Moments of clarity found in grocery stores. — Sunday afternoons are always the worst time to visit a grocery store. And on this past Sunday afternoon there was a rush on U.S. groceries connected with a big football game.

Short introduction to the current woes of a formerly wealthy and stable country. — “Venezuela, rica y generosa..”. That phrase is what I remember best from reading Isabel Allende’s "In the Midst of Winter” “(Más allá del invierno)”, published in 2017. The characters in the book were not memorable. They were not in the class of those from Allende’s debut novel, “The House of…

Maybe it’s time to pay more attention to a wise Roman’s writings and less to Elon Musk’s troubled Twitter. — Thanksgiving in Miami Beach turned out to be a quiet and contemplative day. My husband and I started with our usual morning routine. Before dawn, we made coffee in our apartment near the Miami Beach Botanical Garden, which is home to many butterflies like the one shown above. We took…

A friend’s memorial service showed how dressing well is part of what we give to others. It also added to the reasons why I want to visit her hometown someday. — I learned much about my friend Corinne at her memorial service. Never one to brag, Corinne had not told me much about her dogged reporting in her days in television news. She won Emmys for that work. I hadn’t known about how much she liked skiing. I had not appreciated…

The Hope Diamond long has been the star of the nation’s foremost museum collection. But for many of us, it’s been outshone by a recent acquisition, one that could be called the Hope Suit. — July 12 is the birthday of Rep. Andy Kim, a moderate Democrat from New Jersey. You may not know much about Kim. You may only know the famous image of Kim. It’s the one of the congressman cleaning up the mess left by violent rioters who attacked police officers who…

Why Sen. Inouye’s 2002 vote against the Iraq War should have persuaded more of his colleagues to also take that brave stand. — If this story were told in a novel, many people would read the book promo, roll their eyes about the unbelievable plot and move onto something more credible. Three soldiers meet at a Michigan hospital while convalescing from serious injuries near the end of World War II, and then years…

First, start with a visit with the “Cajun chef”…and then spend time with Leah Chase.. and then with Cooking with Carolyn… — There were ample leftovers from our weekend roast chicken and my husband is away on a business trip. It’s been a while since he’s had his favorite dish. Wouldn’t it be nice to make a pot of gumbo to surprise him when he gets home? So first thing I have…

Could changes in the popular website help some of us opt to scroll less and read more? I took an afternoon break today to visit with what appears to be a lone jacaranda tree on Jefferson Avenue in Miami’s South Beach. My husband and I had spotted this tree a…

Imagine how much stress and hassle you’d avoid if you were able to log into an IRS website and see what information the tax agency already has about your income. — Each year businesses tell the IRS what they paid people for their work. They file copies of W-2 forms for their employees and 1099 forms for contractors and freelancers. Then we taxpayers have to provide the same W-2 and 1099 information to IRS by midApril. (The deadline is usually April…