TABLE OF CONTENTS

Women's Wisdom

Nancy’s Knowings

WOW! Forum

WOW! to WOW!

Websites of Interest

Closing Notes

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Women's Wisdom:

From Pat Ball:

“Life does not control you. What you believe about it, does.”
-- Alan Cohen

“With choice we have the freedom to stray, fling, parade and jingle ourselves into moments of bliss along the way.”
--Rev. Herracia Brewer

From Eleanor Wandke:

“I don't suffer from insanity; I enjoy every minute of it.”
--Maxine

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Nancy’s Knowings:

Happy summer to everyone. Even though the heat is often difficult to handle, I love summer. It brings such special memories. Want to take a trip back to your childhood and remember with me the summer joys? A cool watermelon cut out in the back yard was such a treat, and entertaining too. There were no plates or forks—just our hands and mouth. Remember all that juice and the seeds. Oh, the seeds! How many watermelon-seed-spitting contests have you participated in? Bet we’d have a good time if we were together to do it again.

Then there was all the slathered-in-butter corn on the cob served with the just-picked tomatoes sliced to the perfect thickness. Yummy. Best of all though was the family gathering—and there were bunches in my family—to crank and eat Mother’s special home-made ice cream. Oh, the anticipation, the preparation and the joy of the finished product. The ice-cream was always ready just at dusk. After we ate, the adults settled in lawn chairs to visit and we kids went to the street to play kick the can as though our lives depended on secretly delivering a well-placed blow to that old juice can.

Did some favorite memories of yours come up? I love the feeling that comes from remembering, don’t you? Now that I’m a wise older woman, one of my goals for summer (and every other season) is to add to my life’s joy by thinking, talking, remembering about and planning for joy.

Many people much smarter than I am say that we get more of what we focus on, so it stands to reason that putting our attention on joy will bring more of it. Too often we focus on what can work us into a frizzy of fear, hurt and anger, and then we get more of that. I’ve noticed that most of that stuff is outside of my control, so I’m trying to train myself to focus on the good stuff.

As I’ve contemplated on this, I’ve found that this good stuff is also the inexpensive or free stuff. And there’s another big plus—it is usually within my control. Putting together this newsletter is a joy and completely within my control. Cards and calls to/from friends and family—great joy—and usually reciprocal. Trips to the Farmer’s Market for summer veggies, fruits and memories—much more joy and less costly than other shopping trips. A four-legged buddy (Teddy and Bear) on either side as I write to you—super. Pot luck dinner with neighbors—fabulous joy—and easily organized. Simple, joy-filled times.

Focusing on our joys is a choice. Regardless of our circumstances, there are always options to focus on joy or its opposite. Focusing on the negative can dig a deep rut. Let’s start a movement to opt out of talking, listening, thinking, or being negative. I say LET’S STOP IT!

I don’t want to focus on how I feel when I first get up in the morning—on the pain and the tiredness. I notice it, get dressed anyway and let Teddy and Bear take me for a walk. Moving in the warm (very warm) summer air brings relief to my body. There’s always a little joy-glow I can borrow from some of the other walkers out with their pets. Both my mind and body benefit from the choice I made. Maybe the day will come when I don’t have the choice to take a walk, but I will always have choices about my attitude.

As I was sharing all this with my friend, she kindly, but directly, asked, “Are you sure you’re not just playing Scarlet?” I knew what Scarlet she was referring to and you do to. When I first saw Gone with the Wind I thought she was a little crazy. Now, I think that’s the kind of crazy we wise older women can understand!

So, like Maxine, let’s enjoy!

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Stay Young
We all need to read this one over and over until it becomes part of who we are!

HOW TO STAY YOUNG

1. Try everything twice. On Madams tombstone (of Whelan's and Madam) she said she wanted this epitaph: Tried everything twice...loved it both times!

 

2. Keep only cheerful friends.
The grouches pull you down. (Keep this in mind if you are one of those grouches)

 

3. Keep learning: Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain get idle. 'An idle mind is the devil's workshop.' And the devil's name is Alzhe i mer's!

 

4. Enjoy the simple things.

 

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath. And if you have a friend who makes you laugh, spend lots and lots of time with HIM/HER.

 

6. The tears happen: Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life is ourselves. LIVE while you are alive.

 

7. Surround yourself with what you love: Whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

 

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them at every opportunity.

11. Forgive now those who made you cry. You might not get a second time.

And if you don't send this to at least 4 people - who cares? But do share this with someone.

Lost time can never be found.

Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.
 

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WOW! Forum

From Len Wheeler:

This I believe:

It is impossible for me to KNOW anything. All my knowledge is filtered by my history through my DNA & life experiences. My life experiences consist at least in part of diseases, accidents, surprises and fun. The environments in which I have lived and learned are in memory, and though a good education is probably the thinnest of filters, it remains a sieve also.

I feel love, anger, awe, protectiveness, sadness, exhilaration, etc.
I observe overwhelming beauty, unbearable horridness and dull apathy.

I work at what my best calculations tell me will have appropriate consequences for those I love, for myself and the public. Those projects come with a passion I cannot explain. It is hard to judge anything without questioning my reasoning and my insight.

Therefore I know nothing; yet I must live as though I do in order to be as productive and positive as possible in an attempt to prevent some chaos, promote some peace and generate some happiness.

I trust those who doubt more than I trust those with an answer. I would like to think I’m in good company in my skepticism. I cannot know anything. This I believe.

From Jeanne Rosenbohm:

I heard a quote this morning that really made me stop and think about the trials in my life. The author was not named other than "an elderly black woman". I think I will make it one of my new mantras.

"If God made all mountains smooth, you wouldn't be able to climb them."
I never thought of it that way. We should not ask that all our paths be smooth, but rugged enough to be able to get a hand hold and toe hold to get over. Like the Sound of Music says, "Climb every mountain, till you find your dream."

From Saundra Marling:

I wanted to update you on the progress of our book "Boomer's Job
Search Guide: You're Not Old, You're Experienced." Since our last
contact, we have completed the book and it is available at Amazon.com ,
Barnesandnoble.com  and at the NCDA web site in their Career Resources
section.

From Patsy Tucker:

WOW...really enjoyed this Newsletter.
I especially like the link to Ramona John’s site....
Thanks for all that you do!

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From WOW! to WOW!

From Sandra Valiquette:

YOUR AGE BY EATING OUT!

Don't tell me your age; you probably would tell a falsehood anyway-but your waiter may know!

YOUR AGE BY DINER & RESTAURANT MATH

It takes less than a minute. Work this out as you read .

Be sure you don't read the bottom until you've worked it out!

This is not one of those waste of time things, it's fun.

1. First of all, pick the number of times a week that you would like to go out to eat.
(more than once but less than 10)

2. Multiply this number by 2 (just to be bold)

3. Add 5

4. Multiply it by 50

5. If you have already had your birthday this year add 1758...
If you haven't, add 1757.

6. Now subtract the four digit year that you were born.

You should have a three digit number

The first digit of this was your original number. (I.e., How many times you want to go out to restaurants in a week.)

The next two numbers are

YOUR AGE ! ------ (Oh YES, it is!)

From Eleanor Wandke and Sandra Valiquette:

I've been using aluminum foil for more years than I care to remember. Great stuff, but sometimes it can be a pain. You know, like when you are in the middle of doing something and you try to pull some foil out and the roll comes out of the box. Then you have to put the roll back in the box and start over. The darn roll always comes out at the wrong time.

Well, I would like to share this with you. Yesterday I went to throw out an empty Reynolds foil box and for some reason I turned it and looked at the end of the box. And written on the end it said, "Press here to lock end".
Right there on the end of the box is a tab to lock the roll in place. How long has this little locking tab been there? I then looked at a generic brand of aluminum foil and it had one, too. I then looked at a box of Saran wrap and it had one too! I can't count the number of times the Saran wrap roll has jumped out when I was trying to cover something up.

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There have been many, many times when I may have
disturbed you,
troubled you,
pestered you,
irritated you,
bugged you or got on your nerves with all the e-mails I send,

So today I just wanna tell you that...

(I plan to continue!!)

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Websites of Interest:

WOW! Wise Older Women! website is: www.wiseolderwomen.com 
Learn about WOW!’s origins, subscribe to our newsletter and get the details for the coming travel events..

Visit the delightful website of our very own editor: www.ramonajohn.com

From Robin Minor:

You will love this game:

http://www.animaxinteractive.com/banana/Games/tictactoe.html

From Janice Holloway:

Birthday Calendar:
It tells you how many hours and how many seconds you have been alive on this earth and when you were probably conceived. How cool is that?
After you've finished reading the info, click again, and see what the moon looked like the night you were born. This is neat. http://www.paulsadowski.com/birthday.asp

Another From Janice Holloway:

http://www.humorsphere.com/fu8787/colortest.swf

From Eleanor Wandke:

Go the following web site and check out your real age. Even though I'm 72, my life expectancy is 94!!!!   http://www.poodwaddle.com/realage.swf

New use for Windex:  I haven't checked " snopes.com" to see if this actually works or not.

But they say,

If you ever get the sudden

urge to run around naked,

you should drink some Windex first.....

It'll keep you from streaking.....

From Shirley Haight:

"Live Aloha With Everyday Greatness"  Learn about "Live Aloha"
http://www.geocities.com/sycamoresuperstar/Aloha.html

From Mary Salerno:

Thanks for the newsletter, which I always read and enjoy. I found this neat website which has a ton of links that may be of interest to some of the WOWsers. It links to a number of subjects such as jobs, aging and RVing - and much more. I hope no one who goes here is offended by the cartoon right at the top. I wasn't, but who knows?

http://www.suddenlysenior.com/links.shtml

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