In my book, The Sweet Life, I have a whole chapter devoted to sex. Hey, it’s a book about love and marriage, so it had to be done. Doesn’t quite have the same pizzazz as when we were younger, but it’s not half bad. I’m no Dr. Ruth (I’m short, but not that short), but bottom line: I’m a firm believer in doing whatever you need to do in order to do it. I’ll spare you the details. Oh, and fantasize all you want about whoever you want, but just don’t act on it. My friend Rita learned this the hard way. Rita works down to Smitty’s Hardware, which is owned by her husband, Smitty. …

Charlie and me were paying our bills the other day. The way we do this is, we sit down and pay ‘em together. It doesn’t take that long. We try to do it every couple of weeks. At least once a month. It helps if you put it in the calendar. I know some folks just do it automatically, right from their paycheck, but we’ve been doing it this way forever and it helps us stay on the same page. When things are tight (and they have been off and on over the years) bill paying isn’t my favorite thing to do. But the fact is, it’s gotta be done. Easier to show up and …

Charlie and me went shopping for a new gas grill at Home Depot this weekend. The old one was plumb worn out, so it was time. I was on board with it. But let me tell you, I was not on board for two hours of comparison shopping, debating the merits of this one or that one, different “features” and questions, questions, questions, like it’s some kind of fancy sports car or something. Honest to God. And of course, there’s a whole bunch of other guys there doing the same thing. See grilling, for the most part, is a man’s territory. Don’t get me wrong, I use the gas grill. But when I do, it’s …

Bud’s the first of our little group to retire. Worked for Gagne’s & Sons Heating and Cooling for what? Thirty plus years, I guess. That’s dirty work, repairing furnaces and the like. Plus, you get called out at all hours, day and night. Weekends, too, don’t matter the weather. And unless you’re doing an annual cleaning, the people you’re dealing with are usually real upset. I mean, it’s ten degrees out, and no heat. They’re all bundled up, seeing their breath inside the house, and Bud’s gotta be the one who tells ‘em their furnace is shot. No fun. Once he hit sixty-five, Bud was outta there. When he started talking about retiring, I says …

Haven’t the leaves been beautiful? There are some years when the foliage isn’t as spectacular, just a lot of yellows with maybe a little orange. But this autumn is vibrant, with intense reds, perky oranges, and light-up-my-life yellows. Must have something to do with the weather. I don’t know, but I’m going with it.  One of my favorite things I get to do all year round is to visit libraries across the great state of Maine. Spring and fall are the best times to do this. Winter is touch-and-go with the weather, and summer is pesky because of the tourist traffic. Spring is nice because you get to check out the buds, leaves, flowers and …

Seems like Charlie and me have been going to more wakes and funerals then we used to. Or we’re hearing about a gal we know just got cancer or a guy who had a heart attack. Kind of shakes you up. So much so, I found myself thinking the other day, if I’m the first one to kick the bucket, I hope Charlie gets out there and finds a lady friend to do stuff with. You know, after the appropriate mourning period. I told him I don’t want much. Just my photo with a couple of votive candles burning 24/7!  At our age, the writing’s on the wall. There’s a 50/50 chance, right? You’re going …

I have a whole chapter in my book, The Sweet Life, about how to deal money because money, or lack of it, can cause a lot of stress in a marriage. Now, I don’t give any advice on how to invest your hard-earned cash. I just share ways to approach money on a day-to-day basis, things that have worked for Charlie and me. Some of it we’ve been doing since we got married, and some we had to learn the hard way. I want to save you some pain. I’ve heard that rich people find it kind of tacky to talk about money, but for the rest of us, well, we gotta. I’m not saying …

This week’s blog appears in my book, The Sweet Life, but it bears repeating. ‘Tis the season. Up ‘til the economy tanked, “staycation” wasn’t even a word. There’s a reason for that. See how only half the word resembles “vacation”? That’s a hint as to the outcome of most staycations. At best, they’re kind of like a vacation. At worse, they’re more like a week spent in the Gulag. Charlie and me learned this the hard way a few years back. We’d never taken a staycation, so we thought we’d give it a try. We even made a plan, well kind of. We’d scrape and repaint the deck the first weekend, ‘cause it needed it …

In my book, The Sweet Life, I have a whole chapter devoted to sex. Hey, it’s a book about love and marriage, so it had to be done. Doesn’t quite have the same pizzazz as when we were younger, but it’s not half bad. I’m no Dr. Ruth (I’m short, but not that short), but bottom line: I’m a firm believer in doing whatever you need to do in order to do it. I’ll spare you the details. Oh, and fantasize all you want about whoever you want, but just don’t act on it. My friend Rita learned this the hard way. Rita works down to Smitty’s Hardware, which is owned by her husband, Smitty. …

Charlie and me went for a massage last Saturday. Yes, you read that right. Charlie got a massage, and not by me. By a guy named Michael. Let me start at the beginning. For Christmas, our niece Caitlin gave us each a gift certificate for a one hour massage. She knows how much I love being pampered, no question about that, but it was a kind of outside the box choice for Charlie. He would have been happy with one of them Hickory Farms sausage and cheese gift box type deals. God love her, Caitlin’s heart is in the right place. She knew work had been tense for Charlie what with all the layoffs down …