December 2019 - Atlanta Senior Life

Senior Life Atlanta

Take Great Photos with your Phone page 22

DECEMBER 2019 • Vol. 4 No. 12 | AtlantaSeniorLIFE.com

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FOOD

calendar spotlight

Delightful Holiday Treats

Hanukkah and New Year’s Eve

page 10

page 14

Vintage Toys Never Get Old page 4

Come see what makes Dunwoody Place so special...

See our ad on page 27 404-252-7974 ■ 1460 South Johnson Ferry Road NE, Atlanta, GA 30319 pegasusseniorliving.com/communities/dunwoody-place

Contents December 2019 COVER STORY

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Vintage Toys Never Get Old

10

Who Doesn’t Love a Holiday Treat?

4

CALENDAR SPOTLIGHT

14

Holiday Event Planner

15

Fun, Food and Games for Hanukkah

16

Ring in the New Year

17

PET PICKS Sir and Stevie

18

MAKING A DIFFERENCE Common Sense Collaboration

20

PERSONAL SAFETY Shop Wisely

22

TECHNOLOGY Taking Pictures with Your Phone

24

PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE You Can Get What You Want…Sometimes

26

THE ARTS Rosin Up the Bow

28

PERSONAL FINANCE Social Security: Ask Rusty

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OUT & ABOUT ON THE COVER

Scott Clonts, owner of Scott’s Vintage Toys & Christmas in Dallas, Ga., holds one of his favorite items at the store, a 1960s Deluxe Playmobile Dashboard.

Photo by Anthony Clonts.

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30 Atlanta Senior Life focuses on the interests, accomplishments and lifestyles of the active senior population in metro Atlanta. It aims to inspire readers to embrace a more rewarding life by informing them of opportunities to expand their horizons, express their talents and engage in their community.

CONTACT US Editorial Kathy Dean Contributing Editor kathydean@atlantaseniorlife.com Joe Earle Editor-at-Large JoeEarle@reporternewspapers.net Contributors Russell Gloor, Judi Kanne, Collin Kelley , Donna Williams Lewis, Phil Mosier, Steve Rose, Gene Rubel, Stan Schnitzer, Mark Woolsey Advertising For information call (404) 917-2200 Sales Executives: Cory Anne Charles, Jeff Kremer, Janet Porter

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Published By Springs Publishing LLC

6065 Roswell Road, Ste 225, Sandy Springs, GA 30328 Phone: (404) 917-2200 Fax: (404) 917-2201 Circulation/ Subscriptions For distribution information, call (404) 917-2200, ext. 110.

© 2019 All rights reserved. Publisher reserves the right to refuse editorial or advertising for any reason. Publisher assumes no responsibility for information contained in advertising. Any opinions expressed in print or online do not necessarily represent the views of Atlanta Senior Life or Springs Publishing, LLC.

Steve Levene Founder & Publisher stevelevene@reporternewspapers.net (404) 917-2200, ext. 111 Amy Arno Director of Sales Development amyarno@reporternewspapers.net (404) 917-2200, ext. 112 Rico Figliolini Creative Director rico@reporternewspapers.net (404) 917-2200, ext. 117 Deborah Davis Office Manager deborahdavis@reporternewspapers.net (404) 917-2200, ext. 110

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COVER STORY

Vintage Toys Never Get Old

By Donna Williams Lewis Everybody has a toy story.

Maybe it’s that 1960s turquoise Easy Bake Oven with its tiny cake pans that you’d waited for “forever.” Or, maybe it’s a G.I. Joe, an antique doll or a Matchbox car that someone very special gave you.

Or, it could be something you never got that you really, really wanted.

Old toys are not forgotten, and a lot of them are not gone, either. They can be found

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online, but you can reach out and touch them at vintage toy retailers in and around Atlanta.

Among these spots is Scott’s Vintage Toys & Christmas in Paulding County, where owner Scott Clonts admits he’s attached to every toy he sells.

“Everything that parts, truly, it literally is like a piece of my heart. I guess it’s because of the research I’ve done, and I’ve seen how special this stuff was,” Clonts said. “It’s not toys I’m selling, it’s memories. It’s

DECEMBER 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

people’s best memories.”

Here are the toy stories of several purveyors of the past.

Transporter Vintage and Retro

This aptly named shop in Little Five Points stays jampacked with the discoveries of its owner Chris Shubert. While it transports visitors to another place in time, its name actually stems from Shubert’s lifelong obsession with Volkswagen vehicles including the VW van, also known as the Transporter.

A few years ago, he sold several VWs that he’d restored so he could move from online sales of vintage toys to a brick and mortar store. He’s a passionate collector of VW toys, which threaten to overtake his home. “I fill my crawlspace with them,” he said.

Some of them make it into his store, which features everything from jewelry, comic books, clothing and Shubert’s original paintings of vintage toys to board games, dolls, action figures and toy cars. A

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Left, Chris Shubert shows off some merchandise at his Transporter Vintage & Retro store in Little Five Points. One of his favorite toys there, the big green Great Garloo, stands watch from the shelves.

(Collin Kelley) Center, a collection of some of the toys at Transporter.

(Donna Williams Lewis) Right, shopping for a Christmas gift at Transporter, Manuel Llaneras is looking at the X-10 Space Tank, a sci-fi toy manufactured in the early 1960’s.

(Phil Mosier) Bottom left, Scott’s Vintage Toys & Christmas sits beside the body shop in this former filling station in Dallas, Ga. (Scott Clonts) Bottom right, a few more vintage items available at Transporter.

(Donna Williams Lewis)

metal Raggedy Ann TV tray and a 1979 “Fabulous Las Vegas Showgirl” doll in head-to-toe pink feather boa were among some of the more unusual items recently for sale.

“Some people have said I should charge at the door because this is like a museum,” Shubert said. His customers include people on the prowl for film sets and regulars who stay on the lookout for Star Wars, G.I. Joe and other collectibles.

“Wonder Woman stuff goes so quick. So does My Little Pony and Rainbow Brite. And I can’t keep Barbie stuff,” Shubert said.

He also loves to carry He-Man and other action figures he and his brother, Jason, played with as boys.

His stock comes from individual sellers and from his forays through attics, auctioned storage units, sheds, flea markets and “anywhere I can scrape things up,” he said.

While he’s definitely in business to sell, Shubert would be fine with one toy never leaving his store. That would be his two-foot, battery-controlled green monster, the Great Garloo. “They had a really great commercial for it in the ‘60s,” he said. “In the toy world it’s the holy grail.”

Transporter Vintage and Retro, 1154 B Euclid Avenue, Atlanta 30307.

Info: facebook.com/transporterl5p, Transporter Vintage/Retro on YouTube, transporterl5p@gmail. com.

Scott’s Vintage Toys & Christmas

Scott Clonts loves watching the reaction of visitors to his Dallas, Ga. store, fittingly located in a former Sinclair gas station/grocery store built in Continued on page 6

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“They walk in, first word they say is usually ‘Wow!’” he said. “People literally get teary eyed when they see my Chatty Kathy, my Thumbelina, my Easy Bake Oven, my G.I. Joes. …

They find their best friend.”

The store opened six years ago in space that Clonts used for his real estate business until the Great Recession tanked the industry and he also suffered a near fatal fall from the roof of his building.

While he was recovering, his wife, Renee, was uncovering piles of vintage toys and Christmas items he’d been stashing away for years in the basements of their house and the business, which includes his auto collision shop.

She moved it all to the empty real estate space. A sale was advertised, and the store was born.

Clonts got back to selling real estate full swing, but he also stays on the hunt for new additions to his store.

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Above, A 1960s Deluxe Playmobile Dashboard is one the many retro toys for sale and on display at Scott’s Vintage Toys & Christmas.

(Scott Clonts) Right, Owners Kelli and Richard Mix offer new and vintage action figures, comic books, and many other toys and video games at Full Circle Toys.

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He’s especially excited to find old windup toys, which are favorites of both him and his wife.

The store maintains a large collection of Western-themed toys, a room with running Marx model train sets from the ‘40s and ‘50s and slot car sets from the ‘60s and ‘70s, and an entire room devoted to early Barbie dolls, complete with campers and dreamhouses.

Clonts, who loves to cook, had always thought he might spend his golden years running a little coffee shop or restaurant.

“Nothing in my wildest dreams would have been ‘I’m selling Barbies.’ That wasn’t in the plan,” Clonts said. “But something bigger than me was in His plan.”

Scott’s Vintage Toys & Christmas, 4624 Dallas Acworth Highway, Dallas 30132. Info: scottsvintagetoysandchristmas. com, 770-771-8119.

Full Circle Toys

Explore the front of this 10-year-old Newnan store for vintage action figures, Transformers, Barbies, comic books, dolls, model cars and planes, and all things Lego.

Head to the back of the store to find vintage vinyl records and a gamer’s paradise featuring tabletop RPG games, retro video game systems and thousands of games for almost every system. The store also carries new toys and video games.

“We try to offer stock that Walmart, GameStop and Target don’t offer,” said Kelli Mix, who owns the store with her husband, Richard, and has a personal passion for ViewMasters.

The store buys from sellers from across Georgia and will search for items customers don’t find on its shelves.

Continued on page 8

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Continued from page 7

G.I. Joe and Star Wars are the top sellers, Mix said, adding that toys from the ‘80s such as My Little Pony and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles are hot right now.

“We’re called Full Circle because we take you from the time you were a child till the time you’re retired,” she said. “We’re here because we like to make people happy.”

Top photos, Some of the many toys that line the shelves at Full Circle Toys in Newnan, Ga. Left, a collection of ViewMasters at Full Circle Toys (Special)

Full Circle Toys, 17 Jefferson Street, Newnan 30263. Info: fullcircletoys.com, 770-253-7799.

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FOOD

By Judi Kanne This year, Christmas and Hanukkah arrive during the same week. From Atlanta to Alpharetta and Decatur to Doraville, grandparents are mulling over ways to spend memorable holiday time with their families.

Some of today’s busiest grandparents may get creative in their kitchens, while others will search for an exceptional bakery. Perhaps you’ve decided to bake with the kids as a bonding activity. If the grandchildren are too young, or you prefer to save your kitchen floor and cabinets from accidental spills of finger-licking icing and chewy chocolate, Atlanta has other delectable options for holiday treats.

Who Doesn’t Love A Holiday Treat?

Alon’s first 1,300-square-foot bakery opened in 1992 in the Virginia Highland area. Today, a second location can be found on Ashford-Dunwoody Road, across from Perimeter Mall.

The Dunwoody store has about 11,000 square feet to provide treats for every holiday taste imaginable.

Locations: 1394 North Highland Avenue, Atlanta 30306, 404-872-6000 4505 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Atlanta 30346, 678-397-1781 More info: alons.com

Douceur de France

Alon’s Bakery & Market Alon’s owner and Executive Chef, Alon Balshan, offers what feels like a European market as soon as you walk in the door.

In addition to a made-fromscratch selection of baked breads, European-style cakes and handmade pastries, there’s an array of everything from soup to nuts—and, of course, cookies.

The kids will thank you for

Chef Luc Beaudet, from Douceur de France

COURTESY OF ALON’S BAKERY

PHOTO BY TGA COMMUNICATIONS, LLC

introducing them to Alon’s Yule log. This special pastry can fit on a Hanukkah buffet, a Christmas table or serve as a special treat for Kwanza.

Once you taste the luscious passionfruit chocolate mousse with a mango cream (or creameux, in French) center, the almond cake and buttery shortbread, you may relinquish homemade cookies forever.

The log should arrive about the time mistletoe gets hung.

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COURTESY OF THE RITZ-CARLTON, ATLANTA

DECEMBER 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

Perhaps you’d rather bring a special treat home. In that case, a multitude of bakeries will be pleased to help you out. For example, Douceur de France (Sweets of France) has two metro locations, one in Marietta and the other in Roswell. Each offers French specialties galore.

The owner, Luc Beaudet, says his mother was his inspiration.

His formal training took place in France, where he learned the art of patisserie. Later, he studied with an organization dedicated to touring France and other European countries while learning specialized pastry techniques.

Beaudet grew up in Le Retail, a small village in western France. Fortunately for the northern Atlanta suburban population, he began selling his famous pastries in Marietta about 20 years ago. The Roswell location opened in 1999.

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COURTESY OF HARRY & DAVID

A Christmas Buche de Noel PHOTO COURTESY OF DOUCEUR DE FRANCE

Locations: 1173 Alpharetta Street, Roswell 30075, 770-650-1173 277 South Marietta Parkway, Marietta 30064, 770-425-5050 More info: douceurdefrance.com

The Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta One exceptional event on anyone’s list might be a visit to the Ritz-Carlton, Atlanta Hotel. The Ritz is celebrating their third year of a “Naughty and Nice” tea. These festive affairs are planned for Fridays, Dec. 6, 13 and 20 with seating choices at either 2 or 4 p.m.

Reservations are recommended.

The cost is $45 for an adult and $30 for a child aged 3 through 5.

Grandchildren will sip seasonal teas or apple cider paired with classic afternoon tea offerings, such as traditional egg salad, tea cookies and warmed scones.

Grandparents, however, might choose to indulge their naughty side with PerrierJouët, strawberries marinated in Grand Marnier and topped with whipped cream. Christmas décor is an added experience for all to enjoy.

“Toys and Tea,” another Ritz-Carlton event, is set for Saturdays, Dec. 7, 14 and 21 and includes storytellers, carolers

Continued on page 12

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and a visit with Santa. Cost is $50 for an adult and $30 per child.

That’s not all. Visit the website for details on more family-friendly ways to enjoy the holiday, like “Christmas Day Brunch” and personal “Santa Tuck-Ins,” an evening visit from Saint Nick to the children of families staying at the RitzCarlton, Atlanta.

Location: 181 Peachtree Street, Atlanta 30303, 404-659-0400 More info: ritzcarlton.com/en/ COURTESY OF THE RITZ-CARLTON, ATLANTA

More Sweet Treats There are many bakeries and pastry shops in the north metro Atlanta area, and everyone seems to have their favorite spot to shop for holiday sweets.

We’ve rounded up a few that are not to be missed.

56 East Andrews Drive, Atlanta 30305, 404-237-0202

Buttermilk Sky Pie

Originally begun as a wholesale bakery in 1910, Highland Bakery has become a staple for southern comfort foods.

The Highland Avenue location bakes holiday themed cakes, cookies and biscuits that can be picked up at there or at other locations.

Pre-order your favorite holiday pie. Among the many delectable choices are Spiced Pumpkin, Granny’s Apple, Southern Custard and I-40, a pecan pie that’s sprinkled with chocolate chips and coconut.

Location: 4600 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs 30342 More info: 404-975-3822, buttermilkskypie.com

Henri’s Bakery & Deli Atlanta residents have loved the gourmet baked goods from Henri’s since it opened its doors in 1929. Their delicious cakes, croissants and eclairs delight everyone through the year, and special occasion cakes can be ordered for Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanza and New Year’s Eve. Watch their website for the release of their holiday menu!

Locations: 6289 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs 30328, 404-256-7934

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2310 Coronet Way, Atlanta 30318, 404-968-9412 More info: henrisbakery.com

Highland Bakery & Kitchen

Locations: 655 Highland Avenue, Atlanta 30312, 404-586-0772 319 Ponce de Leon Avenue, Decatur 30030, 470-270-8979 3343 Peachtree Road, Atlanta 30316, 678-904-2146 1180 Peachtree Street, Atlanta 30309, 404-835-3130 25 Park Place, Atlanta 30303, 404-330-8922 More info: highlandbakery.com

McEntyre’s Bakery This local favorite has been a family business since it opened as Smyrna Bakery in 1940. In addition to its regular wide selection of cakes, pies and pastries, the bakery offers special Christmas

DECEMBER 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

treats, such as the Chocolate Chip Gingerbread Man, Loaf Fruitcake, and cookies and cupcakes decorated for the holidays.

Location: 1184 Concord Road, Smyrna 30080, 770-434-3115 More info: mcentyresbakery. com

Nothing Bundt Cakes All the holidays are covered with specially decorated bundt cakes, but you will want to be sure to order as early as possible—by Dec. 9 for sure!

There’s “Baking Spirits Bright” and “Merry & Bright” for Christmas, as well as “Happy Hanukkah” and “Ring in the New Year.”

Locations: 5975 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs 30328, 404-236-2114 400 Village Green Circle, Smyrna 30080, 678-841-0130 5230 Windward Parkway, Milton 30004,678-366-1445 410 Peachtree Parkway, Cumming 30041, 470-839-2985 1985 Cobb Parkway, Kennesaw 30152, 678-737-2253 2118 Scenic Highway, Snellville 30078, 770-674-4636 4280 Lavista Road, Tucker 30084, 770-270-5695

More info: nothingbundtcakes.com

Susansnaps Gourmet gingersnaps are perfect for any season but are especially warming on cold days. There are other flavors to choose from, including Cocoasnaps and Pnuttysnaps, as well as seasonal cookies.

Location: 229 Hilderbrand Drive, Sandy Springs 30328 More info: 404-497-9210, susansnaps.com

Southern Baked Pie Company Formerly known as Buttermilk Pie Company, this bakery specializes in sweet and savory pies made with seasonal produce from Georgia farmers.

The selection ranges from Cranberry Apple Crumble and Georgia Peach to Chicken Pot Pie and Sausage and Onion Quiche.

Locations: 4300 Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta 30339, 404-301-4854 3145 Peachtree Road, Atlanta 30305, 404-263-0820 2685 Old Milton Parkway, Alpharetta 30009, 678-254-0598 302 Broad Street, Gainesville 30501, 678-971-2555 More info: southernbakedpie.com

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hotels/georgia/atlanta, click on ‘Hotel Overview,’ then ‘Calendar of Events.’

Harry & David If your family or friends celebrate Hanukkah, stop by Harry & David’s. They usually open kiosks in Atlanta area malls (and some stores) for convenience and sampling.

Their website makes for onestop shopping, whether it’s for Christmas or Hanukkah—and they’re willing to ship gift packages almost anywhere.

The brothers, Harry and David, have their father to thank for their world-renowned pears, perfect for any holiday.

According to company history, Samuel Rosenberg was a successful hotel owner in Seattle in 1910, when he traded his luxurious hotel for 240 acres of prime pear orchards in Oregon’s Rogue River Valley.

By 1934, the company began creating gourmet gift

baskets, featuring pears, for most holidays. By 2014, Harry & David joined the 1-800-Flowers family of brands, which includes cookies, chocolates, pears and much, much more.

along with sweet potatoes, okra and peanuts.

Even if you don’t celebrate Kwanza, benne wafers are easy to make and fun to eat— and there are lots of recipes online. Or you can simply order authentic benne wafers from online bakeries around Charleston and Savannah.

More info: harryanddavid.com

More info: Olde Colony Bakery, Mount Pleasant, S.C., 843-216-3232, oldecolonybakery.com

Benne for Kwanza and the New Year If Kwanza is a special holiday in your family, plenty of recipes are available.

The emphasis on Kwanza is cultural, not religious, and there’s always room at the table for a cookie or two.

Traditionally, Kwanza tables are decorated with special symbols, starting with a multi-colored tablecloth.

The “Seven Principles” that unite families are unity, selfdetermination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative

economics, purpose, creativity and faith.

Although no one food is designated as a Kwanza treat, West African benne wafers, also called benne cakes, are associated with good luck.

According to the Olde Colony Bakery website, “benne” is a Bantu word for sesame. Sesame seeds were brought to the southern U.S. by African slaves,

Charleston Specialty Foods, Charleston, S.C., 843-744-8991, charlestonspecialtyfoods.com Byrd’s Famous Cookies, Savannah, Ga., 800-291-2973, byrdcookiecompany.com Regardless of the holiday, making colorful cookies and purchasing tasty treats can add sweetness to every occasion.

What is home?

Maybe it’s trying a new recipe with the grandkids.

Maybe it’s catching up with a friend.

Maybe it’s the aroma of freshly baked bread.

We think it’s all of the above.

Maybe that’s why so many people call Alto home.

Alto Buckhead 4804 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs, GA 30342 Call 404-721-0329.

AltoBuckhead.com

Alto Marietta 840 Lecroy Drive, Marietta, GA 30068 Call 770-462-0212.

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DECEMBER 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

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CALENDAR SPOTLIGHT

Holiday Event Planner

By Kathy Dean Holiday merriment runs from November, through December and into January. Here are a few special events that celebrate the season.

Concerts and Shows Christmas with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Friday-Sunday, Dec. 6-8, 3 p.m. & 8 p.m. A holiday staple for Atlanta families, the orchestra and chorus perform beloved carols and hymns with special guests. Woodruff Arts Center, Atlanta Symphony Hall, 1280 Peachtree Street, Atlanta 30309; atlantasymphony.org.

A Christmas Tradition Runs Dec. 13-22. The holiday spirit is shared through sparkling song and dance.

Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theater, 117 North Park Square, Marietta 30060; earlsmithstrand. org

Christmas on Clairmont Sunday, Dec. 15, 7 p.m. The holiday benefit concert features collaborations of world-class artists. First Baptist Church of Decatur, 308 Clairmont Avenue, Decatur 30030; christmasonclairemont.com.

Have Yourself a Jewish Little Christmas Tuesday, Dec. 17, 4 p.m. The Chorale Guild of Atlanta performs holiday music written or composed by Jewish authors.

Northside Drive Baptist Church, 3100 Northside Drive, Atlanta 30305; cgatl.org.

Atlanta Ballet Presents The Nutcracker Runs Dec. 7-24. This is the final year that Atlanta Ballet will present The Nutcracker at Fox Theatre; don’t miss the magic. Fox Theatre, 660 Peachtree Street, Atlanta 30308; atlantaballet.com.

Hot Cocoa & Spectacular Holiday Sounds Sunday, Dec. 8, 4 p.m. The Atlanta Concert Band and Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church invites everyone to celebrate the holidays with sing-alongs, bell ringing, sleigh rides and hot cocoa. Free admission; presented with some support from the Fulton County Board of Commissioners. Mount Vernon Presbyterian Church, 471 Mount Vernon Highway, Atlanta 30328.

More at atlantaconcertband.org.

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Garden Lights, Holiday Nights at the Atlanta Botanical Garden will shine in the evenings through January 11. More info on this and other events is available at atlantabg.org.

(ATLANTA BOTANICAL GARDEN)

Christmas with the Georgia Boy Choir Friday & Saturday, Dec. 20 & 21, 7-9 p.m. All five levels of the Georgia Boy Choir perform carols, sacred classics and holiday favorites. Peachtree Road United Methodist Church, 3180 Peachtree Street, Atlanta 30305; georgiaboychoir.org.

Christmas Gala Concert Saturday, Dec. 21, 7:30-10 p.m. A holiday hometown spectacular is presented by the Johns Creek Chorale.

Johns Creek United Methodist Church, 11180 Medlock Bridge Road, Johns Creek 30097; johnscreeksymphony.org.

Home Tours In several communities, tours are organized that invite visitors to tour beautifully decorated historic homes for the holidays.

Virginia Highland Tour of Homes Saturday & Sunday, Dec. 7 & 8, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. The two-day event includes beautiful architecture and interior design in one of Atlanta’s most charming neighborhoods. Tour begins at YWCA, 957 North Highland Avenue, Atlanta 30306; vahitourofhomes.org.

Marietta Pilgrimage Saturday & Sunday, Dec. 7 & 8. Saturday hours are 9 a.m.-6 p.m. with candlelight homes open 7-9:30 p.m. Sunday hours are 10 a.m.-6 p.m. See restored, decorated homes as well as public buildings; mariettapilgrimage.com.

DECEMBER 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

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Fun, Food and Games for Hanukkah

East Cobb Community Party

This year, Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights, runs from Dec. 22 through Dec. 30. Menorah lightings and other celebrations are scheduled throughout the season in north metro Atlanta.

Lunchtime Culture: Hanukkah Favorite with the ASO

Wednesday, Dec. 18, 6-9 p.m. The community is invited to celebrate the Festival of Lights. Temple Kol Emeth, 1415 Old Canton Road, Marietta 30062; kolemeth.net.

Friday, Dec. 20, 12:30-1 p.m. Experience a specially curated program

by The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra at the historic Breman Museum.

Learn about pivotal moments in Jewish history while enjoying the music of Hanukkah and other selections by Jewish composers. Breman Museum, 1440 Spring Street, Atlanta 30309; thebreman.org.

Trivia Game Night 2.0 Hanukkah Party Tuesday, Dec. 4, 8 p.m. A night of fast-paced trivia competition and amazing food and drink. Beth Jacob, 1855 Lavista Road, Atlanta 30329; bethjacobatlanta.org.

IMAGE BY EVGENI TCHERKASSKI FROM PIXABAY

Grand Menorah Lightings and Hanukkah Celebrations

Sunday Suppers with Chef Howard: Hanukkah Party

Sunday, Dec. 15, 4-6 p.m. Join fellow families at Marcus Jacob Community Center of Atlanta (MJCCA) to learn holiday recipes hands-on and share a delicious meal once it’s prepared. Open to the community, $25; $20 for members. MJCCA at Zaban Park, 5342 Tilly Mill Road, Dunwoody 30338; Howard Schreiber, 678-812-3993, howard.schreiber@ atlantajcc.org.

Homes for the Holidays: A Family Christmas

decorated homes in Atlanta’s largest historic district are open to visitors. This holiday tradition, started in 1980, benefits several worthwhile community organizations; candlelighttourofhomes.com.

Sunday, Dec. 8, 5-8 p.m. The Southern Trilogy of Historic Homes—Barrington Hall, Bulloch Hall and Archibald Smith Plantation—are filled with music, refreshments and decorations.

Three locations, including Bulloch Christmas in Avondale Estates Hall, 180 Bulloch Avenue, Roswell Sunday, Dec. 15. Holiday Market 30075; bullochhall.org. & Cafe 12-6 p.m.; tour 3-8 p.m.

The 27th annual Tour of Homes includes an English cottage built Grant Park Candlelight in 1926, a recently renovated 1947 Tour of Homes ranch, two 1950s bungalows and Saturday & Sunday, Dec. 14 the Avondale Baptist Church; & 15, 6-10 p.m. Charmingly avondaletourofhomes.com.

Dec. 22-29. Events include menorah lightings for Virginia Highlands, Ponce City Market, Atlantic Station and Decatur, as well as a Menorah Car Parade. Chabad Intown, 730 Ponce de Leon Place, Atlanta 30306; chabadintown.org.

Chinese Food Eve Tuesday, Dec. 24, 6 p.m. A delicious Chinese dinner precedes a discussion on the origins of Christianity as told in Jewish sources. The evening includes a menorah lighting and Hanukkah treats. Chabad Intown, 730 Ponce de Leon Place, Atlanta 30306; chabadintown.org.

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Ring In the New Year You may decide to stay home with family and friends while watching the New Year’s Eve Balldrop at Times Square on TV, but north metro Atlanta offers more ways to welcome 2020.

ASO New Year’s Eve Celebration Tuesday, Dec. 31, 6 p.m. dinner, 8 p.m. performance. Celebrate the arrival of 2020 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. City Springs, 1 Galambos Way, Sandy Springs 30328; citysprings.com.

New Year’s Celebration: Splashing 20’s ▼ Tuesday, Dec. 31, 7:30-11:59 p.m. Ring in 2020 in Gatsby style at the Georgia Aquarium. Georgia Aquarium, 225 Baker Street, Atlanta 303013; georgiaaquarium.org.

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DECEMBER 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

New Year’s Eve Show: The Music of Led Zeppelin and Queen Tuesday, Dec. 31, 7-11:59 p.m. The Georgia Players Guild presents an evening of great music. VIP ticket holders enjoy drinks and more. Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theater, 117 North Park Square, Marietta 30060; earlsmithstrand.org

Atlanta NYElectric 2020 Countdown Tuesday, Dec. 31, 8:30 p.m.-Wednesday, Jan. 1,1:30 a.m. A variety of ticket options offer drinks, dancing and accommodations. Westin Peachtree Plaza, 210 Peachtree Street, Atlanta 30303; vipnightlife. com.

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PET

Pet picks SIR

Meet Sir! This 1-yearold mixed-breed cutie is looking for the perfect forever family to call his own. He’s a goofy, happygo-lucky guy who gets along well with other dogs and kids, so he should make the perfect family pet. Sir loves nothing more than to play fetch outside in the cool autumn air (although he’s still learning how to bring things back) and to be scratched and petted behind the ears.

He’ll do just about anything for a treat. Sir already knows a few basic commands and is almost completely housebroken. He’s neutered, microchipped, up to date on vaccinations and ready to meet you at the Atlanta Humane Society’s Howell Mill location, located at 981 Howell Mill Road in Atlanta.

Sir’s adoption fee will be waived for any current or former members of the United States Military through our Pets for Patriots program. To apply to adopt Sir through this program, visit atlantahumane.org/pets-for-patriots.

STEVIE

Stevie, a 4½-monthold kitten has been at the Atlanta Humane Society since she was just 3 weeks old and weighed a mere 12 ounces. A loving foster family nursed her around the clock when she was tiny, and now she’s healthy, strong and available for adoption.

Stevie has a little bit of a wobble when she walks, but the Shelter Medicine Team has determined that it doesn’t affect her health overall, and she’ll live a normal, happy life. Stevie is affectionate, social and loves other cats, so she’s likely to be happiest in a forever home with another feline friend.

While Stevie hasn’t been around dogs, an Adoption Counselor can help you make her a successful part of your family. Stevie is spayed, microchipped and up to date on vaccinations. To meet sweet Stevie, email kteasley@atlantahumane.org or visit atlantahumane.org/cats for more information.

DECEMBER 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

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MAKING A DIFFERENCE

Common Sense Collaboration

OLLI instructor Fred Glassman offers legal mediation class

By Mark Woolsey Fred Glassman has had a profound conversion. Not of the religious variety, but more that of a both legal and humanistic nature. His new belief: contentious showdowns should be replaced by collaboration and head-butting should give way to “two heads are better than one.”

The 79-year-old Georgia resident emerged from UCLA law school to craft a high-profile legal career in Los Angeles based on the more traditional “I win-you-lose” approach of the profession, founding his own firm and handling sports and entertainment, then family law. Glassman said his common-sense Midwestern roots (shaped by his childhood in small-town Iowa) served him well as he handled divorce cases for such luminaries as boxer Muhammed Ali and author Harold Robbins.

Glassman recalled that his very first split-up battle involved NBA basketball great Elgin Baylor. Glassman said he had done some legal work for Baylor in the restaurant business then “one day he called me up and said, ‘my wife filed for divorce and I want you to represent me’. I said, ‘I’ve never done a divorce’ and he said, ‘just ask your colleagues what you need to know.’”

Glassman said he did about 2,500 divorces in total, for many years utilizing the then-standard legal framework. “I did litigation because that was the only way people could get a divorce,” he said. “That was before mediation and collaborative law.”

Not all cases were knock-down drag-outs. He recalls handling Ali’s divorce from wife Veronica in the mid-1980s. “He was very considerate about his wife Veronica’s well-being and that of the children. I never knew that someone with all that fame and glory could be so down to earth,” Glassman said.

Still, the frequently adversarial nature of the proceedings caused consternation.

“It always bothered me because I’d come home after being in court and my wife would ask me how I did, and I had a hard time answering the question. I’d think, ‘Did I extract more support from some spouse than what was deserving or made sense? Or did I get somebody to pay less (than was proper or deserving)?’

“I thought there must be a better way.”

Turns out there was. The concept of mediation emerged, with a neutral person representing both parties. Glassman saw that some cases were ripe for mediation and he tried to get his clients to travel that route whenever appropriate.

Then along came collaborative law. It’s a legal framework in which both parties in a dispute hire attorneys, but the lawyers formally agree not to go to court.

As Glassman explained it: “That changes the dynamics of the negotiations. If an attorney can’t take a case to court, they’re forced to sit down and work out a settlement.” The back-and-forth becomes interestbased instead of positional and adversarial.”

He added that if an attorney knows that whatever is said or what documents are prepared won’t wind up in some adversarial forum “you have more incentive to let it flow and you’re not afraid it will come back to bite you.”

The process pays dividends, he said, so much so that it’s now enshrined in a uniform statute in 19 states. Georgia is not one. But he hastened to add that Georgia has a collaborative law association and that it can still be practiced here if the parties ink a private agreement.

The framework avoids the uncertainties of a court proceeding but does call upon the kind of folks that might otherwise be courtroom witnesses.

A financial expert might be brought in to discuss cash flow. A mental health professional might work as a communications coordinator. A child development specialist can render assistance as the needs any

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children are examined. it’s creeping into other kinds of civil disputes.

As he switched from contentious litigation “It’s particularly used in cases where there for the first 35 or so years of his practice to will be a continuing relationship between the doing some 500 family collaborative law cases disputants” is how he puts it. “Say it’s a dispute in the last 10 to 15 years, Glassman’s horizons between a university and faculty member, or altered drastically. Colleagues say he was an employer-employee type of thing.” a pioneer in using the legal method and in Glassman has had other crown jewels fostering its wider use. in his career, such as arranging the George Retiring from the firm he founded in 2018 Forman and Ken Norton 1974 heavyweight and moving to Georgia to be with his daughter fight in Venezuela, (the first such event staged and granddaughter, Glassman proceeded to in that country) but now focuses on furthering pick up where he left off. collaboration.

The retired barrister took a class at Not content simply showcasing the concept Emory’s Osher Lifelong Learning Institute. at various legal forums and conferences, he He subsequently met its director, who asked plans to work with the Georgia collaborative him if he’d be interested in teaching a law group toward getting a statute on the books Fred Glassman (Photo by Mark Woolsey) class. “Don’t Hate, Collaborate,” a course in here. collaborative law, was born, debuting to good reviews. Glassman planned He hopes it resonates with lawmakers as it did with those in his first another this fall that is shaping up to be double the size of his spring class.

Emory class last spring. “It was brand new to people. They hadn’t heard While Glassman used collaborative methods in divorce cases, he said about it and thought it made a lot of sense.”

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DECEMBER 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

19

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DECEMBER 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

PERSONAL SAFETY

Shop Wisely I hope you survived the annual Thanksgiving gathering, complete with updates on who’s divorced, getting divorced, threatening divorce and who’s pregnant, the details of which might lead to divorce. Good times.

From now to your January credit-card bill, you’ll be distracted.

Shopping comes with all the headaches you’ve suffered through before. Crowded stores, limited parking, rude drivers, bartenders who can’t get a vodka martini right—the usual.

Friday after Thanksgiving is Black Friday. It’s a day that makes you wonder how we as humans got to the top of the food chain.

Thousands of shoppers are focused on the sole mission of procuring a ridiculous list of absolutely necessary items at bargain-basement prices. To shop well past common sense and buyer’s remorse, to shop until the credit card actually melts.

All of this dynamic activity is distracting.

By default, the last thing on your mind is security. That said, why load you up with a couple of dozen crime prevention tips when most will never see the light of day? Instead, let’s go with a short checklist.

When shopping in person

1. When shopping, keep your cash and driver’s license in your front pocket.

Leave the 32-pound purse at home.

Instead, bring a small wallet or go with the front-pocket method.

2. Don’t leave items on the seat of your car. Hide them or go home and drop them off. Don’t fidget around for your keys at the car. Have them ready. Look around for other people near you. Get in your car, start it and go—without checking Instagram or Facebook. Just go.

STAY SAFE

Steve Rose is a retired Sandy Springs Police Captain, veteran Fulton County police officer and freelance writer. He is the author the book “Why Do My Mystic Journeys Always Lead to the Waffle House?” and the column “View from a Cop.”

3. Inside the store, keep up with your stuff. Don’t set items down while you search through the black hole in your 32-pound purse for your cellphone or exact change. Block off other people’s view when you enter your password at the cashier’s station.

4. Shop during the day if possible. If you’re shopping at night, go with a friend. Do not engage strangers who approach you in the store or parking lot. (Again, have your keys in hand.) If you have a defense item such as pepper spray, a Taser or a bazooka, have it ready. Report anyone suspicious to the police (911.)

When shopping online

This list is slightly longer, but since online shopping is super easy, there are a few things to consider as you sit in your recliner, drink coffee, watch a football game and shop. Isn’t it wonderful that once you hit “submit,” Amazon delivers it 10 minutes later?

It’s no secret that hackers can and will gladly steal your information. That said, here are a few simple, effective tips. Use them this holiday season when you’re shopping online for that special gift, such as the six-gallon, 150 psi air compressor I’ve been mentioning around my house for a couple of weeks.

Here we go.

1. Install antivirus software. Update same. Don’t let it lapse.

You want protection from ransomware, Trojans and bots. (Look them up. They’re nasty guys you don’t want in your computer.)

2. Use unique passwords for each application you hold near and dear. I know—this is the worst for me, too, since I cannot

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number online. Use those passwords, the ones that you forgot where you stored the list.

5. Check your online accounts frequently over the holiday period to make sure no unauthorized purchases took place. If so, notify the credit card company immediately. On that note, use your credit card, not your debit card. (It’s easier to recover if you’re hit with identify theft through a credit card.)

6. When it comes to social media, especially Facebook, put a moratorium on new friend requests—especially from anyone you don’t know.

Please enjoy the holidays and remember, the six-gallon, 150 psi air compressor is a great gift for dad!

remember them. Honestly, you’re going to write them down, so remember where you hid your passwords!

Listen to TWO NEW podcasts on personal safety with steve rose atlantaseniorlife.com

3. Don’t click on e-mail links from unsolicited sources. (Click bait.) Also, protect your social-media privacy. You can disable your sharing platform. Sounds complicated. Have your 10-yearold grandson do it for you. He’ll know.

4. Don’t shop on public wi-fi. Never save your credit card

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DECEMBER 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

21

TECHNOLOGY

By Gene Rubel and Stan Schnitzer

Image by Esa Riutta from Pixabay

As we get older and more active, many of us are turning more and more to our mobile

Taking Pictures with Your Phone

phones to take and share pictures and videos as we travel or do things with our grandchildren. To be sure, mobile-phone cameras are not your father’s Brownie camera.

They have tons more capabilities, many of which you can master with a little understanding.

Before we plunge into tips on shooting, editing, storing and sharing photos and videos, you should know that you can find classes—both in person and online—and YouTube videos to get more in-depth tips on doing all sorts of things with your specific phone’s camera. We’ll be more general here.

Shooting

Whether you have an iPhone or any of the Android-based phones, such as a Samsung, Google or LG, there are certain basics.

First and foremost, you need to have your phone powered on and be on the appropriate screen

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to tap the camera icon to activate the camera. Some phones allow you to go to the camera function without your passcode.

Once you activate the camera, the screen becomes your viewfinder.

As a rule of thumb, your camera lens sees what you see on the screen. If you hold your phone vertically, you’ll see more up and down. If you turn the phone horizontally, you’ll get a wider view. Once you see which direction works better for your picture, you can zoom in on your subject if that’s what you want to do. It’s all done on the phone’s screen.

To zoom in, simply put your thumb and forefinger together anywhere on the screen and pull them apart going up and down. Go as far as you want. To pan back out or undo the zoom, simply move your thumb and forefinger closer together.

A very popular feature of all phone cameras is the “selfie”

DECEMBER 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

mode. In this mode, the phone uses a camera facing the display so you can do a self-portrait.

This mode is great if you want to include yourself in the photo.

You have the same controls for selfies, both as photos and videos.

You can always check your picture or video immediately after you shoot it. Depending on your phone, you may see a thumbnail of your image in a corner of the screen; just tap it. You can also exit from the camera app and open your photo or video app.

Editing

Editing capabilities vary widely depending on the phone and the user. The newer and more sophisticated your phone— including its operating system (OS)—the more capability you’ll have. But you should have a goal in mind for how you want your image to look unless you just want to play around with the image.

For photos, simple editing steps include cropping an image and adjusting the brightness. You can always see how much you want to crop by zooming in with your thumb and forefinger and moving the picture around. Once you’ve cropped a picture, you can adjust the lighting. Doing that usually involves tapping the edit function on the screen while you view the picture.

Some of the more advanced capabilities, depending on your phone and its OS, include straightening an image, adjusting contrast and adjusting highlights and shadows. All of them can help you compensate for adjustments you couldn’t make or didn’t make when recording your image. That’s OK. Sometimes you have to grab the photo opportunity when it happens and worry about editing later. That happens with all cameras.

In-camera video editing allows you to cut the length of your video, which can be especially useful when sharing it. You can also use the editing capability to “grab a frame” and save it as a photograph.

It’s the camera-phone version of shooting rapid-fire multiple photographs. If you’re taking videos and pictures of your grandkids’ activities, it’s a great option.

However, most people prefer to do their editing on a computer.

You can see things more easily on a bigger screen, and there are many photo/video editing apps available for all price and skill levels.

Storing

Your phone has limited and finite storage capacity. Older phones can have as little as 8 or 16 GB (gigabytes) of storage.

Newer phones start with 64 GB, and you can do quite well with that or 128 GB. Storage space affects the price of the phone, so you’ll want to balance those factors if you’re buying new one. iPhones and some others come with finite storage capacity, while others allow you to add external devices. We should

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caution you that photos and videos can become large files and take up a lot of storage space, but music files and apps are taking larger bites out of your byte space.

We suggest a two-step approach.

First, look at how many photos and videos you actually need to keep on your phone and how big each is. We all keep too much stuff on our phones and computers, but if you’re traveling and using your phone as your primary camera, you’ll want to have enough space to keep your photos and videos. So, look at what you want to keep and manage your storage space to handle it.

Second, subscribe to cloud storage for your phone. Whether you use a service from Apple, Google, Amazon or anyone else, your phone will automatically upload your photos and videos to an online server. The cost can range from 99 cents to $10 or so per month (you can find annual plans), but there’s a priceless benefit: you’ll never lose images in the cloud if you lose or damage your phone.

Just be aware that some cloud storage services, such as iCloud, will delete all photos from devices connected to it when you delete. Others, such as Google Photos, don’t delete them. Make sure you know the policies of your cloud provider.

Sharing

All phones give you the option to share photos and videos as soon as you take them, and that’s one of the best things

about using your phone’s camera.

However, file size affects “sharability,” especially with email.

When using email, you have the option to send a small file, and that likely will be good for viewing on another phone, tablet or computer.

You can send a medium file if you need better viewing resolution.

Either of those will easily go through an email server, especially if you send multiple photos (within reason).

If you want to print a photo that you’re emailing, send the largest file possible, but you may be

limited to one at a time. Video files are typically too large for some email uses.

You can also share images by text message, and they can be better for large files, such as videos. You can also share photos and videos over applications such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp or DropBox.

Two final notes

1. Third-party applications are available—or free or at nominal cost—for just about anything you want to do with a phone’s camera.

2. An online search will turn up all sorts of websites or YouTube channels to help you with photography with your specific phone.

Now, go out and have fun with your camera!

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PERSONAL PERSPECTIVE

You Can Get What You Want…Sometimes these days

IMAGE BY PHOTOVICKY FROM PIXABAY

The Rolling Stones’ classic “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” Joe Earle is editor-at-large notwithstanding, sometimes you can get and has lived in metro Atlanta for over exactly what you want. I know. I’ve seen it 30 years. He can be happen. More than once. reached at joeearle@ But sometimes, to get what you want, you reporternewspapers.net must deal with something you don’t either want or need.

The first time I remember seeing desire surprisingly rewarded came when I was a junior counselor at a YMCA camp.

The camp itself wasn’t fancy, but it operated an even less fancy area about four miles out into the woods where campers could get a taste of living in the woods by sleeping on the ground and eating meals cooked over a fire instead of in the dining hall. That smaller camp, called Wilderness Camp, as run by older, more experienced counselors who stayed there fulltime. We junior counselors packed in with campers. Our job was mostly to make sure nobody got lost in the woods.

About mid-summer, my number came up and I had to help escort a group of 10-year-olds into the wilderness.

When we arrived at the camp, we were greeted by the chief counselor. He told us his top assistant, a guy I remember was

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called Waddy, was up a tree. Literally. Waddy had climbed a pine with plans to chop it down to build a small bridge across the stream that ran through the camp.

But he had cut the limbs from the tree as he climbed. That meant that when we arrived, he was stuck in the top of the tree with no way to get down. And with no limbs to stabilize it, the tree was swaying from side to side like a giant metronome. Waddy as the weight.

He was yelling for help, but the other counselors just ignored him. It was his problem. We decided to take a hike. Literally. When we returned, Waddy had managed to return to earth. He’d waited till one of the denuded tree’s swings got him close enough to jump into the top of another tree and then climbed down that one.

But that wasn’t the desire Waddy fulfilled.

That came later that night, after we junior counselors and our campers had been packed off to bed. We unrolled sleeping bags in a clearing in the woods and prepared for a night fighting mosquitoes. We found no rest that night. About half past dark, one of the senior counselors appeared to tell us that Waddy was being rushed to the hospital.

The first thing you should know is that the camp’s annual Indian Pageant was coming up that month. Waddy really wanted to appear at the pageant as his idea of a Native American healer.

He decided that the way to make his appearance complete was to wear a hat decorated with a real snakeskin. He had the hat but needed the snake.

That night, after our cooked-over-fire-and-badly-burnt dinner, Waddy and the other older, allegedly more mature, counselors went swimming. Afterwards, they lay under the moon to dry off on a wooden platform used to keep supplies off the ground.

Suddenly, Waddy spotted a snake crawling from beneath the platform. He knew this was exactly what he needed for his Indian pageant outfit. Here was a live, wriggling snake of just the right size ready for skinning. He threw his towel over the snake. The snake wriggled away. Waddy followed. He threw his towel over the snake again. The snake, having apparently grown perturbed, bit him on the hand.

That led to the emergency room ride. The senior counselor, a very stable guy, drove the camp truck at breakneck speed to the nearest hospital, which was at least an hour away. When they arrived at the ER in the middle of the night, the nurses asked what kind of snake it was. The senior counselor said he didn’t know.

Waddy held out his towel. He had carried the now docile snake all the way to the hospital wrapped tight in the towel. It was a copperhead. Waddy spent a couple of days in the hospital recovering. But the hospital folks killed the snake and gave him the skin he wanted. With a fresh snakeskin on his hat, Waddy was the star of the Indian Pageant.

The second time I remember witnessing a wish being granted against all odds involved my father.

My father was a fairly serious man. He was a lawyer and a politician and acted the part. He had a sharp wit and after a few drinks would start to recite Shakespeare, but most people thought he was reserved, formal all the time, even a bit stuffy. He had that vibe. He once saw “Sweeney Todd” in London and at intermission loudly announced, in obvious horror, “They’re laughing at cannibalism!” Luckily, my wife and I had seats several rows away.

Dad’s wish was answered during a family vacation to the beach one summer. My father, mother, brother and I were spending a week at Myrtle Beach. My brother and I were in our teens. It was horribly hot and the hotel we were in had little air-conditioning.

In those days, to beat the heat in the South, you went to the drug store or the movies. We headed to the local movie house.

It turned out the theater was showing either “Carnal Knowledge” or “Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice,” two movies that dealt rather directly with sex, a subject not discussed or even alluded to in our family. These were not movies you comfortably watched with your parents, or that your parents comfortably watched with you.

My dad was not amused. When the lights came up after the movie ended, he sat stone still, refusing to move. My mother suggested we leave. He refused. We sat in stony silent while the rest of the patrons filed out.

Finally, my suggested it was time for us to leave. My father continued to sit.

“I did not enjoy the movie,” he said. “I want to see something I enjoy. I want to see a Woody Woodpecker cartoon.”

I quickly tried to explain that they didn’t show cartoons with movies like this. My mother said Dad was being ridiculous. Dad was unmoved.

After a while, the lights went down again. The projector kicked into action and there on the screen appeared Woody Woodpecker.

A half century or so later, I still have no idea whether Dad knew the cartoon was coming or the projectionist overheard him and dug one out just for him.

I just know he got exactly what he wanted. Sometimes you can.

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DECEMBER 2019 | AtlantaSeniorLife.com

THE ARTS

Rosin up the bow

Jamming on the old tunes in Sandy Springs

By Joe Earle Libby Lintel played piano, but she decided it was too solitary an instrument. She wanted to tackle music that would allow her more chances to play with other people. So, a little more than six years ago, she took up the banjo.

Learning to play her new open-backed banjo led her to “old-time” music, the slice of American folk music associated with songs and string bands of the Appalachians.

JOE EARLE “The old tunes Jeremy Aggers, foreground, plays banjo while, left to right at are pretty,” rear, Libby Lintel, Hal Rabinowitz and Vicki Page play along. the 57-year-old Cobb County resident said. “They’re simple melodies. They’re historic. It kind of links you with the past.”

It links her with like-minded musicians, too, which is why one recent Saturday afternoon she joined nine other instrumentalists in the back room at Slope’s BBQ in Sandy Springs to play old tunes.

“The reason I picked up banjo was so I could get good enough to come play with a group like this,” Lintel said.

Old-time players gather at Slope’s most Saturday afternoons and many Tuesday nights to perform old tunes that sometimes may sound familiar, but often bear strange names. At any time, they may start up “Shove That Pig’s Foot a Little Further in the Fire” or “Camp Meeting on the Fourth of July” or “Floppy-Eared Mule.”

The number of players at Slope’s varies from jam to jam, as does the instrumentation. On this Saturday, the group featured five fiddlers, a mandolin player, a guitarist, a hammered-dulcimer player and two banjo players.

Mandolin-player Don Sinisi said that when he was young, he played what he called “hippie mountain music,” meaning acoustic music by performers such as the Grateful Dead or John Prine. He moved on to bluegrass and old-time music, then stuck with old-time because he enjoyed it more. Bluegrass jams turn into individual players performing solo after solo, he said; old-time musicians play together as a group.

The instrumentalists gathered in a room decorated with wooden and ceramic pigs, a country quilt, lots of Georgia license plates and a serving tray printed with the photo and signature of Elvis Presley.

They set their chairs into a circle and sat facing one another as they strummed or hammered or plucked their instruments and took turns calling out songs to play.

The informal old-time jam has been meeting in Sandy Springs for about two years, but it’s been going for decades. Decades ago, the players gathered in Decatur. Then they moved to Manuel’s Tavern in Atlanta for a while, until renovation of the tavern forced them to move to Sandy Springs, said Dan Byrd, an 80-year-old fiddler and Buckhead cardiologist who now pulls together the gatherings.

Byrd, known to everyone as “Doc,” said he started fiddling about

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40 years ago. Before that, he played banjo. “I’ve been playing music all my life,” he said in a telephone interview a couple of days before the jam. “It’s relaxing. There’s no pressure on you and people are learning new songs all the time.”

Now Byrd keeps a mailing list of 86 musicians who show up for the jam at one time or another. On any given Saturday, anywhere from four to 15 may join, Byrd said. “The jam session is open to anybody,” he said. “If you want to show up with your instrument, we welcome you.”

And once they start playing, the group draws notice. As they worked their way through tunes such as “Snake River Reel” and “Bonaparte Crossing the Rhine,” diners applauded or wandered over to snap photos with their phones of the musicians. Mary Jacobsen of Marietta said she and her husband, Quen, drop by Slope’s for lunch just about every Saturday in order to hear the music. “They call us their groupies,” she joked.

Tyler Ellis was pleasantly surprised to find the group jam when he stopped by for a barbecue sandwich for lunch. The 29-year-old Sandy Springs resident, who grew up in Simpsonville, S.C., said the music reminded him of home. “It’s awesome,” he said, before snapping a souvenir photo.

On this Saturday afternoon, fiddler Vicki Page of Roswell filled in for Doc as the group’s leader. The 64-year-old said she began playing fiddle after college. She started off playing Celtic music but felt a kinship with the old mountain tunes. “My family is from eastern Kentucky,” she said. “That’s where old-time comes from.”

She and the others started discussing what tunes to play next.

Before long, it would be time tackle “Nail that Catfish to a Tree.”

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PERSONAL FINANCE

Ask Rusty – Spousal and Survivor Benefits Dear Rusty:

I worked in my career, but I now get Social Security disability.

My husband retired in 2015 at age 66 and took his Social Security at that time. When he is 70 can I get spousal benefits from his Social Security or is that not allowed? And if I can’t get them when he turns 70, can I get them if he dies before me? I am 5 years younger than my husband, but my health is up and down, so if I die before him can he get spousal benefits from my Social Security?

Signed: Kentucky Woman Dear Kentucky Woman:

Since your husband is already receiving his Social Security retirement benefits, you are eligible to collect spousal benefits at any time after you reach age 62, even though you are collecting Social Security Disability benefits (you don’t have to wait until he’s 70); however, if you start those spousal benefits before you reach your full retirement age (FRA) they will be reduced.

How much of a reduction depends upon how soon before your

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full retirement age that you claim your spousal benefit.

If you claim at or after your full retirement age (66+2 months) your spousal benefit would be 50% of your husband’s full retirement age benefit; but if you start earlier than your FRA it would be less. If you file for spousal benefits at age 63, you would get 37.5% of your husband’s FRA benefit, instead of 50%.

Please note too that your Social Security Disability Insurance benefits will automatically convert to regular Social Security benefits when you reach your full retirement age but will continue at the same amount you were receiving on disability (including the spousal portion).

If your husband predeceases you, and you have already reached your full retirement age, you will get 100% of whatever Social Security benefit he was receiving, instead of any disability benefit or spousal benefit you may be receiving. If he passes and you claim survivor’s benefits before you reach your full retirement age, those benefits will be reduced to something less than 100% of the benefit he was receiving. How much of a reduction depends upon how many months before your FRA that you start the survivor’s benefit.

If you were to predecease your husband, he would get survivor’s benefits from you only if that benefit is higher than the amount he is already receiving from his own work record.

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The information presented in this article is intended for general information purposes only. The opinions and interpretations expressed are the viewpoints of the AMAC Foundation’s Social Security Advisory staff, trained and accredited under the National Social Security Advisors program of the National Social Security Association, LLC (NSSA). NSSA, the AMAC Foundation, and the Foundation’s Social Security Advisors are not affiliated with or endorsed by the United States Government, the Social Security Administration, or any other state government. Furthermore, the AMAC Foundation and its staff do not provide legal or accounting services. The Foundation welcomes questions from readers regarding Social Security issues. To submit a request, contact the Foundation at ssadvisor@amacfoundation.org, or visit the Foundation’s website at amacfoundation.org.

ABOUT AMAC The Association of Mature American Citizens, AMAC, [amac. us] is a vibrant, vital senior advocacy organization that takes its marching orders from its members. We act and speak on their behalf, protecting their interests and offering a practical insight on how to best solve the problems they face today.

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►Out & about The Arts

Community & Family Fun

Spruill Wine Tasting and Handmade Gift Bazaar Tasting: Tuesday, Dec. 10, 6-8 p.m. Bazaar: Saturday, Dec. 14, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Spruill Art Center hosts several events during the holidays. On Dec. 10, everyone is invited to enjoy hand selected wine and cheese pairings at the historic home of the Spruill Gallery. Select featured artists will be on hand at the Handmade Gift Bazaar on Dec. 14. Visit with them while you shop from a showcase of unique gift items. Spruill Center for the Arts, 4681 Ashford Dunwoody Road, Atlanta 30338. Find out more at spruillarts.org.

Forest Family Fridays: Solar Viewing and Sun Weaving Craft at Big Trees Preserve Friday, Dec. 13, 9-10:30 a.m. On one of the shortest days of the year (in terms of sunlight) and weather permitting, a Sandy Springs naturalist will set up a telescope so we can safely view the sun—and even see sunspots.

To celebrate the return of longer days, we’ll make festive sun wands.

Open to all ages; walk-ins welcome. Big Trees Preserve, 7645 Roswell Road, Sandy Springs 30350. Register at registration.sandyspringsga. gov.

Learn Something Veterans Roundtable

Gone with the Wind 80th Anniversary Screening Saturday, Dec. 14, 1-5 p.m. “Gone with the Wind” premiered 80 years ago on December 15, 1939 at the Loew’s Grand Theater in Atlanta with more than 300,000 people gathering for the event. Celebrate the anniversary with a special screening, and get there early for a prelude of the original score by Ron Carter on The Strand’s Mighty Allen Theatre Organ—and door prize drawings. Tickets are $14. Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theater, 117 North Park Square, Marietta 30060. For tickets and additional info, visit earlsmithstrand.org or call 770-293-0080.

Wednesday, Dec. 11, 1 p.m. Meet with experts on Veterans resources. Discuss your needs and get real help on filing VA claims, medical care, housing and job resources.

Newly discharged and senior retirees are welcome. This is presented in partnership with Goodwill Industries of North Georgia. Gwinnett County Public Library, Buford Branch, 2100 Buford Highway, Buford 30518. For more information, email cwalker@ging.org.

Consumer Investigator Dale Cardwell Thursday, Dec. 12, 7 p.m., Dale Cardwell will share his sevenstep strategy to becoming a savvy consumer and speak about his debut book, Don’t Get Scammed: Get Smart! Books will be available for sale and signing. Free and open to the public. Gwinnett County Public Library, Suwanee Branch, 361 Main Street, Suwanee 30024. For more info, visit gwinnettpl.org or call 770-978-5154.

Enchanted Woodland Wonderland Sunday, Dec. 15, 2-6 p.m. This holiday highlight is presented by Northside Hospital and sponsored by High Meadows School.

There will be live reindeer, games, winter crafts, s’mores, hot cocoa and more. Everyone is invited to find fairy houses and gnome homes along the Enchanted Woodland Trail.

Included with general admission and free to CNC members. Chattahoochee Nature Center, 9135 Willeo Road, Roswell 30075. Details at chattnaturecenter.org.

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Manley & Associates

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