We signed on to 23andme early in its 18-year history, inspired by the breakthrough series on PBS hosted by Henry Louis Gates. At the start, Finding Your Roots focused on celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Chris Rock and Gates himself. Through a combination of DNA sampling and deep dives into archival research, the show often revealed to its subjects aspects of their family history that were...

Rosellen and I were doing our all-too-frequent Trader Joe’s run when we ran into one of her book group colleagues. I had briefly been a member of the group as well, but I dropped out, not because I was the only male in the room but because I couldn’t keep up with the pace of the reading. I often read the books they discuss later, on my own time.  After some polite social chatter, this long...

I woke up this Wednesday morning prepared to write my blog piece about our trip to New Orleans, only to be confronted by the horrific news of the multiple deaths and injuries on Bourbon Street. By the time you read this, you’ll know a lot more than I do at this early point about the man who drove his truck, apparently intentionally, into the crowd of New Year’s Eve revelers shortly after 3AM. The...

I’m usually grateful to come up with a single idea for the week’s posting. This week I have two that have been doing battle in my head. They may wind up in a dead heat, calling for shared space or I may start down one of the two roads and discover that I have more to say on the subject than I realized and leave the second for another day. I’ll try that. Here goes. From the moment the media...

Wake at 6:30. Dress in “hanging out” clothes, as Dalia calls them. Feed Nutmeg wet food and go to computer to check overnight and early morning mail. Feed her Temptations in kitchen and return to computer. Take my pills. Go to elevator to retrieve newspapers. Put sports section aside for breakfast reading but do Jumbles to get brain going. Prepare breakfast. My day – and yours – consists of a...