Opinion

I was reading about the origins of Christmas and the various ways the day is celebrated around the world. It is a day with a history that originally involved more than a few countries and belief systems. What we know today as Christmas has...

It has been a most interesting year; what an understatement. I have never felt so fortunate and yet so frustrated. I’ve found skills this year I didn’t think I had. I have dug deep for patience I never believed I possessed. Four years ago,...

I hate the Fourth of July, America's birthday, Independence Day and all that. There, I’ve said it. I even said it out loud, as I hummed, alternatively, “Star Spangled Banner” and “We are the Champions.” Then a wartime mortar comes flying over my head...

Whatever you may think about having a day dedicated to our thankfulness, you have to admit that California, with all the problems we all face this year, will have plenty of places to say “thank you” for the huge number of volunteers that want...

Everyone can put away their fur coats, wax your skis and polish up their convertibles. It appears that we may have beat away the cold mornings and the pitiful amount of rain this year. I get up and get dressed by simply putting on...

Believing nursing to be her divine purpose, a young British woman set out to reform healthcare in the 1800s — influencing the quality of care we take for granted in modern times. Florence Nightingale changed nursing forever during the Crimean War in 1854, leading a...

I was afraid I was going to have to write about my broken heart today. I had been watching all the hooligans run wild and could not figure out how even the most frightened politician could be seen back in their district with all...

I cannot remember the first time I met her and her lovely husband. It seems to me that we were friends from the minute I arrived in the valley about 19 years now, so it was a good while ago; and likely at a...

They say that when you do — or don’t do — something consistently for three weeks, it becomes your new habit. I’ve tried to practice that theory various times in my life, such as a new exercise or diet regime. There is something to...

Some years back, not so very many, I was prepared to say that I had done all the traveling my pocketbook would allow and I was content with that until in October of last year an opportunity arose, to wit: money. I had set...