Aging Well in the Gorge April 10th 2018

When I was growing up, my family always played cards when we went camping. The four of us would play Hearts, Pinochle, and the family favorite Euchre - which we still play whenever the McKays get together. (And if you would like to play Euchre, call the Center and we’ll see if we can get a group started.)

But that was before the advent of video games. Now according to an AARP sponsored study, 38% of adults aged 50-plus are gamers and what might seem surprising, 40% of women are gamers - more than the 35% of men. There are a variety of games available from shoot ‘em up adventure and fantasy games to tamer but challenging logic and puzzle games which you can play on your computer or video game console such as an Xbox. Nowadays you can even team up with out-of-town family members or friends to compete against players around the world. Pretty amazing.

But if you aren’t into video games or you want to see and know who you are playing against, you can choose from a variety of non-video games at the Center. They include Mahjong (Fridays at 1:00), Bunco (third Tuesdays at 1:00), Dominoes (Tuesdays at 1:00), and the Center’s most popular game Pinochle (Thursdays at 1:00 and Fridays at 6:00). All these games are open to players of any age and to beginners - which we all were at one time. The cost varies. Most of the games are $1 per person, but Thursday Pinochle is $2 and Friday night Pinochle is $6 of which $5 goes into the pot which is paid back to the winners. Come by and check them out.

You know it really is spring when the grass is tall enough to mow and Bruce and Lori Harris from Today’s Rays stops by the Center to turn on the irrigation system. A big thank-you to Bruce and Lori for their continued support of the Center.

What would it be like to ride a motorcycle from Portland to Panama City, then ride from Bogota, Columbia south to Ushuaia, Argentina (which considers itself the southernmost city in the world) and back north to Buenos Aries? I have no idea - except I know my rear end would be sore! But you can find out at the Center’s next Wednesday lecture on April 18^th starting at 11:00 when Ron Carpenter will show videos of his 17,000-mile motorcycle trip through South America. (If you want a glimpse of his trip beforehand, search BlackdogGS on YouTube.)

The name of the television comedy, first aired in 1952, that featured the real-life Nelson family was Ozzie and Harriet with their children David and teen idol Ricky Nelson. (I received correct answers from Alice Mattox, Don McAllister, Lana Tepfer, Sandy Haechrel, Lucile Stephens, Jim Ayers, Sharon Hull and the winners of a quilt raffle ticket: Jeanne Pesicka who served Ricky Nelson when he performed at the Shamrock in 1985 and Darlene Merrick who owns an album autographed by Ricky Nelson. And once again I missed a couple folks, so a quilt raffle ticket goes to both Cheryl Green and Jim Ayers.

Now that the men’s and women’s NCAA basketball championships are over, it’s time to start down the road to the NBA championships. In Indiana, where I grew up, basketball was king (anyone see the movie Hoosiers?), and one of the all-time greatest NBA players attended high school in my hometown of Indianapolis. For this week’s “Remember When” question, who played in the NBA for fourteen years; was a 12-time All-Star; the first player in NBA history to average a triple-double for a season; and was known as the Big “O”. Email your answer to www.mcseniorcenter@gmail.com, leave a message at 541-296-4788 or drop your answer off with a 1956 Crispus Attucks High School yearbook. (And if you know the answer don’t procrastinate. Now that the Chronicle is mailed, I need to finish my column by the end of Friday.)

Well, it’s been another week, trying to remember what’s next on the to-do list in my head. Until we meet again, as Tom Graff reminded me, “Always make sure you put your socks on the right feet!”.  

“Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. And the third is to be kind.” Henry James