Match.com sent my “Daily 5” every morning and I looked forward to finding the profiles in my inbox. This time I had limited the criteria to men aged 63-72 who lived within 100 miles of San Jose. More realistic, I thought, in terms of who would be interested in me and how far we’d be [...]

In the privacy of my studio apartment in San Jose, I stared at men’s photos, read what they had to say about themselves, and ruthlessly weeded them out. “Fresh meat” like me was matched with scores of men in the first month of online dating and my subscription to eharmony.com. Maybe even more than for [...]

Online dating II “Match.com is for dating; eharmony.com is for marriage.” So said my senior pop culture advisor, daughter Jennifer. It was June 2009, and I was ready. Not ready for marriage—why would I ever give up my all-but-free military health insurance and two widow’s pensions (thanks again, Marsh). But definitely ready for a long-term [...]

My first year of online dating ends next week. What do I have to show for it? you might ask. For starters, not the long-term relationship I seek. The longest relationship I managed so far lasted three months. It crashed and burned when, over the course of 72 hours, my DoD contractor friend moved from [...]

A few weeks ago, a  Canadian friend of mine stood outside her house in Bucerias, a Mexican beach town half an hour away from my town of San Pancho. She was talking to her neighbor, Miguel. She likes Miguel. He’s a gregarious, good-looking guy in his late twenties who works hard in his uncle’s restaurant [...]

I love stuffed peppers—sweet bell peppers or spicy poblanos—and here are two new variations I’ve added to my meal rotation: 1. Trader Joe’s bell peppers stuffed with ground turkey and rice, and 2. a Mexican food favorite chile relleno, this time low-cal and baked instead of the traditional deep-fried. The Trader Joe’s pepper is in [...]

Here are ten things I learned this February, at my home in San Pancho, in no order of importance: 1.  Beto Palomera is a prince. He gives honest quotes on masonry jobs, completes work as scheduled with no cost overruns, and has an artist’s eye. My new wall and walkways look fabulous, thanks to his [...]

On-line dating as a 60-something widow is not for the insecure. It is incredibly hard on the ego to be judged by how you look at a time in your life when earlier generations were allowed to be “done with all that,” as my mother used to say. The new normal is not looking your [...]

Two days ago on my birthday, the Widow Greene did the unthinkable and spent the afternoon at a swanky spa, thanks to a generous gift certificate from my son. In 63 years, I’d never had a pedicure or a facial, and I can count on one hand the number of massages I’ve treated myself to. [...]

In April, daughter Jennifer had broken the sad news to my granddaughters Lily, 10, and Anna, 8, that there was no Santa, just as they suspected. The kids, their mother, and their grandmother cried  themselves to sleep that night, lamenting the loss of the childhood icon and the end of an era. Christmas just wouldn’t [...]

It was close to midnight by the time Jennifer, Lily, Anna, and I arrived at Quinta Elena on Nov. 23. It was good to be home and to have a houseful of company arriving the next day, Tuesday. Thursday would be one of our best Thanksgivings ever, I just knew. Up early the next morning, I [...]

A houseful of family and friends will join me this Thanksgiving in San Pancho: daughter Jennifer, son Michael, granddaughters Lily and Anna, brother Jim and sister-in-law Teri, friends Cheryl and Jeff, Judi and John. Their presence means more to me this year than ever. Mostly because of my dust-up with cancer and my need to [...]

My Dia de Los Muertos altar , prepared with help from granddaughters Lily, 10, and Anna, 8, is a labor of love. On a small table in the living room, we assemble a foot-high pyramid of boxes and cover it with a hand-painted cloth. We stick to Mexican tradition and adorn the altar with tissue [...]

Glib but true, I went to see a doctor about a shingles shot and came away with breast cancer. Here’s what happened. My new U.S. primary care doc, a striking Chinese-American woman  half my age, all but refused to give me the prescription for the shot until I agreed to tests I hadn’t had in [...]

As a classroom English teacher, I used to really crack the whip. Kids in my classes cranked out top notch work and lots of it. My “evil eye” or tapping of a pencil quieted down even the most rowdy. So it surprised me, at the family shelter where I work as a homework tutor, when [...]

Stuffed mussels were Marsh’s signature dish, and he made them often. He dazzled me with a batch on our first serious date. He’d made them ahead, then reheated them in the galley of his sailboat. I’d never set foot on a sailboat before, much less been served fresh seafood prepared especially for me. Over the [...]

Last night  I swept a snake out of my kitchen in San Pancho. Not a big snake—maybe three feet long, fat as a garden hose, brown with black diamonds. But still, I vibrated with fear as I ran for a broom. I had to act this time. Last year, when a similar snake appeared in [...]

I just returned from a long walk and a good cry. You’ll think I’m foolish when I tell you why. I joined eharmony.com two months ago, i admit  somewhat sheepishly. Does it make me seem needy, I feared, when I know full well that I am. Lonely, too. Anyway, a good-looking man contacted me almost [...]

After Marsh died, I agonized for two years over my living arrangement. Should I keep my home and guest house in Mexico, even though I didn’t much like living there alone? Should I sell and look for something smaller and easier to maintain? Should I spend more time in California and the “Grammy flat” we [...]

I’m still thinking about the screenplay idea. The two writers who expressed an interest haven’t gotten back to me, and I think I know why. After two weeks in an online screenwriting course, plus reading some recommended books(Steve, you were right—Robert McKee’s STORY is the Bible.), I have doubts about my book as a movie, too. [...]