seniajean

My sister Peggy and me reminiscing during a recent visit. (talking cloud) Me and Peggy laughing and having a great time.

Is Reminiscing Beneficial?

Posted on January 1, 2022September 28, 2022 by seniajean

The most famous song to be sung at midnight on December 31 must be “Auld Lang Syne”, by the Scottish poet Robert Burns. I wondered how a Scottish poem became a New Year’s Eve tradition in America.
The New Year’s Eve festivities taking place in New York City’s Times Square were televised for the first time in 1943. Guy Lombardo’s dance band was performing live while the TV viewers waited for midnight. Lombardo decided to close out his New Year’s Eve performances with the song “Auld Lang Syne”.
The audience loved it. He made the song a New Year’s tradition. This yearly television exposure encouraged Americans to adopt as their own, the custom of singing “Auld Lang Syne” to bid farewell to the old year.

Sleepy kitties taking cat naps. clockwise top left: Timbre, Xox, Uma, Ari.

Is Cat Napping good for you?

Posted on December 1, 2021September 28, 2022 by seniajean

I have never been much of a nap-taker. Even when I am feeling sleepy, if I lay down and try to nap, daytime sleep evades. Interestingly enough, I usually do not have any trouble falling asleep at night. My occasional bouts of insomnia are usually due to a book that I find too interesting to put down.

It may be a genetic thing. My sister is also not a nap-taker, and my daughter never willingly took a nap when she was little. My husband easily takes naps, and I must confess that I am a bit envious of his napping ability.

Wayne waters a few flowers in the garden area in our front yard.

Benefits of Autumn Gardening

Posted on November 1, 2021November 1, 2021 by seniajean

We are now in the midst of Fall – it’s my favorite season of the year. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, Fall, also known as the autumn equinox, officially arrived here in the Northern Hemisphere at 3:20 P.M. (EDT), Wednesday, September 22, 2021.

One of my favorite features of Fall is the cooling temperatures. At first, it is subtle – one-day cooler, the next day hot. Right along with the changing temps, the humidity levels begin to drop slowly as well. Humidity has been one of my biggest challenges to adjusting to our new home here in the east, but air-conditioning helps me acclimate significantly.

The arrow in this screen-shot is pointing to the Not Secure in the address bar of my website

October Technical Challenge

Posted on October 15, 2021October 16, 2021 by seniajean

The last couple of months have been a technical challenge for me. I noticed lately that my blog posts have had a precipitous drop in readership. Looking into it, I discovered something interesting. Five years ago, when I first began posting in my blog, it was perfectly fine to have my site URL begin with http://www… But recently, I learned that several browsers actually warn users that the website they are attempting to reach is not secure and may be malicious. Wow! Time to make a change.

While on our trip north to Canada, we spotted this bronze statue, '5 Children in a Tree' bronze statue while taking a walk in Ephrata, PA. where we stayed in an adorable AirBnB.

Grandparents benefit from being with Grandchildren

Posted on September 1, 2021October 1, 2022 by seniajean

The St. Croix River in northern Maine divides the United States and Canada. The International Avenue Bridge connects the two countries. On August 9th, we sat in our car on that bridge for nearly five hours – along with hundreds and hundreds of others. Like us, they had been waiting a long time for the border to re-open.

Heidi Durschlag standing in a field of sunflowers.

Water Classes Help Reduce Pain, Increase Quality of Life

Posted on August 1, 2021October 19, 2021 by seniajean

My husband and I share our lap-swimming time slot at our neighborhood Y with a water aerobics class. A few lanes on one side are roped-off for swimming laps, and the rest of the pool is used by the aerobics class. It is usually a relatively quiet bunch of folks dutifully responding to whatever moves the instructor is making. One day while were swimming, music suddenly started playing and it began to get rather lively. Pausing to look around, I saw smiles everywhere as everyone was moving and bobbing to the music.

I found a big round of cheese at our local grocery store.

Who Moved My Dairy Products?

Posted on July 1, 2021July 26, 2021 by seniajean

I had the oddest experience one day. I’d popped into a grocery store to pick up a few items. On my list were cheese, milk, and a dozen eggs. Inside the store, I immediately headed over to the ‘dairy products’ section hoping to get my groceries and move on with my day as quickly as possible.

Steering the cart around the aisle to the side of the store where the dairy products were displayed, I suddenly stopped short. Instead of cheese and milk, the cold cases contained lunch meat, hot dogs, and a variety of deli items. What happened? Was I thinking of a different store? It had only been a short time since I had been there and remembered…well…I thought I’d remembered buying cheese from that very spot.

Wayne is taking a moment to 'enjoy the stretch' while pulling on his socks.

Stretching out a Longer Quality of Life

Posted on June 1, 2021June 19, 2021 by seniajean

Would the verb, ‘busy’ describe your day? Somehow, despite all the restrictions imposed on us since the virus changed our world, it seems we still can find ourselves amazingly busy. Too busy, in fact, to attempt to squeeze in a bit of self-care. Thankfully, there is a free, relatively easy activity we can do that can help you feel better and does not involve a large chunk of time: Stretching.

Dancing Away from Dementia

Posted on May 1, 2021October 1, 2022 by seniajean

When our oldest granddaughter was around two years old, her favorites things were strawberries, swinging, and ‘dance-dance-2’. The dance program was a video game that included a dance pad. The idea was to watch the TV screen and place your feet where the animated characters placed theirs. Some friends of mine and I discovered it when volunteering at our church’s youth group. Watching the kids play the game, we saw how much fun it was, and what a great form of exercise it offered.

Encountering Grief and Going Forward

Posted on April 1, 2021April 1, 2021 by seniajean

As I sit down to write, I look out the window and notice how gray the day seems to be. The skies are gray and a bit misty as the rain drizzles down. The birds are not active – most of them have taken shelter in trees. I can spot the red feathers of cardinals peeking out under leaves – decorating the large beach tree in our back yard. Today’s weather mirrors the topic I am planning to write about. Grief.