The Times they are A Changin'

I noticed during this latest trip that there are now new fees for Wi Fi everywhere.
Aboard ship it's $100 to hook up to theirs, but also at cafes and even aboard Southwest Airlines.
A few $$ for text messages and $6 for calls on your cellphone. The days of Free Wi Fi are gone!
Pity, really...but it has become another 'source of revenue' just like the checking of a piece of luggage when
boarding a plane, which always used to be free. Pity, actually. But c'est-ca.
I for one can wait til I get home and enjoy the free WiFi at de Library. Use the cash for another cruise.

                                It's better to be LUCKY than to be SMART...
I have been fortunate to inherit youthful, healthy genes from my father. To this day  wear the jeans twice a month. I was lucky enough to receive ethics and morality training from my mother. I practise them twice a month too. So there !
All the rest I consider part of my Health Plan. I part at the furthest point from the Library door...100 paces. Then another 100 paces to my corner, upstairs to plug into the WiFi. Surely during he day, to visit the loo, another 100 paces...so y'see how I keep in shape.
When I had my hips replaced, years ago, my friend Al advised "Walk as soon as y'can...as far as y'can."
Al was my Go-To guy on things medical. (A hypochondriac to be sure...but knowledgeable.) I started a day later walking to the mailbox, for the daily deluge of charity appeals. I recall his wise advice every time I walk there today. Thanks Al.
I fully believe that Al is watching over me from Heaven...and even plays little tricks on me for amusement.
Al was always playful that way. Verrry funny Al. Verrry funny.
And each time I fold myself in half to enter or leave my Miata I consider it my Exercise Program. Four or five times a day. AND...it saves me $300 on a gym membership. A DOUBLE win!
So far..so good. No aches, no pains, no joint problems.  And Schnapps Vincit Omnia. Grazie Deo.

On Being a Geezer

Some people think it's easy being a Geezer. NOT SO !

There's the constant "stuff" I'm having to look for...can't remember where I put them. At least I can't remember RIGHT NOW. 

Then there's the deluge of mail, notifications, tax advisories that arrive in Jan. about which I have NO comprehension. For me, the tax laws and regulations are like Calculus....it's THERE but totally incomprehensible. Yet stuff continues to arrive bearing all this 'important' data. 

And then there's the demands for Annual Repayments and magazine renewals...Huh?

I tend to let 'em lapse and see if I really miss 'em. Did I need them in the first place??

Lookit the problems WE girls have.

Well...it Finally happened.
After years of keeping close track of the cultural events being offered in Mesa and nearby cities...I FINALLY attended one. On a quiet Sunday evening (library closed so no WiFi or on-line puzzles) I attended a major performance of the Scottsdale Philharmonic Orchestra. And wonderful they were!
Full of violas, oboes, cellos and double bases, and with too many violins to count. A dozen easily.
They wailed on Mozart compositions while I hummed along quietly. The church auditorium was filled with a thousand grey-haired geezers...all enjoying Mozart, my favorite genius. To think he was in his early teen years when he wrote many of these pieces. My kinda guy. It made my Sunday.
Maybe again sometime soon. Wanna join me?

Lately I have become quite the Super Expert in solving crossword puzzles. I do half a dozen each day on-line (usa today, latimes, washington post) plus the Wall Street Journal 6 times a week.
And yes, I complete them all. The three best features of X-words, you may ask:
#1. Each puzzle is Brand New as you confront it. No connection to any prior puzzle. It's entirely             virginal. 
#2. The challenge is between the puzzle creator and you. Nobody else is involved. Go for it.
#3. And the Best Attraction is...the unlimited basis of knowledge and lore that can be called upon         in creating the clues. Prehistoric eras with T-rex and the Ice Age man... to the recent cast members of Leave It to Beaver...Norse gods and the Greek alphabet... Nobel Prize winners to street slang from Brooklyn...foreign phrases, of course. The breadth of sources for clues is endless. And they can be presented as forthright, direct and clear or as devious and arcane as he chooses...up to you to decipher and complete the grid. 
So y'see why I like X-word puzzles so much? If y'got a tough one please send it alonh to my e-mail address and I'll give it a go. And thanks.

I try to avoid 'absolutes' - but it always amazes me how people who write Letters to the Editor (or opinion pieces to the newspapers) citing the U.S. Constitution are ALWAYS WRONG.
They misrepresent or overextend the meaning of the amendment they cite. It happened again last week.
I met a guy in some parking lot and within moments he steered our conversation to the selfishness and corruption of our politicians and elected legislators. He immediately revealed his Tea Party-conservative leanings when he volunteered how he had recently called Sen. McCain's office to ask why the senator had not "prosecuted" President Obama for violating the Constitution. He claimed that it was required that BOTH parents (of the president) be native born Americans. I questioned him on that requirement as I was not familiar with it...but he was adamant that it was there. He also recalled an interview with Obama's grandmother wherein she stated that Barak was born right there in their little village in Africa. He imitated her excitement by pumping his arms in the air.
Not wanting to reopen the 'Birther Issue' I excused myself and went to the Library to clear up the issue involving parental birth of a president.
If you're still wondering...there is no such requirement. But there is a Constitutional Right to Free Speech... and the Right To Be Wrong. Or is that stretching the statute too far?

The Impermanence of Life

As my regular Face Book followers know, de Library is closed on Sunday so I cannot enjoy its Air Conditioned comfort. Bummer. I am relegated to my local swimming pool, to escape the Hellish heat here in Mesa. With my ice cube-filled mug of Pepsi, I could sit and enjoy my idyllic surroundings and take the occasional dip in the tepid water. Across the pool, the leaves on the majestic 75' tall tree barely ever stirred in the gentle breeze that cooled me. It appeared as if painted-on against the cloudless blue sky.
You can imagine my shock and consternation when I arrived (on Sunday) to find this icon of beauty had been uprooted and blown over by last night's monsoon winds. Ach Gott in Himmel. 
It was a casualty of what we refer to as 'weather' here in town. The other 363 days are sunny and hot, repeated endlessly. 
Thus, it lies there...leaves barely moving...as a mute testimony to the Impermanence of Life.
An eloquent testimony it is. Quelle Dommage. After 25 or 30 years of providing beauty and elegance...gone, overnight.