classes

For Bay Area seniors who can’t get enough lugubriousness, the Day of the Dead falls right on the heels of Halloween on November 2. Get into the morbid spirit of the occasion at Autumn Express in the Mission where they are giving workshops on creating traditional Sugar Skulls. Classes are Oct. 29 and Nov.1 from […]

Seniors who remember mushrooms from magical moments in their youth are  re-discovering the culinary properties of these fungi. (They are not vegetables). If you haven’t tried a porcini risotto, my heart goes out to you. Right now is the beginning of prime mushroom stalking season, when the weather is both wet and warm. There are over […]

Over 70 million Americans spend serious time bird watching. The Bay Area is a great place to do it. According to the US Fish and Wildlife Service more than 1.5 million waterfowl will winter here. For beginners there are classes all over including  ones in the East Bay, Marin and San Francisco. It’s an invigorating, […]

Why fool around with skeleton costumes this Halloween when you can have the real thing? On Solano Avenue the Bone Room has a macabre inventory of human skeletons, bones, fossils, claws and charmingly monstrous jewelry. On Thursday October 28 you can attend an embalming demonstration there (without a real cadaver).

Can a senior be both active and sedentary? Why not. Computers are gateways to worlds upon worlds of information and entertainment that require no more physical effort than rocking chairs. If you’re still intimidated by the online life check out Macs for Seniors for Dummies.

Bay Area seniors who are understandably weary after 60 or more years of the same Christmas feasts, might want to check out Rosetta Costantino’s Calabarian holiday cooking class. I know it’s ridiculously early to be thinking about Christmas, but this is something worth signing up for well in advance. On December 3 she will offer […]

For brainy Bay Area boomers of a scientific bent there are  talks and debates by Berkeley academics the first Wednesday of every month at the Science Café in the La Pena Cultural Center.The evenings run from 7 to 9.  For the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine you can join […]

I nominate flyfishing as the perfect sport for geezers. It’s cheap, physically undemanding and serenely solitary. You can start off your new hobby without leaving the Bay Area, if you don’t mind not  catching any actual fish. The flycasting pool in Golden Gate Park, built in 1938, is rich in fishing lore and it offers […]