Jill Norgren

Rose Madeline Mula: If You Can’t Stand the Heat

Rose Madeline Mula Writes: “It was with considerable trepidation, therefore, that I entered the kitchen of my hostess, the legendary actress, Joan Fontaine, one long-ago Thanksgiving morning, to offer my assistance. Acting was not Miss Fontaine’s only talent. Not by a long shot. She was also a hole-in-one golfer, a prize-winning fisherwoman, a hot air…
An Undocumented Childhood by Rose Madeline Mula

Rose Mula Writes: Some people never leave home without their American Express card; I never leave home without a camera. Digitized pictures of the twenty-five countries and forty-plus states of America that I’ve visited since my first tour of exotic New Hampshire constantly flash on my computer monitors and digital frames throughout my home, helping…
Julia Sneden Wrote: Love Your Library

Julia Sneden Wrote: My mind’s eye can still see the face of the Children’s Librarian, although I have long since forgotten her name. We will be wise to continue to back up our knowledge of history and literature and art and science with hard copy. She kept up with my reading level, suggesting writers and…
Julia Sneden Wrote: If The Shoe Fits … You Can Bet It’s Not Fashionable

Julia Sneden Wrote: My mother was a mini Imelda Marcos. She kept upwards of 40 pairs of shoes well into her 80’s, and was crushed when she had to give up high heels following a heart attack at the age of 89. Her sole criterion in buying shoes was style, not comfort, and she was…
Joan L.Cannon Wrote: A Family Inheritance: More Than ‘Things’ … Emblems of Our Lives

Joan Cannon wrote: As one advances in years, one accumulates possessions the way a caddis fly larva accumulates grit. The glue that makes us carry it all along with us is in a way self-secreted as well. However, it’s psychic rather than physical — emotional rather than material. Perhaps the most obvious example is a…
Julia Sneden Wrote: Old Dogs, New Tricks

Julia Sneden wrote: At the age of 37, I started a new career as a kindergarten teacher. My first day on the job, the lead teacher, who was in her 70’s and scared me every bit as much as she scared the children, watched me writing a note. “You’ll have to change the way you…
Joan Cannon Writes: Finding the Right Excuse; Committing Words to Paper Because …

Joan Cannon Writes: Think of the poets and novelists and playwrights whose words sink into the consciousness of thousands and even millions and remain there, as emblems, guides, beacons of hope or warnings of disasters, and the excuse (as if one is needed) presents itself. Maybe there’s information or a revelation for some unknown viewer…
Joan Cannon Asked: What is a Book Club? An Old-Fashioned Book Report? A Program Given By an Author? What Is the Accepted Practice?

Joan L. Cannnon wrote: A year or so ago, I was invited to attend a tea given by the combined membership of all the book clubs in the town where I now live. A presentation was scheduled for the proprietor of the much-loved local independent book store cum gift shop. She is a legend in…
FactCheck and Arizona’s ‘Papers, Please’ Law

“We examine a widely circulated chain e-mail written by an Arizona state senator who supports the law, and find her claims to be misleading. The violence against ranchers that she describes is real, but it is the work of Mexican crime cartels, not illegal immigrants.”
Do You Upload Videos? You’re Not Alone if You Answered Yes

There is considerable variation in terms of who they share their videos with, who they believe is watching, and concerns about how their video may be used. One in three uploaders (31%) say they “always” place restrictions on who can access their videos, while 50% say they “never” do this.
A Place in the City

I careen from elegance to decadence — Bergdorf’s and Saks, the Lincoln Center Crafts Fair, the gift shop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the street fair at Columbus Avenue and 75th St, occasionally succumbing to overwhelming temptation for a souvenir of my visit.
Older But Happier

“Stress and Anger steeply declined from the early 20s, Worry was elevated through middle age and then declined, and Sadness was essentially flat. Unlike a prior study, men and women had very similar age profiles of Well Being.
Excerpt from The Hundred Year Diet by Susan Yager

The year is 1909, and it’s dinnertime at the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, the largest and most luxurious facility of its kind in the world. The richest and most powerful American women — and men — are on a diet.
Shopping at Beyond Wonderland, Decades of Style Patterns and Brook Farm General Store

Three varied sources provide shopping destinations for the home, low-cost and attractive jewelery and accessories, as well as vintage sewing patterns. We found Beyond Wonderland at the Maker Faire in San Mateo.
Digging for Roots

It didn’t take my husband long to discover that our fathers were 5th cousins, via an eighteenth century common ancestor. That meant we are sixth cousins, and our three sons are their own 7th cousins (for a while thereafter they took delight in greeting each other with cries of “Cuz!”).
Senate Armed Services Committee Votes for Repeal of Don’t Ask Don’t Tell

“Determine appropriate changes to existing policies and regulations, including but not limited to issues regarding personnel management, leadership and training, facilities, investigations, and benefits.”
EWG Recommends Only 8% Of Sunscreens; What’s That About Vitamin A?

“Many sunscreens available in the US may be the equivalent of modern-day snake oil, plying customers with claims of broad-spectrum protection but not providing it, while exposing people to potentially hazardous chemicals that can penetrate the skin into the body.”
Utterly Unsuitable: Choosing a Swimsuit for an Older Woman

With older women and men doing water aerobics and swimming laps, wouldn’t you think the bathing suit manufacturers would twig to there’s a huge market out here? We buy suits more often than teenagers because we’re harder on them. No lying still on a beach blanket for hours, or languidly standing around the lifeguard’s chair.