During my blog hiatus, so many news items begged for comment, I kept salivating, like one of Pavlov’s dogs. Sticking to a memoir about my foreign travels in the 1960s took discipline. I’m glad I did. I found I had much to learn.  For a start, memoirs are out of fashion. The new g

I pity the folks who will take care of me when I grow too old to help myself.  Like my mother, I don’t accept assistance easily.   Already, I’m having a tug of wills with the women who clean my apartment at the retirement center.  I can’t stop them from scrubbing my toilet,

Well yes, (yawn) Downton Abbey has returned for a new season on public television.  I quit watching after year 3 when the heir to the estate died in a car accident.  Frankly, I was never fond of any character, except Maggie Smith’s.  The rest are too bland or too precious to hold