YOU'RE ONLY AS OLD AS YOU FEEL!

Bucky and I were recently referred to as "elderly" by our beautiful 9 year old granddaughter, Hana.  With that said, I decided it would make sense to reacquaint myself with Google blogger.  I have noticed that as a "senior", not to be confused with the euphoric "senior" about to graduate from high school or college, but rather that forgetful senior seen fumbling for change at the grocery checkout; it would make sense to review using Blogger.  Despite having used this blogging format for many years, I still find it mysteriously confusing.  I decided that this summer I will be so proficient with Blogger that Bucky will no longer suffer through my rants and raves, usually occurring while driving down the highway.  Being "elderly" himself, it's really important that he stay focused on the road.  Up until recently, neither of us has really felt old.  Sure we have a few aches and pains and those stiff knees in the morning, but nothing like REALLY old people experience.  And, sure we take short naps in the afternoon, but why not?  We're retired, we can do what we want.  The realization that we might actually be old, started with Bucky needing new shoes.  So, while in Hartford, awaiting the birth of our new grandson, Justice, Bucky took advantage of the many shopping options and went into Sport Shoe Heaven.  I don't actually remember the store's name, but from the large variety of athletic shoes displayed in the window, this seems fitting. I remained in the car with two year old Joseph, carefully monitoring a domestic dispute, escalating between a young couple in the parking lot.  I had already devised Joseph and my escape route should the couple come any closer.  My nerves were somewhat on edge knowing that Bucky had nearly witnessed a murder when going for pizza the night before.  Traffic on Prospect Avenue was flowing along as normal when he headed south two blocks to Angelina's, home of the best pizza in West Hartford.  However, on his return, yellow crime scene tape lay wrapped around a car resting against the iron fence surrounding the Sisters of Mercy's convent, one block from the house.  What appeared to be a case of distracted driving, maybe an elderly person experiencing a medical issue, was later identified on the 11pm news as a homicide!  Apparently, the female passenger felt threatened by the male driver and decided to shoot him as they rolled down Prospect.  At times, I too have felt uncomfortable with Bucky's driving, but this obviously was a much higher degree of discomfort!  The sisters must have been watching over the rest of us, summoning the car into their fence rather than allowing it to careen into oncoming traffic.  For us, city life takes some getting used to!  With relief, I watched as Bucky exited the shoe store carrying his new shoes and the arguing couple, now locked in a loving embrace, also moved on.  We were back in VT, when Bucky first wore his new shoes.  It didn't take long for our granddaughter Hana to notice them.  Kids have an eye for the latest in shoes.  Caught staring at them, Bucky inquired of Hana, "How do you like my new shoes?"  Hana replied, "They're nice Pa Bucky.  I didn't know that they made Sketchers for the elderly."  "The elderly??????!!!!" Then, in an attempt to make things better, "Oh, Pa Bucky, I'm sorry, I mean antiques!!"  In a struggle to use less hurtful words in describing her grandfather's location on the great timeline of life, she dug her hole deeper.  As has always been said, "out of the mouths of babes comes the truth."  Hana did acknowledge Pa Bucky's good taste, going on to mention that the cool skater kids at her school all wore Sketchers.  Nice recovery!  Now, back to Blogger.  I logged in to my blog after having not visited since last Fall.  I was surprised to see that I had a draft post.  Even more surprising was the fact that it contained a video.  I had never been successful embedding a video in a post.  However, when I tried to open the video, I was presented with the error code, bX-wnrswi, and instructions to report this to Google Support.  I'll have to do this, but with some fussing, I got the video to play!  I wanted to move the video to the bottom of this page, but I haven't figured out how to do that either. Another technicality I'll need to master. You're probably wondering what the video has to do with any of the above.  Pretty much nothing!  I watched it and was delighted to see the snow capped mountains bordering Lake Clark Pass, some of which are volcanoes.  I could sense in Carlisle's smile, her new found freedom, flying above remote Alaska.  It seemed a fitting start to Alaskan Summer, 2014.