Best of Boomer Blogs: Gearing up for the Fall Season

It’s officially Fall and time for leaves to turn golden and the weather to become brisk. Well, not here in Los Angeles. If a leaf turns brown, it’s probably because it has a disease. Our Best of Boomer Blogs writers are settling in and getting ready for pumpkins, spiced lattes, and apple cider. They’re thinking and doing a variety of things and writing about what’s on their minds.

Today is my son’s 30^th birthday. He’s in the Air Force stationed in Seattle. When he’s not working on planes he’s hiking, (climbed Mt. St. Helens twice) hunting, and cooking up yummy stuff on his BBQ.  I just wanted to give him a shout out, in case he reads my blog. He says he looks at it every once in a while, probably to see if I’ve gone out of my mind.

For television aficionados

It’s also Emmy night. My BF belongs to the TV Academy and we’ve been to tons of events for all the nominated shows. There are so many to choose from, but typically, the winners are the shows we’re most familiar with. Another thing that’s nice about this time of year is that the fall TV season premieres and we can see new episodes of our favorite shows.

Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting does not keep up with the latest, most popular, groundbreaking TV series. Don’t ask her about the shows touted for awards at this year’s Emmy Awards ceremonies. Most she has never seen. But one show she got hooked on was Downton Abbey. This week she eagerly attended the show’s movie and summarizes her experience in this week’s post, Downton Abbey: The Movie.

And speaking of television, I attended a performance of a one-woman show starring Kiki Ebsen which was a tribute to her father Buddy Ebsen. We all loved his role as Jed Clampett in the Beverly Hillbillies when we were kids. He had an amazing life and her stories are both humorous and poignant. Even if you can’t see her show in LA, you’ll enjoy some of her recollections.

Living long and healthy lives

As we get older, our biggest priority is almost always our health. The more we stay active the better we will live out our later years.

Over at Musings, Rants & Scribbles, Laurie Stone’s mom is about to turn 85 and you’d be hard-pressed to find a fitter, more adorable, and adroit senior citizen. “I can’t believe her age!” is a line she hears often. And although having sturdy Irish genes never hurt, there are eight non-negotiables in her silver-haired mother’s life, which she believes help her stay fit, strong, and yes, young.

One of the best ways to stay healthy is to eat fresh produce you grow in your garden. On the Boomer Consumer, Rita R. Robison, consumer, and personal finance journalist asks readers what grew best in their gardens this year. For Robison, cucumbers were the star and she gave several dozen away. Beans, green peppers, and a surprise vegetable also were enjoyed.

Is retirement really a thing?

Everyone’s vision for their retirement is different, and some of us, like me, will probably never retire.

When Carol Cassara retired from her consulting career, her colleagues laughed. “I can’t even imagine you retired,” one said to her. But she insisted she was retiring. Of course, she ended up working straight through retirement, first as a college professor and then she started her business, A Healing Spirit. She’s fascinated with how we know when it’s time to retire and that’s the subject of her offering for this week at A Healing Spirit.

Having doubts

As we reinvent ourselves, it’s easy to feel inadequate and that can be stifling to our success.

Jennifer, of Unfold and Begin, feels that everyone has a creative side but sometimes we all feel like we’ve lost our creativity.  But you can’t really lose it. Sometimes we just lose our ability to connect with it. Or worse, we lose our faith in our creative ability. Here’s what to do if you’ve lost your creativity.

You gotta have friends

Keeping and nurturing our friendships is particularly important as we age. Friends provide support, camaraderie, and help keep us stay connected with the world.

Tom at Sightings Over Sixty is meeting up with a few old friends. A simple thing, right? But as he recounts in Playing by Different Rules, . . . not when his wife finds out his plans.

As the fall season begins. . .

Enjoy the coming of fall in all its glory whether you are putting on your cardigans and sipping hot tea or are still getting a suntan. For those who are experiencing floods from all our recent hurricanes, we are thinking about you and hope you stay safe.