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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…
The Needs of Women Veterans Addressed

“The VA recently reported that within 10 years, women are expected to become 10 percent of the VA’s patient population. Women are seeking VA health care at a faster rate than their male counterparts. Women who are seen at the VA today are also younger and of child-bearing age. These statistics beg the question: Is…
Risks of Sharing Personal Genetic Information

“If you receive information on your breast cancer risk and share it with others, you might also be sharing information about your daughter’s risk for breast cancer — even though she never consented to have that information shared.”
Zahra Rahnavard demands apology from Iran’s President Ahmadinejad

Times of London Online – A diminutive 64-year-old grandmother who refuses to be bound by the rigid constraints imposed on women in Iran proved more than a match for the President of the Islamic Republic … http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl…
Investigating a Reverse Mortgage; The GAO Issues a Report

Should I use an estate planning service to find a reverse mortgage? FHA provides this information free, and HUD-approved housing counseling agencies are available for free or at very low cost, to provide information, counseling, and a free referral to a list of FHA-approved lenders
Wedding Traditions from Victoria to Diana

Lt. Matt Luoma sent his wife Lillian a nylon parachute from France during WWII. In April 1945, Lillian entered the Fifth National Sewing contest sponsored by the Cleveland Press, and won first prize in the Victory Group for this negligee and gown made for a belated honeymoon. The design incorporates the original parachute seaming in…
Decor Shopping Using Surface Graphics

From classic chairback graphics to lions and turtles and foxes, oh my! Consider a tropical, Polynesian retreat, a pixelated romper room or architectural details from a historic Savannah district.
It’s a Gray Area, Part II

Roberta McReynolds writes: One section of the aisle was devoted to ending the ‘brassiness’ problem. I didn’t even know what brassiness was before walking into the store. Now I stood the risk of losing sleep over the fear my hair might look like an alloy…
The Woes of the Single Humor Writer

I did try to join one of those couples swap clubs advertised on the Internet — purely for research purposes, of course; but they refused me membership when they investigated and found out about me. Not that I’m a writer, but that I didn’t have a mate to swap.
Now that We’ve Taken Back America, What Do We Do With It?

Now that We’ve Taken Back America, What Do We Do With It?: This year there was more interest in identifying what can be won. Energy and immigration were high on the agenda. Culture war concerns — e.g. race and gender — got an honorable mention but not much more than that.
The Judge, the Girl Sleuth and Scorned Literature

‘Perhaps I’ve stumbled upon a clue!’ Nancy thought excitedly. (The Clue in the Diary, p. 15). Explored in a Girls’ Series Books Rediscovered online exhibit: The appeal of once-scorned literature included the Nancy Drew, Dana Girls and Kay Tracey mysteries