lifewaltz.com » senior recreation

Senior Bowling, oh me oh my!

Ashley Karitis — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 23:04:00 +0000

Looks like the senior bowling scene is about to get a brand new ball…

And I bet if Jared and I introduced the Wii to TVN, some of the folks over there would LOVE it.

Here’s to the lady featured in the article and her 213 scores (my bowling scores are almost always <100)!

Feel free to share any stories of your grandparents or of seniors you know who are engaging in technology.

Does your grandpa email?

Does your great aunt have a Blackberry?

Is Ethel, your 80 year old neighbor, using a GPS box in the car?

How do you perceive seniors in our increasingly techno-fied world with all of the ever-emerging technologies? Are these technologies really user friendly or are they just for the young whippersnappers?

Fit Body, Fit Mind?

Ashley Karitis — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:59:00 +0000

Here’s an interesting read from Bend’s local newspaper The Bulletin that looks at Suzi MacLeod, a 75-yr-old Bend woman who has had a lifetime of activity and exercise. She is participating in a study with Dallas researchers (coincidence?) who are compiling results to see whether or not a lifetime of exercise helps to stave off dementia.

Here’s her weekly training regiment for those interested (this regiment was for Suzi when she was training to beat the mile record in her age group):

Monday

Light weight training with an hour of yoga

Tuesday

Speed workout with coach on track at Central Oregon Community College

Wednesday

4-mile jog on trail

Thursday

Speed workout with coach at COCC

Friday

Light weights with an hour of yoga

Saturday

4- to 8-mile jog on trail

Sunday

4- to 8-mile jog on trail

I think it’s a great weekly schedule to stay fit at age 25 or 75!

No Nursing Home for ME!

Ashley Karitis — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:39:00 +0000

My mom sent this to me in a slideshow format (which I might add, had a 4 chickens singing a popular swing band cockle-cock-a-doodling tune along with it):

No Nursing Home For Me!

About 2 years ago my wife and I were on a cruise through the western Mediterranean aboard a Princess liner. At dinner we noticed an elderly lady sitting alone along the rail of the grand stairway in the main dining room. I also noticed that all the staff, ships officers, waiters, busboys, etc., all seemed very familiar with this lady. I asked our waiter who the lady was, expecting to be told that she owned the line,but he said he only knew that she had been on board for the last four cruises, back to back.

As we left the dining room one evening I caught her eye and stopped to say hello. We chatted and I said, “I understand you’ve been on this ship for the last four cruises”. She replied, “Yes, that’s true.” I stated, “I don’t understand” and she replied, without a pause, “It’s cheaper than a nursing home”.

So, there will be no nursing home in my future. When I get old and feeble, I am going to get on a Princess Cruise Ship. The average cost for a nursing home is $200 per day. I have checked on reservations at Princess and I can get a long term discount and senior discount price of $135 per day. That leaves $65 a day for:

1. Gratuities which will only be $10 per day.

2. I will have as many as 10 meals a day if I can waddle to the restaurant, or I can have room service (which means I can have breakfast in bed every day of the week).

3. Princess has as many as three swimming pools, a workout room, free washers and dryers, and shows every night.

4. They have free toothpaste and razors, and free soap and shampoo.

5 They will even treat you like a customer, not a patient. An extra $5 worth of tips will have the entire staff scrambling to help you.

6. I will get to meet new people every 7 or 14 days.

7. T.V. broken? Light bulb need changing? Need to have the mattress replaced? No Problem! They will fix everything and apologize for your inconvenience.

8. Clean sheets and towels every day, and you don’t even have to ask for them.

9. If you fall in the nursing home and break a hip you are on Medicare; if you fall and break a hip on the Princess ship they will upgrade you to a suite for the rest of your life.

Now hold on for the best! Do you want to see South America, the Panama Canal, Tahiti, Australia, New Zealand, Asia, or name where you want to go?

Princess will have a ship ready to go. So don’t look for me in a nursing home, just call shore to ship.

PS – And don’t forget, when you die, they just dump you over the side at no charge.

Is she hinting at anything? Hmmmm….

Oh, the lives seniors can live!

Ashley Karitis — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 07:35:00 +0000

While some of our documentary, Life’s Waltz, will follow some seniors in a retirement community, that shouldn’t suggest that there aren’t many other senior citizens who lead active lives without retirement communities. We are actually always on the lookout for any senior leading an active lifestyle that emulates the positive things that can happen in life in old age. Here is a great article Jared and I found in the Dallas Morning News on Ballroom Dancing for seniors in the Dallas area:

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/fea/lifetravel/stories/DN-nh_ballroom_1118gd.ART.State.Edition1.224910c.html

We hope to follow up on this activity and maybe even include it or some of those dancers in our filming since we feel it would be a great addition to our current shooting schedule. We’re also thinking that since we’re in Texas, it’d be awesome to have a 90+ old Texan cowboy appear in the film, so if you have any leads or if you are that cowboy (or cowgirl!), let us know!