Just imagine it: a place where you can really live out your active senior years – not simply sitting nodding at the television, or waiting for the weekly bingo game, or hauling yourself out of bed earlier than you’d like because otherwise you’ll miss breakfast, or worrying about meeting the huge fees involved in living in some of the more upscale residences – but instead being independent and useful, sharing your skills and thoughts and ideas with other seniors working toward the goal of making a life within a small shared community.
Sounds pretty good, doesn’t it?
My DH is a dedicated fan of CBC’s Michael Enwright’s Sunday Edition, and he told me about one edition that I had to read and listen to.
So I did. I read “Baba Yaga House: The Sequel.” [http://www.cbc.ca/thesundayedition/shows/2013/03/17/baba-yaga/]
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: alternative housing, Baba Yaga House, community, Radical Rest Homes, Seniors residence
Just lately, my dear, faraway friend Lee and I have been playing a little game via email, comparing the merits of beautiful places in the world to visit, joking that we should pick up and run away for a bit here…..or perhaps there….or even somewhere else….dreaming pleasant dreams of faraway places.
As I was replying to my friend’s latest discovery, my little email message suddenly bellied up to the bar and transformed itself into a blog post as a host of warm memories drifted across my mind’s eye. I wandered; my fingers typed. Here’s what they had to say: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: adventure, Algeria, Bethioua, British Columbia, camping, civilization, cliff dwellings, desert, Grand Canyon, jack pines, Mediterranean, mule deer, pastoral, souks, spirit, vacation, veils, wild turkeys, wilderness, wolf
I received a letter this morning from a dear friend who is saddened by news of the impending death of one of her close friends.
My sympathy for the inevitable grief that attends awareness of death to come led me into a soliloquy of my own on death….and a reminder to myself that I and my friends and siblings are next in line to “step up to the plate,” as it were. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: age youth serums, asthma, botox, breath, charnel grounds, cosmetics, death, dye, elephant in the room, grail, impermanence, life, salves, under the rug, unguents, youth
Now that DH and I are approaching our dotage, we have apparently succumbed to some form of senile obsession. That’s the only explanation I can find for insanity which has come upon us both.
You see, after years of perfectly contented couch potatodom, we have suddenly taken it upon ourselves to paint our entire house – all ten rooms of it. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Goethe, insanity, mudding, obsession, painting, repair work
I used to love science fiction, back in the days when the folks I thought of as giants of the genre – writers like Isaac Asimov, Jerome Bixby, Robert A. Heinlein, Zenna Henderson, and John Wyndham, to name just a few – were on every bookseller’s Best Sellers shelf. One of the most prolific, and most-loved, of my favourite authors was Ray Bradbury, who passed away earlier this week at the age of 91.
Bradbury’s stories were part prose poetry, part haunting imagery, always fascinating, with a sense of mystery about them that was addictive. They were obviously created by a writer whose own sense of wonder and magic was alive and well. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Illustrated Man, imagery, magic, magician, mystery, poetry, Ray Bradbury, science fiction, wonder
Oh, groan, four hours’ sleep last night. I’m going to be a zombie by noon.
I know why, of course. I had one, single, paltry cup of coffee yesterday morning, which I absolutely should never, ever do, being wildly sensitive to the caffeine in the stuff…but oh, I do so love DH’s coffee! Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: age spots, caged bird crone, cosmetic, Crone, disappointments, experience, Golden Ager, heartaches, humour, joys, laughter, lies, liver spots, love, old, richness, vulnerable, wisdom
Last summer, DH and I spent three weeks animal-sitting their two pets while Younger Son and his wife vacationed in Europe: Gannon, an enormous, much-adored Alaskan Malamute, and Iago, a small, eleven-year-old black cat with a big personality.
Sleeping over was nothing new to Gannon, who is a regular visitor to our home and has been since he was a puppy. DH likes to walk him while his owners are at work, and he normally brings him back to our place for at least a little treat, some lovin’ and a quick snooze before returning him to his rightful owners.
We like to tell folks that we have joint custody.
However, Iago has never before graced our home with his presence, so although I’ve been a cat person for lo these many years, I was a bit concerned about how well he would adjust to being in a strange home. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: black cat, black lightning, feline Baryshnikov, Iago, joint custody
Definition of TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT:
A great commotion over an unimportant matter
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: beads, business card, chainmaille, colours, decorum, designs, inventory, jewellery, lampwork beads, love affair, Miyuki seed beads, semi-precious stones, teapot, tempest
Al and Michelle, our best buddies, were moving away. In fact, their household had already been packed up and was trundling down the highway in the moving van, and they were staying over with us that last night before heading off themselves. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: arguments, bickering, champagne, cooler, croissants, damask tablecloth, romantic, sand-gritty, tartlets, tepid, toasting
Pets. There are cat lovers who don’t care for dogs, and dog lovers who can’t stand cats. And then there are those of us who love ‘em both. In the course of my own life, I’ve had animal companions of the canine sort, and I’ve also been owned by a fair number of cats.
In general, I’d say that the two species are about as alike as, say, night and day. Wouldn’t you agree? No matter; the very different traits of these two most-common animal companions bring an added dimension to the human household they are part of; and when push comes to shove, would we really want either of them any other way? Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: accomplices, allergies, captors, cat, confinement, diary, dog, favourite thing, flunkies, inmates, snitches
From where my computer desk is located, I could see the snow swirling outside as one of the forecast snow squalls blasted into town. It was really quite pretty, but I was past appreciating this winter loveliness. I just wanted it gone!
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m all for that lovely light blanket of glistening white snow on Christmas Eve, flakes gently falling through the darkness, softly lit by the glow of streetlights, good ol’ Bing singing “White Christmas” in the background…you get the idea. Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: blizzards, cherry blossoms, glistening, green winter, ice storms, snow squall, street lights, White Christmas
My new Kobo ereader, which I bought just prior to The Operation, triggered a reading binge more intense than anything I’ve done in the past; and this statement comes from a confirmed reading addict who can sit motionless in front of a book for days at a time.
Daytime…nighttime…wee hours of the morning…it made no difference. For three months I could be found either sitting or lying down, staring at my little black box as though it held the secrets of the universe. Of course I couldn’t move around much anyway (The Operation, you know….), so I took complete advantage of the recovery period to indulge myself. It’s so delightful to be able to read lying on your back in bed at night, without a heavy book banging you on the beak because you’ve nodded off and let it slip. (Wakes a person right up, that does!) Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: beading, family tree, hobbies, knitting, New Year's Resolution, normal person, reading, retired, serial monogamist
Well, folks, here I am back in the world again, after surgery in October to remove a couple of carcinoid tumours from my duodenum.
Somehow, in spite of having received detailed information from both my surgeon and the anesthesiologist, I managed to persist in the delusion that I’d be up and about in no time flat, in spite of the fact that I’m some twenty years older than I was the last time I had any kind of operation – and not to mention the fact that surgery inside the digestive system isn’t quite the same thing as having a leg operation. For one thing, your stomach doesn’t pour digestive acids into your leg on a regular basis! Read the rest of this entry »
susannah
Welcome to susannahsays, which is a compilation of short essays, some poems, a little tongue-in-cheek….bits of this and that. Why don’t you grab a coffee, pull up your chair and visit for a bit?
Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: bringing up mama, poetry, reflections, scribblings, susannah, tales of long ago, wisdom quotes
I was sitting in my seat, book in hand, preparing to pass the two-hour train trip by reading, when to my utter astonishment and delight, a riot of colour entered the car and sat down in the aisle opposite me. The moment I saw her, I was reminded of that poem, “When I am an Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple.” Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: artificial flower, Jenny Joseph, old woman, purple
