Blue Moon on Halloween, Northern Lights creeping south, and now Jupiter and Saturn snuggling close for the first time since the Middle Ages. So goes the year 2020 and all of its memories. To The Garden Guy all of these "Twilight Zone" moments may pale in comparison to the Halley's Comet-type events that have been happening in the butterfly world...Read more

I have an account on Instagram (@ALittleNudge) where I post online dating messages and profiles — often bad ones. I don't post them with the goal of making fun of someone, of course. Rather, I post with the objective of teaching people a lesson, often what not to do. The common theme of these posts is that each one highlights one particular ...Read more

I rescued my little Foxy several years ago. I wasn't looking for her, but she just crawled up on to my lap and went to sleep, so I took her home. She spent the night with her head on my pillow, and I knew she belonged with me.

It wasn't all green grass and fire hydrants. She had been abused, was not socialized well and not trained at all, so we...Read more

The kitchen can be a chaotic place during the holidays. With all of the cooking, baking and food preparation, kitchen knife mishaps can occur.

In this Mayo Clinic Minute, Mayo Clinic experts weigh in on how to avoid an unnecessary trip to the emergency department for a kitchen knife injury.

People tend to do a lot more cooking around the ...Read more

A huge study of pediatric patients across the country found only 4% were infected with the new coronavirus, and the vast majority of those cases were mild or asymptomatic.

The study, led by the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, quantifies and confirms — but doesn't attempt to explain — one of the biggest mysteries of the pandemic: Why an...Read more

Home cooks finishing up Thanksgiving shopping lists and rearranging patio chairs for an outdoor feast got a word last week from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control that landed like an off-color joke at the holiday table.

"As (COVID-19) cases continue to increase rapidly across the United States," the CDC warned, "the safest way to celebrate ...Read more

CHICAGO — For Listiner Martinez, the holiday season never brought feelings of merriment. Coming from an abusive home, she said, she never really celebrated the holidays. Martinez said she tried to move past that feeling when she had children, but sadness around the holidays still lingers.

"I typically look forward to when the holidays are ...Read more

Cases of influenza are being reported in parts of the U.S. as the COVID-19 pandemic continues. While a vaccine is not yet available for COVID-19, there is a vaccine available to prevent influenza.

"This season is more important to get the flu vaccine because the flu also has symptoms that mimic COVID-19 infection," says Dr. Robert Jacobson, a ...Read more

For some teens, getting a license means offering rides to friends, taking trips to the mall, freedom. For one Evanston, Illinois senior, it was mostly about the birds.

Isoo O'Brien, 17, is expected to break the Cook County record for individual bird species spotted in a year, clocking 282 species by the end of October. With a little more than a...Read more

CHICAGO — A few things keep Dr. Khalilah Gates and Dr. Michelle Prickett walking into Northwestern Memorial Hospital's intensive care unit, where they treat severely ill COVID-19 patients.

A sense of duty. A passion for their profession. And their friendship, honed over more than a decade and which they've always counted on for shared humor ...Read more

An overwhelming (if unsurprising) 84% of Americans report feeling sleepy during the day at least once a week, according to a recent poll by the National Sleep Foundation. Not getting enough shut-eye is one problem, of course, but our fast-paced, high-stress lifestyles, less-than-ideal eating habits and other choices can also leave us feeling ...Read more

About 40% of adults use low-calorie sweeteners, and most of those people do so at least once daily. While these sugar substitutes are most commonly consumed in beverages, they’re also eaten in foods and used in place of sugar to stir into coffee or sprinkle over cereal.

The presence of such sweeteners in our foods isn’t always apparent, ...Read more

Many of us are about to spend the holidays the same way we spent most of 2020: at home.

If you're one of the people planning to hit the road for Thanksgiving travel, the CDC is asking you to reconsider. L.A. County reported more than 5,000 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, shattering the previous record. The state is imposing a limited curfew....Read more

As the number of reported COVID-19 cases continue to rise, Mayo Clinic experts urge the public to follow Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidelines this Thanksgiving.

"The guidance right now is to keep your party at your family nucleus — immediate family — and really try to use other ways to celebrate the holidays through ...Read more

Sonia Brown's husband died on June 10. Two weeks later, the 65-year-old registered nurse was back at work. Her husband's medical bills and a car payment loomed over her head.

"She wanted to make sure all those things were taken care of before she retired," her son David said.

David and his sister begged her not to go back to work during the ...Read more

President Donald Trump has spent four years trying to undermine the Affordable Care Act. President-elect Joe Biden has pledged to bolster the law and give states new tools to expand coverage.

Among them: more money and additional guides to help people buy health insurance on the ACA exchanges; support for states that want to allow more people ...Read more

Coronavirus cases have spiked in Pennsylvania and New Jersey over the past month, surpassing the numbers of the pandemic's first wave in April, and yet many people have continued to meet up with friends at indoor gatherings and make plans to see family at Thanksgiving.

To curb the spread, Philadelphia officials announced restrictions last ...Read more

Dear Family and Friends,

As you recall, the big concern at Thanksgiving last year was someone blowing up the holiday by talking politics. This year, the big concern is breathing.

We're weighing our options and welcome your input. From a distance.

If we opt for a small indoor gathering, per our state guidelines, we must trim the number of you ...Read more