The Boomer Chronicles

This summer we have been having some very fine thunderstorms in the Boston area. I adore thunder and lightning. In fact, I would love to live in place one day (like New Mexico) where you can count on a good afternoon storm, every day, all summer long. Here are my top three extreme summer-weather events of my life:

Taos, New Mexico, area: One night I saw something crazy. During a storm, the lightning came down from the sky and circled around in a clockwise direction. That was many years ago, and I still haven’t forgotten it.

Ocracoke, North Carolina: Ocracoke is an island at the bottom of the Outer Banks. I was taking a walk with a friend after dinner one sultry summer night when the sky opened up and dumped rain so fast that we were splashing around in high water within a couple of minutes — no exaggeration. It was actually quite scary as I’d never experienced anything like it before. In addition, the island ran on generators, so the lights went out all over the place. A man in a pickup truck saw us and gave us a ride back to our inn. We smelled alcohol on his breath, so that was scary, too.

Homerville, Ohio: I spent a few days in this little Amish town about two summers ago and experienced the most incredible storm ever. One night, I woke to a relentless pounding rain, brilliant electric flashes of light, and thunder that shook the ground for what seemed like hours. The intensity of the storm was incredible.

A shout-out to my pal Adam, Boston’s uber-blogger and overlord of a site called Universal Hub, for featuring The Boomer Chronicles on Boston.com’s front page yesterday.

I went out for Chinese food today and this was my fortune: “The old believe everything, the middle-aged suspect everything, the young know everything.”

I watched a documentary last night that blew me away: The End of Suburbia: Oil Depletion and the Collapse of The American Dream (2004). It starts out innocently enough with cute 1950s images of housewives and the rest. The second half of this 90-minute film by Toronto-based director Gregory Greene morphs into a tightly edited tidal wave of talking heads that mesmerized me. They hammered home how Americans will need to adapt when we can no longer truck in oranges from Florida or California; fly in trinkets, housewares, and all manner of stuff from China; clothing from Sri Lanka; and so and so on. The movie made me want to go around my house and see where everything I own was made. The talking heads assure the viewer that we will have to learn to rely on our local communities (not a bad thing, actually, as I am a huge believer in community building) for almost everything. For example, we will have to rebuild the retail in our communities in order for us to purchase goods locally. In other words, reverse the Walmart-ization of our towns.

The talking head who occupies the camera most is James Howard Kunstler, author of many books, including The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of Oil, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes of the Twenty-First Century. He is a straighter shooter. You will learn a lot from him.

One of the facts that stuck with me was: “No amount of solar, wind or nuclear energy will allow us to continue our current way of life.” Here is a trailer for The End of Suburbia.

Director Greene has a newer film, Escape from Suburbia (2007), which includes personal stories and interviews that examine how declining world oil production has already begun to affect life in North America. (I don’t know about you, but I have been seeing signs in the supermarket that say they cannot bring in certain foods due to transportation costs.)  I haven’t seen this one yet, but plan to.

One note: I loved The End of Suburbia except it must be noted that not a single woman commentator appears on camera.

It’s been two years. I can’t believe the time has finally passed. It was like a prison term I had to serve even when I was totally innocent. I have watched the calendar, planned, studied and prepared myself for the Big Day: Tomorrow I will go and choose my new cell phone. I hate my current phone. I was late getting into the cell phone game, so I didn’t realize that when they offer you a free phone they are really just trying to reduce their inventory of crummy phones. My phone is too fat for my pocket, it has a tiny screen, tiny keys that can’t be read easily by middle-aged people who like to send text messages (me), and crummy ringtones. So now I get to choose a new phone and maybe even pay a few bucks for it. I am thinking of getting the Razr. But go ahead and send me suggestions of a phone that has:

1. a slim profile
2. large screen
3. decent camera
4. easy-to-read keys

And send me names of phones to absolutely, positively avoid. Thanks.

Smart Women Don’t Retire: They Break Free (Springboard Press) is a new book by The Transition Network and Gail Rentsch. I haven’t had a chance to read it yet, but I like the title. The book is about rethinking retirement, leaving a legacy, doing something worthwhile in your later years. The foreword was written by ABC-TV’s Lynn Sherr.

Too Soon Old, Too Late Smart: Thirty True Things You Need to Know Now (DeCapo Press) by Gordon Livingston, MD, is a book of life lessons Dr. Livingston has learned mostly from his patients. The lessons seem to be original and not the same old stuff. For instance, “Any relationship is under the control of the person who cares the least” and “The major advantage of illness is that it provides relief from responsibility.” I haven’t read this one either. The foreword was written by Elizabeth Edwards (yes, that Elizabeth Edwards). Gordon Livingston is a cottage industry. Check out his other books.

Work Less, Live More (Nolo Press) by Bob Clyatt shows you how to do just that. Bob himself retired at age 42. And, nope, I haven’t read this one either, but I sure as hell want to know his secrets.

“The water doesn’t know the age you are when you jump in.” These are the words of 41-year-old Olympic swimmer Dara Torres. She and the other athletes named below make me proud and hopeful about the future. They are among the oldest athletes participating in the Summer Olympics in Beijing (which begin August 8):

HIROSHI HOKETSU, 67, equestrian

LAURIE LEVER, 60, equestrian

JOHN DANE, 58, sailing (the oldest American competitor at the Games)

JOHN WHITAKER, 53, equestrian

SUSAN NATTRASS, 57, trapshooting

MARK TODD, 52, equestrian

IAIN MURRAY, 50, sailing

LUAN JUJIE, 50, foil

JEANNIE LONGO, 49, cycling

RALF SCHUMANN, 46, rapid fire pistol

DARA TORRES, 41, swimmer

It’s our 80th BloggingBoomers Carnival. What’s a BloggingBoomers Carnival? Only the best collection of fresh baby boomer links online. Fabulous After 40 is hosting the Carnival this week.

Presidential candidate and baby boomer Barack Obama turns 47 today. As it happens, he is in my city of Boston for the big day.

The adult smoking rate has dropped dramatically in my state of Massachusetts. Almost 8 percent fewer residents of the state smoked in 2007 than in the year before, according to the Boston Globe. I don’t smoke and many of my friends do not. But my parents both smoked like crazy, and a number of people much younger than I (in their 30s) smoke. So, is it generational? What I want to know is this: how old are you, do you smoke? Have you quit, and if so, how did you quit?