LifeTimes Sept. 2023

Living well after 50

Tampa Bay Times | Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023

The sound of

music Members of the New Horizons Band of Gulfport expand their musical education through live performances and practice, practice, practice.

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CROSSWORD Familiar Sounding Places by Merl Reagle ACROSS 1 Michael married her 10 Heavenly sight 15 Deer John?

19 Relatives of police sketch artists 20 Astringent-tasting, winewise 22 The Alienist author Caleb 23 Place that attracts a lot of animals?

25 1963 role for Shirley 26 Final analysis 27 Camel dropping?

28 Bill with George 29 The Joy Luck Club author 30 Novelist Malraux 33 City of cranky people?

39 Drug agent 40 Yarn 41 Fly traps 42 Willies-inducing 43 Hush-hush org.

44 Like the Kalahari 45 Pal, to Paulette 47 ___ loss 48 Coldest city in the south?

55 Top player 56 Blocker role 57 Floor pad 58 Love god 60 Kids’ game 63 Addict 65 Roseanne’s last 66 Through 67 Actress Claire 68 Home of the other Turner network?

70 Using 71 Mighty Aphrodite first name 73 In ___ (going nowhere) 74 America’s side dish 75 Best 77 Start of a Supremes hit

78 Certain terminal: abbr.

79 Bookstore sec.

80 Juan married her 81 City with the most seafood restaurants?

88 Comics caveman 89 It may get dunked in milk 90 Age, in Antrim 91 Train alternative 93 Get higher 96 Full of a certain herb 98 Sea bird or Irish lake 99 Civilized chap 100 City of folks who are all washed up?

104 Speed limit, sometimes 105 Actress Merkel 106 Role for Ed 107 Dorothy Parker’s asset 108 Email address word 109 Certain chord: abbr.

111 Best place to mooch cigarettes?

119 Main Mongol 120 “Relax” 121 “She loves me not” item 122 Part of Manhattan 123 Golf legend 124 Answer to “Oh, Darling”

DOWN 1 Vinyl collection 2 Saver’s option 3 Impresario Hurok 4 “... except ___” (spelling mnemonic) 5 Pooh’s creator 6 “Put ___ on it!”

7 Tape: abbr.

8 Bother 9 Houdini could do it 10 ___ plate (up) 11 Voting word

12 Serengeti beast 13 Bury 14 Woody vines 15 Mr. Wizard’s subj.

16 Sauce for seafood 17 Fashion figure 18 Large, at Starbucks 21 Silkwood co-star 24 Pitcairn, for one: abbr.

30 Crime writer Rule 31 Early editorial cartoonist 32 Do lots?

33 It takes a pounding 34 Designer Gucci 35 Cheese type 36 Meets with 37 Living snowman 38 Left a lily pad 40 Locust, for one 44 Rudiments 45 Included in 46 Give the wrong meaning for 47 Latin stars 49 Arnold’s nickname, “The Austrian ___” 50 Heartland crop 51 Picture 52 Kerala outfits 53 Show positively 54 Where Ephesus was 59 Circus animal 60 Garrison and Morrison 61 Clarence’s accuser 62 Joyous song 63 Young who sang “Hello, Walls” 64 “Made ___” 65 Military jails 68 Drink like a dog 69 University of Maine city 72 Self-confidence 75 Physiologist Pavlov 76 Ex-anchor’s first name 79 Emerald’s mineral

The crossword puzzle solution is on Page 7

80 Reveler’s cry, in ancient Rome 82 Soliloquy start 83 ___ stick 84 Fenced-in area 85 Koppel’s competition, once 86 Mountain goat 87 Em, for one 92 This place is a mess 93 Throws 94 Crow’s-nest cry 95 Bible book 96 Noses

97 Keen insight 98 Bistro 99 Macy rival, once 101 Napoleon’s place, for a while 102 Had the deed to 103 Semi 104 Zesty?

108 Red’s rube 110 6 on a phone 112 The lusty West 113 “Life ___ cabaret ...”

114 Hitter Howard

115 Donkey 116 From ___Z 117 Dallas player, in headlines 118 Stout relative 108 Interest rate, for example: abbr.

113 Whodunit game 114 Europe’s high points 116 Had ham 117 Impressed exclamation 118 “You’ve got mail” co.

LifeTimes is produced and designed by the Marketing Department of the Tampa Bay Times.

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STEP BY STEP Sally Anderson

Photos by Dan Canoro

Your Move | Demonstrated by Rita Hopkins 1. Standing Hamstring Curl Activates glutes, quadriceps and calf muscles.

3. Bird-dog A core exercise that strengthens core, hips and back muscles.

Begin on your hands and knees with shoulders directly over hands and hips over knees.

• Contract abdominals and stretch right arm straight out parallel from shoulder.

• Slowly lift left leg and extend it straight out from hip with a pointed toe.

• Avoid looking upward and don’t arch upper back; keep a neutral spine. Hold the position for 12 seconds.

• Slowly release and repeat with opposite arm and leg extensions. Repeat four times on both sides.

Tip: For a variation, bend leg extensions into chest, meeting the bent opposite arm.

• Standing with feet hip width apart, place hands on a chair for balance.

With thighs parallel to each other, slowly bend your right knee, bringing it up toward your buttocks.

• Slowly lower your foot to the floor.

• Repeat 12-15 times, then repeat with other leg.

Tip: You can add an ankle weight.

2. Heel Raises Strengthens calf muscles, feet and toes.

Stand behind a chair. Place both hands lightly on back of chair or a counter, feet hip-width apart.

• Slowly raise heels off the floor so the weight is on your toes, knees straight.

• Perform 10 repetitions and repeat several times throughout the day.

Tip: If too easy, hold weights.

4. Curtsy Lunge Targets inner thighs, quads, hamstrings, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus, which help improve your posture and stabilize your hips.

Standing tall with feet shoulder width apart, hold hands together in front of your chest; abdominals contracted and back straight.

• Take a big step back with your left leg crossing behind right leg.

• Lower your body by bending your knees, until right thigh is parallel or near parallel to the floor.

• Drop your hands and return to standing. Repeat 8-10 times.

• Repeat pattern with right leg crossing behind left leg.

Tip: Keep the toes pointing in the same direction as the knees.

Pull up a chair!

Are you less active than you once were? Less flexible, not as steady on your feet?

If you spend much of your time sitting, your joints can become stiffer, negatively affecting your posture. As your posture becomes weaker, so do your lower body muscles. Weak posture can affect your gluteal muscles, legs and core muscles, all of which are essential for spine support.

It’s time to pull up a chair and get to work.

All you need is an armless, straight-backed chair. Weights are optional. Seated exercise is an effective way to reap the benefits of exercise while reducing the risk of injury or discomfort. You are improving strength and flexibility while giving your health a boost.

Four Benefits of Chair Exercise • Strengthens muscles Losing muscle mass eventually leads to decreased mobility. Upper and lower body exercises isolate muscles in your arms and legs to increase strength, which will help to improve posture and relieve back pain.

• Increases blood circulation Poor circulation can cause numbness and tingling in hands and feet and even fatigue. Chair exercises will help get your blood flowing.

• Increases energy levels Daily chair exercises can increase your energy level and help lubricate joints.

• Improves flexibility and balance Daily chair exercises can help to achieve full range of motion. Stretching and strengthening helps with balance by improving stability.

Warm-up your muscles Neck Rotations Sitting tall, slowly turn head to left and pause, then turn head to right and pause. Look to ceiling and look down. Repeat each movement five times.

Overhead Stretch Inhale and extend right arm to the ceiling. Exhale as you bend arm to the left, near the ear. Take several breaths, then on an exhale return arm to your side.

Repeat on other side, repeat two-four times on each side.

Leg Extension Extend leg, point and flex toes, eight times each leg.

Shoulder Rolls Place fingers on shoulders, elbows pointed out to the sides and do circles forward and backwards eight times each way.

Knee Lifts Placing hands lightly on the thighs, alternate knee lifts. Lift as high as you can. Repeat ten times.

Check with your doctor before starting a new exercise program.

Sally Anderson is happy to hear from readers but can’t respond to individual inquiries.

Contact her at slafit@tampabay.rr.com.

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Banding Together

The New Horizons Band of Gulfport gives adults the opportunity to expand their musical skills and put on live performances. For the organization’s members, it’s music to their ears.

Photos courtesy New Horizons Band of Gulfport

local organization. “The philosophy is that you’re as good as you can play.”

BY ERIN FEITSMA Times Total Media Correspondent In the wise words of Paul Simon, “Music is forever.”

The members of the New Horizons Band of Gulfport would certainly agree. The local band has given many of its senior members an opportunity to learn a new instrument, expand their existing musical skills or rediscover an instrument they used to play.

The New Horizons Band offers multiple avenues for adults looking to embrace and expand their musical side. There is the organization’s green band, a beginners’ group that doesn’t put on performances but is, rather, a way for newcomers, or experienced musicians taking up a new instrument, to learn how to play. An instructor or director helps teach these band members, Van Voorhies said.

The green band, led by director Bryan Alspach, is designed so its members eventually move onward Above, Band members in the New Horizons Band of Gulfport’s concert band prepare to perform at the Gulfport Holiday Tree Lighting ceremony in 2021. Upper left, the New Horizons Band of Gulfport’s flute ensemble performs in concert.

The New Horizons Band of Gulfport began at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg under the direction of Eckerd professor David Irwin. In 2016, the group moved to Gulfport and now meets weekly on Tuesdays at the Gulfport Senior Center to rehearse.

The New Horizons Band of Gulfport is one of over 200 bands worldwide affiliated with the New Horizons International Music Association, a nonprofit organization that was founded in 1991. The organization is the brainchild of Dr. Roy Ernst, who launched the first New Horizons Band at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. Ernst now lives locally and occasionally plays with the Gulfport group during their live performances.

the band director at St. Petersburg’s Shorecrest Preparatory School.

The Gulfport group also offers a jazz band as well as a flute ensemble.

John Bauer, 65, of St. Petersburg, plays drums in the jazz band as well as various instruments in the concert band. He is also the group’s music librarian, and a member at large on the board. Thanks to the connections and skills Bauer picked up from the New Horizons Band, he is now part of several unrelated music groups in the community.

The New Horizons Band of Gulfport’s concert band rehearses in the Gulfport Senior Center’s dining hall.

“His idea was to give adults, especially retired adults, an opportunity to continue to play music in a band setting,” said Jo Van Voorhies, 80, of Gulfport. Van Voorhies is the board president and performance coordinator for the

and upward to the New Horizons Band of Gulfport’s concert band. The concert band is ideal for musicians who are skilled enough to play in a live performance setting. The group plays marches, rock tunes and even songs from popular Broadway musicals like “The Music Man” and “Wicked.”

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“I try to incorporate educational pieces as well, so I make sure that they are growing as musicians in their rhythm reading and their note learning,” said Ethan Updike, 31, of St. Petersburg. Updike is the New Horizons Band of Gulfport’s concert band director as well as

“It’s (been) sort of a launching pad for me as somebody who didn’t know what I was going to do in my retirement,” Bauer said. “Suddenly, almost by chance, I ended up being a drummer in several different bands. Eventually that led me to trying something different. I started playing the saxophone a few years back during the pandemic. It opened a lot of doors for me in terms of relationships, personal growth and new experiences.”

Van Voorhies estimates that the median age range for the Gulfport group is around 55-70 years old. In general, prospective members are age 50 or older.

“Right now, our oldest band member is 88,” Van Voorhies said.

“As long as you want to play, and can play, there’s no age limit.”

Some of the New Horizons Band of Gulfport members used to play instruments when they were younger and end up picking up right where they left off.

“People go right back and probably become better musicians than they were in the past, because now they have the time to focus on their music,” said Van Voorhies.

Before joining the New Horizons Band five years ago, the last time Martin Himmelfarb, 77, of St. Petersburg, had played the clarinet was in 1963.

“I played that instrument all through high school and junior TH104998

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high,” said Himmelfarb, the vice president of the board and a bass clarinetist in the concert band. “I put it down after I graduated in ’63 and never thought twice about it ever again until 2018 when my wife, who plays the flute in the band, said, ‘Why don’t you take the clarinet up again?’”

Both his wife Jeanette and the concert band’s then-band director, Bob Schaer, assured Himmelfarb that he’d be able to pick up the clarinet again in no time. After buying one and spending a couple of weeks getting familiar with the instrument again, Himmelfarb joined Gulfport’s New Horizons concert band.

“I had just a wonderful time with it,” he said. “It had been a 55-year gap, and I was able to pick it up.

I was so happy. I’ve been with the band ever since.”

Colleen O’Reilly, 64, of St. Petersburg, had a similar experience.

“I retired and had always thought I might pick up my old flute from high school,” said O’Reilly, who is the board’s treasurer and the coordinator of the group’s flute ensemble. “(The band) is exactly what people need who are just trying to get back into it. We have it written in our bylaws that we are a place where everybody should feel comfortable. We try to go out of our way in this band to welcome people and tell them, ‘Just do the best you can.’ You don’t have to play every

“We have it written in our bylaws that we are a place where everybody should feel comfortable.” note, you’ll get there eventually. Play what you can.”

Playing music with the New Horizons Band of Gulfport also provides a built-in social cohort for band members.

“It’s very eclectic, all the people that you meet,” said Van Voorhies.

“We have lawyers, teachers, people who were involved in the tech world. Everybody comes from all

walks of life, so that’s fun too. You get to meet all of these different people. And they become family.”

The band also provides an outlet for its local members.

“You’ve got to have a hobby if you’re retired,” said O’Reilly. “Or even if you’re not, if you have a passion for something, it’s a wonderful thing to have a place to go. It’s a great thing for people to come together and share their common interest.”

“I’m very grateful that I got to have this experience,” said Bauer. “I didn’t have the opportunity when I was in school (to be in the school band). So, it’s great to be an older adult and have an experience that I never had before and never thought I could have.”

Times Total Media is the sales and marketing division of the Tampa Bay Times. Contact timestotalmedia@tampabay.com with questions.

From left, Concert band director Ethan Updike, New Horizons International Music Association founder Dr. Roy Ernst, and green band director Bryan Alspach take a break from performing for a photo.

Embrace the music ...

There are many ways to get involved with the New Horizons Band of Gulfport. Whether you’re in the crowd attending an upcoming performance or playing in the band, there are several ways you can show your support for this local organization.

Attend a live performance: Attending one of the New Horizons Band of Gulfport’s live performances is an excellent way to both support the group and get a feel for the band if you decide you’d like to join the organization.

The concert band from the New Horizons Band of Gulfport plays together at the Gulfport Casino in 2022 ... ... and at Gulfport Beach in 2023.

Van Voorhies estimates that the New Horizons Band of Gulfport’s concert band plays at least six live shows a year, including spring concerts in April, a Fourth of July concert, a live performance for Veterans Day, fall concerts, and holiday concerts come Christmastime.

The next concert band performance is scheduled for Oct. 29 at 3 p.m. in Clymer Park.

For more information on upcoming performances, visit the New Horizons Band of Gulfport online at newhorizonsbandgulfport.org or on their Facebook page at facebook.com/NewHorizonsStPete.

Join the band: Are you interested in learning to play an instrument or becoming a part of one of the organization’s signature groups? Learn more about how to get involved with the New Horizons Band of Gulfport at newhorizonsbandgulfport.org. You can also email nhbgulfport@gmail.com for more information or visit the Gulfport Senior Center during one of the group’s rehearsals. Find the group’s calendar with rehearsal times for the different bands online under the calendar tab at newhorizonsbandgulfport.org.

Donate: As a nonprofit organization, donations are essential in supporting the New Horizons Band. “One of the ways that people show their appreciation for the band is by the donations that we receive,” said Van Voorhies. To donate to the band, visit the organization’s website at newhorizonsbandgulfport.org.

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MY FAVORITE CAR Susan Richardson, 77, Tampa, FL

1968 Pontiac Le Mans

Convertible, Burgundy

My favorite car was a 1968 Pontiac LeMans convertible — burgundy exterior, white leather interior, white top and white racing stripes. It had overhead cams and dual carburetors. It not only looked fast — it was.

(But that could have been attributed to my heavy foot.) I had many faceto-face interactions with state troopers during the years I owned it. (Cried my way out of most of the tickets.)

I special ordered the car from the dealer in Syracuse, NY, and paid full sticker. I was too young to know I should have haggled with the salesman over the price.

Corporate Must 5x4.75

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I drove the car from Syracuse to San Francisco all by myself, top down the whole way (the car top, that is). The year was 1968 and California was the place to be.

I loved that car and have

great memories. I wish I had kept it. I’ve only owned convertibles my whole life and that’s all I care to own.

Convertibles keep me young.

CALL TO READERS Tell us your love story

What’s the story behind your favorite or first car? We’d like to share it. Please send: • Your name, city where you live and your age (with your date of birth).

• The year, make and model of the car, with a description of the car and why you love it.

• A high-resolution photo or a scanned image.

(Must be of the actual car.)

• Send to drive@tampabay .com and put My Favorite Car or My First Car in the subject line.

Fun Color the World Dia de los Muertos will be here before you know it.

Let your inner artist out to celebrate!

CROSSWORD ANSWERS

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