Author Archives: Linda Lenzke

Dec 06 2019
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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 65th 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 →

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Nov 03 2019
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Comfort Food: Winter Blues, Holidays, & Weight Gain

“Food is a lot of people’s therapy — when we say comfort food, we really mean that. It’s releasing dopamine and serotonin in your brain that makes you feel good.” — Brett Hoebel

“Comfort food is the food that makes us feel good — satisfied, calm, cared for and carefree. It’s food that fills us up both mentally and physically. Finding comfort in food is a basic human experience.” — Ellie Krieger

Last night, I turned the clocks back an hour. This morning the sun rose earlier and tonight it will set sooner. Daylight Savings Time is over and regardless of your views on its merits — or not — for me it’s the onset of Living the Mole Life, a season characterized by comfort foods, winter blues, the holidays, and weight gain. I isolate, sleep, and eat more than I do the rest of the year. I basically hibernate and retreat to my hideout. Continue reading →

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Oct 12 2019
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Posts

Unpresidented

“Is it just me, or is it getting crazier out there?” — Arthur Fleck, Joker

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.” — Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland

As President Trump’s lies have tallied over 12,000, media outlets introduce every story as ‘Breaking News,’ and the adjective ‘unprecedented’ describes the latest Tweet, leak, defense, or revelation, we know we now inhabit a dystopian world.

The title of this essay is intentionally misspelled; it best illustrates our current state of affairs, the potential outcome of the impeachment inquiry and yes, the unprecedented series of investigations of corruption, abuse of power, and obstruction of justice by Trump, his cabinet, members of the Republican Party, and his family.  More disturbing and a potential Article of Impeachment, Trump’s blatant invitations to foreign governments to meddle in our elections, again, to further his own personal political gain. Continue reading →

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Sep 12 2019
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Dispatch from the Hideout: Premature Hibernation

“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

Though it’s not officially autumn yet, I feel the urge to go underground, to hibernate prematurely. Like caterpillars who cocoon in a chrysalis and emerge in a new form as a butterfly, it’s my desire to find a safe place to enable transformation.

The world seems like it’s becoming more threatening, whether it’s our natural world and the consequences of climate change, or our political environment and the actions and policies by those currently in power. On a personal level, things sometime happen to us — and for me — how I respond makes a difference in my emotional and spiritual health and serenity. While there are storms happening outside of me, there’s also turmoil and uncertainty stirring within. Continue reading →

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Aug 30 2019
Posts

Random Topics IV

Niksen, Situationship, and Neuralink

From the introduction of the first in the series of Random Topics:

“As a blogger, I mine my daily life for topics to write about. I set out to find something timely and meaningful, something that my readers can relate to, a universal message or lesson to discover in my lived experience. Another option is to choose a subject from the news of the day to comment on, however sometimes current events are tragically overwhelming.”

In the past week, and longer, there was ample craziness in the news to comment on including Trump’s frivolous and dangerous claims. First, he declared he was “the chosen one” — increasing tariffs and escalating the trade war with China, causing a downturn in the stock market threatening a recession — next, the real-estate mogul’s “absurd” attempt to purchase Greenland from the Danes. All of this happened before his departure for the G7 Summit and proclamation to reinstate Putin, making it the G8 again. Trump participated at the summit as an outlier to the world‘s democracies. As the G7 Summit concluded, he promoted his Trump National Doral Miami Resort as the location of next year’s summit when the U.S. hosts. Oh, My!  Continue reading →

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Aug 11 2019
Posts

2020 Vision: Cataracts, Candidates & Critical Choices

“Your mind is working at its best when you’re being paranoid. You explore every avenue and possibility of your situation at high speed with total clarity.” ― Banksy

Morning in America

On the morning of Saturday, August 3rd, a young white male, an alleged domestic terrorist, by his own admission and confession, targeted Mexicans in El Paso, Texas at a Walmart near the border of Juárez, killing 22, including U.S. citizens and Mexican nationals and injuring many others after posting a screed on 8chan, an online megaphone for hate groups and gunmen. Continue reading →

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Jul 05 2019
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Posts

To-Do List Confessions, Or How I’m a Little Bit OCD

“The only thing more important than your to-do list is your to-be list. The only thing more important than your to-be list is to be.” ― Alan Cohen

“Sometimes our stop-doing list needs to be bigger than our to-do list.” ― Patti Digh

Today as I write, it’s the Fourth of July Holiday, which for my part-time work schedule means it’s the beginning of a four-day weekend ― and an opportunity to power-load my weekly to-do list to capacity. I’m not an electrical engineer, yet it sounds like I run the risk of blowing a circuit, and some days it feels that way. Continue reading →

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Jun 30 2019
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Posts

Random Topics III

Sober Bars, Emotional Labor, and Salad Frosting

“So much of life, it seems to me, is determined by pure randomness.” — Sidney Poitier

“Creativity is the ability to introduce order into the randomness of nature.” — Eric Hoffer

From the introduction of the first in the series of Random Topics:

“As a blogger, I mine my daily life for topics to write about. I set out to find something timely and meaningful, something that my readers can relate to, a universal message or lesson to discover in my lived experience. Another option is to choose a subject from the news of the day to comment on, however sometimes current events are tragically overwhelming.”

“I’m often left to choose from the mundane or subjects that pique my curiosity. When this happens, the only common theme is the randomness of my choices. Today, I offer three random topics with absolutely no connection or relation to each other at least that I’m aware of at the outset of this essay. Perhaps as I write, I may discover the subtle relationships that bind them together. Life is like that.” Continue reading →

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May 27 2019
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Memorial Day: Memories, Flowers, & Gratitude

“What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.” ― Gabriel García Márquez

Flowers have long been used to memorialize loved ones and symbolize new beginnings, which makes them an ideal tribute to observe Memorial Day.

This Memorial Day Holiday weekend I find myself looking back, remembering loved ones now departed, friends and family traditions that have changed, and loved ones who’ve moved away from Wisconsin. Many new beginnings start with good-byes and letting go.  Memorial Day is a holiday to remember those who served and died for our country — and for my family — to remember our family members who are no longer with us in life yet remain in memory. Grateful. Continue reading →

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May 24 2019
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Procrastination Station: Dysfunction Junction

‘‘You can’t just turn on creativity like a faucet. You have to be in the right mood. 
What mood is that?
Last-minute panic.” ― Bill Watterson (Calvin & Hobbes)

“I never put off till tomorrow what I can possibly do – the day after.” ― Oscar Wilde

Hat Tip to Schoolhouse Rock

First, a brief backstory about the origin of one of my nicknames. We all inherit nicknames, beginning with our families of origin, our classmates in school, friends and coworkers, and endearments (or, not!) from our significant others.  A nickname assigned to me early in my marriage by my husband Frank and his brother Dennis in the early 1970’s was inspired by two things, the first a song from Schoolhouse Rock, a series which aired on ABC from 1973 to 1975 described as, “animated shorts adapting the multiplication tables to songs written by Bob Dorough; Dorough also performed most of the songs.”  Multiplication Rock was soon followed by Grammar Rock. My nickname was Lolly Keebler inspired by the song, Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here and my love of cookies and milk. Continue reading →

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