Q: My gym has been closed for the last year because of the coronavirus pandemic. I decided to stay in shape by hiking the trails every day instead of my usual workouts of weight lifting, stationary biking or rowing. I starting having a little pain in my right mid-foot while hiking but it’s p…

If you read my column last month, you know my goal for the New Year was to get out of the quarantine 15 club.

My last column was about the past because there is so little going on in the present. 

I’m just settling into an easy chair in a private room with two clients. I open with a question, “Marjorie, do you know who I am?”

Out of pandemic boredom, I decided to try to find some old Manhattan Beach roommates from almost 50 years ago. 

What is the church when the building is empty?

People accuse older people of living in the past ... well of course we do!

As pandemic boredom seeps into my every crevice, I have renewed appreciation for the grand memories of my travels as a Flying Tiger Lines flight attendant. Reminiscing with my former flight crew members has kept me somewhat sane. Here's a tour down memory lane I hope you, too, will enjoy. 

At this time of the year, I’m usually scaling back on the sugars and carbs and adding in a little more gym time to rebalance the overindulgence from the holidays.

On Christmas Day, my sister-in-law Pam and niece Rebecca had the sweet idea to contact everyone in the immediate family for a ZOOM get together. 

Q: I’m not sure I understand why the stay-at-home orders and restrictions on restaurants and businesses are so strict. I know a lot of people who got COVID-19 but they weren’t much sicker than the flu. What’s the sudden panic for people to stay home and only be with people in their own house…

Well, Christmas is coming, but some important parts of the family aren’t.The Northern Californians and the one in Brooklyn are staying put as requested. We were expecting two from Echo Park, but one is quarantined after being exposed to the virus. We’ll also be missing a Santa Barbara son. Alas.  

I got scammed yesterday. And I’m miserable about it. Wasn’t I the first to spot a scam when someone called my husband a few years back, claiming to be our youngest grandchild stuck in a Florida jail after a driving accident? 

If this was any other year, the days following Thanksgiving would be my pilgrimage to the malls. It was never a goal to get everyone checked off my list, but rather a kick-off to Christmas, where my mom, cousins, aunts and I would get together for lunch, talk about holiday plans, and of cour…

The pandemic has truly brought out the very best in people. It’s also brought out the very worst. 

This last week was one of big ups and big downs.

When Charlie Brown learns that his dog, Snoopy, is writing a book on theology, he says “I hope you have a good title.”

Noticing the dilapidated look of my cane holder in my front hall, I decided this could be a good project for the day.

By the time you read this column, the 59th quadrennial presidential election will likely have been decided. And barring any pathetic poor-loser dramatics, we will have a new 46th president. 

A good friend sent me a nice note about one of my columns. Of course I was pleased, but as I started to write an answer, I noticed a robot had read her praise and was suggesting that I reply, “How sweet. Thank you!”This really annoyed me.Why is a robot or an algorithm or whatever snooping in…

I recently greeted Dr. John La Puma as a guest on my podcast show, "Unlocking the Doors of Dementia with Lauren."

Q: My doctor told me to meditate to help me reduce my anxiety and blood pressure. My mind is always racing with things I need to do, fears and worry. I’ve tried meditating, but I can’t just stare at a candle or sit with my eyes closed and spontaneously stop my thoughts. Failing just makes me…

In March when I wrote an article in the Palos Verdes Peninsula News about churches and the coronavirus, I quoted a communiqué from the Archbishop of Los Angeles. In it the archbishop said, in part: “the Center for Disease Control (CDC) continues to advise that most people in the United State…

Readers of previous columns may have noted my desire to protect the wildlife on our three acres. Granted the noisy peacock population we inherited with the house has dwindled to almost nothing these days. But that's the fault of my son's big black dog whose hobby is chasing the birds off the…

At the beginning of 2020, I was excitedly working on a new venture to help those with memory impairments called, “Live, Love, Art.” It was to launch in April 2020—and then COVID-19 hit! My team nonetheless quickly implemented the program at my memory care homes and with my in-home care clien…

There were a couple of ways that I knew my age was catching up to me: I needed glasses to read labels and menus; and food didn’t have the same forgiving relationship with my body that it did 10 years ago. 

Once upon a time, a very long time ago when I was energetic and fearless, I took my three children, aged 12, 14 and 15 to Europe. Being a penny-pincher, I joined the German American Friendship Club and got four plane tickets to Germany for $200 apiece.

I worked so hard to lose a ton of weight, only to watch pounds creep back on because Sees, Fritos, Baskin Robbins Pralines and Cream, Cosco pizza, White Castles and Cheddar Cheese Popcornopolis don’t make “lite” products. 

The book I’m currently reading is a novel titled "The Guest Book" by Sarah Blake. It’s the tale of a New York clan who once bought a small island in Maine. It was inexpensive to buy in the 1930s, but the present day heirs are having a hard time hanging on to it. 

I come from a long line of non-cooks.

Q: With all the restrictions for COVID-19 prevention right now, I feel as if my life is on hold. I know staying home as much as possible, limiting contacts, staying away from crowds and, of course, wearing masks and social distancing is necessary. But I feel lonely and sometimes depressed, s…

There are moments when you realize you were a spoiled brat growing up. There are also moments when you realize how much your parents loved you.

Football is as American as apple pie.

I used to go to a small writing workshop on Wednesdays. Six or eight of us met in a room at the library for a couple of hours. 

I’ve always loved living in the country, but never more so than during this endless lockdown.

We’ve all had “that” experience with music.

People who care for loved ones with dementia, especially when those loved ones are relatives, are often also concerned about whether they will develop dementia themselves.

Silver linings, signs of hope during the coronavirus lockdown, have been the simple moments in my life that have brought tears to my eyes, touched my heart and made me count my blessings.

I never was much of a TV watcher.

Q: I am getting so tired of living with this pandemic. I have cabin fever.

I refuse to be undone from the latest pandemic setbacks. 

For anyone who wondered why I wrote last week’s piece all about cars, here’s your answer.

Karl Barth, probably the most important Protestant theologian since Martin Luther, observed that the task of the preacher was to hold “the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other.”

I got my drivers license in 1949 when I turned seventeen, the legal age for driving in New Jersey at that time.

Q: How long will this coronavirus pandemic go on? My doctor told me he removed a precancerous polyp last January, and wanted me to repeat a colonoscopy in one year, but I’m afraid of medical facilities, so I haven’t scheduled it, or any of my blood tests or annual exams.

In a little more than seven weeks, school is scheduled to start on the Peninsula for more than 11,000 students. But unlike the usual beginning-of- the-school-year questions of where’s my locker, will any of my friends be in my classes and who are my teachers, my daughter is dealing with only…