55 Plus CNY, #107: October - November 2023

SPECIAL: HOW TO FIND A DOG THAT FITS YOUR LIFESTYLE P. 52

Issue 107 October-November 2023 For Active Adults in Central New York

cny55.com

FALL GETAWAYS

Stay regional yet get out of town with these nearby autumn escapes

P. 38

REALLY GOOD PIES The journey of Marlene Parlow of Oneida to baking great pies

P. 20

Weight Loss Surgery It’s about more than just weight loss.

It’s about reducing your risk for serious conditions like heart disease and diabetes — and regaining the stamina, mobility and confidence to take on every day.

Crouse’s bariatric surgery program offers a dedicated team of physicians and providers, as well as psychological and nutritional counseling — all with the expertise to support you every step of the way.

Begin the process from home by viewing our online informational video. Then consult with our bariatric team via telemedicine visits to start your journey.

It’s time — and now easier than ever.

Start today at crouse.org/weightloss or call 315-470-8974.

2023 - 2024

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UNLEASH THE HEALING POWER OF YOUR PUP! JOIN UPSTATE’S VOLUNTEER PET THERAPY PROGRAM! If your furry friend has a calm, friendly temperament and gets along well with other dogs, he or she may have the potential to join our team.

Upstate’s pet therapy dogs provide comfort and emotional support to our patients, and help destress and encourage our staff. Brightening one’s day and aiding in recovery, pet therapy dogs are life changing.

To learn more about how your pup can become a certified therapy dog, visit: • PawsofCNY.org (clinical pet therapy) • PetpartnersCNY.org (non-clinical pet therapy) Come “heel” with us!

Supported by the JBoss Puppy Power Fund in memory of Jeremy Bossert 4

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

We’re in your corner in the fight against breast cancer.

We help knock out the financial worries of breast cancer care in CNY.

Chemotherapy. Radiation. Lab work.

Transportation. Childcare...

The costs of fighting a breast cancer diagnosis mount quickly. Fortunately, breast cancer patients in CNY with financial need may qualify for financial support from Saint Agatha Foundation.

Through medical and non-medical service providers across seven counties, our support can make the fight against breast cancer a little easier.

If you or someone you love is fighting breast cancer and its financial challenges – OR if you’re a service provider interested in helping breast cancer patients – visit saintagathafoundation.org to learn more!

Learn about our Founder’s inspirational fight with breast cancer

LEGACY IN ACTION GWEN WEBBER-MCLEOD

I believe that the eye is the limit and I want to be known as a woman whose every step, every breath, left a gentle impression of good in the world. I am already being remembered the way I want to be. This is evidence my legacy is in action.

With strategic intent, I have designated my legacy gift to the Black Equity & Excellence Fund to ensure that the region remains an equitable place for my people. I hope my gift can be leveraged to give organizations serving Black children the opportunity to expose them to people, places and things

5for Read more of Gwen’s story at cnycf.org/webbermcleod

CNY Gwen Webber-McLeod stands outside of the NYS Equal Rights Heritage Center & Auburn NY Visitor Center.

315 . 4 2 2 .9 5 3 8 | C N YC F. O R G OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 – 55 PLUS

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55 PLUS | contents

SPECIAL: HOW TO FIND A DOG THAT FITS YOUR LIFESTYLE P. 54

October-November 2023 Any story idea you’d like to share with us? Send an email to editor@ cny55 com or call 315-342-1182.

Issue 107 October-November 2023 For Active Adults in Central New York

To subscribe to the magazine, look for the coupon on pages 49 and 65.

cny55.com

FALL GETAWAYS

Stay regional yet get out of town with these nearby autumn escapes

P. 40

REALLY GOOD PIES The journey of Marlene Parlow of Oneida to baking great pies

P. 20

ON THE COVER

Letchworth State Park in Castile near Rochester is considered the “Grand Canyon of the East.” It was voted by USA Today readers as the “Best Attraction in the State.”

20 SAVVY SENIOR 8 GOLDEN YEARS 9 GARDENING 10 DINING OUT 12 AGING 28 MY TURN 30 DRUGER’S ZOO 62 LIFE AFTER 55 64

32 14 WORKFORCE

• Census figures shows influx of octogenarians in the workforce.

16 WORK

• Why you may want to keep working.

18 FINANCE

• How outgoing tax cuts may affect you.

20 FOOD

• The journey of Marlene Parlow of Oneida to baking great pies.

23 SOCIAL MEDIA LAST PAGE

Kathy Mezzalingua, president of Saint Agatha Foundation, explains how her nonprofit helps cancer patients who face financial issues.

• The basics for the not-so-computer savvy • How to protect from cybercrimes.

25 SHOPPING

• Black Friday, Cyber Monday...

32 PASSION

• Fencing, fishing keep Fayetteville man young.

www.cny55.com

46 36 RESTAURANT

• Peter Nestico still innovating, serving delicious Italian, American fare.

38 COVER

• Fall getaways: Stay regional.

44 U-PICK APPLES

• What better way to buy the season’s bounty than to pick your own?

46 ADVENTURE

• Friends spend nine days biking around Lake Ontario.

48 WRITING

• Steps to writing a great memoir.

50 GRANFLUENCERS

• Some older adults have millions of followers on the internet.

52 PETS

• How to pick a dog that is a good fit.

56 HEALTH: Skin care • Right to die • Loneliness & your health 6

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

50

Do you have high triglyceride levels?

You might be eligible for a new research study We are looking for adults with high triglyceride levels (hypertriglyceridemia) to help contribute to medical research by participating in a clinical study. If you are between 18 and 79 years old and have hypertriglyceridemia, you may be eligible to participate.

The study will last approximately 12 weeks and will involve 7 to 8 visits to a local health care facility: • 2-3 screening visits to confirm eligibility • 4 visits during the 28-day treatment period • 1 follow-up visit 2 weeks after the end of the treatment Clinical studies assess new ways to prevent, detect or treat many conditions. They provide valuable information about the safety and effectiveness of potential new medications. In the NST-1024 study, we are investigating the effectiveness of a new investigational drug at lowering triglyceride levels, in an effort to improve outcomes for patients with hypertriglyceridemia.

Contact the site staff or your doctor for more information.

5000 Brittonfield Pkwy, B105 East Syracuse, NY 13057 315-760-590 www.VelocityClinicalTrials.com Participation in the study is voluntary and you can withdraw your consent at any time.

savvy senior

By Jim Miller

I

Retirement Planning Tips for Single Women

t’s an unfortunate reality, but many single women — whether they’re divorced, widowed or never married — face much greater financial challenges in retirement than men.

The reasons behind this are because women tend to earn less money — about 82 cents for every dollar that men make, on average, and they have shorter working careers than men due to raising children or caring for aging parents. And less money earned usually translates into less money saved and a lower Social Security benefit when they retire.

In addition, women live an average of five years longer than men, which requires their retirement income to stretch farther for living expenses and healthcare costs. And, according to some studies, women tend to have less confidence about financial issues than men, which means they don’t always manage their money as well as they should.

Because of these issues, it’s very important that women educate themselves on financial matters and learn how to save more effectively.

Here are some tips and resources that may help.

• Start Saving Aggressively — If your employer offers a retirement plan, such as a 401K, you should contribute enough to at least capitalize on a company match, if available. And if you can swing it, contribute even more. In 2023, you can save as much as $22,500 in a 401(k), or $30,000 to those 50 and older, due to the catch-up rule.

If you don’t have a workplace plan, consider opening a traditional or Roth IRA. Both are powerful tax-advantaged retirement savings accounts that let you contribute up to $6,500 annually, or $7,500 when you’re over 50. And if you’re self-employed, consider a SEP IRA, SIMPLE IRA or a solo 401(k), all of which can help reduce your taxable income while putting money away for retirement.

8

Also, if you have a high-deductible health insurance policy (at least $1,500 for self-only coverage or $3,000 for family coverage), you should consider opening a health savings account (HSA). This is a triple tax advantage tool that can be used to sock away funds pre-tax, which will lower your taxable income; the money in the account grows tax-free; and if you use the money for eligible medical expenses, the withdrawals are taxfree too.

• Pay Off Debts — If you have debt, you need to get it under control. If you need help with this, consider a nonprofit credit-counseling agency that provides free or low-cost advice and solutions, and can help you set up a debt management plan. To locate a credible agency in your area, use the National Foundation for Credit Counseling website at NFCC.org (800-388-2227), or the or the Financial Counseling Association of America FCAA.org (800-450-1794).

• Find Help — To help you educate yourself on financial matters like retirement planning, saving and investing, health care, annuities and more, a top resource is the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement at WiserWomen.org.

And to help you get up to speed on Social Security, visit SSA.gov/people/ women. This web page, dedicated to women, provides helpful publications like “What Every Woman Should Know,” along with links to benefit calculators and your personal Social Security account to help you figure out your future earnings at different retirement ages.

You should also consider getting a financial assessment with a fee-only financial adviser. Costs for these services will vary from around $150 to $300 per hour, but this can be very beneficial to help you set-up a retirement plan you can follow. See NAPFA.org or GarrettPlanningNetwork.com to locate an advisor in your area.

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

cny55.com Editor and Publisher Wagner Dotto Associate Editor Steve Yablonski Writers & Contributors Deborah J. Sergeant Mary Beth Roach, Todd Etshman David Figura, Kimberly Blaker Margaret McCormick Columnists Bruce Frassinelli, Marilyn Pinsky, Harold Miller Jim Sollecito, Marvin Druger Michelle Reed, Jim Miller Christopher Malone Advertising Amy Gagliano Pamela Roe Tom Bachman Office Manager Allison Lockwood Layout & Design Angel Campos-Toro Cover Photo Getty Images

55 Plus: A Magazine for Active Adults in Central New York is published six times a year by Local News, Inc. at 185 E. Seneca St. P.O. Box 276, Oswego, NY 13126.

Subscription: $21 a year; $35 for two years © 2023 by 55 Plus: A Magazine for Active Adults in Central New York.

No material may be reproduced in whole or in part from this publication without the express written permission of the publisher.

How to Reach Us P.O. Box 276 Oswego, NY 13126

Phone: 315-342-1182 Fax: 315-342-7776 Email: editor@cny55.com Editor@cnyhealth.com

golden years

By Harold Miller Email: hmiller@mcsmms.com

Upstate University Hospital Saved My Life

M

y friends and I awoke to an unseasonably warm day that morning of Nov. 5, 1961.

We were on a deer hunting expedition and had camped overnight in a pickup truck, which had a homemade enclosure with plywood bunk beds. The truck was parked in the middle of a meadow surrounded by thick woods, close to Panther Lake in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains.

The plan was that the herd of deer was in the woods and would start to move looking for food as the sun came up. I positioned myself in the center of the woods.

As the sun rose, my companions flushed the deer toward me.

Then a shot rang out — I felt the deer slug pass through my belly! I fell heavily to the ground yelling, “you shot me!”

From that point on, the coolheaded action of my companions was as responsible for saving my life as the careless shot was endangering it.

The first thing Mark, one of my companions, did was take off his jacket and tie a tight tourniquet between the heart and the wound (which by now was gushing blood). Then the other people scrambled to the truck, drove up a logging road just a couple of hundred feet away from where I laid writhing in pain. They ripped out one of the plywood bunks. They used it as a stretcher to load me into the back of the truck.

Everything that happened from then until my arrival at the hospital depended on luck and split-second timing or I would not be writing this story. The doctor later told me that I had less than five minutes of life left in my body when I arrived at the hospital.

As the truck pulled up the Panther Lake Road, my friends spotted a game

warden sitting in his car. The game warden said, “follow me” and led them to Marvin Brown, a physician in Constantia. He took our convoy over back roads directly to the doctor ’s house, saving many precious minutes.

The game warden located Dr. Brown, who was sitting on the porch reading the newspaper, and brought him to the truck.

After a quick glance, the doctor disappeared into the house and reappeared a few seconds later with his black bag. The doctor injected a shot of morphine. Then he retreated into his house and got on the phone.

He was not capable of handling the massive wound, so he called Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse to make arrangements for my arrival.

The local fire department ambulance arrived a few minutes later.

I overheard Dr. Brown explain to the driver that every second counted.

They strapped me into a gurney solidly bolted to the floor of the ambulance and my friend, Mark, crawled in beside me. The ambulance driver took the doctor’s words to heart and raced down the highway toward the newly opened I-81.

When the ambulance reached the super-highway, he opened it up to 90 miles per hour. Fortunately, there wasn’t much traffic at 8 on that quiet Sunday morning. The red and white Cadillac ambulance with sirens screaming was very audible and visible. The whole trip blurred through my semi-conscious mind. By that time the pain had become intense, but that was a way of mitigating pain.

Mother Nature has a way of mitigating pain by shocking the nervous system which in turn slows down everything — including the heart.

This factor was important in slowing the flow of blood.

We arrived at the hospital in 35 minutes — a trip that would have normally taken an hour. I was still conscious as the gurney was wheeled into the operating room. The last thing I remember was our parish priest laying the purple sash across my chest administering the last rites. A reported condition of me was moribund (dead).

Meanwhile, Janet, my wife, was driving to church with the kids from our house on the south side of Syracuse. She would later find out that our priest passed her in the driveway of our church to administer last rites to me.

Dr. Leon Berman was preparing for what would be a long drawn-out operation (more than four hours) to put life into a dead body.

He was the only surgeon on staff to handle the situation and Upstate University Hospital is one of the only hospitals in the world capable of doing the job.

There would be many months of future surgery to repair the massive damage that a 12-gauge deer slug did to my intestines. Many months of recuperation ahead. A second operation to reconnect the colon; a third to strengthen the abdominal wall with titanium mesh.

Sixty years after Dr. Berman helped me win the battle of life caused by my hunting accident (he has since died) I still face melanoma cancer. This skin cancer is mainly caused by exposure to the sun. We spend half of the year at our condominium in Florida, which is on the beach near Palm Beach. The sun shines almost every day and we spend most of our time on the beach, at our pool or driving my convertible with the top down.

M y c u r r e n t d o c t o r, A m a r Suryadevara, has been trying to teach me how to avoid direct exposure to the sun, which is closer to the equator in Florida. I should always be under cover (broad brim hat and sun-proof lotion on arms, legs and any other flesh exposed to the sun).

Upstate University Hospital can provide every need in modern medicine. Syracuse is the fifth-largest city in Upstate New York and growing fast. I owe my life to Upstate University Hospital and all their dedicated people.

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 – 55 PLUS

9

gardening

By Jim Sollecito

Monet Moments

Sollecito: “Sometimes an impressionistic Monet moment manifests itself.”

A

farmer once told me he figured he had about 60 opportunities in his lifetime to produce a perfect crop. Each year learning from his previous practices in pursuit of that goal, building on one experience to improve the next.

That concept has traction.

Our talents and knowledge can and should continue to be put to good use.

10

Every day, like you, I am actively writing my life story. And I am sometimes pleasantly surprised by moments like a fish rising or a frog breaking the surface of still water.

I am attracted to water. I find it fascinating that Earth’s water is pretty much all connected. The only disconnected water is water held in a vessel. And in my line of work, I really enjoy the process of planting

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

along the margins of ponds. Although I have the advanced specialized DEC certification to chemically treat undesired aquatic weeds, my preferred method of maintaining pond quality is environmental: first add the correct vegetation to filter and clean entering surface water, then add oxygenating or surface-cooling plants for temperature moderation, and finally introduce the suitable fish species to control, or even devour, the undesirable water weeds.

I am observing that bodies of water such as ponds reach warmer temperatures earlier in the season and hold them longer. This creates the ideal opportunity for water weeds to take over. Depending on the species of flora I aim to control, I will select and invite the appropriate fish species to the breakfast buffet. Fathead minnows control mosquito larva. I will install a windmill and add bottom-feeding channel catfish to keep the bottom muck from overtaking the oxygen needs of healthy water. Finally, sterile tetraploid carp do a fine job of consuming exotic weeds. After adding the proper ingredients, the only thing left to do is wait and see if they worked as planned.

For this nature-loving client, I utilized all three methods.

Sometimes an impressionistic Monet moment manifests itself. Colors and textures blend and blur until everything is crystal clear again. This was one of those days. Stocking the pond, fish freely entering their new home, our client photo-documenting the enchanting event. The fish surveyed their new surroundings, eyeing the inviting and tantalizing aquatic weeds as they entered. It was cathartic.

And sometimes, it seems like the world does just literally stop, even at this time of changing seasons. You identify the moment; you inhale it; you can almost taste it; and then it vanishes.

Look for those Monet moments in your world, a freeze-frame opportunity like at the end of a great film. Moments that reflect your place in the world, who you want to be, and yield a lasting memory.

Jim Sollecito is the first lifetime senior certified landscape professional in New York State. He operates Sollecito Landscaping Nursery in Syracuse. Contact him at 315-468-1142 or jim@sollecito.com.

 SOCIAL SECURITY 

Q: I’m retiring early, at age 62, and I receive investment income from a rental property I own. Does investment income count as earnings? A: No. We count only the wages you earn from a job or your net profit if you’re self-employed.

Non-work income such as annuities, investment income, interest, capital gains, and other government benefits are not counted and will not affect your Social Security benefits. Most pensions will not affect your benefits.

However, your benefit may be affected by government pensions earned through work on which you did not pay Social Security tax.

SkiCNY 6-WEEK PROGRAMS

www.SkiCNY.com 315.696.5711 • 607.842.6204

Q: I worked for many years before I became disabled, but I didn’t have enough recent work to receive Social Security Disability (SSDI) payments. Instead, I receive SSI. Will I ever receive Social Security payments? A: It depends. If you have at least 40 quarters of coverage, you can be eligible for Social Security retirement payments beginning at age 62. Additionally, if you are performing some work while you are on SSI, you may become currently insured for disability payments in the future.

There are other ways you could become eligible for Social Security benefits, including benefits through a spouse or a divorced spouse.

Q: My son receives SSI payments and I have to report my wages each month. How can I do that?

A: There are multiple ways to report wages to Social Security. The easiest way to report wages if you have access to a smart phone is by using the SSI Mobile Wage Reporting (SSIMWR) app. This app can be downloaded and installed for free through the iTunes Store or Google Play, depending upon your device. Also, you may report wages through the SSI Telephone Wage Reporting (SSITWR) system. If you cannot report through either the SSIMWR or the SSITWR, you may also mail, fax, or bring proof of your wages into your local Social Security office.

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 – 55 PLUS

11

A side salad that comes with he chicken and fig panini.

Dining Out RESTAURANT GUIDE

By Christopher Malone

NO REASON TO FEEL BLUE AT NEW SYRACUSE CAFÉ Inner Harbor Café Blue makes others feel green with envy

I

t’s great to see a new business open up. It’s even better when the place makes its patrons feel welcomed, excited to have ordered something and happy to have enjoyed the experience.

Café Blue at the Iron Pier, adjacent to Syracuse’s Inner Harbor, is one of those places.

In its premier year, this breakfast and lunch eatery is making statements in more ways than one — literally, too.

When you order a cup of coffee, you’ll get a warming affirmation handwritten 12

on the side of the cup.

It’s better than a piece of paper from a fortune cookie.

The cool little Café Blue has plenty of outdoor and indoor seating in its pristine location. Menus are available to grab from the basket on your righthand side upon entering. Before you get a chance to glance at the food, the display of baked goods and treats will offer a significant distraction.

I implore you to take a gander and give in. As they say — eat dessert first.

Although a variety of treats ($10

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

and change) were the last thing ordered and enjoyed, the peanut butter cookies, macaroons, and chocolate and peanut butter cheesecake won my attention.

T h e c o o k i e s w e re s o f t a n d practically fell apart easily, clearly knowing they were going to get eaten.

The macaroons, little teal sandwich cookies, proved difficult to savor.

And the cheesecake was heavenly and creamy.

To go with the meal, I ordered a banana-honey-ginger smoothie ($7.50) and a small Earl Grey tea ($3).

Eat dessert first: peanut butter cookies, macaroons, and chocolate and peanut butter cheesecake available at Café Blue.

Egg bowl ($10): On a bed of spinach, an over-easy egg is joined by sweet potato tater tots, a scoop of salsa and topped off with a light sour cream drizzle.

The chicken and fig panini ($12): Chicken thighs are joined by fig jam and other components like caramelized onions, slices of apple and maple aioli.

Earl Grey is my favorite and the fresh loose-leaf tea made the flavor more explosive than the typical bagged store-bought tea.

The smoothie, which is made with whole milk and yogurt, boasted a lot of flavor, which started with banana and finished with ginger. Yes, the smoothie actually finished with a particular flavor. The honey was subtle and resonated with each refreshing sip.

Everything served at Blue Café is on the healthier side. Breakfast notable egg bowl ($10) is a great example. On a bed of spinach, an over-easy egg is joined by sweet potato tater tots, a scoop of salsa and topped off with a light sour cream drizzle.

After breaking the egg and tossing everything together, what you have is a tasty breakfast salad.

It’s impossible to say everything was “cooked” well — but at least they didn’t mess up the egg — because the components are what they are. But the flavor is up there and it was enough, especially to kickstart the day.

The savory avo toast ($8) is an avocado toast with slices of cherry tomatoes, greens and red pepper flakes. The flakes weren’t prominent, so no need to fear the heat. Plus, the avocado and veggies were noticeably fresh.

For those who like to kick it up a notch, Café Blue has a table where silverware, napkins, coffee drink necessities and hot sauce is available for those wanting to spice up their meal a little bit.

This is also a good spot to mention the ordering process. After ordering your meal at the register, staff will call your name when the food is ready to be picked up.

The chicken and fig panini ($12), which comes with a side salad with fresh greens and chickpeas, doesn’t lack flavor. The chicken thighs are joined, of course, by fig jam and other components like caramelized onions, slices of apple and maple aioli. It’s a sandwich embracing late summer and early fall for a comforting, savory

option.

The meal before tip came to $40 and change.

There’s honestly nothing I dislike about Café Blue. It adds to the Syracuse area in a positive way with another casual, café-style option for those looking to relax or grab takeaway from.

Café Blue 720 Van Rensselaer St, Syracuse, NY 13204 315-214-8334 cafebluesyr.com facebook.com/cafebluesyr instagram.com/cafebluesyr Sunday: 7 a.m. – 2 p.m.

Monday: Closed Tuesday – Friday: 6 a.m. – 3 p.m.

Saturday: 7 a.m. – 2 p.m.

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 – 55 PLUS

13

workforce

More 80-Plussers on the Job

Census figures shows influx of octogenarians in the workforce

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

Y

oung enough to be costar Harrison Ford’s granddaughter, actress Phoebe Waller-Bridge, 38, provided most of the hard-hitting physical action — along with her stunt doubles — in the summer action flick “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny.”

Still, spry co-star Ford, 80 at the time of filming, held his own and didn’t lag behind with a walker or IV pole as derided in memes about the film.

The action star’s fifth installment in the franchise depicting the fedora 14

-wearing professor-archaeologist mirrors real life.

More octogenarians are skipping retirement compared with the same age cohort of just a decade ago. In June, the US Census Bureau said that 18% more 80-plussers — about 650,000 — continue to work compared with 10 years before.

Of those, 50% are full-time, perhaps not at their lifelong career, but working a paid job, nonetheless.

Furthermore, the bureau estimates that among those aged 75-plus, working paid jobs will increase from

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

8.9% in 2020 to 11.7% by 2030 as the rate among every other age group decreases. And it’s not just because the wobbly economy and rising inflation requires older adults to work (although that represents one factor).

The age of the baby boomer generation is one reason. Just as with every other life milestone, the advancement of huge boomer population will swell the number of 80-plus-aged adults in the workforce.

Current day labor shortages have also drawn many octogenarians to eschew retirement. The workplace

needs more hands. Why not continue to call on those with decades of experience and a track record of reliability?

Wesley Burghardt, recruiter with CR Fletcher Associates in Syracuse, believes that the high rate of working 80-plussers is reflected locally — and has a few ideas as to why more octogenarians are still working.

“I think COVID-19 made it so with inflation and the struggles with stock market,” he said. “Many still need to work. There are also more remote jobs nowadays. It’s a lot easier to find positions in general. You have a wider area where you can get employed with.

Before COVID-19 that would not be available. They can have a job that’s less time-consuming.”

Many want to continue in the workforce to stay relevant in their original field. Almost every type of employment requires tech savvy of some sort, requiring a continual skill sharpening.

For others, working an entrylevel job that simply gets them out of the house for a few hours a week.

For older adults who take an entrylevel job it’s typically more about maintaining a sense of productivity, staying connected and continuing to feel purposeful in life than earning money, so entry-level pay is fine.

“There’s a lot more research and knowledge about the importance of staying active and keeping your mind moving,” Burghardt said. “People want to stay active. There are jobs that are less physically demanding.

Most people had ancestors working in production or manufacturing. The work environments are a lot more friendly than they used to be.”

People collecting Social Security should give special consideration to their tax status if they’re earning money.

“They must first determine what percentage of their Social Security benefit is being drawn into the tax computation,” said Randy Ziegler, certified financial planner and private wealth adviser in Oswego with Ameriprise.

The maximum is 85%.

“Will that percentage increase with a higher taxable income?” he posed. “This issue must be considered carefully in the analysis in order to avoid a surprise tax liability with one’s Social Security benefits.”

Turning 65 or just confused about Medicare?

Happy with your Prescription Coverage?

Happy with your copays?

Do you have extra $$$ set aside for burial expenses?

Do you know if you qualify for help paying for your prescriptions?

AARON BALLARD

President & Owner, Ballard & Associates, LLC.

Call me to set up in-person or over the phone consultation and let me help you, at no cost!!

315-374-1783

www.ballardassoc.com • ballardassoc@gmail.com Aaron Ballard is a licensed Insurance broker representing all the top Medicare carriers in CNY & beyond!

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 – 55 PLUS

15

work

Why You May Want to Keep Working (No Kidding!)

R

educed or non-existent pensions, insufficient Social Security benefits, skyrocketing costs and tanking investments represent just a few reasons many people continue working past “retirement age” these days.

But if your finances are solid, it doesn’t mean you must stop working just because you have a certain number of candles on your birthday cake.

Age is only a number to Max Malikow, licensed mental health counselor in private practice in Oswego and Syracuse University professor. At 74, he’s been in the mental health field since 1987 and is not about to put his feet up.

“I’ve been asked, ‘Why don’t you retire?’ the answer is simple,” he said. “I like what I do and it doesn’t prevent me from doing what I want.

It’s no strain to do what I do. Why not do what I’ve been doing for so many years? I’m not one of those guys who wants to move to Florida to play golf.”

Between his clinical practice and instruction, he works about 40 hours weekly, yet also has time enough to write his 21st book, exercise and lift weights and spend time with his wife, children and grandchildren.

He understands not everyone is fortunate enough to work in enjoyable careers and he expressed gratitude 16

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

for his employment. But he also feels no obligation to retire and believes that any people who like what they do should not feel pressured to retire, either.

In addition to simply liking what you do, you have more reasons to keep working, whether as a paid employee, consultant or a volunteer.

Becoming idle is not good for your brain or body.

“It might sound a little bit odd, but there are many benefits to working, even though a person may not need the money for living or retirement needs,” said Rita Worlock, licensed clinical social worker in private practice in Liverpool.

Whether it’s continuing to work or developing means to mentor, consult or freelance, she believes that when paired with a good work-life balance.

Working later in life “can actually be good for you,” she said. “Studies show that early retirement will bring on decreased mental and physical activity and therefore result in higher instances of illness. Working helps keep your mind sharp and your body active and encourages you to engage in problem- solving and creative thinking on a regular basis. It also challenges you to keep achieving and rewards you when you do.”

Even part-time work is helpful

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

in helping you stay sharp and feel useful while still allowing enough time to pursue hobbies, interests and volunteering.

Working provides a reason to get up in the morning. Although the first few weeks and months of retirement may feel like a vacation, many retirees feel adrift without some sense of meaning in their lives. The routine of work provides this.

“Working can give you a sense of purpose,” Worlock said. “Most people that retire are challenged with the transition of finding a purpose due to the fact that some people lose their identity, as their identity can be tightly connected to their work. Without the structure and familiarity of a place to be every day a retiree’s schedule and responsibilities change and a lot of them don’t always find a reason to get up in the morning and get going without that structure and familiarity.”

If your career really isn’t what you wanted to do with your life, Worlock suggested retiring from it to pursue the work you’ve always wanted to do. Even if it’s at the entry level, you may find that the emotional rewards are worth it.

Continuing to work also helps people feel less isolated. Most people build a network of colleagues and friends at work. Upon retirement, they

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Rita Worlock may initially stay in touch. However, most of these relationships will not continue for months and years after retirement.

“Working can actually greatly improve their connection to other people,” Worlock said. “It is vital and important for retirees to be open to making new connections.”

If you don’t want to keep doing the same thing and you’re unsure of what to do next, Aaron Southwick, owner of Southwick Life & Leadership Coaching in Syracuse, advises trying introspection.

“What is the dream you had years ago?” he said. “Can you still do that? And then I think it’s looking at passions, especially if money is not a worry. Where does your passion connect with your ability? And then you pursue that. You want to wake up knowing you’re going to do what you love to do rather than, ‘I’ve got to get up and do that job you don’t like to do.’”

A mentor, friend or coach may be helpful in generating ideas as to why you want to stop doing your current job and what type of endeavor you want to undertake in retirement.

Southwick warned that it is important to communicate clearly with postretirement employers. He knew of a recent retiree who wanted an entrylevel position working with children at a nonprofit, yet because of his experience was railroaded into a highlevel job he subsequently quit.

“Before accepting an offer, make sure people know exactly what it is you’re looking for,” he said. “If you’re not upfront, you could get asked to do things you don’t want.”

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finances

How the Outgoing Tax Cuts May Affect You

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

U

nless further legislation intervenes, a few aspects of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) will phase out by the end of 2025 and 2026, making tax brackets higher for most households.

The Trump-era TCJA, passed in 2017, lowered taxes for an estimated 65% of households and raised them for 6%, according to the Tax Policy Center in Washington, D.C. Planning can help mitigate the effects of losing those tax cuts for both households and businesses.

Until it ends, the effects of the TCJA include 27% of the lowest income households receiving a tax break; those between $49,000 and $86,000 receiving an average tax cut of 1.4% of their after-tax income; those with incomes between $308,000 and $733,000 received a 3.4% cut; and the

18

highest bracket of those more than $733,000 received a 2.2% break.

“The TCJA tax brackets are the lowest personal income tax rates during my entire career in financial planning,” said Randy Zeigler, certified financial planner and private wealth adviser in Oswego with Ameriprise.

“I have been working with my clients for the past several years to fully maximize these brackets as it appears that the government will allow these rates to expire, given the amount of total US government debt, the financial pressure on the US budget caused by this debt load and the magnitude of the budget deficits of the past few years.

“Tax planning always involves an effort to look at a person’s or couples’ current income and their tax rate and project ahead to determine if it makes sense to defer taxation into the future

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

at possibly higher tax rates, although one may have a lower income at that time or to purposely trigger additional taxable income now at our low current tax rates.”

Zeigler suggested possible strategies for working people to discuss with their financial adviser: “If future tax rate is expected to be lower due a decline in future income (i.e., during retirement) then current tax deductibility and deferral usually make sense in most mathematical models (pre-tax 401(k) payroll deductions, pre-tax employee medical benefit plans, etcetera), even with somewhat higher income tax rates.

“If future income will not be lower, then deferring a portion of one’s employee 401(k) contribution payroll deferrals could be a smart

strategy. This idea would forfeit current tax deduction for future taxfree withdrawals while avoiding the higher future tax cost.”

He added that retirees with large pre-tax retirement plans should look at their present and projected income tax rates, considering their investment positioning. They may want to maximize their 12% tax bracket now by taking taxable distributions from their pre-tax retirement plans or by making Roth conversions of their traditional IRA balances.

“This is an especially important strategy for married couples as the tax brackets and standard tax deduction drop in half once one of the spouses dies, so it is much more difficult for the survivor to remain in the 12% federal tax bracket if they hold a large pre-tax IRA balance,” Zeigler explained.

Of course, these are broad strategies that cannot possibly address every scenario. Numerous factors affect financial planning, making individual advice from a financial planner the best way to go.

Businesses will also feel the effects of losing aspects of the TCJA. John C. Saunders, owner of John C. Saunders CPA PC in Rochester, believes that the biggest TCJA effects that will impact people will be expense deductions and depreciation, along with benefits for investing capital gains into small businesses. “ T h e re ’ s a s c a l i n g b a c k o f accelerated depreciation that will be widely felt,” Saunders said. “There were some very good things that came from this Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to be stimulative to the economy.”

He views the coming repeal of these measures as particularly injurious to the business world considering the continued fallout from businesses shaken by the pandemic’s effects.

Many business owners incurred significant setbacks from lost business, skyrocketing costs and rising wages.

“There’s a lot of stuff that’s getting to critical failure level, particularly as the government seeks to take more and more control over every personal and business decision,” he said.

Discussing the upcoming changes with a tax preparer or other financial professional and how these changes relate to a particular household or business can help mitigate some of the negative effects of losing aspect of the TCJA for those impacted.

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food

REALLY GOOD PIES

The journey of Marlene Parlow of Oneida to baking great pies

By Margaret McCormick

Pies by Marlene Parlow

I

t’s a Friday night in summertime.

What are you doing? Cooking for friends or family? Watching a movie or bingeing a TV series? Reading a book? Chilling in front of the fire pit with a cold beverage?

Marlene Parlow is filling, baking and boxing up 75 pies to sell at the Hamilton Farmers’ Market on Saturday. Not just any pie: her signature Really Good Pie, in flavors like apple, sour cherry, very berry, blueberry and strawberry rhubarb. In season, the Madison County market opens at 8 a.m. on the Village Green.

Some weeks, she sells out by 10:30 a.m.

After that, she’ll pack up her market tent and table and head home to Oneida to relax.

Parlow, 68, is the owner of Really

Good Pie, which operates out of Center Street Market, her café and local food shop in Canastota. After taking the summer off to concentrate on the market, farm stands and special events, Parlow has resumed serving café lunches at Center Street and filling her bakery case with cookies, cupcakes, scones, muffins and other treats for walk-in sale. She also bakes pies for Henry’s Farm Stand in Chittenango and the Mosher Farms farmstand in Bouckville (seasonal) and pies and grab-and-go meals for 20/East, a store in Cazenovia.

“Her key lime and sour cherry pies are the top sellers,’’ said Mckenzie Hughes Houseman, owner of 20/East.

“Her quiche flies out of here as well.’’

Parlow had a long and varied

career before arriving at this sweet spot in her professional life. She grew up in Canastota and graduated from Vernon-Verona-Sherrill High School.

She studied nursing at BOCES, but ended up taking a different path, one that led her to travel across the country.

When the road brought her back to Central New York, she sold advertising for the Oneida Dispatch and attended the Utica School of Commerce. On Friday nights, she worked as a cook in the kitchen at the American Legion in Sherrill.

The chef there was a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America and told Parlow she couldn’t possibly get in. She took that as a challenge and called the CIA to request an application. She was accepted and began her own training there in 1984.

“It was intense, but it was a wonderful time in my life,’’ Parlow recalled. “You took classes in everything.’’

Following graduation, Parlow served as product research and development coordinator at SUNY Cortland and later owned a restaurant in Oneida, Ralf’s Downtown Café.

She also spent more than a decade as an executive and team leader with Celebrate Home, a home decorating and fundraising direct sales company, and taught cake decorating classes for Wilton Industries.

She eventually decided to stay at home with her two sons and launched home-based Cakes and Other Goodies, quickly developing a following for her cookies, pastries and custom cakes for all occasions.

“I was always baking because that’s what I loved the best,’’ she said.

When the Fayetteville Farmers’ Market opened in 2014, she signed up as a vendor, bringing cookies, scones, biscotti and a handful of pies. The pies disappeared quickly. She added the Cazenovia market to her schedule and brought several dozen pies — and watched them sell out. A customer at one of the markets declared her product “Really Good Pie” and the name stuck.

And that’s how Parlow came to focus mainly (but not entirely) on pies.

Pretty much any baker can bang out a tray of cookies or brownies, but pies are a specialized art and take more skill, labor and time. Parlow makes large batches of pie dough during the week and refrigerates pastry for individual pies for later use. On baking

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 – 55 PLUS

21

days, she makes fillings and assembles one 8-inch, double-crust pie at a time.

The process is smooth and efficient thanks to a custom-built, wooden pie press made for her by a company in Canada. Pressing each pastry ball through the press saves time and eliminates the process of flouring a counter and rolling out dough. Two convection ovens allow her to bake 24 pies at a time. After they cool, they’re boxed and labeled for sale.

Some bakers use shortening (or lard) for their pie crusts, but Parlow believes butter is essential to a flavorful and flaky crust. She favors European-style butter, which has a higher butterfat content than regular butter. “There’s no Crisco here,’’ she said. “Everything is butter.’’

The outdoor market season runs

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through late October and it’s not too early to plan for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Parlow fills orders for 300 pies (plus cheesecakes) at Thanksgiving, doing the baking on Monday and Tuesday, boxing them up for pick-up and delivery on Wednesday — and recovering on Thanksgiving Day. “It’s hard work and it’s physically demanding work,’’ she said, noting that family and friends help her out at the holidays.

Then it’s time to fire up the ovens for a month-long holiday cookie baking spree, though plenty of people order Christmas pies, too. Parlow offers more than a dozen varieties of “fancy cookies’’ each year, from chocolate meatballs to orange meltaways to white chocolate raspberry bars to

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

tri-color cookies to almond paste cookies with cherries on top. Rather than arrange the cookies on trays, she packages three dozen cookies in pie boxes.

“I might add coconut macaroons this year,’’ Parlow noted. “I love the classic things and I like to play with recipes.’’

Center Street Market is open 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday to Friday.

For more information on the café (and Really Good Pie and other baked goods), call 315-2641481 or go to www.facebook.com/ centerstreetmarket13032 Margaret McCormick is a food writer and food blogger in Syracuse.

social media

SOCIAL MEDIA & OTHER BASICS FOR THE NOT-SO-COMPUTER-SAVVY

By Kimberly Blaker

N

ow, more than ever, it’s possible to feel like part of your family and friends’ lives, even when apart. Social media and other platforms and apps make it easy to stay connected right from your personal computer, laptop, phone and other handheld devices. Yet, because there are so many social platforms and apps, it might feel confusing to keep track of what you can do with each and how they work. The following basics should help you get started!

Apps ‘Apps’ is short for applications: programs that you can download to your devices instead of using an internet browser. They’re found in an application store on your device (App Store on iOS-Apple devices, Google Play Store on Android and Google devices, or Windows Store on Windows devices). Just click on the app store for your device to download free or paid apps or to see what you’ve already installed.

Apps are available for almost anything you can think of: games (e.g., New York Times Crossword, Words With Friends), social media (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok), reading (e.g., Kindle, Libby), video streaming (e.g., Netflix, Hulu),

shopping (e.g., Amazon, Target), and more. Apps are organized in app stores by category. You can also search by most popular or by name or type of apps.

TikTok TikTok is a short video-based social media app and website. You can create 15-second to one-minute videos and share them to your account for others to see. You can also edit videos by putting together short clips, using filters to alter the video’s appearance, and adding audio from other users or songs. Videos can be seen by your followers, found by others searching by hashtags (searchable phrases preceded by a # sign), or on the ‘for you page’ that all users can see.

When viewing others’ videos, you can tap a heart on the right to indicate you like a video. You can tap a speech bubble to read or leave a comment. You can also tap the user’s handle (@ followed by a unique name) to see more videos they’ve created.

People use TikTok in various creative ways, and you can even participate in challenges, dances, or trends. TikTok Help Center Instagram Instagram is a social media app

and site based on posting pictures and videos. Users can create a post that displays on their account page and the homepage timeline of their followers.

You can also comment on posts, ‘like’ them by tapping the heart underneath, or share them with friends or to your ‘story.’

Instagram ‘stories’ are temporary posts members can share for up to 24 hours. These are found in the small circle profile pictures at the top of the home screen or user pages.

Besides individuals, many companies and organizations use Instagram to reach users, sell products, or share information. Instagram Help Center Facebook Facebook is a popular social media app and website. You add ‘friends’ who can see your posts and whose posts you can see on a home screen.

Users also have their own main page.

There you can see the user’s profile picture, information about them, and photos, links, videos, or other posts they’ve shared.

You can also follow ‘pages’ on an unlimited number of interests, including celebrities, tv shows, movies, towns, restaurants, companies, nonprofits, social causes, politics, and more.

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 – 55 PLUS

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Many Facebook users also join various ‘groups’ that match their lives and interests, locally, nationally, and even internationally.

Facebook users interact by posting on each other’s ‘walls’ or interacting with posts through reaction buttons, comments, or sharing. With Facebook Messenger, you can even send private, direct messages to those on your friends list. There’s also Facebook Messenger Kids for children under 13 who can message guardian-approved people under a guardian’s account.

Facebook Help Center.

Z Z, the site formerly known as Twitter, is another social media app and website. Users can post ‘tweets,’ which are short messages up to 280 characters. Tweets may include a link, video, picture or retweet (sharing a tweet from another user).

You can ‘follow’ people you know, strangers, celebrities, companies, and organizations to see their posts

on your homepage on Twitter. You can also see the ‘timelines’ of other users or post to your own timeline for your followers to see. Users often add specific hashtags (see above).

With the explore feature, you can look up hashtags or particular words and what’s trending (top hashtags or popular phrases at the time). Twitter New User FAQ Page Blogs Blogs are basically web pages run by one or more individuals working to share information, usually in a specific niche, in an often informal way. Anyone can visit a blog. Blogs may be found in a web search or by recommendation.

Typically, blogs have a reverse timeline on their main page. The most recent post is usually first, with the rest shown in reverse chronological order.

They typically include writing about the topic and may include pictures, videos, recipes, or links to other pages or products. Menu tabs or blocks are

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usually near the top of the page to click so you can explore the blog or an ‘about’ section to learn more about the author/s and the blog. Authors often encourage visitors to leave comments at the bottom of their posts, follow the blog site for updates, or sign up for email lists.

Posting Photos On social media platforms, users can post photos or videos to share with friends or followers. The exact method varies depending on the platform.

But many have either a plus sign or a button to click that says “post.” If you’re using an app to post photos, you may need to give permission for it to access your saved images.

You can also usually take a picture or video while in the app. You should see a screen notification that your photographs or videos have been posted. But to check, you can look at your own profile or ask someone you know to look at your page from their account.

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shopping

BLACK FRIDAY, CYBER MONDAY AND BEYOND How to cash in on super holiday savings

By Kimberly Blaker

W

hether you’re a Black Friday enthusiast or hater, there are ample ways to cash in on super holiday savings throughout the season. So follow these tips for deep discounts on Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and beyond.

Subscribe to store email lists. Decide on which stores you want to shop at least a couple of weeks in advance.

Then visit each store’s website, and subscribe to their email list. Early signup will ensure you receive all promotional emails for the season’s big Black Friday and Cyber Monday events as well as ongoing savings right on through Christmas Eve. Buy discounted gift cards. Visit Raise.com and order discounted gift cards for the stores you know you’ll purchase from. You can use these cards to buy sale and special-buy items for added savings. The caveat, make sure the gift cards are for stores you’ll definitely shop at, so you don’t blow your savings. Discounted gift cards also make great gifts.

Begin collecting Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals that show up in your newspaper, mailbox, and email. Also, visit your favorite stores online a few days in advance to see what kind of deals

they’ll offer. Print any coupons you find. Then store them together in a safe place.

Organize for the big day. Once you’ve collected all the deals, sort through, and match them up to your holiday shopping list. Compare deals, and determine when the sales or doorbusters begin and if there’ll be limited quantities. Then strategize. If you can’t stand in line for hours for a limited quantity doorbuster, skip it, and focus on other deals that are easier to fetch.

Prepare a ‘second-best’ list. You can’t be everywhere at once, and you’re sure to miss a deal or two. So prepare for that possibility and know where to go and what to look for as an alternative.

Watch for early bird freebies. Many stores offer free gifts to the first 25 or 100 people in their store. It’s true, there are some pretty nice prizes to be had.

But many will require you to arrive well before the crack of dawn and spend hours waiting in line. Before you succumb to these lures, consider whether it’s worth the risk of losing out on savings elsewhere.

Black Friday isn’t always the best day for hot bargains. So do your research.

Stores tout their Black Friday deals to get consumers into a buying frenzy

early in the season. Some even offer their super deals on Thanksgiving evening and start to reduce prices on Wednesday. Keep in mind, all those Black Friday deals can also often be found online on Cyber Monday. In fact, many hot deals, and some better deals stretch well into December.

Shop late in the day. If you’re like many, you wouldn’t even consider shopping on Black Friday simply because of the chaos. But on Black Friday, the vast majority of shoppers start at the crack of dawn or earlier.

By 5 p.m., early birds are exhausted, and malls and stores are dead quiet.

So Black Friday evening is a great time to get in some peaceful, early shopping with plenty of great deals still going on.

Shop online. This is another option if you don’t want to participate in the madhouse. Many stores offer the same deals online as they do in their stores. In fact, many online stores don’t even have storefronts. Keep in mind, supplies are often limited, even online.

So by the time you reach checkout, an item in your basket might be sold out.

If you’re shopping for multiple items from a store, do multiple checkouts, so the items in your basket don’t disappear while you shop.

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More Holiday Shopping Tips • Arrange your finances in advance.

If you intend to pay by credit card, plan well in advance, so the credit is available to you. Make your credit card payments at least two weeks in advance to allow time for processing.

Use your credit cards that offer cash back or reward points to increase your savings. If paying with a debit card, check your balance before you head out to avoid an unwelcome surprise.

Also, avoid carrying cash in chaotic crowds because of the increased risk of pickpockets and purse-snatchers.

• Avoid carts. On Black Friday, carry shopping bags or totes instead unless you plan to buy heavy items.

Carts will slow you down through crowds that are unwilling to budge for you.

• Hold off on toy purchases. Black Friday doesn’t offer the best deals on toys. The first week of December usually provides much more significant savings on these items.

• Use social media for extra savings.

Many retailers offer exclusive coupons and discounts to people who ‘like’ them on Facebook or other social media.

Check the social media accounts of the stores you plan to shop at.

• Check on return policies. Most major retailers have liberal return policies.

But not all. So do your homework before you make purchases. Also, ask for gift receipts to make exchanges and returns easy for your gift recipients.

• Avoid impulse buying. Many shoppers’ savings go right down the drain because they grab unnecessary ‘great buys’ at the spur of the moment.

So prepare yourself mentally for the temptation before you head out.

• Get extra savings with instant store credit. Most stores offer 10 to 25% savings by opening a store credit card at checkout. If you pay your charges off immediately and don’t use it for unnecessary purchases, it’s well worth

the savings. Otherwise, the long-term cost of interest will exceed the savings you gained.

• Make sure a sale is really a sale.

Some stores mark up merchandise before they reduce it to make it look like a great bargain. Furniture stores, in particular, are known for this tactic.

But many other stores do it as well on select merchandise. So do your homework.

• Don’t waste time trying to price match. On Black Friday and Cyber Monday, stores typically don’t honor price matching. Outside of these two days, it’s worth your time to do so.

• Be prepared for long lines. Before you head out, add your email account, music, audiobooks, or video games to your phone, so you have entertainment for the long wait in line. Better yet, spend your time in line visiting online stores and watch for rotating deals.

Also, download a Black Friday deals apps such as Dealnews, Slickdeals, Shopkick, Flipp, or The Coupons App. • Organize yourself for rebates. Print rebate forms in advance so you don’t lose track of them.

Also, request duplicate receipts for rebate purchases, and store them in a safe place in your wallet or purse. If you shop online, download the Ebates app for automatic rebates when you buy on participating websites.

• Forego extended warranties.

With a few exceptions, extended warranties are a waste of money.

Most electronics already come with a limited manufacturer’s warranty.

Defects usually show up within the scope of the manufacturer’s warranty.

Accidental damage that might be covered under a store’s extended warranty tends to occur rarely. Cell phones or small personal electronics people carry with them that are likely to get dropped, lost, or run through the washing machine are the exception.

internet

How to Prevent Cybercrimes

U

nfortunately, cybercrimes against older people continue to be a big problem in the U.S. According to the FBI 2022 Elder Fraud Report, cybercrime cost Americans over age 60 more than $3 billion last year, a whopping 84 percent increase from 2021.

While anyone can be subject to cybercrime, people over 60 are frequent targets because they tend to be more trusting and have more money than their younger counterparts. But there are a number of things you can do to protect yourself from online fraud, hacking and scams. Here are a few tips to get you started.

• Strengthen your passwords: A strong password should contain at least 12 characters and include numbers and a special character, like an exclamation point or asterisk. Be sure to change up your password across different sites to ensure a hacker would not gain access to all accounts through one password. And keep a written list of all your passwords stored in a safe secure place.

On your smartphone or tablet, be sure to set up a four or six-digit PIN to protect your device.

• Opt out of pop-ups: To protect yourself from computer viruses and other forms of malware, make it a habit

By Jim Miller

to avoid any pop-up style message when you’re on the web. Sometimes hackers disguise their malware as popup advertisements or “special offers” when you’re shopping or reading online. Clicking on these pop-ups can lead to viruses or data breaches.

If you encounter a suspicious popup message, don’t click on anything in the window. Simply leave the site or close out of your web browser.

• When in doubt, throw it out: Sometimes online hackers will send you an email or text message and pretend to be someone they’re not in order to convince you to share valuable information with them, such as your Social Security number, address or credit card information. This is called phishing.

If you receive a message from an unknown sender, do not respond or click on any links or attachments.

Instead, either ignore the message or delete it.

• Share with care: There is such a thing as oversharing, and it definitely applies to online profiles. On social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (now known as Z), online hackers can easily gather information about you from what you post — like where you live.

Ensure that your privacy settings

are up to date so that only people who follow you or are your Facebook friend can see your posts.

• Verify websites: Before you shop or access your bank online, double check the validity of the website you’re using. Reputable sites use technologies such as SSL (secure socket layer) that encrypt data during transmission. You will see a little padlock icon in your browser and usually “https” at the front of your address bar to confirm it’s a secure connection. If you don’t see it in the web address that you’re on, you should not trust that website with your passwords, payment or banking information.

• Have some back-up: Practicing safe habits will protect you and your information, but you don’t have to rely on just yourself to stay safe. Anti-virus software works in the background to protect your computer from a variety of malware and helps to make it easier for you to avoid threats while surfing the web.

For more information on how to safeguard your personal technology devices and information, visit Consumer.ftc.gov and search “Protect Your Personal Information and Data.”

And to report fraud and identity theft go to ReportFraud.ftc.gov and IdentityTheft.gov.

aging

By Marilyn L. Pinsky

OMG — What Am I Doing?

I

’m moving. I can’t believe it. But not to sleep with my voice in their heads we had naked baby on the bassinet gone forever, I keep telling myself. saying, “how can you not want to take pictures dating back three generations.

This all came up fairly quickly this?”

Did other families do that? Would we and I’m still in the “OMG — what Once I decided to sell the house, get arrested for that now? am I doing” stage.” and within such a tight timeframe, Then the easier items. I felt I A few years ago I wrote an article why did I wake up every day feeling couldn’t throw out everything in the about people who had retired and like I was wasting precious packing pantry and freezer but tried to use either moved away from Central New days doing nothing? In retrospect, it things up. I finally discovered what York or had moved here and, for most really wasn’t nothing. I was thinking, some of those spices were good for and of them, the reason was to be near adjusting, and trying to get my head also what they weren’t. What worked? family. around the situation without a partner Chicken and practically any spices, I never expected to be in that to discuss it with. I couldn’t bother my even cinnamon and smoky paprika. group. kids with every single decision; it was Chocolate syrup, expiration date of I moved to Syracuse from a small a process I had to go through alone.

2012, but really good when mixed with town named Port Jervis in New Jersey And it was painful. butter, heated in the microwave and and have loved living here all my Would it have been worse to have combined with walnuts. I ate that twice adult life. been forced to do it in a timeframe not a day. What didn’t work? My attempt But circumstances change at Middle Eastern–Asian fusion; and I woke up one morning this Aleppo pepper and Furikake on ‘Having friends going through lifeMay and found myself all alone scrambled eggs, does not work. changing issues this past year made me in a wonderful house with too My daugher, who moved many memories. realize I should probably move while I last year, said you can never Having friends going have too much bubble wrap. I was in good enough shape, mentally through life-changing issues bought too much bubble wrap. and physically.’ this past year made me realize For those of you who remember I should probably move while I Gypsy Rose Lee, I am planning was in good enough shape, mentally of my own choosing because of illness? to go to nursing homes that might be and physically, to decide for myself Absolutely. And that is my message to looking for entertainment and do a where I wanted to be. Like those I you. Even if you have no plans to move version of her routine to use up all the wrote about, I am moving to be near in the near future, this is the best time bubble wrap I have left. I just haven’t family, one of my daughters (and son- to start looking at everything you own figured out how I’d fit myself in the in-law). with a critical eye. Is anyone really ever car, once wrapped, to drive there. If I had a long scheduled trip to going to wear your wedding dress that you hear popping sounds in your Italy with one daughter and two is now some shade of yellow? neighborhood, it might be me passing grandchildren for June and that could Though I both gave and threw through. not be changed. away a lot, there were still many things One last key story. Preparing to Telling myself I work best against I couldn’t throw away but know the empty my safe deposit box, I could deadlines, in the space of three weeks kids will. Pictures of my mother ’s not find the key and the bank couldn’t I got the house ready to go on the cousins who didn’t migrate when get a locksmith to break into the box market. My son and daughter-in- her family did and were killed in the before I was leaving. I laid awake for law brought everything upstairs and Holocaust. Pieces of my parents and two nights thinking where it could made huge piles in the living room, my in-laws good china. My father’s be as I’m always so careful with it. leaving me with no choice but to make Port Jervis Country Club golf hat (I I suddenly realized it must be in a decisions. was thrilled my daughter took that) pocketbook I had sent in a box to my And so the marathon started. and articles about the two holes-in-one daughter with other things to keep for I made a hundred trips to donate he made and the news stories about me. Sure enough she found it and sent things I would have no room for, filled the two-year supply of Wheaties he it overnight mail. up the garage with those items that I got for them. As I was going through 55 Plus is nice enough to continue could not yet bear to make decisions pictures, boxes and boxes of pictures, to let me write, so this is not goodbye. about, and I’m sure my family went I wondered if we were weird that See you next issue.

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my turn

By Bruce Frassinelli Email: bfrassinelli@ptd.net

I’m Relieved I Didn’t Win the Billion-dollar Mega Millions Jackpot

I

always wanted to be like John Beresford Tipton, the fictional multi-billionaire on the 1950s TV program “The Millionaire.’’

I would call in my executive assistant, give him a brief moralizing lecture as a prelude to the identity of the unsuspecting person who would be receiving an anonymous tax-free cashier’s check for $1 million from me.

Many of us have dreams of coming into untold riches, but, of course, for all but a fortunate few, it all remains just that — a fantasy.

And now, let’s admit it: $1 million is chump change compared to what a Mega Millions lottery ticket holder from Florida is holding after the Aug. 8 drawing.

This person won the largest Mega Millions jackpot of $1.58 billion. Of course, if the winner did as most and takes the lump-sum option, the amount drops to “only’’ $783.3 million.

The larger amount is if the winner had opted to take an annuity in 19 equal payments. The first reckoning for the winner from his or her lumpsum windfall is to pay a federal withholding tax of 24%, which drops the amount to $595.3 million.

It brings back memories of the 2010 recording by Bruno Mars, who yearned: “I wanna be a billionaire so f------ bad, Buy all of the things I never had.

Uh, I wanna be on the cover of Forbes magazine, Smiling next to Oprah and the Queen…’’

Unless you have been living under a rock, you are probably aware that we went through another period of lottery jackpot mania when both the Powerball and Mega Millions jackpots 30

topped $1 billion each, causing us Americans to shell out more money than we even normally do attempting to grab the brass ring and salivating about how winning such a stunning amount would forever change our lives.

A friend of mine in Constantia even makes a list of all that he would buy, donate and do if he defied the 303 million-to-1 odds and hit the Mega Millions jackpot or the 292 million- to-1 odds to nail the Powerball fortune.

Along with the Mega Millions

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winner, someone from California, who has still not come forward (as of midAugust), won the Powerball jackpot of $1.08 billion 19 days earlier, on July 20.

Back in April of this year, Johnny Taylor, 71, of Howard Beach in Queens won the $483 million Mega Millions jackpot, which resulted in a $257 million cash option, but that was reduced to $157 million after state and federal withholding taxes were taken out.

Still, that’s not too shabby.

That ticket was sold at the Liberty

Beer and Convenience store in Ozone Park. This one was the 13th largest jackpot in Mega Millions history and the biggest win in New York state since the Mega Millions drawings began in 1996 and is played in 45 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. Its cousin, Powerball, started in 1988 as Lotto America, and it is offered in all of the states and the Virgin Islands but not Puerto Rico.

Taylor, who had recently retired from his job as a building handyman in Manhattan, got a new car and wants to travel and buy a new home. He also has made generous donations to his church.

Some more modest winners from our region this year included: Albert Kiss of Old Forge, Herkimer County, $5,000 a week for life, who took the guaranteed payment of $2.3 million, and Lori Sardella of Chittenango, Madison County, and Deborah Cross of Marathon, Cortland County, both $1 million each.

I rarely play the lottery, but as many in our area, I make an exception when the jackpot really gets up there, so I was in for the most recent Mega Million drawings. That’s right, I laid out 6 of my hard-earned dollars for a shot at a billion dollars-plus. In those three drawings, just one of my numbers came up once, so I had nothing to show for my $6 investment except several hours of heightened anticipation followed by next-day disappointments when I compared my numbers to the winning numbers. I did not play in the next drawing after the jackpot was won, because the top prize had reset to a paltry $20 million. I mean why bother.

I was doing some research on big lottery winners, and I found that life is not always a bed of roses when you suddenly come into that kind of money, so then I changed my thinking and decided that I was fortunate — even relieved —- that I didn’t win.

Lottery winners face a variety of personal and financial challenges that can significantly change their lives — and not always for the better. Some winners even end up going broke after winning millions.

My late wife’s grandmother would always say “money makes the blind see,’’ and after reading some of these lottery winners’ horror stories, I can understand why. Money can make people do some ugly things. What’s that old saying? “Money is the root of all evil.’’ Hmm. Personal relationships among spouses might sour and turn contentious over how the winnings are to be spent. The wife wants her Uncle Joe to have $10,000, but the husband, who hates Joe, refuses. Some have even

split up and divorced after these bitter arguments.

Some lottery winners tell stories of how long lost relatives came out of the woodwork and tried to become their new best friends forever after ghosting them for decades.

I was amazed to learn that some family members and friends felt the lottery winner had a “duty’’ to give them a slice of the wealth pie. I thought about that for a moment. If I had won the Mega Millions jackpot, where would I have drawn the line with the generosity of my new-found wealth, and how many would I have alienated by my decisions?

Would the servers at my favorite bagel place expect a much bigger tip than the 20% I normally give?

Would my parish priest be salivating about the possibility of a sizable gift to fund a needed church project? If I gave my three children and two stepchildren $100,000 each, would they be disappointed and call me a cheapskate thinking that it should have been at least a million each? Would my neighbors expect a neighborly stipend as a good-will gesture for the privilege of living next to them? Would I be badgered to make contributions to every cause that came down the pike? Would I become scammers’ new favorite target? I also must not forget that Uncle Sam will have his sizable hand stretched out for a big tax bite.

Some people who suddenly become super wealthy just can’t handle it. Time magazine reported that Billie Bob Harrell of Texas squandered his $31 million jackpot by giving handouts to friends and family members and made poor financial choices, all of which led him to commit suicide.

L o t t e r y winners often lack the financial knowledge and discipline to handle large sums of money. They go on spending sprees and buy Ferraris, mansions and fancy jewelry.

Most admitted that a big lottery win is a lifechanger, but warn not to forget the cons alongside of the pros. It is hard to believe that some go broke after coming into all of that prize money.

But after all is said and done, I am sure most of us would like to have $1 billion (or what’s left of it after taxes) sent our way, and we would do our best to make a go of it.

Certainly life would be different, but in my case one thing would not change: I would continue writing columns for 55 PLUS. Wait a minute!

Come to think of it, I could even buy 55 PLUS. Editor’s Note: Columnist Bruce Frassinelli died peacefully on Wednesday, Sept. 6, at age 84. This column was filed just days his death. It’s his last.

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passion Les Monostory, now 81, fenced competitively until he was 70.

FENCING, FISHING KEEP FAYETTEVILLE MAN YOUNG

By David Figura

I

t’s a Tuesday evening and about a half-dozen teenage students are getting ready for a fencing lesson at the Syracuse Musketeers Fencing Center, located above a tattoo shop in East Syracuse.

In walks Les Monostory, who is there to help out with the students.

He’s proudly wearing a jacket and fencing pants he wore during the 1978 Empire State Games when he won a WNY regional gold medal in foil fencing. “And yes, these pants still fit,” the 81-year-old, Fayetteville resident said.

Monostory’s formula for keeping active, happy and relevant is two-fold: He enjoys working out and teaching the sport of fencing. He also loves the outdoors — particularly fishing and being involved in water quality issues.

His fencing resume includes 32

championships and honors while fencing on Syracuse University men’s varsity squad, a team he later coached for two seasons.

Today, he shows up one or two times a week at the Syracuse Musketeers Fencing Center. There, he assists Lubo Kalpaktchiev, the school’s master fencing instructor, with his students.

Meanwhile, Monostory handles a fishing rod with the same enthusiasm as a foil, epee or saber (the three types of weapons used in the sport of fencing). Among his memorable catches was a 54-inch muskellunge that he landed on the St. Lawrence River.

Monostory’s passion for the outdoors is bolstered by the fact that he holds a master’s degree from Michigan State University in water resources management. He worked for 32 years

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as an environmental planner for the Onondaga County Health Department and Environmental Management Council — a job that included doing research and assisting in other ways in the cleanup of Onondaga Lake and the Oswego River.

In 2010, Monostory was one of six national finalists for Field and Stream magazine’s Heroes of Conservation award. The magazine highlighted his accomplishments — particularly his efforts as the founder of Central New York Chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, one of America’s oldest and successful conservation groups. He continues to be involved to this day as president of the state organization.

The magazine also noted he helped start Project Watershed, an outreach program that recruits high school and

From left, Lubo Kalpaktchiev, master fencing instructor at the Syracuse Musketeers Fencing Center, and Les Monostory, who helps out with students and gets a workout a couple of times a week.. elementary school students to clean up and monitor local lakes and streams.

“I enjoy working with young people — both at the fishing and fencing end,” he said.

It’s quite a list of accomplishments for an individual who arrived in this country at the age of 9 after his family emigrated to Cleveland from Hungary in Eastern Europe.

He traces his love of fishing and outdoors to the fact his family took week-long vacations during his childhood at a cottage on Chautauqua Lake in Western New York. During those vacations, there was a neighbor who each summer generously allowed Monostory and his siblings to use his fishing gear and later a small rowboat to get out on the water.

Monostory’s passion for fencing began at age 16, when a relative of a family friend, who was also Hungarian, began giving him fencing lessons in the basement of his house.

In order to find some competition, the teenage boy began fencing with

students at nearby Fenn College ( t o d a y, C l e v e l a n d S t a t e ) . H e received additional instruction and encouragement from the college’s varsity fencing coach, who was also Hungarian.

In 1961, Monostory was accepted to the then-SUNY College of Forestry in 1961 on the Syracuse University campus. While pursuing a four-year degree in zoology, he joined the SU men’s varsity foil fencing team.

On the varsity squad from 196165, Monostory was a two-time North Atlantic Foil Team Champion with teammate Harvey Schuman during his sophomore and junior years. He also received the Dean Dellis Award for the best fencing team record in 1964.

His fencing coach during those years was Alex Dako, a fellow Hungarian and also, like Monostory, an enthusiastic fisherman.

“He was like a stepfather to me.

We traveled all over the place together to fish. Places like Lake Ontario.

Oneida Lake, Seneca Lake,” he said.

Monostory went on to graduate school at Michigan State University, where his master ’s thesis was a management plan for the Chautauqua Lake watershed. While there, he was also the school’s assistant fencing coach.

Returning to SUNY ESF in 1969, he became the school’s first doctoral candidate in a water resources program. He also became SU’s third and last men’s varsity fencing coach during the 1971 and 1972 seasons.

Fencing became a club sport at SU in 1973 and remains a club sport to this day with participants working out at the old Archibald Gymnasium under the instruction of Kalpaktchiev, who is an adjunct professor.

After coaching the college’s fencing club for a couple of years, Monostory formed the Onondaga Fencers Club in

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Among Les Monostory’s most memorable catches was a 54-inch muskellunge that he landed on the St. Lawrence River.

TOP: Les Monostory serves as a marshall at a 2012 family fishing derby on Onondaga Lake. The event’s sponsors included the CNY chapter of the Izaak Walton League of America, a local conservation group that Monostory founded.

BOTTOM: Family fishing derby on Onondaga Lake during a state-wide Free Fishing Weekend.

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55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

1976 at Onondaga Community College with fellow fencer and R.I.T graduate Chris Cummings. The club hosted the first fencing competition at the Empire State Games in 1978.

Monostory continued to coach young fencers and compete in epee and saber contests — at times against fencers half his age. During his early 60s, the right-handed Monostory suffered a shoulder injury during a competition and learned how to fence left-handed while he healed.

Competing at the masters level, between 2004 to 2006, Monostory won three gold medals in epee fencing and two silver medals in saber fencing at the Empire State Games and the NYS Fencing championships.

“Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to compete against and learn from national and Olympic champions,” he said.

He was inducted into SUNY ESF’s Athletics Hall of Fame in 2020.

“One thing I’m particularly proud of is that during my time with the Onondaga Fencers Club and the Syracuse Musketeers, we managed to help about a half dozen of our top, young fencers get scholarships at colleges across the Northeast,” he said.

Asked about his love of fishing, Monostory replied: “For me, it’s just getting out on the water, the challenge and the opportunity to keep participating in a sport that I love.”

Les Monostory gives instruction to Mike Rich, 13, of Clay, on fencing techniques at the Syracuse Musketeers Fencing Center.

FENCING 101

F

encing competitions for men have been part of every summer Olympics since the 1896 Athens Games. Women’s fencing made its debut on the Olympic stage at the 1924 Paris Games.

Participants face off on a 40-footlong by four-foot wide strip, armed with one of three types of weapons, depending on the competition. The three weapons are a foil, epee or a saber. Their tips are blunted (and in the case of sabers, edges dulled) to reduce injuries.

Competitors’ outfits and weapons are wired so that when one fencer touches or slashes the opponent’s body with his or her weapon a circuit is completed and a light goes on the scoreboard. Points are received during timed matches by making a touching or slashing on the targeted area of an opponent’s body, which varies depending on the weapons used.

“In Hungarian, boxing is called hand fencing; you have to use your skills against someone else’s skills. The more you compete, the greater your skill set becomes,” Les Monostory said.

Some fencers compete in all three events using the three different

types of weapons, but most chose to concentrate their skills using only one kind.

The following are brief descriptions of the weapons used in competitions, according to usafencing.com: *The foil: “The foil is a descendant of the light court sword formally used by nobility to train for duels. The foil has a flexible rectangular blade, approximately 35 inches in length and weighs less than one pound. Points are scored with the tip of the blade and must land within the torso of the body.

The valid target area in foil is the torso from the shoulders to the groin in the front and to the waist in the back. It does not include the arms, neck, head and legs. This concept of on-target and off-target evolved from the theory of 18th-century fencing masters who instructed their pupils to only attack the vital areas of the body, i.e. the torso.

Of course, the head is also a vital area of the body, but attacks to the face were considered unsporting and therefore discouraged.” *Epee – “The epee (pronounced “EPP-pay,” meaning sword in French),

the descendant of the dueling sword, is similar in length to the foil, but is heavier, weighing approximately 27 ounces, with a larger guard (to protect the hand from a valid hit) and a much stiffer blade. Touches are scored only with the point of the blade, and the entire body, head to toe, is the valid target area, imitating an actual duel. “ *Saber – “The saber is the modern version of the slashing cavalry sword, and is similar in length and weight to the foil. The major difference is the use of the blade. The saber is a cutting weapon as well as a thrusting weapon; therefore, competitors can score with the edge of their blade as well as their point. The target area is from the bend of the hips (both front and back), to the top of the head. This simulates the cavalry rider on a horse. The saber fencers’ uniform includes a metallic jacket (lamé), which fully covers the target area to register a valid touch on the scoring machine. Because the head is valid target area, the fencer’s mask is also electrically wired.”

For more, see usafencing.com.

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restaurant

Peter Nestico is the owner of Nestico’s at 412 N. Main St. in North Syracuse. He opened the restaurant with his father in 2000.

Standing Out in the Crowd

Peter Nestico, son of the late Julie Nestico, one of the most storied restaurant owners in Syracuse, still innovating, serving delicious modern Italian and American fare

By Margaret McCormick

B

y Peter Nestico’s count, there are more than 100 places to get something to eat between Northern Lights Plaza near Mattydale and Driver’s Village, about a half-mile north of his restaurant on Main Street (Route 11) in North Syracuse. There’s everything from fast food to convenience stores to sandwich shops to pizza parlors to bakeries to full-service restaurants like his.

So, a place needs to stand out in the crowd.

Nestico’s does this several ways.

For starters, there’s a towering digital sign announcing the presence of the restaurant in the busy business 36

district and spelling out food and drink specials. And there’s a big, bold, eye-catching mural by local artist Jacqueline Colello on one side of the building. That’s a new addition and it’s getting a lot of attention.

Inside, beyond the lively bar, are a couple of comfortable dining rooms lined with booths and accented with pops of bright color on the walls. The vibe is friendly and welcoming, with the smell of Italian food wafting from the kitchen.

Greeting diners for lunch and dinner is Peter Nestico, 70. He opened the restaurant with his father in 2000 and is proud of its longevity, its

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loyal base of repeat customers, its dedicated staff of industry veterans (the restaurant has had just four chefs in 23 years) and its always-evolving menus and wine list.

The restaurant’s fans include Terry Manning, of Bridgeport, who dines there every couple of months with his wife, Jackie.

“Nestico’s is one of the best local, reasonably priced restaurants in Central New York,’’ Manning says.

“Always great food, solid service in a family friendly setting. It’s one of our favorites.’’

Nestico was born in Syracuse, spent his early years in Solvay and

A big, bold, eye-catching mural on the side of Nestico’s painted by local artist Jacqueline Colello. That’s a new addition and it’s getting a lot of attention. later moved to the northern suburbs, graduating from Cicero High School.

He was literally born into the restaurant business: His father, Julie, who died in 2008, owned and operated a long list of Syracuse-area restaurants, including The Trivet House, Guvnor ’s Grill, Regency Grill and Julie’s Place. Nestico remembers working at The Trivet House, which was on Seventh North Street, as a teenager.

He didn’t plan to make a career of restaurants, initially, and instead studied foreign service at Georgetown University. He wanted to travel and see the country and needed a job when he got to California. “I was a wandering soul, but I could always get a job in the restaurant business,’’ Nestico recalls.

He took a position with TGI Fridays and worked for the company for many years, opening new restaurants in California, Arizona and Oregon. He later moved to Boston and worked at independent restaurants and briefly for the Legal Sea Foods restaurant group.

The corporate world taught him valuable lessons about business strategy, kitchen management, restaurant costs, cleanliness, efficiency and organization.

“It was a great education, better than culinary school,’’ Nestico says.

“I learned I like running restaurants.’’

He came home for his mother’s 70th birthday, he recalls, and has been here ever since. He and his father purchased the former Angelo’s Cornucopia restaurant at 412 N. Main St. in North Syracuse. They remodeled

Sign of the restaurant on North Main Street in North Syracuse.

the place, adding a fireplace, and reopened it as Nestico’s in 2000.

Nestico describes it as more “oldschool Italian’’ than it is now, with its combination of more modern Italian and American fare.

In the years after his father died, Nestico began making incremental changes over time: an updated bar with high-top tables, fresh landscaping, outdoor seating, the big digital sign and most recently Colello’s vibrant mural, which she has said is intended to convey the restaurant owner ’s sense of adventure. It’s reminiscent of Venice, with a canal running through it, and shows a couple riding off on a Vespa. The artist even incorporated the restaurant’s exhaust fans into bridge towers.

A typical day for Nestico begins in the late morning. He checks in with the kitchen, assigns prep and work tasks, works on payroll and might step in to train a new dishwasher. He stays through lunch, leaves for a couple hours in the afternoon and returns for dinner service. He delivers food, busses tables, chats with guests and washes dishes. On a recent Tuesday, he sat down with two longtime customers who come in for lunch a couple times a week.

“I oversee more than anything,’’ N e s t i c o e x p l a i n s . “ We ’ re w e l l organized after 23 years. I’m the face of the place.’’

Nestico creates new menus in collaboration with his kitchen team, including daily food and drink specials, curates the wine list and selects the art

on the walls. He can jump on the line if needed but leaves the cooking to those who do it best. “A chef is an artist. I’m kind of a mix,’’ he says. “My creativity comes through in the menus and the feel of the place.’’

His father may be gone but he’s not forgotten. “I think my dad just had an eye for quality that transferred hopefully to me,’’ Nestico says. “He was an innovator. He wasn’t afraid to try new things. He wasn’t afraid to steal an idea and expand upon it.’’

Nestico is inspired by others, too. He has adapted the restaurant’s traditional lasagna, for example, to serve it in the style of Don Angie, a popular New York City restaurant.

The lasagna is arranged in pinwheels in a casserole, then baked and piped with ricotta cheese. The menu also features an homage to Aunt Josie’s, a landmark Italian American restaurant in Syracuse that closed in 2012. If you remember Aunt Josie’s you remember its signature dish: cavatelli pasta tossed with broccoli, mushrooms, butter, olive oil and garlic.

“We keep up with the times, we don’t dwell in the past,’’ Nestico says.

“People don’t like change, so you have to do it creatively.’’

For more information on Nestico’s visit www.nesticos.com and look for the restaurant on Facebook and Instagram.

Margaret McCormick is a food writer and food blogger in Syracuse.

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cover

FALL GETAWAYS Stay regional yet get out of town with these nearby autumn escapes

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

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E

njoy the crisp autumn air of harvest time with a long weekend within a couple hours’ drive of CNY It still feels like a getaway without the time and expense of traveling for days. Plus, Upstate has plenty of venues with incredible views and autumn experiences.

The “Grand Canyon of the East” offers gorgeous views in any season and autumn provides no exception.

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Letchworth State Park in Castile in Wyoming County was voted by USA Today readers as the “Best Attraction in the State” for good reason. Its 66 miles of hiking trails, towering cliffs, waterfalls up to 600 feet, and lush foliage provide splendid views.

But don’t forget its performing arts programs, Humphrey Nature Center and hot air balloon tours. Stay at the Glen Iris Inn (https://www. glenirisinn.com), which offers guest

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suites, cottages and apartments— accommodations for any taste. Dining is available on-site at Caroline’s, which serves all three meals in an upscale yet relaxed ambiance. Caroline’s also packs picnic lunches—perfect to take along on a hike. n https://parks.ny.gov/parks/79/details. aspx Old Forge in the Adirondacks

Taughannock Falls State Park in Trumansburg, near Ithaca.

offers spectacular views of foliage and plenty to do outdoors. Hike the trails at Bald Mountain or take a scenic chair lift ride on McCauley Mountain to enjoy the scenery. Get to know the friendly llamas at Moose River Farm and book a llama trek. Among the eateries in Old Forge, don’t miss Mountainside Smokehouse & Grill for authentic barbecue flavor. Stay at Great Pines Resort to keep that Adirondack vibe going. The resort offers rooms

with jetted tubs and pet friendly accommodations. n www.oldforgeny.com In the Thousand Islands, explore the architecture and awe of two of the region’s most notable structures: Boldt Castle on Heart Island and Singer Castle on Dark Island. The boat tours share the fascinating history behind the castles, along with spectacular views

of fall foliage and the St. Lawrence Seaway. Autumn is the best time to enjoy these tours.

Take some time to poke around the mom-and-pop restaurants and shops in Alexandria Bay, full of hometown vibes and artisan treasures. While in the area, stop by Old McDonald’s Farm in Sackets Harbor for a day of youngat-heart farm fun picking pumpkins, winding through the corn mazes and lunch at the Lazy Cow Café. Don’t

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miss the apple cider and be sure to take home a few apple cider doughnuts—if they last that long!

If wine is your beverage of choice, visit Coyote Moon Vineyards in Clayton or Thousand Islands Winery in Alexandria Bay for tastings.

The 1000 Islands Harbor Hotel in Clayton offers the best views of the St. Lawrence River and is close to downtown’s best attractions. Cozy up around the firepits, soak in the indoor whirlpool tub and mingle at the on-site Seaway Grille or 1000 Islands Bar. n https://visit1000islands.com In the Adirondacks, there’s no end to the leaf-peeping opportunities.

But the Lake George area offers both water and foliage views, along with plenty of things to do. Lake George Steamboat Company (https:// lakegeorgesteamboat.com) offers foliage cruises through the end of October. Or hike the 3.2-mile trail on Prospect Mountain to enjoy amazing views from the summit. You could also drive the 5.5-mile Prospect Mountain Veterans Memorial Highway if you’re not up for a moderate to challenging hike. As another hike, the Adirondack High Peaks Wilderness Area includes Mt. Marcy (5,344 feet) and Algonquin Peak (5,115 feet), two of the state’s highest peaks. The trail includes several lovely burbling streams.

Enjoy a few sips at Adirondack Winery in Lake George. It’s better to book a tasting to ensure a space at this popular winery. Reservations are accepted for parties of two or more.

Check the website to see what vino awaits your palate.

H i s t o r y b u ff s s h o u l d v i s i t Battlefield Park and Fort William Henry, key venues of the French and India War era.

Ride through the foliage at Circle B Ranch in Chestertown. The stable offers one- to two-hour trail rides for beginners and experienced equestrians.

Not far away, Friends Lake Inn offers cozy mountain accommodations with amenities including fireplaces, soaking tubs, steam showers, firepits, on-site dining and excellent views, all close to hiking trails. It’s perfect for a couple’s getaway or a chance for single solitude.

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55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

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43

autumn

U-PICK APPLES

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

W

hat better way to buy the season’s bounty than to pick your own apples on a local farm? The area abounds with farms that provide youpick (often “u-pick”) opportunities.

Some also offer activities for children, gift shops and markets with regional goods.

• Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards (https:// beakandskiff.com) in Lafayette calls it an “apple campus” for good reason with attractions for all ages. Want to shop? Peruse the Apple Hill General Store for local wares, baked goods and apples galore. Bringing along the younger grandchildren? They can romp in the Kids Treehouse play area.

Older ones will have a blast shooting the apple cannon at targets. Imbibing?

Sip cider, spirits and wines in the 1911 Tasting Room and Tavern. The Tasting Room also offers meals. The whole 44

family can join in apple picking. Check the website for special events.

• Pick apples and pumpkins at Critz Farm Brewing and Cider Co. (https://www. critzfarms.com) in Cazenovia, which also operates a tasting room so guests can sample ale and hard cider before purchase. Get a glimpse of their 1890s cider press, still in use on the farm. Check the website to attend special events, like the Fall Harvest Celebration, which offers live music, activities, pumpkin and apple picking, petting zoo, corn maze and wagon rides.

• Ontario Orchards (www.facebook. com/OntarioOrchardsOswegoNY) in Sterling offers you-pick apples at the farm, but don’t miss the market in Oswego (https://ontarioorchards. com), either, with a bevy of local goods for sale, along with produce and

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

harvested apples and nursery stock.

• Owen Orchards Cider Mill And Farm Market in Weedsport (www.owenorchard. com) offers a farm market with produce, local goods and apple cider donuts, along with U-pick opportunities for apples, pumpkins and squash. If climbing ladders isn’t for you, most of the trees are accessible from the ground. Enjoy a wagon ride to the orchard on weekends.

• Abbott Farms in Baldwinsville (www. abbottfarms.com) runs a cider mill to offer fresh cider, along with U-pick apples, and local goods, harvested produce and homemade fudge, pies and doughnuts at the market. Bring along the grandchildren for face painting, petting zoo and more. Make a day of it with a picnic lunch from the snack stand.

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RNs Licensed Master Social Workers LPNs • Adams Acres in Jamesville (www. adamsacres.net) grows organic apples for sale and U-pick. Leashed, vaccinated, well-behaved dogs are welcome to join you.

• Deer Run Farms in Lafayette (www. facebook.com/DeerRunFarmsCNY) sells both U-pick and harvested apples.

Shop the farm market for apple fritters and other baked goods, unpasteurized cider, and numerous local products.

Ask for a farm tour.

• Behling Orchards in Mexico (https:// behlingorchards.com) offers U-pick apples and pumpkins, along with a corn maze, haunted corn maze, bale maze for little ones, farm market, snack stand, hayride and pony rides. Check the website for special events.

Keep in mind that working farms may have uneven ground, wet conditions, and no public restroom facilities. Wear suitable footwear, clothing and sunscreen. Respect the rules of the orchard as they’re in place for your safety and to protect the trees and farm equipment. Check the farm’s social media page or call before heading out, as weather and other factors can affect U-pick activities.

Some farms accept cash only. Farms with many activities often charge admission. If you just want apples, go to a farm with fewer activities.

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45

adventure

Breaking camp at sunrise at Selkirk Shores State Park on the shores of Lake Ontario.

A Ride Around Lake Ontario It took two friends nine days and about 630 miles to circle Lake Ontario by bike

By Todd Etshman

W

hat could be better than a ride along Lake Ontario with an old friend?

The answer for two avid cyclists and outdoor adventurers is nine days of riding 70 miles a day around the circumference of Lake Ontario, a journey of approximately 630 miles in total.

David Fergusson, 71, and Peter Mahler, 68, took that trip in late May– early June. They met at an outdoor adventure group, Pack, Paddle and Ski, a few years ago. The two previously biked the length of the Erie Canal but found the ride around the lake even more scenic.

“It’s hard to find someone to do a trip like this,” said Fergusson who previously rode across the country at 46

the age of 60 and around other great lakes by himself. One thing he likes about Mahler is the ability to pack light and be ready to go first thing in the morning. Having someone else to face challenges is practical and uplifting, Fergusson explained.

“It’s easy to be with Dave. We can talk about a hundred different things.

We’re very similar in a lot of ways,” Mahler said.

Finding someone who wants to bike that far, has the time and won’t back down from unexpected challenges isn’t easy, but Fergusson found that companion in Mahler, who has a long outdoor adventure history himself.

The journey took them on a multitude of trails in the U.S. and

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

Canada, past bays, canals, locks, historical sites, parks and to an odd assortment of campsites. It took planning and cooperation between the two friends and the ability to adapt to impromptu situations that don’t show up on a map like bad weather, a meandering trail or a missing ferry in addition to finding food and bathroom facilities.

Making hotel or camp site reservations isn’t something they — and a host of other outdoor adventure enthusiasts — have to do. That’s because they embrace what is known as stealth or guerilla camping.

What that means is making a quick and efficient camp for the night anyplace that looks good — from a park to the dugout on a baseball

Peter Mahler at one of historical markers on the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail. field, an outdoor theater or behind a building amidst boat storage.

You just have to respect the property and don’t leave a mess, Mahler explained.

“When we leave, no one would know we were there,” he said.

There were no confrontations from angry landowners or park rangers on the journey, but as Mahler noted, it helps that “this is just two old guys on bikes.”

It’s a practice the pair said is easier in Canada than the U.S. And it’s not always necessary. Campers are allowed to set up at Erie Canal locks for example.

The trip started well enough on the familiar Erie Canal trail until cold, rainy, windy weather hit on Day 3 at historic Selkirk Shores State Park.

But having more time to read historic markers is one of the appealing parts of the journey and War of 1812 history abounds here.

“We read every historical marker.

That’s the fun of it,” Fergusson said.

Taking time to appreciate history and scenery is what makes the journey

Peter Mahler (left) and David Fergusson on the Niagara River Trail.

appealing. The pair enjoys the fact that they don’t have to rush by in a car anymore. They also got to stop for ice cream whenever they wanted.

Once inclement weather passed, the riders had the wind at their back for the next challenge, finding the ferry at Cape Vincent to Wolfe Island, Canada, closed.

Fortunately, a woman stopped to help them get on their way into Canada and onto the Great Lakes Waterfront Trail.

Quiet scenic trails and roads through farms and orchards with lake views made for happy biking through the Canadian countryside.

Another ferry between Kingston and Cobourg operated as planned and the Canadian side was full of scenic bays, peninsulas and lilacs bigger and bushier than any you can see in Highland Park, Mahler said.

Trails aren’t always easy to follow on a map or on the trail for cyclists looking to go an extra mile or in their case, an extra few hundred miles.

In one instance, the trail led to a beach in Cobourg. Pushing their

bikes through the sand presented the pair with an additional upper body workout.

Heading toward Toronto the trail got better and more populated.

“Toronto was exciting with a twolane bike and walking path that leads all through the city with its own traffic lights and signs,” Mahler said.

“There are some real resort towns west of Toronto that you’d never notice if you were driving on the 401,” Fergusson noted.

Seeing giant freighters is hard to do in Rochester (there is only one, the McKeil Spirit from Hamilton) but there is no shortage of them on the Welland Canal at St. Catherine’s. The sheer size of the ship they saw was fascinating to see making its way through the locks from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie.

From there, the men walked across the Rainbow Bridge and back to the Erie Canal Trail for the ride home — and as Mahler noted, a more comfortable bed and a return to all the trappings of everyday life and the distractions of our post-COVID-19 world.

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 – 55 PLUS

47

writing

8 Steps to Writing a Great Memoir Want to share a life experience with others? It takes time and dedication, and likely won’t be easy

E

veryone who has ever lived has a story to tell. As you approach mid to later life, you may find yourself reflecting on your past. Perhaps you realize you’ve lived through significant or relatable events, experiences, choices, and changes that would be fascinating or helpful to others. This is what leads many people to write a memoir. But how do you go about telling your story?

By Kimberly Blaker

or overcoming adversity will help you focus your story and connect to readers. Of course, life doesn’t fit easily into a clean theme or narrative. So try to separate the relevant and extraneous details.

1. Decide what to write about and why A m e m o i r d i ff e r s f ro m a n autobiography in that it focuses on one aspect of or time from your life.

So before you get started, reflect on the reason you want to write a memoir.

Then, to find your focus, write down your ideas using methods such as a mind map or stream-of-consciousness writing. Typically, memoirs that do best have a takeaway for the reader.

Although your story can and should be unique or unusual, it should also have a core to which the reader can connect.

3. Refresh your memories Write down all your relevant memories with as much detail as you can remember. Include not only events but also senses and emotions you experienced. Throughout the memoir, remember to show, not just tell, to evoke a more authentic, emotional connection with the reader. If possible, talk to others who were involved in the memories to get their perspective or to trigger memories of details you may have forgotten. Looking at old pictures or journal entries or visiting significant places can also help refresh your memory. If you find this step too challenging, you might not be ready to write about these memories. Perhaps pacing yourself would be easier to manage emotionally.

2. Define your theme and stick to it Once you’ve decided what your memoir is about, find its theme. A clear theme like coming of age, dealing with loss, friendship, determination

4. Be Authentic In a memoir, being honest and authentic is essential. If you’re not, it will reflect in your writing and result in disengaging the reader. When

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55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

sharing part of your life with others, vulnerability is necessary, so they’ll care about what you’re writing. If you hold back, readers can’t get a full sense of who you are and why your story matters. Keep in mind that no one is perfect. If we were, we wouldn’t have learned or grown. So don’t hide your flaws or bad decisions if they’re part of your story.

5. Develop a structure Based on your memories and theme, think about how to structure your story. Memoirs often have a personal growth arc, where you learned something or something happened that changed your life.

Think about your theme and what you want your reader to get out of your story. An outline can help you stay on the theme while laying out a clear structure that the reader can follow.

Find an interesting way to structure your story; you don’t necessarily want to start at the beginning. Look for an exciting or notable moment to hook your readers and get them wanting more.

6. Get writing Putting the first draft down on paper can be the hardest part because

you’re starting from nothing. It may seem intimidating. But remember that no one ever has to see the first draft. It’s just you telling yourself the story. Also, don’t worry too much about grammar, spelling, structure, or other elements at first because they can distract your train of thought and the flow of writing. Just get your story written down and worry about revision and editing later. If you’re really struggling, try recording yourself telling the memories you want to include, or use a talk-to-text converter. Talking may feel more natural and be a less intimidating way to get started. If it helps, ask someone close to you to be in the room while recording and speak directly to them, so it feels more conversational and natural.

7. Put your personality into the writing You’re telling your own story, so it should sound like you. Do you often tell jokes? Swear? Use a particular phrase? Include those quirks from your normal speech into your writing.

Pay attention to how you talk in your daily life or ask those closest to you for their observations of how you speak.

If you use talk-to-text or a recording to do your first draft, that’s a great way to notice what your natural speech is like.

8. Be consistent If you’re serious about writing your memoir, it’s important to intentionally carve out time to write and work. Writing your memoir will take time and dedication, and likely won’t be easy. A memoir requires an in-depth, sincere look into your own life and the choices you made.

There are also more tedious aspects to writing, such as writer’s block, rounds of editing, trying to find a publisher, or figuring out how to self-publish.

So it may be helpful to join a writing group or find a writing partner to keep you accountable for making progress.

This kind of support can also serve as a resource when you feel stuck or need an outside opinion.

Realize that no matter how interesting or tedious you think your own life has been, you’ve followed a unique path with a variety of experiences. You’re the only one who can tell your story – but there are likely many who will find it fascinating, useful, or be able to relate.

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49

online internet

New Trend: Granfluencers Some older adults have millions of followers — and they are pitching all sorts of products, services and ideas

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant onventional marketing pushes young people as the face of a brand or as the influencers on social media.

“Grandfluencers” are interrupting t h a t t re n d . A p o r t m a n t e a u o f “grandparent” plus “influencer,” the trend bucks the convention of youthdriven culture and marketing with older adults, some of whom have millions of followers — yes, millions.

The real surprise is the age of many of their followers.

According to AARP, the number of people 50 and older has increased their use of social media during the pandemic to serve not only as a means of staying in touch with loved ones but also for self-expression. Granfluencers are not only appealing to others in their age cohort. For example, consider Shirley Curry, aka Skyrim Grandma (www.youtube.com/results?search_ query=skyrim+grandma), an octogenarian in Ohio who has built a fanbase of 1.22 million subscribers, many are young enough to be her grandchildren. In fact, Curry calls them her grandchildren. The novelty of a grandmother master gamer is likely what draws subscribers to her channel. However, for businessbased social media pages, an older poster may elicit a sense of trust and authenticity.

That’s the case for Jim Nocek, a septuagenarian and owner of Anyela’s Vineyards in Skaneateles.

Nocek frequently represents the business on Facebook and Instagram, along with posts featuring others involved with the vineyard and guests.

C

Jim Nocek and his wife Patti own Anyela’s Vineyards in Skaneateles. “Guests like it when they know who is making the products,” Patti Nocek says. “They want a connection with who makes them.”

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55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

His wife and business partner, Patti, manages the business’ marketing with assistance from Gilded Social, a marketing firm in Syracuse.

Although not as famous as Curry, Nocek’s posts garner a good response, in part because his sage demeanor, born of maturity and experience, makes his message resonate with followers. Plus, people expect to see an older vintner. According to Zippia. com, 51% of winemakers are 40plus years old. Only 15% are 30 and younger.

Seeing Nocek as the face of the vineyard also ties into the local food trend.

“We noticed that our guests like to see the people who own the vineyard,” his wife said. “Jim is featured a lot. The one thing we can say about age is it brings wisdom.”

A retired high school business teacher from Solvay High School, she understands that marketing must appeal to the wine buying market, not just her 60s age group.

Customers want to buy a product that represents his expertise — he has been in the business since 2008 — along with the whole experience of visiting the winery and tasting products while deciding what to buy. Viewing posts of a knowledgeable vintner helps conceptualize the experience.

“Guests like it when they know who is making the products,” Patti Nocek said. “They want a connection with who makes them.”

Scott Friedberg, CEO of Gilded Social, said that building that personal connection online helps foster more interest in the vineyard’s Club A Select wine membership, which in addition to discounts includes members-only events — opportunities to further connect with Jim and Patti in person.

“One thing we notice is we get great engagement on everything, but if we feature Patti and Jim, we get the most response,” Friedberg said. “People want to connect more with people than products. Having a connection with the producer is deeper and more human.”

Today’s consumers tend to be more curious about how products are made, especially artisanal goods made in smaller batches.

Before starting Anyela’s Vineyards, Nocek worked as a research scientist in large animal physiology at Agway.

He still consults occasionally.

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51

pets

FINDING A DOG TO FIT YOUR LIFESTYLE Plan ahead to reap the rewards of a loving pet

By Kimberly Blaker Every year thousands of dogs are turned over to animal shelters because they were given as a gift without first consulting the gift recipient — or people discover they brought home a biter, barker, digger, or jumper. When pets are given away, owners, and particularly dogs, suffer.

So before selecting your dog, do your homework. With a little preplanning, you can find the dog that most closely fits yours or your gift recipient’s lifestyle.

Variety of dogs, variety of nuisances Dogs can create many nuisances.

Some of these are more common in particular breeds. A barking dog helps protect against intruders. But excessive barking can become a problem. Some breeds known for their barking include the Alaskan malamute, American water spaniel, bassett hound, finnish spitz, fox and other terriers, great Pyrenees, and miniature schnauzer.

A playful, energetic puppy can make a great playmate. But as your puppy grows, that hyperactivity could become overwhelming. High-strung dogs often jump on people and tear through the house. Certain breeds tend to maintain that high energy level well into their adult size bodies.

Such breeds include the Airedale 52

terriers, boxer, Brittany, cocker spaniel, dalmatian, golden retriever, Irish setter, Jack Russell terrier, Labrador retriever, pointer, and schnauzer.

Dogs dig for many reasons—to bury a bone, to escape from a fenced yard, to keep cool, or out of boredom.

A torn-up yard can be the last straw for many dog owners. The following breeds tend to be diggers: fox terriers, Norwich terrier, and petit basset griffon Vendeen.

Dogs can be aggressive for a variety of reasons. Poor breeding, physical abuse, and even disease can cause aggression in a dog. Certain dominant breeds can also tend toward aggressiveness if not handled by a firm and skilled handler. Choose these dogs with caution and the understanding they require strong leadership: akita, American pit bull terrier, bulldog, bullmastiff, chow chow,doberman pinscher, german shepherd dog, rottweiler, schnauzer, shih tzu, siberian husky, and weimaraner.

Grooming is another consideration.

While it may sound painless, the upkeep of certain breeds can be overwhelming. In addition to keeping claws trimmed and an occasional

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

bath, some dogs require lengthy daily brushing to remove tangles or trapped fur in double coats. High maintenance breeds include the American eskimo, cocker spaniel, collie, great Pyrenees, lhasa apso, old English sheepdog, poodle, schnauzer, and terriers.

Traits to look for in a family dog Many unforeseen problems are avoidable by finding a dog that’ll be easy to handle. Easy trainers include American water spaniel, australian shepherd, bichon frise, cocker spaniel, irish setter,italian greyhound, Maltese, and Shetland sheepdog.

Calm, gentle breeds may be essential to your peace of mind.

Keep in mind size alone doesn’t dictate these traits. Gentle breeds you might consider are bassett hound, beagle, bearded collie, and chinese crested.

Playful and energetic puppies can be a handful once they’re full-grown and haven’t outgrown their energy level. These include American eskimo, bloodhound, brittany, dalmatian, golden retriever, irish wolfhound, labrador retriever, pointer, poodle, saint bernard, or schnauzer.

There are many other traits to consider in choosing a new dog.

Before bringing home your puppy, read a book or articles about the breed that interests you to determine if it will fit your family’s lifestyle. For personalized assistance in choosing a breed, go to http://www.selectsmart. com/DOG/or one of the many other breed selection sites. You’ll be guided through a series of questions and receive a free personalized list of matches.

Special considerations The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimate that 800,000 people, mostly children, are bitten annually severely enough to require medical attention. If you have grandchildren or other children who visit, keep in mind that Infants and small children shouldn’t be left alone with a dog. It may be hard to picture your lovable Fido as capable of hurting a child. But even the gentlest dogs have been known to bite.

Little kids sometimes get too close to a dog while it’s eating or chewing a bone or startle a dog while it’s sleeping. Sometimes, small children hang on dogs, pull their tails, or threaten a dog’s safety. This can lead to injury to either the dog or your child.

Also, dogs view their families as part of their pack. A properly trained dog should view adults and older children as alpha (top dog). But a dog isn’t likely to see a small child in this light and may wield its authority when no one’s around.

Apartment living is another consideration. The size dog you choose is vital to both your dog’s well being

and to maintain your sanity. High energy and medium to large breeds generally need large areas to romp.

Without it, your apartment could become a round-the-clock racetrack.

Planning regular walks for these dogs may not be sufficient. You’ll tire long before your dog. Also, there will be occasions when you aren’t able to accommodate your dog’s need to exercise.

The costs of pet ownership should also be weighed out. First, there are obvious costs, such as pet food and annual vaccinations.

Other expenses include licensing, monthly heartworm pills, chew toys, damaged belongings, fencing, training, unexpected veterinary expense, grooming, kenneling, and more.

If you or frequent guests have bad allergies or asthma, check with your doctor before bringing any furred, feathered, or finned pet into your home.

Also, the holiday season may not be the best time of year to bring home a new dog. People are generally too busy during the holidays to give a new pet the attention it needs. Choose a season when you’ll be able to spend plenty of time with your new dog as it adjusts to its new home.

Where to find your dog The Humane Society, an animal shelter, or an accidental litter of pups is a great place to find your dog at an affordable price. Giving a home to a

dog that might otherwise be put to sleep or caged indefinitely, and not contributing to the overpopulation of dogs by buying from breeders, are good reasons to go this route.

Most often, you’ll find mixed breeds through these methods.

Mixed breeds a re l e s s l i k e l y t o inherit the diseases and disabilities often common in purebreds. Keep in mind though, sometimes these dogs are strays or weren’t properly cared for by their original owner. If a dog didn’t receive proper vaccinations, it could be at risk for disease. A dog that was abused by its previous owner could also pose risks. Ask the animal shelter what it knows about the dog’s history.

Another way to find your new puppy is through a breeder. Taking home a puppy whose history is known and hasn’t been exposed to a poor environment is a plus. But caution should be used even when buying from a breeder. While most are in the business for their love of the breed, there are plenty of exceptions.

Some breeders are only interested in profits and have little knowledge or concern for good breeding and proper care of pups. This can lead to dogs with poor temperaments, genetic disorders, or disease. Ask plenty of questions, request references, and ask to see the puppies in their normal environment.

According to the American Kennel Club, some things to watch for when selecting your puppy include a runny nose, watery eyes, fever, or disease in the litter. If any of these conditions are

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 – 55 PLUS

53

present, look elsewhere.

Avoid a puppy that trembles and is shy or one that shows a bad temper. Also, understand that a kennel designated “AKC Reg.” doesn’t mean it has the American Kennel Club’s stamp of approval. It merely means the dogs are registered as being purebred.

Finally, keep in mind that puppies should remain with their mother and littermates until at least 8 weeks of age, and preferably 8.

Training Tips No matter how careful you are in selecting your pet, chances are, your

puppy will develop a problem or nuisance behavior. Prevention is the first step. Once properly vaccinated, your puppy will be old enough for an obedience course for puppies..

Teaching your puppy the basics will make it easier to manage problem behaviors. If you can’t take a class, purchase a dog-training manual and stick with it.

If your dog shows signs of aggression, talk with a professional trainer or your veterinarian. Depending on the cause, there may be a simple solution. If you have kids and their safety becomes an issue, your only option may be a new home for your pet.

Whether your dog ends up with a new owner or in a shelter, make sure you explain the reason for giving your dog away, so it ends up in the proper environment.

For other problem behaviors, there are several good books to help tame your dog. Decoding Your Dog: Explaining Common Dog Behaviors and How to Change or Prevent Unwanted Ones by the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists, provides many helpful techniques.

Contrary to popular belief, never hit, kick, or swat a dog with a newspaper.

This can lead to aggressiveness or increase already aggressive behavior.

M o s t i m p o r t a n t l y, t r y t o understand and accept your pet’s imperfections and adjust your home accordingly to reduce aggravations.

In time, your dog will learn to accept the household routine and become a part of it.

Traveling with Puppy For some dog owners, going on vacation without their dog is like leaving a family member behind. Therefore, many hotels accommodate guests who travel with pets. Try one of the following that offers pet-friendly services at some or most of its locations: • Residence Inn and TownePlace Suites by Marriott (800) 2289290 • Best Western (800) 528-1234 • Hilton (800) 445-8667 • Doubletree Hotels (800) 2228733.

• Embassy Suites Hotels (800) 362-2779 • Holiday Inn (800) 465-4329 • Comfort Inn (877) 424-6423

When Puppy Must Stay Behind Traveling with your dog isn’t always feasible. When looking for boarding services, ask the following questions, depending on your dog’s needs.

• Are kennels heated and cooled?

• Are they indoor, outdoor, or accessible to both?

• What kind of food do they provide?

• Is one-on-one playtime or leashed walks offered?

• What vaccinations are required?

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Let our family help your family in making this most difficult time in your life, bearable.

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skin

It’s Never Too Late to Care for Skin

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

I

f you don’t like what you’re seeing in the mirror, you can still improve your aging skin’s appearance. By age 55, changes in the body have begun to affect the skin in noticeable ways.

“Age spots, fine lines and wrinkles are all signs of aging, due in large part to intrinsic and extrinsic elements of aging,” said physician Ramsay Farah, chief of dermatology at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, where he is an associate professor of pathology. “Intrinsic are the normal physiologic and biochemical processes of aging, and extrinsic factors are environmental factors, such as the sun.”

Farah is also in private practice at Farah Dermatology in Syracuse and other locations in the region.

Of course, wearing sun screen each day should represent the foundation of proper skincare. Farah said they help block the UV rays that damage skin.

He recommends SPF 30 or higher, applied every two hours when exposed to sun. Sunscreen should also be 56

reapplied after excessive sweating or towel drying. Farah prefers physical blockers containing zinc oxide or titanium dioxide.

Avoiding exposure to sunlight between the hours of 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. and wearing a hat and sunglasses can also help prevent further damage.

Short of inventing a time machine and going back to your youth to slather on sunscreen, you can’t undo all of the sun damage you’ve experienced.

However, you can improve your skin’s appearance. Since the skin turns over more slowly later in life, it’s helpful to use the right products to help reverse the appearance of sun damage. Farah suggested those containing retinols and retinoids.

“They help with age spots and fine lines and wrinkles,” he said. “I also am a big fan of antioxidants. These help absorb some of the rays of the sun and render them less harmful.

Vitamin C products are an example.

I would use these in the morning, the retinol or retinoids in the evening and sunscreens throughout the day.”

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

Facials, peels, microderm abrasion, and laser treatments can help. These modalities break down the skin’s top layer, the epidermis and reduce the appearance of discoloration and fine lines as the skin renews itself. It appears less dull.

“There are so many procedures that one can do for age spots and wrinkles,” Farah said. “These range from lasers, to Botox, to micro needling.

The micro needling is interesting, as that creates thousands of microscopic holes in the skin and that allows us to apply topicals immediately after that then go into the holes, into the skin, and have a better biologic affect since they are absorbed better. An example of this is to do micro needling and then apply Sculptra on top of that.”

Sculptra is a filler that helps the skin generate more collagen to plump up the skin.

It’s also vital to feed the skin with a diet rich in nutrients to improve skin’s appearance.

“Poor diet decisions equal poor skin,” Farah said. “Eating an unhealthy diet will make your skin look dull and dry and promote inflammation and inflammation can lead to signs of aging. In general, try and eat an antiinflammatory diet which generally means green, leafy things and less meat and processed foods and sugars in particular, like sodas. On the contrary,

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foods that contain antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids are known to increase collagen production and may, therefore, better your skin quality.”

Most people find that as they grow older, their skin becomes drier. This may require greater water intake as well as “using a good daily moisturizer, which can help restore the skin to a more normal physiologic function,” Farah said.

A good over-the-counter product he likes is CeraVe. A healthy body with healthy skin also relies upon obtaining sufficient sleep. Most adults need seven to nine hours of sleep each night.

“When one is not sleeping well and is tired, one’s hormonal equilibrium is off and when this happens, the barrier function of the skin and the mucous membranes breaks down, leading to signs of aging,” Farah explained. “So, you may begin to notice wrinkles, skin sagging, and lackluster skin. A healthy balance of exercise is also important, as that improves blood flow everywhere but also to the skin.”

Smoking contributes to numerous disease processes and is toxic to the body and most of its functions. But Farah added that it causes wrinkles and premature aging, along with dehydrating the skin.

“It also significantly decreases the blood flow to your skin,” he said.

“Therefore, quitting smoking is one of the best things you can do for your skin and your overall health.”

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OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 – 55 PLUS

57

NY Considers Medical Aid in Dying for Terminal Patients

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

M

edical professionals assisting patients in ending their lives sounds paradoxical. But groups such as Death With Dignity based in Portland, Oregon. want to see New York join them as a state that permits lucid, terminally ill patients to request a dose of lethal medication to take when they deem it’s the right time to die.

The proposed New York law, the Medical Aid in Dying Act (A995/ S2445), states that patients must have six months or fewer left to live and must be capable of requesting the medication both orally and in writing, as well as administering it themselves.

“Death with Dignity laws have been proven effective at improving healthcare quality at the end of life, regardless of whether or not an individual chooses to hasten their death,” the organization’s website states. “People travel from all over the world to access New York’s doctors and hospitals. New Yorkers shouldn’t have to leave the state to receive the care they need at the end of life.”

Amy Paulin, 88th New York State Assembly District and chair on the Assembly Committee on Health, introduced the bill on Jan. 12, 2023. She 58

believes that the bill “provides dignity in death and throughout one’s life,” she said. “It allows someone to make a choice when they know they’re going to die anyway to determine how that death would be carried out. It helps alleviate pain.”

Terminal patients can receive hospice services when their physician has determined they have six months or less to live. They can linger in hospice for months and die without loved ones nearby, a scenario for which Paulin feels a personal connection.

Her sister received treatment for cancer, including surgery, but the cancer eventually metastasized.

Her doctor said she had two weeks to live.

“She could either be up, aware and able to talk and in pain or take such sufficient morphine that she’d be comatose,” Paulin said. “She altered between the two. She had no ability to determine when the death would come, yet wanted friends and family around when it did. She died during Mother’s Day with her daughter there, but not the rest of us.”

Paulin said this caused much distress for her sister, whom Paulin said repeatedly screamed, “When am

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

I going to die?” during her last days.

“She would have had all of us there if she had this medicine,” Paulin said.

Although unsure if her sister would have taken the medication, Paulin feels certain that it could have eased her sister’s anxiety about death, “which is worth a lot when you see a loved one dying,” Paulin said.

In Paulin’s legislation, medical assistance in dying (MAID), patients m u s t re c e i v e a m e n t a l h e a l t h examination to determine if they can make the decision and sign an affidavit, witnessed by a non-relative.

They would have to be capable of selfadministering the medication.

“We’ve seen examples in other states that very few people take that step,” Paulin said.

“However, many avail themselves of the possibility of taking that step.

When you’re dying—and cancer is what we’re mostly talking about— you lose control. This allows you to get some of that control back. People don’t want to die. People who avail themselves of this medication don’t want to die. They choose life. It’s just that cancer and disease is saying something else. That’s why most

people never use the medication even after they get the prescription. If they’re in such extensive pain and they know death is imminent, they can take the control back. That’s very valuable.”

Diagnoses such as ALS and dementia are not included as the medication must be self-administered by a lucid person. Slow-acting diseases that restrict movement or affect the mind would not be included.

For now, Paulin is working on persuading her colleagues and hopes to push full force for the bill when back in session in January.

Samuel Gorovitz, Ph.D. has served by gubernatorial appointment on the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law since 1988. He is a professor with SU’s philosophy department.

He thinks the bill has a good chance of passing.

“A lot of people would choose to never end their own lives but don’t believe that other people should be denied that option under the sort of circumstances,” he said.

He described in the bill in New York as “very carefully crafted,” such as its provisions that no healthcare provider is obligated to participate and that it’s only allowable if all conditions have been met.

The concept of physicians “doing no harm” such as outlined in the Hippocratic Oath seems to contradict the idea of helping patients die.

“It’s not at all clear that a patient is harmed by being allowed to end a life which is more negative than positive,” Gorovitz said. “Indeed, many would argue that forcing someone to stay alive under some circumstances is perpetuating harm. Allowing people under specific circumstances to ending a life they wish to do so is not violating the ‘do no harm.’ It’s in the view of many people honoring it.”

He believes that many people want medical aid in dying (MAID) and that many people favor reproductive freedom.

“It’s a small minority of people who oppose making this available,” Gorovitz said.

He does not view MAID as a proverbial “slippery slope” into euthanasia.

“The empirical evidence relates that this is simply not true,” he said.

“In fact, many people who have secured the right to end their own lives as they see fit, having secured it

are greatly relieved by knowing they can do it as they choose, and then they don’t choose it. It empowers them with an affirmation of control in them rather than others.”

He believes that someone with a terminal disease that could linger indefinitely should have MAID as an option rather than eliminating the family’s resources.

“We’d never want to see pressure on someone to accelerate the ending of life because someone else wants access to the money,” he said. “On the other hand, it does make sense I’d never want my own life prolonged thwarting my desire to leave a bequest to the philanthropies I support and my grandchildren.”

The only drawbacks he can find to Paulin’s legislation is that it’s not liberal enough, noting that someone who has experienced a stroke may be completely lucid, but unable to speak.

That person would not qualify.

“It is a very cautious, carefully crafted and quite conservative and safe piece of legislation,” Gorovitz added.

Currently nine US states (California, Colorado, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New Mexico, Oregon, Vermont and Washington) and Washington, DC have MAID laws and Montana does through court ruling.

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In March 2024, the law will also include people whose only condition is mental illness — one of the world’s broadest allowances for MAID. “I don’t see this coming to the US,” said Geoff Sugerman, national political strategist for Death with Dignity in Oregon.

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59

health

LONELINESS HARMS HEALTH

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

A

s the pandemic exacerbated and highlighted, loneliness is not good for your health.

In fact, the US Surgeon General Vivek H. Murthy’s recent report “Our Epidemic of Loneliness and Isolation” states that it “is far more than just a bad feeling — it harms both individual and societal health.

It is associated with a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, dementia, stroke, depression, anxiety, and premature death.”

The general surgeon goes on to add, “The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity. And the harmful consequences of a society that lacks social connection can be felt in our schools, workplaces, and civic organizations, where performance, 60

productivity, and engagement are diminished.”

Although delivery services helped people stay supplied and fed during the pandemic, it also isolated them.

And since then, many of these services have become more routine, promoting continued isolation. These newer supports differ from some that were popular pre-COVID-19. For example, Meals on Wheels provides a point of connection for older adults, as delivery drivers take a moment to chat and get to know the recipients. That’s not part of the job of food delivery drivers for Grubhub or Instacart to make those connections.

Life stage is also a factor. The effects of loneliness on older adults are particularly meaningful as at this point, the deep connections of workplace and familial relationships segue to feeling adrift as retirement and the empty nest changes those

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

relationships. Many older adults have become divorced than in previous generations and their adult children no longer live nearby. If they downsize, they lack familiar neighbors they’ve known for decades.

“It is important to consider the effects of loneliness on older adults as there is more social isolation and loss of social networks in general as we age,” said Renee Hagar-Smith, mindful living coach, speaker, and workshop facilitator in Fayetteville.

“This can lead to depression, lack of motivation, and have a negative effect on someone’s overall wellbeing.

But there are ways to keep connected and cultivate a vibrant social life as we age.”

Of course, working within your comfort level, Hagar-Smith recommends trying to explore new means of socializing, beginning with yourself. Feeling at home with your

Renee Hagar-Smith own self — knowing your own likes and interests and not just those of others in your life — can help you better connect with others who are similar.

“It will be hard to find your tribe if you don’t know what you are looking for,” Hagar-Smith said.

She suggested: • “Take yourself on some dates.

This helps you learn to explore new things, increase your self-awareness and gain confidence. When you are doing activities solo, it’s often easier to connect with those around you.

• “Do things that bring you joy. If you are living a joyful life, you bring that energy out into the world. You have the motivation to get up each day and naturally exude an energy that attracts others to you.

• “Be open. Open up to new experiences and new types of people in your life. You might find that as you

age and go through life events like a divorce or the loss of a loved one, you might connect with people who have had similar experiences.

• “Let technology be your friend.

Using social media or group websites to help support the feeling of connection is a great idea, especially if mobility is an issue. It is also a great place to start when looking for folks who share common interests with you. Think about what you are passionate about and look for online groups that align with that passion.

• “Don’t be afraid to reach out.

Reach out to neighbors, local friends on social media and people in your church group. Take a chance on forming a new friendship. Not everyone will be open.

But if you don’t take the first step, you might miss out on a real connection that might just change your life.”

Area resources such as Seniors Helping Seniors can also build a broader social network. The organization serves Oneida, Madison, Cayuga, Oswego and Onondaga counties. By offering a peer-to-peer relationship, the companionship service puts clients at ease.

“We always send the same person, so they get that friendship and bond between them,” said Deb Turner, the business owner. “It’s such a win-win.

It helps seniors who are maybe feeling lonely at home. That leads to not eating well, sleeping late, not getting dressed — those kinds of issues. It can cause a senior who’s alone a lot. It is a win for our provider of care because they may be home alone themselves. They get

“The mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity. something to look forward to: visiting a friend, a little extra pocket money. It helps keep them active and engaged in the community.”

Most people receiving services from Seniors Helping Seniors are selfpay, although some long-term care insurance will pay for it.

In addition, she encourages retirees to go out to lunch, visit the library to experience its community programming, and attend a community concert. Reach out to church groups that want to help provide visits at home. Many faith-based groups visit people who cannot get out or will offer transportation and companionship for outings.

“I know some people who will go to Dunkin’ Donuts a couple times a week to have a coffee,” Turner said.

“At least you’re out and about. Even something as simple as going out for coffee can help.”

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61

druger’s zoo

By Marvin Druger Email: mdruger@syr.edu

Cruising Along

Marvin Druger and his companion, Victoria, during their cruise through the Great Lakes. He says, “In a strange sort of way, the cruise of the Great Lakes was boring. The ship moved at night and we never had the feeling that the ship was moving at all.”

A

fter two enjoyable cruises on Viking in Europe, it was time for another Viking cruise. This time, my companion, Victoria, and I set off on an eight-day Viking expedition to explore the Great Lakes.

The Great Lakes include Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, Lake Huron, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Lake Superior is the largest freshwater lake in the world and constitutes about 10% of the world’s surface freshwater.

Our plane left Syracuse at 6 a.m., which meant that I had a sleepless night for fear that the alarm wouldn’t 62

go on. To add to our start, I gave the wrong directions to the airport to the Uber driver, even though I had traveled that route countless times.

Of course, we both had packed large suitcases full of clothing that we would never wear on the trip. We could have easily and comfortably taken two backpacks for our eight-day adventure.

We boarded the ship in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The ship was an expedition ship built in 2021 and had every amenity possible. It had a capacity of 378 passengers. But,

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

for some unknown reason, it had only about 230 passengers. Most of the passengers were elderly people trying to get a final fling at life. The passengers and staff were very diverse and came from many places all over the world.

The staff was listed as 256 crew members. Every passenger received superior treatment. The crew was extremely attentive and helpful.

Everywhere we went, we were greeted by smiles and “Good morning” or “Hello.” One of the waiters was even named “Marvin” and we befriended him. I once dropped a spoon on the floor. A hand immediately reached out to pick it up. “I’ll get that for you, sir.”

Meals were outstanding and we spent a lot of time eating. One restaurant was buffet-style and there were several more elegant restaurants to dine in. Although the food in the restaurants was excellent, I felt a bit uncomfortable dining in such elegance. I kept thinking about the poverty-stricken people I had seen in India living on the crowded streets barely surviving, while I feasted on foods in a fancy restaurant. I felt shame and guilt.

Extremely wealthy people are accustomed to this lifestyle. One Viking policy was for men to wear collared shirts at dinner in the fancy restaurants. Yet, there were several men with collarless polo shirts. My theory is that, if you are wealthy enough, you wear what you please, despite rules. Not me.

There were many memorable moments and experiences. In order to qualify to use a kayak, passengers had to pass a physical test. An alternative to the kayak was the Zodiak, a motordriven rubber raft. To pass the kayak test, you had to climb over the sides of the Zodiak and get into the kayak.

Surprisingly, I was able to do it, but we never used the kayak.

Another test was to squat to qualify to visit a submarine and have a short, undersea trip. I passed the squat test, but I decided not to visit the submarine. Victoria did go on the submarine voyage and she reportedly saw a concrete wall of nothing while I lifted weights in the ship’s elaborate gymnasium.

We cruised past a silver mine in Lake Superior and we passed through the Soo locks that enable ships to traverse the different water levels

between Lake Superior and Lake Ireland. no birds, no wildlife, little hiking and Huron.

My daughter suggested that I a lot of long, empty hallways. Tables I always thought that the Great should request a transport chair to in the dining rooms were mostly for Lakes were well-known for shipwrecks. navigate the long distances in the two people, so it was difficult to meet An estimated 10,000 shipwrecks, airports between flights. The transport and converse with others. My main largely due to stormy weather, service was remarkable. I sat in a conversations with others were in the have occurred in the Great Lakes. I transport chair and the airline agent laundry room, where I was obliged to remember the famous wreck of the pushed me past long lines of impatient go to do laundry since I forgot to pack SS Edmund Fitzgerald on November travelers, through security, and right my underwear.

10, 1975, when 29 crewmen died. Yet, up to the door of the plane. On the The ship stopped at Duluth and surprisingly, the word “shipwreck” return trip, we rode in a motorized Milwaukee. These cities are not exactly never appeared anywhere on the trip vehicle. The agent even stopped Paris or Florence, but there were or in Viking advertisements. I suppose to enable us to buy food at a food points of interest. We saw the Aerial Viking did not want to frighten people court. We saved miles of walking Lift Bridge in Duluth and visited a and influence whether or not they in the airports between flights. My museum in Milwaukee. Milwaukee chose this cruise. advanced age and my cane were signs is known for its breweries and the Daily events, such as excursions, of impaired mobility and qualified me Brewers major league baseball team. lectures, special events, etc. were Having Duluth and Milwaukee posted daily on a TV screen in on the itinerary made me feel our room. It was confusing and that Viking had run out of places we couldn’t figure out how to to visit on the Great Lakes and view the schedule. they were stretching things.

One day, I experienced the The final cruise excursion international traveler’s disaster. was Mackinac Island, Michigan.

I couldn’t find my passport. I Mackinac Island was designated looked everywhere, but it was as the nation’s second national nowhere to be found. I panicked park after Yellowstone. This and spent almost an entire day resort paradise is known for looking for the passport. Finally, its Grand Hotel, its fort, fudge, I found it. There was a small table caramel corn, saltwater taffy, next to the bed. In desperation, bicycles, tourists and horseI felt a flat, hard object in a drawn carriages. No cars are corner under the bed. It was the permitted on the island. We passport that had slipped off the toured the island in a horseedge of the table onto the floor. drawn carriage and enjoyed Whew! seeing the beautiful scenery.

The general manager The air fare to and from the liked my new book (“Strange cruise was advertised as being Creatures and Other Poems free. Returning home to Syracuse About Life” — available on was an adventure. Viking routed Amazon and in bookstores) and us from Milwaukee to Denver to he arranged for me to do a poetry Syracuse. This was sort of going reading at 9 p.m. in the large backwards, instead of going auditorium. All preparations from Milwaukee to Chicago to Lift bridge in Duluth, a port city on Lake Superior were made, but nobody showed Syracuse. Fortunately, there were in Minnesota. up, except Victoria. This was thunderstorms in Denver, so a professor ’s nightmare i.e., they allowed us to reschedule the preparing thoroughly and having no for the transport service, From now flight home. We flew from Milwaukee class showing up. I attributed this lack on, I will carry my cane whenever I fly to Chicago to Syracuse, which was of attendance to the older age of the anywhere. The service is fast, friendly much more convenient than going passengers. They probably were asleep and free. through Denver from Milwaukee. by 9 p.m., or were they?

I barely used my cane on the trip.

Overall, a cruise anywhere is like I brought an old cane with me I was reminded of the time I visited a a pleasant dream. You feel like you for stability when hiking. The brown friend in the hospital who had just had are living in another world. Life is shellac on the cane was worn off and back surgery. He ran out of his room free from everyday cares and worries.

I polished some damaged areas with to greet me, waving a walker over There are always unique, memorable brown shoe polish, thus giving the his head, “What’s this thing for?” He experiences. The expense is well worth cane a mottled appearance. Some exclaimed. escaping from the complex, political, lady stopped me and said, “Is that a In a strange sort of way, the cruise distorted world in which we live. shillelagh cane from Ireland?” “No,” I of the Great Lakes was boring. The I recall sitting in the quiet library replied, “It’s a crappy cane that I found ship moved at night and we never had on the ship, gazing out at the watery in my attic at home.” Actually, the cane the feeling that the ship was moving environment and thinking, “Isn’t this does resemble a shillelagh cane from at all. There were no fish, no scenery, wonderful?”

OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 – 55 PLUS

63

life after 55

By Michele Bazan Reed Email: bazanreed@hotmail.com

Catalog Dreamin’ (On Such an Autumn Day)

A

h, autumn with its crisp air and even crisper apples, its brilliant leaves rivaled only by the colors of the cozy sweaters we don eagerly at the first cool day and — my favorite part — the glossy catalogs that fill our mailboxes with tempting holiday gift ideas.

Now, I love internet shopping as much as the next person and do my fair share of clicking “Buy It Now. “ I love that we can read reviews of a product or see all angles of it with a 3D view. On some sites you can virtually place a sofa in your own living room or “try on” a pair of glasses.

All this convenience and technological whiz-bangery is fine for everyday purchases, but during the run-up to the holiday season, there’s nothing like settling in with a nice cup of hot cocoa and a stack of Christmas catalogs. Nothing gets me in the holiday spirit faster than perusing page after glossy page of beautifully photographed and exquisitely described gifts for every member of my family.

And it turns out I’m not alone in this obsession.

An informal survey of folks yielded several who shared my pleasure in these glossy temptations.

“It always gets me in the holiday mood,” said Leslie B., who was disappointed that there seem to be fewer catalogs this year as merchants rely more on websites to sell their goods. “The illustrations give me ideas for how to decorate for the holidays and projects I can do.”

Sherry S. agreed. “I love to bake and cook, so I will spend an hour going through one of those catalogs. And of course, the toys for the grandkids,” she said. “But my favorites are the Christmas decorations and ideas. I’m big on decorating for the holidays.”

On the other hand, some folks 64

Father and daughter perusing a shopping catalog. Photo: Getty Images

shoot the catalogs straight into the recycling bin.

“Into the ‘90s I kept a foot high stack of catalogs organized alphabetically,” said Julie B. “I only get a few catalogs nowadays and mostly they go in the recycling pretty quick. For Christmas I often order from Harry & David and look at the catalog for ideas before going online to order.”

“I receive many catalogs, especially during the holiday season,” said Bernadette McS. “Ninety percent of the time, I carry them from my mail slot directly to our recycling bin. But for that other 10 percent, I skim through them, dog ear the corners to the pages that contain things I might consider

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

buying, and then a month later, I put them in the recycling bin and forget about the items.”

The granddaddy of all Christmas catalogs was the Sears Wish Book and people have special memories of this part of American Christmas tradition.

According to the Sears archive, the company’s first Christmas catalog debuted in 1933. A Mickey Mouse watch, Lionel trains and dolls (“Miss Pigtails” was a featured item) made it not much different than the books later generations would grow up with.

At a mere 87 pages, the 1933 edition was but a shadow of the 605page 1968 Wish Book.

People called the regular Sears

Sears Wish Book published in 1975.

According to the Sears Archive, the company’s first Christmas catalog debuted in 1933. It was part of American Christmas tradition.

catalog the Wish Book long before 1933, but then the name stuck to the holiday edition, which was graced with covers depicting Santa and starryeyed children. In 1968, Sears made the name official.

Sears stopped publishing the Wish Book in 2011, except for a smaller oneoff version in 2017.

But the memories live on.

“The fondest memories, when our two boys were young, were when the Sears Wish Book and JC Penney Christmas catalog full of toys arrived.

There was usually a struggle between the boys to get the catalogs, so we would have to find an extra catalog so they each had one. Grandma was good for that!” said Linda B. “The boys would hum Christmas songs as they pored over every page and circled everything they wanted!”

My son, Mike, eagerly awaited the Wish Book’s arrival, carrying it into his bedroom and marking the pages of toys he wanted with little strips of paper torn from his loose-leaf notebook. “I remember thinking each

OVER 15 YEARS OF CELEBRATING LIFE AFTER 55

year, ‘Maybe this year it’ll be all toys,’ but it never was,” he said.

“We grew up enjoying the Sears catalog. We four kids all made our wish lists from it. I did the same with my three children,” said Noreen G. And it wasn’t just catalogs that captured our imaginations.

Jerry B. remembers, as a young boy in the late 1940s, starting in November, waiting each night for his dad to finish reading the Oswego “Palladium Times.” Once his dad was done, Jerry would check out the Christmas ads for toys, all of which had pictures of Santa.

I was ready to bemoan the fact that future generations won’t have the fun of making their lists this way, when one respondent reported that Amazon now has a toy catalog and she sends her 9-year-old daughter off with the catalog and a pen to mark her favorites.

“It even has word games, mazes and stickers,” she added.

So whatever you’re shopping for this fall, take the relaxing way and enjoy some catalog dreamin’. Just don’t forget to recycle!

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65

last page

By Mary Beth Roach

Kathy Mezzalingua serves as the president and board chairwoman of Saint Agatha Foundation, an organization her daughter, Laurie, established in 2004 to benefit breast cancer patients. Diagnosed with breast cancer when she was 29, Laurie, unfortunately, died in 2009, at the age of 41, but her legacy continues through the foundation.

Kathy Mezzalingua

President of Saint Agatha Foundation explains how her nonprofit helps cancer patients who face financial issues Q: What is Saint Agatha Foundation and how does it function?

A: It is to assist breast cancer patients in Central New York who have financial need. Laurie had been in the hospital for one of her surgeries and saw that some of her friends, who also had breast cancer, were not able to afford some of the services that she did, some of the medications, surgeries and treatments. The mission of her foundation was to support, comfort and care for breast cancer patients through financial assistance programs.

The support allows breast cancer patients to focus on getting well and not the weight of their bills. That was her vision.

Q: How do patients access the foundation?

A: They can go to the website and there’s a patient access portal. It depends on where they’re being treated because we offer funds to seven counties in 66

Central New York — Onondaga, Cortland, Cayuga, Madison, Oneida, Oswego and Jefferson counties. The best resource for patients is to visit our patient page on the website — saintagathafoundation.org — and submit an inquiry or call 888-878-7900.

We are administered by National Philanthropic Trust in Philadelphia.

Q: What are the logistics of accessing that funding?

A: The website will guide them step by step. We work with CancerConnects, and the bills are submitted to them.

Our contact there does a great job of vetting them to make sure that they’re underinsured or uninsured and then they pay the bills. People have a hard time understanding that we will pay their bills.

Q: Are there certain criteria or parameters that the patients have to meet?

A: Just financial. If they’re uninsured

55 PLUS – OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023

‘It isn’t only their hospital or their medical bills. We will support [cancer patients] while they’re going through chemotherapy with gas money, utilities, mortgage, Wegmans cards. This is Laurie’s dream.’ or underinsured, we will take care of them. And it isn’t only their hospital or their medical bills. We will support them while they’re going through chemotherapy with gas money, utilities, mortgage, Wegmans cards. This is Laurie’s dream. She wanted them to be totally free of worry financially so they could just focus on healing.

Q: How many patients have you served since the foundation was established?

A: We have served 8,822 individuals within the counties that we serve.

We’ve given out 232 grant payments to 31 organizations. It isn’t only hospitals, there are other ancillary services. For example, to Legal Aid, for the patients who may have some legal issues. We give to Camp Kesem for the children of breast cancer patients who might be suffering because their mother is going through it. We give to Symphoria. It helps them with music while they’re going through chemotherapy.

Q: How do you keep the monies coming into the foundation? Do you accept donations?

Is some of the money invested?

A: Laurie left a significant legacy. She wanted it all to go to Saint Agatha. We have invested it very wisely and it’s actually doubled in the 13 years that we’ve been running this organization.

We do accept donations. There’s an opportunity on our website. So many people are so impressed with what we’re doing, they want to help us.

Q: The funding doesn’t go into research. It goes directly to patient care. Is that correct?

A: Absolutely. Laurie was very, very clear about that, she said I don’t want my name on buildings, no endowments, no research. There are other organizations doing that. She was so clear about that. She said — just help women.

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