-
Cathy’s Wealth of Health: Spice Rack Medicinals
By Cathy McNease, Dipl CH, RH
Many powerful medicines from around the world are currently in your kitchen pantry. I am talking about those flavor-enhancing herbs and spices. They are potent for many acute and chronic health complaints. For chronic conditions, consider using them regularly in your food; for acute conditions you can make a cup of tea by steeping ½ – 1 teaspoon of the crushed herb or spice with a pint of boiling water. Let it soak about 10-15 minutes, then strain and drink in 2 or 3 portions throughout the day.
Digestive and Urinary Aids
Seeds of Anise, Fennel, Cardomom, Caraway, Dill, Coriander (Cilantro seeds), Cumin – all improve digestion, relieving discomfort, indigestion, bloating and gas. The tea will be stronger if seeds are crushed in your mortar and pestle or coffee grinder before preparing. Parsley promotes digestion, especially if you overeat. Additionally, Parsley promotes urination to reduce edema and strengthens the kidneys and adrenals. Celery seeds will relieve water swelling and the pain of gout. Sesame, Hemp and Flax seeds ease constipation. Ginger and Cinnamon aid chronic diarrhea, especially when cooked into a white rice porridge (lots of water, not much rice, cooked for 1 hour).
Pain Relief
Ginger, Cinnamon, Cloves, Allspice all help warm the circulation. Think about the mulling spice mixes that we use with apple cider in autumn…this group are great for pain. A painful tooth can be numbed by holding a whole Clove in your mouth near the problem tooth.
-
Savvy Senior: How to Hire a Caregiver for In-Home Help
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior,
I need to hire a good in-home caregiver to help my elderly father who lives alone. What’s the best way to do this?
Searching Sarah
Dear Sarah,
Finding a good in-home caregiver for an elderly parent is not always easy. How can you find one that’s reliable and trustworthy, as well as someone your parent likes and is comfortable with? Here are some tips that can help.
Know His Needs
Before you start the task of looking for an in-home caregiver, your first step is to determine the level of care your dad needs.
For example, if he only needs help with daily living tasks like shopping, cooking, doing laundry, bathing or dressing, a “homemaker” or “personal care aide” will do. But if he needs health care services, there are “home health aides” that may do all the things a homemaker does, plus they also have training in administering medications, changing wound dressings and other medically related duties. Home health aides often work under a nurse’s supervision.
-
The Twist Podcast #268: Indecision 2024, Return of the Monarchy, and an Interview with ‘Where Do Gays Retire?’ Podcast Host Mark Goldstein
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as weigh in on the Biden boondoggle, consider our options under the coming monarchy, and dig an interview with ‘Where Do Gay’s Retire?’ podcast host Mark Goldstein.
-
Mark McNease On Topic: An Every Monday Substack
Welcome to Mark McNease On Topic, my every-Monday Substack. Sign up for musings, commentary, comedy and more! I don’t do exclusivity, so everyone gets everything for free. – Mark
BREAKING! France joins England in rejecting the far right
Imagine living in a country where the person who gets the most votes wins. We would always have the president a majority of us wants. We would have a Supreme Court made up of Justices appointed by the presidents we want. As for being “fair” to small states (which was not what the Electoral College was about anyway), there is nothing fair about the will of the majority being thwarted over, and over, and over. But England and France have given us hope, however dwindling, that we may yet live in a world where 6 unelected extremists on a Court that is seizing power for itself and its masters is not a nightmare to wake up to every day. Maybe, just maybe …
-
One Thing or Another Podcast #74: A Conversation with Mark Goldstein, Host of the ‘Where Do Gays Retire?’ Podcast
One of the pleasures of publishing this website is all the new friends I’ve made over the last 12 years. One of the more recent ones is Mark Goldstein, host of the Where Do Gays Retire? podcast, and founder of the Where Do Gays Retire? Facebook page (with its over 14,000 members!). I had a chance to catch up with Mark on a hot summer day, about his life, his ventures, and his future. (You can hear us on his podcast talking about Lambertville, NJ, HERE.)
Mark grew up in Brooklyn, NY, and lived in Queens, NY, Westchester County, NY, and Stamford Connecticut before moving to the Tampa Bay area in Florida. Soon after moving to Florida, Mark and his husband Peter realized that retiring in Florida wasn’t a great choice. This is when Mark started a Facebook group called “Where Do Gays Retire.”
It took a few years for the group to gain momentum, and then suddenly there was an explosion of growth. From a handful of members, to today’s 12,300+ membership, the group continues to grow and provide the LGBTQ+ community with information on where to retire globally.
Mark started Zoom sessions with people from all over the world who are living in LGBTQ+ desirable locations to educate others.
His latest project was to expand on the Zoom idea to gain a larger audience. The Where Do Gays Retire Podcast was born.
-
One Thing or Another Podcast #73: A Conversation with Author Laury Egan
I had the pleasure of chatting with author Laury Egan, whose moist recent book, Jack & I, just released in May. Laury sets some of her books in locations I’m very familiar with here on the border of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Listen in as we talk about her extensive career, her life these days, and her passion for writing novels.
Photo by Vicki DeVico Laury A. Egan is the author of thirteen books of fiction: The Black Leopard’s Kiss & The Writer Remembers, The Psychologist’s Shadow; The Firefly; Once, Upon an Island; Wave in D Minor; Doublecrossed; Turnabout; The Swimmer; The Ungodly Hour; A Bittersweet Tale; Fabulous! An Opera Buffa; The Outcast Oracle (listed as a Kirkus Reviews “Best Book of 2013”); and Jenny Kidd, with one title forthcoming: Jack & I. Her stories have been collected in Fog and Other Stories, and her short fiction and poems have appeared in 85 literary journals and in multiple anthologies. Two full-length poetry volumes, Snow, Shadow, a Stranger and Beneath the Lion’s Paw, were issued in limited edition, as were two chapbooks, Presence & Absence and The Sea & Beyond. Laury is also a fine arts photographer, a former book designer, and a reviewer for The New York Journal of Books. She lives on the northern coast of New Jersey.
-
Health Beat: My Zepbound Journey (Week 1)
Narration provided by Wondervox.
By Mark McNease.
One of my biggest obstacles, if not the biggest one has been my years-long struggle with what is now obesity. I’m 65 years old, 5’10” tall, and 244 pounds. That burdens me with 50 pounds my body has to bear that it shouldn’t. It increases my risk of a half-dozen illnesses, including stroke, heart attack (which killed both my birth father and his father in their 60s), and that old standby, diabetes.
I’ve tried for at least the past decade to lose this weight, and all it has done is increase. So now, with the determination of the … determined, I’ve decided to bite the bullet. In this case it’s a syringe with a weekly dose of Zepbound. I just started this yesterday, so saying too much about it would be foolhardy. But I am committed to changing the way I eat, to making my relationship with food a much healthier one, and to inhabiting a body that both pleases me and serves me.
A word about cost: as someone on Medicare, with a Wellcare drug plan and a Humana supplemental, these drugs are not covered. I knew that going in, and it’s one of the reasons I put it off until now. I was able to get a month’s worth (4 injections) for just over $1000. Yes, it’s a lot of money. Yes, I’m somewhat privileged to be able to do this for the next three or four months, but no, I don’t feel guilty about that. I would rather spend $3000 changing my body and my life, than having to deal with the consequences of chronic obesity now and in the future.
I’ll be writing more about my Zepbound journey as the weeks pass and, hopefully, the pounds fall away.
-
Savvy Senior: Do You Need a Digital Will?
By Jim Miler
Dear Savvy Senior,
My wife and I had our estate plan – including a will, power of attorney and advance directive – drawn up about 10 years ago but have recently read that our plan should include a digital will too. What can you tell us about this?
Almost 80
Dear Almost,
If you or your wife spend much time online, adding a separate digital will document to your estate plan that provides a list of your digital assets would be extremely helpful to your loved ones when you die, not to mention it will help protect your privacy. Here’s what you should know.
Do You Have Digital Asset?
The term “digital assets” refers to personal information that is stored electronically on either a computer or an online cloud server account that belongs to an individual. Anyone who uses email, has a PIN code protected cell phone, makes online purchases, or pays bills online has digital assets.
-
Yours Truly to Moderate Mystery Writers Panel on Starting and Sustaining a Series
It’s never too early to save the date! November 11, Hoboken. The moderator of the panel looks familiar …
-
Book Review: Don’t Let the Devil Ride, by Ace Atkins
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm Sez“Don’t Let the Devil Ride” by Ace Atkins
c.2024, William Morrow $30.00 384 pagesSomething’s missing. And – wait, didn’t you just put it down?
Funny how that happens, isn’t it? You lay something in a safe place you’re sure you’ll remember but nope. It’s missing now but, like your mother used to say, it didn’t grow legs and walk off. As in the new novel, “Don’t Let the Devil Ride” by Ace Atkins, it’s around here somewhere.
Dean McKellar had left again.
It happened a couple years ago, but then, as his wife, Addison, remembered, he was only gone a few days. This time, it was a week with no contact. His phone went unanswered. His secretary offered no information. Addison’s brother, who worshiped the ground Dean walked on, had nothing to share. When she went to Dean’s office, Addy learned that another business rented that spot. How long could she protect their children, fourteen-year-old Sara Caroline, or nine-year-old Preston, from Dean’s unexplained absence?
-
The Twist Podcast #267: Proud AF End of June Rainbows Everywhere Edition
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we say goodbye to another June, wave our rainbow flags high, and stay the course.
-
The Weekly Readlines June 28
QUOTE FOR THE WEEK
“Life becomes easier when you learn to accept an apology you never got.” – Robert Brault
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
By almost all accounts President Biden bombed at the debate. No further comment.
From the good news beat, Biden pardoned military veterans who were convicted for same-sex activities prior to the repeal of DADT, and the number of elected LGBTQ officials jumped 200 percent since 2017. Pickings from the happy place are a bit slim these days
NEWS FOR Qs
Biden Protections For LGBT Students Blocked In Six More States | WTVB
US Supreme Court To Hear Challenge To Ban On Transgender Care For Minors – AOL.com
Peru stops labeling transgender people as mentally ill – Yahoo News Canada
Georgian Parliament Gives Initial Approval To Sweeping Curbs On LGBT Rights | Reuters
Cleveland Is Home To One Of The Oldest LGBT Community Centers In The Nation – WEWS