Boomer Lit - Cougars on the Prowl

I have always been a reader. When I was young, I liked to read stories about kids my age. I wanted stories to have a plot, great characters, and situations I understood. As a teenager and young adult, I loved to read mysteries, ghost stories, and romance—as long as the book had a story.

Now, my reading is varied and I read many different genres and nonfiction about a variety of topics. As a boomer, I like stories about grownup people with mature storylines. Stories that appeal to 40, 50, 60-year- old women readers is sometimes referred to as Boomer Lit.

When I started soliciting stories for A Shaker of Margaritas: Hot Flash Mommas, one of the requirements was that the protagonist had to be in her forties. The younger boomers are in their late forties and even older boomers can relate to stories featuring a more mature woman. Face it, the seventy-six million boomers are probably not that interested in a teenage girl or twenty-something character whose idea of a crisis is a zit on her face before a big date.

I didn’t actually label Hot Flash Mommas as Boomer Lit because the age of the protagonist falls outside of boomers. Women in their early forties are not boomers and I didn’t want them to think the stories were too “old” for them. Heaven forbid, that anyone younger than forty now thinks of us boomers as “seniors.”

In the next Shaker anthology, Cougars on the Prowl, the woman will be a boomer. While this book, too, could correctly be labeled “Boomer Lit” we have to consider that if the woman is a “cougar” the man may be a Gen Xer. I’m looking forward to what creative writers will do with this topic. One thing I know, for a story to be accepted, it must have substance, because that’s what we boomers like to read. Guidelines will be posted at www.mozarkpress.com by January.

copyright (c) November 2010 L. S. Fisher
http://boomerobics.blogspot.com/

Watching a DVD

I consider myself to be fairly technologically savvy, but I just found out that I needed help from my seven-year-old granddaughter to get SpongeBob Squarepants up and going. Yep, I was able to get the DVD in the machine. The first challenge was to get the TV off satellite and onto the DVD player. OK. Success in one try. Yay!


Then the silly thing just kept playing the intro. What’s with this?

“Push ‘Okay’,” my granddaughter told me.

“I don’t have that button on here,” I said.

She took it from me and started punching buttons. Nothing happened. “I think you need a different one,” she said.

I started digging through the drawer in search of a different remote. “Oh, here’s one,” she said. It was on top of the player.

Pretty soon she navigated the menus and selected the episode to watch.

Silly me, I thought you just popped it and it played. Might have known it would be interactive. I’ll get by okay as long as my grandkids are here to help me.

Body and Mind - Joyce Meyer and Zumba!

Yesterday, after work, we watched a Joyce Meyer video on mental health. She has a humorous way of getting the point across that you need to take charge of your thoughts and get rid of those negative voices inside your head.

Joyce pointed out something that we all know, but never think about. She said you can catch diseases, but you can’t catch health. When we stand in front of God, it isn’t going to make any difference what someone else did, it is going to boil down to what we have done personally. We need to not make the excuse that everyone else is thinking, or doing, something.

Immediately following the video, I headed out for a Zumba class. It was my suggestion as something to do for Business Women’s Week besides eat. It’s not that I’m opposed to eating, but it seems I can eat only so much in a week without that little nagging thought that surely a few extra pounds are creeping around my waist. And it’s already nearly impossible to polish my toenails with the spare tire I already have.

The class turned out to be a lot of fun! We all learned how to shake our booties and had quite a workout at the same time. Terri (our fearless leader) taught us that every time the word “fire” was in a song, you shook your hinny.

We all appreciated Terri’s slowing the class down a little (or perhaps a lot!) so we could (sort of) keep up. Zumba is great fun and I know everyone that participated had a fabulous time.

Now, I’ll never hear a song that has “fire” in it without wanting to shake, shake, shake!

Copyright (c) October 2010 L. S. Fisher
http://boomerrobics.blogspot.com/

Saturday Morning at Grandma's House

When I woke up this morning, and realized it was Saturday, I began to think about a typical Saturday morning when I was young. We lived in the country, far, far away from the nearest town with a population of 747. Saturday was the day we went to town to buy groceries.

Well, I always liked to eat groceries, but buying them wasn’t the fun part of the day for me. The fun part of the day for me was going to Grandma and Grandpa’s house. It was always an adventure because I had a lot of cousins and some of them were bound to be there. We built a lot of playhouses beneath the big oak tree. Sometimes the boys would build tree houses. It depended on how many kids were around as to whether they invited us girls to climb up the rickety boards nailed to the tree to see how the world looked from on high.

I remember climbing the mulberry tree and eating berries until they made my stomach hurt. I always did like berries. Grandpa always knew where and when to pick wild berries. My grandma made delicious gooseberry pies out of the berries that Grandpa gathered. I’ve never known anyone else to make blackberry dumplings like my grandma did—big fluffy dumplings swimming in blackberries and their sweet juice.

My grandma and grandpa died in the early 1980s, but they live in my heart and in my dreams to this day. Sometimes on a Saturday morning I miss them so much. I would love to spend a Saturday with them and once again taste my grandma’s blackberry dumplings.

Copyright © October 2010 L. S. Fisher
http://boomerobics.blogspot.com

Hawaii Five-O, Revisiting a Blast from the Past

Recently, I heard the familiar Hawaii Five-O theme music on TV and my mind superimposed a camera zooming in on Steve McGarret (Jack Lord) where he stood on a balcony of the Ilikai Hotel. The show first aired in 1968, but I don’t recall seeing it until 1970. When we finally saw the show, Jim and I were excited to recognize the Y shape of the Illikai.

In December 1969 we spent our honeymoon at the Illikai. We married while Jim was on R&R from Vietnam. The Hawaii in the early episodes of Hawaii Five-O, is a time warp showing Hawaii during the same era we were there.

Each week, we watched, keeping an eye out for familiar places. One time they showed the inside of a room at the Illikai. Maybe it was a movie set, but they replicated the room perfectly. I don’t recall seeing any chalk lines in the shape of a body in the room we had, so I don’t think it was the same exact one.

We saw Diamond Head, Hanauma Bay, Koko Head, Waikiki Beach other familiar hotels week after week. It was almost like a treasure hunt. Jim, who grew up traveling, could always recognize the landmarks immediately. Sometimes, I took some convincing or waited for the characters had to mention where they were.

With the new Hawaii Five-O, I probably won’t see many places I recognize, especially without Jim to point them out. But the music will bring back visions of Jack Lord and of a young couple just beginning life together walking hand-in-hand through the lobby of the Illikai hotel headed toward the beach. As soon as the theme song ends, I can close my eyes and hear “Jingle Jangle” and remember warm sand beneath my feet and the promise of sunshine on my face.

Copyright © September 2010 L. S. Fisher
http://boomerobics.blogspot.com

Back to School Vocabulary

The kids are back in school now, and I’ve been thinking about how the meanings of some words have changed since my schooldays. Yes, my memory goes back that far!

Two words that came to mind immediately are “senior” and “plus.” These two words have positive and uplifting meanings to school kids, but mean something else to boomers.

Do you remember when senior meant you were about to graduate, and not a discount at McDonalds? How about “plus”? With a grading system, that meant you were at the upper level of the grade you received. Most teachers wouldn’t give an A+, but if you got one, you knew you were better than the best. Now when I hear plus, I think of plus sizes. That’s something I don’t want to be. When you see the “One size fits most” you don’t want to be so much of a plus that you are not included in the “most” category.

I thought of a few other words that have different meanings now. A text was the books we carried home from school each day so that we could do our homework. Now a text is a cryptic message sent on cell phones. Cell is another word that is used differently now. When I was young, a cell was something we studied in science class not a phone we used to send texts.

I know I’ve only scraped the surface of vocabulary usage, but it did remind me of another thing. I’m glad I don’t have to spend my evenings reading a text—book that is. Sometimes, being a boomer senior has its advantages.

Copyright © September 2010 L. S. Fisher
http://www.boomerobics.blogspot.com

Bike Riding for Alzheimer’s

My friend David Oliver, Ph.D. took on a 71 mile bike ride from Sedalia to Jefferson City as part of the Alzheimer’s Breakthrough Ride. The Breakthrough Ride began in San Francisco on July 17 and will end in Washington DC on World Alzheimer’s Day, September 21. More than 55 researchers plan to collect 100,000 signatures to present to Congress urging them to make Alzheimer’s disease a national priority.

David wrote about his experience and I’d like to share part of it with you.

David Oliver wrote:

On the eve of the big Alzheimer’s Breakthrough bike ride, I was sequestered with my fellow riders, John Cirrito and Jess Resvito from Washington University, and Ben Timson, from Missouri State University, at the Comfort Inn in Sedalia. Since I hang out at the University of Missouri (in Columbia), we had most of the state covered. I think all of us were excited and a bit nervous, at least I was.

Most likely the oldest and least experienced breakthrough rider, I wondered if my amateurish training had been sufficient to see me through the day. My longest attempts had been 42 and 35 mile outings on the KATY trail, a scenic but flat abandoned railroad path converted to one of the most magnificent Missouri State Parks stretching across the state for more than 200 miles from Clinton to St. Charles, Missouri. Little did I know that riding on the asphalt and concrete back roads of Missouri would in no way be similar to the hardened chat and rock floor of the KATY. Nevertheless, short rides on this and extended street routes to work and back constituted my preparation. My trusty TREK bike with hybrid wheels was going to be another factor that I had not put into the mix. Perhaps I should have trained with more experienced riders; no one this day had tires the size of mine. These were my thoughts as we were taken to the start point on the northern fringe of Sedalia on county road HH.

Within the first two miles, and for the rest of the day, John, Jess, and Ben, easily outdistanced me. Mel’s van became their support vehicle, and Glen’s mine. I caught up at all the rest stops and lunch so we did bond and I felt very much connected to them, but Glen was my companion and life line; having him following along with a yellow light circling atop his van was a buffer from traffic and allowed me to take in the countryside and enjoy the peaceful sojourn beside and along endless soybean and cornfields.

I was particularly good at “calling cows.” I think my mooing imitation turned them on as they raised their heads in anticipation that I might stop. Dogs were less predictable. Some would wag their tails, others would charge toward me until they felt thwarted by Glen’s “caboose” close behind me. I enjoyed speaking with farmers along the way, one who urged me to stop and help him with fence repair, and another who wanted to know our cause giving a thumbs up when I yelled, “All for Alzheimer’s research!” In Prairie Home we pedaled by a perfect replica of the “Field of Dreams” baseball field surrounded by cornstalks on all sides. At lunch we all talked about it, but none of us had stopped for a photo opportunity, a real loss. My first of two flat tires occurred soon after. Glen was outstanding repairing both in less than ten minutes, what a gift to know these cycling machines so well. I must admit that repairing the first flat gave me some needed rest as well as the strength to carry on to lunch in Jamestown, Missouri.

The last five miles, were however, grueling. Hill, hills, and more hills! One of my knees began to throb and I begin to worry about a blown knee, torn ligaments, and an emergency room. Glen and I had dropped pretty far behind at this point, and spent a good five minutes deciding which way to turn at Hwy 179 and County Road Z. The debate allowed my knee to sufficiently recover, but I asked Glen to drive me up three of the remaining four giant hills. I felt no guilt as I coasted down the other side of them and ultimately joined the others just short of reaching our destination. So while I didn’t complete the full 71-72 miles, I did go 68-69 of them; ironically numbers that match my age. Within view of the Fairfield Inn in Jefferson City, all four of us entered the parking lot side-by-side; the Four Musketeers. Like at the end of the three New York City marathons that I have run, I felt a few tears slide down my face. No one saw me, but I was not ashamed.

Follow the progress of Alzheimer’s Breakthrough Ride at www.alz.org.

Copyright © September 2010 L. S. Fisher/David Oliver
http://boomerobics.blogspot.com