Senior Connection Feb. 2011 Suncoast

Online Dating VOLUME 22, NUMBER 2

SUNCOAST

FEBRUARY 2011

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Jeannie Robertson

Keeps You Laughing

• Matters of the Heart • Are You a Cougar?

• Super Spices for Your Health • Early Onset of Alzheimer’s

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When We Speak (Via Computer) Does Anybody Listen?

BY JANICE DOYLE

Dear Readers,

H

ere’s my mantra for computer use: “Don’t ever tell me to JUST do anything Janice Doyle, on the computer.”

Editor You may show me, guide me, teach me, enlighten me, prepare me, drill me and communicate well to me. I will, however, not JUST do anything on the computer. It will take me a while to absorb what I’m taught, and I will have to practice it over and over until an “aha” moment.

Then it will be mine, and I will love it!

It’s really a puzzle, this keeping up with technology. Publisher of this magazine Kathy Beck and I are “women of a certain age”—I’m in my late 60s (very late 60s!) and she’s more than a decade younger. We were talking one day about how much social media presence we need to have since we are, after all, in the print media and senior events business.

After some discussion, Kathy said, “When is it going to slow down so we can catch up?” Her comment showed where she and I are now—we’re staggering to understand even the basics of social media! By definition, social media means the use of Internet-based technologies to turn communication into interactive dialogue. (Translation: We put something on the Internet and you interact with us via your computer.) Or something like that.

In reality we know technological development is not slowing down soon.

The last few years I was a middle school teacher, I struggled to learn computer use through workshops and a young co-teacher’s help.

At that time I also worked nights and weekends following a dream to become a writer by working as writer and proofreader for Kathy.

I went with her from page layouts on old-fashioned cut-and-paste “boards” to doing the whole job on computers. So, in many ways we learned together. Translation: We both had to have someone around who could JUST do this or that on computer.

I remember one night more than 10 years ago when the only person who really knew how to—just!—put the stories and ads in the computer templates left for the day about the time I came to the office (after teaching all day) to help. Two hours later, our husbands—also computer neophytes—arrived bringing take-out suppers. All of us together had the computer capability of one computersavvy five-year-old child today.

(Please note that I did not say the five-year-old was smarter than we were, just computer-savvy. There’s a big difference. Five year olds are NOT smarter than you are just because they can maneuver a computer keyboard—and don’t you forget that.)

Anyway, at one point, I “minimized” the story we needed to finish the month’s layout without knowing what I had done. Today that sounds so foolish.

Have fun with us on Facebook.

It’s easy! Visit www.facebook.com, sign up and type “Senior Connection and Mature Lifestyles” in the search bar to bring up our community page. There, you’ll find the latest news and fun events near you, get your “Smile For The Day,” see fun pictures and videos and share comments with us!

Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 2

But that night in the office, the four of us tried to figure out where in the world that story had gone—one minute it was on the screen and the next minute it was gone. Many minutes passed as we tried to “find the silly thing,” one of us after the other sitting before the screen pushing keys. I no longer remember the solution, but I remember the frustration.

Like all business owners today, and whether she likes it or not, Kathy feels she has to build a “platform” for her products. Your independent mechanic faces the same dilemma. We now print over 200,000 publications a month for five distribution areas from Ocala down to Naples. Kathy also organizes and oversees a Senior Fun Fest every month at locations throughout west central Florida. Thousands of seniors flock to these for a day of entertainment, health screenings, vendor exhibits and just plain fun.

That’s the business Kathy is in, and she’s good at it.

It’s the platform of the social media part that is puzzling. In the last few months, we’ve added a Facebook presence; we Twitter; some of the staff are LinkedIn. Do we need a blog? An internet forum?

Podcasts? Do you use an RSS Feed?

Does it matter to the business?

We ask. Do you check us out on Facebook? Do you see our Tweets?

Do you read any online blogs?

Would you read a blog from us?

Would you be a guest blogger? Any comments: janice@srmagazine. com (subject line: editorial) Meanwhile, enjoy the magazine this month—after all, that’s one of the two things we do best! And, c’mon everybody. Let’s all do the Twist!

Bookworms Winner:

The winner of the DVD “War Dogs of the Pacific” was Tony Ferrara of Lehigh Acres. Congratulations!

Hillsborough, Pinellas/Pasco Published monthly by News Connection U.S.A., Inc.

Publisher, President: Kathy J. Beck kathy@srmagazine.com Editor: Janice Doyle Accounting: Vicki Willis Production Supervisor Graphic Design: Kim Burrell Production Assistant: Tracie Schmidt Customer Service: 1-888-670-0040 customerservice@srmagazine.com Advertising Sales: Hillsborough/Pinellas 1-888-670-0040 Tampa Bay Area Dena Bingham: (813) 653-1988 Pinellas/Pasco Judy Floyd: (727) 678-0315 Chuck Bingham: (813) 293-1550 Frank Zaccaro: (813) 388-3200 Sun City Center Judy Coleman: (813) 653-1988 Distribution 1-888-670-0040 Corporate Advertising Office: P.O. Box 638 Seffner, Florida 33583-0638

(813) 653-1988 888-670-0040 Fax: (813) 651-1989 www.srmagazine.com Send press releases to:

janice@srmagazine.com

News Connection U.S.A. Inc., is also the publisher of

Lee/Collier and Charlotte Counties: Southwest Edition Sarasota/Manatee Counties: Sarasota Edition

Lake/Marion Counties: Lake Edition

888-670-0040

ATTENTION READERS: The articles printed in Senior Connection and Mature Lifestyles do not necessarily reflect the opinion of the Editor or the staff. The Senior Connection/ Mature Lifestyles endeavors to accept reliable advertising; however we cannot be held responsible by the public for advertising claims. Senior Connection/Mature Lifestyles reserves the right to refuse or discontinue any advertisement. Our advertising deadline for the March 2011 issue is February 15, 2011. Magazines are out by the 7th of each month. All rights reserved.

Around Town

W H AT ’ S H A P P E N I N G F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 1

T

uesdays Upper Pinellas Singles 50+ meet every Tuesday evening at the First United Methodist Church, Dunedin.

6 p.m. dinner followed by entertainment or educational program. $7.

Info at (727) 474-3386.

F

ridays St. Pete Shuffle at the Shuffleboard Courts, 559 Mirror Lake Dr. N. 7 to 11 p.m. Call (727) 822-2083 or visit stpeteshuffle.com.

S

aturdays Horticulture Workshops at Sunken Gardens. 11:30 a.m.

– 12:30 p.m. For more information, please visit sunkengardens.org or call (727) 551-3102.

S

aturday Morning Market Al Lang Field parking lot. Variety of produce, baked goods, plants, crafts.

9 a.m. to 2 p.m. For information, visit saturdaymorningmarket.com.

T

hrough 13 “A Closer Walk” Patsy Cline tribute at Palladium, St. Pete College. Tickets and details at newamericantheater.org or by calling the box office at (727) 575-9241.

11

“Violets in the City” Show and Sale by Upper Pinellas African Violet Society. First Lutheran Church, 1644 Nursery Rd., Clearwater. Friday from noon to 4 p.m.; Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For more information, please call (727) 398-7450 or e-mail shelgl@yahoo.com.

12

“The Great American Songbook” Pops Concert at the Mahaffey Theatre by the Florida Orchestra. Favorite songs from Mercer, Gershwin, Porter, Ellington and more. 13 at Ruth Eckerd Hall. For more info, call (727) 892-3337 or visit floridaorchestra.org.

12

Kids & Kubs vs. City Hall Stars. 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. North

Shore Ball Park, Bayshore Dr. N.E. and 8th Ave. N. Call (727) 893-7108 for more information.

13

John Denver Tribute “Rocky Mountain Memories” at Largo Cultural Center. 2 p.m. Hear “Rocky Mountain High,” “Leaving on a Jet Plane,” “Take Me Home Country Roads,” and more. Tickets: visit LargoArts.com or call the box office at (727) 587-6793.

18

Artist Talk and Book Signing

by Dr. Herbert Savel at Florida Holocaust Museum. Discussion of his Holocaust woodcarvings. 2 to 4 p.m. Call (727) 820-0100 for info.

19

Orchid Society Members Sale

by Florida West Coast Orchid Society. 9 a.m. to noon, 12350 Ridge Rd. Largo. Call (727) 475-0750.

19

Pioneer Music Jamboree, Pinellas Pioneer Settlement, 2900 31st St. S., St. Pete. 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. For more information, visit pinellaspioneersettlement.org or call (727) 893-7326.

19

Celtic Woman concert; vocalists and 6-piece band and Aontas Choir performing Irish standard and classical favorites at Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater. 2 p.m. Call (727) 791-7400 for ticket information.

20

Five by Design, “Stay Tuned,” harmonies and productions harking back to the 50s TV style of Miller, Mancini and Mercer. Palladium Theater at SPC, 253 5th Ave. N, St. Petersburg, 7 p.m. Visit mypalladium. org or call (727) 822-3590 for details.

Send Around Town news to Senior Connection Magazine, 1602 S. Parsons Ave., Seffner, FL 33584; fax (813) 651-1989. News must be received by the 10th of the month prior to event (i.e. February 10 for March event.)

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Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 3

County Classes Offered Energetic Seniors Still Dancing E T

his month, learn about the environment and ways that you can keep your garden green:

12

Rain Harvesting Workshop. Pinellas County Extension, Pinewood Auditorium, 12211 Walsingham Road, Largo.

10 to 11:30 a.m. Learn to collect water for many uses. Advance registration

Free Educational Series at Clearwater Marine Aquarium

C

MA will host a free educational series with a new topic each month. Meetings include snacks, main presentation and a Q+A session. Upcoming topics include: Feb. 17—“Cold Stun Sea Turtles”; March 17,—“All About Dolphins”; and April 21,—“All About Otters.”

Visit www.SeeWinter.com to see speaker series lectures planned for the entire year.

required; rain barrel purchase is $30 at registration. Register by visiting pinellascountyextension .org, or call (727) 582-2100.

15

Climate Change 101 online class. 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Free but pre-registration required. Online registration by Feb. 14 at pinellascountyextension.org, or call (727) 582-2100 for information.

ach year the 40 ladies of the Silver Follies of New Port Richey, under the direction of Pat Griebel, perform for the public in a two hour entertainment at Heritage Springs Performing Arts Center filled with lively show tunes and hits. These over-55 ladies perform tap and jazz numbers and novelty numbers with great energy and beautiful costumes.

Their next big show is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 20, 2011 with two performances: 1 p.m. and 5 p.m. They also perform for groups, clubs and nursing facilities throughout the year.

Pictured are The Dancing Divas— one of the dance groups of the Silver Follies—as they performed for the

Ladies Golf Club Dinner at Timber Greens on Dec. 7. Pictured left to right are: Natalie D’Agata, Pat Albright, Barbara Tessicini, Nita Nisotis, Ann Poole and Barbara Colacicco.

For more information about this group, please contact Pat Griebel at (727) 375-7698 or (727) 505-7152.

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For more dealers contact Biria USA: Tel: 201-461-1980 www.biria.com Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 4

Hey Seniors!

15th

SENIORS

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Doors open inside 9 am – 1 pm

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Cholesterol, Blood Pressure, Bone Density, Glucose, Waist Circumference, Body Mass Index

FREE Health Screenings ~ FREE Admission to MOSI

Registration February 18, 2011 for Backwoods Walk

Early registration from needs to be mailed in by Feb.10th, 2011 or register at 7:30 am on Feb. 18th. $8 non-members FREE for Senior MOSI members (member # ) 813-987-6000 for MOSI Membership Day of Walk $12 non-members $8 for Senior MOSI members (member# ) Method of Payment: MASTERCARD VISA AMEX Card# Signature Make Checks Payable to: MOSI Foundation, Inc.

Exp. Date

Walk begins at 8 am and will meet at Main Entance at MOSI

Senior Back Woods Walk 4801 E. Fowler Ave. • Tampa, FL 33617

Name

Phone (

)

Address City/State/Zip Affiliation or Club In Consideration of your acceptance of this entry. I for myself, my heirs, devises, executor, administratora and assigns do hereby hold harmless MOSI Foundation, Inc. or their employees, representatives or successors, for any and all damages or injuries I may incur. I hereby grant permission for the free use of my name and picture in broadcast or account of this event.

Join Us for...

15th

Feb. 18, 2011

Starts outside the MOSI Main Entrance at 8 am.

Walk Registration Includes: • Packet Pick-up: 7:30 am • Back Woods Walk T-shirt • Continental breakfast • One IMAX® film voucher for use on event day or in the future* *Vouchers not valid for special engagement films

813-987-6000 presented by Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 5

Tampa Bay Symphony: Playing Music for the Love of It

BY JANICE DOYLE

“T

he Tampa Bay Symphony is really unique,” says Jack Heller who is retiring as music director of that orchestra after 25 years. “I say that because there are many orchestras across the nation that are community orchestras, but before a concert they hire several professionals to fill it out. Ours is truly an all-volunteer orchestra.”

“It is very very interesting,” Dr. Heller says of the diversity of the musicians’ backgrounds. “We have a clarinetist with a master’s degree in music from Yale who is a research doctor at USF. We have musicians with all sorts of advanced degrees, others who have played in major symphonies in the past to lawyers and local high school music teachers. They commit and come every Tuesday night because they love to work, to practice Beethoven and Brahms. They love the music.”

With players’ ages major orchestra will ranging from 18 to have 18 first violins, 90+, Dr. Heller says for example, plus the orchestra has certain numbers of gotten better and the other strings, but has grown in size “we must have 40 over the years. And violins and a total of the cost of putting about 90 musicians.” on a concert in the He says they large performance maintain that number halls has also risen because the purpose constantly. “They of the orchestra is for charge thousands musicians to be able Dr. Jack Heller, Music Director of dollars to use to come and play. His the big halls,” Dr. Heller says. passion for the group he conducts is That means, for example, having the obvious when he says, “Some come concert in Ferguson Hall at the Straz and don’t play very well any more, Center, rather than the larger Carol but they never miss a practice and Morsani hall. It also meant cutting that’s fine. They play what they can performances completely at times. and don’t play what they can’t. They From time to time the orchestra come because they love to play.” crowds the stages they play on A Juilliard-trained musician, Dr. because so many people want to Heller has been Music Director at the play. By definition, Dr. Heller says, University of Connecticut and at the an orchestra has a limit (3 trumpets, University of South Florida and guest 3 trombones, etc. plus strings). A conductor for orchestras from New

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York (the New York City Ballet) to Prague (the Czech Radio Orchestra).

The winter concert – Dvorak’s Cello Concerto with Scott Kluksdahl, cellist, as guest performer—will be Feb. 13 at 4 p.m. in Ferguson Hall at the Straz Center in Tampa and Feb. 14 at 7:30 p.m. in the Mahaffey Theater in St. Pete.

A spring concert will round out Dr. Heller’s professional career as a conductor when the orchestra plays Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 on April 17 and 18 featuring the “Young Artist Competition” winner.

The board which oversees the Tampa Bay Symphony is looking to see who might be interested in taking over as conductor. One thing is for sure. Members of the community of musicians now making up the orchestra are hoping for a conductor who understands their love of playing “just because they love the music.”

Tickets ($20) are available at the door at the time of the concert.

Subject: Grandkids

A

s the late Art Linkletter said, “Kids say the darnedest things.”

Here are some cute stories about kids and what they said.

“My young grandson called the other day to wish me Happy Birthday. He asked me how old I was, and I told him, 62. My grandson was quiet for a moment, and then he asked, ‘Did you start at 1?’”

“The fireman came down the ladder pregnant.” The teacher took the lad aside to correct him. “Don’t you know what pregnant means?” she asked.

“Sure,” said the young boy confidently.

“It means carrying a child.”

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Children’s Logic: “Give me a sentence about a public servant,” said a teacher. The small boy wrote:

Please enclose this form with your entry. (make sure to sign the bottom) Mail to: News Connection USA, P.O. Box 638, Seffner, FL 33583-0638 Presents...

Grandparent Name

Enter Now! Nothing Captures the love of a grandparent for a grandchild more than a great photo!

Could Your Grandchild’s Photo be a Winner?

Selected photos will be published in upcoming issues of Senior Connection magazine. Photos will be on display at the Senior Fun Fest, March 23, 2011 at the St. Petersburg Coliseum, 535 Fourth Ave. North, St. Petersburg, Florida 33701 Call 1-888-670-0040 for more information. ✸1st Place Winner $75 ✸ 2nd Place Winner $50 ✸ 3rd Place $25 ✸ Grand Prize Winner $100

Address City

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Photos should be: Maximum size 8 1/2” x 11”, printed on photo paper only. Maximum 5 entries per person.

NO professional photos. Please no photos by e-mail.

Sender’s Age(s)

Subject’s Age(s)

Subject’s Name Photo release signature Entries must be received by Mar. 16, 2011 to be entered in the Photo Contest. (Send your photos in early so we can share them with our readers). Photos will be returned within 45 days after contest ends, if you include a self-addressed stamped envelope (large enough to fit your photo) and name and address on the back of the photo.

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Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 7

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Veterans Corner

Fellow GIs – 64 Years and Five Miles Apart ho’d-a-thunk it? What are the odds? Many veterans of all services and several wars reconnect after time, and this reunion took 64 years.

It’s the story of my relocation to Lady Lake (in Lake County) in 2003 while Paul and Joyce Boulay moved to The Villages nearby in 2008.

Massachusetts native Paul Boulay and myself, an original upstate New Yorker, first met in 1946 at Maryland’s Aberdeen Proving Ground. There we mastered basic soldiering skills, the firing of state-of-the art weapons and close-order drilling in preparation to serve as replacements in Japan. During inspections, we faced each other eye-to-eye across tarpaper barracks.

Later we arrived at Yokohama, Japan’s replacement depot (“Repple Depot”) after 18 rocking days at sea aboard a military transport, and were assigned to Sasebo, on Japan’s southern island of Kyushu.

Two-story wooden barracks formerly housed Japanese naval personnel and lacked the creature comforts expected in a permanent billet. We had to wait on receiving wall lockers, so we lived out of our foot lockers. Finally, beds with springs and mattresses replaced cots.

Boulay drew the unit’s major assignment: “Continuous training on the use, maintenance and operation of one of four antitank guns assigned to the unit, exploring outlying caves possibly to find any enemy soldiers who had not gotten the word of surrender, and all the while being instilled with the fact that we were helping rebuild the country,” Boulay recalled.

I observed anti-tank training from the unit’s supply room window. I lucked out because I was the only recruit who could type, so I did all the ordering, corresponding and inventory management. The supply sergeant and I were the same age, and he was one homesick Tennessee boy, eager to go home and see his son born while he was in Japan.

STEFAN SANDERLING, MUSIC DIRECTOR

COFFEE CONCERTS

A Musical Tour: Paris, France

This matinee concert features Debussy’s Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun, Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess and Faure’s Masques et Bergamasques.

Concertgoers are invited to enjoy a pre-concert conversation and complimentary coffee and donuts one hour before the concert.

Wed, Mar 2, 10 am Ruth Eckerd Hall

Sponsored by:

Presented by: Herman Forbes Charitable Trust

Thu, Mar 3, 11 am

Progress Energy Center for the Arts, Mahaffey Theater

Bill Stokes, left, and Paul Boulay enjoy a cartoon album Stokes created while they served in the Army of Occupation in Japan, 1946 – 1948.

Upon discharge, Boulay became a union carpenter using the GI Bill, working for 15 or 20 employers as opportunities arose throughout the Northeast: he married and raised a family. I attended Syracuse University, also under the GI Bill, and then entered radio, then television, and also married and raised a family. I’m currently a freelance journalist.

We met again after 64 years when Boulay answered an invitation to attend a local mini-reunion of 24th Infantry Division area veterans who meet quarterly in Leesburg for luncheons and reminiscing. “Paul was so pleased to reconnect with an old friend,” his wife, Joyce, said.

Joyce encouraged him to call and meet with me, and we talked for two hours over lunch.

When people see our caps with the Tarro Leaf insignia, they immediately think “Korea.”

Paul says, “There aren’t many men around from WWII, but you never know when you may meet another one.”

Opera Goes Pops It’s a pops parade of some of the best-loved opera hits that everybody knows from commercials, cartoons and favorite films... Bizet’s Carmen, Rossini’s Barber of Seville, Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro, Puccini’s La Boheme and Verdi’s Force of Destiny, among others. Stuart Chafetz conducts.

Mar 4 - 6

POPS

Sponsored by:

MASTERWORKS

Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4

Acclaimed German pianist Peter Rösel performs Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 on this program with Luciano Berio’s orchestration of Contrapunctus XIX from Bach’s The Art of Fugue.The evening concludes with Shostakovich’s final symphony, No. 15. Stefan Sanderling conducts.

Mar 12 & 13

Stefan Sanderling

W

When our tours were completed, I returned to Rochester, NY and Boulay enlisted in the inactive reserve. Bad decision. “Just three months before that tour was up, I was reactivated for the Korean War,” he said, “and ended up in Trieste, Italy.”

However, his weapons familiarity stood him in good stead, and he became the unit’s Armorer, maintaining all small arms assigned to its personnel.

Stuart Chafetz

BY BILL STOKES

For more information: call 727.892.3337 or visit www.FloridaOrchestra.org For group savings (10 or more) : 727.362.5443 TFO-Senior Connection-Feb.indd 1

Senior Connection • February 201111:47:51 • page 1/13/2011 AM 9

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Play & Win!

Season Highlights

BY JUNE YOUNG

I

f you, like me, love theatre but have had to give up night driving, it’s a good time to take advantage of matinee outings. Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater and the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota both offer matinee performances.

At Ruth Eckerd Hall, John Davidson, game show host and Broadway musical star, will perform in concert February 16 at 1 p.m. If it’s Irish you’re wanting, enjoy Andy Cooney’s “Forever Irish” musical variety on Feb. 24. And you’ll want to get your tickets early for “‘S Wonderful,” the story of Gershwin.

It’s a wonderful matinee on March 7.

Across the Skyway Bridge, Sarasota’s Asolo Repertory Theatre

offers a chance to plan regular outings with friends who share your love of theater. The most dramatic production you can imagine is taking the stage from now through March 26—“Twelve Angry Men.”

In the drama, a jury struggles to determine a young man’s fate and the suspension builds right up until the final curtain.

Taking the stage at the Asolo in revolving repertory through April 23 is the revival of the comedy “Boeing Boeing,” which tells of a bachelor juggling three relationships with flight attendants in Paris.

For tickets and information, call the Ruth Eckerd Hall box office: (727) 791-7400 or the Asolo Theatre box office: 1-800-361-8388.

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Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 11

Are You A Cougar?

come. Some of my friends say they are up for this challenge, but most of us have raised enough children and husbands to satisfy that need.

BY ANN G. THOMAS Observe carefully. If you say, “Please be sure and put the toilet seat down so ave you heard about the new dat- I don’t fall in some night and break my ing trend? Younger men and older hip.” Observe to see if A) he listens women are hooking up. The women and B) he remembers. A clear pattern are called “Cougars.” As someone who seldom develops before a month. is Unmistakably Older and therefore If you see that he has flunked, you potentially a candidate for one of are right in the middle of the “If these younger men, I decided the topic I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a merited some thought. If the opporthousand times” syndrome, which tunity presents itself, I don’t want to we all recognize as mothering. stammer around, unsure of what to say. Then the question is: “How do To begin with, it’s important to you feel about a broken hip?” understand the young man’s motivaIt’s also important to discover tion. Some are probably looking for if he likes to cook. Some women a mother. If so, one needs to take are delighted to find a new partner seriously whether teaching another who is kitchen adverse or even male how to pick up dirty socks, put incompetent, because they now the toilet seat down when finished and have someone to cook for. I, on the wipe their feet before coming inside other hand, believe that the good is really worth whatever benefits may Lord assigns to every woman at birth

H

Affordable Housing For Senior Citizens

a maximum number of dinners to prepare for others, and I reached my quota several years ago. A hungry, helpless person sitting nightly at my kitchen table would not only starve, but also definitely get on my nerves.

Whose friends will the two of you hang out with? If yours, there is the definite advantage that many of your cohorts will become inhibited and stop talking about their colons and gall bladders. That alone may make everything worthwhile.

On the other hand, interesting as his friends may be, there is the difference in energy level that comes with age.

The initial flush of a new relationship allows one to experience an amazing surge of energy, but trust me, it doesn’t last. When that surge has passed, realize compromise here is difficult.

Clearly it would be embarrassing to show up in pajamas and cold cream.

In-laws are also a factor to consider.

Things can get sticky when your new

Is Online Dating For You? W

ondering about online dating sites? Here are some factors to consider:

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partner is younger than your youngest child, and your new mother-in-law doesn’t yet need to color her hair.

Those extended-family get-togethers may begin to take on the characteristics of an evening from Comedy Central.

On the other hand, there is the issue of sex. A new, younger partner is often very sexy, and given the fact that males peak earlier than females, that can be a real recommendation.

This whole idea of the older woman and the younger man is a relatively new phenomenon in our society, although we’ve always seen the reverse where older men seek out younger women. That’s not called being a cougar, however.

My friend Gladys, whose husband Ted divorced her for his young secretary, told me the term that’s used to describe this behavior in men is “Old Fool.”

Ann Thomas can be contacted through her website: dr-annthomas.com.

The good side: • There are lots of choices of singles.

• It’s relatively inexpensive.

• It’s fun to read what people say on their profiles.

• The process makes it easy to connect with people and get to know each other slowly.

But, remember these points always: • People and pictures can lie. Use a current photo. There are nice ways to ask someone you meet online if theirs is a current photo; if it’s not, ask them to post a current photo.

• Do some research on how to write a profile so you don’t tell too much or too little.

• Know your expectations by doing some self-study. You don’t look or act 38 any more, and neither will the people you meet. Give people some slack as you get to know them.

• Determine your “deal breakers” or the things you simply cannot move forward with. This may be excessive weight, being dishonest, braggadocio personality, financial status, etc.

• Take your time! You really are not going to be better off by rushing into telling your entire life story in one e-mail.

• As much as you may want someone to call you, be sure you follow all the safety rules before giving out your number. People have lied before and they will lie again.

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Location: Golden Corral 10050 Ulmerton Rd • Largo FL 33771 Host: Michael Fels, Associate Vice President-Investments Sponsored and Financially Supported by: Allianz Guest Speaker: Brian Lauria, Regional Vice President Reservations: Irene VanDerHorn 727-799-5558 Investment and Insurance Products:

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Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 13

Get your advance tickets today! www.flstrawberryfestival.com MAR. 3 - MAR. 13, 2011 - PLANT CITY, FLORIDA

THE JUDDS

(The Last Encore)

BOBBY VINTON KENNY ROGERS

LADY ANTEBELLUM Artists Appearing on the Wish Farms Soundstage: Thu. Mar. 3 Thu. Mar. 3 Thu. Mar. 3

10:30 am 3:30 pm 7:30 pm

Jimmy Sturr & Orchestra Bobby Vinton Kenny Rogers

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Suite Caroline Jeremy Camp Gaither Vocal Band

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Sun. Mar. 6 Sun. Mar. 6

3:30 pm 7:30 pm

Trace Adkins $25 & $30 The Judds (The Last Encore) $45

Mon. Mar. 7 Mon. Mar. 7

3:30 pm 7:30 pm

Charley Pride Clint Black

$15 & $20 $20 & $25

Tues. Mar. 8 Tues. Mar. 8

3:30 pm 7:30 pm

Chubby Checker Chris Young

$15 & $20 $20 & $25

Wed. Mar. 9 Wed. Mar. 9

3:30 pm 7:30 pm

Tanya Tucker Rick Springfield

$15 & $20 $20 & $25

Thu. Mar. 10 Thu. Mar. 10 Thu. Mar. 10

10:30 am 3:30 pm 7:30 pm

The Guy Lombardo Band FREE George Jones $15 & $20 The Doobie Brothers $25 & $30

Fri. Mar. 11 Fri. Mar. 11

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Ray Price Josh Thompson / Justin Moore

Sat. Mar. 12

3:30 pm

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$10 & $15 $20 & $25

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Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 14

Shop from your seat…not your feet!

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The King of “The Twist” Still Makes a Good Excuse for a Party

BY JANICE DOYLE

Come on, everybody. Let’s twist!

“W

hether you’re young or old, no one escapes Chubby Checker on the dance floor,” Chubby Checker himself told me. “Ever since that night on American Bandstand, people have been dancing apart to the beat,” doing the dance Checker describes as being “like putting out a cigarette with both feet.”

“That night” was over 50 years ago and now you’re invited to hear Chubby Checker at the Florida Strawberry Festival.

You can even jump up and do the “Twist” again if you want to.

The ever-cheerful Checker (real name Ernest Evans) celebrated the 50th anniversary of his appearance on the Dick Clark Bandstand with the song and dance “The Twist” in June 2010. It was also a huge event in music history—“The Twist” was the only artist and song of the Sixties to go #1 twice.

Dick Clark said the three most important events in music history were Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Chubby Checker. And, at 69, Chubby Checker is still twisting his way across the country doing 50 shows a year.

His name and the song were given to him, he said. But cheerfulness and hard work came naturally to the kid who was transplanted from the fields in South Carolina to Philadelphia at age 8.

“When I got here (Philadelphia) I didn’t believe what I was seeing,” he said. “Gangs and cussing and drinking. So I took refuge on Fourth Street with the Jewish people in the garment district where I worked.

They looked after me and liked me.”

Then, when he was 13, he went to Ninth Street. “I became Italian. They liked me because I was always happy and singing and worked hard.”

It was here that “everything was given to me,” he said. While working for Henry Colt in a poultry market, he was called Chubby. Colt told a songwriter friend who worked for Dick Clark of American Bandstand, about him.

before the camera where he sang the song and—well, he Twisted. He was doing a dance he thought accompanied his song, and it required no partner.

Gasping parents across America noted very little except the hip movement. Aghast at what they were seeing, there was little they could do as the teen dancing climate changed for good, and the song shot to Number One with Clark’s promotion.

Accomplishments:

Dick Clark’s wife asked Ernest his name, and Ernest gave her his nickname, Chubby. And she replied, “Oh, you mean like ‘checker?’”— making a joke on the fact that he was doing Fats Domino impressions.

Dominoes, checkers, get it? And so he became Chubby Checker.

And when Clark needed someone to sing “The Twist” one night, Checker spent 35 minutes practicing and went

For a few years, other songs promoted the dance, like The Beatles’ “Twist and Shout,” and Sam Cooke’s “Twistin’ the Night Away.” But it is Chubby Checker who has kept performing, traveling by bus to crowds who remember dancing “back in the day.”

Checker said he has been able to stay on the circuit through diligence to his lifestyle. In his late 20s he used to watch John Wayne, Harry Bellafonte,

Alan Ladd and others and say to himself “‘those guys are all in good shape and they are 55 and 60, and when I get to that age I want to look like that.’”

He started by just watching what he ate and exercising. He laughed and said, “And it came out the way I planned it.”

Like most people at 69, he has some thoughts about life’s lessons. “Life is not all that it’s made up to be,” he said.

“We have cars and lots of ‘stuff’ but the body is still living in the dark ages because your body doesn’t advance like all the other ‘stuff.’ Can’t put anything in there that doesn’t belong there and that’s all I know. You just can’t.”

We’re not all that we think we are either, he believes.

“And when you look in the mirror, the enemy is right there looking back at you. You have to behave.

There’s a voice saying ‘We’ll worry about it when we get there.’ And you have to tell yourself, ‘No, you can’t do that. Take care of it now.’”

He said, “The truth of it is, that spirit that lives inside is God. If you keep looking toward the Light, the darkness won’t come in. If you try to do right, it’s not a straight and narrow path, it’s a tightrope. You have to stay balanced.

The minute you get proud and full of yourself you’re on the way to destruction.”

He’s waiting, he said, “for the pages to turn so I can see what the next page looks like. And when I come down to Florida we’re gonna turn it on. It’s gonna be the best part of the day!”

His shows are lighthearted, nostalgic, fun, full of an early-rock beat and lots of gyrating onstage with the one, the only, Chubby Checker.

So, come on, everybody. Let’s twist!

See Chubby Checker in person Tues., Mar. 8 at 3:30 p.m. at the Strawberry Festival.

Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 15

Medicare Answers D

HOME LIGHTINGBreakthrough

ear Marci, I want to quit smoking.

Can I get help through Medicare? —Carl

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It brings the benefits of natural daylight indoors, simulating the full spectrum of daylight.

The Balanced Spectrum’s 27-watt compact bulb is brighter than a 100-watt ordinary light bulb. With the lamp’s sharp visibility, you will see with more clarity and enjoyment in close tasks such as reading, writing, sewing, and needlepoint. It is especially helpful for aging eyes.

Experience sunshine indoors at the touch of a switch. This amazing lamp is not only easy on the eyes, it is easy on the hands as well, featuring a special “soft-touch, flicker-free” rocker switch that is easier to use than traditional toggle or twist switches. And its flexible gooseneck design enables you to get light exactly where you need it. The hightech electronics, the user-friendly design, and a bulb that lasts 10 times Technology revolutionizes the light bulb • Save almost $61 over the life of the bulb • 8,000 hours bulb life • Energy efficient • Shows true colors

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Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 16

Dear Carl, Yes you can. Medicare covers counseling to help you quit smoking.

As of August 25, 2010, Medicare covers smoking cessation for all people with Medicare, regardless of whether or not they have a disease or condition caused by smoking.

Medicare will cover two counseling attempts at quitting smoking per year. Each attempt includes four sessions. Medicare will cover a total of eight sessions every 12 months.

Medicare will pay 80 percent of the approved amount for smoking cessation efforts after the deductible is met.

In hospital outpatient departments, you will pay a copay that is no larger than the Part D deductible. If you are in a Medicare private health plan,

contact your plan to see what rules and costs apply.

Starting January 1, 2011, if you have Original Medicare, and if you have not been diagnosed with an illness that is caused or complicated by smoking, you will pay no coinsurance or deductible for smoking cessation counseling. If you have a smoking-related illness, however, you will still need to pay the Medicare coinsurance or copay and deductible.

Prescription drugs for smoking cessation are covered under the Medicare prescription drug benefit (Part D).

You can receive counseling at the doctor’s office (including physicians, psychologists, and clinical social workers), clinic or outpatient department of a hospital. Counseling must be done by a doctor or an approved Medicare provider. Note that Medicare will not pay for hypnosis sessions to help you quit smoking. —Marci

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An Interview with Barry Petersen

Part 1

I

n a career spanning more than three decades with CBS News, Barry Petersen has reported on everything from wars to Paris fashions and from the return of American jazz to Shanghai, China. His stories have been datelined from virtually every continent.

He has interviewed Hollywood stars including Jimmy Stewart, Bill Cosby, Pierce Brosnan and Sir Anthony Hopkins, as well as the leaders of the Bosnian war who were later tried as war criminals. He has been honored numerous times for his writing and reporting, and shared both an Alfred I. Dupont-Columbia University Award and a George Foster Peabody Award as part of CBS Radio’s coverage of the democracy uprising at Tiananmen Square. Recently he wrote a thoroughly compelling book, “Jan’s Story,” about his life as a family caregiver for his wife, Jan, who was also a CBS news professional, after her diagnosis with early onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Caregiver.com Editor-in-Chief Gary Barg sat down with Barry for an open and frank discussion about life as a family caregiver.

Gary Barg: The thing about Alzheimer’s that is so insidious is your loved one is still there, but they are not there. It is the true long goodbye and denial is so easy to do.

Could you talk a little bit about how you walked through that process?

Barry Petersen: The worst part was realizing afterward what I had done;

and not realizing at the time how people were reaching out to help me see it, but I could not. I guess I am not unusual in that sense. How could it be Jan? She is young.

She is really vibrant.

She is great. There is no way she deserves to get this disease. It cannot be happening.

I think that drove a lot of my decisions, some of them good, some of them bad; but it is a huge part of this denial and this disease feeds it, just feeds it.

“She added something that haunts me to this day. If I go down, if the caregiver goes down, who takes care of the person that you love who has the disease? Her point was very blunt. You take care of yourself or no one takes care of Jan.” Gary Barg: You mentioned our Reverse Gift List concept in the book, which is asking someone not only to come to dinner, but bring dinner, do things, give me gifts. As a caregiver, I need to manage this and I need you to work for me. How did you get that kind of help from your friends and family members?

News to Know S

eniors can receive assistance with legal problems in Pasco County through HELP (Helping the Elderly with Legal Problems). Attorneys offer half hour appointments beginning at 1 p.m. on the following dates: Claude Pepper Senior Center, New Port Richey, Feb. 10 and 24 and March 10 and 24. Call (727) 844-3077; Rao Musunuru Enrichment Center,

Hudson, Feb. 15 and March 1 and 15.

Call (727) 863-6868 for more details.

Jazzercise classes meet at the Tarpon Springs Community Center as follows: Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 6 p.m.; Tuesday and Thursday at 9 a.m., Saturday at 9:15 a.m. The cost of the class is $36/month. Please call (727) 942-5628 for more information.

Barry Petersen: Caregivers are people who are incredibly focused on what they are doing in a solitary, lonesome way. Every day, their world shrinks a little more because the person dealing with Alzheimer’s needs more attention, needs more care. Life responsibilities keep shifting over to the caregiver side—writing the checks, getting the groceries, picking up the kids, whatever you want to call it. They increasingly fall on the caregiver at a time when the caregiver is increasingly in demand because the disease is taking more and more of the person away. I think people who are caregiving in the situation lose themselves. So if you call them up and say, “Can I help,” their answer is going to be, “No, I am fine. I am doing great.”

Do not call them up and say, “What can I do?” Call them up and say, “I am bringing dinner on Thursday night; go to a movie,” or “I am coming over on Tuesday afternoon to take care of the person. Go shopping, go have a cup of tea, just get away.” I think it does two things: it obviously helps break the process with the person who is giving care; but the other thing is that it allows the caregiver to step away and realize how he or she is doing.

Gary Barg: I was just wondering, during this process, who was there looking out for Barry?

Barry Petersen: Nobody. I was not just in denial, I was delusional.

When I saw the statistics, when I realized that caregivers tend to die before the person with Alzheimer’s, I said to myself, that makes perfect sense—an 87-year-old woman taking care of her 90-year-old husband, the physical demands, the hours—but that is not me. That is not early onset. It really took our live-in caregiver sitting me down and saying to me,” You are going down.” This is a woman who is a retired nurse, who is taking my blood pressure, who is monitoring how Jan is doing, who could really see it. I had to accept what she said because she added something that haunts me to this day.

If I go down, if the caregiver goes down, who takes care of the person that you love who has the disease?

Her point was very blunt. You take care of yourself or no one takes care of Jan. As she said, Jan will always have people looking after her, but the caregiver does not have that. I think in point of fact, caregivers deny getting help sometimes. Let me go to something else you said which I think relates to this, and that is you use the word guilt. I think in my case, and I do not know how shared this is, there is a lot of guilt that you are not the one with the disease.

Watch for Part 2 next month.

Jazz Concerts Boomers, Take Note

S

H

ear the Suncoast Dixieland Jazz Society in these Feb. concerts:

10 and 24 Bobby Tess and the

Dixie Chaps, 7 to 9:30 p.m., Bilmar Beach Resort, Treasure Island. $7.

Food/drinks available. (727) 522-6877.

20 Wally’s Warehouse Waifs, 1 to

4 p.m., Banquet Masters, 8100 Park Blvd., Pinellas Park. $15 members/ $20 guests. Food/drinks available.

Details at (727) 397-1875.

ocial Security Planning Workshops for Boomers will be held Thurs. Feb, 10 at 6:30 p.m. at the Dunedin Community Center, Thurs., Feb. 24, 6:30 p.m. at the Palm Harbor Library, and Tuesday, March 1, 6:30 p.m. at the Oldsmar Library.

The workshop presenter is J. Henry Livingston, CFP, President, Retirement Resources Advisory, Inc. Please reserve space by calling (727) 799-0551.

Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 17

Take the journey of a lifetime.

EXHIBITION Visit MOSI’s recently expanded, state-of-the-art, permanent exhibition, The Amazing You. Informative and interactive, this exhibition showcases health and wellness.

Learn how to stay healthy and how to return to wellness after an illness, surgery or a disability.

Find out about medical conditions and diseases including which are most preventable.

Senior Group rateS available!

Save up to 50% on one-day admission to MOSI or on special packages.

Stay tuned for senior-related events at MoSi.orG or by signing up for our Free e-newsletter.

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4801 E. Fowler Ave. • Tampa 813-987-6000 • mosi.org Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 18

Aspirin and Heart Health—Sorting It Out O ver the past 100 years, we have relied on aspirin to control fevers, headaches, arthritis and pain.

Now many people are using it to prevent heart attacks, thanks in part to two large, Harvard-based clinical trials. But like every drug, aspirin can cause health problems as well as solve them. It can upset the stomach and cause bleeding in the stomach or brain. That makes deciding whether to take aspirin to prevent a heart attack something each man should do in consultation with his doctor.

How does aspirin protect the heart?

The short answer is that aspirin prevents heart attacks by stopping blood platelets from sticking together and forming artery-blocking clots.

Is there any way to protect my stomach from bleeding?

Yes. Low doses of aspirin appear to

pose less risk for stomach bleeding than higher doses, so stick to 81 milligrams a day. It is even more important to avoid other nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as ibuprofen, or to take the lowest effective dose for the shortest time possible, if you are also taking aspirin.

Medications such as the acid-suppressing proton-pump inhibitors can prevent aspirin-induced stomach bleeding.

I am a healthy man; should I take aspirin to reduce my risk for heart attack?

This is the toughest question of all.

It’s a matter of balancing aspirin’s potential benefits against its risks.

For men between the ages of 45 and 79, the respected U.S. Preventive Services Task Force recommends taking daily low-dose aspirin when the benefit (protection against heart attacks) outweighs the risks (bleeding).

Treating Leaky Bladders Can Help Improve Women’s Health

“I had my leaky bladder treated in a doctor’s office ...without surgery.”

Dieting? Don’t Skip Breakfast

Treatment in the doctor’s office in about an hour.

Back to normal daily activities the same day or next day.

Covered by Medicare.

M

illions of women suffer from stress urinary incontinence (SUI), the leakage of urine when laughing, coughing or other activities. What many don’t realize is that SUI isn’t just an annoyance—it’s a medical condition that, untreated, can have serious consequences.

Isolation, anxiety, and depression are some of the many health risks that can be associated with SUI. The condition can also limit a person’s participation in enjoyable activities. Leaky bladders make exercising difficult, which can lead to weight gain. Wet skin due to constant leakage may be associated with skin rashes and infections. SUI can also increase the risk of urinary tract infections.

The health impact of SUI is often great enough that effective treatment can make a real difference. Sometimes, special exercises/lifestyle changes are suggested, but these options may not be enough.

And many women don’t want the risks/ long recovery time associated with surgery. A new non-surgical treatment called Renessa® may be an option.

N

on-breakfast eaters will say they are too busy, just not hungry or that they find it’s a good way to skip calories they enjoy more later in the day. These attitudes may keep you from losing weight.

So, why eat breakfast if you’re a dieter (or wannabe dieter)? First, eating breakfast speeds up your metabolism, which is critical to weight loss. It may be a long time until you eat again and that is detrimental to keeping your system operating at peak performance.

Want to watch calorie intake all day?

It’s not likely to be easy to eat a light salad at lunch if you’ve had nothing to eat all morning,

With Renessa, a small device is inserted into the urethra to gently heat small areas of tissue at the base of the bladder. This heating causes natural collagen in the tissue to become firmer, which can decrease leaks. Treatment can be performed in a doctor’s office in about an hour, and women can safely resume activities the same or next day. Treatment effect is typically seen within 60 to 90 days. Overall, about 75 percent of patients are improved.

“My patients have been very happy with the treatment,” said Dr. David Jacob, a local physician. “Their symptoms are improved and they are able to return to their busy lives quickly.”

Side effects of Renessa are typically mild and temporary and most resolve shortly after treatment. “The Renessa treatment changed my life,” said Evelyn R*, a 67-year-old Tampa resident. “Don’t wait. Get treated.”

For info, visit www.Renessa.com or call Dr. David Jacob at (727) 248-0671. *Patient names have been changed.

so plan ahead and don’t find yourself saying “I’m starving” at noon. That can make you feel justified in fixing yourself a larger lunch than you really need.

By now, a true dieter has chosen between cutting carbs, cutting fat or just cutting calories in general. If you’re on a low carb diet, a simple egg at breakfast will fulfill the need to get your metabolism going as well as help you be ready to enjoy a light lunch instead of a heavy lunch. If you’re on a fat-cutting diet, you might have had a bowl of oatmeal in the morning to fulfill those two parts of the dieter’s day.

The biggest caution for breakfast is to avoid the tasty but high-sugar cereal routine.

Justify it any way you will (milk is good for you, it’s easy, etc.) but most cereals are our quick-fix habit.

Think breakfast, think health!

Call Today to Learn More:

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Risks: Adverse events (complications) are typically mild and temporary and most resolve shortly after treatment. Reported complications include dysuria (discomfort during urination), hematuria (blood-tinged urine), urinary tract infection, and urine retention (inability to empty the bladder). Infrequently, worsening incontinence symptoms have been reported.

Volunteer Opportunity

F

lorida’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program needs volunteers to join its corps of dedicated advocates who protect the rights of elders residing in nursing homes, assisted living facilities and adult family care homes. The program’s local councils are seeking additional volunteers to identify,

investigate and resolve residents’ concerns.

Special training and certification is provided.

All interested individuals who care about protecting those who often have no one else to advocate for them, are encouraged to call toll-free (888) 8310404 or visit the program’s website at ombudsman.myflorida.com.

Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 19

Matters of the Heart: Helping a Family Member with Heart Disease

W

hen someone we love is hurting, it’s only natural to want to help them in every way possible.

If a family member is dealing with a cardiac disease, our ability to help can be hindered by a number of factors. But with a little effort, we can overcome these challenges and provide the right kind of support.

Health “When doctors send our patients home, we often assume that everything we say and suggest and prescribe is going to be followed up on,” admits Dr. Cam Patterson, chief of cardiology at the University of North Carolina Hospitals in Chapel Hill. “But there are all kinds of ways an excellent clinical plan can be derailed.”

To keep that from happening, Patterson suggests that family members do the following:

1. Understand the illness. The most common obstacle is not having enough information on the condition. Start by consulting with the cardiologist about your role in rehabilitation and recovery. It’s also a good idea to gauge how you’re your loved one understands the condition.

2. Manage medications and follow-up appointments. With new routines and medications, patients can get frustrated. This is where family members can be a huge help. Make sure you understand the purpose, dosage and side-effects of each medication, and that you are aware of all appointments for doctor visits and cardiac rehab sessions.

3. Participate in lifestyle changes.

Most cardiac patients have to make significant changes in exercise and diet.

Success rates skyrocket when a family member or friend participates. For instance, the American Heart Association

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4. Watch for emotional responses.

It’s not uncommon for cardiac patients to become depressed or go into denial. If your loved one becomes angry or withdrawn, or if you notice other major changes in his or her personality, talk about it together.

5. Get active. Activity levels will be limited for most patients, but it’s important for family members to

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And there’s something you can do for yourself, too. Since heart disease has a genetic component, it’s important for children and siblings to know their heart health status by making an appointment with a physician. For spouses, it’s important to make sure you have your own support system—family, friends, clergy, support groups, etc.—to help you manage the emotions you may encounter in caring for a loved one. You can’t help if you’re not healthy yourself!

“It’s important to realize that your family is going to have to make adjustments because of this severe illness, but you can’t let it get in the way of being a family,” Patterson says. (Newswise)

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Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 20

• On Site Wellness Center • Tiled bathrooms with heat lamps, ceramic tile recess, grab bars • All maintenance is paid by the property and completed promptly • Lighted parking on site • Exterior windows open for fresh air • Small pets welcome • Subsidized TV cable.

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It’s a Good Egg. Except When It’s Not

E

ven as prices go up, eggs are one of the best buys in the grocery store when you consider their nutritional value and the many ways they can be used. Here’s information about eggs from the book The Safe Food Handbook by Heli Perrett, Ph.D. Can you tell by looking at an egg if it is fresh? You can’t tell if an egg is fresh by looking at it in the shell.

However, if you are worried about the freshness of an egg, gently float it in a bowl of water. A fresh egg should sink. If it floats, it is likely getting old. In that case, crack it open in a separate dish and smell it. If it has an “off” odor, discard.

Once you have cracked open a raw egg, you will have many more clues besides odor. Contrary to what you might think, if the egg white is cloudy or a boiled egg is hard to peel, this usually suggests freshness. If the egg white is clear, it is likely that the egg is beginning to age.

Consider the yolk. When a fresh egg is being fried or poached, its yolk tends to hold its shape (be rounded).

As an egg ages, the yolk becomes flatter and larger, and the white spreads out more, but that does not necessarily mean it is unsafe.

So, take advantage of the “incredible edible egg” and its amazing nutritional value: 75 calories and as many as 13 essential nutrients and high quality protein. Enjoy!

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Pioneering audiologist invents “reading glasses” for your ears.

NEW

Neutronic Ear is the easy, virtually invisible and affordable way to turn up the sound on the world around you.

You don’t have to pay through the nose to get Personal Sound Amplification Technology.

Neutronic Ear has been designed with the finest micro-digital electronic components available to offer superb performance and years of use. Many years of engineering and development have created a product that’s ready to use right out of the box. The patented case design and unique clear tube make it practical and easy to use. The entire unit weighs only 1/10th of an ounce, and it hides comfortably behind either ear. The tube is designed to deliver clear crisp sound while leaving the ear canal open. The electronic components are safe from moisture and wax buildup, and you won’t feel like you have a circus

First of all, Neutronic Ear is not a hearing aid; it is a PSAP, or Personal Sound Amplification Product. Until PSAPs, everyone was required to see the doctor, have hearing tests, have fitting The Evolution of Hearing Products appointments (numerous Invention Date Easy to Use? Invisible?

Affordable? visits) and then pay for The Ear 17th the instruments without No Hardly Maybe Horn Century any insurance coverage.

Wearable Weighed These devices can cost up 1935 No No 2.5 pounds Hearing Aid to $5000 each! The high cost and inconvenience Digital Not for No 1984 No Hearing Aid most people drove an innovative scientist to develop the Neutronic Yes 2010 Yes Yes Ear Neutronic Ear PSAP.

Just think of the places you’ll enjoy Neutronic Ear • Parties • Restaurants • Church • Lectures • Book Groups • Movies • Bird-watching and almost any daily activity Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 22

peanut jammed in your ear. Thanks to a state-ofthe-art manufacturing process and superior design, we can make Neutronic Ear affordable and pass the savings on to you.

It works… but don’t take our word for it. Why pay thousands to make everything sound louder when what you really need is a Personal Sound Amplification Product? We’re so sure you’ll be absolutely thrilled with the quality and effectiveness of this product that we are offering

• Hard to see • Simple to use • Easy to afford it to the public at a low introductory price with our exclusive trial offer. If, for any reason, you are not completely amazed by how this product improves your life, simply return it for a refund of the product purchase price within 30 days.

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It’s amazing how technology has changed the way we live. Since the end of the Second World War, more products have been invented than in all of recorded history. After WWII came the invention of the microwave oven, the pocket calculator, and the first wearable hearing aid. While the first two have gotten smaller and more affordable, hearing aids haven’t changed much. Now there’s an alternative… Neutronic Ear.

Who Needs Angioplasty Discover The Springs For Heart Disease?

South Pasadena’s Hidden Treasure A

dvances like artery-opening angioplasty, which restores healthy blood flow to oxygen-starved heart muscle without opening the chest, splitting apart the breastbone, and stopping the heart, are true marvels of modern medicine. The problem with marvels is that we come to expect too much from them.

That has happened with angioplasty, reports the December 2010 Harvard Heart Letter. This procedure uses a small wire tipped with a balloon to enlarge a narrowed artery. Although many people think of angioplasty as a cure for cholesterol-clogged arteries, it really isn’t. It can ease angina, the chest pain brought on by physical activity or stress, but it doesn’t fix the real source of the problem—the artery-clogging process known as atherosclerosis.

A new study of men and women planning to undergo elective angioplasty showed that 60 percent didn’t really need the procedure and would have been better off with intensive medical and lifestyle therapy, Angioplasty does not halt the spread of atherosclerosis or prevent the damage it causes. As a result, it doesn’t reduce the chances of having a future heart attack or improve survival.

Many people don’t know this, and doctors don’t always take the time to drive home this point.

That means angioplasty can create a false sense of security that you have taken care of the problem, when in reality atherosclerosis continues to corrode arteries in your heart and elsewhere.

A new study of men and women planning to undergo elective angioplasty showed that 60

percent didn’t really need the procedure and would have been better off with intensive medical and lifestyle therapy, while a whopping 88 percent said they believed that the procedure would help protect them from having a heart attack down the road.

If you are having a heart attack or episode of unstable angina (chest pain at rest)—both of which are caused by a completely blocked artery— angioplasty is a terrific treatment. It removes the obstruction, allowing blood to once again reach all parts of the heart. Timely angioplasty can limit damage to the heart and can prevent a heart attack from turning into a deadly cardiac arrest.

During a heart attack, the huge benefit of angioplasty outweighs the risks. That isn’t necessarily the case when angioplasty is performed to open a narrowed but functioning artery. Although most people sail through angioplasty without a problem, about five in every 100 people who undergo the procedure have a complication. These range from prolonged bleeding to kidney damage, an abnormal heart rhythm, or heart attack or stroke.

If you are having a heart attack, angioplasty is a marvelous procedure.

But if you are having angina now and then, or have a narrowed coronary artery that isn’t causing you any trouble at all, angioplasty adds little or nothing to intensive medical therapy and lifestyle changes.

(From Harvard Heart Letter)

Welcome to The Springs at Boca Ciega Bay, located in beautiful South Pasadena on the campus of The Fountains at Boca Ciega Bay. We’re not your typical skilled nursing facility.

We are a 109 bed Medicare certified Rehab Center offering a variety of health care services: • Skilled Nursing • Wound Care • Social Services • Full scale beauty salon • Individualized activities • State-of-the-art Rehab.

We offer Customized Rehab programs 7 days a week both in-patient and out-patient including Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy.

We specialize in: • Orthopedic • Stroke/Neuro • Cardiac programs by utilizing state-of-the-art equipment including Anodyne therapy and Natilus equipment, just to name a few.

We make admissions easy! We are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Our experienced and licensed Nurse Liaison, Catresa Bowie, will meet you at hospital bedside or in your home.

If you have a surgery planned, why not come in for a tour and take the mystery out of the admission process. Call Catresa Bowie at (727) 599-1390.

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Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 23

Taming Troublesome Taskbars is the size you want, right-click the taskbar and select “Lock the taskbar” to prevent any future unruliness.

How do I activate the Print Screen (PrtScrn) key when I want to print what appears on screen?

BY RICHARD SHERMAN Several months ago, the taskbar at the bottom of my screen became wider. Nothing I do seems to be able to make it return to the narrow size it was in the past. Can you help, Mr. M? The taskbar is designed to be expandable, so what you’re seeing is easily adjusted. Start by right-clicking the taskbar to make sure “Lock the taskbar” is not checked.

Next, place your cursor on the upper horizontal edge of the taskbar. When it is precisely on that edge, it will change into a double-headed arrow. Don’t be frightened. At that point, hold down your left mouse button and slowly drag the edge down towards the bottom of your screen, incrementally narrowing the Taskbar in the process. When it

ELVIS ese R u s s e l C o rt

The Print Screen key is always functional, so there really is nothing to activate. Contrary to what its name suggests, it does not literally print the screen when pressed. The Print Screen key saves a snapshot image of what appears on your screen to the Windows Clipboard. That process is invisible and occurs behind the scenes, so it appears as if nothing happens when you actually press the key.

To print the captured image, go to your destination location (such as a word processing document or e-mail composition screen), rightclick and select Paste. Whatever was captured to the Clipboard will pop onto the page. Once it appears, you can then print normally.

I have an Excel spreadsheet with column headings. I need a way to scroll down the rows, but still see the column headings. How can I do this?

Highlight the row directly below your column headings by clicking the number of the row.

For example, if the headings are located in Row 1, click Row 2. Then click Window > Freeze Panes. Once frozen, the column headings will remain visible as you scroll through the rest of your spreadsheet. You can reverse or undo this action by clicking Window > Unfreeze Panes.

I have a printer that’s not working properly and I need to know how to remove it so I can reinstall it using its installation disk. The printer isn’t listed on the Add/Remove uninstall list.

A printer is hardware, as opposed to software, so it won’t typically appear in the Add/ Remove Programs list, so that part is normal. (Insert “Whew!” here.)

Before you do anything, check your printer manufacturer’s website to determine if there are any new drivers available. If so, download them. You’ll find instructions on the website, if needed.

A driver is a small program that provides instructions to a device such as a printer, disk drive, keyboard, mouse, etc. Updating its driver can often resolve a printer problem.

To remove a printer, go to Control Panel > Printers (or Printers and Faxes). Right-click the printer that you want to remove, then click Delete.

If you can’t delete the printer using the above method for any reason, rightclick the printer icon again, click Run as Administrator, then click Delete. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type your Windows password, if you have one, provide confirmation, or press Enter.

For answers to your questions by e-mail, or to subscribe to Mr. Modem’s award-winning weekly newsletter, visit www.MrModem.com.

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Get Yourself in Financial Shape for Retirement

B

efore you venture off into retirement, figure out whether you’ll be financially secure to fulfill your ambitions. Here are several exercises to help you get in financial shape for retirement: Analyze what you’re spending. The foundation of retirement planning is a budget, and you better have one. Your current spending offers a relatively accurate picture of later retirement expenses. Some costs will disappear or decrease after you leave work. However, even if you pay off your mortgage, you’ll still spend money on property taxes, homeowners insurance and home repairs.

Determine your income. Tally up what you expect to get when you retire, such as a pension, Social Security and income from your retirement accounts. Start building cash reserves in an interest-bearing savings account to cover unforeseen expenses for six months so you won’t have to tap your retirement accounts.

Consider altering your lifestyle.

One option is to put your retirement dreams on hold for a couple of years.

If you work a little longer, your Social Security, pension, and retirement accounts could be higher. Max out your 401(k) contributions if you can.

Check your insurance options.

Health coverage is a must. Make sure you have full medical coverage if there’s a gap between your retirement and when you become eligible for Medicare at age 65.

Astronomical nursing-home bills are a big threat to a retirement nest egg. You can hedge your bets by buying a long-term-care policy that covers part or all of the costs of long-term care.

Visit my website. I have written five books that are filled with additional ideas on how baby boomers can retire in style. Visit westernpubs. com for more information.

– David Rye

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Last Month’s Answers

January Sudoku

Ilah McClintic is our winner for last month’s Sudoku. Congratulations!

Win Great Prizes!

New winner selected each month

Good Luck!

February Sudoku Sudoku requires no arithmetic skills.

The object of the game is to fill all the blank squares with the correct numbers. Each row and each column of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order. Each 3 by 3 subsection of the 9 by 9 square must include all digits 1 through 9 as well.

The first correct answers selected from the drawing on Feb. 21 will win. Good luck!

Send your answers along with your name, address and telephone number to: SENIOR CONNECTION OR MATURE LIFESTYLES 1602 S. PARSONS AVE., SEFFNER, FL 33584 Mystery WIN! WIN! WIN! GREAT PRIZES! Prize!

(Sudoku must be received by February 21, 2011.)

Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 25

Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 26

The Tall Lady Who Keeps You Laughing at Yourself

something funny that happened today.” Children get an awareness of funny things and learn eep ‘em laughing” that it’s all right to laugh. If is her mantra we have a sense of humor, as a speaker, and she she says, “The grandchildoesn’t disappoint. dren want to be with us. If When she was 12 years you’re always in the stern old and already 6’2” grandparent role they don’t tall, Jeanne Robertson’s want to be with you.” parents helped her use She’s grandmother to two a sense of humor to her boys, ages 11 and 16, and advantage if people spoke she’s helping them see the of her height, and now she humor in everyday life. At a travels the country helping university basketball game people look at their lives Comedienne recently, the lady singing the with humor. A real sense of Jeanne Robertson. national anthem was “off” in humor, according to Jeanne, means being able to accept things you pitch the whole song. The boys “cut their eyes at me and I cut my eyes at can’t change and laugh at yourself. them. Their shoulders started shaking Now 67, many of the 1963 Miss and so did mine. I like that rather than North Carolina’s stories are about being the grandmother who would say aging, and it works just fine because ‘Now, don’t laugh. That’s not funny.’” she always pokes fun at herself first.

But she made sure the boys knew she She told this story: “We had two Miss wouldn’t use the incident in a speech North Carolinas one year recently. because it would hurt the singer.

At the end of the year neither was Computers are a way to keep in allowed to crown the next year’s touch with your grandchildren, sure. queen. The pageant director called But Jeanne says, “Mostly I just call and asked me to do it, and I said, them and say ‘tell me something ‘At my age?’ Then I laughed and funny. I’m on the road and I need said the new one would be the first a laugh.’ I’m still making that queen to get slapped in the face by connection.” arm flab as the crown was placed.”

She said she and her husband They were serious about wanting (“Left Brain,” age 73) are “hurting her, however, and she reminded in places, and we try our best to them that she’d already told several make sure we accept what we can’t stories about the year’s difficulties. change and find the humor about The director said, “Yes, I know, but it. I’m living what I’m telling!” we know you wouldn’t hurt us.”

Her advice for seniors is to “have a And that’s the thing. Her humor nevhumor buddy, somebody that asks you er hurts anyone, and there are never what’s funny. If you’re going to lunch four-letter words or off-color jokes. and know you have to tell something After a lifetime of professional funny, it keeps you looking for it.” speaking and numerous state and The place to look for humor is March national honors, she remains one 1 at 2 p.m. in Branscomb Memorial of the country’s most popular, Auditorium in Lakeland when Jeanne in-demand humorists.

Robertson will be in “Double Funny “One of my philosophies,” she said, w/Carl Hurley.” Call 1-800-955-4746 “is that you can develop and learn for $33 tickets. Group rates available. to have a sense of humor just like Jeanne has six humor DVDs, is you can learn to put the fork on the heard daily on Sirius/XM Radio’s left when you’re setting a table.”

Family Comedy Channels and has She encourages grandparents to many YouTube clips to enjoy. say to their grandchildren: “Tell me

BY JANICE DOYLE

“K

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Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 27

Family-Friendly Branson: Still the Same and Yet Brand New for 2011

BY JANICE DOYLE

Ditch any negative thoughts about our country. Branson is all about God, family and patriotism. You might even find yourself feeling all sentimental about being able to laugh at the jokes, sing along with the music and wipe away a tear or two when they honor veterans and bring out the flag.

Hear new musical groups: Beyond the Bald Knobbers, you’ll find the show SIX. It’s six brothers creating harmony using just their voices.

Another show, The Duttons, features one family and an amazing array of instruments. Unexpected too, are The Haygoods—seven brothers and a sister—and the Twelve Irish Tenors.

Todd Oliver and his amazing talking dogs now have their own show.

Find unexpected relaxation in Dogwood Canyon, often called “the best part of my trip to Branson” by visitors. Take a wagon tour of the beautiful 2,200-acre preserve in the heart of the Ozarks, or you can hike, bike, fly fish or ride horseback.

Swap typical buffet food for unexpectedly fine dining. The Devil’s Pool Restaurant at Big Cedar Lodge combines rustic elegance with sumptuous meals. The new Hilton in the downtown Branson Landing area features the Level 2 Steakhouse offering sophisticated, big city atmosphere and outstanding food with impeccable service.

M

eet your family, go by yourself, join a group tour, stop a few days on your way to someplace else—whatever you do, and no matter how many times you’ve gone, make plans to visit Branson. Every spring, Branson reopens its theaters and all new shows take the stage.

The “unexpected” side of Branson is active. Four companies now offer ziplines over the Ozark canopy of trees. You can parasail (the oldest person taken up so far was 95), ride a jet ski, put the grandkids in a “ballknocker” or rent canoes, kayaks and speedboats. Or you can stick with the familiar golf, shopping and fishing.

Travel Today, close to seven million annual visitors can find anything from Country to Rock n’ Roll, Magic and Comedy to Musical Theatre, Gospel, small intimate shows and major worldclass productions gracing one of the more than 40+ stages in Branson.

On any day from March through December, you can choose from 70 or more shows or attractions.

Now, that’s entertainment!

Take in the stunning attractions.

Visitors to Branson should see the outdoor drama Shepherd of the Hills to understand the history of the area. Beyond that, Noah’s Ark, The Titanic, Legend of Kung Fu, Branson Auto Museum, Branson Mill and the Hollywood Wax Museum make Branson a destination to enjoy.

Plan a day for Silver Dollar City where you can enjoy the old-time crafts and any young people with you will love the wild rides. Notice all the trees, cross a swinging bridge, sit in a one-room schoolhouse, sing hymns in a log church and enjoy more shows. Make the day complete by taking a culinary class where you might learn to make their favorite succotash. There’s a steam train, a basket weaver and lots of whittlin’ and fiddlin’. The park opens March 17 for the 2011 season.

Appreciate the long-time favorites like the Showboat Branson Belle, which combines great food with a live show worthy of Broadway.

Getting around Branson is getting easier. A new Branson airport opened with service by Air Tran and other small carriers, and new color-coded alternate highways around the city make traffic more manageable.

Branson is America’s best.

Fish the Trout Capital of the United States N

BY DAVID LALMOND

ear Branson, Missouri lies a trout angler’s delight! Lake Taneycomo has been designated the official Trout Capital of the U.S. because of its abundant rainbow and brown trout, with a record 28 pounder having been taken from this lake. Annually, more than 600,000 hatchery-sized trout (see photo) are released in this 45 – 50 degree water.

Designated areas are set for fly fishing, artificial lures only, catch and release and Trophy Fishing.

Each area has unique regulations.

Beginning anglers as well as professionals find fun fishing from boats, wading or from shore. I recommend taking a guided fishing trip to learn the tackle, techniques and locations to make the fishing fun.

I fished with veteran licensed guide Bill Babler, who works from Lilley’s

Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 28

Landing in Branson. He says, “Successful fishing here depends not on one thing but lots of little details, techniques and knowledge.”

Whether you fish independently or with a guide, take time to visit this angler’s paradise in the Ozarks.

Additional info on requirements, rules, maps and fishing reports may be found on ozarkanglers. com or whiteriveroutfitters.com.

Photo above and below, courtesy David Lalmond.

Summer in the Berkshires?

How refreshing.

Welcome to Jiminy Peak, the 4-season resort in the Northern Berkshires of Massachusetts.

Each summer, we host lots of people who are looking for a great New England summer vacation. We offer short or long-term lodging – including 2-4 bedroom condos. The Berkshires is home to world class arts & culture, history, outdoor adventures and more. It’s more than a breath of fresh air. It’s a whole summer of it.

Punta Gorda’s Premier Shopping Destination

Shopping • Restaurants • Day Spa • Villa Vacation Rentals • Fishing Charters • Harbor Cruises Boat & Kayak Rentals • Military Heritage Museum • Live Entertainment • Special Events & More!

Call us at 1-800-882-8859 or go to jiminypeak.com

Waterfront Mall, Resort & Marina

800.639.0020 • 941.639.8721 • fishville.com

Punta Gorda, Just 3 miles west of I-75. Exit 164 on Marion Ave. JP040 MatureLifestyle_qtrSQ.indd 1

12/21/10 5:30 PM

The Boomer’s Lament: Or Am I Now They?

Speak up when we complain about how hard it is for Mom to hear; after years at the disco, no sound is too clear.

Slow down when we jog by, complaining about the man with the cane, ‘cause I think I just got a charley horse or at least a small sprain.

When I talk with Mom’s doc about her memory disorder, next time I must remember to bring a tape recorder.

It’s fun to watch Dad try to run a microwave; if I knew how to use my cell phone camera, that’s a picture I would save.

Those who are old and those who are grey, I’m glad that at least I’m nothing like they…

Think about the words above when those who frustrate you are also those that you love, For it may soon be your own kids, as quick as you please, begging and pleading: “Mom, where did you hide the keys?”

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Visit us at: www.BayAreaRennaissanceFest.com

Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 29

Seniors Getting Together

3945 seek CoMpATibLe, inTeLLigenT feMALe, HWP for LTR. I am SWM, 70yo, 5’8”, 145 lbs. NS, ND, NDrg, exercise, health conscious, personal growth. Enjoy walks, nature, good conversation, exploring new places, dancing. Clermont.

3953 seeking sLiM RoMAnTiC feMALe for LTR or cohabitation with retired SWM, 5’7”. I50 lbs. Non smoker, easy going, new home, new life. Send photo, description with letter. All answered – Gulf Coast, Venice area.

3969 seeking veRy nATuRAL woMAn 58-68, HWP, calm, true.

I’m 55, 6’2”, 175, Bld, hazel, kind, true.

Nature parks, animals, SOH. St. Pete.

3973 HAndsoMe genTLeMAn 54yo Seeking a warm, mellow, gentle woman, 54 or a little over, for cozy comfortable evenings, enjoying soft music and slow dancing, with kind-hearted caring affection in a comfortable atmosphere.

Some candlelight, incense and happy smiles. Smoker preferred. Largo.

3975 seeking AsiAn bLACk HispAniC LAdy for LTR. I am SWM, 56 years old. Like day trips, walks, movies and dining out. Please send photo; if you can, include phone number.

3977 senioR MALe 74 6’ NS, ND, W, widower. Enjoys movies, music, sports, quiet evenings. Honest, intelligent, attractive, enjoy life. Brandon.

3979 HonesT CLAssy LAdy wAnTed Still active in business, loves sports, movies, theater. Would like lady to share with. P.S. Carole in Brandon area, I need your phone number.

3980 seMi-ReTiRed bi-LinguAL CHRisTiAn pRofessionAL in superb health seeks affectionate,

RUN YOUR AD FOR ONLY $6 A MONTH

Bye, Bye Birdie Coming

woMen seeking Men 1038 seeking CHRisTiAn genTLeMAn Former airline stewardess & model, 5’4”, 104 lbs., widow, slender, white with Ph.D. in healthcare. Fulbright scholar, eats healthy and exercises. Likes sports and animals. Loves the Lord. Fort Myers.

3954 desiRing A ReLATionsHip with a Christian/Messianic Jewish Carpenter.

50 – 60yo,+. Enjoys nature, pets and quiet times. I’m petite, with long hair and SOH and I live a healthy lifestyle. I also enjoy carpentry and would love to start a garden in the spring and with your help I know it will be a success. Hillsborough.

3965 senioR LAdy 68 yo 5’4” not HWP, W, R, WW, SD, NS, NDrg. I like country music, walks, day trips, cards. Seeking compatable, polite, gentle, caring W gentleman 68 – 73yo.

Canadian a plus. FL winter, ONT summer. Looking for LTR. Zephyrhills.

3970 seeking TRAveLing CoMpAnion World traveler seeking a nice gentleman to see USA. Must be an experienced RV owner. I am 70, NS,

SD, 5’1”, blue eyes, blonde. Considered classy and a great navigator.

3976 LAdy seeking MAn WWF, 70’s to share outings—theatre, movies, swims, hikes, dance. NS, ND, retired. Palm Harbor.

3978 AsiAn woMAn Seeking SWM, clean cut, not overweight, gentle and easy. She likes painting, writing, decorating, garden and cooking. She is a faithful partner for life.

Men seeking woMen

SENIORS GETTING TOGETHER Personal Ad Placement

Deadline for ads is the 15th of the month prior to placement.

Only $6 to place an ad!

Mark The Edition(s) You Would Like To Run Your Ad In: Hillsborough & Suncoast (Pinellas/Pasco) Lake/Marion Counties Southwest/Charlotte (Fort Myers/Port Charlotte)

Ad Copy • Please Print Neatly • 30 Word Limit Title (First 4 Words):

If more room is needed, please use separate sheet. Mail this form along with $6 for each ad per month (add $4 for each additional edition/market in the same month).

We cannot accept your ad without it. This information is confidential.

Name: Address:

Phone:

State:

Zip:

E-mail:

MAIL TO: SENIORS GETTING TOGETHER, C/O NEWS CONNECTION, USA, INC. 1602 S. PARSONS AVE., SEFFNER, FL 33584

Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 30

t’s time to buy tickets to the witty and fun comedy Bye, Bye Birdie coming in March to the Largo Cultural Center. It’s a Tony-award winning tribute to the simpler times when kids hung out at malt shops and Ed Sullivan was on TV every Sunday night.

Get your $25 tickets at the Cultural Center Box Office, by calling (727) 587-6793 or by visiting eightoclock theatre.us/curtain.htm.

Senior Single Friendship Club

City (No Charge):

City:

I

J

oin this club at 4:30 every Monday at a restaurant in the St. Pete, Clearwater area. They send out a newsletter every month with the names of the restaurants for the following month.

No more eating alone on Mondays; get out and meet new people!

Contact Estella M. Daywalt at (727) 548-9181 for more details.

caring Christian lady for permanent long-term relationship, preferably marriage. No age limit. St. Petersburg.

To Respond To An Ad

Write a letter to the person you want to contact. Place that letter in a stamped envelope and write the ad number on the bottom left hand side of the envelope. Place your stamped, numbered envelope(s), along with $2 for each letter enclosed, into another envelope and address it to: News Connection USA, Inc. Seniors Getting Together 1602 S. Parsons Ave.,Seffner, FL. 33584 To pLACe An Ad

Send your ad, stating what category you would like it placed in, your edition(s), along with a $6 fee for 30 words (25¢ for each additional word, abbreviations not charged) to the News Connection USA, Inc. address listed above. Ads received by the 15th of the month will appear in the following issue. No more than three ads will be accepted each month per person. The editor reserves the right to edit any ads for space or content. In order to protect our readers’ privacy, we will not include phone numbers, e-mail or home addresses in the ad copy. City or area included at no charge.

Commonly used Abbreviations: F-Female, M-Male, S-Single, D-Divorced, WWWidow, A-Asian, B-Black, H-Hispanic, I-Indian, W-White, C-Christian, J-Jewish, YO-Years Old, YY-Years Young, ISO-In Search Of, SOHSense Of Humor, SM-Smokes, S-Light Smoker, NS-Non Smoker, ND-Non Drinker, SD-Social (Light) Drinker, DR-Drinks, NDrg- No Drugs, LTR-Long Term Relationship, HWP-Height & Weight Proportional, R-Retired, P-Professional, FF-Friendship First, TLC-Tender Loving Care.

Retired Educators Meet

T

he South Pinellas Retired Educators Association meets the second Thursday of each month from October through May at the Piccadilly Cafeteria, 19th Ave. and 34th St. N. at 11 a.m. The meetings are open to retired teachers, support personnel and administrators.

Enjoy lunch, meeting and activities.

E-mail Joyce Walters at jellen1943@ yahoo.com for more information.

New Ways To Stretch Your Dollar In 2011 E

ven if you didn’t make resolutions at the beginning of 2011, any time is a good time to do some self assessment and figure out how you can make your money go even further in 2011. With prices on basics like food and gas rising weekly, see where you can make changes now.

Here are a few simple ways to get more for less this year:

• Take an inventory of monthly expenses. It’s always a good idea to take a look at your regular expenses at least once a year to see if there’s somewhere you could be saving. Start by looking at your cell phone contract and see if you could get a better deal elsewhere.

Finance • Or perhaps its time to reevaluate insurance options. Take out your homeowner’s policy and have someone go over it with you to see if new housing prices affect your insurance limits from a few years ago.

thing of the past, it’s easier than ever to save using coupons.

Coupons can be found in traditional places like the newspaper, as well as online, often from the manufacturer’s website.

• Save by using the internet. By signing up for e-mail newsletters from manufacturers and local businesses, you can access special offers that you might not be able to find elsewhere. Following businesses on Facebook and Twitter can also help alert you to special offers. Also remember that if you find you aren’t using the product or service, you can “unsubscribe” from the company and stop receiving their e-mails.

Enter

This Month’s to Win! Winner Is Carol Matthews Congratulations!

This month’s winner is

Enter To Win!

Myron L. Guisewite Congratulations !!!

Last Month’s Answers

• Develop a grocery shopping routine. Plan weekly meals and shop accordingly. If possible, find out what items are on sale each week at your grocer before making the list, so you can take full advantage of the sales. Stock up on nonperishable items when they are on sale.

• Check Craigslist online to see if you can buy what you need used instead of new.

• It could also be something as simple as evaluating how often With a few changes to your shopping you dineLEARN out or stop forHOW a gourmetTO PLAN FOR and spending habits, you may find coffee and changing your habits to yourself with a healthy chunk of extra PETS IN AN EMERGENCY saveYOUR a few dollars by cutting back. cash next year that you can either stick The SPCA’s brochuredo"Our Best Friends Betteror Plans" into savings spendhas on all something • Let the coupons the work.

While Deserve the latest information on Estate Planning for Pets and Florida's Pet special as a reward to your family. clipping coupons might seem like a Trust Law and it is FREE! This brochure helps pet owners plan for their pets in case of an emergency or in case their pets outlive them. Use this order form to order your free materials.

“SHOP TILL WE DROP” SHOPPING SERVICE

You Buy It – We Shop For It And Deliver It To You or For You

Send Me Information! Clip and mail this coupon Name: Address:

Last Month’s Answers

Groceries • Medical Supplies • Gifts City: State: Whatever YouZip: Need Home Phone: Work Phone: Emergencies • Daily • Weekly • Monthly E-mail: Hourly Fee + Expenses I/We have included the SPCA in my/our estate plan.

Call 888-545-9970

Please send me the following information Best Friends Deserve Better Plans brochures Pet Alert Wallet Card In-Case-Of-Emergency Window Decal

FILL IN ANSWERS & WIN MONEY!

Send your answers for a drawing. First correct answers selected from the drawing on Feb. 19 will receive $20 cash!

Send to: News Connection USA, Inc., 1602 S. Parsons Ave, Seffner, FL 33584

I am interested in: Travel / Cruises Recreation / Leisure Entertainment / Events

Insurance Elder Law / Financial Housing Options Reverse Mortgages

Personal Health & Fitness Home Improvements Automobiles

Name Address City

Age

Phone

E-mail

State Zip

SC/Hills and Sun

FILL IN ANSWERS & WIN MONEY! Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 31

Send your answers for a drawing. First correct answers selected from the drawing on June 19th will receive $20 cash! Send to: Mature Lifestyles, 220 W. Brandon Blvd., Suite 203, Brandon, FL 33511

It’s the Same but Changing Florida State Fair

I

t’s almost time for the Florida State Fair—the Best Time of The Year. The grounds of the Florida State Fair in Tampa are refreshingly the same each year, but they are also a snapshot of our changing society. The food stands offer nearly anything you can imagine fried and on a stick now.

The midway boasts wilder rides than we thought imaginable when we were kids. The cattle barns still hold young people with their animals and hopes

high for blue ribbons.

Women and men alike now compete in cooking, baking and craft contests.

Most attendees this year will have cell phones and the young people all have iPods and Blackberry phones.

Like America, the state fair changes each year in subtle ways and stays somehow the same in others. Go and enjoy! Senior Days are Feb. 15 – 17 with $6 gate admission (for ages 55+).

Call for information: 1-800-345-3247.

Everything From Pop Favorites to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9

A

lastair Willis conducts The Florida Orchestra (TFO) in a program showcasing the various sections of the orchestra. The music includes Benjamin Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra and selections from Kurt Weill’s Three Penny Opera Suite, along with music by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Aaron Copland and Richard Strauss.

Enjoy free coffee and doughnuts prior to the concert. The conductor provides commentary about the music throughout the performance. Thurs., Feb. 10, at 11 a.m., at the Progress Energy Center for the Arts – Mahaffey Theater in St. Pete.

On the cusp of Valentine’s Day, the next Raymond James Pops concert, “The Great American Songbook,” promises to get you in the mood with everybody’s favorite ballads and romantic songs by Johnny Mercer, George Gershwin, Cole Porter, Duke Ellington, Richard Rodgers, Irving Berlin and more. Featured vocalists are Broadway stars with Florida connections. Andrew Lane conducts these concerts on Feb. 11

Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 32

and 12 in Tampa and St. Petersburg.

Lauded by the San Francisco Chronicle as “breathtaking,” pianist Stewart Goodyear is the soloist on the Masterworks series in Gershwin’s Concerto in F. The program also includes Osvaldo Golijov’s Sidereus—directed by 2009 Taki Concordia Conducting Fellow, Mihaela Cesa-Goje of Romania—and Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8. The concert will be Feb. 18, 19 and 20 in Tampa, Lakeland and Clearwater, respectively.

Stefan Sanderling leads The Florida Orchestra and The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay in Beethoven’s monumental Symphony No. 9. and Arnold Schoenberg’s Friede auf Erden (Peace on Earth). Concerts are Feb. 25, 26 and 27 in Tampa, St. Pete and Clearwater.

The Florida Orchestra performs at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts in Tampa, Progress Energy Center for the Arts - Mahaffey Theater in St. Petersburg, and Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater. For tickets or info, visit florida orchestra.org or call 1-800-662-7286.

“Super-Spiced” Snapshots May Mean Good Health

W

here you live often shapes how you eat. So, plenty of local flavor shines through in the “Super-Spiced” cities:

• Philadelphia embraces its Italian heritage. And, since some research has linked garlic to heart health, it’s not surprising to find it’s a favorite in the City of Brotherly Love. In fact, Philly consumes more than 176,000 pounds of garlic powder a year—nearly the weight of 126 “Rocky” statues.

Recipe • Coastal South Carolina is home to Low Country cooking. Charleston consumes almost 9,000 pounds of oregano each year, nearly 90 times the weight of the famous albino alligator in the South Carolina Aquarium. Of all the herbs, oregano has one of the highest antioxidant levels—making it a true “Super Spice.”

• Los Angeles consumes more than 208,000 pounds of cinnamon. That’s the equivalent to 41 “Jaws” sharks found in the Hollywood classic. This sweet spice has been linked to controlling blood sugar levels. Take a bite out of that!

• San Antonio loves its TexMex, eating more than 98,000 pounds of cumin a year—more than any other city in the nation.

That’s enough to put 1.5 pounds in every seat of the Alamodome.

Did you know just a halfteaspoon of ground cumin has antioxidant levels comparable to one cup of spinach?

Here’s a Low Country recipe which calls for both oregano and garlic to try out on your next pot luck group or family dinner. Go ahead—spice it up in Ft. Myers and Tampa!

Word Search

Gullah Rice (Low Country Recipe) Ingredients 3 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil 3 red chili peppers 4 cloves garlic 1 cup diced onion 1 cup red and yellow bell peppers 2 tbsp. chopped fresh oregano 2 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley 2 tbsp. chopped fresh chives 1 14.5 ounce can stewed tomatoes 1 cup summer sausage 1 1/2 pounds medium shrimp 4 cups cooked rice salt and pepper to taste Directions In a large skillet, infuse the oil with the chili peppers (cut them in half and cook, turning often, until oil reaches a sizzle).

Remove peppers and brown garlic in the oil; add onion and bell peppers. Cook 5 min., stirring

often. Add herbs and tomatoes.

Cook 3 minutes; add sausage until warmed through. Next, add shrimp and cook until tender and whitepink, approximately 3 minutes.

Add the cooked rice; fold in. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, to taste.

Makes 14 – 16 servings.

(From BASKETLADY6)

Word Search Feb. 2011 In the grid below, twenty answers can be found that fit the category for today. Circle each answer that you find and list it in the space provided at the right of the grid. Answers can be found in all directions – forwards, backwards, horizontally, vertically and diagonally. An example is given to get you started. Can you find the twenty answers in this puzzle?

Answers From

January 2011

Cindy Sharik is last month’s winner!

Congratulations!

&

Send your answers along with your name, address and telephone number to:

The first correct answers selected from the drawing on February 21 will win.

Mystery Win! Win! Win! Mystery Senior ConneCtion or Prize!

Prize!

MAtUre LiFeStYLeS GreAt PriZeS! 1602 S. PArSonS AVe. SeFFner, FL 33584 (Puzzles must be received by Feb. 21, 2011.)

Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 33

Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 34

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If you or your business would like to get AMSOIL products at Wholesale CALL 800-411-6160

ALL-NATURAL PRODUCT KILLS BED BUGS as Florida Braces for tourists

New York, NY- A new, safe and effective all-natural spray product for killing bed bugs (Cimex lectularius) and their larvae is now available for retail use by consumers. Once thought to be a problem of the past, bed bugs are back in near epidemic proportions with a global resurgence. Bed bug infestations have increased 70% over the past decade. Bed bugs are parasitic blood-sucking insects that leave unsuspecting human victims with itchy red bites that can become infected. The preferred habitat of bed bugs is places near where people sleep, such as homes, hotels, assisted living facilities, and hospitals. They usually hide and nest in any small spaces or crevices close to a host meal supply, such as in mattresses, bedding, sofas, curtains, or carpets and can live up to one year without feeding. Senior travelers who stay over at hotels & motels while traveling south to their winter homes and warm weather destinations may unknowingly pick up bed bugs along the way. They are also susceptible to traveling visitors unknowingly picking up bed bugs along their travels and bringing the bed bugs into their homes. These pests know no socio or economic boundaries; cleanliness does not prevent a bed bug infestation. Bed bugs can easily and quickly spread by attaching themselves to luggage, clothing or furniture and hitchhiking across the country.

Professional extermination can be costly and may involve pesticides or carcinogens. All-

natural Avenger Bed-Bug Killer spray inexpensively kills bed bugs on contact without poisons and is safe to use around humans and pets. All beds should be treated at least once a year.

AVENGER BED BUG KILLER

is now available at:

ACE Hammerheads, 1015 West Bay Dr. Largo, FL, 727-581-5077 &

.com

Or call 727-581-1500 for more info

The Original Auto-Bus

W

hen Ed Deets founded Central Florida Coach Lines, AutoBus, in 1974, he wanted to offer a convenient way for travelers along the Eastern Seaboard to avoid a long car trip to Florida but still have their vehicle waiting when they arrived.

The company’s “You and Your Car” concept remains popular today, with passengers and their vehicles being transported on a weekly basis to points throughout Florida, including Daytona, Melbourne and Lakeland, Fla. Since his childhood, Deets has been part of the transportation landscape, helping out his grandfather and father’s trucking business.

“Mr. Deets puts a great deal of effort into making sure his passengers have a pleasant trip,” said Greg Lukas, MCI Eastern Region vice president.

“The coaches all have different interiors, and the interiors are well thought out, providing passengers with extra comfort touches for those long-distance trips.

Auto-Bus takes pride in providing their passengers a comfortable, safe, relaxed and enjoyable trip.

Auto-Bus received the Vision Award from United Motor Coach for enhancement of the travel lifestyle for the general public, presented in Orlando, Florida.

Auto-Bus was chosen over all the bus companies in the U.S. to transport NBC’s staff with eight coaches throughout the 2002 Winter Olympic evens at Salt Lake City, Utah.

Owner Ed Deets was one of four appointed by former President Reagan in 1985 to the National Rate Making Transportation Committee.

Deets attributes his successes to determination, hard work and the support of his employees and family.

Deets Holding Co. and its subsidiaries employ more than 250 people. His wife, Betty, and daughters Donna, Darlene, Debbie and Diane, work for the businesses as well.

For details, call (800) 233-8342 ext. 3.

THE ORIGINAL

CAR AND PASSENGER TRANSPORT TO AND FROM FLORIDA, WEEKLY, FROM LAKELAND, MELBOURNE AND DAYTONA TO WILKES-BARRE, PA, NEWBURGH, NY AND WESTBOROUGH, MA.

Let us do the driving for you Just sit back and RELAX Comfortable, Safe and Professional Please Call for a Free Detailed Brochure

Call 800-233-8342 ext. 3

Monday – Friday • 10 am – 5 pm or visit www.auto-bus.com Family Owned & Operated since 1974

(Please mention this ad when you call for information)

Happy Valentine’s Day ♥ ♥ February 14th ♥

♥

Senior Connection • February 2011 • page 35

Senior Talent Show: February 19, 2011 – 2:00 p.m.

Largo Cultural Center Pinellas – 727-329-2618 Bright House Networks Bright Stars Senior Idol Wednesday, April 6 – 7:00 p.m.

Ruth Eckerd Hall – Clearwater

Senior Talent Show: February 19, 2011 – 3:00 p.m.

Spoto High School – Riverview Hillsborough – 813-436-2296 Ruth Eckerd Hall 1111 McMullen Booth Road Clearwater, Florida 33759 (727) 791-7400

Senior Talent Show: February 19, 2011 – 2 p.m.

Center for the Arts, River Ridge High School Tri-Pasco – 727-326-1255 Ticket Office Hours Monday - Saturday 12 noon - 6 pm & one hour prior to performances

2011 Senior Idol Details Each year talented seniors over 55 years young take the stage to entertain and help raise money for senior charities in the Tampa Bay area. The top acts from each of the four regional shows take the stage on Wednesday, April 6 at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater.

This year the audience will vote for one winner who will be named 2011 Tampa Bay Senior Idol.

The winner will receive $500 and choose the charity of their choice to get an additional $500. The show will be featured on Tampa Bay On Demand, Channel 340 and the winner’s presentation will be showcased on Bay News 9.

Senior Idol Final Competition: Ruth Eckerd Hall: April 6, 2011 – 7:00 p.m.