Cooking the NYTimes and Other Assorted Retirement Activities

  As regular readers are well aware, issues which outrage/annoy me are not in short supply.  One on the list is the pharmaceutical industries's regular onslaught on our concerns regarding our health with a never ending stream of ads imploring us to "Ask your doctor about _______ (insert difficult if not impossible to pronounce drug here)."  In fact, how many times have you asked yourself following the commercial, "What is that drug prescribed for?  What does A1C or HR positive HER-2 negative mean?" because the ads throw these terms and others out like vendors tossing bags of peanuts at sporting events.  An insult, in my opinion, to those for whom A1C or HR positive HER-2 negative is part of their daily lives. So I decided to take the pharmaceutical companies up on their offer. My yearly physical was scheduled for this past Monday.  On Sunday evening, while watching the Golden Globes, I made note on my phone of the various commercials offering subject matter...

Chalking the Door The year encloses initials for the three wise men: Caspar, Melchior and Balthazar   A number of years ago, while visiting Germany, my exchange daughter and I were walking around her neighborhood in the lovely town of Sehlem.  My attention was caught by markings over nearly every front door.  Claudia explained the tradition (not in these very words, but close).   The Christian custom of chalking the door has a biblical precedent as the Israelites in the Old Testament marked their doors in order to be saved from death; likewise,  the Epiphanytide practice serves to protect Christian homes from evil spirits until the next Epiphany Day, at which time the custom is repeated.  In Sehlem, the tradition was carried out by the children, who went door to door to mark the houses.  The next Epiphany, I chalked my front door and continued the tradition through 2023.  I always thought of Olivia and Eleanor, my German granddaughters, as I ...