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One Thing or Another: Cruise Control (All Aboard!)
It’s always One Thing or Another… a lighthearted look at aging, life, and the absurdities of it all.By Mark McNease
“There’s something very depressurizing about boarding a cruise ship. The daily, mundane, pressures of life that bear on you the rest of the time are suddenly lifted, falling away like a jacket let slip from your shoulders.”
Spending time on a floating hotel was never high on my wish list. I no more imagined going on a cruise than I imagined climbing the pyramids at Machu Picchu or hiking the Appalachian Trail. I didn’t have anything against them, they were just things other people did, feature stories in travel magazines I read when I was still flying by choice and not necessity. Then I met the man I’ve spent the last twelve years with, and cruising entered my life. That can happen when we enter relationships: if you enjoy the unexpected, meet the person of your dreams.
My first cruise was just three nights over a Labor Day weekend, out to some cay and back. I didn’t just like it. I loved it. Cruising quickly became a favorite way to vacation for me. I also like spending nights in hotels for some of the same reasons: no chores, no clean up, no appointments, unless it’s a massage or a shave/facial combination. Cruising is that times twenty, with the added bonus of feeling young at fifty-nine on a ship of retirees.
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Lee Lynch’s Amazon Trail: Witch Spittle
Photo by Sue Hardesty By Lee Lynch
Oh, yes, we had fun this year decorating for Halloween. For a couple of hours, I didn’t once think about the ghouls in D.C.
We don’t get trick or treaters here, but we have a lively neighborhood of adults from 55 to 95, ourselves included, who get a kick out of holiday trappings. Our plastic Frankenstein mat screeches bloody murder when we open or close the garage door. Half the time we scare—and laugh—ourselves silly.
It had been many full moons since we last dragged out our spooky paraphernalia. My sweetheart exhumed it from the treasure chest that is our garage and instructed me to decide what should go where. Me? Organize? The prospect was scarier than an army of menacing phantoms.
I somehow coped.
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The Savvy Senior: What’s the Difference Between Alzheimer’s and Dementia?
By Jim Miller
Dear Savvy Senior, What’s the difference between Alzheimer’s disease and dementia? My aunt has dementia, but they don’t know if she has Alzheimer’s disease, which is very confusing to me.
Trying To Understand
Dear Trying,
Many people use the words “Alzheimer’s disease” and “dementia” interchangeably, but they are not the same thing. In fact, you can have a form of dementia that is completely unrelated to Alzheimer’s disease. Here’s what you should know.
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Grace Anne Stevens: My Transgender Life – Hi! I’m the Bride’s Dad
Grace Anne Stevens By Grace Anne Stevens
It all seemed to be happening so quickly. It was only about a year ago, that my oldest son told me that my daughter, Stella, had visited him with her new boyfriend, Rob.
This was a first-time event for the family, that has already worked through not only the split up of their parents in 2001 and my own transition in 2011. Given that Stella is 38, and we had not experienced this with her before, none of us was quite sure what to make of it.
I got to meet Rob last summer and was pleasantly surprised last Thanksgiving when this kind of old school young fella, started asking everyone in the family – one at a time, and secretly – that he was “thinking about marrying her, and was seeking permission from each of us.” Do people actually do this anymore?
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Book Review: Tin Man: A Novel, by Sarah Winman
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm SezTin Man: A Novel, by Sarah Winman
c.2018, Putnam
$23.00 hardcover / $22.95 paperback CanadaThe picture reminds you of a thousand things.
You recall the day it was taken: the smell of the air, the background sounds, food and drink, laughter and the sense that this was forever. You’ve seen that photo many times throughout the years, but it never fails to remind you of the best of times. Or, as in the new book “Tin Man” by Sarah Winman, it may represent the worst.
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The Savvy Senior: Simple Gadgets That Can Help Older Drivers
By Jim MillerDear Savvy Senior,
Are there any specific auto gadgets you can recommend that can help senior drivers? Both of my parents are in there eighties and still pretty good drivers, but due to arthritis and age they’re very stiff, which causes them some driving problems.
Researching Daughter
Dear Researching,
To help keep senior drivers safe and prolong their driving years, there’s a plethora of inexpensive, aftermarket vehicle adaptions you can purchase that can easily be added to your parent’s vehicles to help with many different needs. Here are some good options.
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Stephanie Mott: Good Tidings of Great Joy
Stephanie Mott By Stephanie Mott
“A great many of us, myself most definitely included, have placed our faith into battle after battle where we have tried anything but love.”
The 10th Verse of the 2nd Chapter of the Gospel of Luke says, “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”
However, the United States is currently on a runaway train, racing toward an increasing inevitable crash in a place that is more like frightening senselessness and imminent pain. This, of course, for all people who have historically been marginalized and oppressed (and murdered, and enslaved, and incarcerated, and separated from their children, and turned away from the table).
So, whatever happened to good tidings and great joy?
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Grace Anne Stevens: My Transgender Life – The Measure of a Man
Grace Anne Stevens Grace Anne Stevens
My Transgender LifeAs the month of June 2018 is coming to a close, I am reflecting on my gratitude to have spent half this month traveling, between my 10-day boat and bike adventure in Bordeaux France and a 5-day seminar/adventure in Toronto. As I review some of my pictures, there is one that captures me and takes me on another one of those time traveling trips I often find myself on. The picture is of a fruit stand in Bordeaux.
As I am drawn into this scene of a fruit stand on the street, that is still making my mouth water, I find myself tripping back over 50-60 years ago to my old neighborhood on Avenue J in Brooklyn, when each block seemed to have an outdoor fruit stand similar to this one.
If you wanted anything, you had to ask the vendor for what you wanted. This is a long distance from today, where you pick what you want, bag and weigh it, and probably could not find help when you need it in today’s supermarkets. -
The Savvy Senior: Tips for Living with Low Vision
By Jim MillerDear Savvy Senior,
What resources can you recommend to help seniors with vision loss? My husband, who’s 76, has macular degeneration that has progressed to the point that he can’t do a lot of his routine activities anymore, and has become very discouraged.
Looking for Help
Dear Looking,
Unfortunately, there are around 15 million Americans, like your husband, living with macular degeneration today. Over time, this progressive disease can rob people of their central vision, making everyday tasks like driving a car, reading the newspaper or watching television extremely challenging. Here are some resources that can help.
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Travel Time: Amsterdam and Utrecht Travelogue, by Sue Katz
Reprinted with permission from Sue Katz’s Consenting Adult Blog
By Sue Katz
All photos courtesy of Sue Katz
May 19
The taxi driver at the Amsterdam Centraal Station tries to rip me off. That’ll be €20, he says. What? says I. No way. Oh, says he, I meant to say €10. Turn on the machine, I suggest. Too late, he says.
The delightful flat where we’re staying is up two narrow steep flights of steps and luckily my friend Sue has already arrived and comes to help me wrestle my modest suitcase up. The problem is that the width of the first flight is cut in half by the rails of a Stairmaster. And it is also missing a bannister. Bannisters are essential to anyone who does not bounce up stairs with athletic buoyancy and tightrope walker balance.
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David Webb: U.S. Pastor Council Poses Growing Threat to LGBTQ Communities
David Webb By David Webb
The Rare ReporterA coordinated attack by powerful conservatives threatens LGBTQ communities in every major urban area as an anti-gay Houston extremist makes plans to grow his organization.
U.S. Pastor Council President Dave Welch boasts about his prowess in trampling on LGBTQ rights in Houston, and he makes clear his ambition to expand the group — also known as the Houston Area Pastor Council and the Texas Pastor Council — beyond its current regional boundaries. Given his previous successes, Welch could succeed in his expansion plans.
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Book Review: Shapeshifters: A Journey Through the Changing Human Body, by Gavin Francis
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm SezShapeshifters: A Journey Through the Changing Human Body, by Gavin Francis
c.2018, Basic Books $27.00 / $35.50 Canada
283 pagesChange, they say, is good.
It’s the opportunity for growth. It’s a chance to take a breath, reassess, reconfigure. It makes the landscape look fresh; it also muddies the waters. And yet, you bounce back and, as you’ll see in “Shapeshifters” by Gavin Francis, so does your body.