The new Senior News — “Deliciously Humboldt” — hit newsstands on Wednesday, so it must be November. Almost. The next-to-last month of 2026 rolls in on Sunday — an hour late, if you remembered to set your clocks back an hour at 2 a.m.

Besides that extra hour of sleep, “Deliciously Humboldt” is another reason to celebrate the arrival of November and the holiday food season. This month’s Senior News invites you to enjoy food without guilt.

From the bounty of Humboldt’s farmers’ markets to California’s biggest oyster producer, Humboldt Bay, to the joys of growing up Italian, the joys of hotdogs and s’mores, to cooking for visiting singer-songwriter John Prine, this issue is a feast. 7,500 copies of “Deliciously Humboldt” spread out around the area this week. Pick up a copy, or visit electronically at the e-edition, humboldtseniornews.org/eedition/, or the website, humboldtseniornews.org. Bon appetite!

 

Which brings us to December and the New Year. Got a story to tell? Senior News accepts any topic, any time, but here are the themes we’re focusing on:

• DECEMBER is, of course, the holiday month, so we’re looking for stories on the gifts of the season. Or any of the gifts you’re grateful for in your life. It’s also the true start of the Humboldt winter, starting officially with the winter solstice on Dec. 21. This is the shortest and darkest day of the year, but it’s also the day that the sun turns around in its southward flight and s-l-o-w-l-y starts coming back. Many of us embrace wintertime, the fog and the chill and the time in front of the fire. What are the gifts of winter for you? Do you remember blizzards and snowmen of the past, or simply enjoy/endure/tolerate this season? What are your thoughts on winter in Humboldt or elsewhere, past and present? Send 400-500 beautifully chiseled words plus photos to tpease@humsenior.org by Nov. 12 (or sooner, because the holidays wreak havoc at the printer!).
• JANUARY is time for our Annual Reset, the month named for Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, transitions, gates, doorways, passages, time and endings. Let’s share our stories of new beginnings, turning over a new leaf, starting anew and heeding the lessons of the past. What have been some of your most meaningful times of transition when you reinvented yourself? What mistakes will you never make again? What advice would you like to give to your younger self? How can we make 2027 a better year for ourselves and others? Deadline: 400-500 hopeful words of change by Dec. 12 (or sooner . . . !) to tpease@humsenior.org.

 

Senior News, founded in 1981, is a program of the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, a community newspaper circulating 7,500 free copies monthly. For information or to subscribe, call 707-443-9747.

Thank you, gentle readers, as always, for your support of Senior News — For people 50+ and everyone who knows one or wants to be one someday.