The answer

Were you wondering how I took the "from the top" park bench photo yesterday? Well, here's the answer. First, we practiced in the back yard with Robert sitting in a lawn chair. I tried standing on a chair, but that didn't work. Then I tried putting the camera on the tripod, setting the timer and holding the tripod up as far as it would go. That didn't work, either. Since neither of our cars is big enough to hold a ladder, I knew I had to brainstorm. I thought of dangling from a helicopter by a rope, skydiving, or attaching the camera to a homing pigeon, but Robert deemed all of those too impractical. He suggested getting a trampoline. Finally, I started thinking of places that had a bench and a balcony. Aha! Holland Park!

Here I am re-creating a photo re-creating our photo shoot yesterday. That's me on the second level of the Observation Deck. The bench where Robert was sitting is just below me.

Here's the original photo, from the South Florida Sun Fun Guide. Okay, so there's no senior lady in it, but it's the best picture I could find. Thanks for your great guesses, everyone. That was fun!

Park bench puzzle

As a retirement photo connoisseur, I've seen plenty of "sitting on a park bench" photos taken from the front or the back, but today's photo is a first - it was taken from the top! Not only is it a creative twist to an old theme, but it's a puzzle - how did they do it? Did the photographer climb a tree? Stand on a ladder? What?

nnnnnnnnnHere's Robert re-creating the photo at Holland Park this afternoon.

Here's the original photo, from a retirement community in Australia. I don't know how the Australian photo was done, but I took the picture of Robert. How do you think I did it?

Growing Up Laughing

I just finished reading Growing Up Laughing - My Story and the Story of Funny by Marlo Thomas. It came out last year and it's a combination of a memoir and interviews with leading comedians. I've admired Marlo Thomas since she was first on the TV show That Girl, and like everyone else, I loved her father, Danny Thomas. I also happened to be watching the Phil Donahue show in 1977 when Marlo came on as a guest, and when it was over, I said, "Wow, they like each other!" (For those who don't know, they've been married since 1980.)

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnHere I am re-creating a photo with Growing Up Laughing.

And here's the original photo. The book goes from Marlo's childhood through shortly after her father's death in 1991, when she took over as the National Outreach Director for St. Jude Children's Hospital. It was a funny and touching book, and I'm glad I read it.

A dog of few words

Joey can do lots of things, like sit, stay, and come, but one thing he can't do is speak. I don't mean real speaking, of course (I know he's a dog), but the kind where Robert or I say, "Joey, speak!" and Joey is supposed to go "woof woof!" We've had other dogs who loved doing this, but if we tell Joey to speak, he just looks at us like we're nuts and never says a word.

Here's Robert with Joey re-creating a "speaking" photo. The only one who said "woof woof" was Robert.

Here's the original photo. We really don't mind that Joey doesn't speak - we love him just the way he is. We just don't understand it. Have we totally lost our knack for dog training? Or is Joey just a dog of few words?

Fun with fitness

Today's photo comes from an article called Senior Citizen Exercises. The article goes on and on about the benefits of exercise for seniors, but never explains exactly what kind of exercise the seniors in the photo are doing. But I figured we'd get a good workout if we re-created it, so that's what we did.


Here I am with Robert re-creating the photo from the article. Obviously, dressing alike is a big plus for exercising couples.

And here's the original photo. I don't know about Robert, but I got a good workout from shopping for matching t-shirts and crepe paper all afternoon.

How Great Thou Art

As the first Father's Day without my father rolls around, I just want to thank God for all the years I had with such a wonderful and loving father.

Here I am re-creating a photo with our bougainvillea plant in the back yard this morning.

And here's the original photo. In the words of the beautiful hymn, I just want to say, "How Great Thou Art!" Happy Father's Day tomorrow to all the fathers out there. Joey will make Robert a Father's Day card, and we'll have a quiet day here.

It's DirecTV again!

Last Saturday, our DirecTV receiver died. We'd been thinking of switching to Comcast for a while, since we now get our internet through Comcast and it works great. Not only would we save a little money by bundling the two, but DirecTV always goes out in the rain. So, even though we'd had DirecTV for seven years, we took our receiver dying as a sign. We canceled DirecTV and ordered Comcast. End of story, right? Wrong!

Here's Robert re-creating a photo re-creating a phone call from DirecTV. You can tell he's re-creating it because when he's really talking to DirecTV he doesn't look this happy.

And here's the original photo. Yes, DirecTV has been calling. And calling. First, they offered us $5 off per month to stay with them. Then one month free. Then Starz and Showtime free. Then two months free. Then three months free! The next day they offered us $30 off for six months. Then yesterday they offered us $300 cash! It's just surreal. Personally, I'd be fine with just an antenna, but Robert really enjoys the golf and football channels, so we had to choose. Maybe we're stupid, but we're going to try Comcast.

The scourge of toilet cleaning

Just when I thought I'd seen it all, look what I found - a toilet cleaning retirement photo! It comes from an assisted living website inviting you to "put an end to the scourge of toilet cleaning," "kiss your hedge clippers goodbye" and "remove laundry from your to do list - forever!"

aaaaaaaaaa aaaHere I am re-creating the scourge of toilet cleaning photo.

And here's the original photo. I have to admit they've got a good marketing angle - who likes to clean the toilet? Still, I'd like to keep my independence as long as I can, so I hope I can stay right here at home for a good long time, toilet cleaning and all.

This tree won't budge!

In keeping with my newfound interest in fitness, today's photo comes from an article called Stretch Exercises for Seniors. After seeing this photo, it makes me wonder whether the stretchers in the "stretchers vs brisk walkers" study were trying hard enough.

Here we are at TY Park re-creating the photo from the article. Call me silly, but as soon as I saw it I thought the caption should be: "This tree won't budge!"

Here's the original photo. I don't think this couple is having much luck, either. Luckily for us, TY Park has plenty of smaller trees. We'll get in shape yet!

Gone!

Yesterday I clicked on a link I'd saved to a cute "bike" photo, only to find - to my surprise and horror - that the photo was gone! The website was still there, but the photo wasn't. Luckily, I'd saved the photo separately, so I still had it, but as you know, I always give the link to the original photo in the chicken blog. So I thought, "Well, that's that. Now I'll just have to get rid of it." But I couldn't. It was too darn cute!

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaHere we are re-creating the photo anyway.

Here we are re-rereating ...

And here's the original photo. It used to be right here, on a Canadian health and wellness directory. I have no idea why they replaced it. Did someone "try this at home," hurt themselves, and sue them? Was the website not getting enough business with this picture so they chose another? I guess we'll never know. Anyway, that's the story. The photo may be gone, but it will live on in the chicken blog.

Please pass the pie!

Now, this is an interesting article. It's called Overweight Elderly Live Longer, and it's about a study done by the University of Western Australia which found that moderately overweight seniors lived longer than those of normal weight. Not only that, but they also had the lowest risk of dying from heart disease, cancer and chronic respiratory disease.

Here I am re-creating the photo from the article. I'm being careful not to work too hard in case I might lose a pound.

This is the original photo. Okay, here's the catch. The overweight seniors lived longer, but the study also found that those with sedentary lifestyles had shorter lifespans no matter what their weight. In fact, lack of exercise doubled the risk of death for women and increased it by 25% for men. Okay, fine! I get it! Robert is already getting in better shape thanks to his Silver Sneakers membership at the YMCA, and from now on I'm going to try to get more exercise, too. After my snack, of course!

P.S. So far so good on the lantana.

A new yellow lantana

One of the things Robert and I like best about retirement is that we have time to sit on our back porch in our lawn chairs and appreciate the beauty of nature, especially the flowers. Joey agrees. In fact, he appreciates the flowers so much he used to eat them. He finally stopped doing that, but now...

Here we are re-creating a photo with the new yellow lantana we bought to replace the marigold that used to be in the pot. What happened to the marigold, you ask? Well, it wasn't that we didn't water it. We did. Unfortunately, so did Joey.



Here's the original photo. We're hoping the new lantana has a different aroma from the marigold so Joey will decide - as Robert keeps encouraging him to by yelling, "Not there! On the fence!" - to lift his leg elsewhere. We'll see what happens.