ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

Aug 28 2016

Posts

“I watch the ripples change their size
but never leave the stream
of warm impermanence
so the days float through my eyes” — David Bowie, Ch-Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes

The summer is beginning to wind down and autumn is right around the corner. I often muse about the changing seasons this time of the year and reflect on my life, time-hopping from the past to the future, then back to today. Though it’s common to look back at the preceding year on New Year’s Eve or look ahead to the coming year the next day, I usually follow the school year calendar and my annual staycation. Some habits are hard to break. Continue reading →

Tagged Ageism, Aging, Autumn, Change, Changing Seasons, Family, Friends, Loss, Love, Memoir, Moving, Rightsizing, Staycation, Summer, Things Change, Third Act, Time-Hopping

Sep 06 2021

Posts

Pandemic Staycation Redux: Safer-at-Home

Staycation: A vacation spent at home or near home, doing enjoyable activities or visiting local attractions. — Dictionary.com

Labor Day weekend has historically been the beginning of my annual Staycation, usually 7-10 days which I take off of work and remain close to home. It’s also what I can afford to do as I make choices with my discretionary income and travel often falls off the list. It sounds a little mundane, yet it serves me. This time is a vacation from my routines and allows me to practice spontaneity and rather than check off things on my to-do list — which I regularly make for the week ahead — instead I make a “to-do only if I want to list,” which I add and subtract to as I wish. Yes, I’m a little OCD. Continue reading →

Tagged COVID-19, Dispatch from the Hideout, Family, Friends, Labor Day, Memories, Pandemic, Pod Squad, Post-Pandemic, Pre-Pandemic, Safer-at-Home, Seasons, Staycation

Aug 22 2021

Posts

New Habits Are Hard to Make

…and old habits hard to break!

“You can’t teach an old dog, new tricks is a common phrase that means it is challenging to teach a person something new, usually because that person has been doing things a certain way for so long that they’re too stubborn to learn how to do it differently.”

Yes, full disclosure, I’m an old dog, living the first year of my seventh decade. In dog years, I’m 10 going on 11. I’m also at the threshold of changing habits, again. It’s challenging; I’ve been doing some of the same things for so long — the task of undoing them and replacing with new behaviors — seems impossible. Continue reading →

Tagged 12-Step Recovery, AA, Accountability, Change, Exercise, Family, Food, Habits, Healthy Eating, Old Wives' Tales, Osteoarthritis, Physical Therapy, Relationships, Self-Care, Slogans

Dec 06 2019

1 Comment

Posts

70 Is NOT the New 60, It’s 70!

(Or, the Third Act before the curtain closes)

“There’s a moment when people know — whatever their skills are at denial — that they have passed from what they can delude themselves into thinking is middle age to something that you could call the third act.”— Nora Ephron

“Aging is an extraordinary process where you become the person you always should have been.” — David Bowie

First, let me say at the outset that I’m grateful that I’m above ground and not dust in the wind. When I was nearing my 65^th birthday five years ago, I found this factoid reassuring. If one lives to the age of 65, they have an 80% chance to live twenty more years to 85 years old. Hallelujah! Continue reading →

Tagged 70-Years-Old, Acceptance, Aging, Baby Boomers, Boomer, Death & Dying, Family, Fathers, Friends, Holidays, Home, Life & Living, Longevity, Mortality, Mother, OK

Jan 19 2018

1 Comment

Posts

Another Trip Around the Sun

“My life is better with every year of living it.” — Rachel Maddow

“Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

Grateful. The past weekend I celebrated another trip around the sun, 365 days, one-day-at-a-time. Songs come to mind, the first from the soundtrack of my life as a young woman growing up in the fifties and sixties, Bob Dylan’s, My Back Pages, followed by memories of people, both here and gone, and my gratitude for their presence in my life, Rufus Wainwright’s cover of Who Knows Where the Time Goes? Continue reading →

Tagged Birthdays, Death, Family, Films, Friends, Gratitude, Grief, Loss, Madison, Memoir, Mother, Sixties, The Pentagon Papers, Third Act, University of Wisconsin, Work

Aug 27 2017

Posts

Seasons/Change

“Memories recycle of seasons past
of people absent and places far away.
I soothe myself with the solace of ritual.
There is comfort in repetition
and wonder in change.” — From the poem, The Solace of Ritual, Linda Lenzke

It has been and continues to be a hellavu week, a reminder of the power of nature — the relationship of the sun, moon, and earth — and how it impacts the weather. Beginning this past Monday in North America, we witnessed the total or partial eclipse of the sun, depending on where we landed on, or near, the path of totality. Continue reading →

Tagged Autumn, Change, Changing of the Seasons, Hurricane Harvey, Midwest, Seasons, Snow, Snow Days, Solar Eclipse, Spring, Spring Fever, Staycation, Summer, Winter

Aug 12 2017

Posts

Three Things I Don’t Need (or Want)

Why I still think like a baby boomer…

As a person who falls somewhere in the middle of the continuum between fogey and creative innovator, I find myself at the threshold of the past and the future — again. As a baby boomer born in 1950, I was a late adopter to technology — though I’ve embraced many of its tools, often following some initial resistance — I’m now dependent on devices and software that enables communication, commercial and bureaucratic transactions, access to media, intellectual content, navigation, and social networking. On the flip side, most days I still enjoy direct person-to-person interaction. I’m not as fond of autonomously-powered tools or systems which rely on AI (artificial intelligence). I’m not sure how many robots I’d like for roommates. Did you hear that Cortana, Siri, and Alexa? Continue reading →

Tagged A.I., Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Vehicles, Baby Boomer, Cyberbullying, Dystopian future, Future, Robots, Sarahah, Self-Checkout Kiosks, Social Media, Social Messaging Apps, Technology

Jul 28 2017

Posts

Dispatch from the Hideout

“In order to understand the world, one has to turn away from it on occasion.”― Albert Camus

“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” ― C.G. Jung

For me, the past week has been one of introspection and retreat. It began with the 18-month anniversary of my mother’s death, counterbalanced by joyful anniversaries and celebrations of the living — birthdays, graduations, and more of family members and loved ones — grief and gratitude. This unfolded during a critical period in the political landscape when our leaders were charged with designing and implementing a promised healthcare plan, first, repeal then replace, which when brought to a vote in a number of forms, failed again, and again, and yes, again. Continue reading →

Tagged Extrovert, Family, Friends, Gratitude, Grief, Healthcare, Introspection, Introvert, Legacy, Loss, POTUS, Relationships, Repeal & Replace, Retreat, Skinny Repeal, The Hideout, Trump

Feb 25 2017

1 Comment

Posts

No More 9 to 5!

UPDATE 02/25/2020: Three years ago, I began working part-time for my employer for whom I had worked full-time as a manager for almost 10 years. I became an hourly employee and the trade-off was I was able to work 20 hours a week and have three-day weekends.

Now that this job is ending, due to a company reorg, I’m reconsidering returning to full-time employment if I can combine my professional and avocational experience. In this third chapter of my life, I’d like to do work that aligns with my passions and commitment to social justice. Following is the original post from February 25, 2017.

It’s still winter in Wisconsin. After a week of record-breaking temperatures of spring-like weather — a hopeful tease of things to come — then came the rain, sleet, ice pellets, followed by snow and howling winds. We’re reminded that winter remains for a few more weeks before spring arrives. Spring is a season of hope and new beginnings. So is my life today, as I cross the threshold of my third act. Cue up Dolly Parton, no more “9 to 5.” Continue reading →

Tagged AA, Activism, Change, College, Lesbian, LGBTQ, Madison, Marriage, Memoir, Politics, Racine, Recovery, Retirement, Sixties, Third Act, Wisconsin, Work, Writing

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