DEAR ANNIE: I’m a 64-year-old woman who thought making new friends at my age would be simple: find someone kind, show up, bring snacks, repeat. A few months ago, I met “Jill” at a community class. We clicked right away. She’s funny in that dry, smart way that makes you feel like ...

DEAR HELOISE: This is to add to Karen from Michigan’s suggestion about recycling toilet paper rolls. I reuse them by cutting the rolls in half and standing them upright in the bottom of a plastic ice-cream bucket. Next, I add potting soil until it reaches the tops of the shortened rolls. ...

DEAR DR. ROACH: About one year ago, I had Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) that was treated with 125 mg of vancomycin for about four weeks. I had none of the usual risk factors, and the cause was never determined. I am 78 years old and in fair health. Recently, my family doctor diagnosed me ...

Let’s say you’re declarer in four spades and West leads a heart. You win with the king and draw three rounds of trump. Since you have an inevitable heart loser, you must now try to avoid losing three club tricks. If you play the ace and a low club — hoping the suit divides 3-3 or that ...

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While on a childhood hike through a neighborhood woodlot with my dad, my earliest memory of beech trees is noticing that the smooth gray bark served as a billboard to announce local romance. Two sets of initials inside a heart carved into the bark was a woodland Valentine of sorts. The ...