Living

A growing number of older Americans are residing in senior-living communities. Demand is far higher than supply, and costs are generally high. But there are many advantages to such accommodation, even if making such a move requires some adjustment.

If you haven't heard of pickleball, you must be living in a mountaintop monastery somewhere in the Himalayas. Yet even there, at 10,000 feet in Bhutan, monks have been playing pickleball since 2023.

The Star spoke with Louise Collins, M.D., a board-certified gynecologist with Meeting House Lane Medical Practice in East Hampton about sexual activity during and after menopause.

Ashleigh Katharine Bennett and Thomas Gerard Todd IV were married on Oct. 11 at the Vineyards at Aquebogue.

Move over, mah-jongg. See ya later, Scrabble. There's a whole world of board games out there that hold potential interest for seniors who may be looking for something social, something different, and maybe even something new and challenging. Here are a few fun suggestions from an elder millennial for the older adults in the room.

What's going on? Why is my hair falling out? Age, they'll tell me — that's the answer to everything I question, whether it's physical or mental. Age is always the answer.

“The beginning of forever starts with a yes.” So said Steven Thorsen in announcing the engagement of his daughter Elise Suzanne Thorsen to Michael Ryan Fresa.

“This is where my heart is, this is where my passion is," Erica Velasquez, an Amagansett native and student of yoga, said. “This is what I want to do.”

Thousands of Long Islanders are looking after someone with Alzheimer’s disease or another form of dementia. The role can be emotionally and physically taxing as caregivers work to keep their loved ones cared for and safe. It can also be lonely. But support groups, run by the Alzheimer’s Association, are providing a place for caregivers to share tips and frustrations, air their sadness, and know that they are not alone.

With all the talk in town about our new Senior Center I am reminded of the old ladies’ home in the town where I grew up. Perhaps it had an official name — I’m sure it did — but everyone including its residents called it The Old Ladies’ Home.

For homebound senior citizens already contending with illnesses or injuries that restrict their ability to leave the house, house-call services can become more than a means of accessing services otherwise unavailable to them; they can become a connection to the outside world.

The McNally-Gatlin family of East Hampton is a local example of a national trend: Multigenerational living, which was decreasing in the 20th century, is on the rise again as families contend with increased housing costs and working parents seek both child care and elder care.

“Aging does a number on our bodies, but if we have strength and we have mobility, we can still function,” said Rasa Tarailaite, owner of RasaPilates, who has been training clients in East Hampton for nearly a decade. “I have an 86-year-old who’s done Pilates for 20 years. She moves better than some 40-year-olds.”

This curated selection of outings, classes, and activities for older adults on the South Fork is really just a taste of what’s out there. Museums, theaters, libraries, and town facilities are cultural hubs for all things entertainment, informational, and educational.

Dr. Pember Edwards and Matt Chapman were married on April 26 at the Presbyterian Church in East Hampton, the very church where they had met in a youth group in the 1990s. The ceremony, officiated by the Rev. Jon Rodriguez, was filled with thoughtful details of deep significance to the couple.

“All gardens are a form of autobiography,” said the late, great Bob Dash, who began ‘writing’ his own into the soil of Sagaponack in 1967 — a story those at the Madoo Conservancy have continued in the dozen years since Dash’s death and the four decades the public has been welcomed into his two-acre botanical sanctuary.

If you have explored natural approaches to gardening, you may have heard of biodynamics. Depending on how it’s described, it can sound either mystical or based on ancient farming wisdom.

There it was: the moment the Garden Book editor became a gardener herself.

In the Victorian-era school of thought known as “the Language of Flowers,” wisteria is associated with romance, beauty, and devotion, with a slightly ominous postscript referencing the plant’s twisting vines and warning of loving something a little too much, lest it be suffocated.

Floral arranging and gardening have been Lilee Fell’s synergistic passions since childhood. As the owner of Lilee Fell Flowers in Sag Harbor, she grew up watching her mother create floral arrangements for garden club flower shows and her grandmother making arrangements for their church’s altar guild.

Concerned Citizens of Montauk is urging home gardeners and professional landscapers alike to stop adding synthetic fertilizer on their lawns, flower beds, and vegetable gardens.

It’s time to get growing. The publication of The East Hampton Star’s annual East End Garden and Home supplement means the 2025 gardening season is officially under way. With this comes a lively calendar of spring and summer events, including garden workshops, educational lectures, art activities, and benefit parties, just a few of which are detailed here. Additional events may be added as the season progresses, so readers should check with their favorite organizations and garden clubs for more information.

Joe Silvestro is proof that high school robotics clubs can prepare students for future careers. He graduated from Southold High School in 2020, “a crazy time,” he said, to be stepping out into the real world. Two semesters at SUNY Polytechnic Institute in upstate Oneida soon helped him realize that college wasn’t for him, and he went to work for the Mills Canvas company in Greenport. Now, five years later, Mr. Silvestro is a founding partner in a company called Talos 3D Fabrication in Southampton.

Georgia O’Keeffe once said, “When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it’s your world for the moment.” In the spirit of the pioneering modernist painter’s hope to give that world to others, The Star spoke with two local anthophiles about extending the ‘moment’ of both store-bought and hand-harvested bouquets.

Edward Francis White and Breanna Dawn Halbur of Arvada, Colo., were married on Sunday afternoon on the steps of the Denver City and County Building overlooking Civic Center Park, with the Hon. Renee A. Goble officiating.

Luke McCarron and Tom Borah, both of Chicago, were married at the Cook County Marriage and Civil Court there on Jan. 17.

Georgia Bennett and Evan Fox were married on Sept. 28 at the Hedges Inn in East Hampton, with one of the bride’s uncles officiating and another performing on trumpet.

When she heard that other municipalities had ceased holding Bingo games with money on the line, Diane Patrizio, East Hampton Town's director of human services, decided to check on East Hampton's own license to conduct the game at its senior center. She discovered that the license had expired.

In recent years, genealogy research has grown in popularity, as people are curious to discover such details about their family history. The rise of accessible DNA technology and the digitization of census data and historical documents have greatly expanded access to information.

As autumn gets colder and darker, it's the perfect time to pull up a comfy chair, make a piping-hot beverage, and settle in with a good book. This list includes memoir, historical fiction, crime fiction, and more, both brand-new and recently released, that are also available in accessible formats like audio and large print.