There’s an artist in Vacaville, California, Mary Riesche, who paints in such a way that what she sees – and the way she sees it – comes alive on every canvas she fills.
Ms. Riesche is a Baby Boomer, like myself, and many of you. She has painted since she could hold a crayon and hasn’t stopped. Her retirement consists of capturing the beauty she sees in her travels, and sharing them with the public at very reasonable prices.
Mary Riesche Studios, her virtual art studio, is a great place to look for extremely well-priced pieces.
Ocean Park on Maui
She currently has a spotlight show at the Vacaville Art League and Gallery that consists of some of her smaller, mixed media selections. This particular show only runs through October 3, 2015 so if you live in the northern California area, you must have a look-see of some of her paintings.
Truck at Rush Ranch
Additionally, her entire inventory of paintings can be found on her Mary Riesche Studios website and unless otherwise noted, are available for sale.
In current society where instant everything is perhaps more coveted than endurance and consistency, it’s a joy to write about success that comes only after many years of hard work and relentless effort.
When you know what turns you on and gives your life purpose, you’ll stop at nothing to fulfill that purpose.
My sister (on left), my brother, and me
My sister has drawn or painted since she could hold a crayon. She’s just a wee bit older than me so those of you who know how old I am can surmise that my sister has stuck with her artistic endeavors for quite some time.
Perhaps at first, neither Mary nor our parents figured the early talent she exhibited would be more than a passing fancy. (Let’s face it, children change what they want to be when they grow up just about as often as they change their underwear … maybe more frequently.) Once Mary started to dig in, however, and was enrolled in classes at the Honolulu Academy of Arts, it was obvious to all of us that she was in it for the long haul, in it to win it, full speed ahead … you get the idea.
Courtesy of Mary Riesche Studios
I’m currently reading a fabulous book, Getting There, by Gillian Zoe Segal, that follows the sometimes hard luck but always rewarding success stories of several business and entertainment professionals. Matthew Weiner, Mad Men creator, didn’t become a successful writer with his very first story idea – that would be way too convenient and certainly not a very interesting read. Getting There spotlights the various roads to success on which men and women have traveled, roads that contained many rejection speed bumps along the way. He had this to say about overnight success, and I quote verbatim from the book, Read the rest of this entry »
With summer upon us, we’re sure to stock our freezers with some sort of frozen confection: ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet, ice cream bars. My oh my, the possibilities are absolutely astonishing! The latest issue of Food Network Magazine provides some tasty statistics for your educational entertainment. The next time you have a family gathering, test your guests’ preferences; see how close they come to the Food Network fans’ tastes:
Casual vs addictive ice cream eater: 74% have at least one carton of ice cream in their freezer right now … 6% have at least four!
Favorite toppings: fudge at 57%; caramel at 20%; other (?) at 18%; and butterscotch at 5%.
Types & cones: scooped ice cream 74% and soft-serve 26%; waffle cone 61%, sugar cone 28%, and cake cone 11%.
Plain or fancy: 55% prefer ice cream with stuff in it (like chocolate chips); 45% like it unadulterated. Read the rest of this entry »
Canadian high school dance teacher Shirley Clements, performs with her students at a Hip-Hop competition! This amazing woman has inspired countless dancers throughout the years and continues to inspire every day!
60 YEAR OLD KILLS HIP-HOP ROUTINE. I hope you enjoy this fabulous dance routine to Bruno Mars’ song, Up Town Funk You Up. Most likely this woman will never have to walk around any shopping malls if she keeps up this level of activity.
That’s all you need! Walking is one of the least expensive modes of exercise you’ll ever find. Correction: you need legs, good shoes, and room to walk. The good news is that even if you don’t live in a neighborhood where walking is appropriate, you can walk around the mall; you can walk the perimeter of your apartment or house; you can walk up and down the corridors of your building; you can walk in place … I know, boring, but you get the idea … WALK!
Walking is one of the best weight-bearing exercises us humans can do to protect our bones. At a recent doctor’s appointment, I bragged to my doctor that every week I do Bar Method exercises, yoga, weight lifting, and recumbent bike … and every once in a while I walk. She said, “The only weight-bearing exercise in that list is walking. Get out there and walk!” Read the rest of this entry »
Some of us have owned smartphones for quite some time now. Others have finally joined the 21st century, just recently retiring their Motorola flip phone. (Love you Honey!)
NFL players are choosing early retirement. Is the future of football under scrutiny? http://wapo.st/1xvFq9p
I LOVE football. Actually, I love the Seattle Seahawks, but I cringe each time a player gets pummeled in the head.
The above Washington Post article suggests American football may some day fall away as a sport, similar to what happened to boxing. Many years ago, I remember boxing being the sport that people gathered around their televisions to watch, whether at home or in the bars. I can understand why nowadays most of us would rather not watch two people bash each other in the head; a head with virtually no protection in the boxing ring. But even with all the sophisticated helmet and body gear covering football players on the field, players are still sustaining concussions that could sooner or later place them in neurological hell. Read the rest of this entry »
Washington State’s own Jim Caviezel, film and television actor, wrote a fabulous article for the Seattle Times newspaper, attached above. I echo his sentiments about the importance of unconditional support.
Most parents don’t have a problem understanding the concept of unconditional love when it comes to their children. When a child messes up, they don’t give up on him or abandon him. Parents retain the hope that their child will do better next time, and they stand by their child to help him get there. Read the rest of this entry »
In my blog post, BEWARE of this Craigslist scam, I highlighted an online crime that almost succeeded in robbing one of my family members. He posted a piano for sale – a piano that needed quite a bit of work to make it operational – and he almost got taken to the cleaners. (Read the BEWARE article for the details.)
A couple weeks later, a true lover of all-things piano contacted my family member and said he was interested in purchasing the piano and he and his wife wanted to have a look-see. The couple arrived – a couple in their 80s – and when the husband took one look at the beat up piano he said, “You’ve got a deal!”
It turns out, this fellow is an expert at restoring pianos. For years now, he’s been buying pianos that are on their last legs; he restores them and gives them to children who would otherwise not be able to own a piano. What a fabulous gift these future piano virtuosos – and their parents – receive because of this couple’s “ministry” of helping young musicians.
I’m thrilled I was able to provide this Craigslist redemption story that – in my mind – wipes out the bad taste in my mouth from the previous one.
Working in tandem is effective only when each person grabs a hold of the baton for their portion of the project. In relay racing, one person doesn’t run the entire race, everyone does their part; no single effort is worth more than the other.
When you read Larry Stone’s and my articles (both attached above) you’ll come to the conclusion that the principle that is being proposed is not just football-related, it’s also society-related. Read the rest of this entry »
I’d like to shift the focus from footballs and their degree of inflation, to “indecent” gestures that draw fines. In particular, let’s look at the actions of running back, Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks. This beast of a Seahawks player has been fined twice this season – so far – for “grabbing his crotch” after making touchdowns. Interesting.
The NFL is so hell-bent on harassing Marshawn, that in addition to fining him for not talking to the media in the manner expected of him, they’ve taken to harassing him for adjusting his cup in public.
Wait a minute, Irene. What he did was obscene. He touched his crotchal area and moved it up and down.
As a child, do you remember being admonished to “play nice together” with your siblings or friends? Or perhaps you’re a grandparent who has encouraged your grandchildren to behave better with others by using that same phrase. I like it, and I think playing nice together needs to be a part of our daily life strategy. Read the rest of this entry »
The Seattle Times newspaper posted an article touting Seattle’s stellar volunteer rate for 2013:
34% of Seattle area residents volunteer ranking Seattle 4th among the 51 largest volunteer locations. After researching that article, I found the attached report detailing my area’s community service activities. You can locate your State and city in the report to discern the degree of your community’s civic life.
38.7 percent of Washington State’s Baby Boomer population volunteered in 2013, ranking my state’s volunteering Baby Boomers 6th out of 51. See? You’ll be in good company when you turn your retirement restlessness into service for others.
64.9 percent of Washington State residents participate in “informal volunteer activities” defined as doing favors for neighbors. Wow, that’s a lot of people getting to know their neighbors and “having their backs.”
You don’t have to give up all of your free time to help others.
I’ve heard people say time and again that they can’t spare another 40 hours a week to become a volunteer. Who asked you to?
There are countless volunteer opportunities that only require a couple hours a week. My best friend volunteers as a companion to a disabled person who needs transportation assistance to shop and/or to attend doctor appointments. A fellow Bar Method exerciser volunteers once a week at a local food bank to provide much needed sustenance to those in her community. Wow, such a small commitment of time that provides a service for which others cannot do without.
Thank about it: if you spent two or three less hours a week watching television, or two or three less hours working on home projects, or two or three less hours sitting at the computer (point taken), you’ll still have oodles of free time left after spending a fraction of your week focused on someone else.
Wow, when put that way, volunteering sure sounds easy, doesn’t it? And here’s a resource that will help direct you to volunteering and other worthwhile community involvement: Sixty and Me.
Are you preparing right now to never lose your boogie, no matter your age? I am. The attached article is a delightful story of how music affects the elderly – whether cognitively impaired or not.
The Alive Inside program proved how beneficial music therapy is to those whose world has diminished and whose communication and connection with others has been cut off. Regardless of the music’s era, regardless of the generation listening to it, everyone can harken back to long-ago memories just by listening to familiar tunes that meant something to us then, and that mean something to us now.
Retaining ones essence and ones individuality goes far towards announcing to the world, “I’m still here; I’ve still got it; I’m still vital.” As expressed in the article I’ve shared from a fellow blogger, I hope I will indeed be the smiling lady that gets up and dances, and I hope you’ll join me on the dance floor.
Integrity, n.1 the quality of having strong moral principles; 2 the state of being whole;Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th Edition, 2004
Integrity, n. the quality of being honest and fair; the state of being complete or whole; Merriam Webster
I respect the law and I respect the attorneys with whom I have worked and/or done business. What I don’t respect, however, is when ridiculous legal loopholes exist, and those legal loopholes are taken advantage of to the detriment of others.
Here’s my story. I was attacked by two dogs while walking in my neighborhood on May 7, 2014. While the dogs were in active attack mode – barking and chomping at my feet while I concurrently screamed at the dogs to leave me alone – the owner of the dog, whom I could hear but not see on their property, never came out to discover what the ruckus was all about. Then one of the dogs bit me, and shortly thereafter, both dogs retreated back to their property. I yelled to the owner, whom I still couldn’t see, “Your dog just bit me!” To which she replied, “Sorry.”
I chose not to approach the offending dogs’ house to confront the owner because quite frankly, I was afraid the dogs would consider me an even greater threat than when I was on the opposite side of the street from their house. Instead, because I was still able to walk, I hiked the remainder of the way to my house, cleaned my wounds, and headed to a hospital emergency room. After being treated, I returned home and filed an online complaint with my county’s animal control division.
The dog owner hired an attorney to fight the vicious dog charge and the inherent requirement to keep the dog contained at all times when outside. The attorney postponed the appeal hearing three times. The most recent hearing date was to be November 17, 2014. I planned on attending the hearing, even though I had submitted the following to the appeals court: 1) online official complaint with photographs of my injury; 2) my supplemental statement augmenting the county’s complaint form; 3) ER medical records documenting my treatment; 4) a receipt from the hospital where I sought treatment for my portion of the visit, $50.
The legal loophole was created the day after the incident. An animal control officer interviewed me at home and the dog owner at her home. Immediately after the latter, the officer gave the dog owner a 2-page handwritten citation summarizing the incident and detailing the infractions: 1) two unlicensed dogs; 2) two dogs at large; 3)two dogs without up-to-date rabies vaccinations; and 4) having a vicious dog on the premises. Biting a human being = vicious dog. When the investigating officer returned to the county animal shelter, he inputted all applicable information electronically into the shelter’s database. The written citation which was personally handed to the dog owner who signed the citation as proof that she had received it, did not specify which of the dogs bit me; the electronic citation did. That discrepancy voided the credibility of the animal control citation process.
I’m kidding, right?
A settlement was reached between the dog owner’s attorney and the county animal control agency stating that the dog containment order was rescinded and the vicious dog designation was removed. The attorney would agree to all the citation fees – totaling $850 – if animal control would give the dogs/dog owner a clean record in the matter. Animal control agreed. Keep in mind, part of that $850 was a $500 vicious dog citation. The dogs were vicious, there’s no question about that. The fact that the attorney agreed to let his clients pay all the fees speaks to that, as well as the fact that the dogs’ behavior satisfied the legal requirement to meet the definition of vicious.
The owners were penalized, why should I still care?
Because the only penalty they received was monetary. My neighbors and I did not benefit at all from the dissolution of the matter. The vicious dogs are not required to be contained on their property and there will be no vicious dog record of this incident should they ever get cited again. If the vicious dog designation had been honored, the repeat offender fee would jump to $1,000 just for the vicious dog designation.
I attended the Write on the Sound writer’s conference in Edmonds, Washington October 3rd thru 5th. I participated in numerous workshops – most of which were very beneficial. One of the challenges I heard many of the instructors tell us wannabe authors was to enter as many writing contests as possible.
Put yourself out there; take a risk; keep writing.
That sentiment really resonated with me. Since returning home from the conference, I’ve already entered one contest and have two more lined up for which I’m preparing submission pieces. And I’m stretching myself by trying new genres. Case in point: I submitted a 3,000 word short story called Variant in the Horror genre. Shocking, right? Winners of that Writer’s Digest Popular Fiction Awards contest won’t be announced until the end of the year.
Later this week I will be entering the “Dear Lucky Agent Contest” by submitting only the first 200 words of my completed novel, Armed for Bear, (current working title) plus a query letter. Winners of that contest will be announced early November.
Writer in the making
Additionally, today I wrote the first draft of a short story that I’ll be submitting later next month. The story must begin with the following sentence, “I knew it was a mistake the moment it was over.” This was a fun piece to write because it can only be 750 words or less. It takes lots of discipline to slim down a story so that it’s still entertaining and says what it’s supposed to say.
Wish me luck as I keep on submitting pieces!
Just like the lottery, you can’t win if you don’t enter.
But many with dementia are dead inside without any means of engaging with others in meaningful conversation. Heck, they might not even be able to talk to themselves: a practice I engage in quite frequently.
What an isolating state to be in: you’re there, but not there.
My daughter & I outside the Varsity Theatre, Seattle, after viewing the documentary.
Fortunately, those with Alzheimer’s, dementia, or other cognitively restricting illnesses, have a chance to awaken their memories – and therefore their history – but not without the tools to do so. Alive Inside, the 2014 Audience Award winner at the Sundance Film Festival, is a one and a quarter hour documentary film that touts the benefits of personalized music therapy for those who are living dead inside.
Dan Cohen, social worker, Founder and Executive Director of Music & Memory, started this awakening project several years ago. Here is a description of the project, taken from the film’s website: “Music & Memory … promotes the use of digital music players with individualized playlists to improve the quality of life for elders, regardless of their cognitive or physical status … Dan has spent most of his career helping individuals and organizations leverage technology. Music & Memory operates in hundreds of long term care homes across the U.S. and abroad.”
Watch the 2.15 minute trailer on the provided Alive Inside website to witness a few of the individual awakenings spotlighted in the film.
Even if the film is not scheduled to appear in your area, you are still able to help awaken the millions of people in the United States and abroad by your participation in Mr. Cohen’s project. Whether it’s feet on the street or a click of a mouse to donate funds, each of you can become a part of these efforts.
Additionally, if you know someone, or are caring for someone with cognitive decline, put together a personalized database of music for that someone in a digital music storage device, then connect them to it with a set of headphones. You might be able to awaken him or her with that simple effort on your part.
R.B. Bailey Jr.’s blog comes close to being a one-size fits all website because of its inclusion of multi-facted and varied postings that attract the viewing needs of a broad population.
Check out and follow his blog as I started doing just the other day.
I hope you’ll visit – and even follow – his site. It deserves to be in your Favorites folder.
The 1953 Ray Bradbury novel, Fahrenheit 451,depicts a future American society where books are outlawed and those that are found are destroyed by fire via that society’s “firemen.” The premise of the novel has been described as representing the suppression of dissenting ideas from those deemed correct and appropriate: censorship at its worst. This blog entry is not about censorship; it is about the possibility of losing the tactile, hard or soft cover media that has entertained billions of us over the years: the non-electronic book.
I crave books and I am never without a selection from which to choose,
Paper vs Digital
but maybe the vehicle by which I read books – and that so immediately satisfies my hunger for more books – will bring about the demise of the tactile tome.
I’m talking about e-readers.
From June 3, 2010 through June 8, 2014, I have spent just under $3,000 on e-books. If that shocks you, imagine how I feel seeing that number because I have to admit it doesn’t feel like thousands of dollars when I download a new book in less than a minute. I purchased books now and then prior to purchasing my first e-reader four years ago, but most of my reading addiction was satisfied compliments of the local library system.
My completed novel, not yet published.
Caveat: I can justify a certain percentage of my e-book purchases by telling you that quite a bit of the research I perform for my writing career comes from fiction and non-fiction works that focus on aging – most specifically on Alzheimer’s and other dementia. But even I will admit that it’s a very small percentage.
I would gladly give up my e-reader if doing so saves soft and hard cover books.
One of my family members stopped using his e-reader; he lost the passion for reading – or more accurately – he found it difficult to find a book he could dive into. He kept going from book to book and nothing he read captured his attention. He had a light bulb moment, however, when he discerned that the content he was reading was not lacking, it was the electronic apparatus that was at fault. I’m not parting with my e-reader yet, but the anxiety I have been feeling the past couple months haunts me each time I pick up my e-reader and swipe the page from right to left, instead of lifting the top right corner of the page and laying it down on the left.
Sarah Jio’s most recent novel, Goodnight June, hints at what has already occurred and might very well occur completely: an absence of book stores and readers to keep them in business. Another voiced concern in Goodnight June is that the childhood love of reading is waning.
What do you see children doing when they have free time? Do they pick up a book like so many of us did when we were their age or are they cozying up on the couch with an electronic device?
Alternate title: Grandchildren are cooler than you think!
I believe grandparents and their grandchildren have quite a bit in common. Just because many years have passed since a grandparent or great-grandparent was born doesn’t mean that there aren’t any similarities between then and now. Here’s an example of what I mean, a quote that appeared in the Atlantic Journal:
The world is too big for us. Too much is going on. Too many crimes. Too much violence and excitement. Try as you will, you get behind in the race in spite of yourself. It’s a constant strain to keep peace – and still, you lose ground.
Science empties its discoveries on you so fast that you stagger beneath them in hopeless bewilderment. The political world now changes so rapidly, you’re out of breath trying to keep pace with who’s in and who’s out. Everything is high pressure. Human nature can’t endure much more.
An amazing sentiment that appears to reflect what’s going on right this very minute in the world in which we live. It was published on June 16, 1833, almost 181 years ago. The pervading feelings of the time are almost indistinguishable from what is in the minds of people today. Isn’t that amazing?
Let’s look at a few common items that have changed over the years. These items were used at one time but have vanished in the past several decades – or have they?
Image by Lawrence Manning/Corbis
Telephone answering machines – earlier answering machines used cassette tapes, with later versions performing the same function, albeit digitally. Answering machines still exist in the form of modern voice mail retrieved from home phones and/or cell phones.
Telephone directories/books – very few households rely on a 500-page phone book because they can now look up names and businesses on their computer or Smartphone. But phone books still exist – they’re just “housed” differently.
Printed encyclopedias – the final print edition for the Encyclopedia Britannica – a 32-volume set of books – was released in 2010. How did I find out that information? In one of today’s on-line encyclopedias of course: Wikipedia.
Floppy discs & drives – many children under the age of fifteen have never seen this storage device. You’d be hard-pressed to find any newly-released desktop or laptop computers with this type of storage capability. But storage devices still exist in the form of a thumb/flash drive or the “Cloud.”
Rolodex – some of us remember, or still have, a box or carousel version of a Rolodex. But we still own something that holds all our Contacts: our address books contained in our e-mail program and in our cell phone contact list.
Photographic film – I saved a roll of unused Kodak film. Since this product is no longer made, it may be worth something some day! Photos are still being taken, but instead of being developed and placed in a multi-paged album, most of the time these photos remain in our camera or phones, or they end up on social media sharing websites – the new type of photo album.
What I’m attempting to point out is that in many respects, grandparents and their grandchildren are performing the same functions as their younger & older age group, but the manner in which they do so is very different.
Grandparents and grandchildren are different – but the same. Establishing a common ground – and minimizing the differences between the two groups – can open the door to increased understanding and communication amongst the generations.
If you have been bitten by a dog you’re in good company. I read the following statistics in the May 16, 2014 issue of the Seattle Times newspaper:
In 2013, 4.5 million Americans were bitten by dogs in the United States;
The above total includes more than 2 million children and almost 5,600 U.S Postal Service employees.
Gee, statistics for 2014 will include me in the number of Americans bitten in the United States. I seem to have greater potential for becoming part of those statistics than making a name for myself as a published author.
Future Margarita rewards for when my manuscript gets picked up.
The title for this article is my shameless attempt to keep my novel-writing in the forefront of everyone’s minds.
I’m pretty excited however – not by the dog bite episode of May 7th – but by the status of my manuscript. I’ve almost finished reading it through – for the zillion’th time – and thus far I’m pleased with the cohesiveness of the storyline. I’m still making edits in grammar and punctuation – semi-colons and hyphens/dashes are really stymieing me – but I’m hoping if I do my very best, a copy editor will do the rest. I am 100% certain that an agent will want to represent a book that throws a personal and touching spotlight on those who are living with Alzheimer’s and dementia. There’s not an agent or publisher out there who hasn’t been affected by this disease – either peripherally or specifically.
Please stay tuned as I will be providing updates in an effort to keep me on my toes, keep me honest, and get this d@*#mn book published.
If you are a responsible dog owner who maintains control of your animal and does not allow it to leave your property without being under the control of a leash, you don’t need to read any further.
If your dog or dogs routinely leave your property and have access to any person walking near your property, then please pay attention to what I have to say.
I was bitten by a dog yesterday.
My neighborhood walking area.
I live in rural Redmond, Washington, a beautiful area providing many scenic areas for residential walks. Many dogs live in my rural neighborhood, and some of their owners have given these dogs carte blanche to freely run around the neighborhood – a neighborhood that has many children I might add. But I digress. Said carte-blanche-provided dogs don’t feel compelled to limit their pooping activity to their owner’s property, therefore when they roam the streets of my neighborhood and feel the urge to purge they do so and because they don’t have opposable thumbs they do not clean up their poop. Disgusting for those of us who enjoy walking through the neighborhood. But again, I digress.
Need I say more?
These same dogs whose owners disobey the local leash law have full access to any child, adult or older adult person they come across. Now to the point of my story. I am a prolific walker and there is no street in my rural neighborhood that I have not traveled. Yesterday afternoon I was minding my own business, enjoying a break in the rainy weather by taking a walk, when I turned onto 272nd Avenue NE, Redmond, WA 98053, when half-way down the block my walk was interrupted by two white-haired maltese-like dogs running out of their human’s property directly into my path. My normal modis operandi in these instances is to tell the dog “No! No!” or words to that effect, and casually continue on my way.
Not this time. These two dogs stayed at my heels, not letting me proceed on my own, bearing their teeth, barking like there was no tomorrow, and in a progressive show of defiance, one of them jumped up and bit me on the back of my left calf. Okay, now I’m mad. I’m screaming at these dogs to get away so I can leave the area, and they’re not buying it. Where’s their human? I guess the human was yelling for her dogs, although I couldn’t hear her over their barking, because one of them ran back onto the human’s property, leaving the other dog to continue on its terroristic rant at my expense. (Perhaps said dog has “small dog syndrome”?) Anyway, I was going to use my pepper spray on the remaining mutt but it was acting so vicious, I feared I would only aggravate the situation.
I finally heard a female human’s voice calling the remaining hairy terrorist, and that dog ran back onto the owner’s property. At this point I am approximately 25 feet way from the gravel driveway and did not see the human, nor did I want to exchange conversational pleasantries. I feared that if I walked back to the foot of the driveway to confront the human, her maltese-like dogs would consider me a threat and demand a pound of flesh from me. Instead I yelled, “Your dog bit me!” to which she replied, “Sorry.” She did not walk off her property to the street to see if I was okay. I walked slowly away, looking back to see if she would do so, and she did not.
The balance of my day: at the advice of my doctor’s office when I called to tell them about my dog bite – 3 puncture wounds on my calf, drawing blood – I drove to the nearest hospital emergency room to receive any treatment the ER physician deemed necessary. Fortunately no stitches were required and because there have been no confirmed rabies cases reported in King County – the county in which I live – in the past 30 years, there was no need for preventative rabies treatment. The physician did prescribe an antibiotic, however, should the dog bite become infected.
Come on people! Be responsible dog owners!
You owe it to the general public, and you owe it to your animals, to be responsible. To their animals you ask? Of course, because a complaint such as I filed with Animal Control, including photos of the injured leg, will initiate an investigation that might result in your dog or dogs to be removed from your house.
Bottom line: If you love Fluffy, you must protect Fluffy and all with whom he may come in contact.
With summer upon us, we’re sure to stock our freezers with some sort of frozen confection: ice cream, frozen yogurt, sherbet, ice cream bars. My oh my, the possibilities are absolutely astonishing! The latest issue of Food Network Magazine provides some tasty statistics for your educational entertainment. The next time you have a family gathering, test your guests’ preferences; see how close they come to the Food Network fans’ tastes:
Favorite toppings: fudge at 57%; caramel at 20%; other (?) at 18%; and butterscotch at 5%.
Canadian high school dance teacher Shirley Clements, performs with her students at a Hip-Hop competition! This amazing woman has inspired countless dancers throughout the years and continues to inspire every day!
That’s all you need! Walking is one of the least expensive modes of exercise you’ll ever find. Correction: you need legs, good shoes, and room to walk. The good news is that even if you don’t live in a neighborhood where walking is appropriate, you can walk around the mall; you can walk the perimeter of your apartment or house; you can walk up and down the corridors of your building; you can walk in place … I know, boring, but you get the idea … WALK!
Some of us have owned smartphones for quite some time now. Others have finally joined the 21st century, just recently retiring their Motorola flip phone. (Love you Honey!)
The above Washington Post article suggests American football may some day fall away as a sport, similar to what happened to boxing. Many years ago, I remember boxing being the sport that people gathered around their televisions to watch, whether at home or in the bars. I can understand why nowadays most of us would rather not watch two people bash each other in the head; a head with virtually no protection in the boxing ring. But even with all the sophisticated helmet and body gear covering football players on the field, players are still sustaining concussions that could sooner or later place them in neurological hell. Read the rest of this entry »
Most parents don’t have a problem understanding the concept of unconditional love when it comes to their children. When a child messes up, they don’t give up on him or abandon him. Parents retain the hope that their child will do better next time, and they stand by their child to help him get there. Read the rest of this entry »
In my blog post, BEWARE of this Craigslist scam, I highlighted an online crime that almost succeeded in robbing one of my family members. He posted a piano for sale – a piano that needed quite a bit of work to make it operational – and he almost got taken to the cleaners. (Read the BEWARE article for the details.)
It turns out, this fellow is an expert at restoring pianos. For years now, he’s been buying pianos that are on their last legs; he restores them and gives them to children who would otherwise not be able to own a piano. What a fabulous gift these future piano virtuosos – and their parents – receive because of this couple’s “ministry” of helping young musicians.
How Legion of Boom’s message of brotherhood helped save the Seahawks’ season | Larry Stone | The Seattle Times. Larry Stone, sports writer at the Seattle Times newspaper, wrote an inspiring column that highlights the “us” philosophy of the Seattle Seahawks team. Note: this is not just an article about football – it’s much, much more. I addressed a similar message in my article: Teamwork: playing nice together. Here’s an excerpt from that article:
I’d like to shift the focus from footballs and their degree of inflation, to “indecent” gestures that draw fines. In particular, let’s look at the actions of running back, Marshawn Lynch of the Seattle Seahawks. This beast of a Seahawks player has been fined twice this season – so far – for “grabbing his crotch” after making touchdowns. Interesting.
As a child, do you remember being admonished to “play nice together” with your siblings or friends? Or perhaps you’re a grandparent who has encouraged your grandchildren to behave better with others by using that same phrase. I like it, and I think playing nice together needs to be a part of our daily life strategy. Read the rest of this entry »
This report shines a light on content that I recently provided in two articles posted to this blog: Restless in retirement? You don’t have to be, and The importance of good neighbors.
I’ve heard people say time and again that they can’t spare another 40 hours a week to become a volunteer. Who asked you to?
I respect the law and I respect the attorneys with whom I have worked and/or done business. What I don’t respect, however, is when ridiculous legal loopholes exist, and those legal loopholes are taken advantage of to the detriment of others.
Printed encyclopedias – the final print edition for the Encyclopedia Britannica – a 32-volume set of books – was released in 2010. How did I find out that information? In one of today’s on-line encyclopedias of course: Wikipedia.
Floppy discs & drives – many children under the age of fifteen have never seen this storage device. You’d be hard-pressed to find any newly-released desktop or laptop computers with this type of storage capability. But storage devices still exist in the form of a thumb/flash drive or the “Cloud.”
Photographic film – I saved a roll of unused Kodak film. Since this product is no longer made, it may be worth something some day! Photos are still being taken, but instead of being developed and placed in a multi-paged album, most of the time these photos remain in our camera or phones, or they end up on social media sharing websites – the new type of photo album.
Living: the ultimate team sport 