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Harvesting Goodness – Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and Its Benefits
By Mark McNease
We joined a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) co-op several years ago and the annual cycle of picking up our share every two weeks is beginning again. We belong to the Tinicum (PA) CSA, and their large barn with adjacent farmland is just across a bridge from Frenchtown, NJ, to their location. We head over the bridge twice a month on Saturday, sometimes walking, sometimes driving, and fill up our bags with more vegetables than two people can possibly eat. We get the large share (they offer large and small), and each of us ends up with two full cloth bags to bring home. What they offer depends on the time of year and the various growing seasons, and we always end up with enough to give some to friends and neighbors.
We also have our own raised-bed vegetable garden in the back yard, but it’s tiny compared to what we get at the CSA. So what, exactly, is a CSA?
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Co-ops Connect Farmers and Consumers DirectlyThere’s been a growing movement towards sustainable, locally sourced, and transparent food systems. One of the most effective and community-driven approaches to this is through CSA co-ops. These between farmers and consumers foster trust, promote ecological farming practices, and strengthen local economies. The bins are full, the vegetables and rinsed, and you can see some things grown right there in their fields.
Tinicum CSA also has flowers and various vegetables (such as okra) we’re able to cut and harvest ourselves as we walk along the rows with pairs of scissors.
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What’s a Quozy? Check Out Queer Cozy Mysteries at Cozy.com (Including Mine!)
Thanks to the folks at CozyMystery. com for adding me to their “Quozy” page (queer cozy authors) – and I like that portmanteau! Think about it.
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Book Review: How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir, by Molly Jong-Fast
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“How to Lose Your Mother: A Daughter’s Memoir” by Molly Jong-Fas
c.2025, Viking $28.00 256 pagesWhen you were still a child, everyone wanted a piece of your mother.
Requests for donations, organizing skills, and fundraising abilities arrived frequently at your house and she always stepped up to help. Her church, your school, her parents, your family, everybody wanted a piece of your Mom but, as in the new memoir, “How to Lose Your Mother” by Molly Jong-Fast, what happens when there are no pieces left?
In the past, strangers often approached Molly Jong-Fast to talk about her mother. They’d say how much Erica Jong’s books meant to them, or they wanted to discuss things Jong wrote or said or thought. It used to happen all the time, Jong-Fast says, but not anymore: Jong hasn’t written a book in awhile because she has dementia.
Jong, says her daughter, was always was a little quirky; her fame inherently made her unlike other mothers but it went deeper than that, with serial relationships, a constant desire for attention, and generational alcoholism. Still, Jong-Fast says, Jong loved her daughter but not more than her writing or the string of men in her life. Not enough to let Jong-Fast feel loved, fully and truly – and with that, a lingering sense of something missing seemed to be a fact of Jong-Fast’s life.
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The Twist Podcast #295: Proud and Loud, Snoozing the News, and Rick Talks Eurovision with Charlie Porter
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we anticipate America’s last legal Pride month, shun the hideous headlines, and listen to Rick talk Eurovision with Charlie Porter.
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Savvy Senior: How Much Advil (Ibuprofen) Is Too Much?
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
I take Advil pretty regularly for arthritis pain and headaches, but how can I tell if I’m taking more than is safe?
Achy Alan
Dear Alan,
Ibuprofen – better known by one of its brand names, Advil – is one of the most popular medications on the market today for treating all different types of pain, headaches, fevers and cramps.
Given the drug’s broad pain-reducing effects, safety record and availability over the counter (OTC), it’s no surprise that some people pop the little brownish-red tablets whenever they feel the slightest twinge of discomfort.
But ibuprofen, which is also sold under brand names like Motrin and Nuprin, can pose certain health risks, especially for those with kidney or stomach issues. Here’s what you should know.
What’s Safe?
For most adults and children ages 12 years and older, the recommended OTC dose of ibuprofen is one (or two, if needed) 200-milligram tablets, caplets or gel caplets every four to six hours while symptoms persist. You shouldn’t take more than 1,200 mg (or six pills) in a 24-hour period.
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The Twist Podcast #294: Surviving Martha’s Vineyard, Insane Trump Posse, and Rick’s Interview with Author Dean Robbins
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as Mark recounts his harrowing cruise catastrophe, we ponder the coming wreckage of Trump 2.0, and Rick chats with Wisconsin author Dean Robbins.
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The Weekly Readlines May 24
From the Editor’s Desk: As the world, or at least America, loses its collective mind (quite willingly, considering the results of the last election), I am less inclined to lose mine with it. I see and read so much awfulness, from a regime that is hellbent on destroying whatever it was I thought we were as Americans, to the relentless reminders from The Left that THE AMERICAN EXPERIMENT IS OVER! Democracy hangs by a thread. They’re coming for each and every one one of us. Frankly, it’s exhausting. It’s kind of like being on death row and having the guards tell us the preacher’s on his way to offer a last prayer and we’ll all be killed by lethal injection any day … just not today.
I’m aware of all of it. And I’m tired of letting it whip me around emotionally like some button on a string, round and round and round. If America is in hospice care, that’s the way it is. I hope not. I believe we will outlive all this, although so much damage will be irreversible. But goddamnit, I’ll be 67 this year, and I’m not giving my good days, or my bad days, or any other days to this manufactured fear and doom and terror. Oh. Hell. No.
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S STOP STORIES
President Biden Announces Cancer Diagnosis
GOP House Passes Reconciliation Bill, Stripping Healthcare from Millions
Trump Holds Private Memecoin Dinner, Taking Bribes from the Highest Bidders
LGBTQ
Trump Agenda Bill Would Block Medicaid From Covering Gender-Affirming Care – The Hill
100 Years Ago, The Pioneering LGBTQ+ Rights Leader Frank Kameny Was Born
Paris Unveils A Memorial To LGBTQ Victims Of Nazi Regime And Other Persecutions
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On the Map: Surviving Martha’s Vineyard (A Harrowing Cruise Catastrophe)
On the Map is a feature at LGBTSr for the not-so-weary traveler.
By Mark McNease
We just went on another great cruise, which is my favorite way to vacation. For me it means no cat litter, no chores, no obligations, and no appointments. I get on the ship and go where it takes us. And as much as I’ve enjoyed the different ports we’ve been to over the years, I also luxuriate in sea days. Nothing to do but relax, read books, and of course eat. Food is the one great, irresistible temptation on a cruise for me. Judging by the other passengers, it’s just as much of an attraction for them. The only drawback this time is that I’ve been on a GLP-1 medication since August and lost 30 lbs. I knew it was going to be a challenge not to backslide. Now that we’ve been home for almost a week, I think the damage was minimal.
The cruise went from Bayonne, NJ, where we prefer to leave from so there aren’t any flights involved. We sailed from there to Martha’s Vineyard, then on to Charleston, SC, and finally to Bermuda. We’ve been to Charleston and Bermuda before, and there wasn’t any particular reason I wanted to go again except that’s where the ship went. The real experience this time was Martha’s Vineyard and our near-death experience in a lifeboat masquerading as a tender.
Cruise ships are too large to actually dock at the Vineyard so they transport you from ship to land using small boats (tenders). Most times the ship hires a local third party to provide the tenders, but this time they used lifeboats. We knew the weather was going to be raining the day we were there, but no one expected what happened. We got on land in about 15 minutes, and discovered that on offseason there’s really not much happening at Martha’s Vineyard. We didn’t venture far from the ship, just walked around the little town area that’s there and bought some souvenirs, followed by lunch. The weather was getting worse so we decided to head back, and that’s when the harrowing experience began.
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This Week’s Survey: What’s Your Favorite Kind of Murder Mystery?
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Wishful Doing: Name Your Poison
Welcome to Wishful Doing, a practical guide to creating the lives we want to inhabit, one action at time. No supernatural ingredients are required.
By Mark McNease
“Have patience with all things. But, first of all with yourself.”
―Francis de Sales
Observing the current cultural and political climate, I’m reminded of a scene from the westerns once so popular with American moviegoers. A bartender in a grimy, dusty saloon, says to a weary customer, “Name your poison.” The customer asks for whiskey—they all drank whiskey in the movies, with names like Rot Gut and Dead Eye—and the bartender serves him from a bottle on the shelf. The customer throws back a mouthful from a greasy shot glass, grimaces as it burns its way down his throat, then smiles, slaps the glass on the counter and orders another one. That sure felt good.
Today we have many things to choose from besides whiskey as we name our poisons. We have twenty-four hour cable news channels to make sure we’re alarmed, angry and indignant. We have addictions of a breathtaking variety, from sex to nicotine to apps making us feel special with every little balloon bursting on our smartphone screens, while data miners dig further and further into what remains of our privacy. But like that weary cowboy in that filthy saloon, we enjoy the way it feels going down and we order another one.
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Survey Results: What’s Your Favorate Way to Vacation?
Thanks to everyone who took the latest survey! Look for a new one this week. Here are the results (multiple selections are allowed). – Mark
Pack my bags! I’ll go anywhere 43.75 percent
Call me a homebody – staycations are my thing 12.50 percent
I’m retired – every day’s a vacation 37.50 percent
What’s a vacation? 12.50 percent -
Savvy Senior: Top Job Search Resources for Older Job Seekers
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
What websites or apps can you recommend to help older people find employment opportunities? I’m 60 and have been out of work for nearly a year now and need some help.
Seeking Employment
Dear Seeking,
To help you find employment, there are a number of job-search websites and apps specifically tailored to older workers seeking full-time, part-time or remote positions. Here are 10 great options that are recommended by U.S. News & World Report for 2025, most of which are completely free to use.
AARP Job Board (jobs.aarp.org): Designed for workers 50 and older, AARP’s job board allows users to search by job title, keyword, company or location. The platform also offers search filters for full-time, part-time and remote work opportunities. Employers who are part of AARP’s Employer Pledge Program are committed to hiring older workers.
CareerOneStop (careeronestop.org): Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor, you can use this site to explore career opportunities, access training programs and job-search resources. You’ll also find help looking for a remote job, filling out a job application, getting started as a self-employed person and choosing a path that’s right for your stage in life.
