Hanging in

As ancient mariners used to say, "We're stemmin' the tide!" We're flushing and filling our ballast tanks as fast as we can and we're bailing our leaky canoe as we anxiously paddle upstream.

Ah, the vicissitudes of age! Pains, aches and those lingering effects of injuries! Please God, be merciful! Nan's steps and mine are shorter and our pace is slower, but most distressful is our waning ability to cerebrate as we used to. Our lapses of memory cause us agonizing crises of confidence. But thus is the saga of life writ!

Yet all is not dismay and despair. As time passes, some of our discomforts do ease. With diet and doable exercise we manage to keep reasonably active and limber. No matter the weather, we try to walk a mile or two of our hills every day. But it’s our loss of mental capacity that has us worried. As Poirot says, those little gray cells in the brain need much attention.

Blogging has been a revelation for me. To keep a diary is a truly effective mental discipline; but blogs are something else. Writing posts on different subjects (many of a personal nature) makes probing the past, examining the present and looking into the future, indescribably stimulating. And because The Horn is being visited and commented upon by surfers all over the world. it adds much indeed to the fascination of computing.

While Lenore does dabble at the computer, she and I keep up with our reading and we especially enjoy doing crossword puzzles, together. But now that we are treading knee-deep into Sudoku, we can feel our dormant gray cells coming back to life. How addictive and refreshing is this new Japanese creation! Because it can be approached at different stages of difficulty, it is uniquely challenging. And an added feature is that it can be self-taught at very early entry levels. Who knows, Sudoku may be a new and effective way to stem the erosions of age! Quien sabe?

Comments: domgab85@aol.com

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Hello Dom - you look like a shrink. You look like MY shrink, to be more specific. I have ten or more blogs now and I find some of them to be cathartic, some a forum for my whining and others to show off to others how talented a photographer I am. I have two shock blogs that keep me entertained in the deep nighttime. I have not yet figured out Sudoku. I have a version of it on my Palm Tungsten T5. Your blog is cool ~ Judy Simon

Thank you Judy for aiming your lens on this subject. You ought to try the downloadable Sudoku Challenge. It makes doing the puzzle more user friendly.You can also use it to print puzzles on a large enough format to make the deciphering process easier. Try it, you'll like it ~ Dom Gabriele

Papa, I have to say I tried Sudoku and now I'm hooked. I have been playing it all week. It is really lots of fun and a real challenge ~ Elaine Connery