Sleepless in Nanton

I started several blogs in these past (non-blog posted days) but I just couldn’t get my mojo going! Otranee suggested earlier that I “write about nothing” a la Jerry Seinfeld series but even seemed impossibly daunting.

Last night I lay awake during most of it because I take these steroid pills as part of the chemotherapy treatment during the first day. Thankfully I can sleep all day and most of tonight (I hope) since I don’t have to take them until next time.

Having made all the excuses deemed necessary let me plunge into my chaotic thoughts this morning! I am majorly cheesed off with Apple and iPads and there flipping, insane, impossible security. I am ready to throw my iPad away and go to some “normal” type of tablet. I do not understand how I can be locked out of my apps – which are only games for heaven’s sake – but I can get every flipping ad that Apple deems necessary to post. How is that possible? Anyway it is a major irritant to me as I like to do my crossword puzzle with my breakfast and I haven’t been able to do it because apparently there is some upgrade but I cannot do that without logging into the apps which of course I can’t do because my account is locked due to some obscure password that was changed and not written down.

If anyone has a suggestion on the best tablet to get please let me know – I do Scrabble, crossword with friends and Word Brain (which now I can’t do any of them, as of this morning). That’s really all I use my tablet for. Worst case scenario I will just go back to the old fashioned paperback edition and dare I say it SCREW YOU APPLE.

Now I feel better.

 

The Zoomer

About ten years ago a colleague of mine suggested that I sign up for CARP membership which is a senior citizens group. I did so but shortly afterwards the CARP magazine was taken over by Moses Znaimer. Last night I was actually thinking about Zoomer as a failed vehicle for the interests of seniors. The articles are boring, long winded and not always relevant to a senior’s life.

 In my view a senior’s magazine ought to have interactive activities in it such as crosswords, Sudoku puzzles and so forth (yes, they have ONE of each).  I would suggest at least 10 pages of puzzles. Also, I think there should be a regular feature of DIY projects which are affordable and meaningful to seniors. I think there should be a regular list of the top 10 bestsellers of books, movies and music. An innovative regular feature would be planned menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner geared to one or two people (remembering that many seniors are alone). In conjunction there should be recommendations on activities and exercises to go with the seasons.

All of the above would be very stimulating to the average reader who doesn’t want to know what Ann Margaret is doing as a senior. Be realistic, who wants to know what millionaires are doing? We want to know what average Canadians are doing, how they manage their budgets and of course how we can get all the seniors’ benefits that are available federally and provincially.

Dreary Day

It’s grey outside and very dull looking which naturally unsettles the mind from its usual cheerful state. Watching the news brings its own set of woes; the scandal exploding in the B.C. Legislature makes one question what is happening in other provincial legislatures. Then we have the wannabe premier of Alberta, Jason Kenney skirting around his fraudulent claim of having a home in Calgary while he was an MP in Ottawa. Does that have a familiar ring? Remember Duffy? If he was dirty as an MP is he the sort of person you want dipping into a whole coffer of provincial funds as premier?

I am happy to hear that Premier Rachel Notley’s approval rating is climbing; the only wonder for me is that people don’t respect her and her government more. She has done some really amazing, progressive, enduring projects not least of which is her strong and steady advocacy for the pipeline and the oil sands.

Do some serious analysis and ask yourself – do you want to be progressive or do you want to revert to some old tired story? Do we want to see this province develop alternative industries that is not solely dependent on oil revenue? Just think of all the people who are unemployed or underemployed since 2013 because the world has turned its back on fossil fuels. We need forward thinking, in my view, with innovation in energy but also in agriculture. We have a huge province with a lot more potential in agriculture if we could only find the political will to move on it. I believe the NDP and Premier Notley have that vision and will.

Now that cheers me up!

Persuasion

I just finished reading “Persuasion” by Jane Austen which is my favorite of her books. I am on a re-reading kick of all my favorites since I am finding it impossible to get engaged in new works. I am just not finding new books up to my standard. The themes don’t interest me very much which is perhaps because I find they relate to the world we are living in today and sadly I have enough of that to deal with daily so don’t want it to interfere with fantasy land.

One of the things my book club members will say about me is that I am one who likes at least one of the characters to be upright and moral. It may seem boring and unrealistic but I believe that if we don’t surround ourselves with values they will disappear. When you look at the unbelievable amount of scandal we have faced in the last two years can you doubt me?

Virtue is moral excellence and it is something that we ought to be looking for in our leaders but seldom find. When I say “leaders” I not only mean our politicians but corporate leaders and community leaders. Today we find that people tend to look for “celebrity” rather than virtue in their icons. Those who are at the top got to the top on the backs of the people and now in their success they want to trickle down some of their wealth and “make a difference”.

Sorry pal but the ship has sailed; you are not redeemable after the fact. I don’t say that from a Christian principle (which would prove me wrong of course) but from a reality check. Attempting to fix an educating problem in Chicago, for example, by suddenly pouring money into some school or education fund will not help those who missed the boat a decade or two ago. These families are now in a cycle of underpaid jobs (at best) and at worst are into an underworld we don’t even want to acknowledge. Starting food banks or other charitable concerns is attempting to rectify something that should never have occurred in the first place. The failure stems from YOU NOT PAYING YOUR FAIR SHARE OF TAXES FROM THE GET-GO.

I repeat, the failure stems for corporations not paying their fair share of taxes from the beginning.

Don’t take my word for it, read the books I suggested a few days ago, all of them will affirm this lamentable fact.

Three Weeks In

Is it possible that we are three weeks in to the new year? I still have chocolates left over from Christmas so I am dubious!

On Saturday we happened to turn on the news in the middle of Individual One’s speech on compromise. I am anxious this morning to find out if this will go through as I, despite not being American, am deeply concerned about all the poor people who have gone unpaid for four weeks, some of whom will not get paid for their job loss because they are contractors. It seemed that this could go through the Senate without having to go through Congress but even so I would hope that the Democrats would approve this compromise as I believe it is the first time in his life he has backed down (albeit not much). I thought he spoke well and I felt the deal was pretty good.

We shall see later this morning I am sure.

A Grain of Salt

I looked out the window and for a minute I thought I saw a horse! It turned out to be some kind of worker for the gas company but what they were doing in the field across the way is somewhat puzzling. However it made me laugh a little at my so called improved vision! Despite new glasses I find I cannot see well whether I am reading, writing on the computer or looking out at long distances (never been good at that even with other glasses). I have probably made more U-turns than most people because I see the road sign just as I am passing through the intersection (one of the reasons why I really dislike travelling somewhere that I don’t know).

We all have our little handicaps, foibles and negative stuff but I think it is good to make fun of those areas in our life where we are not stellar. A sense of humour is one of the greatest gifts God gave us and I am certainly very grateful that I have a good strong sense of humour.

I was repeating to Mom something Dad said many years ago, speaking specifically about our family. He said that we had (in Danish) “fine feeling” and what he meant by that was that we could have sensitive feelings. While I find that I can be hard-nosed about many things and let things roll off me I can also be sensitive to criticism (who can’t).

And that’s why I take most things with “a grain of salt”.

Weighing in on Stuff

Thinking about yesterday’s blog inspired me to look into analysis but also smart women. Smart women come in all packages (in all fields) and all bring their own style. A few days ago Jamie Lee Curtis was being interviewed by Christiana Amanpour and she gave high kudos to Christiana for her top quality journalism. I must say that I absolutely agreed with her. Other journalist that I admire are Diane Sawyer and Bonnie Erbe.

Women who have brought a lot to the fore include Oprah Winfrey (much was ground breaking on her talk show), Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Rachel Notley, Kamala Harris and many up and coming female world leaders.  Malala Yousafsai is a remarkable young woman giving voice globally to female education.

Where do individuals get their moral compass? It used to be mostly within the family and perhaps a little bit from our schooling. In today’s world it seems a bit sketchier because somehow a lot of common sense has dissipated and I believe that is the result of too much social media. Parents are taking their eyes off the ball (in the case in parenting). Furthermore too much political correctness has led to schools being advised to take a “hands off” approach in mentoring their students (I am not talking about physically but mentally, emotionally and morally). Whether one is Christian, Sikh, Muslin or atheist there are certain moral truths sanctioned by . . . oh, let’s say the UN. It’s not rocket science to give a child some guidance on how to be an upstanding citizen but apparently it can be quite challenging for folks today.

So I take my hat off to corporations such as Gillette who are running ads right now that show men with empathy. Apparently that sent Meghan over the deep end but I think it is a very worthy “public service” announcement. I believe Nike did another one a couple of years ago. Let’s face it a gun-toting, Baptist, Pro Life Republican would “have her head explode” if government spent money on a public service ad that would somehow “preach to the masses”. Hmm, and what is the NRA doing?

Political Analyst?

I watch The View on a regular basis and almost every day Meghan McCain calls herself a political analyst. Today she annoyed the heck out of me when she started to rant about “using a broad brush” when speaking about anything. However she was once again being reactionary because it was about Republicans. I had to put it on pause and rant to Mom saying (for the thousandths time) that she was not an analyst at all. How can she possibly object to using a broad brush when she, last week, claimed that the whole Democratic Party was going socialist because they voted in Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as a congresswoman? One rookie congresswoman is going to make all of the Democratic Party into a socialist party? I’d like to see that and can you imagine her (Alexandria) taking on Nancy Pelosi?

Meghan you are not an analyst when you never see two sides of the political spectrum. I have yet to hear you say one good thing about a Democrat and to me that speaks of bias, not analysis.

I laughing told Mom “I am a Meghan McCain analyst”.

 

She's Gotta Bette Davis Eyes

I think Bette Davis had one of the greatest careers with her classic lines, my favorites being those from “All About Eve”, here’s a sampling

•“Fasten your seat belts. It’s going to be a bumpy night.”

•“I’ll admit I may have seen better days, but I’m still not to be had for the price of a cocktail, like a salted peanut.”

•“We’re all busy little bees, full of stings, making honey day and night. Aren’t we, honey?”

• “You’re not much of a bargain, you know. You’re conceited and thoughtless and messy.”

• “One career we all have in common, whether we like it or not, being a woman.”

• “Slow curtain, the end.” 

Others include: 

•“I’d like ta kiss ya, but I just washed ma hair.” – Cabin in the Cotton (I have used that frequently) 

•“I put on this white dress for you, to help me tell you how humbly I ask you to forgive me.” – Jezebel (this film was made especially for Bette after she lost out on the role of Scarlet O’Hara – it’s a dud in my view)

Bette Davis as an actress was very powerful but at the same time I find her movies quite dated and cheesy; I think she rather over acted in a lot of them (as did many actress in her era).  But she had grit both on film and in her personal life and I think she was a very tough and smart negotiator.

In comparison I think Maureen O’Hara was a more natural actress and I cannot think of any role outside of Esmeralda in The Hunchback of Notre Dame (she was very young) wherein she was not portraying a feisty woman. Two  very different icons but both worthy of being called an ICON.

Little Grasshopper

Do you remember “Kung Fu” with David Carradine and how his master calling him “Little Grasshopper”? My sister reminded me of it a little while ago when she told an anecdote wherein she called the person she was mentoring “Grasshopper”. It made me laugh and as I was reviewing my last few blogs I feel compelled to tell all my little grasshoppers that you are doing good. J

It is very healthy to make fun of one’s self and I am certainly grateful that not only do I have a good sense of humour about myself as well as others but my whole family is blessed with great senses of humour. Even when we get excited in our politics we can still make jokes and laugh at our passionate selves. My brother Peter gets so vehement that he turns on himself and confesses he could never run for politics because he can’t help saying nasty things! I reassure him and say that there is nothing wrong with saying nasty things if they are true, but maybe don’t call your audience stupid. J

You see, we can laugh.

Mom says she read in her blessed magazine that a person should laugh at least once a day. I am pretty sure we both do that, at least once! Now I wonder what the magazines says about a good argument?

To Continue on Retirement

As I was saying, before I so rudely interrupted myself, one should check-in on retirement plans and ensure that you are on track and not falling into a lethargy. For many it may be easy to keep from being bored by seeing or even babysitting grandchildren frequently. That can always keep one young at heart but don’t forget that those kids will be teenagers soon enough and then where are you? Dumped like a sack of potatoes! You need a back-up plan, one that has been honed even as you were enjoying the grandkids.

In case you forget here are the six pieces of the pie:

        I.            Financial (and I never get into giving advice– it’s a given)

      II.            Physical – both ensuring you check in with your doctor and that you are exercising   your body

    III.            Mental – using your brain with mental activity, reading, studying, doing puzzles, etc.

    IV.            Social – ensuring that you are mixing with other people, keep in touch with colleagues, friends and family. The onus is on YOU, always!

      V.            Hobbies/Activity – find things you are passionate about and excel at them.

    VI.            Spirit – don’t neglect your inner self, your soul. If you aren’t a church type person then look at doing meditation. Spend at least 15 minutes a day in quiet reflection. It’s so healthy for your overall wellbeing. Trust me – it is.

Most of what you can do in the last 5 categories can be done for free or with almost no expense. Dollarama has lots of things a person can do as a craft for a few dollars – even painting (you can get a canvas, pre-printed and with paints, for $4.00). Walking is free, yoga can be done with TV programs, you can get dumbbells at Walmart for under $5.00 if some weight bearing exercises. There are online courses (Open Yale is my favorite) but you can also go to university or college for free when you are a senior (you won’t get credits for it but do you need that?).

I also want to reiterate that yes, it is necessary to check in with yourself and make your retirement as meaningful and purposeful as the rest of your life. It doesn’t need to be stressful, it needs to be HAPPY.

And may you all be HAPPY.

Retirement 101 - again and again

I hate to be a drag but here I go again! Below I have set the link to my blog that is just on retirement (you can access it on the side panel of the blog scrolling down to subjects. First of all I want to give myself a pat on the back for writing such good stuff!  Second a wagging finger saying “even before you got sick you were not properly editing your writing” since I found errors throughout. Shame on me.

All that aside, I would remind my readers that as you get into your retirement do remember to give yourself mental check-ins on how you are doing with the 6 pieces of the pie. As I wrote about yesterday I have never been bored but I know that I am an exception to that phenomenon (I guess). Even when I was a kid if things got a bit stale I would say to my sister “I want an aaadventure” (yes, I dragged out the “a” in adventure) and Jeanette and I would then concoct some idiotic plan for an adventure.

The most momentous one was when we decided to follow the creek to its source (we already knew where it ended as we had followed it down to Lake Ontario even though we weren’t’ allowed to cross the Queen E (Hwy 1). Off we went crossing New Street (I think we went under it through a culvert if I am remember correctly) and on and on we walked through fields, the creek going down to a trickle. Then we ended up in a farm yard with a dog barking like mad. Jeanette had a pathological fear of dogs so it was time to turn around and go back. The dog got loose and Jeanette was running like a maniac, it was all I could do to keep up with her! That was one adventure that stayed between the two of us. Dad would likely have whipped us if he had known we had gone so far; I suspect we went at least 10 miles since we were gone for quite a long time.

The other crazy wish of my heart was to find a dead body. I had that wish for years (well into adulthood), courtesy of all the murder mysteries I read. I always added the proviso “but I don’t want to be a suspect”. I wanted, of course, to be Jessica Fletcher before she had even been invented; finding a body and solving the “case”. Ah the madness of youth!

Now I got myself a little distracted on the retirement theme but I will continue tomorrow!

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