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I’ve moved the blog to a new platform that I’m sure you’ll like even better! So, please click this link: http://zeroto60andbeyond.blogspot.com and join me for the rest of the journey! It’s very easy to subscribe once you get there! Thanks! Barbara
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I have moved my blog to a new platform that is easier for me to customize. I took all the archives w/ me, and I’m very happy with how it is working out. I hope you’ll visit me at the new spot… http://zeroto60andbeyond.blogspot.com
Please subscribe and follow me there! I would love your comments and input!
Thanks very much!
Barbara
I was thrilled to read about Wizard Jeans (a UK co.) Top Ten list of the most Beautiful Women in the World! Those of us who are closer to 60 than zero can really celebrate this event!
Here’s the list:
#1 Penelope Cruz… age 36
#2 Claudia Schiffer… age 40
#3 Kristin Scott Thomas… age 50
#4 Queen Rania of Jordan… age 40
#5 Catherine Deneuve… age 67
#6 Dame Helen Mirren… age 65
#7 Charlize Theron… age 35
#8 Kate Beckinsale… age 37
#9 Natasha McElhone… age 39
#10 Sophia Loren… age 76
Now, I have to admit I have no idea who Natasha McElhone is but I’m sure she will age as beautifully as my 3 faves on the list… Catherine, Helen and Sophia!
This is really quite amazing when you realize that the average age on this list is 48.5! So I looked up www.Wizardjeans.com and I think I may have found my next pair of jeans! Check them out… they are designed to make us all look good at any age. Gotta love that!
And clearly they see that age is just a number and we can all be beautiful and sexy at any age.
I am working, working, working to make this blog look and feel the way I want it to. I may have to move to another platform, but STAY TUNED! A newer, better version will be rolling out this month that will include more information about my art and books, as well as all the things I love.
I also wanted to say how great this huge and friendly blogging community is for welcoming me into the fold. It’s wonderful to have friends all over the world, but especially great to have friends near by that understand the blogging biz, so to speak. You’ll be hearing more from them very soon in guest posts!
I would love it if you’d leave your thoughts and opinions about any changes you’d like to see. And, also would love to know what blogs you enjoy reading, whether informational or for sheer reading pleasure and amusement. Please leave me a comment!
Thanks! Barbara
I admit that I was surprised and saddened to learn of the Gore’s split. Not just because they’ve always seemed like such a genuinely loving and lovely couple, but good lord… 40 years?!?
And then I remembered when my best friend growing up told me her parents were getting a divorce. I can still hear her, hysterically crying… “How can they do this after 22 years? Who wants to start over at their age?” Which was early 40’s!
I couldn’t relate at all, because divorce was to be expected at my house. We had ‘Daddy du jour’ going on! But, I loved her parents and always felt they had what my mother could never find. So I was shocked and saddened to hear that it was over for my friends parents.
Needless to say, both her parents started over and seemed very happy. Which brings me back to the Gore’s… Tipper is 61 years old… This is going to be great for those of us at that downhill slide of middle age! You know it won’t be too long before she’s linked with some hunk 1/2 her age! Tipper’s still got it, in my opinion. I’m hoping she would only date someone 1/2 her age for… sport, let’s say. She’s way to smart and savvy to waste any brain cells on a less wordly paramour.
But how cool for those of us who sometimes feel a bit past prime to see how she handles the single life at 61!!
Go for it Tipper! Make us all proud!
We’ve had 6 dogs in our family over the years, and each with totally distinct personalities and idiosyncrasies. But none as distinct perhaps as Cosmo. Our poor, sweet Mo was truly our ’special child’ in the mix! We used to say the ‘mo’ in Cosmo stood for moron… just joking, but truly he was goofy!
As with children, early childhood (or puppyhood) development is key to a smart and healthy adult. And, Cosmo’s early days were pretty grim. We adopted him when he was 5 mo. old from a family that had good intentions but couldn’t properly care for him. They were ultimately too busy to give him much time and attention, so he spent, on average, 18 hrs. a day in a crate!
Needless to say, when he arrived at Chez Hammond he knew he’d hit the lottery! And he gave us so much laughter and joy! Duffy, our 5 yr. old cockapoo at the time, was in need of a buddy and he went with me to check out this little pup that needed a home. They hit it off right away! I think Duffy who was always the ’smart one’ figured Cosmo needed someone to look out for him. He was right!
His name wasn’t Cosmo when we got him, it was Casey which was way to sedate for this clown! So after much thought and observation we came up with Cosmo because of Cosmo Kramer on Seinfeld. Kramer didn’t fit, but Cosmo was perfect. He would run and slide into the room just like Kramer, with the hair moving and a goofy grin on his face! I will always smile when I remember that goofy grin!
He was also a pig, with a capital P! Probably because he’d been hungry a lot, waiting for someone to feed him. He truly lived to eat! Over the years we’ve had entire cheese trays devoured at the blink of an eye, if you didn’t put it out of his reach! He loved goat cheese the best! At least he was somewhat discriminating. The funniest story about Mo and his food obsession happened at the beach. We would take the dogs to the beach and as soon as you’d take the leashes off, Duffy would charge into the ocean or chase after the sea gulls. Cosmo would just scratch in the sand for clams or whatever tasty morsel he could find and totally avoid getting wet.
One day when we got to the beach and unclipped the leashes Cosmo took off like a shot! I was chasing after him and screaming his name… and the whole time wondering what in the world got into him?! He never ran off! Then, as suddenly as he took off he put on the brakes! When I caught up with him he was eating bread someone had left for the gulls! This crazy dog smelled bread 4 blocks away! Now that’s a talent!
You just have to smile when you look at this gallery of Cosmo pictures! I painted his portrait with sunglasses on, because his eyes were sensitive to the sun, and he actually liked wearing them!
We lost him too soon, due to a multitude of health issues, including Cushing’s disease, but he lives on forever in our collective memories! RIP my sweet Mo!!
I have a confession to make. I had never read a blog until this year! The occasional post that someone would forward or I’d come across on facebook, sure… but subscribe to?? No.
Now I seem to subscribe to a new one almost daily. It is becoming my community. I love it! And I have my friend Michele to thank for opening this flood gate! Just have to convince her to start her own blog now… and I will! She already has the Esmerelda’s Dog Grub facebook page, which is 1/2 way to a blog!
Michele turned me onto The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond. I was so riveted by her ‘Black Heels to Tractor Wheels’ story, that she brilliantly wove into her regular blog, I read it all in one day! Now it’s coming out in a book, and she sold the movie rights! WOW! Good for you Ree! I was so inspired I started this blog.
I have two friends that have great blogs, and we share information on the technical aspects, and spreading the word. Lee’s blog is, www.madnessmomandme.com about growing up in her crazy Italian family… it is very funny and heartwarming at the same time. Doreen’s blog is, www.stylemaniac.com a totally different blog, where she discusses and shares information on all that is Stylish! Informative and fun to read. And I can’t forget Kristen, who I believe has 3 blogs! www.43resolutions.com is her most active one. Always makes me laugh!
I think what makes this whole ‘community’ so wonderful is how personal it can be, and with such immediacy. You’re sharing thoughts, memories, personal experiences and so much more with strangers. And strangers then become your friends in this amazing technological world! Annabel Candy… www.getinthehotspot.com, just went to the World Expo in Shang Hai with bloggers from around the world who were invited by Coca Cola! She lives in a small town in Australia. We are truly a Global Village!
I don’t read books as often as I would like. If it’s a really good one that you can’t put down, I literally can’t! I’ve stayed up all night to finish a book. It can make functioning the following day a bit of a chore. You should’ve seen me after Pillars of the Earth! Damn you Ken Follett! And I can’t read on the beach. I can sketch on the beach, but can’t read… killer headache! I envy all those people sitting there engrossed in their summer reading. Me, not even a magazine!
So this newfound love of blogs is perfect for me! It’s like an ongoing serial of fascinating lives in bite sized segments that don’t interrupt my sleep! There’s a wealth of information in the blogging world, too. I subscribe to www.problogger.com and www.blogging101.com to keep up on the technical part of blogging, (much more technical than I ever thought!). There are blogs to help you deal with your neurotic pets, too… if you were to have any…
Just this morning I was up before the newspaper arrived… 6am (rare!). By 7am I had gotten hooked on a new blog! This one I have to thank my friend Deb Rech for! She’s the events coordinator for Head House Books (www.headhousebooks.com ) and she posted the link to www.slowlovelife.com on facebook. Go ahead, you know you want to check it out, too. Isn’t this fun?!
I will keep adding to my Blogroll, on the left side of the page, so you can share in these great finds. And I hope you’ll share your favorite blogs with me! Please leave them in the comment section for the whole community to see!
I’ve had a few days without internet I could depend on, (had to try and grab an open wifi when possible), and on top of that… no TV! That, my friends is my idea of roughing it!
I also have to mention that I was at our beach house. The beach house is, aside from my kids, one of the greatest gifts God has ever given me! Not that I didn’t work like a dog to get it… believe me I waited 30+ yrs. and it was worth everything. That said… we haven’t had cable or internet hooked up yet, and at this time of the year it’s very quiet at the Shore.
Add to that, my husband left rather abruptly to attend a function he failed to tell me was a definite go. So, I was quite pissed at him. As I’ve always said, out of 42 years of marriage… 5 were wedded bliss and not necessarily consecutive! Think about it… Bliss.
So I’m alone at the beach with our 2 dogs, Sydney and Buddy, and lots of projects to get done. I figured I’d be fine and get tons accomplished! I figured incorrectly. I think when you are a bit out of sorts it seems to touch everything you do. So, nothing went as planned.
As it got dark, and I had no TV to watch, I began looking through books (we have tons) to find something to read. I came across, Unconditional Bliss: Finding Happiness in the face of Hardship by Howard Raphael Cushnir. Seemed appropriate for my mood. It was published in 2003, and I honestly don’t recall ever seeing it before. Mind you if I didn’t buy it, someone who knows me well probably did and I just didn’t get around to reading it. I don’t actively seek ’self help’ books anymore, but sometimes the right one finds you at the right time… and this was it!
The book is based on two questions… 1st, What is happening right now? 2nd, Can I be with it?
Such a simple concept, truly! Obviously it’s a bit more involved than that, but primarily that’s pretty much it. He points out how we physically contract when we’re upset, or worried, or just not in bliss. Then he asks for you to think about something that makes you feel blissful, something that just automatically opens your heart.
They were sleeping right next to me!
I understood his point… until you feel your heart open you won’t feel bliss, so you need to know what that feels like. We all know what the contraction feels like! My body is often in knots. Thank Heaven for Sanctuary on 2nd and the best massage therapist I’ve ever known… Sally Bingham.
But the real point is to answer the questions in order to get to the place where you can feel at peace with the present moment. We hear this so often from so many sources… be present… live in the moment…! I understand it, I do… and I also understand it’s a lot harder than it sounds!
Finding this book was very timely and helpful for me! Isn’t it amazing how we seem to find exactly what we need, just when we need it!?
Mr. Cushnir has since written a few more books I found out when I googled him. He was a screen writer for a while, and also wrote a children’s book. Now, he actually has a blog! How cool! It is simply called, Raphael Cushnir’s Blog… www.cushnir.com in case you’d like to check it out.
In the meantime… please leave me a comment and tell me what gives you Bliss!
If you subscribed and received an email from ‘The Winter of My Discontent’… it’s me. I will attempt to get the name change fixed soon. But, to get to the actual site just click on the zeroto60andbeyond link at the very bottom of the email. Thank you for subscribing! We are just getting started!
Since I started this blog in late Feb., I’ve been thinking a lot about life, in general and mine specifically. Not obsessing, mind you… I don’t obsess. However, I believe that if you don’t have a purpose, maybe you should ask yourself why you are here.
Sometimes, I believe, we are here for someone other than ourselves. That’s ok. But, while you’re helping someone else, try to keep yourself active. Learn new things, be adventurous, above all… GROW! Which brings me to my little victory… if you look at the side bar on this blog you will now see a box where you can subscribe via e-mail!
I know… you’re saying to yourself, ‘big deal!’ Trust me… it is! I have been writing this blog almost 3 mo. now, and that’s how long I’ve been trying to put that little box on this page! If you don’t blog, you can’t imagine how technically challenging it can be. When I started it was just about the writing. I wanted to share some stories with you, and create a dialogue about this journey we’re all on together. But, making it easy to read, and finding ways to get to know YOU, has been a brain cramping challenge!
I am not complaining… I’m certain my brain is fired up and raring to go after jumping through all these hoops to ’build a better blog’ so to speak. So JUMP IN!
If you haven’t already subscribed via RSS feed, I hope you will subscribe via E-Mail subscription! And please feel free to comment and tell me how YOUR journey is going! What’s been your most recent mental challenge?
And don’t worry about the e-mail page saying ‘The Winter of My Discontent’… Since I changed the name of the blog recently, to be more all encompassing, the e-mail page apparently forgot. It’s ok, it will still go to the correct place and I’ll work on that challenge another day! Enjoy the little victories!!
