Month: November 2023

This great time of year when the air is crisp, the leaves dressed in brilliant colors, and we’re birthing a new baby! Conversations with My Younger Self. Dee Stribling, Lisa Baron and I have collaborated for the last couple years to publish a book, we all agreed, that we could have used in our younger years. Guidance, advice and stories in essay form.

We each have many more years behind us than in front of us. You know, living to reach a crone’s age is plenty of time to collect unique experiences. After several interviews with women also of a certain age, from varied backgrounds and experiences in life, we wrote our stories that reflected their strong guidance. We extend our hands out to women of all ages and paths to read about our experiences and reflect upon what we share.

A few titles for a taste: Is My Hair a Mess? I Love Going to Work! Put Up or Hush Up! Castle it Up! Simmer and Sizzle Writerly Self Advice from the Kid Walk the Pain Does Worry Help?

Lisa Baron Ph.D, LCSW is an experienced Clinical Social Worker, Psychotherapist, Writer, and Teacher.
Dee Stribling Ph.D. is a former Poet Laureate of Hillsborough (NC) and a two-time winning Poet of the Sundress Academy for the Arts
Arlene S. Bice is the author of a dozen non-fiction books, recipient of the Second Annual Oakley Hall Literary Award and an award-winning artist.

Bears and Bikes and a Whole Year Passed

Wow! I’ve missed being in touch with y’all this past year. What a year it has been! I’ve moved, twice and I’ve not had a car for five months of that year. Now I am settled into my senior apartment that I absolutely adore. All the apartments are on ground level with a parking space ten feet away. We’re surrounded by forest, a gorgeous forest of all the autumn colors right now making for wonderful walks. Yet, I’m five minutes from the center of Farmville. My roomy apartment is high on the list of thankful things.

It’s been 44 years since I’ve lived in an apartment. All the weight of owning a house and maintaining it on my own, is gone. Thank goodness. I don’t have to struggle to pay $250 to Bagley Plumbing, South Hill VA for unclogging my kitchen sink (that fee took my breath away) ever again. If I have a problem, I’ll call maintenance. The grass looks beautiful, cut when needed and I didn’t have to push the mower to do it! Such pleasure. I, and my next door neighbors, all had flowers and veggies growing on our porches till summer ended.

I even interacted with the wildlife. A bear and her cub. Well, kinda. It was early spring while I headed out for my walk. Movement over to the right, next to the dumpster, caught my eye. OMG! Ten feet away! I gasped, but I was prepared. I lifted my brand-new whistle and blew! Just as I had been directed to do. A tiny tweet came out. I could barely hear it myself, let alone the bear. Mama bear looked up at me with an expression of “Tweet. That’s it? Tweet?” Then she just moseyed on up the road looking for a better source of food. I returned home postponing my walking hour til later in the day when wildlife is napping.

Enough of that. I’m nearly finished reading Turning Centuries by Ken Youngblood. Great memoir of his touring from the east coast to the west, making side trips along the way. Did I mention this was on a bicycle? Yep. It gave him time to reflect, remember, meet new people and have exciting experiences along the way. The title refers to riding for a hundred miles. I highly recommend it. The reading of it. But, who knows? Maybe I’ll buy a bicycle next.