Black History Spotlight & Painting for Well-Being

Posted on February 22, 2021 by autocreate740

This year during Black History Month I would like to celebrate Alma Woodsey Thomas, an artist of remarkable accomplishment.
Thomas, started her painting career at the age of 70, after being a junior high school teacher for 35 years. YES! We can create “new beginnings” even in our senior citizen years.

Thomas’s parents migrated from Georgia to Washington, D.C. in 1906. In 1932 she became the first graduate of the Fine Arts department at Howard University, which is also the Alma Mata of the first African/Asian vice president of the United States, Kamala Harris. After graduation from Howard, in 1925, she taught Art at Shaw Junior High School until 1960. During her teaching career, she managed to also earn degrees from Columbia University and from New York University.
Thomas considered giving up Painting when she retired because of arthritis pain. However , in 1966 Howard University offered to mount a retrospective of her work. That’s when she decided she wanted to produce new paintings.

Alma Thomas was later honored with one-woman exhibitions at the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the Corcoran Gallery of Art. In 1972 her painting Red Roses Sonata was selected for the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before her death in 1978, she was nationally recognized as a key woman artist dedicated to abstract painting
Some of her other well-known paintings are: Fiery Sunset, Snoopy Sees Earth Wrapped in Sunset.

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Mammograms for Seniors

Posted on October 24, 2020 by autocreate740

October has been Breast Cancer month and I am always pleasantly surprised to see how many of us support the cause of finding a cure. This month I would like to call your attention to a few “Pink” news items.
Have you heard the Pink song by Dolly Parton and other artists? I hope it will lift your spirits and lead you to donate to this formidable cause.

I would like to share the following breast cancer information that senior woman should be aware of. Finding cancer in early stages results in simpler and effective treatment.

In August of this year a New York Times article reviewed a few of the options older women (75 years and up) can consider before having a mammogram during Covid-19 times. As usual, always check with your doctor before making any decisions regarding your breast health.
Statistics show the incidence of breast cancer as women age increases. Facing decisions for treatment can have an impact on emotional and physical well-being.

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Taking a Time-Out from Exercise

Posted on September 1, 2018 by autocreate740

I have to admit when I look at someone sitting in a hammock I immediately relax. It’s a symbol for instant gratification, reading a book, or daydreaming. It does not remind me of taking that 30 minute walk that I promised to do. A few days ago, I listened to an orator who suggested that the 30 minute walk I take every day is an act of “self♥love”. That’s right. He said, it takes a lot of ‘self♥love’ to exercise, when you really want to do something else. Many of us would not think about it that way. Do you?

Let’s talk about what happens when you take a ‘time-out’ from exercise both for seniors and younger adults. I’m not referring to a day or two. That might be OK, but if you do that for a few weeks, the consequences become much more pervasive. Here are some of the benefits that exercising on a regular basis provides us with: works against Type 2 diabetes; heightened blood sugar; protects against heart disease; lowers “bad” (LDL) cholesterol. As seniors, we are often reminded of these points by our doctors. For younger people, it’s easier to reverse these issues.
♥ I try to get close to 10,000 steps a day. This includes a 30 minute walk, which is about 4,000 steps. During the course of the rest of the day, I try to get 6,000 more steps or close to it by moving every chance I get.
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Stepping Seniors Formula for Best Walking

Posted on July 25, 2018 by autocreate740

I am happy to report that finally there is a formula that can help us calculate our “brisk” walking exercise to give us the best health benefits!

“Brisk” walking can now be calculated with a simple formula of 100 steps per minute! For seniors it’s a good way to have in mind a way to calculate if our walking exercise will be beneficial. For those of us 60 years of age or older, we may need to add more steps to this formula to satisfy the requirement, but this is a good start. And, of course, we can now go beyond 100 steps. Presently, the federal guidelines advises 30 minutes of brisk walking. That translates into 3,000 steps at the pace of 100 steps-per-minute. For those of you who want a more challenging exercise, you can try 130 steps per minute.

The study was conducted by Catrine Tudor Locke, a professor of Kinesiology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. You can read about the study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine. It turns out that walking is the most common form of exercise. So, feel free to continue to use your feet to do just that.

Let’s keep moving seniors!