Louisa Rogers

My father’s friend Dottie, a single widowed lady of 95, loves her robotic cat Sheena. (Indeed, when my father and I visited her in the assisted-living facility where she lives, I loved cuddling up with the kitty too). Even better, during Covid, when Dottie couldn’t leave her room or invite family members or friends to visit, Sheena saved her from loneliness.
Dottie is not alone. Programmed cats and dogs provide a sense of companionship and comfort to many of the elderly, especially to those l...

“I have a secret to tell you,” my then 97-year-old father told me on the phone, in a conspiratorial whisper— “and you mustn’t tell anyone. I’m going to win half a million dollars tomorrow.”
I hoped my sigh wasn’t too obvious. Over the last year, my intelligent, worldly father had become vulnerable to sweepstake scams. As soon as he responded to one offer, more mail with seductive promises would arrive. No amount of reasoning on my sisters’ and my parts would change his mind.
We finally contro...

Ways to prepare for being an expat

About a year ago, I was chatting on the phone with my then-99-year-old father, who was telling me about his morning. He lives on the other side of the country from me, in an assisted living facility in central Pennsylvania. Because he has a catheter, a Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN) had arrived that morning around 7:00 a.m. to change the larger bag that he uses during the night to a smaller daytime bag. LPNs, the low-paid, unsung heroes of any assisted living facility, are the nurses who real...

Taking the Mundane and Making It Mandatory for a Peaceful Existence
Every morning, I spend a couple of minutes making the bed my husband Barry and I share. First, I smooth the wrinkles of the bottom sheet, then I pull up the top sheet, plump the pillows, and finally align the duvet. I do all this early, before breakfast or yoga, because it gets my day off right. Housework is a very mixed bag for me, but I do enjoy making the bed.
Washing the dishes is another pleasure. I love the way the warm...

In the winter of 1974, newly arrived in Vancouver, B.C., I worked as a temp, barely covering my expenses. And with no sense of my professional future, I never worked long enough in any one location to bond with my coworkers. The short, gray winter days didn't help, either.
After work, walking in the dark to the bus stop, I'd stop at a corner store and buy a candy bar. One day, the Sikh owner, recognizing a familiar customer, said, "Have you tried this? It's sesame," and handed me what looked ...

TravelAwaits participates in affiliate programs with various companies. We may earn commission when you click on or make purchases via links.
I’ve never met a pueblo magico I didn’t love. These 132 “magic towns” are a designation of the Mexican government, a program launched in 2001 to promote tourism in smaller communities that offer natural beauty, cultural richness, history, archeology, cuisine, and the arts. I find the small-town residents, like everywhere in the world, to be especially f...

It’s imperative to feel comfortable and safe while traveling. Medjet provides premier air medical transport, travel security, and crisis response memberships, providing peace of mind for an affordable price.
Way back in the mid-’70s, my boyfriend Barry and I tested our commitment to each other by taking a three-month trip to the British Isles. (Happy to report we passed the test!). Soon after we arrived, we bought a “Dormobile,” a popular but now-extinct British camper van, and traveled aroun...

TravelAwaits participates in affiliate programs with various companies. We may earn commission when you click on or make purchases via links.
My sister gave me my first travel diary the year I turned 14, when my family took a trip to Italy. A small, yellow-lined notebook -- I still have it in my box of childhood journals. I kept lists like “Souvenirs I Bought,” “Hotels We Stayed At,” “People I Met,” “Languages I Heard,” “Menus,” “Places Of Interest,” and “Anecdotes” (foreshadowing my future w...

I used to ride my bike from Eureka to Arcata and back a couple times a week but since I no longer have a regular date in Arcata, I haven't had a chance to test the new Humboldt Bay Trail along the U.S. Highway 101 corridor. Now with this NCJ assignment, I have just the opportunity. A friend who lives in McKinleyville and I make a date to meet halfway and I hop on my bike.
Heading North
In Eureka, I speed down Waterfront Drive, past the Adorni Center and Halvorsen Park, across the gleaming met...

The worst lentils I ever ate were the ones I appreciated the most.
In the early '80s, my husband, Barry, and I joined hundreds of other North Americans and Europeans and went trekking in the Himalayas. We chose to walk the three-week Muktinath Pilgrimage trail, a windy, mountainous route along the Kali Gandaki gorge, the deepest in the world, beneath the towering Annapurna and Dhaulagiri peaks. Ultimately, we hoped to climb Thorong La, a difficult,, snow-covered pass at almost 17,800 feet, an...

Little did I know, when my husband Barry and I bought an old adobe home in the heart of Guanajuato, Mexico, back in 2005, that the city would be just as quirky and fascinating to me 16 years later as it was then. Here are nine of my private joys.
1. Exploring The Callejones (Alleys)
The town of Guanajuato is built on the slopes of a steep valley. Wherever I am, I look out at Cubist, blocky buildings piled on top of each other, the color of mango, watermelon, lemon, and kiwi. Many of the small...

TravelAwaits participates in affiliate programs with various companies. We may earn commission when you click on or make purchases via links.
When my husband Barry and I bought a home in the UNESCO World Heritage Center of Guanajuato, Mexico, in 2005, we knew we loved the city itself but had no idea that we would fall in love with the country. We knew Mexico slightly, but in the last 16 years have explored much more, from volcanoes to villages and everything in between. It’s a fascinating, di...