With apologies to Ponce de Leon and plastic surgeons, I have discovered the real Fountain of Youth. It’s spending time with young people.
I made this fortuitous discovery just the other day as I peered into the glowing, unlined face of a student I was working with. Actually, two things hit me. The first was that I was 50 years her senior! Five-zero. Half a century. Yikes! Read more
Lucky me! I met a rock star this week. No. Not Taylor Swift. Not Ringo Starr. Not anyone you’d know by name. You won’t recognize her face. She doesn’t even sing or play with a band. But still, unquestionably, the woman is a rock star. Read more
I’ve got a lot on my mind! Fortunately, none of it is serious or consequential. More random and scattered … like pollen … without the sneezing or itchy eyes! It’s a grab bag of assorted silly tidbits. I’m ready to share. Here goes … Read more
The dreams keep coming, night after night. They are wondrous, but also worrisome. They are about family members, dead family members. Read more
Middle-aged women are “in.” What a relief, ladies (and the people who love us)! We’re no longer undesirable. No longer untouchable. No longer like the Elf on the Shelf peering down on the action happening under the mistletoe and menorah. We’re the “it” girls at long last. So proclaims Hollywood AND the media. Halleluiah and hooray! Read more
“A woman your age …” said the allergist.
She continued, but I wasn’t listening. I couldn’t. I was struck dumb by those words. Surely, she was talking to someone else in the room? Someone old. Not chic, well-groomed, hair-dyed, cool, with-it me?
But since nobody else was in the room, she definitely was talking to me! Yikes, ouch, and oy vey! Read more
”It” started to beep mid-day Tuesday. Handsome Hubby first heard the sound after the carpet cleaners left. It wasn’t super loud, but it was shrill. And it was constant.
The noise was more than a beep. More of a high-pitched eek. A shriek. A cross between chalk grating across a blackboard and the soul-crushing cry of a three-year-old who has just had a lollipop taken away.
The sound penetrated your skull, shattered your concentration, and frayed your nerves beyond tolerance. Read more
In the early days of our marriage, we bought a new mattress. It wasn’t a mattress made in matrimonial bliss. So, we returned it and purchased another … and another. We couldn’t get it right. One was too soft. One was too hard. We couldn’t agree. This went on and on. It was absolute bedroom bedlam.
My mother worried there was a larger meaning to our bed distress. My best girlfriend and brother did too. Read more
Sure, sure. Most of us need to lose weight — me included. What else is new? But here’s something staggering! Mankind has now produced more “stuff” in poundage than all living things. So, I’m wondering: Does the planet need to go on a diet?
If we consume too much as individuals, are we also collectively creating, consuming, and trashing too much?
Here are the facts:
A geophysicist at the California Institute of Technology and his colleagues did the calculations in 2018 and determined that in just the last one hundred years, mankind has produced enough roads, skyscrapers, cars, cellphones, paper napkins, and beanie babies to outweigh all the people, elephants, ants, aardvarks and termites globally.
And speaking of termites (shudder), there are 1,000 pounds of termites per person. Now, that’s a statistic that causes bug-phobic me to shutter and twitch.
But returning to the subject at hand, “stuff” …
If you cannot picture the magnitude of this, there’s help. Two scientists, Dr. Brice Ménard of Johns Hopkins University and Nikita Shtarkman, a computer scientist and graphic artist, created a stunning visual representation of the Cal Tech study.
And as if to prove my point, guess what arrived in the mail this week? The unwanted, twice-a-year, massive catalog from RH, formerly known as Restoration Hardware.
Decades ago, I bought something, I forget what, from that store. Now, alas, I am forever doomed to receive this ridiculous doorstopper of a catalog, which, although unnumbered, is longer than some books I read.
This issue is entitled “Outdoor” and the slogan is “There are pieces that furnish a home and those that define it.” Well, the day RH furniture “defines” my home, is the day you’ll know I’ve been moved into an over-priced, wheat-toned looney bin!
Meanwhile, the point is: what a waste of ink and paper plus the time and energy it took to print, ship, and deliver that unwanted behemoth to my mailbox.
It just underscores the study’s point about how we are using/over-utilizing resources and transforming the planet. It reminds me to be less wasteful and more thoughtful about my own admittedly unchecked consumer impulses. I am a non-stop impulse shopper. I “see” sweater, I buy sweater!
It seems that I and the planet, at least certain countries at least, do need to go on a diet, caloric, and spending! It’s admittedly a simplistic notion, but still, there’s some merit to it.
A Note of Explanation: The following Quilt Club Meeting is Canceled “notice” is fake. I was out with my girlfriend Rachelle, a glorious, accomplished quilter. She read an email and exclaimed, “Oh, dear. My quilt club meeting is canceled because so many of the ladies have injuries.”
Before she could say another word, I thought, “Quilting injuries? Huh? Needle stabs? Blood and gore?” My mind went wild with riotous images of older ladies dueling and doing bodily damage with guilting implements of destruction! Read more