Bonus Years Innovation

Gifts of ‘engagement’ and ‘experience’ are hard to beat

By Phil Burgess | December 12, 2018

Unabridged article from the Life section of the Annapolis Capital, Sunday, December 7, 2018 Buying a Christmas gift for friends or relatives in their bonus years can be a challenge. For example, what kind of gift do you buy for the bonus years empty-nester who is already downsizing? What do you get people who have…

Only a genealogist thinks a step backward is progress

By Phil Burgess | June 26, 2018

The Maryland State Archives, located on Rowe Blvd. just west of College Creek, is the central repository for what the law calls “state government records of permanent value….” including birth and death, marriage and divorce records, last wills and testaments and records of the history of Maryland – from the earliest times of Lord Baltimore…

Retirement can be an experience with many chapters

By Phil Burgess | June 17, 2018

(Photo Credit: In 2017, Craig Sewell, longtime chef and owner of A Cook’s Cafe in Annapolis, announced his retirement after 15 years. [Joshua McKerrow / Capital Gazette file]) Annapolitan Craig Sewell is, to my way of thinking, a poster boy for the way many of us will spend our bonus years: in serial retirements that…

Navigating the map of elder care providers often requires assistance

By Phil Burgess | May 27, 2018

Want to make your head explode? Try to figure out all the different kinds of senior housing and elder care services that are available and which one has the best fit with your needs and your pocketbook – or, in the case of adult children, those you are caring for. Enter Cindy Jahr Evans and…

Annapolis woodworkers prove hobbies for the young are satisfying at every age

By Phil Burgess | May 3, 2018

(Image: Members of the Annapolis Woodworkers’ Guild in their workshop in 2015, from left, Barry Frankel of Crofton, Jim Jordan of Cape St. Claire, Bill Carbin, Andy Borland, both of Severna Park, Paul Dodson of Glen Burnie, Will Hottle of Edgewater. [Kenneth K. Lam / Baltimore Sun file]) Personal agency. It’s not a common phrase,…

Civic innovations target needs of growing senior population

By Phil Burgess | March 18, 2018

Though it’s a national sport to complain about our culture, much of what we “know” is fed to us by national media that are fixated on what is nasty, brutish, scandalous or weird – all of which is amplified in the 24×7 national “news” cycle. But if we stand back and look at things, especially…

Your own backyard is a good place to begin repairing the world

By Phil Burgess | November 26, 2017

Having just returned from my second visit to Israel, I came home to a stack of books and articles I had accumulated over the past two months in preparation for the trip. The stack included a lot of history — such as Bernard Lewis’ “The Middle East: A Brief History of the Last 2000 Years”…

Helping the elderly with in-home care is a family affair

By Phil Burgess | October 11, 2015

Unabridged from my Bonus Years column in the Lifestyle section of The Sunday Capital, Annapolis, Maryland Last week I was driving west over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge – returning home after an afternoon’s conversation with three members of the Christensen family, the owners of the Visiting Angels in-home, elder-care franchise in Easton, Maryland.  Along the way, I was…