On my first night of work in an Ottawa newsroom, I arrived to find almost everyone with a stubby, brown bottle of beer on the desk. I say “almost everyone” because some were more discerning and had highballs or white wine before them. A clerk was employed in our newsroom at night, ostensibly as a shuttle service to cart empties to the National Press Club and bring back another round of drinks. My first news editor in that bureau owned one suit jacket, which he donned at around 4 p.m. eac...

I am getting to an age, much to my regret, at which I have to start paying attention to my health. On the other hand, better to get to this age than not. To be alive and well and realize that I face physical decline ought not necessarily be something to despair over. After all, there are some amusing little moments inside that self-recognition. To wit: I watched my seventh consecutive Olympic marathon recently and did my seventh consecutive run immediately following. Ritualistically, I've ma...

John Donne said it 400 years ago: “No Man Is an Island.” And he’s right. We’re all linked together by our common humanity, all passengers on spaceship Eart...

In the early morning following the last big snow of the season, I was walking back home with my new dog (more on him later) when I was passed from behind by a gaggle of middle-aged women joggers, all of them gamely slogging along through the several inches of cold fluff. They were a corps of the jogging club known as Jean's Marines, made famous for its good-natured transformation of couch potato or workaholic femmes d'un certain age into Women Who Can Run 26 Miles. It was also made infamous for ...

Skinny jeans, short skirts, shorts and layers. What's a woman to do if she's not tall and slim? Actually this fall's fashion has lots of great options, even if you're not — and I'm not — six feet tall and skinny as a rail. It's just a matter of picking and choosing — identifying friend from foe. Skinny jeans can be hard to wear, but popular designers like Canadian company Fidelity have more relaxed options for girls who find super skinny jeans to be unattainable attire. They give...

Shine and shimmy like a star Published: March 2005 by Gracey Hitchcock Fashion has gone glam in the most romantic way. This season shopping at La Senza or La Perla you’ll find everything you need to look as romantic or as hot as you want in lovely lingerie. After years of thongs, thongs and more thongs followed by those oh-so-cute, but terribly unflattering boy-shorts, designers have finally figured out what most women really want from lingerie: glamour. As outerw...