Road Trip: HWY 287

Southeast Texas Senior Citizens are fortunate to have a number of wonderful activities to enjoy right here at home. Music, theater, great food, and Lamar football is just around the corner. Every few weeks though, my wife and I like to pile in the car for an old fashioned road trip. A classic road trip is just as much fun today as it was twenty years ago. Recently, we took advantage of an opportunity to get away to Dallas to visit some friends. On a warm Sunday morning, we took... Read More

Wild Catter Weekends

Do you like to combine history and entertainment? Spindletop Gladys City Boomtown hosts an excellent series called “Wild Catter Weekends” ideal for Southeast Texas senior citizens, families, and children. These weekends are carefully constructed to simultaneously inform and entertain.  The Wildcatter weekends offer a great entertainment option for seniors. First, the Wildcatter weekends are free- wonderful for Golden Triangle Seniors looking to stretch their budget... Read More

Medical identity theft rising: Steps to protect yourself

Medical identity theft rising: Steps to protect yourself (ARA) – Two million Americans fall victim to medical identity theft each year, according to a study by the Ponemon Institute, commissioned by Experian’s ProtectMyID. While medical identity theft costs victims an average of $22,346, the potential impact can be far greater – medical identity theft could cost some victims their health, or even their lives. Medical identity theft involves the theft of personal... Read More

Foot care tips to keep boomers moving

Just a few decades ago, the phrase “granny shoes” implied a tragic lack of coolness, and that the wearer had allowed comfort to trump style in their slow shuffle toward getting old. Those days are definitely gone. Today’s baby boomers and seniors are stepping out in everything from frisky flip-flops and hot heels to righteous running shoes and powerful hiking boots. Footwear is no longer dictated by age, but rather by the activity level and fashion sense of the... Read More

Calling the Wind

Lewis and Clark were greatly responsible for opening the American West for further exploration and settlement. Their dangerous travels provided Americans early maps, descriptions of a great wealth of natural resources that would belong to the American people, and provided useful information for Americans regarding the terrain, dangers, and challenges, they might expect to find in the coming Westward expansion. The expedition to transverse the North American continent led by Meriwether... Read More

They Do It With Mirrors

Agatha Christie has a legion of loyal fans. If you are one of the millions for whom Agatha Christie and Miss Marple rarely disappoint, consider They Do it with Mirrors (available in large print). One of Miss Marple’s school friends believes that her sister, Carrie Louise, is being poisoned. She asks her old friend Miss Marple to investigate before it is too late. Carrie Louise and her third husband are currently running a boarding school for juvenile delinquents. The money to... Read More

Babe Didrikson Zaharias

Less than one percent of professional athletes maintain name recognition a decade after they stop playing. Their great deeds fade out of the memories of all but their family and a handful of their biggest fans. Even fewer are ever acknowledged, even fleetingly, as the greatest to ever play their sport. Ask in any bar, barbershop, or sports radio show for the greatest player in any single sport and you will set off hours or days of debate and possibly a fist fight. Michael Jordan... Read More

Learning to connect in today’s society keeps relationships strong

Whether it’s at work, at home or among friends, building and maintaining relationships is one of the most important parts of life. As people get older, however, the ways in which connections are made and kept change due to life adjustments, new technology and health. Those changes often mean challenges. For instance, hearing loss is a common cause of diminishing connections. Those who suffer from it might be reluctant to say or do anything, but not being able to hear can... Read More

Protecting your nest egg from virtual crows

Calling your retirement savings a “nest egg” is meaningful on many levels. Just as birds labor hard and long to create a secure roost, you and your mate work hard to provide for yourselves during your golden years. And just as crows and other invaders can come along to rob a bird’s nest, your nest egg can be at risk from predators like identity thieves and scammers. One out of every five people older than 65 – 7.3 million Americans – has been the... Read More

Buddha in the Attic

I have always been fascinated by people, places, and cultures. I’d love to be able to walk into someone’s house in New Orleans or Tokyo or Paris and watch how they cook, what they eat, and all of the mundane details of their unfamiliar lives. I also find emigrant stories fascinating. People from lands I would love to visit all desperate to come here and make new lives. Julie Otsuka’s novel Buddha in the Attic is a masterful tale of young women in San Francisco who were... Read More

Seven simple steps to senior bathroom safety

One in three seniors over the age of 65 will experience at least one fall annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control. The bathroom is one of the most dangerous rooms in the home for the elderly. Slick floors, small spaces, sharp edges and few things to grasp make mobility difficult and increase chances for dangerous falls. Unable to complete everyday tasks with the same mobility they once had, many senior homeowners are left with unsafe measures to prevent falling... Read More