Lifestyle

The rowdy excess of Fat Tuesday ushers in Lent, the 40-day period in the Christian calendar marked by fasting and almsgiving. While many give up social media or alcohol, others swear off meat.

Dear Abby: I have been dating “Brent” for four years. Prior to meeting him, I was divorced with two children. Brent shows little interest in my kids’ lives. He doesn’t want us to live together before the kids are out of the house, and he never plans to get married. (My youngest is 10.)

Dear Doctors: I had the omicron variant of COVID-19, and even though it was mild, I’m not back to normal. I’ve been told that this could be long COVID-19. I thought that only happened if you got really sick. Why did I get long COVID-19? When will we see a cure?

Dietary supplements are popular, with half of all Americans, and 70% of older Americans, taking at least a multivitamin daily. ❚ Is it money well spent? That depends on who you ask. When it comes to supplements, there is no end to the controversy. Some experts are “all in” while others scoff at the notion. ❚ At least four items complicate the issue. First, supplements encompass a vast array of options, from the standard multivitamin to exotic concoctions. Second, very little high-quality, large-scale research has been conducted on supplements. Third, how good is quality control of production? Are you getting what you paid for? And fourth, some supplements come from natural sources while others are made in a laboratory, and although they have the same chemical structure, are the effects the same?

Dear Abby: I have been married to my wonderful husband, “Alec,” for five years. This is a second marriage for both of us. We raised children on our own and waited until they were out of the house to get into a relationship.

It is time to prune all roses now except for the once-blooming varieties such as ramblers and old garden roses. So, if you have roses that bloom only once a year, wait until after they bloom to prune them.

Dear Abby: My stepson “Ryan” is an active senior in high school. He’s a great kid, and I love him. I’m proud and delighted that he says he loves my home-cooked meals, which he doesn’t get at his mother’s house. They eat a lot of takeout or premade foods. Not everyone likes to cook, so I don’t judge.

The kids seemed upbeat in their matching aprons and chef hats as they strutted around The Farm at South Mountain. They’d been cooking for hours at this point, many waking up as early as 4 a.m. to prepare the colorful, healthy foods they’d dreamt up for the Feeding the Future event.