My friend Naomi( concern that something is wrong)

[ishmael]

I've been trying to call her for 24. Always a busy signal. She's 76, lives alone, and is not well visited. Should I call the local yokels and have them check on her?

[S/V Laura Ellen]

Call! Now!
There is really no harm in calling.

[ishmael]

I just called, and they are going to send someone around to check on her.

[ishmael]

Just got off the phone with her. She's fine. Something funky with the phone.

[Hwyl]

You did the right thing, and thanks for letting us know.

[glenallen]

I'm glad to hear she's OK.
Good of you to check up on her!

[ishmael]

Shes a pip. She sent me this part of a poem recently.

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple

with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me.

And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves

and satin candles, and say we've no money for butter.

I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired

and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells

and run my stick along the public railings

and make up for the sobriety of my youth.

I shall go out in my slippers in the rain

and pick the flowers in other people's gardens

and learn to spit.


---------------------------------

A late flower, I imagine she will be new and happy.

[S/V Laura Ellen]

Just got off the phone with her. She's fine. Something funky with the phone.

Good news Jack!
I'm sure she appreciates your care and concern, even if it was a non-event.

[Katherine]

I believe that's the poem from the Red Hat Society.

[S/V Laura Ellen]

I believe that's the poem from the Red Hat Society.

Was it "When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple with a red hat that doesn't go, and doesn't suit me" that tipped you off?

[ishmael]

She kissed her first man at 17 in 1946. She married the man, had two kids, and stuck it out.

How her new wild is going to play is uncertain. She has a bit of a crush on me, and we've noodled to it, very clear. It's so sweet. We laugh about it and know we are an age apart.

I give her permission she's never had from a man. She's got a fella from the ship. I keep encouraging her to expand her horizon.

Sweet, sweet, sweet.

[Tristan]

I recently lost a great "cyber" lady friend, a 60 year old lady, Buddhist, Wicca member, who had heart failure, type two diabetes, failing vision, but was feisty and vital as hell. She had a great time describing, in salty language, her dealings with life in general. There was no guestion of cyber romance, I'm very happily married to a wonderful wife, but this lady was great fun to "talk" with, pissing and moaning about our kids, grand-kids, pets, financial situations, neighbors. It is so rare to find someone so alike, someone one can really connect with on a spiritual, political, and social level. Her great heart finally gave out. I miss her.

[Popeye]

my mother lived in her own home , by herself, into her eighties , fiercley independent to the end , i was very grateful to her neighbours when they gave me a quick call , not seeing her for a few days or noticing perhaps the lights in her house on at late hours ..

[ishmael]

A few meetings in my life, less than a handful, make me wonder about things like karma and past lives. Naomi is one of them.

I lost my mother to dementia when I was still pretty young. Naomi feels like that lost mom. We talk honestly about EVERYTHING. I've always been pretty out there with my ideas, and she's just hitting her stride. It's a wonderful chemistry.

A thing that has hit me is how well spoken she is. Her formal education stopped when she married Harry. She came of age when high schools actually taught things.

Her damn phone is still screwed up.

[Another One]

I believe that's the poem from the Red Hat Society.

The poem which Ish quoted in part is called "Warning" by Jenny Joseph. The red hat ladies use it gleefully, and it did inspire their organization, but the author has no direct connection to the red had society and (I believe) has had words with them about copyright infringement.

http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/warning/

And here's a reponse, by Betty Collins (Copyright 2004):

Riposte: (to: Warning, by Jenny Joseph

Now that I am an old woman
It's too late to wear purple (who would notice?)
And being too fat hurts my back, and it isn't good
For diabetes and/or heart: I am exceedingly glad
That when I had the chance
I drank whisky and brandy and gin by the gallon, and was sometimes
Pissed for days on end: and I guzzled chocolate,
And blue veined cheese and luscious tiramisu
And wine and crackers and double-creamed savoury dishes.
Sure. I paid my dues and fed my children:
And even had people to dinner -
But my blood ran red and hot and fast
Through my veins: and I drove cars
Fast!
And I took lovers: Who would ever want (excuse me)
Three pounds of sausages at one go?
Or bread and pickle for a week (Yuk!)
I shopped indecorously and prodigiously:
Bought saucy underwear - and books:
Bikini panties - and school uniforms:
French perfume - and chips and coke and green vegetables:
Contraceptives and cake: Black Label and cod liver oil.
I was a wonderful example for my children:
It did them the world of good to have a mother who was a little mad
And could waltz a big combi vehicle from side to side on gravelled
Country roads, singing: Waltzing Matilda, waltzing….
Now it is time to become invisible:
To chuck out all those hoarded pencils and beermats
And especially photographs -
Of course, you realise that all this applies
To some other old lady
And not to me? ?