Columnists

Christmas sometimes seems to be the American national holiday. Even as the economy seems to be improving, stores are counting on “the Christmas spirit” to keep them solvent for another year.

Q: We recently had our stray kitty put to sleep. She was sick when we found her and she never got any better. The vet said she had FIP, and that she could never be healthy again. I don’t understand why this disease is so untreatable. Can you explain?

Black Friday is the day after Thanksgiving when hordes of shoppers looking for holiday deals pillage the aisles of chain retail stores like the Vandals sacking ancient Rome. It’s a fun annual tradition for some families to get up early in the morning to go to the malls, outlets and shopping centers and find the marked-down bargains. We at MHAT-19 would like to encourage South Valley locals who are looking for special holiday gifts to consider during the holidays and throughout the year supporting the local economy by purchasing some merchandise and services from local shops and businesses.

Creative, unique, elegant, artistic and inventive would be understated adjectives when describing “The Lion King.” The phrase “pushing the envelope” must have been created for it. Here is theatre never seen before, a production where the star is the director, who uses her abilities to bring to the stage an experience that unfolds as a story most are familiar with, but with out-of-the-box imagination.

Last weekend, a restless itch sent me out the door to Hunting Hollow, Henry Coe State Park’s closest and most accessible entrance. I wasn’t in the mood for a long hike, just a place for a quiet stroll. To my surprise, while I was there, I found fall.

As I think about a bigger view, outside my own little world, I realize that we as a country and as a world really have much to be thankful for. In the United States, we continue by most measures to be the greatest country in the world, and live with an amazing level of comfort and freedom compared with many other places and times. The following is food for grateful thought.

“Cathy Rigby is Peter Pan” comes to the Center for the Performing Arts in San Jose with music, lights, action, flying and all the hoopla of the Neverland classic.

Thanksgiving and Christmas are coming, and this is the time of year when many people feel the urge to help others. Canned food drives seem to be held all around us: at schools, religious congregations, even places of business.

When you retire, you may well have accomplished some important financial goals, such as sending your children through college and paying off your mortgage. Yet, you can’t relax because your retirement could easily last two or three decades, which means you’ll need at least two or three decades’ worth of income – which, in turn, means you’ll need the proper savings and investment strategies in place. And, just as importantly, you’ll also need to be aware of the types of risk that could threaten these strategies.