People who know me,  know I carry a very small pocketbook. I do that because I have found that no matter what size pocketbook I use, they become filled to capacity. The bigger they are, the heavier they get, so I stick to small. I have tried, from time to time, to emulate men and put my wallet in one pocket and my phone in the other.  Pockets do work well for very short trips, provided you don’t need a tissue, a mint, a pen, a piece of paper to write something down on, an appt. book, hand sanitizer, a change purse or any number of other items. Also, how would you collect a weeks worth of receipts? You would need multiple pockets for that, which brings me to my topic. Even my small bag will collect receipts, and I usually try to straighten them out in a timely manner but at any given time you can find several in my bag. When I do decide to remove them, I feel the guilt or the pleasure all over again…I’m eating too much, I’m buying things I don’t need, and spending way to much at the grocery store. It would be fun sometime to document receipts…you would not need a diary, memories would flood back. Monday, Bonifay Country Club (mmm the fish and chips were good), Barnes&Noble (A Movable Feast, Hemingway), Rialto Theatre (JEdgar, loved it), Gas ($52. to fill my car, ouch, thank goodness for golf carts)and so on. The Villages has to take some responsibility for the many receipts I collect, and I’m not complaining.  So many places to collect them;  great  restaurants, many, many stores, movie theatres, all within a 5 to 15 min. ride. I am always amazed at how much I can  do in a given week, and how much I have forgotten I did in a given week. If you ever say to yourself, what did I do last Monday, just look at your receipts. They tell the tale. Receipts will never deceive you, only when you want to return something and they are no where to be found, even in a small bag.

Most homes in the 60’s had a variety of spoons and paddles, that were used to keep peace, and to teach good behavior and manners. You could actually purchase paddles with cute little sayings on them, that were meant to be left in a conspicuous place where the unruly child could read it and then adjust his behavior accordingly. However, I don’t think that really worked, as they were normally having too much fun doing whatever they shouldn’t have been doing, to stop and read the paddle. I don’t actually ever remember spanking them with a spoon or paddle, but I’m sure I said things like “Where’s the paddle? or Keep it up and I’ll get the spoon” Dr. Spock and a few other Drs. came along and our discipline techniques changed to “I’ll give you three..one, two, three, now you heard what I said, etc.” Personally my most effective tool was the barrel. No I didn’t spank them with it, or put them into the barrel, but all I had to do, if my second request to clean up did not illicit action, was to walk towards the barrel. Instant attention to the job at hand.  Now, however spoons and paddles mean another thing entirely. The spoons we use now are for eating, especially desserts. I don’t know how many restaurants we have, but it is many, a lot, tons. I think the use of the spoons contribute to our overall happiness but also the extra 15lbs. we gain when we come to The Villages. Our paddles are used for pleasure also…we canoe or kayak with them, the dragon boat teams race with them, and I would have to say the most used paddle in The Villages is the pickleball paddle.  With over 100 pickleball/tennis courts, that is a lot of paddles, and a lot of fun to be had.   Spoons and paddles still do go together.  If everytime you pick up a spoon for pleasure, and then go out and use a paddle for fun, I bet you’ll beat the 15lb. odds.  Good luck…

I have spoken in the past about the many volunteers in The Villages, but I have just become aware of a very special group. I am sure you have all heard the name, and have seen their training highlighted in the Daily Sun, but perhaps like I, not realized what a vital service they provide to all of us. CERT means Community Emergency Response Team. CERT members are residents who volunteer their time.   If my understanding is correct, there are 40 CPR/AED neighborhood  teams, of which they are a part of,  that are trained & certified in CPR,  (cardiopulmonary resuscitation) and AED techniques, (automatic external defibrillator, of which we have over 100 AEDs positioned throughout The Villages).  These residents are equipped with beepers/pagers to alert each team member when a cardiac 911 call is made from their respective neighborhood, at the exact same time EMS professionals are alerted.   Many times they get to the emergency before the EMS, and can begin the life saving techniques until EMS arrives. The national average of survival of sudden cardiac arrest is 6%, and The Villages has a survival rate of 48%. I’m hoping we never have a heart attack, but if we do, I can’t think of a better place to have it. Hats off and thanks to those certified residents,  who train so hard to make sure our hearts keep ticking.

Who would think that  pieces of wood, with orange ribbons dancing in the breeze, could attract great attention. Sometimes we know why they are there, but most often we don’t and it arouses great curiosity. Surveyor’s stakes attached to an eight year olds bicycle elicits other reactions, especially from the owner of those stakes and the mother of the eight year old.  However, most often it is curiosity though and so it is with the stakes under the big oak trees on the corner of Morse Blvd. and Mission Hills. When they appeared about two or three weeks ago,  I couldn’t  figure out what was happening, as the stakes seemed to have no rhyme nor reason to them, and there were many.   The oaks are absolutely beautiful in that area, and anyone who has come out of the tunnel under Rt.#466 and headed towards the bridge into Lake Sumter Landing and is not in awe of their size, number of them and the shade they afford…can’t be a friend of mine.  While my curiosity was piqued, I also was worried. Were the trees coming down, was some type of building going up, couldn’t be a road as there was an opening to the lake.   Today I found out that the stakes are part of the birth of the Live Oaks Park. A park that will have picnic benches for our pleasure, a nice cool spot to sit and read under the shade of those wonderful oaks and overlooking the lake. The Villages just keeps enhancing our lives, how lucky are we?

For some reason there are certain words you just like, and I like the word nibble. This morning I heard one of the politicians saying…we are nibbling at their heels. It’s such a friendly word, it is not aggressive, like…we are breathing down their necks..or chomping at the bit…nibbling,  I like that. As I read today’s paper there just happened to be an ad that caught my eye. Nibbles and Knowledge..I can’t remember the last time I had heard the word,  but here it was again. The ad was placed by one of the Health Groups in the Villages, they are encouraging people to stick to their Diet Resolutions, and they are inviting residents to their Nibbles and Knowledge seminar. I got a kick out of that as when I was working with Realtors in NJ, I would have monthly Lunch and Learns. This sounds like quite the same thing, however those attending will be nibbling rather than lunching.  It sounds like an effective way to lose weight.  If we all just nibbled we probably would reach our  Resolution goals a lot quicker.  At the bottom of the ad it says Snacks will be provided.  Snacks and nibbling?  Now I’m not so sure I like that word used with snacks.  Snacks and munching, doesn’t that have a better ring to it?

Can you imagine going to college and not worrying about exams, homework, taking courses you only want to and are interested in, being in a class where everyone is happy to be there, with an instructor that is there to share their passion with you.  Well imagine no more.   I’m sure you have seen the Lifelong Learning College’s catalog…65 pages of information and courses you can take in the winter & spring of 2012.  (This is in addition to the 2000 activities I spoke about previously).  There is a small fee to support these learning classes, but many times a course at the Lifelong Learning College is followed up by weekly meetings at our Recreation Centers.  I recently went to a Winter Cram session, where you were able to sign up for a half- hour introduction to those courses you thought you may want to take.  I thought Parapsychology sounded really interesting, and decided to sample those courses. What I fell in love with was the enthusiasm of the instructor.  Five minutes into her introduction I knew I wanted to take one of her courses.  I was with a friend, and she too agreed that we had to do that.  At the end of the half-hour, we wanted to take all her courses but decided on Kabbalah.  My friend knew a little bit about it, and I had never heard about it..but the course description was “First Kabalistic Principal: Don’t Believe Anything You Read. Test Drive the Ideas”.  As one who is having a hard time knowing what to believe lately, this jumped out at me.  My friend and I quickly registered and we attended our first class last night.    Sometimes I am so humbled by the company I am in, and last night was no exception.  Everyone introduced themselves and part of the introduction was why did you take the course.  It seemed everyone knew about Kabbalah, had had some type of interest in the subject, and when it came to my turn I felt a little shy admitting that I had never heard about it, but loved the teacher’s enthusiasm, and if she has that much passion about it, it must be something that I  would like.  The first class was very enlightening, and now that I know a little about it, I can hardly wait until next week.    I love the hustle and bustle of the College, everyone scurrying to their classes, no one worried  about exams or homework or even their appearance.  No one having to look good, in order to attract prince charming for a date  Saturday night.

Today is Elvis’s birthday, and he would have been 77 years old. If you don’t know who Elvis is you are too young to read this blog. I’ll never forget hearing about Elvis for the first time. I had been babysitting for the summer in Madison, Connecticut, a beautiful town on the Long Island Sound. At that time, families that went away for the summer would bring their help with them, including their babysitters. We would leave in June and come back right before school in September. I bring this up because when I left in June we were still listening and dancing to Glenn Miller, and when I came back in September everyone was talking about and listening to Elvis. What a difference. My friends were stunned that I had no idea who he was…and after I heard and saw him, I too wondered where I had been. We, the working babysitters, must not have had access to a radio because there were about ten of us who were together on a daily basis, with our children, and Elvis’s name never came up. To say I was fascinated with Elvis, is an understatement. In commemoration of his birthday today, we exercised to 50 minutes of Elvis’s songs. The 50 minutes flew by fast, and I do have to admit when I heard Heartbreak Hotel I really felt 15 again.

Today, when I jumped out of bed and checked the thermometer, it occurred to me that it really controls our lives, and even more so, our emotions.     I was a little let down, as I don’t know if it will get in the 50’s before 8:30am, so I can go to water aerobics.   I’ll keep checking though.   In most cases, the weather does not stop the outdoor activities in the Villages, it just dictates the amount of layers we wear.  I know if I go out right now I will see the walkers, the joggers, the bicyclists, the golf carts scurring to golf, to tennis,to pickleball, to softball and the like.   And there will be those that do water aerobics, no matter what, they have wet suits, of which I have not invested in yet, because I think if I need a jacket to go in the water, it is just too cold to do it. However, there have been some mornings lately that I go and find myself envying those with jackets, so I am beginning to kick myself that I did not put one on my Christmas wish list.  We talk about the weather when it is cold, or when it is hot, we even talk about what the weather it is going to be.   We check the weather where we previously lived.  We check the children’s weather, and our friends weather.   We use it as an  ice breaker when we meet someone, we even use it when we say good-bye.  Have to go out into the cold…we say that when it is 60 degrees.   From my observation, I think men are more interested in the weather, to be fair however that could be because they are outdoors more.  I think weather concerns comes with retirement.  When I worked I don’t remember giving the weather much thought in the morning, I didn’t have the time.  Now I get up, check the thermometer, hear the weather on the news, read about the weather in the Daily Sun, and discuss the weather with Sean. That all happens before I finish my first cup of coffee. Isn’t it great that that is one of our biggest concerns.  Just in case you are wondering, I did go to water aerobics this morning, 50 degrees and I had no jacket.  The water was so warm that there was steam rising from it, and within a short period the sun came out and I was delighted I went.  I heard it is going to be 80 degrees on Monday.