Get to know the locals in Europe during your visit? Fat chance. Most of us vacationing abroad can interact only with taxi drivers, waiters, shop assistants and hotel clerks — not much chance to form meaningful relationships there. But I’ve spent severa… Continue reading
I am sitting comfortably in my chair taking a course on mindfulness and meditation. Like those around me, I want to cope better with stress and feel more relaxed. But more than that, I am intrigued by my fellow “students.” After all, an assisted living… Continue reading
My daughter and I are on the couch waiting for our face masks to revitalize our skin. Our weekly home spa routine was her idea. Even through my mask I can’t avoid seeing her boxes stacked against the wall, awaiting a mover’s truck at 9 a.m. tomorrow. I… Continue reading
Several weeks ago, I wrote a story about my solo trip to Paris and received many wonderful responses from Next Avenue readers about their own travel experiences, solo and otherwise. Many professed their fondness for the sights and sounds of the towns a… Continue reading
Tone deaf? Turned off by a blank canvas? Two left feet? The arts enhance the lives of older adults, but even if you have no desire to sing, play an instrument, paint a picture or take up the tango, many other options for expressing creativity exist. Th… Continue reading
(Part of the VITALITY ARTS SPECIAL REPORT) Behind the Lens: 50+ Filmmakers goes behind the scenes of the 55+Video Memoir Class at Film North in St. Paul, Minn. and tells the story of Joe Moses, a University of Minnesota professor, who produced a short … Continue reading
My husband was diagnosed with cancer in 2010. We managed to focus on the positive side of things (the doctors said that if they got all the cancer out of his stomach in an operation, then his prognosis was quite good.) But we blithely ignored the stat… Continue reading
Today they wave cell phones instead of cigarette lighters, but the Woodstock generation still loves attending concerts featuring their favorite artists. Gerry Baird Halley, 75, is a U2 fanatic who has followed the band on tours since 1987. She has seen… Continue reading
“Because it makes me happy.” This was the top response to a question in a recent Next Avenue Vitality Arts survey on why our readers value participating in a favorite pursuit geared toward the arts. With the 10-question survey, posted in August on the … Continue reading
The cliché of becoming stuck in your ways as you age was never true with me. I’ve been like that since birth. Boundaries were my friend, the narrower, the better — no improv for me, thank you. Just give me my well-worn script to follow. Why take a chan… Continue reading