeans or pants I’ve ever owned, the fashion gurus blindside us with a new and improved profile that we absolutely must buy. I like to think that I am not a slave to the latest fashion trends, but I do like to look somewhat current and stylish…
Have you tried calling the Canada Revenue Agency lately, or attempted to get information about your account on their website? If you have, you no doubt found it impossible to get a live human being on the phone, or even a modicum of helpful information online. And, this is the off-season when CRA staff should all be available and sitting by their phones waiting for…
Judging from the random, unsolicited posts that appear regularly on my social media feeds, those so-called geniuses at Facebook and Instagram are wrong if they think they have my number. Perhaps I once made the mistake of clicking on something that sparked my curiosity, but that doesn’t mean I am a devotee and need to see everything on the subject. I spend an inordinate amount…
I would like to get my hands on the bast#%& who designed smoke detectors and subject them to fifteen hours of non-stop beeping like we just experienced. It’s a form of torture right up there with waterboarding. First of all, why do these devices always decide to crap out and send out intermittent warning beeps immediately after we’ve gone to bed for the night? Was…
With all of the creativity the 2SLGBTQIA+ community has at their disposal, it amazes me that they have not yet come up with a better identifier. Their current designation (above) is quite a slog and must drive the media crazy every time they have to type or spell it out. That’s like naming pancakes by the first letter of their contents, FSBPBSSMEB (flour, sugar, baking…
The housing and accommodation evolution for baby boomers over a lifetime forms a complete circle. When most of us left home, we moved into a dormitory, a modest bedsit, shared a cheap apartment, or perhaps, if we were particularly flush, our very own bachelor apartment. Essentially, we began our adult life in one room with a few meagre belongings, including our clothes, a stereo, an…
Being the unelected, unwilling, and default I.T. Manager in our household, I am faced with daily stresses and problems far beyond what I could have ever imagined or was designed for. I never wanted the job, and I hate it. When our television or internet goes down, it’s my job to reboot and otherwise attempt to set the world back on its axis. Because my…
Remember the days when the weekend newspaper was so heavy you needed a forklift to pick it up at the front door? It was chock-full of newsy news, observations, interesting editorial content, funnies, letters to Abby or Ann or Heloise, advertising, and suggestions on how to live better, happier, and ultimately more successful lives. There were pages of general interest pieces, as well as the…
Since I’ve been retired, it seems I’ve taken on an unexpected job that takes up a shocking amount of upaid time to keep our little boat afloat. I don’t know about you, but when I calculate the number of hours devoted to appliance and technical repair issues, time spent on the phone with a service rep to answer a question about my credit card, standing…
If you are a fan of British TV like I am, then you will appreciate the importance of watching programs like Shetland and Peaky Blinders with closed captioning. I subscribe to both Britbox and Acorn, so a major portion of my television watching is from the U.K. The accents often sound like a foreign language and I’d never be able to capture the nuances of the dialogue…
As someone who cannot live without a resident animal, I have made a few observations that pet-loving boomers will understand. Dog, cats, birds, and other pets enrich our lives in so many ways. Their benefits far outweigh the expense, the inconvenience, and the unbelievable grief we suffer when they cross the rainbow bridge to join our former pets. We recognize the obvious healthy benefits of…
Is it just me or are restaurants piping in music that’s so loud these days it’s nearly impossible to have a conversation without yelling? Lately, I’ve found myself avoiding certain restaurants because the noise level generated by the combination of other customers and the sound system is so overpowering that I’m forced to opt out. At one nearby establishment with amazingly good food, hubby and…
Call me a masochist but I set myself up for extra stress this week by taking on four tech projects that pushed me way beyond my comfort zone and presented challenges far above my pay grade. I bought new phones for both hubby and me because our Wilma Flintstone models were no longer performing up to 2025 standards. My car’s GPS and radio system needed…
If you want to bankrupt the Ontario Government’s budget, all you have to do is quit drinking. If you’re anything like me, you hate the punitive sin taxes imposed by the Government of Ontario. It started a few decades ago when they decided to punish those of us who enjoyed a glass of wine (or more), or made the personal choice to endanger our health…
Edith Piaf was unrepentant when she sang Je Ne Regrette Rien. If only we could all be so content with our choices in life. Do our city governments regret tearing down beautiful old art-deco and Italianate buildings to be replaced with faceless, mirrored glass towers that are totally devoid of character? Does Putin regret invading Ukraine? Are there any MAGA supporters out there who regret their…
I was nearly seventy years old when I got my first Barbie. When I first saw Hudson’s Bay Barbie nearly ten years ago, I knew I just had to have her, with her little terrier dog, her briefcase, her HB striped coat, woolly toque, designer sunglasses, and a takeout cup of Timmie’s (I assume it was from Timmie’s—HB being originally Canadian) steeped tea. I wasn’t…
Briony Smith’s column Frail, frumpy and feeble, When will Hollywood stop failing women at the movies?, which appeared in the Toronto Star on May 10, 2025, had me jumping for joy. Finally, someone sees the movie business the way I do. Baby boomers, particularly women, are completely ignored as a viable, profitable movie-going audience demographic. The industry caters to teenagers and men. There’s an overabundance of…
I never thought I’d use the words of Janis Joplin to reference my own life. I first noticed the changes in me on election day at the end of April. The voting card that arrived in our mailbox directed us to the local community centre to cast our ballots for the Canadian federal election. After I had parked the car and my husband and I…
My brother, who is a fellow baby boomer, has experienced severe health issues in the last couple of years. He lives alone and I’m several hours away by car, which makes it difficult to be of any real assistance. I am happy to say he is now much improved and is still managing to live in his own little home with a lot of help…
If only the executives at Hudson’s Bay Company (comparable to Macy’s in the United States) had listened to me or read my blogs over the years, perhaps their ship wouldn’t be sinking right now. For years I’ve been trying to get them to listen to their customers (like me!) and make some adjustments to their inventory and customer service. But would they listen? Nooo! Consequently,…
Self-checkout no longer works for me. In fact, does it serve anyone properly? It started with self-service gas stations and bank machines. Before long, we were checking out groceries and by-passing travel agents to book airline reservations. That led to deciding if we wanted to pay to pick our seat on the plane and then paying even more if we dared to take checkable luggage….
Last year I put myself on a television news diet. I refused to watch the news because the horror was killing me. My life was infinitely more peaceful and my stress levels were minimal when I eschewed the news. Unfortunately, I have relapsed and now I’m paying the price. The disastrous unfolding of events in the United States and the handover of the Canadian government…
In consideration of the shit-show we are witnessing in world affairs these days (particularly south of the border), I have decided to postpone the angry rant I had planned to publish this week and dust off a light-hearted commentary from six years ago on the declining state of men’s underwear. I figured we could all use some light-hearted humour. I hope you enjoy it and…
It’s been nearly fifteen years since we moved into our current house. A few years ago I had some high-traffic hallways repainted but the rest of the house still retains the builder’s original Manchester Tan from Benjamin Moore. I’m basically happy with the colour but after all these years I have a yearning for something a bit lighter and fresher. So, I visited my local…
For the benefit of new readers, I’m reposting my annual March Madness message. Please tell me I’m not the only person in the world who thought March Madness was about special annual retail sales like Black Friday or Boxing Day. For weeks leading up to the big event and for the duration, I’ve been waiting for the flyers from my favourite retailers to arrive in…
Is there a boomer out there who doesn’t love Cher? We’ve watched her evolve from a skinny teenager in the sixties singing I Got You Babe alongside her then-husband Sonny Bono, to become a skinny senior citizen who can teach all of us a thing or two about how to shoulder life’s ups and downs and still end up on top. The lady knows how…
Mick Jagger and The Rolling Stones had their nineteenth nervous breakdown in 1966. I’m having mine now. Over the years, boomers have witnessed several recessions, interest rates in the high double-digits and rampant inflation when we were buying our first homes in the seventies. In aughts we are witnessing one of the greatest testosterone-loaded pissing matches between the autocratic leaders of major countries that the…
This Is Your Life, Harriet Chance by Jonathan Evison is a somewhat whimsical little book of fiction based on the author’s experiences living with generations of strong women in his life who missed out on the freedom and opportunities most of us enjoy today. As a baby boomer, we may find ourselves reflecting on the lives our mothers and grandmothers lived and wondered how different…
I know it’s politically incorrect to comment negatively on how someone else chooses to dress, but have you visited a mall or a restaurant lately? Have you seen what people are wearing in public? Sports bras with biker shorts and bedroom slippers are just too much for this old boomer to let pass without comment. Please forgive me but I am going to express a…
If you’re in the mood for a delightful little book that will take you on a mini-journey into rural life in southern Ontario, Canada, then I can’t recommend Finding Larkspur, A Return to Village Life by Dan Needles strongly enough. As someone who grew up in a semi-rural community, I could relate to so many of Needles’s stories and chuckled at his depiction of small-town…
When I sent my friend Perry a picture of my new tea mug, she responded with a picture of her favourite coffee mug with a little story about why she loves it so much. The same day, another friend, Gail, sent me a picture of a large new teapot she’d just bought that she loved. The fact that we appreciate these little things enough to…
There probably isn’t a baby boomer out there who does not have someone in their life affected by one of the dozens of conditions under the dementia or Alzheimer’s umbrella. Whether it’s a friend, parent, spouse, or even ourselves, the disease eventually attaches its tentacles to someone we know or love. While it is primarily considered an old person’s disease, we are increasingly seeing younger…
I’ve done it again. Every so often I grocery shop like I’m still working. When I first retired I loved the previously-not-available option of doing my grocery shopping on a Monday or Tuesday morning. That’s when the stores were nearly empty and I could manoeuvre my cart without constantly bumping into other people. If I found I was missing something or short an ingredient for…
First of all, Pulitzer Prize-winner Barbara Kingsolver’s new novel Demon Copperhead is not about a snake as the title would suggest. It’s a modern interpretation of Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield retold about a drug-addicted teenage boy. His name is a riff on his first name, Damon, and his distinctive red hair. What shocked me most about this amazing book is how different this story is…
With the abundance of technology available today, how is it possible that no one has managed yet to invent a speaker system for fast-food drive-thru restaurants that can actually transmit understandable dialogue? McDonald’s. Harvey’s. Taco Bell. Tim Horton’s. They’re all the same. Just today, I had to ask the server at Taco Bell to repeat herself three times before I understood that she was asking…
If you’re a fan of historical fiction and you enjoy reading about World War II, then you will appreciate two books I just finished. The Secret History Of Audrey James by Canadian author Heather Marshall and The Safekeep by Yael van der Wouden are coincidently similarly themed. Both novels are about the fallout of Nazis and SS officers seizing and occupying the homes of Jewish deportees….
The year 2025 promises to be quite a barn-burner. I won’t go into all the changes and challenges we face in the new year, but instead I would like us to focus on how boomers can fully enjoy the upcoming year in our rapidly diminishing inventory of remaining years. We have been given so many gifts and if we concentrate on the positive, then we…
In case you haven’t heard, Elon Musk—who incidently is the father of eleven children so far by various women—has set up a special residential compound for his extended family somewhere in Texas. He’s a strong advocate for having more babies to keep growing our population and he is not alone in his thinking. Why all the fuss about shrinking populations? It strikes me as a…
To be completely honest, I wasn’t sure I would like Jeanne Beker’s new book My Heart On My Sleeve: Stories From a Life Well Worn—but it surprised me and I did. Born in Toronto to Holocaust survivors, Beker loved acting, dancing, and dressing up in the fashions conceived and created with the help of her mother’s sewing skills and displayed an interest in theatrical arts…
“When a clown moves into the palace, he doesn’t become a king. The palace becomes a circus.” Ancient Turkish Proverb Even though I no longer watch the nightly news on television (my cortisol levels can’t take the stress) the news of Trump’s re-election managed to seep through and like many other democracy-loving boomers, I have been worried about the fallout. I usually refrain from political…
The thing I enjoy the most about Elizabeth Strout’s writing is how her stories sound as if she were sitting in my kitchen passing along some local gossip over a cup of tea. Her particular Maine-sounding colloquialisms are so familiar (even though I’m Canadian and not from Maine) to anyone who grew up in a small town. “Here is what was happening with Olive:” she…
One of my friends who is younger than I am has already written her obituary. It strikes me as a smart pre-emptive and necessary exercise to prepare for the inevitable. I did it for my mother. My father died during COVID so there was no funeral or obituary. My husband is five years older than me and I’ve found myself occasionally wondering if I should…
Russia and its people have always fascinated me. The country is vast—the only country in the world larger than Canada—and its people have a complicated history. The Traitor’s Daughter by Roxane Spicer is the true story of one of those people. Spicer is a Canadian writer, journalist, and film-maker who spent more than fifty years trying to uncover her mother’s history, her secrets, and her suffering….
After a long, stress-free day of being retired, I like to further unwind before bedtime by watching something light, entertaining, and preferably funny on television. I avoid the news as much as possible as it only raises my blood pressure and cortisol levels. Streaming has made this so much easier as I no longer have to rely on network reruns of Everybody Loves Raymond or…
It’s such a treat to read a book that ticks all my boxes. We Won The War Apart by Nahlah Ayed is “The Untold Story of Two Elite Agents Who Became One of The Most Decorated Couples of WWII”. The fact that this is a true story and the husband is a Canadian only enhances its appeal. I had to wait several weeks for my name…
When I opened the weekend newspaper and found an entire supplement devoted to perimenopause and menopause—as if it had just been discovered by Gen-X and never before discussed—I thought it was time to re-post an earlier blog I wrote on the subject. Boomer women were loud and clear on the symptoms and implications of perimenopause and menopause on our personal and professional lives. However, as…
I am one of those little old ladies who, if I had been born a couple of generations earlier would have invested in the old typical widows and orphans stocks like IBM or Bell Telephone back in the sixties. But, I am a baby boomer so the twenty-first century version of this kind of investing landed me with some Canadian bank stocks, specifically TD Canada…
There are so few movies that appeal to our age group these days that when one does come along I immediately rush off to see it at my local movie theatre. Sci-fi, action flicks, superheroes, and movies with excessive violence are not my cup of tea. It’s also a legitimate excuse to load up on warm movie popcorn and an icy fountain Diet Coke, treats…
The other night, a group of us took a friend out to dinner to celebrate his birthday. It was a quintessential retired boomers’ affair—the annual seniors’ half-price night at Mandarin, and free for the birthday boy! What senior doesn’t love a bargain and who can resist pigging out on Mandarin’s dessert buffet? As luck would have it, we were fortunate to have been given a…
The other day I took a literal stroll down memory lane—aka Toronto’s Yonge Street between College Street and Dundas. From 1965 until 1971 I lived downtown, first at Yonge and Gerrard in Willard Hall (a working girls’ residence run by The Women’s Christian Temperance Union) and after a couple of moves, to Alexander Street just north of Maple Leaf Gardens. My first stop was meeting…
Those of us who have never struggled with addiction may have trouble understanding the problem. If my doctor told me I would die if I had another drink of wine, I would have no problem quitting and would absolutely not miss it. For alcoholics or drug addicts, however, it would be like cutting off their air supply. They would turn to whatever action was required…
When I was still working I used to dream about being retired and having the time to take in such social and cultural events as the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). I envisioned myself sliding into comfy seats in dark downtown theatres with my icy fountain Diet Coke and a bag of warm popcorn for a series of exciting films that never seemed to reach…
There are many reasons I would recommend reading The Widow’s Guide to Dead Bastards by Jessica Waite. Despite the tongue-in-cheek catchy title, it’s a true story that includes love, deception, mental illness, and redemption. It is also an example of excellent writing by a Canadian author from Calgary, Alberta with elements of the paranormal and spiritualism tossed in for your added pleasure. How would you…
We all remember the famous scene with Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard in Breakfast at Tiffany’s all those years ago when they ventured into the exclusive Tiffany’s jewelry store in New York City to buy something special. With only $10.00 to spend they first rejected a sterling silver telephone dialler for $6.75 (in 2024 that would be a steal for sterling but in retrospect a…
When I finished reading I’m Mostly Here To Enjoy Myself, One Woman’s Pursuit of Pleasure in Paris by Glynnis MacNicol I originally did not intend to write a review of the book because I really didn’t enjoy it all that much. Then, after reading a full-page review by Joanna Rakoff in The New York Times’ Sunday Books section, I decided perhaps it did deserve a comment or…
Do you go grocery shopping with your significant other? I’m always shocked when I learn that some of my friends shop for groceries together—as a couple. My experience has been that men are expensive and often petulant accompanists who are better off left at home. Hubby and I came close to getting a divorce once in the Costco parking lot because he lost me in…
Every so often we stumble across a book that offers total escapism. Jamie Catt Callan’s Ooh La La! French Women’s Secrets to Feeling Beautiful Every Day offers exactly that experience. At less than two hundred pages the book is a quick read and transported me on a mini excursion to Paris and Normandy. Callan’s intentions when she wrote the book were noble. Seeking to enlighten…
Everyone is familiar with the expression ‘herding cats’. That’s what it’s like trying to organize a lunch with several of my retired boomer friends. Organizing and coordinating the G7 leaders’ convention would be easier. Noah had less trouble rounding up two of every living animal for a Mediterranean cruise than I’ve had in trying to set up a boomer lunch date. On one hand, it’s…
Can it be true? Is it so? According to The New York Times and various other media sources, Baby Boomers are being displaced by an even larger demographic—millennials born in the brief 1990-91 blip. Yep. They’ve surpassed us in the race to be the biggest, baddest, and most influential group of people to hit the economic market since, well, baby boomers. This sub-genre known as Peak…
I don’t usually post two book reviews in a row, but I enjoyed this book so much, I wanted to share. When I started reading I Hope This Finds You Well by Calgary author Natalie Sue I was immediately thankful I am no longer working. A few more pages in and my mood shifted into I wish I was still working so I could harvest…
Good Material by Dolly Alderton was exactly the right book at the right time. Having just finished reading The Women by Kristin Hannah about the war in Vietnam, I needed something light, contemporary, and with a bit of humour for a complete change of pace. Good Material was the right material for me. I was introduced to Dolly Alderton’s work when she was a contributing writer…
A piece about executive compensation in the June 24, 2024 issue of The Globe and Mail written by David Milstead got this old boomer’s blood boiling. It summarizes the various annual financial and other benefits paid to top CEOs of Canadian corporations including salaries, bonuses, pension benefits, and stock options. It raises the question in my mind of just how much one guy (they were…
It’s not often I get the opportunity to review a book written by someone I know (a friend of a friend) so I’m delighted to introduce you to Tropical Rose, a book by Debbie Sands from Calgary, Canada. Sands’ new book, Tropical Rose is the fictionalized story of her grandmother Thérèse who led a colourful and somewhat unusual life. The book’s title is derived from the…
It was Francesca’s red shoes that got the ball rolling. Francesca is an old friend of my friend Perry, and she lives in England. When she emailed Perry a picture of some outrageous red shoes she wore more than fifty years ago that she found in her attic, it set off a chain reaction of remembering what we wore back then. Perry sent the picture…
Over the years I have visited many wonderful places—Italy, France, Britain, Hawaii, Georgian Bay, Vancouver, the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa, my hometown, and even my own home. And, therein exists the one place I avoid going to which fills me with crippling fear and dread—my very own basement. That repository for all my life’s follies, flotsam, and jetsam has become an albatross around my…
The recent passing of Alice Munro, the respected and famous Canadian writer who won a Nobel Prize for Literature has created a rush on her books at the library and bookstores across the country. As I added my name to the waiting lists for her various books at the library, I ordered The Lives of Girls and Women from Amazon to read on Kindle and…
If you’re a boomer like me, you may have noticed certain changes and adjustments are taking place in our daily lives to accommodate the vagaries of aging. The obvious ones like nixing trendy shoes for more comfortable footwear are a given. We no longer party like we used to in favour of going to bed earlier—and in our own bed. We’re becoming our parents whether…
There probably isn’t a baby boomer out there whose life has not been touched in some way at some time by someone with age-related dementia or Alzheimer’s. One of my former roommates has already passed away from Alzheimer’s (at the age of 75) and two other friends are now struggling with the disease. Whether it’s friends, family, or acquaintances, most of us know someone affected…
This is not advice on how much or when to tip but a comment on how to tip. I do not claim to be any kind of expert but I’ve just learned something about tipping I thought I’d share. As a teenager in high school, I worked for two years as a waitress and a carhop at a hamburger joint behind the bowling alley in…
At the risk of sounding immodest, I had previously never considered myself to be a stupid person. A simple trip to the grocery store this week disavowed me of that fantasy immediately. While I prefer ordering groceries online and sending hubby to pick them up, I only needed a few essentials so I opted to be a big girl, get some fresh air, and do…
According to recent statistics (if you can believe statistics these days) a shocking 85% of landline users have jumped ship in favour of cell phones only. Phone companies are encouraging subscribers to relinquish them so that the expensive copper wiring can be better utilized. Furthermore, they don’t want to be bothered with servicing us! As one of the remaining 15% “hardline” users, I am gobsmacked…
As someone who is already a fan of books by New York Times best-selling author Kristin Hannah, I couldn’t wait for her newest release, The Women. It’s a story about the war in Vietnam during the late sixties and early seventies when thousands of people were dying for a dubious cause. Sadly, no one acknowledged or appreciated the contribution made by the women at that time,…
In the interests of hospitality, we try to keep a generous assortment of cold beverages in our fridge for when visitors drop by. There is one drink, however, that never fails to elicit very particular preferences—Coca-Cola®. Most of our friends will drink any brand of wine or beer, but everyone has very specific tastes in that miracle beverage that in the good old days contained…
There was a time a few years ago when I questioned whether as an aging boomer, I was getting too old for jeans. That short-lived brain-lapse soon evaporated when I realized that baby boomers were the heart and soul, the very essence of jeans culture and we deserve to be buried (or cremated depending on your preference) in our treasured, weathered, and finally soft, vintage…
Having just spent an entire day on phone calls and chat lines attending to billing and maintenance issues with five different service providers, I am ready to slit my wrists. Trying to resolve issues with the telephone company, the gas company, our cellphone provider, our satellite radio service, and our home security provider, I was left feeling exhausted, angry, and frustrated that everything had to…
Lyn Slater is a retired professor at Fordham University in New York, a former social worker, model, fashion icon, writer, social media influencer, and advocate for positive aging. She is also one of us— a baby boomer. After following Slater for years on Instagram and Facebook as the “Accidental Icon”, I was delighted to hear she was working on a book about aging so I…
Are you still enjoying the internet? Does it still excite you the way it once did or has it become a chore, an onerous and exhausting exercise you devote countless hours to simply because it’s there demanding attention? Do you mourn those wasted hours on Instagram and Facebook absorbing useless information and following vague threads to a questionable end? I signed on to Substack last…
Neil Sedaka was right. Any kind of breaking up is aways hard to do. By the time boomers reach retirement age, most of us have experienced at least one painful breakup. Many of us are veterans of multiple breakups. When it happens, we feel like we will never recover but inevitably we do. We put ourselves back together and often find someone else to love….
When I read three books in a row by the same author, then you can be assured I love her writing. After reading and reviewing her two diary-styled non-fiction books a couple of weeks ago (Went to London, Took The Dog and Love, Nina) I went looking for other books by Nina Stibbe and came upon the fictional One Day I Shall Astonish The World….
Not all of us get it but most of us do—that extra layer of fat distribution around the middle that accompanies menopause and turns our body from a feminine hourglass shape into a rectangle (me!), a pear, or an apple. In my youth, when I was slim, I naively thought it would never happen to me but it did and I’ve been fighting a losing…
Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding is one of the few diaries I’ve had the opportunity to peek into (even though it was fictional), but reading the inside story of other people’s lives is probably why I enjoy memoirs and biographies so much. I’ve just finished reading Went To London, Took The Dog: The Diary of a 60-Year-Old Runaway by British writer Nina Stibbe. While…
Get a bunch of old boomers together and you will notice we are frequently called upon to complete each other’s sentences. Not only is it because we’re that in tune with one another but more importantly, we either can’t remember what we wanted to say, or we can’t remember an important name/fact/movie title/song relevant to the conversation. It’s like we have gaping moth holes in…
Whether he’s ranting on CBC’s Rick Mercer Report, entertaining on This Hour Has 22 Minutes or otherwise sharing his informed opinions on politics and contemporary Canadian lifestyle, Rick Mercer is a national treasure. Before retiring from his RMR show, I doubt I missed an episode in the fifteen seasons his show was on the air. Mercer’s newest book The Road Years is an homage to all those years…
“Men want to be him and women want to be with him.”. That’s how New York Times writer Elizabeth Vincentelli described the Jack Reacher character played by Alan Ritchson on the new Reacher series streaming on Amazon Prime Video. She also described him as a giant tenderized side of beef. This should give you a pretty good idea of why the action series based on…
When I read Bonnie Garmus’s New York Times’ best-selling debut novel Lessons In Chemistry, it reminded me of the old Monty Python phrase, And now for something completely different. The story begins in the 1950s and it reads a bit like an old-timey television show. The plot eventually evolves into a chemistry-themed television cooking show, but getting there takes some time. Elizabeth Zott is a highly motivated,…
When I first heard that the Canadian government has mandated free sanitary products in government and public buildings I found myself saying a silent thank you on behalf of all women. One step forward. Would anyone expect to encounter a washroom not supplied with toilet paper to attend to our personal sanitation needs? The same guidelines apply to other sanitary products. Half the population would…
Much as I have enjoyed reading Barbra Streisand’s nearly thousand-page opus My Name Is Barbra*, its sheer volume and level of detail had become tedious. So, about two-thirds of the way through, I switched to a nice little book I downloaded from the library called “Breaking And Entering” by Toronto Author Don Gillmor. It turned out to be the perfect diversion. I’ll return to Barbra later….
Timothy Leary’s rallying cry for hippies of Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out has new meaning these days. Turning on has lost some of its rebellious cachet now that weed has been legalized in Ontario and boomers are tuning in on a different frequency. If you’re like me, many boomers are now committed owners and users of hearing aids. Just as surely as we all…
I’m taking a couple of weeks off to celebrate the holidays. In the spirit of reduce, reuse, and recycle, but mainly because I’m feeling lazy, here’s an encore version of an earlier New Year’s post, with some minor modifications: The reason I never make New Year’s resolutions is that I cannot deal with the stress of inevitable failure. Sure . . . I’d love to…
There was a time when I could eat pretty much anything I wanted without consequences. In the mid-sixties when I worked for Bell Telephone in the Maclean-Hunter building on University Avenue, my friend and I used to order mashed potatoes with gravy and dessert with every lunch in the cafeteria. Then, without an ounce of shame or regret, we treated ourselves to a butter tart…
We spend an incredible one-third of our lives in bed, whether our own or someone else’s. That adds up to almost thirty years in bed, and that investment of time deserves a good mattress and good sheets. We recently updated our mattress to one of those trendy memory foam thingies which I’m still somewhat ambivalent about, and thought I deserved some new sheets to go…
Specifically, who’s afraid of driving after dark? We are and most of our friends are, which means that most boomers are now reluctant to drive once the sun goes down. We used to think our parents and their friends were joking when they said they didn’t like to drive after dark, and now it’s us. When did it start? How has it affected our lives?…
Sorry to touch on a sensitive subject, but my friend Margaret has already written hers and even has her tombstone in place. I think it’s about time I did the same thing. Now that we’ve updated our wills and agreed on where we want our ashes interred, I suppose we should tie up the final loose ends. What kind of funeral or celebration of life…
The Covenant of Water is the second book by Abraham Verghese that I have read and it was just as fascinating as his earlier book, Cutting For Stone. At more than seven hundred pages it was more than I could read in my allotted twenty-one days from the library, so I bought the hard-cover edition on Amazon so I could finish it at my leisure….
Every Saturday I look forward to reading Vinay Menon’s Opinion column in the Toronto Star. He’s replaced the late and unbeatable Gary Lautens as one of my favourite light-hearted newspaper-reading pleasures with his gentle humour and wry observations on everyday life. Reading last week’s “Chatting up strangers is good for our health” column reminded me of a blog I posted nearly ten years ago that…
When I open a book with a boomer-aged main character, written by an author I have previously read and enjoyed, then chances are very good that I’m going to enjoy it. The Librarianist by Canadian-born author Patrick deWitt is such a book. I loved his earlier book French Exit. I read it a few years ago and can vouch for that book being infinitely better…
Those new parking machines that have replaced real human parking attendants are driving me crazy. Is it because I’m old and incompetent, or just plain stupid? The grumbling and sweating start while I am still walking across the parking lot toward the scary, big, green and black machine. Will it grant me permission to occupy a space for a few hours? Will it perform its…
There is a new attitude in the workplace and I’m envious. We’re all familiar with the quiet quitting phenomenon. Employees have embraced the practice of doing the minimum amount of work while still managing to keep their jobs. It’s a variation of work to rule. The new slant on this slacker attitude is called lazy girl working. Get a job with minimal demands that allows…
The Last Gift of Time, Life Beyond Sixty by Carolyn G. Heilbrun is a little book that some readers may not have the patience to read, but if you do, you will find it enormously enlightening. Heilbrun was a retired Professor of English Literature at Colombia University. She wrote the book twenty-five years ago in 1998 when she was in her seventies. I recently came…
You would think that by age seventy-six, I would have nailed my personal fashion style. Alas, I am still a work in progress, but who is ever fully confident in everything they wear all the time? Even Angelina Jolie found herself struggling to define her personal style when she recently launched her own clothing line. We always think we would look better if we just…
Lump is a wonderful book for women, written by a man, Nathan Whitlock. The title refers to the dreaded “C” word but this fictional story is not about the ravages of chemotherapy and other treatments, but concerns the ravages of family life surrounding a woman with the diagnosis. The bonus is the author is from Hamilton, Ontario and the story is set in Toronto. New…
Are professional sports affecting your love life, or am I the only one? Last Sunday I saw a good movie advertised and suggested to my husband that we go on a cosy date to take in the matinée. Like Pavlov’s dog, my taste buds were already drooling at the thought of warm, buttery popcorn and an icy Diet Coke. He looked at me like I…
My world as a retired baby boomer is shrinking. Traffic problems in the Greater Toronto Area have become such a nightmare I’m reluctant to go anywhere. It seems easier to spare my nerves and stay home. Our choked road system has reached the point where I often decline opportunities for social outings rather than deal with the stress of traffic to get there. The volume…
If you can get past the seemingly unhappy subject matter and appreciate the great writing, then Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey is a wonderful read. You will appreciate it even more if you have ever been through a painful divorce because that is what this fictional, humorous book is about. The bonus is the author is Canadian and readers will relate to the Toronto…
