As you may know, I get headaches. Chronic, daily migraines. Hence, I’ve tried a lot of remedies. Some of these cause side effects. The good, the bad, and the ugly, you could call them. In the medical world, these unwelcome consequences are known as “adverse…

Sensing my lack of, shall we say, enthusiasm about things lately, a good friend asks, “Where do you find joy in your life?” JOY? I want to squawk. What in the world is THAT? Thus proving my friend’s diagnosis might be too close for comfort.…

I’ve been thinking about a children’s book I bought and read aloud to my kids a long time ago. Called “The Stranger,” it is written and illustrated by the award-winning author-illustrator Chris Van Allsburg. You’ve probably heard of him, if not from books then from…

When I was born, I had a full complement of aunts and uncles. Though my parents’ families were nowhere near the size of some Dubuque clans, my mom had a sister and two brothers, and my dad had — let’s see – two sisters and…

There is a vintage suitcase in my bedroom, packed so full I can hardly get the latch closed. It lends a bit of mystery to the room. Was that my grandmother’s valise, the one she used when she eloped? Is it full of old letters,…

A friend of mine died this month. She had been fighting the good fight against an especially virulent type of cancer for over five years. Still, I wasn’t expecting this, not now. But when I saw an email from her son in my inbox, I…

The car was just beginning to warm up as we pulled over to our friends’ house, brightly strung with holiday lights. As we approached the door, I hissed at my husband, “If anybody asks you if we’re ready for Christmas, say YES!” I don’t remember…

Has this ever happened to you? There you are, clad in apron and hot mitts, running between the stove and the sink, trying to put together a meal for your family or company – something complicated, something you’ve never tried before, unlike the usual meals…

It was a palace. At least a mansion. The home of the late Aaron Spelling, according to the New York Times, was really something. It was in the news because it had been purchased, for a cool $85 million, cash, by Petra Ecclestone, British “heiress…

Every Friday, I sit down at my kitchen table and perform The Pill Ritual, filling five pill boxes for the coming week. Each box represents the five times each day I take my migraine cocktail. Each box has seven sections. Sounds like a nightmare story…

There we were, flying down Interstate 94, listening to “Car Talk” on satellite radio. If you’ve never heard Tom and Ray Magliozzi talk about cars and car repairs, you’re missing out. Not only are they funny, they know a lot about cars, and genuinely seem…

What is it about dust? Why do so many of us – and not just women, I’ll bet – cringe in embarrassment if our tables, bookcases, or wood floors are even lightly sprinkled with dust? Why is there, in every home, a lowly piece of…

My sister doesn’t want to walk. I don’t mean she wants a rest. I mean she really does not want to walk anymore. She wants to live out her days in a wheelchair. Preferably a power chair, since she can’t maneuver the manual one she’s…

Somebody accused me, re: my last column, of being “Debbie Downer,” although I certainly didn’t mean it to come across that way. So this week, I’ve decided to talk about happy, perky, jolly things. To be Ms. Pollyanna 2011. If you can remember that Leslie…

As I was wheeled into surgery last month, I had one regret. I have a will and an advance directive, but no letter to my survivors with my last words to comfort and instruct them. I’ve been working on it ever since. I’ll probably write…

Not long ago, my husband liberated a nice bookcase from his home office and put it in the kitchen, and already it’s jam-packed with cookbooks. I love cookbooks. I’ve got tomes on Thai food, Indian, Midwestern (whatever that is – it was a gift), baking,…

There are many perks to my fabulous job. I get to help doctors and nurses save lives. I get to buy new books, some of which I read myself. (Health memoirs are my weakness.) I get to keep things nice and tidy, a propensity that…

July 12 is going to be a big day for me. I’m going to travel to Iowa City the day before with my husband, have a fabulous meal, wander through Prairie Lights, and report to the University of Iowa Hospital for (gulp) surgery. I’ll spare…

Last week I allowed a neurologist to stab me in the head, face, neck and shoulders 31 times. Okay, maybe “stab” is overly dramatic. What she actually did was give me 31 shots of poison. There, now. Doesn’t that sound better? As a long-time host…

Here I am in Bayfield, Wisconsin, again, on what my husband likes to call our Annual Writer’s Block Retreat. That’s meant ironically, because he usually comes home with a sheaf of new songs and the start (or ending) of a new play, and I manage…