Musings of a Shore Life
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A One-Ply Guy and His Two-Ply Wife
My husband Steve grew up in a one-ply household. Satisfied with the product, he did not realize better-quality alternatives existed until later in life. My upbringing taught me to bargain hunt and, if possible, avoid paying retail. Mom purchased products based on her weekly coupon stash. My sister and I knew not to pick up…
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The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel: The Movie
A look back at a favorite movie recently viewed again on a streaming site. I am not an avid movie theater patron, but one movie I willingly spent a few precious dollars for was The Most Exotic Marigold Hotel. My Mom, sister, and a girlfriend liked it. My brother-in-law hated it, but he and I do not…
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Pomp and Pageantry Past 60
A friend passed recently. One memorable story about her recalls participation in the following event. I had never viewed a live beauty contest until a friend participated in the Ms New Jersey Senior America Pageant. I watched numerous Miss America broadcasts over the years, but could not relate. I am not now, and never was,…
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The Bleak Winter of 2026
It is winter and, in my part of the world, aside from a fleeting landscape of white following a snowfall, browns and grays dominate day after day, with long hours of darkness and only occasional sunny days. A pink rose dangles on a bush behind my family room, refusing to succumb to earth’s demand to…
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Bridging the Times from Generation to Generation
I was ten years old when Uncle Ed died. His wife, my Aunt Jean, was Grandma Rose’s sister. My grandfather helped Aunt Jean sort out her life and move on after Uncle Ed passed. Grandpa sat at his dining room table, papers strewn everywhere, working on Aunt Jean’s stuff. Aunt Jean had never written a…
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A Baby Boomer’s Musings on Her Life
Many baby boomers who grew up during the 1960s have exciting stories to tell about their sex life, their drug escapades, their Woodstock experience, their protest days. Not me. I can tell you what I did not do: I did not experiment with drugs. Drugs do not like my body. In my early 20s I…
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Hanging Out With Old Friends
It is one of the blessings of old friends that you can afford to be stupid with them. – Ralph Waldo Emerson One evening four couples reunited at a restaurant to revel in friendships, relish a temporary respite from grandkids, and celebrate birthdays. Because of busy calendars and homes geographically dispersed, time between get-togethers sometimes…
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Plane Travel and What Not to Wear
Nowadays a plane traveler never knows when hours might be spent hunched over an uncomfortable metal airline terminal seat waiting for a plane to load and take off. Or they might nestle comfortably in a tight plane seat, only to stare out the window at the runway for what seems an interminable amount of time…
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I am a high-rise newbie
I drive up to the building’s entrance, grab my pocketbook and purchases from the back seat, and enter the apartment house I now call home. A parking attendant takes my place in the driver’s seat and steers my car into the garage. If there are too many bags to carry the doorman piles my things…
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Good Intentions Trigger Turmoil
Life is supposed to get simpler as one ages. In that spirit my husband and I decided to simplify our lives. We would sell our house and move into an apartment. We have bought and sold properties in the past, first as newlyweds, then sharing the experience with toddlers, then school-age kids, as a couple…
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