Donated By Michael Sommer. Thank you

This is for you. Marilyn Peters, a friend I met on a Smartours trip a number of year ago, shared this with me.

Between 60 and death. It’s time to use the money you saved up. Use it and enjoy it. Don’t just keep it for those who may have no notion of the sacrifices you made to get it.

Remember there is nothing more dangerous than a son or daughter-in-law with big ideas for your hard-earned capital.

🚩Warning: This is also a bad time for investments, even if it seems wonderful or fool-proof. They only bring problems and worries. This is a time for you to enjoy some peace and quiet.

🚩Stop worrying about the financial situation of your children and grandchildren, and don’t feel bad spending your money on yourself. You’ve taken care of them for many years, and you’ve taught them what you could. You gave them an education, food, shelter, and support. The responsibility is now theirs to earn their own money.

🚩Keep a healthy life, without great physical effort. Do moderate exercise (like walking every day), eat well, and get your sleep. It’s easy to become sick, and it gets harder to remain healthy. That is why you need to keep yourself in good shape and be aware of your medical and physical needs. Keep in touch with your doctor, do tests even when you’re feeling well. Stay informed.

🚩Always buy the best, most beautiful items for your significant other. The key goal is to enjoy your money with your partner. One day one of you will miss the other, and the money will not provide any comfort then, enjoy it together.

🚩Don’t stress over the little things. You’ve already overcome so much in your life. You have good memories and bad ones, but the important thing is the present. Don’t let the past drag you down and don’t let the future frighten you. Feel good in the now. Small issues will soon be forgotten.

🚩Regardless of age, always keep love alive. Love your partner, love life, love your family, love your neighbor and remember: “A person is not old as long as he/she has intelligence and affection.”

🚩Be proud, both inside and out. Don’t stop going to your hair salon or barber, do your nails, go to the dermatologist and the dentist, keep your perfumes and creams well stocked. When you are well-maintained on the outside, it seeps in, making you feel proud and strong.

🚩Don’t lose sight of fashion trends for your age, but keep your own sense of style. You’ve developed your own sense of what looks good on you – keep it and be proud of it. It’s part of who you are.

🚩ALWAYS stay up-to-date. Read newspapers, watch the news. Go online and read what people are saying. Make sure you have an active email account and try to use some of those social networks. You’ll be surprised at what old friends you’ll meet.

🚩Respect the younger generation and their opinions. They may not have the same ideas as you, but they are the future and will take the world in their direction. Give advice, not criticism, and try to remind them that yesterday’s wisdom still applies today.Never use the phrase: “In my time.” Your time is now. As long as you’re alive, you are part of this time.

🚩Some people embrace their golden years, while others become bitter and surly. Life is too short to waste your days on the latter. Spend your time with positive, cheerful people, it’ll rub off on you and your days will seem that much better. Spending your time with bitter people will make you feel older and harder to be around.

🚩Do not surrender to the temptation of living with your children or grandchildren (if you have a financial choice, that is). Sure, being surrounded by family sounds great, but we all need our privacy. They need theirs and you need yours. Even then, do so only if you feel you really need the help or do not want to live by yourself

🚩Don’t abandon your hobbies. If you don’t have any, make new ones. You can travel, hike, cook, read, dance. You can adopt a cat or a dog, grow a kitchen garden, play cards, checkers, chess, dominoes, golf.

🚩Try to go. Get out of the house, meet people you haven’t seen in a while, experience something new (or something old). The important thing is to leave the house from time to time. Go to museums, go walk through a park. Get out there.

🚩Speak in courteous tones and try not to complain or criticize too much unless you really need to. Try to accept situations as they are.

🚩Pains and discomfort go hand in hand with getting older. Try not to dwell on them but accept them as a part of life.

🚩If you’ve been offended by someone – forgive them. If you’ve offended someone-apologize. Don’t drag around resentment with you. It only serves to make you sad and bitter. It doesn’t matter who was right. Someone once said: “Holding a grudge is like taking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Don’t take that poison. Forgive, forget, and move on with your life.

🚩Laugh. Laugh away your worries Remember, you are one of the lucky ones. You managed to have a life, a long one. Many never get to this age, never get to experience a full life.My valued friends, enjoy peace at this point in your life …Don’t worry… be happy.

Thank you Marilyn!

Yes, Dr. Bregman is my client. His message is super important at this time.

Dr. Arthur Bregman, MD, is a Psychiatry Specialist in Coral Gables, FL, with over 47 years of expertise treating illnesses including ADHD, depression, anxiety, PTSD, and various other problems.



“There is one aspect of Covid that is not talked about very much. It is the impact that Covid has had on mental health.

“Nine out of ten Covid patients who see me on a telemedicine call report a lingering sense of what I like to call ‘Covid dysphoria.’ Oftentimes when someone catches a cold or the flu they can develop a bit of mild depressive symptoms or general malaise alongside it. But Covid dysphoria seems to dig a little deeper.

“After a bout with coronavirus a lot of my patients are not just suffering mild depressive symptoms – they have a more complete personality change. They don’t lose memories and become completely different people, but they say things like ‘My friends tell me I’m not like myself’ or ‘I’m usually such a cheerful person! What happened?’

“As researchers discover more about Covid’s effect on neurology, they’ve found the virus in the brains and spines of sufferers. It is slowly becoming more clear that Covid infection might have troubling repercussions for peoples’ mental health.

“Not to mention there’s another angle from which Covid strikes at someone’s mental health: narcissistic deflation. The very idea of becoming infected can make one feel as if they’re a pariah, now shunned and looked down upon even though it may only be in their own mind. It’s been a topic in peoples’ minds and on the news for so long, the psychological impact of knowing one caught it can even erode their sense of self because there are so many negatives associated with it.

“This just serves to heighten the severity of Covid dysphoria.

Luckily for sufferers of Covid dysphoria, there are a few pointers that can help them feel less hopeless and more confident that they’ll overcome this bump in the psychological road.

“During our consultations and meetings I like to assure them that there are very few ‘chronic’ cases of Covid dysphoria. It may last longer than one wants, and it may feel pervasive and unpleasant – but it is self limited in most cases. It does tend to go away on its own and with relaxation techniques and a bit of talk therapy a lot of people can get on the other side of it.

“When Covid dysphoria is particularly severe or long-lasting is when we need to get a bit more proactive. Usually I’ll prescribe talk therapy, as this can help considerably with the external factors leading to it: the stigma, the fears and so on. Medication management is important too – however since we’re dealing with a real physical infection of Covid, we pay extra careful attention to the medications we prescribe.”

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Q

Thought we would share it with you because the blog I was planning to post never materialized. The number next to the year represents the month. Love to see your list. It doesn’t matter how large or small it is. You went to places we didn’t. Till we fly again. Stay safe, stay strong.

1988-8–Athens

                  Corfu

                  Crete/Chania

                  Katakolon

                  Mykonos 

                  Rhodes

                  Santorini 

1990-8-Rome

                  Milan

                  Florence 

                  Venice 

2006-1 – SINGAPORE

           – CAMBODIA

                 PHNOM PENH

          – THAILAND

              BANGKOK

              PATTAYA

            – SOUTH VIETNAM

                HO CHI MINH CITY

            – NORTH VIETNAM

             HALONG BAY

             HANOI

            – CHINA

               CANTON

            – HONG KONG

2007-5 – POLAND 

                 WARSAW

                KRAKOW

          – HUNGRY

                 BUDAPEST

           – AUSTRIA

                 VIENNA

           – CZECH REPUBLIC

                 PRAGUE 

           – FINLAND

                 HELSINKI    

2008-2 – CHILE

        SANTIAGO

        PUERTO VARAS

        PUERTO MONTT

           – ARGENTINA – 

         BUENOS AIRES

         BARILOCHE

         IGUASSU FALLS

            – BRAZIL –

         RIO de JANEIRO

2009-5 – ISRAEL

        TEL AVIV

       CAESAREA

               HAIFA

        NAZARETH

        GALILEE

        JERUSALEM

        MASADA – DEAD SEA

        EILAT

            – JORDAN, PETRA

2010-8 – PERU

                CUZCO

      SACRED VALLEY

     MACHU PICCHU

       LAKE TITICACA

       LIMA   

2011-3 – INDIA

                NEW DELHI

                JAIPUR

                AGRA

                KHAJURAHO

              VARANASI

           – NEPAL

                 KATHMANDU

2011-7 – FRANCE

                 PARIS

            – LUXEMBOURG

                  REMICH

            – GERMANY

                 BERNKASTEL

                 COCHEM-KOBLENZ

           8 – MAINZ

                HEIDELBERG

                 RUDESHEIM

                COLOGNE

            – AMSTERDAM

            – BRUGGE

            – BRUSSELS

2012-6 – CROATIA

                  ZAGREB

                  OPATIJA-PULA-ROVINJ

                  ZADAR-TROGIR-SPLIT

                  PLITVICE LAKES

         DUBROVNIK

             – SLOVENIA

                LJUBLJANA

                  BLED

                  POSTOJNA CAVE

           – MONTENEGRO

2013-8 – PORTUGAL

                  LISBON

                  LAMEGO-BARCA D’ALVA

                  CASTELO-RODRIGO

                  PINHAO

                  REGUA-BITETOS

                  PORTO

            – SPAIN

                  SALAMANCA 

                  MADRID

2013-10 – HAVANA, CUBA

2014-2 – LONDON

2014-8 – COLUMBIA

                  CARTAGENA

2014-10 – MOROCCO

                   CASABLANCA

                    MARRAKESH

                    ESSOUIRA

                     OURZAZATE

                    ERFOUD

                  SAHARA DESERT

                     FEZ – RABAT

2015-2 – PANAMA  

                  PANAMA CITY – COLON

                SAN BLAS ISLANDS

                  PANAMA CANAL

                  DARIEN PROVINCE —

                      EMBERA TRIBE

                  COIBA

            – COSTA RICA

                 MARENCO

                PUERTO CALDERA

                 SAN JOSE

2015-3 – MAUI

2015-7 – SPAIN 

                 BARCELONA

            – FRANCE

                 ARLES

                 AVIGNON – VIVIERS

                GRIGNAN – TOURNON

LYON – VIENNE 

              MARSEILLE

   CAP D’AIL 

    BEAULIEU SUR MER

                ST. JEAN CAP FERRAT

              EZE – NICE

            – ITALY

              CINQUE TERRE

           – MONTE CARLO

2015-9 – COLUMBIA

                 BOGOTA

                ZIPAQUIRA

                  COFFEE TRIANGLE

                 COCORA VALLEY 

                FILANDIA – SALENTO

                 MEDELLIN

                GUATAPE 

                  PENOL ROCK

               CARTAGENA

2017-5 – JAPAN

                 TOKYO

                MT. FUJI – HAKONE

      NIKKO WORLD 

          HERITAGE SITE       

                TAKAYAMA

                SHIRAKAWAGO 

                KANAZAWA

                KYOTO

2017-8 – SWEDEN

                  STOCKHOLM                   

            – NORWAY

                  BERGEN 

                FLAM-LOFTHUS

                  HARDANGERFJORD

                  OSLO

            – DENMARK

                COPENHAGEN

            – FINLAND

                 HELSINKI

            – RUSSIA

                  ST. PETERSBURG

2017-10 – FRANCE

                    PARIS

2018-4 – ECUADOR

QUITO

GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

2018-5 – FRANCE

PARIS

LES ANDELYS

ETRETAT

HONFLEUR

NORMANDY BEACHES

  ROUEN

GIVERNY

MALMAISON

2018-8 – IRELAND

DUBLIN

BELFAST

DERRY

SLIGO

GALWAY

CONNEMARA

KILLARNEY

KERRY

DINGLE PENINSULA

LIMERICK

2018-10 – EGYPT

CAIRO

ASWAN

ABU SIMBEL

KOM OMBO

EDFU

LUXOR

2019-2 – MEXICO CITY

2019-4 – CUBA

HAVANA

2019-6 – GERMANY

BERLIN

POTSDAM

NUREMBERG

ROTHENBURG

BAMBERG

MUNICH

REGENSBURG

2019-9 – ICELAND/GREENLAND

2020-2 – MEXICO

QUADALAJARA

2021-5 – BENTONVILLE, AK

            CRYSTAL BRIDGES

2021-8 – PROVINCETOWN, MA

2021-10 – NEW ORLEANS, LA

Thank you Jayda Knight for sharing.

1 * Accept the fact that some days you’re the pigeon, and some days you’re the statue

2 *Always keep your words soft and sweet, just in case you have to eat them.

3 * Always read stuff that will make you look good if you die in the middle of it.

4 * Drive carefully. It’s not only cars that can be recalled by their Maker.

5 *If you can’t be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

6 * If you lend someone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

7 * It may be that your sole purpose in life is simply to serve as a warning to others.

8 * Never buy a car you can’t push.

9 *Never put both feet in your mouth at the same time, because then you won’t have a leg to stand on.

10 * Nobody cares if you can’t dance well. Just get up and dance.

11 * Since it’s the early worm that gets eaten by the bird, sleep late.

12 * The second mouse gets the cheese.

13 * When everything’s coming your way, you’re in the wrong lane.

14 * Birthdays are good for you. The more you have, the longer you live.

15 * Some mistakes are too much fun to make only once.

16 * We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names and all are different colors, but they all have to live in the same box.

17 * A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery on a detour.

18 * Have an awesome day and know that someone has thought about you today.

AND MOST IMPORTANTLY

19 *Save the earth. It’s the only planet with chocolate!*

Amazon to open its first-ever physical clothing store. Amazon’s latest store concept is designed to combine the personalization of e-commerce with the immediacy of brick-and-mortar shopping

Thank you Chain Store Age for alerting us.

Amazon to open its first-ever physical clothing store – in a California lifestyle center

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Amazon’s latest store concept is designed to combine the personalization of e-commerce with the immediacy of brick-and-mortar shopping.

The first Amazon Style store will open later this year, year at The Americana at Brand, a lifestyle center in Glendale, Calif. The approximate 30,000-sq.-ft. store, designed to offer a high-tech shopping experience, will feature women’s and men’s apparel, shoes and accessories. The assortment will feature “hundreds of brands” chosen by fashion creators and “feedback provided by millions of customers shopping on Amazon.com,” according to Amazon.

How Amazon Style will work
Not surprisingly, Amazon Style will distinguish itself from traditional clothing stores with high-tech flourishes.  Most of the clothing will be out of sight and kept in the back of the store, with only one sample of each item displayed on the sales floor. The format will allow Amazon Style to offer more than double the number of products offered for sale in a fashion store of its size.

Using the Amazon Shopping app, customers will scan an item’s QR code to see sizes, colors, overall customer ratings and additional product details. With the tap of a button, shoppers can have the item brought to a fitting room. If the customer doesn’t want to try it on, the item can be sent directly to the pickup counter. 

Customers can continue shopping in the fitting rooms, which have touchscreens where they can browse more options, rate items, and request more sizes or styles to be delivered directly to the room within minutes.  As customers browse the store and scan items, Amazon will leverage its machine learning algorithms to recommend tailored, real-time suggestions regarding other items they be interested in buying. 

For a more tailored experience, customers can share preferences like style and fit to receive more refined recommendations. Shoppers can also view deals in-store that match their preferences, right in the Amazon Shopping app.

Amazon Style will feature automated technologies and processes used in Amazon fulfillment centers for fast delivery of requested items to fitting rooms.  Store associates will provide customer service, deliver items to fitting room closets, merchandise the store, help customers at checkout and manage back-of-house operations.

Items scanned at Amazon Style are saved in a customer’s Amazon Shopping app, enabling them to purchase at a later time or find more items online from new brands discovered in the store. Customers can shop millions of apparel items on Amazon.com, request delivery to Amazon Style and then try on items in the fitting room when they get to the store. Items can also be returned in the store. 

In-store prices will be the same as on Amazon.com. Customers can view deals in store that match their preferences in the Amazon Shopping app. The stores will also feature new complex inventory management systems, new technology to support customer service, and Amazon One palm recognition-based payment. Select customers will be invited to preview the store’s shopping experience before it opens to the public.

Amazon Style will join Amazon’s other existing brick-and-mortar banners – Amazon Go, Whole Foods Market, Amazon Books, Amazon 4-star, Amazon Fresh, and Amazon Pop Up stores. By combining app-based shopping with automated micro-fulfillment technology and endless aisle inventory, the retailer is attempting to truly duplicate the online shopping experience in a physical store. Amazon Style stores could also easily serve as pickup and return points for online purchases, as well as provide ship-from-store capability for fashion purchases.

“We obsessed over designing a shopping experience focused on helping customers find great looks, and it led us to create Amazon Style,” said Simoina Vasen, managing director, Amazon Style, in a corporate blog post. “We’re so excited to offer a shopping experience that inspires discovery and combines the best of shopping on Amazon.com with the benefit of touching and trying on items to ensure a great fit.

It all started out when friends Cris Sweeny and Claire Lardner invited six pals to join them, and their humungous RV, at a dude ranch called Westgate in River Ranch, Florida. It’s about an hour south of Orlando.

Cris and Claire, owners of Frameworks, live in Miami and go on road trips all the time. They invited us, (Gail Williams and Dawn McCall, Randy Bridges and Ron Moorman, and Eliot and yours truly) to this outing because the ranch guest accommodations suited our individual needs. As big as the RV is, we all couldn’t sleep together. Westgate has lodges, townhomes, teepees, tents, and a huge RV park.

We spent most of the time hanging out in Claire and Cris’ RV, the general store, the saloon, the western store, the BBQ Smokehouse restaurant, and the rodeo. There were so many cowboy outdoor activities, but we loved just spending time together and telling stories around the campfire Claire and Cris built.

The 1,700 acre Westgate River Ranch has horseback riding, swimming, golf, petting farm, nature hikes, trap and skeet shooting, hayrides, cookouts and a full-service marina complete with boating, fishing, and airboat and swamp buggy rides. Westgate River Ranch also features a 5,000-foot paved and lighted runway, the award-winning Smokehouse Grill, River Ranch Saloon and the longest-running Saturday night championship rodeo in the United States that offers trick riding, bull riding, calf roping and barrel racing at the 1,200-seat rodeo arena. A herd of grazing Watusi cattle (known for their long, distinctive horns) makes its home at Westgate River Ranch. New additions to Westgate River Ranch include an 18-hole miniature golf course, rock climbing wall, zip line, mechanical bull, and a bungee jumper.

The River Ranch was originally built in the 1960s by Gulf American Corp. (GAC), then one of the largest land developers in the state, as the centerpiece of a huge proposed development in the area called “River Ranch Acres.” By 1971, the property featured a large motel, Western-style saloon and café, swimming pool, airstrip, rodeo and trap & skeet range. In 1976, the All-American Corp. purchased River Ranch from GAC and sold the development to a group of Ohio developers in 1980. In 1986, that group sold River Ranch Resort to Outdoor Resorts. In 2001, Westgate Resorts purchased River Ranch and Westgate River Ranch reopened its doors the following year.

Westgate River Ranch, which has evolved into the largest dude ranch East of the Mississippi, is surrounded on all sides by approximately 400,000 acres of state and federally protected wetlands.

We all had an amazing time. If you want to experience something different, this is the place for you. We all loved it.

Westgate River Ranch Rodeo cowgirl falls from horse

The redo start of the festivities

An uncooperative bull make the cowboys flex their muscle

Bull kicks cowboy down. Ouch!