Crow's Feet: Life As We Age

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In this episode of Crow’s Feet, Melinda Blau sits down with Kathryn Grody—Obie-winning actor, writer, and creator of the hit solo show “The Unexpected Third”—for a funny, deeply human conversation about what it really means to grow older, not “old.” From being dismissed as “just staying home having fun” as a young mother to becoming an almost-80-year-old “overnight sensation,” Kathryn shares how she’s rewriting the story of aging onstage and off.

Melinda and Kathryn talk candidly about long-term love and surviving two separations from her husband, legendary actor Mandy Patinkin, the friendships that carried her through, and why she finally became serious about strength training in her 70s. Along the way, Kathryn reflects on cultural ageism, younger women’s fear of running out of time, and the surprising joy of reaching this “unexpected third act” with humor, gratitude, and curiosity.

 Listen to “Having the Spiritual Grace to Accept the Unacceptable,” a 7-minute excerpt of this interview, in which Kathryn talks about the devastating loss of her brother Yukon, a Buddhist monk.

Kathryn is bringing “The Unexpected Third” to the George Street Playhouse in Brunswick, New Jersey,  October 13-November 1.

Tune in to Kathryn’s award-winning podcast, “Don’t Listen to Us,” which also features Mandy, and their son Gideon.

Music in this episode includes Capernell by Blue Dot Sessions.

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Heartfelt expressions from two Crows Feet writers, both of them Dads, on the occasion of Fathers Day. Poignant reminders to relish the past, savor the present and prepare to pass the torch on to new generations.

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Daryl Roth isn’t just a Broadway Producer: She’s a force to be reckoned with. She produced her first play when she was in her 40s with no previous producing experience and has since produced over 120 Broadway and Off-Broadway plays and musicals, including August Osage County, Proof, Wit, The Normal Heart, Sunset Boulevard, A Raisin in the Sun, The Year of Magical Thinking, and Kinky Boots. Her productions have won 13 Tony Awards and eight Pulitzer Prizes.

Daryl's latest was a Tony for Liberation, awarded Best Play of 2026.

In this episode of the Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age podcast, Roth pulls back the curtain about her role as a Broadway Producer, how she selects the plays she wants to produce (Spoiler alert: it’s not all about commercial success!), risk taking, aging and why the word “regret” has no place in her vocabulary. Hosted by Nancy Franklin.

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This special Crow’s Feet Extra is an except from our interview with acclaimed writer and actor Kathryn Grody. Now 79, Kathryn is also a social media influencer, thanks to the wildly popular Instagram account she shares with her husband, Mandy Patinkin, and their son Gideon. Here, Kathryn offers an intimate reflection on the death of her younger brother, Yukon. With warmth, candor, and emotional honesty, she explores the complicated terrain of grief, memory, and sibling love.

This is part of a longer Crow’s Feet: Life As We Age conversation between Kathryn and Melinda Blau. The full episode premieres June 24.

Kathryn is currently performing her acclaimed one-woman show, The Unexpected Third, in New York City through June 14 at the New York Theatre Workshop.

To read more about Kathryn’s brother's life, here is the link to his obituary: Senior Monastic Yukon Grody 5/15/49 – 2/28/24 | Mountain Record   

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Our episode today is on AI, focused on how the senior community can best take advantage of it. The good news is that AI is here and available to everybody. The better news is that AI is improving daily. Thus, by the time you listen to this episode, there have been more improvements in how AI responds to questions, prompts, and user-input challenges.

Our episode is an interview with an AI Language Model.

Although my preference is to communicate via keyboard text, I made a concession and figured out how to have a verbal conversation and record it.

When it comes to how you personally use AI, my advice is to trust the response for simple questions. But for more complex questions, question the response and validate it against multiple websites. While AI continues to improve, there are times when it needs to be supervised or corrected.

It is a myth that AI is correct 100 percent of the time. But compared to three years ago, the mistakes are getting reduced daily.

I recently spent over 14 months working with multiple top 10 technology companies on their AI initiatives. The experience provided a deep understanding of how AI works, what can be trusted, and what needs to be questioned. From the day the project started to the day it ended, there was a substantial amount of improvement in its accuracy. 

There are plenty of resources available to guide you in AI's use. But the greatest guide in using AI is the AI model itself. Ask it and the program will help you. And that's pretty cool. 

Produced by Lee Bentch, a career technologist, podcaster, and writer.

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Is it possible to “breathe one’s last”  without regrets, big or small? 

Best-selling author and behavioral change expert Karen Salmansohn thinks so. Her latest book, Your To Die for Life: How to maximize joy and minimize regret before your time runs out, offers some ideas and protocols that just might do the trick. 

Join podcast host Jane Trombley and Karen as they discuss the book’s key message: the importance of Core Values as an antidote to late-in-life or even deathbed regrets. 

How did Karen uncover the core values? By identifying some key regrets and reverse-engineering them into strategies to help avoid the most common, our hustle, hustle lifestyle

“A lot of people work too hard,” said Karen. “We worship productivity.” But there’s a cost.

“At your funeral, nobody’s going to get up and read your LinkedIn profile,” Karen continued. “You won’t be remembered for the work to attain status, or outward success. It will be the stories where you showed your Core Values - how you treated people, how you listened, and your kindness.”

That’s how we all want to be remembered

Show Notes

Links:

yourtodieforlife.com

Substack: [email protected]

Karen's Books on Amazon:

Your To Die For Life

The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying

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Author/Crow’s Feet contributor Conni Walkup shares her poignant essay about
cherishing — and losing — our lifelong relationships. Have you been meaning to call that old friend or family member? Conni reminds us to seize the day.
For more from Conni on Medium (under the byline Conni Walkup Hull), go here.

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In her 76 years, Jean Feldeisen’s done so many different things so well, it’s almost hard to imagine: philosophy student, social worker, virtuoso pianist, first-class cook and caterer, psychotherapist, writer, and now, poet. She’s also seen her share of triumph and tragedy, good times and bad. In her latest book of poetry, South Jersey Sand, Jean’s work spans generations, a vast range of emotions, and miles of Jersey shoreline, reflecting on family history, the poignancy of childhood memories, the beauty of the natural world, the profound (and sometimes, heart-breaking) relationships in her life, and much more. Join host Betsy Allen as she talks to Jean about making meaning from her rich life through her poetry. And if you’re feeling inspired by her work, Jean offers some advice on how you can get started “putting yourself out there” with poems of your own. 

Show Notes

You can order Jean’s books here:

South Jersey Sand: A Memoir in Poetry

From Kelsay Books:

From Amazon:

From Amazon on Kindle: 

Not All Are Weeping

From The Main Street Rag Online Bookstore

Catching Fireflies by Argy Nestor and Jean Feldeisen, a collaboration of art and poetry.  Contact Jean at [email protected] to order.

You can also learn more about Jean and read her writing here:

Visit Jean’s website: https://jeanfeldeisen.com/

On Medium: Jean Anne Feldeisen

On Substack: jeananne.substack.com

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Join host Jan M. Flynn in conversation with journalist Randall H. Duckett, author of Chronic Pain Chronicles: insightful and inspiring stories of resolve, resilience, and relief, a book that offers realistic hope and help to the hundreds of millions of people worldwide who endure long-lasting hurt — and who, far too often, also endure delays, obstacles, and stigma in getting their very real pain addressed. 

Randall H. Duckett bio: Randall H. Duckett is a journalist who has created, written for, and edited scores of magazines and who has authored articles for, among others, National Geographic Traveler, USA Today, and AARP: The Magazine. In addition to Chronic Pain Chronicles, he is the author of Seven Cs: The Elements of Effective Writing; 41 How-To Tips for Creators.

Diagnosed at age 6 with a severe form of an inherited disease that causes his bones and joints to deform, leading to osteoarthritis throughout his body, Randall is also intimately familiar with chronic pain. He has undergone eight joint replacements, including both hips twice, both shoulders, and both knees, and has had both his ankles fused. He is never one to minimize the toll that long-lasting pain can take on the body and the psyche; yet he lives a productive and engaged life with his wife and family in the Philadelphia area. 

Show notes:

Purchase Chronic Pain Chronicles on Amazon in any of these formats:

Paperback Edition 

Hardback Edition

Kindle Edition

Resources (excerpted from "Sources of Solace" notes in Chronic Pain Chronicles):

U.S. Pain Foundation: uspainfoundation.org or painconnection.org

Chronic Pain Anonymous (CPA): chronicpainanonymous.org

American Chronic Pain Association (ACPA): acpanow.com

See other resources listed in "Sources of Solace" in Chronic Pain Chronicles

Watch for host Jan M. Flynn's first-in-a-series fantasy novel for readers 8 and up, Griffin Speaker, releasing May 5, 2026 from Disney-Hyperion Books and available for preorder now. 

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Is this another day of just not giving a you-know-what? Getting older can zap your zest for life, as dopamine — your "Whoo-Hoo!" brain chemical — diminishes over time. In this episode, health and fitness writer Linda Melone gives you ten ways to get your mojo back (most without breaking a sweat).

For more energizing ideas about fitness and life, check out Linda's column on Crow's Feet.

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