Ageing... disgracefully

I always thought yoga had a lot going for it.... and after seeing this supple yoga teacher at 83, I am sure of it. Wondering about grabbing a mat and joining it... but not the Bikram sort - not into workouts in hot sweaty rooms!

You can read more about this Supple Supergran here

In the same breath, the news tonight, after the swine flu reports, mentioned the plight of this rest home resident.

THE daughter of a war hero attacked by mice as he lay bed-ridden in a nursing home has spoken out about the incident that could have killed her father.

The woman, who did not want to be named, said staff at the Karingal Residential Aged Care Facility in the Queensland town of Dalby called her the day after Anzac Day to tell her that mice had gnawed at her 89-year-old father the night before.

and from here

"I'm told by his daughter that the poor old fellow [had] been trying to brush the mice away as they continued chewing his ears, head and neck," Mr Hopper said.
"He was so stressed that doctors put him on morphine to calm him down. He nearly died on Saturday night. He was being eaten alive."

Certainly there are two ways to age -  and although I might not make the first one, we all want to avoid the second!!

I intend to age as disgracefully as I can. I have been working on it for the last decade... and I am sure that close friends might agree I have given it a fair nudge. I have discovered that women over 50 can join the Red Hat Society... - or here. Their philosophy is based on the following poem....

Warning
By Jenny Joseph

When I am an old woman I shall wear purple
With a red hat which doesn't go and doesn't suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
And satin sandals, and say we've no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I'm tired
And gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
And run my stick along the public railings
And make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
And pick the flowers in other people's gardens...

But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

http://rlv.zcache.com/red_hat_notecards-p137892941340928098qdoq_400.jpg

and 

http://www.redhatclipart.com/imagesamp/travel34.gif

That's my excuse...

Enjoy yourselves - we need some respite from all the swine flu news :)