Happy (almost) end-of-summer! Not really happy for me—summer is my favorite time of year. And with the sky darkening earlier in the evening and the flowers becoming scarcer, I mourn the end of longer and warmer days and dressing in light fabrics and flip-flops.

Summer has kept me very busy with bike rides, long walks, trips to farmers' markets, family reunions and late-afternoon visits to the beach when the sun is not as threatening and the crowds thin out. And, of course, work.

Here's what I've been writing about this summer.

Menopause Is (Finally) Coming Out of the Closet

Menopause used to be something women would whisper about, fearing the mere mention of the word would label them old, undesirable, infirm or worse. One of its monikers, "the change," isn't exactly encouraging, at least not to my ears.

Just as medicine is advancing, so are societal norms, and slowly but surely the stigma around menopause is evaporating. As words like melancholia, grip and consumption gave way to more accurate names like depression, flu and tuberculosis, menopause is becoming a less taboo subject. In this article,Is It Becoming Less Taboo to Talk About Menopause?for NextAvenue.org, I explore why.

Husbands and Friends

When I lost my two best friends in my early 40s, it seemed inconceivable that I would ever be able to replace them. And while I haven't replaced them in full, I learned how to reach out and form new and wonderful friendships even in midlife. But it's different for my husband—and for many men. Making friends doesn't always come easily to them.

Does your husband have a lot of friends? Does he have as many as you do? Mine doesn't, and the older he gets, the harder it seems for him to make new ones or replace the ones he's lost. That's why I proposed this idea to NextTribe.com, and here's what came next.

Estrogen and Weight Gain

So many of us bemoan the weight gain we experience in midlife, and we search for reasons. Are we eating more? Not necessarily. Are we exercising less? Not always. What about the loss of estrogen? Could that be a culprit? This article I wrote for HealthyWomen got a lot of women's attention; perhaps it'll help answer that question for you.

This post originally appeared on mysocalledmidlife.net.