Senior Fashion in the Desert....Tucson

All she needed was rhinestones
on her walker!

Now I will admit...we do live a very casual lifestyle...cowboy boots with jeans to dinner.  But our earrings are solid silver and our belt buckles are rodeo worthy.  Eat your heart out Advance Style of New York.

If you truly love people and don't mind being rejected occasionally, approaching an older lady and asking for a photograph can be the high point of your day.  That is what happened for me today.  My husband and I were out on a quest for birthday cards, AppleTV cables and groceries.  We were entering a parking lot when I spotted the most colorful little bird of a lady I had seen in quite a while.  She was accompanied by her soft spoken daughter as they left a restaurant making their way to their car.

Oh my goodness.  Stop the car now...I need to see if she will let me take her picture.  My husband doen't even question me anymore.  He just stops, lets me out and goes ahead to the next stop.


Would you mind if I took your picture?
Not at all, she replied...do you want me to take off my hat?


She was dressed warmly because we have been having cold weather.  Red, green and beautiful pink stockings!  I was just charmed.  As I left I said thank you so much and she beckoned to me.  She gave me a light peck on the cheek and said the words that will ring in my ears for a day or two  Thank you lovely lady!


All she was missing was rhinestones on her walker!

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How to herd cats...playing golf with women!

Yesterday I mentioned that I was going to play golf today with a ladies club on Fred Enke Public Golf Course here on the Eastside of Tucson Arizona.  The course is located off of Irvington and very near the east campus of Pima County Community College.  I was paired with 2 other women and one club board member.

I am joining the club for 4 months at a cost of $25, adding my handicap to the package for another $25 and buying hole in one insurance for $2.  My round of golf with a resident's card was $32 including a cart.  After I have played a number of rounds with the women, the residents card will give me a free round of golf.  Actually, when you think about it, it is a very reasonable kind of recreation.

In organizations like this, the people that have volunteered to be in charge try to keep a modicum of continuity in the games that we play.   You have to give them a round of applause for trying.  The board member that plays with new member tries to explain the drill to the new members so everyone is on the same page.

I don't know how this works with men but leading women is a lot like herding cats!  In a woman's mind, the rules/proceedures are made to be revised.  This process of revision is one that each woman feels is her responsibility.  My hat is off to any woman that consents to do the board member's job.

This is the second time I have given "ladies day" play a try during my golfing life.  I hope that I can do this week in and week out.  I had such a good time today.  I am still not any closer to understanding how to herd cats...as I grow older I may be getting more and more catlike.  I, however, do not want to be in charge, make the rules or even keep the score (other than my own).  Being a quiet cat is a very good thing.

Cats love to play with a ball, are very independent and can scratch if they are displeased...sounds like a woman golfer to me!

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Related articles

• 'Are Your Boobs Hurting Your Golf Swing?' (withleather.uproxx.com)
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Ann Landers and Me...a day in the life of a snowbird!

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The trouble with talking too fast is you may say something you havent thought of yet. - Ann Landers

We played bocce ball today...our season began this week so we are all out trying to figure out how to play, again.  Yes I know we are getting smarter as we age and really there is no reason to shy away from learning a new skill.  The thing that drives me nuts is not knowing how to do something I already know how to do...if that makes any sense.

We are partners with another couple...Ken and Carole.  Carole is the "my friend Carole" I talk about so much.  She is funny but not really very quiet and she does talk a lot.  Even more than me I think.  If Ann Landers were still alive the saying I quoted above could have actually been about Carole and I.  We do drive people to distraction on the bocce ball court.  We are very good players sometimes and we do win.  Probably in a serious league we would be banned or something...we may be banned in our RV Resort.  Sigh!

Tomorrow I will play golf in a ladies league at our golf course that is very near by the RV park.  Fred Inke Tucson Public Course is very difficult so I don't know how it is going to be.  My friend Carole ask me what I was thinking!  Let me know that that works out, she said.  I am just a little afraid.   I don't know what the punishment for public embarrassment is...do your suppose they will yell at me?  Keep me in your prayers because I think I am going to need it!

I spent the morning trying to straighten out my Hubpages account so I could earn money on Google Adsense.  I am waiting for a reply to my email...I am hoping I didn't leave the poor people at Hubpages scratching their head.  I have not received a reply yet.  I am hoping that they understand that even though I am in my very late 60's I have not lost all my senses and am still a smart woman...my email may not have conveyed that message.  We will see.

A neighbor invited us over for a cocktail hour and we were invited to stay for soup supper...it was such a lot of fun.  They live in North Dakota very near where all the oil fields have come to life.  They have some very interesting stories about "Man Camps" and the influx of people moving in in the hopes of finding jobs.

A day in my life.  I will be back tomorrow...we will talk again then.

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Best Cheese Soup Ever

Here is the best cheese soup I have ever made or eaten.  It is called Cream Cheese Soup Recipe.  The creator wanted a soup that tasted somewhat like the Walk About Soup sold at Outback Steakhouse.    It was a great success on the day I served it and it was just as wonderful the day after. I have never  made a cheese soup before that I could say that about.

Just follow this recipe to the letter and you will not be disappointed!  I served it with crumbled bacon for topping...I don't know why but it just sounded good to me.  The recipe is from a favorite recipe website,  About.com and was submitted by Diana Ratray.  Give it a try.

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Big Cities on the cheap! Couch Surfing, Travel & Education

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Every time I go out onto the Internet that I get a little more education!  Sometimes my brain just needs to explode and release the pressure.  FOR EXAMPLE today I saw an article in the New York Time's travel section called MY $100 WEEKEND IN NEW YORK:  WHERE THE MONEY WENT.  Is that possible?  Well according to the Frugal Traveler it is. He knows all about travel on the cheap!

Where have I been? If I had not been a follower of The Frugal Traveler on twitter I would never have even heard about this.   It seems the Frugal Traveler wanted to prove that he could stay in New York City for one weekend and do it on only $100.  He was going for the "lowest possible budget."  I don't know how he saw it but all I think was "This has to be about bragging rights!"  Of course he did all the free museum stuff, ate donuts with coffee and walked or used public transportation...that all goes without saying.  I thought "big deal".  Then  my eyes stopped on the words COUCH SURFING.   I was sure he wasn't talking about the TV clicker and shopping on HSN.  So I went to the Couch Surfing website that he suggested.  Oh my goodness.

Did you know that there is a network of  people from around the world that trade a nights stay with other people, conceivably on a couch or even on the floor, so they can travel without spending anything hotels room? CS is a way of sleeping indoors and in the safety of someone's home and doing it for free.  COUCH SURFING has all the details, safety tips, registration and information about the people that use this service.  Really, I need a bed, a very good bed preferably, but for the adventurous durable traveler this is a very cool.

CS touts the value of connecting with the local people in places you have never been.  I understand how important making contact with other humans is to my travel experience.  I love to travel but I am not your typical tourist.  For me the whole vacation is all about local flavor and what I can learn from the people I meet.  I see every trip as an education with food and sleeping thrown in.   Like a bed and breakfast or even Hostels, CS could be a totally different kind of travel.  Take a look at the website...I think you will be intrigued with the idea too.

I do want to add a disclaimer here...I do not know if this is totally safe for women or single travelers...I want you to make that judgement for yourself.  Please note the articles below.

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Related article

• CouchSurfing Ignores Harassment and Assault (womensrights.change.org)
• Bargain Travel Secrets For Everyone (swushawaiitravel.suite101.com)
• How to Travel Around the World for Free (budgettravel.suite101.com)
• Tripping.com tackles traveler safety with video interviews (news.cnet.com)

Learning is not just for the young...New York Times article by Oliver Sacks.

I just read one of the most hopeful and inspiring articles on the New York Times Opinion Pages. The author, Oliver Sacks, called his op-ed piece "This Year Change Your Mind".  Sacks is a renowned neuroscientist and author of The Minds Eye.  The premise is that our mind continues to grow and develop new pathways for learning even as we grow older.  Please, please read it...it is not often we see something like this.  For example:

Neuroplasticity — the brain’s capacity to create new pathways — is a crucial part of recovery for anyone who loses a sense or a cognitive or motor ability. But it can also be part of everyday life for all of us. While it is often true that learning is easier in childhood, neuroscientists now know that the brain does not stop growing, even in our later years. Every time we practice an old skill or learn a new one, existing neural connections are strengthened and, over time, neurons create more connections to other neurons. Even new nerve cells can be generated.

It is very inspiring to think that this New Year and every year in the future could find each of us learning a NEW skill while encouraging our brain to remain supple and useful.  So get out that bucket list or dream list and see what it is you would like to learn in 2011 and beyond.  It is possible...Oliver Sacks and the New York Time said so.

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Thank you Pia for the idea.

Related articles

• What happened when Oliver Sacks started to hallucinate [Neuroscience] (io9.com)
• Best books of 2010: Oliver Sacks's latest masterpiece (newscientist.com)
• Oliver Sacks On His Burning Love Of 'Fire' (npr.org)

Design: "I need a change of pace" with color!

Odeedoh on Apartment Therapy...My Room: Muller Gray
Portland, Oregon

She said her favorite word and color is grey!  After looking at the room she created for her latest child with paint and a dresser from Walmart, I want grey too.  What do you think...could a Grandmother be as happy in this room as a baby would?

I'm not sure what the fluffy thing in the corner is but I want that too.

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