CMK Home Care

The retirement years can be an exciting time to see the world, and travel is easier and safer than ever before for senior citizens. With a little planning and some caution, seniors can safely visit almost any destination. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urge older travelers to follow the simple tips below to ensure safe travel.

All travelers, including senior citizens, should see a doctor for a pre-travel visit, ideally 4–6 weeks before they travel, although even a last-minute visit can be helpful.

The doctor should be told about illnesses the traveler has and medicines he or she is taking, since this will influence medical decisions. In addition to providing vaccines, medicine, and advice for keeping healthy, a doctor can conduct a physical exam to assess a senior’s fitness for travel.

Seniors should consider their physical limitations when planning a trip. Seniors with heart disease, for example, might choose an itinerary that does not involve strenuous activities. Seniors may also have a hard time recovering from jet lag and motion sickness, so they should take these factors into account when planning a trip.

Before travel, seniors should have information about their destination that could affect their health, such as the altitude and climate. They should be aware of whether the destination is prone to natural disasters, such as earthquakes and hurricanes, since seniors may have more problems in those extreme situations.

Vaccines

Before travel, seniors should be up-to-date on routine vaccines, such as measles/mumps/rubella and seasonal flu. Some of these may be considered “childhood” vaccines, but their protective effect decreases over time, and the diseases they protect against are often more common in other countries than in the United States. More than half of tetanus cases are in people over 65, so seniors should consider getting a tetanus booster before they travel.

Seniors should also receive other vaccines recommended for the countries they are visiting. These may include vaccines for hepatitis, typhoid, polio, or yellow fever. Recommended vaccines are listed by country on CDC’s destination pages.

Use of some vaccines may be restricted on the basis of age or chronic illnesses. Yellow fever vaccine, for example, should be given cautiously to people older than 60 years, and it should not be given at all to people with certain immune-suppressing conditions. Seniors should discuss their detailed travel plans with their doctors and, if necessary, alternatives to vaccination.

Medication

A doctor may prescribe medicine for malaria, altitude illness, or travelers’ diarrhea; seniors should make sure the doctor knows any other medications they take, to watch out for possible drug interactions. Travelers’ diarrhea is common and may be more serious in seniors, so seniors should also follow food and water precautions.

In addition to medicine prescribed specifically for travel, seniors are likely to take other medicines regularly, such as medicines for high blood pressure, diabetes, or arthritis. They should plan to pack enough medicine for the duration of the trip, plus a few days’ extra in case of travel delays. Counterfeit drugs may be common overseas, so seniors should take only medicine they bring from the United States.

Prescription medicine should always be carried in its original container, along with a copy of the prescription, and all medicine should be packed in carry-on luggage, in case checked luggage gets lost.

Injury Prevention

Although exotic infections make the headlines, injury is the most common cause of preventable death among travelers. Seniors can minimize their risk of serious injury by following these guidelines:

• Always wear a seatbelt.
• Don’t ride in cars after dark in developing countries.
• Avoid small, local planes.
• Don’t travel at night in questionable areas.

In addition, seniors should consider purchasing supplemental travel health insurance in case of injury or illness overseas. Many health plans, including Medicare, will not pay for services received outside the United States. Seniors who are planning travel to remote areas should consider purchasing evacuation insurance, which will pay for emergency transportation to a qualified hospital.

Written by Mike Tennant

Summer can be a physically taxing time for everyone. The weather gets hot, places get crowded and busy, and we tend to race from one place to the next. Everyone needs to relax and enjoy summer, especially seniors. As we age, we become more sensitive to changes in temperature, especially heat. This article will look at some summer health tips for seniors that should be taken into consideration as the weather warms up.

The first thing that seniors should do for the summer is to examine their homes. Look at ways to save energy and stay cool. Many seniors cannot afford air-conditioning, which can be vital for good summer health. Look at ways to conserve cool air, like covering windows with heavier curtains, or ensuring that windows can safely remain open to allow breezes to flow. Create a shaded place outdoors in the yard that is free of clutter and has a comfortable chair for reading or relaxing.

If you are planning a trip, meet with your doctor to discuss the vacation. This will allow the doctor to give any needed medical advice and refill any prescriptions that might expire while you are away. If you have any complicated medical conditions, you might have your doctor write out an outline of your medical history and course of treatment, along with a list of medications and dosage instructions. This will be very helpful and save a lot of time if you need to seek emergency treatment away from home.

Another summer health tip for seniors to keep in mind is their schedule. While you are out and about, make sure to keep comfortable. Don’t rush around. Instead take your time getting from one place to another, and rest often. Take breaks to drink water or enjoy some fresh fruit. Avoid caffeine and hot foods that could contribute to overheating. Plan your activities so they take place in the cooler times of the day, such as in the morning or early evening. Plan trips to places that are indoors and air conditioned. If you don’t have air conditioning at home, considering spending the hottest part of the day at the local library, or a community center where there is indoor air.

Soaring summer temperatures can make everyone more susceptible to heat stroke and exhaustion. Symptoms can include confusion, short rapid breathing, a fast pulse, excessive sweating or lack of sweat. Avoid extreme heat and direct sunlight. Seek comfortable places to relax, such us under an umbrella, on a patio, or anywhere air-conditioned. Drink plenty of water, and wear light loose-weight clothing in light colors. Pack sunscreen, glasses, and hats.

Remember these summer health tips for seniors to keep everyone in your family healthy. Check in on elderly relatives who may be home-bound to make sure that they are faring well during the summer. Most of all stay healthy and enjoy your summer.

Aromatherapy reduced agitation and increased constructive activity in people with severe dementia, according to a recent study.

“Aromatherapy as a Safe and Effective Treatment for the Management of Agitation in Severe Dementia: The Results of a Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial With Melissa” was conducted by Clive Ballard, M.D., John O’Brien, Katharina Reichelt and Elaine Perry, Ph.D., of Wolfson Research Centre, Newcastle General Hospital, Institute for Ageing and Health, in the United Kingdom.

Seventy-two people from eight nursing homes participated in the study. Selected subjects had agitation that was deemed clinically significant because it occurred at least once a day and caused moderate to severe management problems for the staff.

According to the study’s authors, agitation was defined as “a cluster of symptoms including anxiety and irritability, motor restlessness, and abnormal vocalization.”

The nursing homes were randomly assigned to use either placebo or active treatment. The placebo was sunflower oil added to a base lotion; the active treatment was Melissa essential oil added to a base lotion. The lotions were kept in opaque containers that delivered metered doses of .16 to .17 grams of lotion at a time.

A care assistant applied the lotion to the subject’s face and arms twice a day, for a total of six doses per day, or 200 milligrams of oil.

Levels of agitation were measured on the Cohen-Mansfield Agitation Inventory (CMAI) every week for four weeks by raters blind to whether participants had received the active or placebo aromatherapy treatment.

“Aromatherapy with essential balm oil was well tolerated and resulted in a 35% improvement in agitation compared with an 11% improvement with placebo treatment, a highly significant difference,” state the study’s authors. “Restlessness and shouting were the domains with the greatest improvement.”

Among the people receiving the active aromatherapy treatment there was also a significant increase in the amount of time spent involved in constructive activities, and a significant decrease in the amount of time spent socially withdrawn.

“This improvement indicates a benefit in overall well-being, in addition to the reduction in agitation, and suggests that improvements were not a consequence of increased sedation, which would have reduced participation in activities,” state the study’s authors.

The results of this study, according to its authors, suggest the need for longer-term, multicenter trials exploring the role of aromatherapy in the treatment of agitation in people with severe dementia, as an adjunct and/or alternative to psychotropic medication.

By Laura Sanders, Science News

A year of moderate exercise doesn’t just bulk up muscles—it beefs up the brain, too, a new study finds. A memory center in the brain called the hippocampus shrinks a little bit each year with age, but older adults who walked routinely for a year actually gained hippocampus volume, researchers report in a study to appear in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

“I think it’s a very exciting contribution to see that walking at a fairly vigorous rate will actually affect a key structure of the brain,” says neuroscientist Carl Cotman of the University of California, Irvine, who was not involved in the study. “So for healthy elderly, it’s good news and would hopefully encourage people to figure that exercise is worth it.”

In the study, 60 adults aged 55 to 80 scaled up gradually until they walked for 40 minutes three times a week, enough to get their heart rates up. Sixty other participants did toning workouts that included weight training, yoga sessions and stretching for the same amount of time. After a year of toning, a part of these subjects’ brains called the anterior hippocampus lost a little over 1 percent of its volume. In contrast, a year of aerobic exercise led to about a 2 percent increase in anterior hippocampus volume.

Study participants who got their heart rates up performed slightly better on a memory test and had higher levels of a brain-aiding molecule called BDNF, the researchers found.

“You can think of this as not maintaining memory, but improving memory in this group—essentially turning back the clock and pushing these individuals back up their own personal trajectory by about two years,” says study coauthor Arthur Kramer of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “Although it used to be thought that aging was a one-way street that was going the wrong direction, we know from our work and other work that that’s not the case.”

The place where the brain got bigger—the anterior hippocampus—is “an interesting place,” says Kramer, because that’s one of the few places where new nerve cells are born from adult stem cells throughout a person’s life. Researchers don’t yet know whether this cell replenishment is responsible for the volume increase, though.

Kramer and his colleagues are currently following the participants to see whether these brain benefits last, he says. Further studies are needed to figure out the duration and type of exercise that boosts brain power the most.

The new work underscores how a fit body includes a fit brain, Cotman says. “This whole idea that something as simple as exercise can actually benefit the brain and offset some of the changes that occur with normal aging is an emerging frontier—that’s what’s exciting about it.”

For the first time since 2001, the American Geriatrics Society and the British Geriatrics Society have updated their guidelines for preventing falls in older people. The update includes two notable changes: One recommends tai chi — the meditative, slow-motion Chinese exercise — as an effective way to prevent falls, while another suggests that doctors review medication use by all elderly patients, with an eye toward reducing use of those drugs that increase the risk of falling.

The earlier guidelines did not single out any particular exercise regimen and endorsed prescription reviews only for patients taking more than four medications.

Exercise is essential for any older person who can manage it, according to Dr. Mary Tinetti of the Yale University School of Medicine, a chairwoman of the panel that issued the new guidelines. Tai chi gets the nod because several trials have suggested that it seems to help reduce the risk of falling, she said, although it is possible that other forms of balance training work just as well.

Greg Fuller teaches tai chi at the Jewish Home in Los Angeles. “The basic underlying philosophy is that balance is everything,” he said. Most important for his students, whose average age is 90, tai chi involves small, slow, controlled motions.

“With beginners, we spend a lot of time working while seated, bringing attention to the proper alignment of the pelvis, chest and head,” said Mr. Fuller. Once that is accomplished, “finding strength and balance while standing is much easier.”

Even then, many students work standing just behind a chair. “The presence of the chair back within reach gives them a sense of security and confidence,” Mr. Fuller said. “They forget about the possibility of falling and concentrate on the movements.”

Confidence is important to fall prevention, according to Dr. Tinetti, who said that fear of falling can itself lead older people to cut back on activities they used to enjoy. The less they do, sadly, the less they eventually are able to do.

The geriatrics groups also have long recommended that the medication regimens of older patients be reviewed and, if possible, scaled back. Earlier guidelines called for reviewing medications only if a patient takes more than four. This time around, researchers say that all older patients ought to have their doctors review their prescriptions for any that might increase the risk of falling.

“The evidence is strongest that medications that affect the brain — these include antidepressants, sleep medications and medications for anxiety — increase the risk of falling,” said Dr. Tinetti. “There is also a suggestion, not yet proven, that narcotics and some blood pressure medications may increase the risk of falls, as well.”

The updated guidelines distinguish between a fall that requires intervention and one that might be an isolated incident. The updated criteria for getting a risk evaluation are:

• An elderly person worried or frightened by a fall.
• Two or more falls in the past year.
• One or more falls with injury.
• Repeated difficulty with balance when walking.

Elderly people (that is, people aged 65 years and older) are more prone to heat stress than younger people for several reasons:

• Elderly people do not adjust as well as young people to sudden changes in temperature.
• They are more likely to have a chronic medical condition that upsets normal body responses to heat.
• They are more likely to take prescription medicines that impair the body’s ability to regulate its temperature or that inhibit perspiration

You can follow these prevention tips to protect yourself from heat-related stress:

• Drink cool, nonalcoholic, non-caffeinated beverages. (If your doctor generally limits the amount of fluid you drink or has you on water pills, ask him how much you should drink when the weather is hot. Also, avoid extremely cold liquids because they can cause cramps.)
• Rest.
• Take a cool shower, bath, or sponge bath.
• If possible, seek an air-conditioned environment.
• If you don’t have air conditioning, consider visiting an air-conditioned shopping mall or public library to cool off.
• Keep warm areas ventilation if not cooled. Proper ventilation will promote adequate sweat evaporation to cool the skin.
• Wear lightweight clothing.
• If possible, remain indoors in the heat of the day.
• Do not engage in strenuous activities.
• Sunblocks and sunscreens with a protection factor of 15 (SPF 15) can be very helpful when one is exposed to extreme direct sunlight.

What You Can Do to Help Protect Elderly Relatives and Neighbors

If you have elderly relatives or neighbors, you can help them protect themselves from heat-related stress:

• Visit older adults at risk at least twice a day and watch them for signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.
• Take them to air-conditioned locations if they have transportation problems.
• Make sure older adults have access to an electric fan whenever possible.

What You Can Do for Someone with Heat Stress

If you see any signs of severe heat stress, you may be dealing with a life-threatening emergency. Have someone call for immediate medical assistance while you begin cooling the affected person. Do the following:

• • Get the person to a shady area.
• • Cool the person rapidly, using whatever methods you can. For example, immerse the person in a tub of cool water; place the person in a cool shower; spray the person with cool water from a garden hose; sponge the person with cool water; or if the humidity is low, wrap the person in a cool, wet sheet and fan him or her vigorously.
• • Monitor body temperature and continue cooling efforts until the body temperature drops to

101°–102°F

• • If emergency medical personnel are delayed, call the hospital emergency room for further instructions.
• • Do not give the person alcohol to drink.
• • Get medical assistance as soon as possible.

Heat Stroke

Heat stroke is the most serious heat-related illness. It occurs when the body becomes unable to control its temperature: the body’s temperature rises rapidly, the body loses its ability to sweat, and it is unable to cool down. Body temperatures rise to 106 ° F or higher within 10 to 15 minutes.

Heat stroke can cause death or permanent disability if emergency treatment is not provided.

Signs and Symptoms of Heat Stroke

Warning signs vary but may include the following:

• An extremely high body temperature (above 103°F)
• Red, hot, and dry skin (no sweating)
• Rapid, strong pulse
• Throbbing headache
• Dizziness
• Nausea

Heat Exhaustion

Heat exhaustion is a milder form of heat-related illness that can develop after several days of exposure to high temperatures and inadequate or unbalanced replacement of fluids.

Signs and Symptoms of Heat Exhaustion

Warning signs vary but may include the following:

• Heavy sweating
• Paleness
• Muscle Cramps
• Tiredness
• Weakness
• Dizziness
• Headache
• Nausea or vomiting
• Fainting
• Skin: may be cool and moist
• Pulse rate: fast and weak
• Breathing: fast and shallow

Whether it’s for religious reasons or simply the celebration of springtime, Easter is a holiday where the focus is on new life and renewal. There are many Easter-time activities that can be organized for the elderly. Take advantage of this unique day to give the elderly a reason to smile.

Organize a Potluck

Elderly people, like most, love to gather together to talk and eat. Organize a potluck at your local church or fire hall. Find sponsors who will help carry the cost so you can make the event free for elderly attendees. Require each sponsor to make a covered dish. Center the potluck around Easter with spring-themed decorations and activities such as egg coloring, singing Easter songs and telling the story of Easter.

Have a Talent Show

If you are organizing Easter activities for a particular group of elderly people, such as church groups or nursing home residents, you can have an Easter-themed talent show. Involve both elderly volunteers and people from the community. Contact local school and religious organizations and see if there is a anyone interested in performing. Also give the elderly attendees an opportunity to perform. For many, they’ve left their talents with their young age and would love the opportunity to express themselves again. To keep the focus on Easter, ask performers to showcase Easter hymns, poems about springtime, or dance routines celebrating new life.

Make Crafts

Organize a craft event. Gather the elderly in the community and have them create Easter egg baskets and color eggs for a local charity or children’s hospital. This will provide the elderly with an outlet for their talents and an opportunity to help out the community. Find old wicker baskets at a local thrift store and have the participants decorate them, taking a very inexpensive item and turning it into a treasure for a person or child in need. Other crafts can include crocheting springtime blankets, painting flower pots for planting tulips and making chocolate Easter bunnies.

By Joey Papa

It also helps lower risk of diabetes, heart disease

More good news for chocolate lovers: A new Harvard study finds that eating a small square of dark chocolate daily can help lower blood pressure for people with hypertension.

The study joins the growing research into the heart-healthy benefits of flavonoids, compounds in unsweetened chocolate that cause dilation of the blood vessels. The Harvard study was announced today in Atlanta at the American Heart Association’s science session on cardiovascular disease.

The study analyzed 24 chocolate studies involving 1,106 people. It found that dark chocolate, the kind that contains at least 50 to 70 percent cocoa, lowered blood pressure in all participants, but most notably in those with hypertension. Eric Ding of Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a coauthor of the study, says researchers also found that chocolate increased insulin sensitivity, good for lowering diabetes risk.

Dark chocolate also appears to affect cholesterol. The Harvard researchers found some evidence for a small decrease in LDL (bad) cholesterol and a significant increase in HDL (good) cholesterol. Triglycerides, however, were unchanged.

As the researchers write, there is “rather strong evidence” that cocoa consumption improves several important cardiovascular risk factors “and likely reduces the risk of cardiovascular disease.”

Research touting chocolate’s health benefits has become increasingly popular in the past decade. While tea, fruits and vegetables also contain these heart-healthy compounds, “flavonoids are notably abundant in the cocoa solids of the cocoa bean,” the study’s authors write.

Chocolate with a higher proportion of cocoa solids — like unsweetened or dark chocolate — will contain more flavonoids. Dark chocolate, for example, contains from 46 to 61 mg of catechin, a type of flavonoid, in 100 grams (about one ounce), while milk chocolate contains only 15 to 16 mg, the study notes.

Obviously, encouraging people to eat dark chocolate for its health benefits is appealing advice, and older Americans have taken it to heart. Men and women age 55 and over now make up the bulk of dark chocolate consumers, according to the latest figures from market research firm Mintel.

In a May 2008 survey of consumers who bought chocolate for themselves in the past year, two-thirds of those 55-plus said they chose dark chocolate. Among those 65 and older, the preference for dark was even higher — nearly 75 percent. But Ding and his team caution that commercial processing plus the added sugar in the average dark chocolate bar can counteract a big chunk of its benefits.

By Candy Sagon

Researchers now find that that elderly individuals who suffer from untreated poor vision could be at greater risk for dementia. Many seniors lack health insurance to cover the cost of eye exams, and could consequently be at higher risk for Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia.

Compared to elders who had not visited an ophthalmologist, seniors who kept up with treatment for poor vision were sixty four percent less likely to develop dementia according to findings extracted from the Health and Retirement Study and records from Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Researcher Mary A.M. Rogers, PhD, research assistant professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School says, “Our results indicate that it is important for elderly individuals with visual problems to seek medical attention so that the causes of the problems can be identified and treated.”

Correcting poor vision from cataracts, glaucoma, retinal disorders and other eye problems among seniors were most likely to lower the chances of dementia. Vision loss in the elderly interferes with activities needed to maintain a healthy brain, including reading, board games, and regular exercise.

The authors also note that lack of insurance could be interfering with seniors obtaining regular eye exams. Rogers points out that “Many elderly Americans do not have adequate health coverage for vision, and Medicare does not cover preventative vision screenings for most beneficiaries. So it’s not unusual that the elderly receive vision treatment only after a problem is severe enough to warrant a visit to the doctor when the problem is more advanced.”

Rogers also says Alzheimer’s disease is on the rise, “So if we can delay the onset of dementia, we can save individuals and their families from the stress, cost and burden that are associated with Alzheimer’s disease.”
The study was based on surveys that included medical information from 625 people showed that just ten percent of elderly individuals who developed dementia had excellent vision at the start of the study. Seniors who remained dementia free maintained excellent vision throughout the 1992 to 2005 study, providing the link between untreated vision problems and dementia.

Alzheimer’s disease is expected to occur in 13 million people by 2050, and one in five individuals over age 50 has a vision problem. The new findings suggest that treating vision problems in the elderly could reduce the burden of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease on individuals and family members, and ultimately save money related to health care spending.

By:Kathleen Blanchard RN

Many folks anticipate their retirement from a 9-5 job as liberation, time to begin living, probably in pursuit of some hobby or creative activity in which their time has been restricted not by desire but by the exigencies of work and family demands. But retirement often looms large and forbidding to the Type A person whose worth has always been gauged by the degree and amount of work achieved. Those retired men and women who seem unsettled, at odds and even depressed with excess time on their hands are the ones without a passion, without a hobby that can channel their energy and feed their egos in some way.

So you admit you may fit in the above category and you’re in the market for some fun? Okay, but what constitutes a hobby? Is family life a hobby? For someone who has had to limit the amount of time playing with new grandchildren or even developing deeper relationships with adult children, a spouse or aging parent or sibling, change from practicing to correct the limitations of the past can certainly be considered a worthwhile hobby indeed. If a retired person gets enthused about finding more ways to interact with family, that can well become a hobby, an abiding interest that can lead to a richer, fuller life. Those who have no hobby at retirement age should not despair. It’s never to late to pick one up, or even two or three or four.

ART this includes drawing, painting, sculpture. A trip to an art supply store can introduce you to supplies needed, and perhaps even a schedule of classes available in your area. One person took up oil painting a year before she retired, going for weekly lessons. She continued the lessons for three years, and now is always ready to pull out a small canvas and her oil paints to capture the flowers on the table, the bowl of fruit or the scene out the window in the fall. There are other aspects of art that can add up to great hobbies in addition to making art.

How about collecting ART? Beginning collectors can study the art collection scene, travel to galleries, take courses, even plan fun and exciting trips to other venues here and abroad in hopes of acquiring pieces of art according to their budget. You don’t have to be a millionaire to acquire art, either. Buy small canvases from summer painters who display their work at shoreline or resort shows, or even check out showings at local colleges and high schools Two of my favorite paintings are watercolors done by high school students”"they’re fresh, novel, bright and alive. They aren’t Picasso, but they’re original, and they were fun to acquire. Acquiring fine art accents ART appreciation, too, another general category for revving up a latent interest.

BIRDWATCHING seems to appeal to older people I know, particularly men. More retired fellows than I can shake a stick at have invested in fancy birdfeeders of every kind, and make it a daily task to fill the feeders, supply the suet, and keep an eye out for old and new friends on the perches. Bird books help the novice or the experienced watcher to identify and understand the feathered flocks. But bird-watching need not be a sedentary habit. Some folks join in extensive bird counts through the Audubon Society and other groups, hiking through the woods or perching on a river bank in spring to spot American Bald Eagles or other raptors, songbirds or others. In any case, learning more about birds can be exciting. There are raptor centers in Vermont and other states that deserve a visit as part of your bird-watching education. Birds are a neglected but fascinating part of nature’s beauty around us.

COLLECTING Many people set aside their earliest collections at some point in midlife when they are too busy to pursue it. Whether it’s salt and pepper shakers from every state in the union, or books by a particular author, even first editions, or stamps, coins, Beanie Babies or antiques of one sort or another, collections can be fun, even obsessing. You might want to find new ways to mount or display your collection now that you have more time. Or refine your collection as you age, discarding a bulk of items and focusing on a few more cherished ones, but in either case, the balance of free time and a little discretionary spending money can lead to new challenges on the collecting scene and allow you to leave something of economic worth and perhaps even sentimental value to your heirs.

DANCE An older couple I know took up choreographed ballroom dancing shortly before they retired, which eased them into a busy schedule of weekly dances and even trips across the region and the country for special dance weekends. They made new friends in their new hobby, too. Single older people can take up line dancing, or modern dancing”"all healthy for remaining limber and flexible in later years. Besides, doing anything to music can be enlightening and relaxing.

GARDENING is almost always the hobby by default for people who have property with lawns, gardens and trees. If you’re in this boat, why not choose an element of gardening around your land that appeals to you, but about which you need to learn more? For example, you might want to undertake a perennial bed, if previously you only grew annual flowers. Or you might want to try cultivating dwarf fruit trees if previously you only grew vegetables, or a rock garden if you have a spot you could never cultivate at all. Make it a challenge, learn something, and grow something beautiful. Off season can be the time for learning, studying, ordering, and plotting, spring, summer and fall, for the growing/harvesting. Gardening, most people find, provides excellent exercise and the rewards are endless.

JOIN a club, a hobby group, a political party, a class at your local evening school. Or a prayer group, a choir, a choral group or dining out club. They’re just plain fun, and having your social occasions scheduled by a group will be just the challenge you need to get out and join the fun”"whether you’re single or with a partner.

KITE-FLYING is one sure way to feel like a kid again. There are hundreds of models, from basic to very complex box and other styles, including double and triple kits with amazing color and beauty, all kinds of skills to learn, even kites to build and kiting organizations to join and gather with during high kiting season. Try it, or at least look for notice of some nearby kite conventions in the summer and attend”"bring your camera along, you’ll be impressed.

LANDS AND PEOPLE, in other words, travel can be a whole occupation for the retired. Much of the travel industry is geared to attracting and keeping older travelers who have the flexibility of time and some spending money available. Where have you always wanted to go? Is it viable? Do you have someone to travel with, or would you enjoy being a loner? Perhaps group travel in an organized tour is your cup of tea, or a cruise, where packing and unpacking are unnecessary.

Every older person I know who has visited Great Britain, whether on their own or as part of a tour, has raved about the experience. The British and Irish seem to know how to treat their elders well. Trips to U. S. and Canadian destinations are also popular. Hawaii, Alaska and Florida are always a treat, in the right season. Or if you’re more adventurous than that, try Eastern Europe, a musical tour of Vienna, or an Italian hiatus on the Amalfi coast or in splendid Tuscany. The opportunities are limitless.