Hi Shelley H.

I read your piece and left a comment. I enjoyed it. From the perspective of writers, we have a gold mine here in this aging business. There are so many ways to approach it, depending upon the day and the heart. I value and appreciate every other woman writer who puts pen to paper to make the road a little less lonely. Thinking this moment of the poet Antonio Machado: "Pathmaker, there is no path....we make the path by walking." Caminante, no hay camino...Here's to sharing the road!  Susan Troccolo

Just shared an opinion piece on my site, about finding (and loving) characters over 40 in fiction. Please share this link with anyone you think might like to explore characters who breathe the same air we do!

http://www.storiesetalia.com/whats-wrong-with-getting-old.html

Okay then, I finally found the right spot to leave my link...sorry I put it in comments too.

Here is one for the group. Gals, plan ahead for your next hospital visit! Now...in addition to those bottom freeing designer gowns, there is a new toy in pre-op. Go prepared! Read up on what you can expect...

http://www.life-change-compost.com/flash-hospital-gowns-get-breezy/

*This is an old post, new stuff coming as I write my book on aging. Oy vey.

I have a fiction family sitcom, Meet the McDonalds, mom, dad, 3 kids, the dog and cat, a lesbian priest stepgrandmother, three crazy girlfiends.  It also has an Episcopalian twist.http://[email protected]

Hi there. I think I'm funny. Sometimes other people do too. But lately my only audience has been the part of my brain which serves as my audience. HaHa Catherine. That was a good one. I've sent some pieces which have humor, but it's 'wry' and I think people don't 'get' me. So I would love to hear some stories and maybe add one or two. Catherine

Here's a "Post From the Past." Occasionally I ask 'What did you dream last night?' on my blog, The Painted Possum, and I tell what I dreamed. Here's one of my favorites. So, what did you dream last night? You're invited to leave a comment.

http://www.rameychannell.blogspot.com/2013/03/what-did-you-dream-la...

Before I get going on my latest rant, let me just say that it is very likely that this post will directly contradict my last post. I'm noticing that my thoughts on being gluten-free are not very consistent and are directly related to how desperate I'm feeling.

There is a new gluten-free girl in town. I'm not going to mention her by name because I know she means well. And I don't fault her for trying. It's just that most of what she makes is not that good. Not even by gluten-free standards. And the thing is, I've had decent, even good gluten-free, so I know it can be done. But this post isn't about her. It's about me. It's about how I never learn.

This woman, let's call her Glinda, makes bread and pizza and pie, oh my! She makes muffins and cookies and scones. She even makes donuts. She was featured in an article in our local paper. I'd heard it all before, but still I got excited. It didn't even dawn on me in that moment that it might be bad. It was in the paper. It was in black and white. And I was in denial as usual.

The cupcake was meant to be a hostess cupcake, complete the with loopy white frosting design on the top and white filling in the middle. It wasn't horrible; a little on the dense side. But the thing is, I never really liked hostess cupcakes in the first place. So the question I am now asking myself is why do I need a gluten-free version of something I don't even miss?

Two days later I went back to the same bakery. I bought an oatmeal cookie, a coconut cookie and a chocolate glazed donut, each one worse than the last. Why did I do this, you ask. I did it because I could.

My new book, What's in a Butch's Purse and Other Humorous Essays, is available for pre-order in print and as an eBook download. I am donating all the proceeds to help the persecuted lesbian and gay population of Uganda. So my funny book may do some good in the world. That's what writing should do, no? If you want to read more about the book and my writing process, please see:

http://cindyzelman.com/2014/04/14/baton-blog-hopping-hey-its-cindys-turn/

or to order the book directly, see

www.wingedcitychapbooks.com

Cindy, you don't sound like the Passover weight gain is a problem for you. But for a lot of us Jewish people, we compensate for giving up leaven by eating an equivalent weight of chocolate. So I wrote this:

http://onecakebaker.com/2014/04/17/pesach-on-south-beach-2/

http://onecakebaker.com/2014/04/17/pesach-on-south-beach-2/

Passover (aka Pesach) on South Beach

I plan on losing a couple of pounds this Pesach by giving up carbs during the holiday.

Now I know it sounds impossible.   Between the matzo and the macaroons, the Jell-rings and the fruit slices and the blandishments of boxes of Barton’s candy that everyone brings, gaining weight on Passover is tradition. There is a voice in our souls saying "eat, bubbeleh."

Good thing I belong to Etz Chayim, which is a liberal synagogue. We do what is good for us, and eating  lots of matza--a product which manages to be both crunchy and sharp enough to cut the roof of your mouth, while having a taste so subtle that it needs a 1/3 inch of butter to be palatable, is not good for you.  I don't care that the custom of eating matza is so embedded-one could even say impacted--in the Jewish psyche that one of my Seder guests passed around a picture with a picture of a matza covered toilet and the capiton "Let my people go."  I'm planning on composting most of the matza I bought for the Seder.

I've gone to the farmer's market and loaded up on my fruits and vegetables. I have a little dried fruit, too. Plantain chips are not hametz, but they are as filling as toast. For some reason, I bought 4 boxes of matza ball mix, but no matter, I can save them for next year. This year I'm having Pesach on South Beach--low carb all the way.

I started this practice about 15 years ago, when I was working at Common Ground with a macrobiotic cook.  When we were talking about Passover, she made a very interesting remark: “So you give up yeast for a week?  How healthy!”  Then she spoke about all the things people eat when they can’t eat yeast because of something called Candida, or when they have allergies to wheat, and that got me to thinking about why I ate as much Matza on Passover as I did, and the only answer was: “because I always have.”

Well, feh on that!  Here I was in California, mistress of my own household!  I was tired of the weight gain on Passover, tired of the cycle of running to the chocolate because I felt sorry for myself eating matza,  Also tired of the natural consequence of all that matza.

So I gave up the perforated bread of affliction, and brought nuts and dried fruit and cottage cheese for lunch at the store instead of matza pizza, had scrambled eggs with veggies for breakfast instead of matza brie, and instead of serving matza kugel with our dinners of Seder leftovers, I steamed a bunch of broccoli and green beans (or carrots), instead.

And the "going" problem? It went away.