The Portal to Boomeranger World

ReaderSpeak: Angels of Light

If the Dark Angels bring us life's challenges, what do the Angels of Light bring us?

Who or what has been your angel _____________? We'd love to hear your story.

I am a tree and dirt lover. And I take solace from those living entities. Going forward with this reFIREMENT project calls forth the darkest and brightest in me. Full breath feeds my fire. Ground makes me solid. A tree is my comfort. http://myelmstory.com/links.htmhas wonderful links to other tree oriented sites.

Angels of light sites  http://dreaming-bear.com/sweetangels.html; http://groups.msn.com/AngelLight/angelquotes.msnw

My Tree Story

Mine is a sad story that ends somewhat happily. Years ago, my former husband and I owned a farm in upstate NY. We lived in the City and went there on weekends and summers. We rented the fields to a local dairy farmer who plowed with oxen. These huge beasts would somestime rest under a lone and gigantic Wineglass Elm that dominated the center of a many acre field. We were cheered that this Elm alone had seemed to survive the blight--standing alone seperate from other trees we hoped that the disease could not reach it. .But at last it too fell ill and died. I was heart broken.

A few years later we moved from Manhattan's West Side to Newark, NJ. We had a lovely old house and lived in an even more diverse neighborhood than previously in NYC. The glory of our block was five mature Wineglass Elms standing guard streetside. Two were in front of our house. I think it was then that I became conscious of how much I love trees. And particularly Elms. As a child I had played at the feet of huge Willow Oaks in the front yard of my grandparents house and sat in the laps their roots made. I had climbed enormous and fragrant Magnolia Grandiflora and twisty volunteer pie apple trees. My brother and I were chimps swinging for what seemedmiles in the rhodie forests that climbed over the shoulders of the Appalacians, where we lived for several years.

But my deepest tree pleasure ever, was the five Elms on my really really urban street. I moved from that street almost ten years ago and now I regularly go hug the 100+ year old Copper Beech that shades my house and my neighbor's. But several times a year I go to my old street in Newark and pet the Elms that are still thriving.

Who would have guessed that the Lone Elm, seemingly protected, would die and the five Elms in a hardscrabble city would still be loving all the people who live under their protection?

Why Polar Bears Matter: Facts and Fallacies

I received a comment on my May 14th post about polar bears and their threatened status. I want to reply to that comment, which I invite you all to read. This is an important discussion and I want to take the writer seriously, rather than just dismissing these comments. The writer basically said worrying about polar bear extinction was a commie plot to undermine capitalism. Why worry when the total population had increased over the past 30 years?

That last comment may be true. I don't know what the total population was 30 years ago and to what degree it has increased. The current population stands at about 20,000-25,000 bears. Look at the  www.WorldWildlifeFederation.org site  for their most recent polar bear population numbers. But what is worrying is not the increase in the bear population, but the dramatric DECREASE in the bear's habitat. Sea ice is melting and at an increasing rate. Now is the melting sea ice a non-governmental Marxist plot to undermine capiatalism? I think not.

Polar bears and ice go together. Bears need ice for fishing, feeding and breeding. And the ice is melting. On 12/12/07 NASA climate scientist Jay Zwal suggested that as soon as 2012 summer sea ice could be completely melted. Other reputable scientists suggest that by mid-century all the ice summer and winter might be gone.

Such a climatological event not only affects the bear population--making it more difficult for bears to feed well and gain the fat they need to breed and nourish young--but also creates more and more dark water surfaces. These huge areas of open water absorb heat from the sun rather than reflecting it back as do the frozen polar seas. Open water becomes like a huge heat sink and contributes to more warming.

In addition to the issues of potential bear population collapse or even extinction, and overall warming of the climate, there is just the sheer fact that the loss of ice and polar bears is an unbearable thought. They are so beautiful. So beautiful. How can we stand to live in a world in which we deliberately destroy its beauty?

Placing polar bears on the threatened species list does give Congress some ability to make treaties with other countries and enact laws and regulations that work to protect bear habitat--ice.

 

ReaderSpeak: Life Lessons, Dark Angels

Some spiritual people believe that we may attract "dark angels" or hard lessons we need to learn in life. 

These are difficult situations or challenges that teach us knowledge we were lacking.  On the surface we may say "Oh, why me?", but in retrospect we realize the challenges were incredible teachers.

So ponder this question for today and respond below. 

My hardest life lesson was ______.

Memorial Day. Also: What's New on Vaboomer? Book Reviews and More Coming Soon

 In memory of all the soldiers, civilians, medical personnel and others who have died in wars.

Wouldn't you think we could do better than kindergarten kids who are taught to use their words instead of fists!?!

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Publishers and producers are beginning to notice Vaboomer and have been sending some very interesting items for review. As I catch up on my reading, I'll be reviewing and recommending certain titles, CDs, movies and the like. So from time to time, I'll be posting some interesting materials.

BABY BOOMER RETIREMENT PLANNING:  

We've already added some new features and several recommended books. Take a look at

"Who Needs A Broker?"

It is a very interesting and readable guide to DRIPS, in other words companies that provide automatic dividend reinvestent programs.  Your dividends don't sit passively, but are reinvested and perk away for you adding to your bottom line. They're simple and easy to set up.  You don't have to pay high fees to stockbrokers.  1,200 major corporations and companies will sell the stock directly to you!   This guide is also very simple and informative, by Nancy Mehegan who while researching for her own use, decided to compile a list and how to. Well worth the few dollars. 

I'm No Madonna, but I Am An Older Adoptive Mom

What I find fascinating about the original Material Girl is her blunt out there larger than life self. I've been a Madonna fan since she acted in John Sayles movie, "Lianna." Well, she certainly did it again with her role as "Mama Madonna"--hey isn't that a duplicate--mama=madonna?Anyway, now she's been making waves with her efforts to adopt from Malawi. I can't comment on the pros and cons of this effort or whether or not she is a guinea pig for others to emulate, or whether you or I approve her actions or not. But Sister Mama, you are reFIRING! 

Mama Madonna

What I find fascinating is her coming to this difficult wonderful, demanding, enriching role around 50. I was 50 when I adopted. Now my daughter is 13 and  I am 63. There are thousands of us older adoptive moms (and Dads) out there. What being an older parent does for you is age you in particular ways. It is very demanding mentally and physically.

Your aging project/ trajectory is now two-fold while you are thinking ahead to your own reFIREMENT/retirement you are thinking down for the well-being of your child. (Of course all parents of conscience do this, but the contrast is a sharp one when there is such a big numbers difference.) It is a challenge to think down in age. What I mean is that over the course of those 50 years--a half century, you do develop a store house of wisdom (hopefully) and history. You have references and touch points and suddenly many of those have to be rethought in the light of the young life who is growing up in a world 50 years removed from your own!

Few of the children growing up nowadays know that seeds produce food. Or that digital and virtual are only a few years old. They live in an expanded and frightened world. Take for instance, the asbestos issue at my daughter's school. When it was found the whole school was evacuated and closed for two days during cleaning. My brother reminded me that our new state of the art high school in N.C. which opened in the late fifties was proud of the asbestos insulation on all the ducts and pipes delivering  heat to every classroom. So it is likely even probable that most of us boomers have contaminated lungs.

Because our childhood worlds are so different (similar to the distance between my mother and me--she remembering the first telephone, her first airplane [cloth and wood that landed in a cow pasture], her first paved road, her first automobile), I have to come up to speed on a daily basis. I resisted the cell phone for my daughter until I could understand that the virtual community was as important as the face face community and is was/is as REAL to her. And since she is the one who will most probably live to 100 or more, given the increasing numbers of centenarians, she needs to be fluent in her world. I am running to catch up.

So, Sister Mama (Madonna) when you get your complications worked out, get set to enter a new world. Maybe we'll be seeing you soon in a new music Youtube as "Virtual Mama Girl!" And, Madonna, I love it that you are letting your 50 year old neck and hands be natural. That is a good thing.