Musings
About retirement… and random other things!
These blogs first appear as weekly columns in the Red Deer Advocate
While you were out
I was a receptionist in a Calgary office back in the late 70s when we smoked cigarettes at our desks and had drinks at lunch. We used little pink phone message pads back then, where you would record the name and number of the person who called and then put a little checkmark beside the prompt that best describes what the receiver of the message...
Learning from challenges then letting them go
I’ve had a great year of challenges – all of which provided an opportunity to speak openly and invitingly about becoming a senior. It’s just another day added onto many that have come before, but it is a significant birthday. As my cousin said when she turned 65 a few years ago, “Yesterday I was the oldest of the young ones and today I’m the...
The Birthday Suit
It was all arranged. I was to spend my 65th birthday naked in front of a large group of people. No, I wasn’t going to streak through the downtown streets, I was going to be a nude model for a second-year drawing class at the college. I would summon every ounce of courage to be the exact way I entered the world six and a-half decades ago – in my...
Don’t respond with silence
We were driving into our favourite off-leash dog park in Red Deer the other day when we came across a man collecting signatures for the Alberta Separatist movement. A large provincial flag was flying beside him, as he chatted eagerly with a nonchalant-looking young man who was – ironically - wearing a toque with a maple leaf on it. Not sure who...
The case of the missing shoes
I was perplexed recently. Well, likely more than once, but this particular time was the result of finding my shoes missing when I went to leave my yoga class. My fellow yogis and I retraced my steps – had I worn a different pair than I thought I had? Did I really place them on the little shoe rack or had I stashed them somewhere odd. Was I,...
Asking a kid how I should challenge myself
It was taking a bit of a risk asking Charlie Stuart what she thought I should do as a challenge to myself as I approach my 65th birthday. She’s a bit of an intimidating eight year-old, after all, having been written up in the Red Deer Advocate for her generous donation of toys to the Christmas Wish Breakfast. She saves some of her allowance all...
Seeking out good news
Is all the bad news getting you down? I mean, understandably so. We are witnesses to a frightening shift in the world and there doesn’t seem to be anything we can do about it. But are we getting the whole news picture? What if it really is true that the media structure catches bad news and that the other half of the ledger is plumb full of really...
Where will the next moment take you?
I happened to be sitting on my couch with an afternoon cup of tea right at ‘after school time’ recently. A little movement caught my eye out the window and I looked up from my book to see a young boy intently holding a remote control as he prodded a small toy car down the lane. My mom-spidey senses went up a bit when I realized he was alone out...
Lost in a conspiracy
Was there ever a Furby in your house? Did you ever wrap a thick blanket around it and stuff it into a box deep, deep in the cellar? Because those darn things looked harmless, but they would wake everyone up by squawking and yelling unbidden in the middle of the night. It freaked me out, but I’m not alone. Apparently, the little gremlin toys were...