***TUES AUG 12TH—CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF READING--

Here I sit, in my favorite spot on the sofa, 

enjoying an afternoon of reading 

(Written in My Own Heart's Blood,
 by Diana Gabaldon) 

and freshly brewed coffee, 

and pecking away at my beloved laptop.

Some folk (who ARE those people?) 

might consider this unexciting or dull,

but not me—NEVER me!  

Strenuous activities confound me, 

since arthritis has come to reside 

in my arms and legs and joints. 

 But then I always loved reading,

for which I have always been 

physically able and emotionally ready!

I remember riding my bike over 

to the Austin branch of the 

Chicago Public Library, at Central and Race—

This would be the 1950's, 

and I could load up my bicycle basket 

with a summer's worth of books—

it was called a "Vacation Loan". 

 What a treat! 

 Plain bound books, no cover art,

 didn't matter—

they were beautiful and colorful to me….

 No special library reading programs 

or cute children's library areas, 

but it was heavenly.

Just the inky smell of all those words, 

floating in all those books, 

a world of escape with every page….

like my first foray into 

the delicious world of mystery fiction—

Nancy Drew still rivals Miss Marple…

I listen to books whenever I'm in the car. 

I end my day, every day, with some reading

—indeed until the books drops to the floor,

 and I am literally nodding off!

My Arlington Heights Libraryoffers a decadent service

in which I freely indulge:a drive-by pickup window!

My favorite quote about reading, which adorns my email signature, 

was voiced by my beloved Louisa May Alcott.  

A beautifully illustrated edition of Little Women, 

my favorite book since I received it for Christmas,

  when I was eight, graces my permanent home library.

Fiction reading was considered damaging 

to the delicate feminine constitution pre-20th Century: 

“She is too fond of books, and it has turned her brain.” 

(Louisa May Alcott)

             I am so happy for all that frivolous brain-turning!

SAT AUG 9TH--SUNNY SATURDAY

So I was gathering up some quotes about hope,

looking to be inspired as the day begins…..

I really liked this one:

“There is a crack in everything.
That's how the light gets in.” 
 (Leonard Cohen)

I like it—nothing too flowery, but still makes its point.

Arising at six am today, I had the joy of seeing the sun 

make its fresh appearance for the day.  Being handed this

new day "on a platter"…what a gift.

I may ache with arthritis, but I have my freshly brewed 

Monet mug of coffee, my vitamins, and my hope….that 

persistent hope that can see the light through the crack.

MON AUG 4TH: HAPPY NEW WEEK!

MONDAY MONDAY—JULY 28, 2014

The Senior Goddess enjoyed one of her favorite social pastimes today: a meal out with special people in my life.  My calendar is happily filled with many such events, particularly because it only requires:
 
    *the company of people with whom you love to hang out
    *a strong desire--it follows—to see such fun people
    *an ability to converse, interrupt, laugh and talk loudly
    *enjoying the necessary consumption of a meal out
             (especially brunch or lunch)
    *a facility for sitting in one spot for at least two hours

I can modestly boast that I excel at all these requirements.  So I pepper my calendar with these meals, many of which regularly occur—often monthly.

My arthritic joints are not conducive to heavily athletic activities (even mildly athletic); my budget restricts exotic travel plans or pricey events: my senior clock prefers morning/early afternoon scheduling—but, hey,
I can (and DO) work around these limitations.

I dearly love that moment I am pushing the restaurant door open, knowing that some special people are waiting for me at a table inside, as happy to see me as I am to see them (I'm assuming here).

I sure hope that Heaven has tables and menus for us all, for some coffee and eternal togetherness.  Surely God wouldn't—couldn't—stop the laughter and sharing, maybe even with some sweet potato fries on the side.

SUNDAY JULY 27, 2014—SENIOR GODDESS SUPREME RETURNS!

Inside that slowly walking Senior Goddess there lives a young, vibrant life-loving dancing goddess.  She will relate her daily adventures as she happily greets each day, with her dear daughter Niki and kitty Mathilda….and various other roommates of the inanimate variety…

They all joined me on this Sunday afternoon while I read and relax and reflect on how blessed I am.

PHOTO

  Happiness is my three Beautiful

Grandbabies--Bella, Rosie and Jake!

                         

Quote from "Happiness is an Inside Job" by Sylvia Boorstein

I may be citing more quotes from this book, which I just started reading today, but this one I must keep:

"Life is an ongoing series of changing circumstances to which human beings are continually called upon to respond.  What the Buddha taught is that we could respond happily."

Right on!

Words Alive!

So I sit here on a cloudy so-so Sunday in March—the 17th, St. Patty's Day, for the benefit of my dear Irish friends and relatives—and I commit myself to an old, resurrected goal: to write for fun and profit.  Ah, the freelancing dream…I am dusting it off again.  So many years ago, I began freelancing because I met a successful freelancer, my neighbor Joan Anderson, and thought I'd see if I could earn a few dollars just typing some profit-mongering prose.

Amazingly, I had some limited success…but I did not continue on for years, as did my talented and hardworking neighbor.

But I sit here at my laptop, contemplating the need for cash…not a new need, but a rather persistent one these days in my fixed-income senior world.  And though my writing has been limited to countless words eked out on my emails, it (the urge?, the talent?) has always been lurking around me.

I have happily "spent" many unpaid hours to creating presentations for my continual learning group at Roosevelt University in Schaumburg…officially, ICLRU, Institute for Continual Learning at Roosevelt University.  I have learned to use PowerPoint, have honed (and indulged) my humor and performance abilities, and have been rewarded mightily—not in dollars, but in a sense of achievement and ego-boosting.

I became the teacher I had wanted to be all my life—to an appreciative and responsive audience of my friends and peers.

Since I could choose any topic for presentation, I used films and political humor as my topics and main tools of presentation.  It has been—continues to be—a wonderful outlet for me.  I am tapping into my only real resource available—myself…and am amazed at what I have been finding…maybe not a motherlode, but a rich vein of treasure that was always there.

And now I contemplate the real need to enhance my income, my fixed income, and I turn once more to the idea of freelance writing.  I turn to my usual resources…mostly via my wonderful Arlington Heights Memorial Library….to check out the competitive and demanding writing market.

I would still limit myself to nonfiction articles—how-to laced with humor, or visa versa.  I had tried the greeting card market at various time, but this time am going to just concentrate on newspaper and magazine markets…virtual and online.

I have to limber up my rusty skills, which have been limited to endless emails.  My journal attempts are sadly sporadic.  My daily writing, a la Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, has to start up again.  She proposes a daily regimen of nonstop, non-edited journal writing ("morning pages")—three pages every morning.

Well, I started this blog entry slightly before noon this Sunday, and I intend to refresh my blog daily after neglecting it as I have any journalizing of note.  But I commit to morning pages in my paperized Journal, as well as my blog.

And may the Writing Force be with me, as I then attempt some moneymaking form of writing after my warmup words.  No matter what the result, it will be time well spent….and my time is precious, and deserves to be spent well!

PHOTO--Rosie's Tent April 2012

PHOTO--Rosie in Repose May 2012

DAY 2 AT REHAB

I let a few days slip by without journalizing, so I'm setting up my "recall" button, and hoping for the best.

My OT therapist Char laughed when I asked her how many years she had been doing this…."since 1965"….and five years past her retirement…she missed it too much…and still guides recovering folks like me to tying our shoes and getting out of bed, etc. On Day 2, we practiced my "sitting pretty" as I land my tush (gratefully) on any nearby chair. I tended to "plop" abruptly, landing with an oomph and small scream of pain and gratitude that I was off my feet. But thanks to Char, I am now sitting pretty and with style…or at the very least, without the violent drop landing.

Weighing In!

So, an incredible time since my last entry…which is typical for sporadic me. Life is going well. Today is Father's Day, and I celebrate my two sons, Matt and Jeff, who are wonderful, loving fathers to Rosie (Matt's) and Jake and Bella (Jeff's). It is an immeasurable joy to watch my sons "in action"—from changing diapers to playing peekaboo to giving baths to singing silly songs to all the loving and fun moments that fill up their days, and the days of their beautiful children, my grandchildren. And I recover from my double knee replacement surgery last November (11-11-11), and try to work out on the NuStep machine five days per week—prodded by the fast music throbbing in my ears. I have found the tempo of "Footloose" to be a great tempo to keep "stepping" and pedalling. That I have found ANYTHING to get me moving is a miracle. Now to the eating portion of my health regimen…that's going in fits and starts. I gained 30 pounds since my Bariatric Surgery in April, 2005, and I am not doing my knees, my arthritic body, or my ever-present ego any favors by NOT losing these pounds again. I have discovered a pleasant way to "tweak" my daily intake—less food, some wine! Take in a glass of wine in the evening, with my book reading (my ritual before-I-get-sleepy) practice. The point is to just drink, and not eat at this time. And the wine should be a reward for working out regularly that week..30 to 40 minutes, five days a week. I put a perky reward sticker on my calendar on these proud workout days—a suggestion from my adorable granddaughter Rosie who is an expert in calendar reward stickers. The method is working SOMEWHAT, but somewhat is better than before. And somehow, when I walk into Teddy Liquor's, my friendly neighborhood liquor store, I feel strangely "at home"….like I do when I walk into a Target store….like I have NEVER felt when I've walked into a Costco store. I pay close attention to these intuitive feelings—they are strong, and part of my reality, my daily wandering through this lovely life I am still tweaking and inventing as I go along, even as a I approach my 71st (OUCH) birthday.

ONE WEEK SINCE SURGERY

So it's been an amazing week since they cut my knees apart, and replaced them with "Female" Omni knees…and I can't believe that I'm walking (with the walker of course) short distances. I just found out at breakfast the the "bibs" I've been wearing at meals are REALLY called "Clothes Protectors". One of the nurses who sniffed this information to me seemed to take umbrage at my joking "bib" remark….guess even at rehab meals, we must try to be politically correct!

There's a laundry service at the rehab facility, which I was ready to use….until I found out about the hapless patient who is still (not so patiently) waiting for his clothes—just about all of them—which were whisked away a week ago, never to be seen again!
Another Rehab Mystery.

VIEW FROM THE COMMODE—1

Hi Everyone,

Just to dispel the nasty image from the Subject Line, I am now happily (!) using normal toilet facilities…believe me, you become very excited over small achievements…will spare any more details.

I like The Moorings—moved here Monday evening…have enjoyed two meals in their dining room with fellow replacement buddies….such a support group—never have I discussed so thooughly what I couldn't do with my sore knees until I was here!

I'm here probably two to three weeks…flexible timing.

Fun Facts I've Learned So Far:

Women can handle pain better than men (told to my by my MALE surgeon, verified by everyone).
They supply big terrycloth bibs in the dining room to all of us…and I love it!
Hope relieves a great deal of pain.
A huge support team of family and friends ROCKS even more than I expected!

As Matt mailed to you, I'm easing into the therapy, so would really appreciate email more than anything these next few days…and please call before dropping by..my days are busy (and so fun)!

Love to you all…bless you for the prayers and good thoughts that have buoyed me up.

My New Gmail Signature---two lovely quotes

She is too fond of books and it has addled her brain." ---- Louisa May Alcott
***************************************************************************************When the Day of Judgment dawns and people, great and small, come marching in to receive their heavenly rewards, the Almighty will gaze upon the mere bookworms and say to Peter, “Look, these need no reward. We have nothing to give them. They have loved reading." — Virginia Woolf

PHOTO--Jake and Rosie in the Bath

PHOTO Newsteds Easter 2006 Susan Jeff Kathie Matt Laura

My Year in Review

So it's almost one year since I retired, and entered anything into this blog.

It would seem that an update is in order. Or maybe by now I'm reviewing this whole retirement lifestyle and still working on its shape and content---and am I content with its content????

Well, I still watch my darling Rosie on Mondays. That's the only scheduled day in my week, and I need to "deal" with the rest of the week!

The unscheduled time also coincided with the gray, cold days of late November and the snowy days of early December. I don't need to battle the roads commuting to work--the good news. I still keep running into myself and the (sometimes) exciting prospect of open time and choices--the bad news!

During all the scripted days of my former life, I twisted and struggled against the confines of filled-in time, bursting with children and work and home stuff. I reminded myself then that I should celebrate every busy, lively moment of these "normal" days, for one day I may prove nostalgic and yearn for their return.

Not yearning for all that activity again, but I keep bumping into myself these days, without the barrier (or camouflage) of set-up, immutable things-to-do and places-to-go. I can do what I want, go where I want......this is a scary, unfamiliar sensation. An immediate reaction was to find a part-time job, somewhere to be and something to do that would be dictated by an outside force, almost beyond my control.

But my confused insides are telling me that the job-thing is not the answer. I still want the flexible time in my days to be available to the grandbabies and my kids, to take a few continuing ed courses, to plumb my shaky depths for what lurks there.

And what lurks there will be splattered all over this blog.

There---already a new game plan!

PLAYING THE RETIREMENT CARD

So my new lifestyle begins today--January 5, 2009. I've left my full-time job at the Huntley Library, after ten fine, fulfilling years. I'm "nannying"my three-month-old granddaughter Rosie (Rosetta Bell, if you please) two days a week--Monday and Tuesday for delicious starters to my newly invented lifestyle.
Somehow "fixed income" conjures up images of advanced aging, stooped shoulders, walkers...not at all the way I look or feel...nor do millions of my contemporaries. Can 65 be the new 55 (at least)? I'd like to bargain down to 45, but I'm content.
And "content" is the operative word...a startling new concept to twirl around my day, my psyche, my life. During most of my pre-retirement life, I was the "destination addict" defined recently on an Oprah show about happiness. I always had a future goal, a destination, which I NEEDED in order to be "perfectly happy". Only problem was that when that trip had ended, and I pulled into the station, all was not perfect...I was still stuck with my "excess baggage" ..and the only thing which had changed was my location...whatever destination I had recently acquired: college degree, husband, kids, slimmer body, great job. wonderful house, perfect climate, blah, blah, blah.
It took about 55 years of angst and maneuvering and bargaining with the universe to finally arrive at the generic destination of BE PRESENT FOR YOUR LIFE/LIVE IN THE NOW. I was lucky that I arrived before I had fallen off the earth!
And magic happened around my life---I slowly found joy because I was no longer pursuing it. I started "savoring" instead of gulping...looking instead of leaping...and slowly joy and "right living" came trickling in.
I found the (near) perfect job for me, I returned back to the Chicago area after a fruitless quest for perfection in a distant "nice climate", I found peace of mind in living alone as a widow, my two sons found amazing women as wives, and the past year, the miracle of two incredible(of course) grandbabies graced our family.
And all when I was just enjoying my life instead of forcing it--my life formed around me beautifully even as I just dwelled within it, instead of frantically chipping here, and tweaking there, and mostly sobbing through my days.
We have always been told that money is not the key to happiness, but there I would be, buying a lottery ticket when I felt most down about one of my (pre-library) jobs....yet it is well documented that lottery winners are not all that much happier after they've won. And all those wealthy celebrities who fight to keep marriages and themselves together---it never really made any sense.
I'm starting to think there's something to that idea that we shape our own lives by the very way we live it and view it.

Was it always that simple?

Library Goddess

One of my alter egos is that of Library Goddess. I work at the Huntley Area Public Library, in Huntley Illinois, a suburb northwest of Chicago by thirty miles, but still, of course, considered the Chicago area.

I've been there for nine happy years, and am still amazed by my good fortune at finding my dream job, years ago, in my mid-fifties, when I almost had given up hope that there could exist such a job.

My lifelong love of books and movies and popular culture (TV) is "cashed in" and stimulated every day there....I purchase the adult fiction books, adult fiction on audio, adult DVDs--feature films and TV series. I help to promote interest in and guidance to books and movies our patrons may want to see, and help out at the Reference desk, where my greatest joy is something called "Readers Advisory", which really means helping someone find another book they might enjoy, another author or new title, or more of the same author they have enjoyed in the past.

It's a delicous combination of conversation and immersion among the book-lined shevles and movie-filled displays, teeming with the friendly variety of patrons who come through our doors--from the littlest infants napping in their strollers, to the liveliest "senior" enjoying a look at the day's newspaper by the fireplace.

We have a large contigent of seniors, who live in Huntley Sun City, an age-specific, resort-like area of new homes built in the last ten years. This combines with a large number of families with young children, who have also been purchasing new homes within the last ten years.

It's a going, growing community, and our library reflects that growth with sometimes creative solutions to the needing-more-space situation.

Come by and say "Hello" when you're in the neighborhood!

CHECK US OUT!