Thanks, Cathy, for your post below. At church yesterday, several women I spoke with said they felt sick all week about the Vatican's witch hunt against women religious. Physically sick. I was wondering why I had migraines all week! As for the anti-gay and lesbian…
What a week to live in Washington state! The Seattle archbishop is trying to upend the same-sex marriage law signed by our (Catholic) governor in Washington state and now Rome has set forth an investigation into the work of thousands of American Roman Catholic sisters…
The Comcast cable subcontractor arrived this morning to put in a cable box. It was the wrong one. The nice young man, Rick, called his supervisor and explained that we likely couldn't go in person to the Comcast warehouse to swap the box because we…
We gave away a dining room table this morning, pictured here on our porch with stickers so that Volunteers of America know it's OK to take it. It's in terrific shape, as are the chairs, but it's a heavy piece of furniture and not easily…
I always put the release date in my calendar for new books by my favorite writers. On Tuesday writer Anna Quindlen’s new book, Lots of Candles, Plenty of Cake, hit the stores. I had to be at work before the book store opens (I have…
You don’t think one creature can make a BIG difference in your day? Enjoy the power of this little puppy who stopped air traffic and complied with the FAA once she was reunited with his owner. (S-R archives photo)
Polly McMahon, Spokane clinical psychologist and expert in aging issues, is on the local panel going on right now at the Hospice teleconference on end-of-life issues. She said she doesn't want to be kept alive if death is the obvious next step. "Don't use your…
Several vendors are at the Hospice teleconference. Funeral homes, retirement communities and home health care agencies are among the groups with booths here. I notice a bump in the quality of the giveaways. Lots of cloth shopping bags, pens, good chocolate, notebooks. In the past…
I am at a Hospice Foundation of America's national conference, telecast throughout the country, and that 's how I can attend in Spokane. The theme: End-of-Life ethics. One message so far. Figure out what you do and don't want at the end of life. Write…
As a keeper of some pretty old letters, passed down from a surrogate grandmother, Iowa King Cown, to my dad and then to me, I appreciate how satisfying it can be to find a welcome home for some of the items. I recently found a…
There's great buzz in Alzheimer's circles about a new brain scan technology that can detect beta-amyloid (protein) plaques, which build up in the brain like toxic waste when you have Alzheimer's. Before now, the plaques could be confirmed only upon autopsy. The scan isn't widely…
At 8:30 this morning I opened the Tacoma paper to read a story about Referendum-74 which seeks to repeal the Marriage Equality Act by putting it on the November ballot. Signatures are needed to put the recently passed legislation to the people’s vote. Seattle Archbishop…
Before you require a green burial as referenced in Becky’s post, see what you can do to save our planet from all our own foolishness. Checkout the website of activities you can do to make a difference and if you are in the Washington, D.C.…
Gail Rubin, author of A Good Goodbye and creator of "The Newly-Dead Game" sent me an Earth Day related email that I saved just for this weekend. Here's what she wrote: Conventional funerals use enough metal to build a Golden Gate Bridge and enough concrete…
A report was released today criticizing the lives of American Catholic sisters. After reading the report, I think Jesus would want to have a conversation with the Vatican regarding their view that the members of the Leadership Conference of Women Religious (nuns) in the United…
Dick Clark, the teen music pied piper, died of a heart attack today. His death prompted a short discussion in our newsroom pod about his continued appearance on the New Year's Eve show, even after his stroke in 2004. It was a bad stroke, rendering…
The new edition of the Urban Dictionary showed up in my mailbox and before I donate it to our features pod reference library, I picked out some death-related-sounding phrases floating out there in slang land. Check your vitals: To check your email and Facebook. Cubicle…
We never had animals growing up nor did I have any as an adult, but I know a lot of dog and cat lovers and Cathy's answer to our column question today about pet grief is a reminder to take the time to write a…
Atlantic magazine this month has an excellent article debating whether Facebook is actually making us lonelier. It leads with this haunting anecdote about a woman who cut off all human contact but kept contact with Internet "friends." Yvette Vickers, a former Playboy playmate and B-movie…
She is recognized in our state’s capitol building as one of our most important pioneers and today is her birthday…she was born April 16, 1823. Mother Joseph arrived in the Pacific Northwest on December 8, 1856, by boat, along with four other sisters from Montreal.…
.. eye of a tornado, life can change. The people in Kansas have given thanks for their lives as their homes and possessions flew away. Boeing and Spirit AeroSystems lost property as well as mobile home owners. Wichita’s losses alone are estimated at $283 million.…
My grandma used to say, “I have never seen a hearse with a U-Haul behind it!” That statement was grandma’s way of saying that you can’t take your stuff with you to the afterlife. However, our possessions can represent what does matter: family, relationships and…
It's a pleasure to be on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention email list. Every few weeks, they report on something that is so dang interesting. Today, this: At 6:45 a.m. on August 5, 2011, a commercial airliner carrying 50 passengers, two pilots, and…
Conventional grieving wisdom says that widows and widowers shouldn't make any major changes for a year. But we're learning here at EndNotes that people grieve very differently. And it's OK. There is no one right way. Pia Hallenberg had an excellent story today on Dawn…
If you ever had your heart broken in your younger years, you may recall the profound grief that followed. Couldn't eat, perhaps, or sleep. Or those crying sessions with sympathetic listeners. A song posted on YouTube has now been viewed by 87 million people. It's…
Spokesman-Review features writer Rebecca Nappi, along with writer Catherine Johnston of Olympia, Wash., discuss here issues facing aging boomers, seniors and those experiencing serious illness, dying, death and other forms of loss.
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