It’s All in the Interpretation!

Today’s word prompt can be viewed in one of two ways:

The first would be: any face of a building given special architectural treatment such as that which is shown below.

The second would be: A way of behaving or appearing that gives other people a false idea of your true feelings or situation.

For instance: Looking at the picture below, one might envision two different thoughts:

The pessimist side of a person might look at this picture and think – “Hmmm, a cracked egg!”

While, the optimist might also look at this picture and think – “ H’mmm, new life!”

In today’s world, we should not put on any facades – be who you are – it is one sure way of knowing who your friends truly are because by not putting on any facades, those around you know that when in your company – “What you see is what you get!”

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/facade

Until next time!

Pretend – Should we or shouldn’t we?

Why pretend you have a good hand if you don’t? Isn’t that just a bluff?

To pretend is to speak and act so as to make it appear that something is the case when in fact it is not.

How many of us pretend today to be what we are not?

If there is one thing I am learning in my old age it is that pretending to be something we are not will only come back and bite you in the you know where at the time you least expect it.

I would think that we would be wise to heed a quote by Kurt Vonnegut who said: “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.”

So, today’s post says to me that pretending that which we are not is one of the worst mistakes one can make in their lives. After all, in pretending, are we merely masking what we truly want to be with the hope that people will like what we are attempting to be.

See what is happening here – what is that old saying: “Oh what a wicked web we weave when we practice to deceive.”

Best to be what you are with no pretenses because then there need be no lies. Of course, being the wild and crazy guy I am – such statements also remind me of yet another quote:

“The truth will set you free. But first it will piss you off.” – Gloria Steinem

In any case – why pretend – be yourself – my guess is that you will find that you have more fun doing so.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/pretend

Until next time!

What is Silence?

Don’t ever mistake

my silence for ignorance,

my calmness of acceptance,

or my kindness for weakness.”

Anonymous

To me, silence is that quiet time on a Sunday morning when we have no place to go and I can wake up early before the sunrise, make a cup of coffee, retire to the front of the house where I can sit in both solitude and silence watching the day begin. No traffic, no noisy trash trucks, no lawnmowers – just me and my cup of coffee.

Now that is silence!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/silence

Take a Hike

Today I told myself I would get back to writing and create a post for either one or both of my blog sites as well as begin working on the article I must have done for our Community Newsletter (due date – September 23).

It is true that “Writers Block” does happen at any age. Ever since I became obsessed with attempting to create a post for the “Daily Word Prompt” associated with the blog I maintain on Word Press, my usual prose has taken a back seat and that bothers me. So, today I said to myself that I would concentrate on writing other than just a post for the daily word prompt (if I get it done – so be it – if not – so be it and if my writing goes in the direction that I can incorporate today’s word within the post – so be it as well.)

In either case, something other than writing a post for the daily word prompt will be accomplished thus putting me back in touch with sharing information with those friends who follow my usual rants and raves.

With that thought in mind, my mind roamed to a particular place in time, namely how we feel at the end of the day now that we are on the plus side of 75. What is it with old age, where is it written that every time we are or become a year older, we also have to inherit yet another ailment of old age.

Don’t misunderstand me – I haven’t come down with some incurable disease or a disease associated with old people like arthritis, dementia, or what have you, and for that I am very thankful. But, I will say that my mind and my legs need to get back in sync or there are going to be several accidents at our house between where I watch TV and where our bathroom is. Not really – but sometimes it feels that way.

Most of you know what it is I am talking about. Those evenings when we have been sitting comfortably in our favorite easy chair watching the latest episode of NCIS, munching on some pretzels and eating that bowl of ice cream when all of a sudden we get that urge to go potty. Years ago, we would just pop out of the chair, make our way to the bathroom and in those famous words from the play – “Menopause” – yell – Made it!

But such is not the case today. First of all, we forget that we should not sit longer than one hour maximum without getting up – if not to go to the bathroom – getting up to at least stretch and keep the blood flowing through these old veins.

Better yet, in addition to standing up, we should do some stretches, touch our toes, and if we really want to be good, keep a set of dumbbells next to our chair so that we can pump some iron as well. Yeah, like that is going to happen!

But, do we do it – nooooo! Usually we just sit there. After all, we don’t have a universal remote control where we can stop the movie at any point, do we? Or did we forget that is what we did when we got up to get that bowl of ice cream and the pretzels we are munching on. Oops – I guess they were right when they said your hearing is not what goes first?

We have to remember that not only are our legs aging and require more time to acclimate themselves when standing up after sitting for over an hour, our bladders may be weakening or getting smaller as well. So, we have to remember to get up and move about every 45 minutes or so thus avoiding the feeling that we are 90 when we do in fact decide to get out of the chair.

Another thing that happens as we age – although fortunately mine is still legible – has to deal with our handwriting. How many times have you found yourself making a note in your calendar of a doctor’s appointment or some other appointment for some social event, only to find yourself asking either the day before or the day of – “What is it I wrote there – I swear my handwriting is getting worse – I do not even know what it was I was trying to remind myself of.”

Fortunately I do not consider errors such as these as signs that I need to be put in a home or that I have any serious brain problems, although some of my closest friends may dispute that theory. But as we get older, are situations such as these going to be yet more irritations we have to put up with? Personally I am not concerned as I am still of a mind to say “Take a Hike” to all those irritations because I am not ready to hang it up yet and I am definitely not ready to be called “Old!”

One more thought crossed my mind while writing this post and it has to do with how we senior citizens seem to have a problem at night regarding our sleeping habits. Being one that likes to review quotes pertaining to whatever subject I am on at that moment, I decided to call up a few quotes related to sleeping and believe it or not I found the one that most commonly addresses the position I am in at my age. This one fits me to a tee because it seems when I go to bed at night, everything I intended to do that day comes flooding back to me.

Here is the quote:

“My bed is a magical place where I suddenly remember everything I was supposed to do.”

Until next time!

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/hike

Passionate

As we enter the next phase of our lives (those of us who have been retired for some time now), unless we had a hobby or perhaps a sideline business we became involved in before retiring that we felt passionate about, it becomes quite the challenge to fall into some type of routine and/or schedule similar to the one followed when we worked 9-5.

But, that is not to say that we have to sit around and just vegetate 24/7 either. I am reminded of a quote by Anthony J. D’Angelo, who said:

“Develop a passion for learning. If you do, you will never cease to grow.”

Many of us here within our little retirement community have varied passions to keep us occupied. Those that love the game of golf look forward to heading out to the links several days a week. Others within our community love card games and look forward to their daily get together to play Bridge. Most recently someone within the community was hoping to set up a game of Euchre (a trick-taking card game most commonly played with four people in two partnerships with a deck of 24, 25, or sometimes 32, standard playing cards).

Another card game that is a favorite of our community and one we have yet to learn is “Hand & Foot”. Hand and Foot is a variation of Canasta and is played with 4 to 6 standard decks. I do believe that we have some rather passionate Hand & Foot card players within our community as well.

Others look forward to meeting to play shuffleboard, take a dip in the pool, go bowling, some even go “lawn bowling” (a game played with heavy balls, the object of which is to propel one’s ball so that it comes to rest as close as possible to a previously bowled small ball (the jack). Lawn bowling is played chiefly outdoors on a closely trimmed lawn called a green.

I would be remiss were I not to mention many senior citizen’s favorite and one might say “passionate” past-time – Bingo – no explanation necessary. Plus we have a small library within out clubhouse for the readers in the group. Fact is, that within our community, we have quite a few activities one can become passionate about so that our days do not just dwindle by.

And for those of you that are like me, I love to research, read numerous quotes, funnies and anything that will bring a smile to my face. Sharing that information with others is also a passion of mine. And while I cannot quite put my finger on that which I am most definitely passionate about, reading and writing come about as close as I can think of to being the things I am most passionate about.

I am looking forward to doing all the things we both (my wife of 53 years) are passionate about as that is the best part of this journey.

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/prompts/passionate