Opinions

Driving out to St. Rose last Friday for John Hillman's funeral was a lot like pulling in to one of his auctions.

Random Thoughts At the beginning of last week, NFL star center Jason Kelce held a press conference to announce his retirement from football. The announcement itself was not really a surprise.

Savvy Senior Dear Savvy Senior, Does Medicare offer any financial assistance programs to help seniors with their medication costs? I recently enrolled in a Medicare drug plan, but I take some expensive medications that have high out-ofpocket costs and need some help. Living on a Shoestring Dear Living, Yes, there’s a low-income subsidy program called ‘Extra Help’ that assists Medicare beneficiaries on a tight budget by paying for their monthly premiums, annual deductibles, and co-payments related to their Medicare (Part D) prescription drug coverage.

I've been saying this a lot in the last few weeks – when it comes to visiting family, some of the most exciting trips are those left as unplanned as possible. That proved to be the case recently when Kim and I took a long and winding trip from Wichita to Chicago, then to Sacramento, Calif, and finally back to Wichita, all to see two of my kids.

Last week, I shared the first leg of the long and winding visit Kim and I had recently with two of my kids – Katie in Chicago, and Bill in Sacramento, Calif. Kim and I jokingly called our nearly twoweek journey the “Burmuda Triangle” because we did all of our traveling by one-way tickets.

This is a message to our high school sports teams. Please, do a little less.

Dear Savvy Senior, Do you have any suggestions on divvying up my personal possessions to my kids after I’m gone without causing hard feelings or conflict? I have a lot of jewelry, art, family heirlooms and antique furniture, and four grown kids that don’t always see eye-to-eye on things. Conflicted Parent Dear Conflicted, Divvying up personal possessions among adult children or other loved ones can often be a tricky task.

If you have been reading my column for very long, you might remember a fancy lemon tart I made last year about this time. It was a French recipe and included making everything from scratch.

Back home last week, I finally had a chance to reflect on the long and winding visit Kim and I had recently with two of my kids – Katie in Chicago, and Bill in Sacramento, Calif. Kim and I jokingly called our nearly twoweek journey the “Burmuda Triangle” because we did all of our traveling by one-way tickets.

At the start of February Punxsutawney Phil did not see his shadow in western Pennsylvania, thus signaling an early spring. And last weekend certainly felt like spring had arrived.