Happy Birthday to Me...
Today is my birthday - I am 86 and still changing! However, I will remain 85andchange.com. Simpler that way. We celebrated the other night with a delicious family dinner. It was a delightful affair, complete with two homemade cakes made by one grandson and decorated by his wife. They were delicious and beautiful! . My other grandson brought a stunning bouquet of fall flowers, wine and an elegant salad and my daughter made my favorite entrée, Pizza Rustica. I will try to pry the recipe out of her so you vegetarians can try it. Believe me, it’s worth the effort. We were once more completely entranced by great granddaughter, Ella. She is growing fast now and seems to be more and m

Friendship...
My granddaughter has a wonderful group of friends dating back to their high school days. All but a few still live in their hometown of Cleveland and they get together once a week at a neighborhood restaurant. They also plan a yearly trip together and this year they chose Los Vegas and The Mandalay Bay Hotel  and Casino. Their main objective was to attend a concert by U2 in Las Vegas, but they managed a bit of everything else that city has to offer. The reports were glowing…. they loved staying at Mandalay Bay and said their accommodations, service and food were top-notch. They flew on Southwest which has a great non-stop flight to Vegas and I gave them complimentary drink tickets…

There is Nothing Like a Babe...
Especially if it’s an 8-month old baby girl who happens to be my great-grand daughter. Our family recently made its annual trek to Vermont for our leaf peeping adventure, which is called Fall Foliage weekend by the New Englanders. My son and his wife are always the greatest hosts imaginable. This year our numbers expanded to twelve, all housed in various structures on their beautiful lakefront property. For the first time in twenty years, the western division of our clan all joined the easterners and mid-westerners. My daughter-in-law prepared gourmet dinners every night for five nights! Every bed was made up and waiting for our arrival, every kitchen was equipped with fruit, coffee and a

The Education of Two Old Friends...
I spent a week visiting a dear friend in her charming country home. We wanted to learn everything we could about health care, so we read every article we could find on the subject, as well as numerous letters-to-the-editor. We listened to the news and the varying opinions of our representatives in Congress and the Senate. We learned a lot, but like so many of us we’re still somewhat confused. So, here are some of my thoughts……. Like Howard Dean, I don’t see how we’re going to achieve any significant reform without an affordable public option plan in competition with the insurance companies’ plans. I don’t think our represe