Columns

By Ken Rechtin

Baby Boomer

Turning 65 and eligible for Medicare? Or are you on Medicare now? Then this column is for you! It’s open enrollment time!

I’ll bet you are being besieged with numerous solicitations!

Confused by parts A, B, C and D (and whatever other famous letters of the alphabet there may be.)

My brother Nick is turning 65 next month. He reports receiving over 40 mailings in one month. This exceeds offers he has received for credit cards!

Just wondering as I wander: Does anyone fry chicken at home anymore? I would love to have some fixed the way my grandmother and mother did.

They would bring in whole chickens from Caldwell’s Grocery in Williamstown, stand at the sink and cut them up.  Pieces would then sit a bit in a bowl of salt water, I think.  Or was it buttermilk at grandmother’s house?  She might have used lard for frying in the big cast iron skillet, but my mother always used Crisco.

With Labor Day marking the end of summer, it is now time to think about fall and winter. I suggest that  you add just one more component to your seasonal preparations — a fitness and eating plan.

Everyone has heard of Christmas in July, but how about New Year’s in August?

It is a very true phenomenon in the library world. This is the time of year when we analyze how things went last year (and to make matters more confusing, last year means July 2011 through June 2012). As librarians, we still have to be a little quirky.

For our library, last year was a record setting year. We circulated more items than ever in one year. We also had more people attend our programs than in past years.