July 10, 2008
LuLu
LuLu, our cat, survived our trip to Canada. We have a nice young man from the neighborhood look in on her daily, so she does not feel abandoned. However, she managed to conger up a small hairball while I was watching.
Taking Care of Yourself
Although, we spent the week in Canada with no regular exercise program, we managed to get in some walking. Niagara-on- he- Lake is a walk-able city and so is Toronto.
Exploring
We went to four plays at the George Bernard Shaw Festival. The festival is a repertory theatre company performing plays about the beginning of the modern world by Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries (1856-1950) in historic Niagara-on-the-Lake Ontario, Canada.
We saw Wonderful Town. Alan, my husband doesn’t usually like musicals but he enjoyed this one.
A musical adventure about being young and pursuing a dream, based on the play My Sister Eileen and the stories by Ruth McKenney with a dazzling score by Leonard Bernstein. Sisters Eileen and Ruth arrive in New York City in 1935, fresh off the bus from Columbus, Ohio, to find fame, fortune and love. Lucky for them, they’ve landed in Greenwich Village, where artists, bohemians and a cast of colourful characters greet them. Excerpted from shawfest.com
We also saw The Stepmother by Githa Sowerby. This was a wonderful early feminist play.
A refreshing twist on the ‘wicked stepmother’ story – the young stepmother, Lois Relph, cares deeply for her new daughters. It’s her husband who’s the problem – he can’t seem to hold on to money and everyone in town knows it. Except his wife. She’s a hard-working dressmaker who must support her family and when their daughter wants to get married, more than one secret must be revealed.
After the Dance
by Terrance Rattigan was a wonderful post WWI play about the English upper crust.It’s 1938 and the generation of Bright Young Things are still carrying on like it’s the Roaring Twenties. They’re that "lost generation", the ones that missed World War I and are trying desperately to deny the looming threat of the next war.
Excerpted from shawfest.comFinally we saw The President by Ferrwnc Molnar. A wonderful change of pace, after watching some serious plays.
In this fast-paced comedy, the clock starts ticking for a powerful bank president when the young heiress under his care announces her secret marriage to a Communist taxi driver!!
Excerpted from shawfest.com .We also spent a few days in Toronto with our new friend, Olga. Toronto is a very metropolitan city with world class museums, restaurants and shopping. They have a summerlious program where over 100 restaurants offer special menus for a reasonable price.
Giving Back
I am organizing a church book club for The Lamb by Christopher Moore. It is an irreverent book about the early years of Jesus’ life by his boyhood friend – Biff.
June 23, 2008 LuLu
LuLu, our cat, has been with us for six years. She has brought much affection (at her discretion) and amusement. She is always waiting for us when we get home. She usually meets me at the door. She is one of the most self-centered creatures that we know and we love her for it.
Taking Care of Yourself
When my husband Alan and I started preparing for our Third Age, we vowed to put more priority on taking care of ourselves. Since my professional background was Nutrition and Aging, we took a strong interest in aging well. Besides, we kept telling each other that we didn’t want to push the other in a wheel chair due to lack of good health. We have established regular exercise schedules (sometimes hard to stick to), established healthy eating patterns (not hard since we ate pretty healthy to begin with) and to keep mentally alert (not too difficult being close to MSU). We both have chronic conditions that we must mange so in addition to listening to our physicians, we try to keep up with new research by subscribing to three newletters:
Tuffs Health and Nutrition letter
published by the Friedman School of Nutrition and Public Policy at Tuffs University,Consumer s Report Health Letter
published by Consumers Union,Dr Andrew Weil’s Self Healing Newsletter.
We try to keep in close contact with family and friends and to learn new skills and sharpen old ones.
Exploring
I decided that for my birthday, I wanted to attend one of the American Harp Society concerts in Dearborn. We attended the Opening Night Concert and Gala at the Henry Ford Anderson Theatre. The keynote speaker was Glenn Kurtz, speaking on his book PRACTICING: A Musician return to Music. Practicing tells the story of youthful ambition to achieve musical artistry, the collapse of that ambition in his twenties and the surprising return in later life. This book weaves together the intense private experience of practicing and the thoughtful healing appraisal of youthful passion. When her begins to practice again after so many years of not touching the guitar, he was struck by the power of practice of a metaphor. We think of practicing as something to do every day. But practicing encompasses larger cycles for life. He found that the idea of practice expressed the larger, profoundly human experience of returning to something deeply loved, yet difficult and painful, in order to understand and grow. Excepted from Randomhouse.com
We also heard harpists Calvin Stokes with three other musicians, Park Stickney, and Edmar Castaneda also with three other musicians, at the concert. They were all wonderful. Not your ‘pearly gates" type of harp music but good jazz. (I like pearly gates harp music too). We were both thrilled when they jammed together at the end of the concert. Following the concert, we had a chocolate reception. We stayed all night in a hotel in Detroit and due to Alan’s new GPS system, we got around perfectly. All in all a Perfect Birthday.
Of course, one of the joys of our lives is our daughter. She took me to a Williams Sonoma cooking class that was a great addition to my birthday week.
June 23, 2008 LuLu
LuLu, our cat, has been with us for six years. She has brought much affection (at her discretion) and amusement. She is always waiting for us when we get home. She usually meets me at the door. She is one of the most self-centered creatures that we know and we love her for it.
Taking Care of Yourself
When my husband Alan and I started preparing for our Third Age, we vowed to put more priority on taking care of ourselves. Since my professional background was Nutrition and Aging, we took a strong interest in aging well. Besides, we kept telling each other that we didn’t want to push the other in a wheel chair due to lack of good health. We have established regular exercise schedules (sometimes hard to stick to), established healthy eating patterns (not hard since we ate pretty healthy to begin with) and to keep mentally alert (not too difficult being close to MSU). We both have chronic conditions that we must mange so in addition to listening to our physicians, we try to keep up with new research by subscribing to three newletters:
Tuffs Health and Nutrition letter
published by the Friedman School of Nutrition and Public Policy at Tuffs University,Consumer s Report Health Letter
published by Consumers Union,Dr Andrew Weil’s Self Healing Newsletter.
We try to keep in close contact with family and friends and to learn new skills and sharpen old ones.
Exploring
I decided that for my birthday, I wanted to attend one of the American Harp Society concerts in Dearborn. We attended the Opening Night Concert and Gala at the Henry Ford Anderson Theatre. The keynote speaker was Glenn Kurtz, speaking on his book PRACTICING: A Musician return to Music. Practicing tells the story of youthful ambition to achieve musical artistry, the collapse of that ambition in his twenties and the surprising return in later life. This book weaves together the intense private experience of practicing and the thoughtful healing appraisal of youthful passion. When her begins to practice again after so many years of not touching the guitar, he was struck by the power of practice of a metaphor. We think of practicing as something to do every day. But practicing encompasses larger cycles for life. He found that the idea of practice expressed the larger, profoundly human experience of returning to something deeply loved, yet difficult and painful, in order to understand and grow. Excepted from Randomhouse.com
We also heard harpists Calvin Stokes with three other musicians, Park Stickney, and Edmar Castaneda also with three other musicians, at the concert. They were all wonderful. Not your ‘pearly gates" type of harp music but good jazz. (I like pearly gates harp music too). We were both thrilled when they jammed together at the end of the concert. Following the concert, we had a chocolate reception. We stayed all night in a hotel in Detroit and due to Alan’s new GPS system, we got around perfectly. All in all a Perfect Birthday.
Of course, one of the joys of our lives is our daughter. She took me to a Williams Sonoma cooking class that was a great addition to my birthday week.
June 21, 2008 LuLu
Lulu, our cat, always seems to sense when we are going away over night. As soon as the suitcases come down, she begins to get hysterical. She is constantly in motion. We always hide extra food and water if we are gone for one night. I am sure all the food is eaten before we get out of the driveway. However, the rest of the time that we go away she is fine with it. I almost hear her say - - at last, peace and quiet.
Taking care of yourself
Alan and I are trying to stick to our exercise schedules. Given the increasing price of gas, we are trying to not take trips solely for the reason of attending an exercise class. Instead we will be using our exercise tapes more and make our trips more multi-purpose.
I am also incorporating lots of vegetables into our foods I made a delicious meat loaf with fresh zucchini, a potato, carrots, celery, onion, fresh tomatoes (without salmonella) and fresh herbs.
Exploring
We have been attending the Summer Circle plays at MSU. They are performed outside on the banks of the Red Cedar on the last three weeks of June. We have enjoyed the first two plays Red Herring, and The Girls in 509. They were great plays for this setting. Lots of running around and door slamming. You have to get there early to get a seat so that you can hear.
Our book club read Water for Elephants, an historical novel by Sara Gruen. Alan and I loved the book. The other members of the club liked it too. Although this book has been very popular, I was reluctant to read it. I had an image of a sad tale of animal mistreatment. However the animals get their just revenge in this book
Water for Elephants
. The novel centers on Jacob Jankowski and his experiences in a travelling circus called The Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth. Excerpted from Wikipedia.com
Giving Back
I plan on working on the Obama campaign this year. I have never worked on a political campaign before. I think he would be the best for our county and restore our image in the world.
LuLu LuLu, our cat, is trying to cope with the hot weather. For some reason, she is throwing a lot of hairballs this week, even thought she had a hair cut last week. Taking Care of Yourself We got my husband, Alan, a GPS system for Fathers Day. We are hoping that the system will make life easier for both of us. There will be less ‘dustups’ over maps, directions etc. Besides he enjoys figuring out gadgets. Exploring Our Netflicks movie this week was Vanity Fair directed by Mira Nair starring Reese Weatherspoon, and based on a famous Victorian novel by William Makepeace Thackeray. We enjoyed the sets and costuming of the movie Born into the lower class, Rebecca "Becky" Sharp , one of literature's greatest female characters, can rely only on her wit, guile, and sexuality as she makes her way up through London society circa 1820 My daughter and I went to Sex and the City with her friend Sara. Neither my daughter nor I were faithful watchers of the HBO Series (she does not have cable and that is another column). However, we loved the movie. The sets, fashion and time were great. I finished a great Detective book Christine Falls by Benjamin Black. A dark read about Ireland and the Catholic Church. Giving Back We had a very successful Michigan Women Hall of Fame Picnic-it was the 28th. Our support base is getting older. There are a lot of canes, some walkers and hearing aids in our group. We need to get the younger women involved. Although the older women built and support the MWHC/HF, we need the influx of new blood, new ideas, etc. to keep it current and to keep it viable. Products we like I really enjoy baking. We are watching our intake of white flour and sugar so we are increasing our intake of whole grains. We have found that the Hodgson Mill baking mixes and flours are great to cook with. They are high in whole grains, low in fat and sugar and moderate in sodium. The other product that we like are the Zatarian’s New Orleans Reduced Sodium mixes. We have tried the Red Beans and Rice and the Dirty Rice mixes and which were tasty, 
June 3, 2008 LuLu LuLu, our cat, had her quarterly bath, pedicure and hair cut. She acted like a woman dissatisfied with her hair cut. She kept rearranging her hair all day. She was also busy guarding the house against cat interlopers. She gets real upset if she sees another cat outside our house. We have talked to her about taking in a homeless cat but she remains hostile to the idea. Taking Care of Yourself We are starting to get lettuce, green onions, and radishes from our garden. I have also purchased some additional tomato plants, Alan my husband says too many. I also love orimental kale that turns white or purple in the fall. I may have purchased too many of that too. We have kind of an on-going battle with the raccoons to keep our annual flowers. They seem not interested in the flowers but in the Japanese Beatles under them. Gardening in Alan favorite summer hobby. I just enjoy all the fruits of his labors. We are continuing to reduce the amount of animal flesh in our diet. When you say animal flesh, it sounds much worse then saying meat. We are finding some great meat substitutes that are not all made of soy. Exploring Our netflicks movie this week was Ratatouille produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. We loved it. It tells the story of Rémy , a rat living in Paris who wants to be a chef, but has to overcome the disapproval of his family and the prejudice of humans, using a somewhat hapless young man as a means through which to practice his art. Excerpted from Wikipedia. Giving Back Many people in our church (All Saints) liked the idea of us helping on a recent medical trip to Haiti but wanted to see what is needed locally. Our church is very much involved locally, providing meals on a monthly basis to Loaves and Fishes and Haven House (Homeless Shelters) and collecting food for the food bank .We also collect stuffed animals for abused children, collect baby clothes for the baby clothes bank, provide household goods for foster care children aging out of the system and became part of the Lansing Seeking Justice network. We are looking at options that help people who do not have health insurance.
June 3, 2008 LuLu LuLu, our cat, had her quarterly bath, pedicure and hair cut. She acted like a woman dissatisfied with her hair cut. She kept rearranging her hair all day. She was also busy guarding the house against cat interlopers. She gets real upset if she sees another cat outside our house. We have talked to her about taking in a homeless cat but she remains hostile to the idea. Taking Care of Yourself We are starting to get lettuce, green onions, and radishes from our garden. I have also purchased some additional tomato plants, Alan my husband says too many. I also love orimental kale that turns white or purple in the fall. I may have purchased too many of that too. We have kind of an on-going battle with the raccoons to keep our annual flowers. They seem not interested in the flowers but in the Japanese Beatles under them. Gardening in Alan favorite summer hobby. I just enjoy all the fruits of his labors. We are continuing to reduce the amount of animal flesh in our diet. When you say animal flesh, it sounds much worse then saying meat. We are finding some great meat substitutes that are not all made of soy. Exploring Our netflicks movie this week was Ratatouille produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. We loved it. It tells the story of Rémy , a rat living in Paris who wants to be a chef, but has to overcome the disapproval of his family and the prejudice of humans, using a somewhat hapless young man as a means through which to practice his art. Excerpted from Wikipedia. Giving Back Many people in our church (All Saints) liked the idea of us helping on a recent medical trip to Haiti but wanted to see what is needed locally. Our church is very much involved locally, providing meals on a monthly basis to Loaves and Fishes and Haven House (Homeless Shelters) and collecting food for the food bank .We also collect stuffed animals for abused children, collect baby clothes for the baby clothes bank, provide household goods for foster care children aging out of the system and became part of the Lansing Seeking Justice network. We are looking at options that help people who do not have health insurance.
June 3, 2008 LuLu LuLu, our cat, had her quarterly bath, pedicure and hair cut. She acted like a woman dissatisfied with her hair cut. She kept rearranging her hair all day. She was also busy guarding the house against cat interlopers. She gets real upset if she sees another cat outside our house. We have talked to her about taking in a homeless cat but she remains hostile to the idea. Taking Care of Yourself We are starting to get lettuce, green onions, and radishes from our garden. I have also purchased some additional tomato plants, Alan my husband says too many. I also love orimental kale that turns white or purple in the fall. I may have purchased too many of that too. We have kind of an on-going battle with the raccoons to keep our annual flowers. They seem not interested in the flowers but in the Japanese Beatles under them. Gardening in Alan favorite summer hobby. I just enjoy all the fruits of his labors. We are continuing to reduce the amount of animal flesh in our diet. When you say animal flesh, it sounds much worse then saying meat. We are finding some great meat substitutes that are not all made of soy. Exploring Our netflicks movie this week was Ratatouille produced by Pixar and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. We loved it. It tells the story of Rémy , a rat living in Paris who wants to be a chef, but has to overcome the disapproval of his family and the prejudice of humans, using a somewhat hapless young man as a means through which to practice his art. Excerpted from Wikipedia. Giving Back Many people in our church (All Saints) liked the idea of us helping on a recent medical trip to Haiti but wanted to see what is needed locally. Our church is very much involved locally, providing meals on a monthly basis to Loaves and Fishes and Haven House (Homeless Shelters) and collecting food for the food bank .We also collect stuffed animals for abused children, collect baby clothes for the baby clothes bank, provide household goods for foster care children aging out of the system and became part of the Lansing Seeking Justice network. We are looking at options that help people who do not have health insurance.
May 23, 2008 LuLu LuLu loves it when the screen doors go up. She stands (on her backlegs) at the door and watches the world go by. She watches Alan plant the flowers and watches the birds and insects check out the flowers. She is also waking up very early (due to the early sunrise) and demanding breakfast. Taking Care of Yourself Spring is a wonderful time to remind yourself to enjoy the great- out of doors. I don’t think of myself as a great -out-of –doors person, which is partially due to my allergies however I am taking time to enjoy the scenery as we drive. I was always a destination person and did not take time to enjoy the ride but when you are retired, you mange to have more time for the process of reaching the destination. We are eating more vegetarian meals. I ordered one at a recent banquet at the Marriott and it was great. The latest recipe I made was for Ratatouille with Tofu from the May 2008 Cooking Light magazine. Although my husband Alan does not like eggplant and zucchini, he liked the dish and supports the move to more vegetarian meals. Exploring Our book club read Inheritance of Loss a Our Netficks movie was The Jane Austen Book Club directed by Robin Swicord, based on a book by Karen Joy Fowler. Definitely a chick flick, although, Alan enjoyed it. Giving Back
All Saints church sent some members to Haiti as part of a medical mission. They were part of a group from SE Michigan, which has established a clinic in Haiti. Michigan has become a destination for Haiti immigrants. Our church raised money and supplies for the trip. Our members, who had all spent some time in developing counties, were overwhelmed with the poverty and hunger. The need for medical services was great but the need for food is paramount. We hope to be able to continue our mission to this very needy county.
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