May 21 2025 - Norm then and now

 

George/Norm has passed away and his obituary says he was 76 years old.   Last week I saw an article on how much younger people look now compared to 30 or 40 years ago.  The picture used as the demonstration was Cheers' Norm.  They showed what a 34-year-old Norm looked like during the Cheers series which ran from 1982 to 1993 and how he would look today at the same age.  Today's Norm looks younger.

I found an article that showed pictures of the main characters at the beginning and then the end of the series.   "A 33-year-old George Wendt first perched himself up at the bar as Norm Peterson during season one of Cheers. Greetings of "Norm" continued each time he arrived at the bar throughout the series 11-season run until he was 44."   Doesn't he sort of look the same age at the start and the end?   And why do we seem to look younger now? Here's an answer:  "Yes, it's generally accepted that people today are looking younger than they did 50 years ago. This is due to a combination of factors, including advancements in healthcare, changes in lifestyle (like better nutrition and smoking cessation), and increased use of sunscreen and skincare." Here's another answer: "Our skin, hair and teeth are benefiting from less cigarette smoke and physical toil, as well as an ever-expanding collection of cosmetic interventions designed to make us look younger." The studies say that people of the same chronological age are also biologically younger than fifty years ago.  There are some pretty irises blooming in my garden.  Irises have a long season of bloom - there are early bloomers with the snowdrops right through to June when the bearded varieties bloom.  These beautiful bearded irises are at Royal Botanical Gardens and will bloom in a week or two.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Jan 15 2025 - Stephen Harper is 65 years old

 

Stephen Harper has been speaking to the press and weighing in on Trump's threats.  Stephen Harper is now 65 years olde - he was Prime Minister from 2006 to 2015.  So that means he was only 55 when he left office.  Isn't that similar to Justin Trudeau who assumed office in 2015 and is leaving now at 53 years old?  He was born on Christmas Day, 1971.  And the next likely Prime Minister Pierre Poilievre is 45 years old.   Then look to the South where Joe Biden is leaving office at 82 years old and Donald Trump is assuming the Presidency at 78 years.  He's the oldest President-elect in history.  But wait - he joins quite a large group of old-age rulers. Looking at the ages of world leaders, things are worrisome if you think 78 is old.  Look at this list of the 10 oldest rulers listed in Wikipedia (here):    Paul Biya of Cameroon is almost 92  Mahmoud Abbas of Palestine is 89  Salman bin Adulaziz al Said of Saudi Arabia is 89  Pope Francis of the Vatican is 88  Harald V, King of Norway is 87  Ali Khamenei of Iran is 85   Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh is 84  Mishal of Kuwait is 84  Michael Higgins of Ireland is 83  Sergio Mattarella of Italy is 83 This is called a gerontocracy where the leader is significantly older than most of the adult population.  In many political structures, power within the ruling class accumulates with age, making the oldest individuals the holders of the most power.  And that's the case in the U.S. - it is money-intensive to get to the Presidency or even to Congress/Senate: "Extreme age is not limited to the executive branch. Mitch McConnell is 82. Nancy Pelosi is 84. Chuck Grassley is 90. At least 20 members of Congress are over 80. The average ages in the US House and Senate are 58 and 64, respectively. Only 6% of Congress is under 40. Meanwhile, the median age in the US is 39. In terms of age, Congress does not represent the electorate." What we wonder is whether a person that age can be healthy and fit for the job, and doubt they really represent the electorate's views and interests. As for Trump, that question comes second after the three mental disorders identified by top psychologist John D. Garntner who says Trump has - malignant narcissist personality disorder, hyper manic temperament, and dementia. He's not alone in this diagnosis.   What we do know is that the age of American presidents is getting older and older.  The age gap between Trudeau and Biden was 29 years.  If you go way back in the time machine, the difference in age between Diefenaker and Kennedy was nearer the reverse.   Here's the Dove tree or Handkerchief tree flower.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Aug 24 2022 - Developmental Milestones

Parents are checking their babies to make sure they develop normally - according to developmental milestones.  These are all positive - babies start laughing and engaging, gaining strength in their movements.   These are cognitive and physical developments.  When we look at development in late adulthood, the greatest attention by experts seems to be cognitive.   The famous psychologist Erik Erikson says the milestones is to resolve the conflict of integrity vs despair.  That means satisfaction in life rather than bitterness and disillusionment.   Gene Cohen was a student of Erikson's and developed these stages - there are four of them and include  these:  Liberation late 50s to 70s - experimentation and innovation, liberation not compliance, innovation and willingness to take risks. Summing Up late 60s through 80s - Review of one's life and resolution and desire to give back.   Final ages 70s until end of life - reflection and celebration with reexamination, liberation and summing up.  At a general level, that is interesting.  But some days, I am more interested in what I should be attending to in terms of the physical.  On the physical side, the Mayo Clinic goes through a list of what to expect as you get older. The first thing they cover  is the cardiovascular system in which the blood vessels and arteries stiffen causing our hearts to work harder. The risk is high blood pressure and cardiovascular problems.  Then the bones, joints and muscles - everything shrinks and we lose strength, endurance and flexibility.  Digestive system?  Structural changes in the large intestine can result in constipation. And the bladder and urinary tract becomes less elastic, and it becomes difficult to empty the bladder completely. And the one everyone comments on - memory and thinking skills.  Forgetting is the familiar result.  There's more - eyes, ears, teeth, weight and so on.  There are a lot of parts of the human body to start declining.   That seems to be the conclusion today.

When we moved to Grimsby, this was one of the garden focal points along Main Street.  It is gone now.  I guess the house was sold and this wasn't the new owners idea of an attractive feature.  How did it get assembled up there?  How long did it take to put it up?   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

 

July 8 2021 - Looking for the Oldest Stuff

 

Continuing on the theme of old, I wonder what the oldest stuff is.  What do we prize and keep? There's a website named oldest.org and it tracks "oldest" things. There are simple things like  the 9 oldest wood schoolhouses, lighthouses  banks, buildings, bridges, and so on. Little did I think that the oldest tattoos would be significant. Ethnographic and historical texts reveal that tattooing has been practiced by just about every human culture in historic times. The ancient Greeks used tattoos from the 5th century on to communicate among spies; later, the Romans marked criminals and slaves with tattoos. Other cultures had sacred messages and symbols. Finding the oldest tattoos entails finding mummies. The oldest?  Ötzi the Iceman from 3400 BCE had tattoos - 61 in 19 groups of black lines. The locations of many of the markings are consistent with traditional Chinese acupuncture points, specifically those that are used to treat back pain and stomach upset. What is intriguing is that Ötzi lived roughly 2,000 years before the oldest generally accepted evidence of acupuncture, and well west of its purported origins in China. X-rays revealed that Ötzi had arthritis in his hip joint, knees, ankles and spine; forensic analysis discovered evidence of whipworm eggs - known to cause severe abdominal pain - in Ötzi’s stomach. It is, therefore, possible that Ötzi’s tattoos did in fact play a therapeutic role, and that acupuncture has a slightly more complicated history than previously believed. Now that is intriguing. It tells us that there is much to learn from old things, antique things and vintage things.  There's a trend to get rid of old stuff these days - things we have just finished using.  It has led to the waning appreciation of antiques and vintage.   That leaves us with National Old Stuff Day. - March 2nd. It is a day to celebrate old things and get rid of old things.  The two live side by side.  Certainly steam locomotives and railroad layouts represent old stuff from a previous time.  I wonder if I would find any tattoos on the figures.  I've never considered looking or asking.  It would be remarkable, wouldn't it.

Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Jan 13 2021 - Grumpy Old People

 

One of "those ads" at the bottom of an article I was reading had a picture of an old man behind the wheel of a car being 'grumpy' - he looked like he was pounding his fists on the steering wheel.  It was funny because he was  little and looked like the grandfather in Hard Day's Night with the Beatles.  It was an ad for car insurance in Grimsby. He was definitely British so I think they (the algorithm) got confused and gave me a Grimsby U.K. ad. It's happened before.  I though there must be lots of pictures of grumpy old British men: they seem to be archetypal.  In fact, Getty images delivered search results of 94,523 Old British Man Photos.   Now compare that to the same search term with the addition of American - for old American men - that's a different headline - 3,280 handsome 50 year old men photos and premium... from Getty.  American old isn't very old, is it?  I guess Getty has the pulse on societal norms in advertising and what gets our attention. There are a lot of articles on being old and grumpy. They seem to be opinion articles and explanatory pieces - what makes people grumpy at an older age and how to fix oneself. Everyone weighs in on this - AARP,  Psychology Today, news organizations, newspapers.  It seems to be a popular topic with differing data and views on whether old people are grumpier or happier than younger people.   And what is the magic age that turns an older person grumpy? There is some consensus on this, or else everyone references the same source.  It is the age of 70 - the marker where "life - or at least the perception of happiness - begins to go downhill".  I wonder if my Dad read that study, as that's what he told me.  And consider this:  that was all written before the Pandemic.  We are seeing a rise in  grumpiness across the entire population.   These articles come from medical and government sites as well as top magazines.  Forbes heads the list with Is It Just Me or Is Everyone Grumpy?  And that was written in July so consider the state now.  Those articles talk about the coronavirus pandemic making everything seem uncertain, casing stress, short tempers, sadness and tension. And so we are justified in being grumpy. Will there be a generation of curmudgeon children? That's a scary movie, isn't it?    Here is the "Maple tree" at Honsberger Street - the first photo the spring and the second winter.  Can you spot the difference of the season in the sky, or the trees in the background?  Or is it the dandelions in the grass of the first photo?   Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Oct 16 2020 - The UN Knows if you are old

 

Many people my age don't want to be old. Boomers don't want to be called or named 'old'. - preferring 'older'.  However the United Nations has agreed that 65 and older is denoted as old age.  That is the age nearing or surpassing the life expectancy of human beings.  So when first world boomers think that 80 year olds should be defined as old, perhaps they are correct.  In Africa, old age is defined as 55 years old.  What Wikipedia does say is that it is not a biological stage and varies culturally and historically. What if being old has a social definition to  I look to our world of jokes to provide us with some signs that others might decide whether a person is old:  Kidnappers are not very interested in you. In a hostage situation you are likely to be released first. No one expects you to run...anywhere. People call at 9 pm and ask did I wake you? People no longer view you as a hypochondriac. There is nothing left to learn the hard way. Things you buy now won't wear out. You can eat supper at 4 pm. You no longer think of speed limits as a challenge. You sing along with elevator music. Your eyes won't get much worse. Your joints are more accurate meteorologists than the national weather service. Today's pictures illustrate my interpretation of the contrast between cat-come- when-called and dog-come-when-called.  Baxter looks like he's coming over and will decide whether to hit me with that intense look.  Millie wants to know if I'll still love her when she reaches me.

Read past POTDs at my Blog: https://marilyncornwell.blogspot.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Life Lessons

Can you imagine turning 98 today? it's my father's birthday and he's 98. We had lunch at August restaurant yesterday with him.  I thought of it in comparison to a birthday lunch at August's a few years ago. The birthday celebrant was turning 100.  She insisted on arm-wrestling the young waiter.  She was so strong that it turned out to be an arm wrestle.  He thought he would be giving her the opportunity to win.  He got a life lesson from the old.  You can imagine how many articles there are on lessons from old people.  There are 90-year-old lessons, 93-year-old lessons, 100-year-old lessons, lessons from Harvard graduates from the class of 1963.  There's a huffington post article on a person who asked 1500+ elders for advice on living and loving. Are the lessons the same or different from the young vs the old?  There are lots of articles on 30 lessons I learned before 30, or 5 lessons I learned before 21, etc. The advice given looks the same to me. But I guess the fundamental question is: What makes us interested in life lessons? What is the payoff and the benefits we're seeking ?  I had to go to life lesson jokes to get the clearest answer.  Six lessons for life is at eBaum's World.  I chose 3 that are presentable here. A sales rep, an administration clerk, and the manager are walking to lunch when they find an antique oil lamp. They rub it and a Genie comes out. The Genie says, 'I'll give each of you just one wish.' 'Me first! Me first!' says the admin clerk. 'I want to be in the Bahamas , driving a speedboat, without a care in the world.' Puff! She's gone. 'Me next! Me next!' says the sales rep.. 'I want to be in Hawaii , relaxing on the beach with my personal masseuse, an endless supply of Pina Coladas and the love of my life.' Puff! He's gone. 'OK, you're up,' the Genie says to the manager. The manager says, 'I want those two back in the office after lunch.' Moral of the story: Always let your boss have the first say. An eagle was sitting on a tree resting, doing nothing. A small rabbit saw the eagle and asked him, 'Can I also sit like you and do nothing?' The eagle answered: 'Sure, why not.' So, the rabbit sat on the ground below the eagle and rested. All of a sudden, a fox appeared, jumped on the rabbit and ate it. Moral of the story: To be sitting and doing nothing, you must be sitting very, very high up. A little bird was flying south for the winter. It was so cold the bird froze and fell to the ground into a large field. While he was lying there, a cow came by and dropped some dung on him. As the frozen bird lay there in the pile of cow dung, he began to realize how warm he was. The dung was actually thawing him out! He lay there all warm and happy, and soon began to sing for joy. A passing cat heard the bird singing and came to investigate. Following the sound, the cat discovered the bird under the pile of cow dung, and promptly dug him out and ate him. Morals of the story: (1) Not everyone who shits on you is your enemy. (2) Not everyone who gets you out of shit is your friend. (3) And when you're in deep shit, it's best to keep your mouth shut! I wonder what the modelling lessons would be from this layout?

Read past POTD's at my Blog: http://blog.marilyncornwell.com Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

How old is Kirk Douglas?

Have you ever wondered about your favourite celebrities from past decades?  At NEWS 1130, they list the celebrity birthdays for the following week in order of oldest to youngest.  Here are today's celebrity birthdays: July 22: Actor Orson Bean (“Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman”) is 90. Actress Louise Fletcher is 84. Actor Terence Stamp is 80. Game-show host Alex Trebek is 78. Singer George Clinton is 77. Singer-actor Bobby Sherman is 75. Actor Danny Glover is 72. Writer-director Paul Schrader is 72. Singer Don Henley is 71. Actor-comedian-director Albert Brooks is 71. Composer Alan Menken (“Little Mermaid,” ”Little Shop of Horrors”) is 69. Actor Willem Dafoe is 63. Singer Keith Sweat is 57. Singer Emily Saliers of the Indigo Girls is 55. Actor-comedian David Spade is 54. Actor John Leguizamo is 54. Bassist Pat Badger of Extreme is 51. Actress Irene Bedard (“Pocahontas”) is 51. Actor Rhys Ifans (“Elementary,” ”Notting Hill”) is 51. Actor-singer Jaime Camil (“Jane the Virgin”) is 45. Musician Daniel Jones (Savage Garden) is 45. Singer Rufus Wainwright is 45. Actress Franka Potente (“The Bourne Identity”) is 44. Actress A.J. Cook (“Criminal Minds”) is 40. Actor Keegan Allen (“Pretty Little Liars”) is 31. Singer-actress Selena Gomez is 26. It seems so fascinating.  I would not have realized Louise Fletcher or Terence Stamp were over 80.  What about Kirk Douglas?  He's age 101, born in 1917.  (His son Michael Douglas is 73 years old).  Olivia de Havilland is age 102, born 1916. There's a wikipedia list of actors, entertainers, celebrities who are centurions (living and deceased).  I found this person in the list:  Ruthie Thompson, born 1910, age 107, American animator.  (Maybe she's 108 by now). This seems really old.  In comparison the oldest verified living person is 117 years old - Chiyo Miyako, born May 2nd, 1901.  And the oldest person who has ever lived and whose age has been verified is Jeanne Calmest at age 122 years, 1875-1997.  She has a fascinating story HERE. We look at the delicate shapes and textures in  carnation flowers today.

This Old House

We return to the scene of the sagging barn/shed.  I thought I'd show you the story from all of its angles.  The road view is what you see in the first two pictures. The surprise back is the third picture.  Then we met the second urprise of the old car.  Every old car has a story, so there's an abstract grunge photo to complete our trip around this old house. Today is the last day we can declare  "Until the end of August".  Other than that there doesn't seem to be a lot of significance to the last day of August.  It is tomorrow that has significance!