Let’s be honest, everyone loves French Fries but most of us try not to eat them too often for health reasons. A casual conversation on a chair lift about the best fries in the Wasatch Mountains gave me license to explore these delectable treats to find out if they should be in a Senior Ripper’s diet. A bit of history first: the French claim the first “pommes frites” were served beside the Pont Neuf Bridge in 1789. Americans were introduced to them in 1802 when Thomas Jefferson served them in the White House. The Belgians lay claim to eating the most “frites” per capita. Now back to the heart of…

The sign of a good vacation is when you can barely remember how it started. I just wrapped up a mighty fine one and all it required was a bit of time travel, leaving me a bit confused about what day it was. I always appreciate it when a vacation is more than a week long because it allows me to fully separate from my normal routines and, I find, even begin to dream differently; yet this vacation took me even deeper. This holiday season took us back to the Poconos, to a charming community called Buck Hill Falls, a place where we have shared many good times. The community…

My suitcase came East for the holidays full of gifts, cookies, and in a side pocket, my new jump rope. A recent Dexa scan gave me the heads up that my bones needed more weight bearing exercises. So I splurged on ten sessions with a trainer at the Live Well Center at our local hospital. To my delight, my workout routine includes skipping rope three times a week.  My memories of childhood skipping include happy times singing rhymes side by side with friends and holding my breath when entering an already swinging longer rope called a Double Dutch. The rope was usually the standard hardware store variety, cut to size…

One of the unanticipated delights in writing for this blog is the opportunity to dig a bit deeper into subjects of personal interest, for example, the article – A ski industry icon attends his 100th birthday party – in our local paper, The Park Record, caught my interest, perhaps my motivation was that my father-in-law will soon be turning 100 and we are in the midst of planning his celebration. I read the article with keen interest and was thrilled when a Google search turned up a treasure trove of information. Klaus Obermeyer is an inspirational character. To my surprise, Klaus is credited with designing the first puffy down jacket…