Posts

  • MY FAVORITE BOOKS ON WRITING

    MY FAVORITE BOOKS ON WRITING

    I go back every once in a while and reread the books that have always rewarded me with inspiration and encouragement. Especially now as I’m completing my book and can almost see a glimmer of light flickering at the end of the tunnel, I find I need that boost, the reassurance my work is not Read more

  • DEMISE OF THE PHYSICAL

    DEMISE OF THE PHYSICAL

    Back in the early ‘80s when I ran a not-for-profit clinic on the west side of Chicago for older people before annual physicals were considered “nonspecific” or “inefficient” or “potentially harmful” [“Let’s (Not) Get Physicals” (Elisabeth Rosenthal, The New York Times, June 3, 2012)] I did a complete head to toe exam on each patient who registered, including vaginal Read more

  • WET YOUR LIPS

    WET YOUR LIPS

    Linda Jay, Michele Murdock and I are all writers. We are all of a certain age. And we all want to have a professional photo for our future book jackets. Enter Layne Sizemore, an accomplished photographer with patience, humor and appreciation of the older woman. Linda’s post tells the story of the photo shoot session and Read more

  • NURSE-BULL

    NURSE-BULL

    During a recent trip to France, our tour group went to Camargue in the Provence region and visited a “manade,” which is a Provencal ranch that raises white horses and bulls for the Bull Games. Unlike the bullfights of Spain, the bull doesn’t get killed. Loaded in a large wooden wagon pulled by a tractor Read more

  • NURSE PRACTITIONER VERSUS PHYSICIAN’S ASSISTANT

    NURSE PRACTITIONER VERSUS PHYSICIAN’S ASSISTANT

    Last week in a restaurant in Lyon, France, my tablemate turned toward me and asked, “What’s the difference between a nurse practitioner and a physician assistant.” My husband and I were on a tour. Our traveling buddies consisted of older folks like ourselves. The woman knew I was a retired NP and had told me Read more

  • 24-Hour Woman

    24-Hour Woman

    “What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.” —Gabriel Garcia Marquez I remember Sadie Rooney handing me a brown paper bag on my visit that autumn day in the early 90s. Her husband, Jim, a self-taught preacher, had died the month before. At first Read more