Retire in Style with Lolita

I enjoy browsing and shopping at Christmas Craft fairs. I admire the creativity and patience of crafters young and old. They are amazing. Craft fairs started the first weekend of November and some will continue till the weekend before Christmas. The biggest craft fair that I have been to this season is the Circle Craft Fair at Vancouver Convention Centre. Top of the line food and crafts. Two shops attracted our attention and wallet: Please click pictures to enlarge. Wildhagen hats. Precocious Boutique. The cowl neck sweaters were unique and stylish. At popular craft fairs here in Maple Ridge I bought christmas cakes and pickled favourites (carrots, green beans, asparagus, etc.). Bought a Christmas apron and the popular crocheted ruffled or boa scarves. I also bought beautiful hats. Warm handmade stylish hats. Please click pictures to enlarge. Christmas shopping at craft fairs is a great affair !

Hair brings one's self-image into focus; it is vanity's proving ground. Hair is terribly personal, a tangle of mysterious prejudices. ~Shana Alexander Please click pictures to enlarge. It has been almost 6 months since I stopped coloring my hair. More of my gray is visible. My hairdresser calls it platinum silver. Life is an endless struggle full of frustrations and challenges, but eventually you find a hair stylist you like. ~Author Unknown

Many springs ago while browsing around shops at La Conner, Washington, I came upon a shop selling T-shirts and other souvenirs with the logo or poem: "when I am an old woman I shall wear purple". Please click pictures to enlarge. I don`t have the t-shirt and fridge magnet anymore but I continue to like and enjoy the poem. Warning by Jenny Joseph WHEN I AM AN OLD WOMAN I SHALL WEAR PURPLE With a red hat which doesn't go, and doesn't suit me. And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter. I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells And run my stick along the public railings And make up for the sobriety of my youth. I shall go out in my slippers in the rain And pick the flowers in other people's gardens And learn to spit You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat And eat three pounds of sausages at a go Or only brea...

My first trip to China was in the Fall of 2004. The tour was called "Glimpses of China, an Experience of a Lifetime". My fascination in China must have started in University when I became friends with Susan. She invited me to her house. A mansion in the midst of the city. Her mother in lovely Cheong-sam met us. She walked slowly, her feet unusually small... I later found they were bound as was the old Chinese custom. I remember their home was a combination of modern and Chinese furniture and decor. Her parents spoke only Chinese. I have visited a couple of times more and with smiles and gestures and some words of Chinese their family made me feel welcome. There grew in me a certain fascination and curiosity about their culture, their stories, why so many products are made in China, what is life like in China. Since that first trip to China I have been back twice more. I have been to their major cities, villages, travelled through major highways and even through the Gobi...

I have 3 African Violet plants for over a year now. Their flowers were gone through their first winter with me but they all came back last Spring. They were in bloom for most of the summer and then early this Fall the flowers dropped. I thought I may have to wait till Spring again for the flowers to come back. This week I was pleasantly surprised to find one of them in bloom again! I learned that the symbolism of African Violet is Spirituality and Protection. please click picture to enlarge.

Just want to make a statement that fun and humor keeps the aging process more enjoyable! As I have said in a previous blog: we cannot stop the aging process so we might as well enjoy it. Here are some pictures at our Halloween Party at Sunwood Living Retirement Residence. There`s always time to play!