Doris O'Brien is a retired college Speech teacher and banker. She has published two books of humor (Up or Down With Women's Liberation and Humor Me a Little) and for many years contributed light verse to the Pepper 'n Salt column of the Wall Street Journal. She is an avid writer of letters to the editors.
Doris celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary in the same year she welcomed her first grandchild. She now lives in Pasadena with a great view of the San Gabriel mountains — and the annual Tournament of Roses Parade.
She can be reached by e-mail: witsendob at (@) gmail.com
Pretty Girl: Girl with a Pearl Earring makes a stop at The Frick in New York, the last leg of its American tour
Val Castronovo writes: Girl's head, shoulder, garments and accessories stand out against a dark, solid background, which is blackened now but once was translucent green. The effect is rather like the effect of looking at this painting in an otherwise empty room — just as everything is stripped away in the Oval Room so that our attention is laser-focused on Girl, so everything is stripped away in the background of the painting itself so that we zero in on the figure’s physiognomy and accoutrements, which signal mercantile wealth and prosperity. more »
ProPublica and Frontline's Investigation: Elderly, At Risk, and Haphazardly Protected
While consumers can go online and compare the track records of nursing homes on a government web site, few such resources exist for assisted living. Twenty-two states still don’t post inspection records online, requiring residents to visit state offices to view them on paper or file public records requests. ProPublica set out to compile the key rules and regulations governing assisted living in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. See what they found. more »
Revisiting Favorite Books: The Forsytes and the Acquisitive Victorians
Joan L. Cannon writes:
John Galsworthy's descriptions of nature are ravishing, his limning of his characters clear enough for a crime sketch artist to draw them. This descriptive artistry and the revelatory dialogue show the reader within a hundred pages the contrasts and individuality of everyone who has anything to do with the advancing story of Soames and Irene, and also with the subplots enacted by other members of the Forsyte family. All are influenced by the motive principles of the Forsyte clan in general, Victorian society, and their admired Soames in particular.
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Ferida Wolff's Backyard Series: Pumpkins In the Patch, Halloween and After
Neighbors had left a pumpkin outside to feed the rabbits that happened by. The seeds that weren’t eaten planted themselves and now were happily growing. The plot the pumpkins were growing in wasn’t ideal for the length of the vines but they were thriving nonetheless, a symbol of life’s determination to express itself. After Halloween, if you have a pumpkin you might want to use in a different way, one that nourishes and delights without the scary element to it, read on for more suggestions.
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