1. moonchngr2 Says:
   August 26th, 2006 at 1:36 pm eWith the nearing of 9/11 I thought this might be in order. I wrote this several days after the tragic event….

   Time Is Supposed To Heal

   Time is supposed to heal. Yet,
   There is not enough time left,
   In all eternity, to heal completely
   The wounds inflicted by the atrocities
   Committed on this fateful Tuesday past.
   My wounds seem to deepen with time,
   My emotions continue to run the gamut
   As I watch the People of New York
   Relentlessly digging through the rubble
   In search of survivors, not giving up hope.
   How courageous these heroes be
   While sit at my TV in total frustration
   At my inability to help.
   I cry for the victims. I cry for the families.
   Although I cannot pretend to know their grief,
   I know it is traumatic & catastrophic.
   I cry in disdain of the perpetrators.
   My tears turn then to a welling of pride
   As I see the people of our nation come together
   In an outpouring of love & support of each other,
   Regardless of personal beliefs.
   We are family. We are Brothers & Sisters
   Standing together in defense of each other.
   We are one; We are the United States of America.

   j.fred la vallee
   Sept. 2001

   moonchngr2

On the road again, we’re on the road again! The first post in this category is dedicated to a lovely English lady I know who runs a biology lab in a school so that she and her husband can complete the travels of their dreams.

A couple of years ago they went to Morocco. Here are some pictures they took to enhance the lifelong memories they will have.

Sunset over Marrakesh and the Atlas Mountains

Our Travelers
This year they went to South Africa with a tour group. They came back with some lovely pictures; even got to stay in a native hut in Zulu Land. More pictures will be available in our Active Senior Photo Gallery.

Cape Town, S.A. Table Top Mtn. SA

Coastline,SA and Winelands, SA

Native Hut, and Guest Cottage, Zululand

Then there are those occasional trips across the Channel to Belgium and France - just a nice day outing taken very recently. Another occasion for picture taking to build their memory file.

Church, Devon, UK the White Cliffs of Dover, Calais Harbor, FR

Do you long to travel? To see the world or just hop in an RV and tour the United States? Future articles will feature seniors who do just that. If you care to, please post your comments, travels and pictures on here… we’d all love to see them. Or you can send your pictures to me at bevb@activelysenior.com and I’ll post them for you.

There are others who have chosen to move to a foreign country for the benefits and travel they can receive there. We’ll see some of the places they enjoy also.

This first post is a continuation of the Comment posted by Gube the Gubester in his Musings entitled:

HUMOR
What is the definition of humor? How does it help us to maintain our balance as we walk down the pathway of life? I think a good understanding of why humor is necessary in everyday living is knowing what humor does. A sense of humor can help you overlook the unattractive, tolerate the unpleasant, cope with the unexpected, and smile through the unbearable. You might compare humor to a needle and thread-deftly used it can patch up just about everything. We have five senses but they are incomplete without the sixth- a sense of humor.

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Poem written in my early senior years:

I thought I knew who I was. . .. After all,
I’ve had many years and experiences to teach me.
And yet, one day, I realized I was in a whole new world,
unknown, uncharted, unexpected and frightening.

I’d gotten old! I was free of family responsibility
I had nothing to keep me on the straight and narrow.
No reason to have to get up in the morning, or
do all those things that were formerly so important.

Freedom to be myself, to fulfill forgotten dreams,
to restore expectations I thought were long gone.
Muted perhaps by reality; limited maybe by health;
mountain climbing; back packing now beyond my ability

Yet this vaunted new freedom presents me with
new opportunities to learn, discover, participate. . ..
To grow, to give, to care; to discover that I felt all
these things before, but lacked the time to share.

At last there is time to climb the interior mountain
searching all the hidden nooks and crannies of a life
which took decades in the making. I find no hidden
regrets, only thanksgiving for God’s bounty to me.

bevb cc: 1992

Hi, I hope you enjoyed your visit to Actively Senior,

Please take time to sign our Guest Book.

Also, if you have any comments, requests or suggestions for future articles, tell me here.

Thanks for coming by. We hope to see you again … soon.

Bev B

Are you an Arts and Crafts type of person? I’m not, but I’m envious of those who are. Not only am I envious of their skill, I’m especially envious of the beautiful gifts they make for family and friends. Just think how much a handmade gift means to someone who lacks the appropriate skills to make it.

Yes,I know, it’s not nice to be envious of other people. But hey, we all have our little imperfections, right? I do believe that is a very legitimate imperfection. And just think of the money they save by not having to buy Christmas and other gifts!

Not only do these crafters get pleasure out of being creative, but this can be a real source of part time income. Once they’ve done the gifts for everyone else, they can make these items and sell them to envious, unskilled persons like myself! There is a market on eBay, and some craft stores have a section where they sell handmade crafts on consignment. Then of course, there is word of mouth.

I bet you have seen a particularly nice painting, or piece of pretty kitchenware or flower arrangement and asked who did it? If you really like it the next step is to find out how to contact the creator to get your own, personal, individualized item. That’s how the creator’s income comes rolling in, right?

Sometimes items are created for the benefit of others, such as joint production of a quilt for sale to benefit a charity or organization. Or putting handcrafted items in a church or charity bazaar. Here is an example of a quilt created as a fund raiser.

The next two are:Quilt Work Area and a Great-grand’s quilt
I know of one woman who was 99 years old when I met her, who went to a local senior center every single day to hand-crochet afghans for people in nursing homes. That day I learned she had made over 60 afghans, and her mind was still strong and full of recollections of how she grew up in a small town.

I’m sorry to say I didn’t get her picture that day, but she lived to be 100 years old. A luncheon was held for her, the mayor and a bunch of other people came to help her celebrate, and a couple of weeks later she died peacefully at home. Dare I say some of the benefits of her creativity were to keep her active, aware, and full of purpose?

The pictures I have posted here are of people who are actively involved in the creative process and some of the work they have done. There are more available in the Active Seniors Photo Gallery.

My last request here would be that those who actively participate in creating, buying, selling, or helping others create will help me out with their comments. If you help others through craft stores or other outlets, please tell us all about it.

This thread will consist of posts and comments from individuals dealing with life in the Senior World of 2006.

Any contributions to be made should be done only with respect for one another, please.

Not all of us will agree with posts and comments herein, but the right to say what we think is a privilege we all cherish.

So please let us hear your comments and thoughts on any area of senior life in 2006.

Bev B

What a country………

5 million of our older Americans have not signed up yet for their Medicare, Part D, drug plan——they are old and confused. We are not going to grant them an extension.

However, 12 million illegal aliens are in our country and we are going to allow them to stay, protest, procreate, receive support monies, attend schools, avoid paying income taxes, have our teachers take 300 hours of ESL (English as a Second Language) training at our expense, etc.

WE MUST REALLY DISLIKE OUR OLD PEOPLE……OR WE MUST REALLY LOVE TACOS!!!

Do you remember 50 or 60 years ago the games you played with your friends? Games like . hide and seek, hopscotch, marbles, jump rope, tag, London Bridge, Mother May I?…. On rainy and cold days, how about chinese checkers, monopoly, tic tac toe, tea parties, cutting paper dolls from catalogs?

Remember dashing out the door to meet your friends for play all over the neighborhood, popping in occasionally for drinks and lunch, until twilight time when you were called in for dinner? And then, remember chasing fire flies?

A far cry from the Nintendos, Play Stations, Game Boys and comoputers that kids play on today. Sad to say it’s no longer safe for today’s children to play unsupervised all over the block or at friends’ houses.

“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became an adult, I put away childish things.” (I Cor. 13, v11) Yes, that time came for all of us. Adult playtime changed to time snatched away from careers, jobs and occasionally families to do a few favorite things. Golf, bowling, parties, dancing, card games with friends and hobbies became our playtime.

But now we are Senior Citizens, basically retired from the day to day responsibilities of job and raising children and we have rediscovered PLAYTIME! Now we have the time to do all the things we longed for in our frantic middle years. Everything from improving our golf game to jaunts with the Red Hat ladies. We take classes, learn new dance steps, enjoy table games like bridge and dominoes, develop our hobbies, do arts and crafts, take pictures, even write blogs! In fact, a common complaint from the active senior is that: “I don’t know how I ever found time to work before.”

The group pictured below not only has fun pickin’ and grinnin’ but they travel to various nursing homes in their area to play for senior residents. The group is flexible and may change from day to day, but there are usually 10-15 participating, featuring singers, guitars, banjos and a mandolin.

These duplicate bridge players get together two afternoons a week, just for fun. Other groups play contract bridge, pinochle, dominos, and any other games that appeal to them. Groups like these may be found in any senior center and usually cater to a large population in their area. All activities are free… and many friendships are formed.

Four regulars plaing their daily game of Dominos

More Senior Playtime… Dance a jig or 2…

Line Dancing…. Great Exercise and Lots of Fun!

Are you a working Grandma or Grandpa? If you are, enjoy the experience. If you are not, but think you may need to be for financial reasons, read on!

Although many retired seniors have pensions and investments sufficient to cover all expenses, numerous others do not. There are a few people with lots of money who continue working in their chosen field just because they want to work. What about those of us who are less fortunate?

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