PLAYING WITH PUPPIES

Recently, I visited the Southeastern Guide Dogs Facility in Palmetto , Florida. To give you and idea of where to find it, it is located just south of the Sunshine State Skyway causeway from St. Petersburg  heading toward Bradenton. Go online to www.guidedogs.org to find full information about them.

We were first shown a video explaining what kind of dogs are used, how they are bred, the care and training procedure, how to qualify for a dog, and what we could do as volunteers. 

The grounds surrounding the facility are lovely, a true Florida setting. Seeing multiple volunteers walking dogs around really inspired more than one of us to come back and volunteer.

The puppies, at about 8 weeks, need to be socialized. That is, they need to get used to humans. Thus, they have a  puppy play room. We were ushered into this large room  , told that we could touch and pet the dogs, even hold them, but that  we must first be seated. They want to guard the pups from falling or getting into an injurious situation. 

I tried my best to get some "cute " pictures, but it is impossible to get a puppy to pose and say "cheese" .

This darling little blackie is the best I could do.  On signal, and opening the gate, all the pups come flying into the room, just like a bunch of fifth graders being let out of school at 3 o'clock.

They romp and pee and run and let off steam until they can't play any more. The little brown guy was just pooped out from all the excitement.

The center is always looking for host homes to take the pups after 9 weeks and train them for two years. After that time, they are assigned to a vision impaired "partner" and stay at the facility for almost a month, learning  to get along with one another.

It was a real pleasure to visit and have fun with the pups, but at the same time I was educated on how this program works and how it benefits those who are visually impaired. There is no cost to visit, they welcome groups (with advance notice) and their hours are posted on their website.

Selby Botanical Gardens, Sarasota, FL.,USA

Sarasota, Florida, with its soft , sandy beaches, azure  waterways, warm climate , beautiful flowers, and relaxed lifestyle, has always been an attractive destination.  I moved here in

1998 because I read in a magazine that it was in the top ten places to retire.

Some of the criterion were cultural opportunities and good health care. I had no idea at the time how much at home I would feel here and what a great ambiance prevails.

Many others have felt the same "at-homeness" and some of them were wealthy enough to buy up great acres of land, both on the waterfront and inland. F ortunately, many generous people such as John and Mable Ringling and Mrs. Potter  Palmer gave back to the area many gifts of great beauty. I will discuss two of those people today, as I intend to go into greater  detail in a future blog.

Here in Sarasota, we are privileged to have the Marie Selby Botanical Gardens. Marie and her husband, William, moved here in the 1920's. Like myself, Marie was born in West Virginia and developed there a love for the beauty of our natural surroundings. They purchased seven acres of land bordering on  Sarasota Bay and Hudson Bayou. There they built a two story home and Marie planned the landscaping for which the gardens are known around the world. Marie died in 1971, leaving the gardens to the city of Sarasota   for all to enjoy.

My friend and I spent a lovely day there enjoying the breeze, the trees, and the wonderful atmosphere of a superb garden.

TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGED GRANDMA

I am in my seventh decade and learning to use new technology every day. I turned on the TV today and my favorite channel was black! All the other channels were working. Is this a trick?

I was baffled.

After calling Comcast and actually reaching a live person, I found out that they were having troubles receiving Channel 7. So, it was not only NOT my fault, but there was nothing I needed to do except wait.  About an hour later, the issue was resolved.

I learned that you can go to a website called "Is it _______or is it just  me?" You type in your server and it will tell you, No, Comcast is working fine. It's just YOU." But once in a while it tells you that Comcast is at fault and it saves a lot of trial and error on your own computer.

All this is to say that people my age lose heart very easily when don't work right . If we  don't have a daughter,  a grandson, or a nerdy nephew to call, we are left with two choices.

We can say "the heck with it" or give up. Or we can persevere.

I don't know of anything that can make you feel more stupid than a computer! Well, maybe a VCR recorder. We see young children who are able to manipulate cell phones, recorders, computer games, etc. and we wonder, "What's wrong with me that I can't do that?"

Well, I'm determined to learn to do these things if it means another lifetime! After all, I've got a whole quarter century t go and if I learn as I go, maybe I can hold my own.

I read a lot about how to keep your mind sharp and avoid senility in your dotage. I'm planning to do just that by learning something new every six months. This last six months, my focus has been computer technology. I learned to start a website and get a  blog going. You are reading the results. 

That's me in the photo, getting even grayer as I try to connect a new tape player to my TV. Getting it connected was just the starting point. I then had to learn to program it. Since tape player/recorders are going out of style, I had to replace my broken one with a used one from Goodwill Industries. I was lucky the one I bought had a remote but there was no manual. I had to go on line to the manufacturer to get an instruction manual and then I  was in business.

All this took me the better part of two days. Of course, I had better things to do. I could have been knitting. Or baking cookies, OR putting up preserves. Or watching the Democratic National Convention, which I did.

Now my player records AND plays and I am so much smarter@

A WALK THROUGH THE GARDENS

You are looking at a huge "Bo" tree at Selby Botanical Gardens in Sarasota, Florida. The sign beside the tree says, " The "Bo" tree is beloved by Hindus and Buddhists who believe the Buddha meditated under one for years until he attained enlightenment." 

The bottom photo shows the view of Sarasota Bay from the gardens.

Photo by Michael Kersch

On September 14, 2001, Tropical  Storm  Gabrielle struck the west coast of Florida and thousands of trees were destroyed.  This  "Bo" tree was completely uprooted.

But local people were galvanized into saving the tree.  Arborists quickly pruned the tree's canopy by 30 per cent to reduce weight and moisture loss through transpiration. A barge, equipped with a 50 foot crane, was brought in at high tide.  Cables were looped around five of the tree's large branches and the crane gently tugged for 90 minutes until the tree was upright. Soil was packed around the root system to support it. With much love and care (and water!)

the tree survived and showed signs of new growth within six weeks.

I have sat beneath this tree many times, sometimes alone, sometimes with a friend, and often with a grandchild. We look across Sarasota Bay and get a quiet feeling of beauty and peace. I remember taking a very young grandson in a stroller on a slightly windy day. We stopped to have some water and the soft breeze off the bay reached out and caressed his cheek. The look on his face was pure delight and enjoyment. It was a lovely moment for me.

Each of you reading this could have this meditational moment that I experience when I let my mind wander to "trees I have known". I grew up in West Virginia. I visited on a farm each summer, over the mountain from Bluefield to Rocky Gap. On the farm was a very old apple tree. The apples were small and gnarly and not really very good for eating out of hand.  One had to climb atop a small, falling-in out-building to get them off the roof, but they made delightful ammunition!

In a neighbor's yard was a  large weeping willow. It's greenish-yellow, leafy limbs swept the ground like a young girl drying her hair by throwing it over her head and leaning forward. We could hide from others and really escape our parents under that tree.

My house was on a hill and we had a terraced back yard. On one level of the terrace, there were two trees at either end. They were perfect for hanging sheets and making a stage. After we perfected our "shows" and called our parents to come and sit on Adirondack lawn chairs to watch, we became early "American Idol" contestants. Our parents were long suffering but patient.

Our school yard had many large pine trees with roots running across the yard. I can't remember exactly what we played, but the roots delineated our territory and we defended our special place form others by throwing pine cones at them.

And who could play hide-and-seek without a tree to lean against while counting to one hundred?

Years later, our home in upstate New York had a Birch tree in front. It's large, beautiful white trunk extended above the bedroom windows and we could see eggs within a birds' nest there! 

Behind the house was a row of cedars. It was in those trees that we once saw a white Ptarmigan, way off course on his migratory path. And in the Hawthorn tree, a great barn owl spent a few days giving us a show before moving on.

We moved to  Florida in 1950 and our yard was a veritable tropical garden to us! We had huge pine trees dripping with purple wisteria! We had twenty or more swaying palms that sounded in the night like rain had come. We had a small lime tree that was always loaded, and a grapefruit and orange tree besides. None were suitable for climbing, but I was beyond that stage by then.

What could be more special that fresh-squeezed orange juice right from the tree?

In South Florida, we had a coconut palm, a species no almost wiped out by lethal yellowing disease in South Florida.  My boys didn't particularly like the coconut or its juice, but it was great fun to see who could smash the coconut by throwing it hard against the pavement.

Dream up your own memories of trees and share them with me.

If you can't make a comment here, send me an email at :

gracefulaging4U@comcast.net

HIDING OUT IN THE ROOTS

I  love this old tree.  I can imagine hiding out among the roots. It is called a Moreton  Bay  Fig, and it is native to  Australia. Moretan By is in  Queensland. The tree is reputed to have been brought to the U.S. by a sailor in 1876. amd planted in Santa Barbara, California. It measured 176 feet in 1997.

This is an evergreen banyan tree, also known as a  strangler fig. Its seeds live as epiphytes until the roots establish contact with the ground. Then it enlarges and strangles its host, eventually becoming a tree itself. Some of the roots reach over 15 feet. Many specimens reach tremendous  size and can be seen in public gardens only. Its roots feed on the surface, where nutrients are poor and it takes a tremendous amount of water to keep it healthy.

Why I started Gracefulaging

In the seven decades of my life, I have been a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother, a teacher, a singer, a writer, and an experiencer of life. I have had a rich and fulfilling life and it goes on!

I had a rewarding career as a teacher, had a family to raise, a husband to care for and eventually caretake, and a charming mother who enriched my life for 73 years!

Now I am at the crossroads of my third quarter century. I want to continue the process of living in a graceful way, learning to deal with the large and small issues that face aging people. I want my brain to stay sharp. I want to share my experiences with others and learn from their responses.

Thus I begin this challenge of maintaining a webpage and blog, hoping to share with you the ways I have learned to deal with my particular life. 

After I get the hang of this new thing, I plan to write about some health issues that have been a challenge to me. I hope you will sign for my RSS feed so that you will get updates in your mailbox without having to go to my website every day.

And, please be patient with me  as I learn on this new adventure. 

Much of what I say may seem trivial to you. But my blog is basically a journal of my every day life and how it revolves around living in Florida. Now I am at the crossroads of my third quarter century.   As I step through that door, come along with me once in a while. We may learn from one another and make a new friend!!!