Whether you're planning a fancy cruise or a down-home picnic, organizing a reunion is a complex task. Story [Times photo: Thomas M. Goethe]

Gear up for next summer's fetes
Summertime is prime time for family get-togethers, meetings of retired military buddies and gatherings of former classmates.

Finding comfort in your own cozy corner
I think everyone should have a designated quiet place to sit and relax, read a book or just dream. It certainly is good for our well-being. It may be a room in your house or just the corner of a room. Or it may be a library stall, a coffee shop table or an easy chair in a bookstore.

Good posture reflects work of many muscles
"Keep your shoulders back, stand up straight, quit slouching." Frustrated parents often say those words, hoping to forestall round-shoulder syndrome in their children. This is a condition that affects not only children with habitual poor posture but adults as well.

Senior survivors aren't playing a game
I confess to having been sucked in by Survivors. I especially enjoy watching these previously healthy specimens of Homo greedius suffering from having been profligate with their rice supply. They are hungry. They have lean, hard, very tired bodies, and they long for Big Macs.

Rona Barrett's new scoop
The former Hollywood gossip columnist is in the limelight again, this time fighting for seniors' rights.

Best travel keeps nose to the ground
One of the advantages of being retired is having more time for travel. This means we don't have to fly. We can travel by road, camping out, as quickly or as slowly as we wish. We don't actually camp out. It's more like camping in, using our comfortable 22-foot rig. Our Rialta has a bed, a tiny kitchen, a table and seats for two.

Cool it. This August it should be quite easy
If you think it's hot now, try to imagine living here during summers without air conditioning. Back in the mid 1950s, only two public places in Clearwater had A/C -- the old Fort Harrison Hotel (now the Scientology headquarters) and the Capitol Theatre (now the Royalty Players Theatre) on Cleveland Street.

Love of racing led to invention
He needed a certain tool while working on engines at the track, but it didn't exist. So he created one.

Singing the praises of volunteers
Singing in the shower is therapeutic for me but is tough on the rest of the family. Just the other day, I began singing an Aretha Franklin song, and the dog howled along... R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

A bit testy, maybe, but not grumpy
As I read about Jack Lemmon's career after his recent death, I was struck by a reference to a couple of movies in which he starred, but which I never saw. The films are Grumpy Old Men and its sequel, Grumpier Old Men. I don't know why I never saw either of those films.

Engineer invents busy retirement for himself
The Chicago transplant turns his creative juices toward the senior professionals program at Eckerd College.