#Maclean&039;s magazine

[boomerbroadcaster]

I wish I had white hair . . . and other old lady fantasies

I wish I had white hair . . . and other old lady fantasies

We’re never satisfied.

We’re never satisfied are we? If we’re blessed with natural curls we spend all our days with the flat iron or depending on our ethnicity, subjecting our hair to harsh chemical treatments. If we have straight hair, we’re forever frying it with the curling iron and spraying the bejeejus out of it in our quest for natural-looking curls. If we have glorious red hair, we want…

[keirartworks]

Saturday 17 April, 2021

Saturday 17 April, 2021

Thirteen tabs open on my browser, two of which have been up for weeks now. Why, I wonder. Two beautifully designed and printed Emergence Magazines beside me on the table, an accompanying ‘practice book’ over there which inspires me to make my own. From where I’m sitting now I can see two bookshelves and imagine four more, three in the cabin and one upstairs in my morning room where I paint. One…

[queenjo1]

Wildblood + Queenie's November Bangers

Wildblood + Queenie’s November Bangers

As we head into the most sparkling of months, its time to let off a few sound bangers. Be it the Brazilian underground electronica of Manni’s Take 6 on Society 3.0 Music, the hot Parisian house of DJ Steaw’s Rise on Rutilance (oh those drums!), the jacking Chicago flavours of Chrissy’s Resilience on Chiwax or the organic, leftfield electronica of the legendary Kittin and her Cosmoslongplayer on…

[boomerbroadcaster]

I've hit an existential wall. Am I the only one?

I’ve hit an existential wall. Am I the only one?

Do you ever get the feeling that everything is just too much? Too much bad news. Too much media. Too much poverty and abuse in the world. Too much crime, conflict and consumerism. Too much Trump. The wars are unending. Cancer is rampant and still impacting far too many lives. I’m personally spending too much time on Facebook, too much time reading newspapers and not enough time being productive,…

[boomerbroadcaster]

Breaking up is still hard to do

Breaking up is still hard to do

As more of our generation is retiring, accepting early golden parachute offers or even sadly, being made redundant through restructuring, I thought I would republish a piece I wrote a couple of years ago. The message endures.

Bette Davis is famously quoted as saying, “Getting old ain’t for sissies”. Retirement is a natural by-product of getting old and requires attention. For some, it’s…

[boomerbroadcaster]

How to prevent a cold . . . and not get fat

How to prevent a cold . . . and not get fat

Colds are not fun.

A couple of years ago I posted my personal treatment program for the common cold (Step right up, try my guaranteed cold remedy). I can now take that advice a step further and suggest how you can preventgetting a cold in the first place. And, in the course of my research it was revealed that my latest discovery has a marvelous spin-off benefit—preventing weight gain. In medical…

[boomerbroadcaster]

If I were in charge of the lottery system, ooh boy, there'd be some changes made

If I were in charge of the lottery system, ooh boy, there’d be some changes made

Not many of us are financially savvy enough to handle massive winnings.

One person winning $758.7 million dollars, nearly a billion dollars in a single lottery is just plain wrong. That’s what happened recently to Mavis Wanczyk, 53, of Chicopee, Massachusetts who won the Powerball in the United States, although she probably wouldn’t agree with me. The history of lives being ruined by winning…

[boomerbroadcaster]

Airing my dirty linen for the benefit of all

Airing my dirty linen for the benefit of all

Not all linen is created equal.

I’ve always loved pristine white linen summer blouses as well as the yummy fruity colours that appear in the spring. When I see a linen blouse in the store it’s always just the right degree of rumpled and soft but until recently I couldn’t duplicate that texture at home after laundering. Putting linen in the dryer, even on a low air setting, never produced the kind…

[boomerbroadcaster]

Why do some people soar under adversity and others stumble?

Why do some people soar under adversity and others stumble?

It’s been several years since I read The Glass Castle an autobiography by New York journalist and author Jeannette Walls and it still ranks as one of my favourite books. Walls grew up in a creative but highly dysfunctional family. Her mother was an artist and her father, quite simply, a dreamer who kept promising his family he was going to build a marvelous home for them out of glass and spent an…

[boomerbroadcaster]

Never send your husband to the grocery store unsupervised. The sequel

Never send your husband to the grocery store unsupervised. The sequel

Early cave men were traditionally known as hunter-gatherers, bringing home the wild bacon and mastodon steaks to feed their families after a rough day on the tundra. Their wives then took over roasting the kill over the family fire and kept the cave swept clean in case company came. Things haven’t changed much as I discovered this past week with the tundra now replaced by Real Canadian…

[boomerbroadcaster]

The Chicago Exposition still thrills more than a hundred years later

The Chicago Exposition still thrills more than a hundred years later

With its classically designed white buildings illuminated at night by brilliant electric lights, the lagoons, canals, innovative landscaping and a 264 ft. Ferris Wheel, the Chicago Exposition of 1893 managed to eclipse its Paris predecessor.

I first heard about The Devil In The White City on a trip to Chicago a couple of years ago with a busload of seniors, a.k.a. baby boomers. The tour guide…

[boomerbroadcaster]

Sharing my secrets to buying a new problem-free laptop

Sharing my secrets to buying a new problem-free laptop

Like buying a car, I don’t need to know what’s under the hood as long as it gets me where I want to go as quickly as possible and preferably without shifting gears. A cup holder would have been be nice.

For many of us non-techies, buying new electronics such as cell phones, telecom services or computers is an experience right up there with sticking needles in your eyeballs. As I detailed in a…

[boomerbroadcaster]

Dear Mr. Gates: It's me again, Lynda, for the umpteenth time

Dear Mr. Gates: It’s me again, Lynda, for the umpteenth time

It’s getting harder for Boomers to keep up.

Obviously I’m directing my letters to the wrong person as Bill Gates hasn’t returned any of my emails. Dear I.T. God-in-heaven, whoever you are, I’m at my wit’s end. Trying to manage my I.T. issues is the single largest source of stress in my life (I know, relatively speaking I’m blessed, but still . . .).  You would think that after all these years,…

[boomerbroadcaster]

Trump was right. Who knew it could be so complicated?

Trump was right. Who knew it could be so complicated?

Sometimes, we just need the noise to stop. The Syrian crisis, the threat of nuclear war with North Korea, Putin’s crimes against humanity and the ongoing terrorist threats scare the crap out of me. Then, we have escalating trade wars, racism and climate change denial. Not to mention Trump’s lies and regressive new laws that completely disregard the ordinary person and the future of our planet.…

[boomerbroadcaster]

Top 10 suggestions for Hudson's Bay to survive

Top 10 suggestions for Hudson’s Bay to survive

My love/hate relationship with The Hudson’s Bay Company (comparable to Macy’s in the United States) just took a turn. I want to scream “I told you so”. When I heard the news they’re laying off thousands of people in response to declining sales I felt an immense sense of sadness for the sales associates who work there at low wages and will be losing their jobs. But what about the customers? In all…

[boomerbroadcaster]

These feet were made for walking

These feet were made for walking

Once upon a time, in my glory days, through wind and rain and sleet and hail.

One of the fashion bloggers I like to follow (click here for Susan After 60) has recently admitted she can longer wear her beloved heels and is now sporting fashionable flats on a regular basis. Susan lasted longer than most of us. I clearly remember wearing high heels in my younger days and treating the shoes and my…