My grandma loved the color purple (and no, I am not speaking about the book). She had several pairs of purple slacks, quite a few lavendar tops, dish towels, pot holders, you name it. It seemed that as she got older, her love for the color only increased. But she was not alone in her affection. She had many a friend who was ga-ga for the hue as well. Whenever I pass a group of older women, dressed in their finest or even donning casual kick-around clothes, I see an inordinate amount of purple. It is as if they are creating a flurry of springtime activity in their brightly colored outfits.
But for as much as my grandmother adored the color, I had a dance teacher when I was growing up who detested the color. So much animus was heaped onto the color purple, [...]

Ho-hum and La-dee-dah…
I have been uninspired lately. Hey, it happens to the best of us (at least that is what I keep telling myself). Maybe it has been this unseasonably warm weather. This August-like heat and humidity in October (yes, October!) has me all confused. Do I grill a piece of fish and just pretend it’s summer, or do I toil over a pot of stew and just say, “Warm weather, be damned! Bring on the fall already!”
I have turned into one of those wishy-washy shoppers for which I normally have little patience. You know the ones, standing in the middle of the produce aisle of the market, not a clue as to what to bring home with them, deliberating, while their cart stands empty and nowhere near them. The broccoli or the fennel? No, the carrots or the tomatoes? Usually I sigh [...]