Menuhah Peters made a huge and lasting impression on the world through her early education teaching and what she shared about it online (photos always shared with written consent). For Menuhah every setting was a classroom and every experience and opportunity for learning and teaching. I was fortunate enough that this included my garden. Hosting her young students always brought joy.
Are You Counting what Really Matters?
We need to value intangibles. Intangibles like family, friendship, contributions to our communities, and our spiritual / religious commitments defy easy measurement. Yet they add essential meaning and value to our lives. As Albert Einstein said: "Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted."
Navigating the Global Governance Crisis
We are living in a time of crisis for the rule of law and governance around the world. When I lived in the Philippines in the 1990s, democracy was fragile. Each election carried the risk of renewed dictatorship. It was hard to escape the realization that the warm, hardworking and creative people of the PhilippinesContinue reading "Navigating the Global Governance Crisis"
The Truth: Others Don’t See Your Self Doubts and Insecurities
I was just an insecure 16 year old, uncertain about everything from my appearance to my place in the universe. One day like any other, I found myself in a sea of students crossing the glass hallway in both directions. Suddenly I realized that of the hordes of students, literally no one was focused on me. Not a one. They were just trying to get to class on time, and most felt just as insecure as me.
Cost-Effective Skin Care to Fight PhotoAging
Everyone cares about their appearance to a certain extent. Beyond esthetics, the care and feeding of your skin has important implications for your overall health and wellbeing beyond vanity. Your skin is your body's single biggest organ and also your gateway to good health. We now know that the skin plays a vital role inContinue reading "Cost-Effective Skin Care to Fight PhotoAging"
Blogging in Wartime: Starting Again
My feelings of shock and grief in the aftermath of October 7th froze the part of me that blogged about healthy aging and other topics related to 2nd Middle Age. I am once again falling back on Radical Acceptance, trying to accept my ongoing sadness 5 minutes at a time as a part of my identity as a Jew and as an Israeli. Now I am just going to give it a go, and will try to post again on a more regular basis going forward. Thank you for being here on this journey with me.
No-Cook (Vegan) Chocolate Mousse
Vegan Chocolate Mousse - because we all need a little sweetness in our lives to counter the bitterness in our souls.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (2)
We need to face the reality of the important role of bad actors - including the UN Secretary General Antonio Gutteres and global media including The BBC - in distorting perceptions in the aftermath of October 7th. It is essential that we see the world as it is, and not as we wish it to be.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
October 7th is one of those seismic events that requires us to question all of our assumptions and beliefs, our hopes and illusions. Who is afraid of living life without illusions? What are the illusions that you personally may be living with - consciously or otherwise? Who's afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Seeded Crackers (GF)
These crackers pack enormous flavor, crunch, with added nutritional benefit from all those seeds. This is the recipe that "Big Cracker" doesn't want you to know about. (joke)
A Game Changer for Non-Dairy Ice Cream
Are you ready for a game changer? When you need a non-dairy dessert and nothing but ice cream will satisfy, this is the product that will confuse your friends and confound your frenemies.
Fresh Orange “Creamsicle” Ice Cream
While the temperatures here are moderating as we reach the end of August, it is still great weather for (non-dairy) ice cream. It is easy to make and one of my all time favorites, bringing back for me memories of childhood creamsicles.
Training for Life(2) – Five Questions for Donna Goodwin Osher, Specialist Trainer
Of course fitness is important at every age. As we get older, physical training is very helpful to maintain mobility, improve balance and keep strong. Training helps to retain and increase bone density, which is very important for healthy aging. Core strength training is very important to stabilize and protect the spine, increase agility and make every day movements easierץ
Your 2024 Microbiome Diet Resolution
The New Year is almost here – and so are all the crazy, restricted 30-day diets promising miraculous weight loss and a return to youth. Mixed Green Salad with cubed tofu - rich in Prebiotics While the details vary, these New Year’s resolutions diets have one thing in common: they all prey on our veryContinue reading "Your 2024 Microbiome Diet Resolution"
Easy Tofu Tips + Everyday Tofu Recipe
If you have wistfully picked up a box of fresh tofu in the supermarket only to put it down again because it would "just sit in your refrigerator," this is for you.
Basil Cloning for Late Bloomers
With cloning, you don't have to be an avid gardener to have your own fresh basil at any time of the year. Even if you don't have space for a container garden, it should be possible to grow your own basil plant from a sprig taken from basil you bring home from the store.
Training for Life
As we move forward, we realize that the things that have worked before either may not be appropriate or may not be enough at every stage of life. Following graduation from the University of Michigan Law School I moved to Chicago and jogged along Lake Michigan, dreaming of training for a Marathon. I had noContinue reading "Training for Life"
UPDATED – Vegan Chocolate Matzah Bark
There are many versions of Passover (Matzah) Chocolate Bark. This variation is both vegan and a bit healthier at the margin. Still this is essentially candy for dessert. Shakespeare wrote that "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." Whatever you call yours, it should taste as sweet!
My Dad’s 3rd Yartzheit
Whatever our own talents and accomplishments we stand on the shoulders of giants, including our own parents. While we consider Abraham and Sarah the first Jewish Patriarch and Matriarch, in actuality it was Terah who first pulled up stakes and started the journey.
Parenting 360 – Take 4: Critical Importance of Medication Review
Reviewing medications on a regular basis is incredibly important. If you don't feel comfortable doing the necessary research yourself, ask a pharmacist, psychiatric nurse or physician. But get it done.
Parenting 360 – Take 3
We have found a better way forward for our son Aaron (27, ASD) to live independently from us, in a supportive community offering meaningful employment and social engagement.
Meditations on Moving House, Finding Community, and the Existential Poverty of ‘Billionaires Bunker’
More than twenty years ago we found a home where we could raise our children, cultivate our garden, and open our doors to our community, friends and family to share in our simchas (celebrations) and support us in our sadnesses - the stuff of life.
Parenting 360 – Take 2
When our children were young - with or without special needs, for the most part we had the luxury of not worrying about the day to day lives of our parents. Now as we ourselves enter our Second Middle Age, in many cases our special needs children need us now more than ever, with less or a roadmap to successful parenting.* If we are lucky, we find ourselves playing the role of parent to our own mothers and fathers.
Parenting 360
Sometimes the best blogging possible is no blogging.
Your 2nd Middle Age: What are you doing for the next 20+ years of your life?
Do you remember that one kid in school who seemed preternaturally grown up, like a middle-aged adult? While life does not start in the middle for most of us, many people see their Middle Age years in retrospect as their most productive stage of life. This Middle Age is generally defined as the years betweenContinue reading "Your 2nd Middle Age: What are you doing for the next 20+ years of your life?"
How Radical Acceptance Transforms Our Lives
Radical Acceptance helped me to gain perspective in a very dark period and supports now me through these challenging times. Of course past injuries run deep and leave scars. Still we can build better relationships with love, faith, trust and open communication.
Yoga for Emotional Resilience Amid Conflict
At times you may feel like me that we are living in an upside down world. Both my longstanding Jewish observance and Yoga practice have been very helpful for me since October 7th. What are you doing to find comfort and safety in these difficult times?
DIY Mosquito Repellent: Essential Oils for Skin Safety
Like daily sunscreen, it is important to protect your skin with mosquito repellent on a daily basis to protect against mosquito borne viruses. You can make your own herbal mosquito repellent at home. They are easy to make using safe and effective essential oils with research behind them.
The Dilemma of Champagne Socialists
Mandami ran on a hard-left campaign for Mayor of New York – an actual 'seize the means of production' Socialist platform. During said campaign he filmed himself eating rice with his fingers to show his common touch. ("When you grow up as someone ... especially in the 3rd world.") This is the same guy who claimed African status on college applications. In reality his parents were the beneficiaries of British colonial rule in Uganda, where he was born. And his family still splits time between NY and their multi-million 2 acre compound located outside the capital Kampala.
Your Second-Middle Age: 