Lea Lane

I'm a bit impulsive, so when a chance came to race around a Grand Prix track at 150 miles an hour in a supercharged, ground-hugging, open-to-the-elements, hell-on-wheels speedster in Austin, Texas, I said, "Sure."

Back story first. (If not interested in normal weekend-away things, skip down three paragraphs to the...

When I read of the apparent suicide of Robert Kennedy Jr.'s wife Mary Richardson Kennedy, I thought of my best friend Delia, who took her life at 37. Like Mary Kennedy, Delia was a privileged and beloved mother who lived in Westchester County, N.Y. Like Mary Kennedy she was in...

Vidal Sassoon was perhaps the world's best-known hair stylist. He created an innovative geometric cut in the 1960s, favored by celebrities, and experimented in other sensual cuts and new products as he branched out from his base in England.

His recent death brings to mind the magical year I lived...

Recently I've faced a situation that challenged me. I needed to remind myself how I dealt with grief a decade ago, and how it changed my life:

Two weeks after I had reserved a cabin on an island off the coast of New Brunswick, Canada, for a romantic getaway with...

When I heard about Dick Clark's death I remembered how we all used to rush home from school, drop our books and sit in front of the TV watching the kids from Philly dance close and do the lindy on American Bandstand, the show he hosted five days a week.

Holocaust Remembrance Day (Yom Hashoah) is April 18-19. Each heartbreaking memory can serve to represent all people who have experienced the horrors of genocide.

I met Cecilie Klein in the early 1980s. Fragile, intelligent, in her 50s, she...

A recent article in the New York Times asserts that scientists are looking at the drastic decline of Arctic ice as the central clue to the extreme weather we've been having this winter throughout the world.

Most believe that the weather is a direct consequence of the...

I'm no Pollyanna, but I try to be a member of the glass-half-full crowd, or even, "be grateful that at least there's water in the glass" crowd. By striving to be positive I don't stress out as much about the many things that go wrong in life, both large and...

Like so many of us I've served the homeless in kitchens, contributed to food pantries and donated when there's been a famine or drought somewhere in the world. But until this past November I didn't really understand the depth of real hunger.

I'm still not truly able to understand...

One of my favorite trips ever was a walking tour of western Ireland. Here's my daily journal of a ramble in this original "green" country.

This particular Valentine's Day urges me to express something I've wanted to shout from the rooftops for awhile now.

I realize more and more that late love (I'm in my late 60s, my husband is in his early 70s) can be just as romantic as young love. And I think...

Love often comes when you least expect it, and it's never too late to marry. Or marry again.

Bill and I wanted a simple, appropriate family-only wedding, filled with warmth to celebrate late love. I think we pulled off a good example of a low-cost, delightful occasion, whether it's...

Folks, there's no "War on Christmas." Just ask those of us who don't celebrate the holiday, the outsiders looking through window panes at everybody else celebrating inside.

This is a confusing season for many, maybe you too. It isn't easy for those of us who never get caroled and who...

I'm addicted to reality TV. Hard-core, trashy reality TV. Not just The Bachelor, or The Housewives of Orange County/NY/Atlanta and the rest. I'm talking way back: I Love NY (1,2 and 3). Rock of Love and, even more compounded, Rock of Love Charm School.

Besides the relatively harmless American Idol...

I dined alfresco the other night at one of the dozens of cafes that sprawl along the Lincoln Road mall in South Beach, savoring coconut chicken soup under a red umbrella, listening to a strolling guitarist in shorts strum "Yesterday."

The moon over Miami was crescent, a warm breeze ruffled...

I recently saw two movies dealing with the end of the world -- Melancholia and Tree of Life. These artsy films sparked a remembrance of fears I once felt.

What has come to be known as the Cuban Missile Crisis, the frightening days from October 14 to October 28 1962,...

With our increasingly global society, more and more weddings have become a fusion of cultures -- individual celebrations celebrating the ethnicities of both bride and groom, wherever they may be from.

Here are two spirited, delightful examples of what I call "fusion weddings," mixing ancient traditions and creating new ones,...

When I was a divorced woman in my 40s, an infamous "study" came out of the ether, correlated by men. It snarkily stated that a single woman my age had less chance of getting married than being hijacked.

This was one of those false urban myths that spread all...

Thanks to the miracles of science and the skills of doctors and aestheticians, we're able to minimize sags and wrinkles. But when you live a full, long life, you have the scars to prove it. And these are often harder to hide.

Like our age (and weight and income), we...

In late fall and spring, ships reposition from Europe back to the states. If you're lucky and savvy you can have a bargain adventure as the crew paints and otherwise spiffs up the vessel around you.

A couple of years ago my beau and I took a repositioning cruise on...