The poor economy is seeing Amish workers leaving their jobs at RV factories and returning to ‘more Amish’ ways
Parents of a 2-year-old are keeping his/her gender a secret from him/her and everyone else. Interesting idea.
Some baby boomers are selling everything and taking to the road in RVs.
If prostate cancer patients are disease-free after five years, they are disease-free after 10 years.
I went to a dog park in Boston that I don’t often visit — Joe Wex Dog Park at Peters Park in the South End. This place is the creme de la creme of dog parks. The park offers two spaces, one designated for large dogs and the other for small dogs like mine. Comfortable benches line the main pee/poop area, which is covered in gravel. But my favorite feature of this park is the water fountain that’s actually at doggy height. No more scooping up water and getting my dog to drink out of my cupped hands. Here is a pic of the Canine Prince indulging at the fountain:
As readers of The Boomer Chronicles know, I am a big believer in community building, co-housing, and other related phenomena. I just spoke to a Boston Globe reporter who is looking for people to interview for a story on unrelated adults living together. Are you going to rent out your first room to a stranger? Then drop everything and send an email to: Megan Woolhouse at MWoolhouse@globe.com.
Definition: Showing up late to work because you stopped for coffee along the way. I told them I got stuck in traffic, but really I was running latte.
Guy, the man who runs the 727 Hotel, where I stayed my three nights in Quebec City, has owned the inn for just three months. So that explains his enthusiasm! I joked with him that his demeanor will change after he’s dealt with a lot more guests. He comes from a background in contract administration — the opposite of being a warm, involved innkeeper. Well, this morning after he served another fine breakfast, I ran up the street to the pharmacy for something I needed. Turns out it’s Canada Day today, so the pharmacy was closed. I came back and Guy asked what I was looking for. “Well, uh, women’s things.” He came back with his wife Linda’s stash of tampons, pads and similar paraphernalia and saved the day! What a guy. I love the French!
So I bid him farewell and took a gorgeous route home through Quebec farmland and valleys and into Maine’s logging country (see my photo below). I stopped for lunch at a hunting, fishing and whitewater rafting lodge in the tiny town of West Forks (pop. 47). In fact, I sat at the bar next to a guy in a baseball cap and T-shirt who was busy opening mail addressed to “Town of West Forks, Maine.” Was he the mayor?
I drove home through inclement weather, listening to recordings of “This American Life,” which made the eight-hour drive a breeze. Back to reality.
Most adults over age 50 feel at least 10 years younger than their actual age, a Pew Research Center study has found. In a New York Times report on the aging survey:
One-third of those between 65 and 74 said they felt 10 to 19 years younger, and one-sixth of people 75 and older said they felt 20 years younger. On average, survey respondents said old age begins at 68. But few people over 65 agreed; they said old age begins at 75. “Old age is always a bit older than you are,” said Jeffrey Love, research director at AARP.
(A hat tip to Sports Geezer.)
I feel at least 15 years younger than my age, 51. How about you?
I was excited to hear that Bernie Madoff got 150 years. He ruined a lot of lives. Do you think the sentence was appropriate, or excessive?
So I drove to a town about an hour from Quebec City called Baie-Saint-Paul, an artists’ haven. It was raining and dreary, but the town was quite nice. I saw an exhibit of Cirque du Soleil costumes at a museum there. (Cirque du Soleil was founded in Quebec by two former street performers Guy Lalibert and Daniel Gauthier; it is marking its 25th year in 2009). On my way back to Quebec City, the sun came out. In fact, the weather was completely different there than in BSP. Not fair! So I ventured back into the Old City to try all the French specialties that I had not yet tried: frites at an outdoor cafe, and fondue and crepes at a creperie. I also stopped for a beer (that’s my beer on St. Jean St. in the pic above). The city was lively and fun with the better weather. Street performers performed acrobatics (see pic below) and locals and tourists thronged the cafes. As souvenirs, I went to a music store and found a CD of a favorite French singer of mine, Liane Foly (something I could never have done in the U.S.), and bought a Quebec sweatshirt. Tomorrow back to the U.S. via Maine.
Quebec City’s Old City has beautiful streetscapes. For instance, check out the winding street here. The Old City is divided into a Lower Town and an Upper Town. To travel between the two you can take a cable car called a funicular. I did that this morning. It was $1.75. Then I went to the waterfront, where the Old Port Market offers fresh produce, seafood and other delicacies, along with lots of chachkas. For lunch I took the advice of Snowshoe Diaries, who suggested I try Aux Anciens Canadiens. This restaurant is situated in a little red-and-white house (see my photo) built in 1677. I had a nice three-course lunch. I’ve noticed that I like the way they eat here. You get a plate of beautifully prepared food, but much smaller quantities of everything. For instance, my mashed potatoes were the equivalent of the contents of one ice cream scoop. We Americans eat too much, ME included!
The sun came out while I was eating and stayed out for a couple of hours. I walked as much of the Old City as I could, then came back to my inn and crashed. By the way, at breakfast this morning at the inn, I met a lively young guy who manages six Tim Horton’s eateries. If you are not Canadian, you may not recognize the name, but this is a large chain of coffeeshops that are expanding into the U.S.
Dina over at This Marriage Thing hosts today’s BloggingBoomers Carnival #121 for baby boomers. Kick aside the flotsam and jetsam and go there now.
