Turning 65

by Dianne

I am turning 65 this month and simply cannot believe it.  Now I know that it isn't old but yet I remember when my parents turned 65 and I am now feeling like I am them. I have many friends that are older or close to my age and they all seem so much younger.  This is just a little mental thing I am pondering over....silly

This has been a year (like50) that has bothered me.  I been bomb barded with information from any place that wants you for a Medicare supplement and Medicare itself.  There have been so many things to read and call on and still have a question mark on your face as you hang up from the conversation.  Surely, I am not the first person to in counter all this medical attention. At 50, I didn't like getting all the AARP things but this is much worse.  Do I want Part A or Part B or would I just like Part D......"scream" 

My grandchildren are quick to point out that I am getting older.  They told me when I "start smelling like an old person" they would let me know so I could change it.  I wonder what an old person really smells like?  They are the ones guiding me on how to put on eye shadow or liner so I look "cool".  How I have done it for all these years.....I must have been wrong!  They are now planning on how old I will be to see my great-grandchildren some day and remember one time my grandson thought I was alive when Lincoln was killed.

Yes, there are some positives....like being alive and fairly healthy; getting social security and medicare and best of all is being retired.  But when I hear on our news about a new highway or light rail that will be done in the year 2020......I often wonder if I will be here to see it.  I can't do all the things I used to do even though in my mind I think I'm 30 and can do anything.  The body has a way of reminding you of just how old you are now.  I don't think next year will bother me but 65 means my next big one is 70.  Do I wish I was younger.....yes.....I would like to be about 50 again....maybe do some things differently but the age....yea, bring it on little genie in the bottle.

I can see that my younger husband (of one year) and I stay home more and enjoy it.  When I look out that window and see that snow falling, I usually cancel whatever I have planned for the day now that I don't "have" to get out in it for work.  We have just settled down.

My hair will always be auburn (never gray); my nails will always be nice and hopefully those chin hairs will never be visible.  I threaten my daughter in case I am ever in a home that those things have priority.  Yes, I guess I am vain even after all these years.  I  volunteer for the Bingo at the nursing home and sometimes someone mistakes me as a resident...now we have badgers....,much better.

I just wondered if anyone else gets these feelings as they reach or have reached a certain age.  I'm not sad but I am still in disbelief that I am 65 years old!!!

George Strait ACM Artist of the Century All Star Concert

by Zona

Grand Canyon Skywalk

by Zona

In 2007 someone came up with the crazy idea to open the Grand Canyon Skywalk...I know..I know..a lot of people think that standing on a piece of glass almost a mile above the canyon..wearing Swifter booties on your feet..is cool..but not me. I just know if I ever got up the nerve to step out on this thing..someone behind me would slip...fall into me..and I would go sock slidin' right over the edge and end up a puff of dust just like Wile E. Coyote. Yes, the Grand Canyon is beautiful...but I'll look at it from waaaaaay over here..ok?  ;D

~ Sexy and I Know It ~

by Tina~in_ut

This makes me laugh SO hard. A girl at work told me to watch it and I still can't stop laughing when I see it~

~ Paper Sculptor ~

by Tina~in_ut

Los Angeles native, Jeff Nishinaka, is the world's premier paper sculptor with a prolific career that spans 28 years. Nishinaka attended UCLA and graduated from the prestigious Art Center College of Design, where he first experimented with paper art and sculpture. Nishinaka's commercial portfolio includes Bloomingdales, Galeries Lafayette, Sprint, The Peninsula Hotel, Visa, Penn State University, Paramount Pictures and Coca Cola, among others. Actor Jackie Chan, who is a close friend of the artist, owns the largest collection of Nishinaka's work. Nishinaka began working in paper quite by accident. "I have always wanted to be a painter, but while studying illustration at Art Center, I was given assignments in both a graphic design and fashion drawing class at the same time to experiment in different mediums, one of them being paper. That was my 'Ah-ha' moment. I quickly developed a feel for working with paper. From then on, I began experimenting with different papers, finding ways to shape, bend, and round edges on it. I wanted to manipulate paper in the least invasive way, to keep the integrity and feel of it. Paper to me is a living, breathing thing that has a life of it's own. I just try to redirect that energy into something that feels animated and alive."

 

 

 

 

Two Little Trouble Makers

by Zona

 Two little boys, ages 8 and 10, were excessively mischievous. They were always getting into trouble and their parents knew all about it.

 If any mischief occurred in their town, the two boys were probably involved.

 The boys' mother heard that a preacher in town had been successful in disciplining children, so she asked if he would speak with her boys.

 The preacher agreed, but he asked to see them individually. So the mother sent the 8 year old first, in the morning, with the older boy to see the preacher in the afternoon.

 The preacher, a huge man with a booming voice, sat the younger boy down and asked him sternly, 'Do you know where God is, son?'

 The boy's mouth dropped open, but he made no response, sitting there wide-eyed with his mouth hanging open.

 So the preacher repeated the question in an even sterner tone, 'Where is God?'

 Again, the boy made no attempt to answer. The preacher raised his voice even more and shook his finger in the boy's face and bellowed, 'Where is God?'

 The boy screamed and bolted from the room, ran directly home and dove into his closet, slamming the door behind him.

 When his older brother found him in the closet, he asked, 'What happened?'

 The younger brother, gasping for breath, replied, 'We are in BIG trouble this time,' 
 

 'GOD is missing, and they think we did it!'

~ Knuffingen Airport ~

by Tina~in_ut

It took a grand total of six years to build but an incredible new miniature model, called Knuffingen Airport, based on Hamburg’s airport, has finally opened to the public.

It’s on display at Miniatur Wunderland, in Hamburg, and features 40 aircraft that take off and land and 90 vehicles that trundle around the runways automatically.

Making something this small and perfectly formed doesn’t come cheap. It cost 3.5million Euros – but the result is plane-ly amazing.

The real airport opened in 1911 and remains the oldest operational airport in the world. When it was first built it covered a mere 45 hectares – it’s now ten times bigger and measures a whopping 2.2sq miles.

The various vehicles and planes on the model version are able to move around thanks to an innovative ‘carsystem’, which manoeuvres the vehicles by computer.

The planes even take off thanks to miniature wires that carry them off the end of the runway.

The attention to detail is astounding. The planes park themselves and passenger walkways slowly move into place. 

The tow trucks even feature little flashing orange lights and the petrol tanks can be seen indicating which way they are about to turn. What's more, the airport lights up spectacularly to create an entrancing night scene.