Author: Ann

  • Treasure Sale

    Treasure Sale

    The Charlestown Treasure Sale happens quarterly, resulting in thousands of dollars for the Charlestown Benevolent Care Fund, the Film and Book Library, and other resident organizations. It is one of my favorite events looking for treasures among “stuff” from other residents. The furniture comes from the cleanout of apartments. Family members take what they want…

  • National Portrait Gallery

    National Portrait Gallery

    A September Charlestown trip took me to the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC. I worked down the block from it in the 1990s. My colleagues and I would go for lunch and sit in the courtyard when the weather was nice. I was surprised to see that the courtyard is now covered and the…

  • Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Center

    Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Center

    Charlestown offers day trips to interesting places so we took advantage of one trip recently. The Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia is the companion facility to the Museum on the National Mall in Washington, DC Two large hangars display thousands of aviation and space artifacts, including a Lockheed SR-71 Blackbird, a Concorde, and the Space Shuttle Discovery. Our neighbor,…

  • Canada and New England Cruise

    Canada and New England Cruise

    Travel Day We enjoyed a ten day cruise on the Caribbean Princess starting in Quebec City and ending in New York City from August 9 to August 19, 2019. It is now 2:12 and we are on Air Canada heading to Quebec City after an ordeal at the Toronto airport. We had a very long…

  • The Science of Well-Being

    The Science of Well-Being

    What a great opportunity to complete a class from Yale’s University Laurie Santos titled The Science of Well-Being. I found out about the Coursea.org class through a sponsored Facebook post the first part of May. In fact, it was a few days before I went dark on Facebook.The Course description is as follows: [It] overviews what psychological…

  • Still No Facebook

    Still No Facebook

    A month later and still no social media. It has been easier than I thought. I do have moments when I read a newsletter or a website and they reference their Facebook page, but I have resisted. I am in contact with my siblings and friends via FaceTime and texting so I am still connected.…

  • No More Social Media

    No More Social Media

    I have been thinking about quitting for several months. I even went offline for a few months last year. Several friends said they liked to see my travel posts. I have been influenced by all the talk about the downside of social media. I kept using it to see photos of my siblings’ children more…

  • Carmelite Monastery

    Carmelite Monastery

    Sister Mary Agnes My sister celebrated her 25th Jubilee as a cloistered Carmelite nun in April. When we got the call from her about this special event, we knew we had to be there. We drove the almost 400 miles to Pittsford, NY on Friday, April 26. We were able to visit her twice on…