Fix You

For those of you who missed "Young at Heart", here are some clips:



And finally, Fred Knittle, an original member of the chorus, sings Coldplay's "Fix You". He can't breathe on his own and is on oxy­gen while singing. Fred, a machine gunner in WWII, passed away on January 1, 2009.


Young At Heart - Fix You

June Marie Martinez-Roldan MySpace Video

pink glove boogie

This video features more than 200 doctors, nurses, lab technicians, administrators and kitchen and janitorial staff from the Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Ore. In the video, they all wear pink latex gloves, and they dance and sing to Jay Sean’s R&B song “Down.”

The video was shot at the hospital to help raise money in the fight against breast cancer. A portion of sales from the pink gloves will provide mammograms for uninsured women.
Enjoy!

Young at Heart

The most amazing documentary is currently playing on your local PBS station. It's called "Young at Heart" and, although it premiered January 12th, you can still find it rerunning for a few more days under the heading "Independent Lens" on your TV directory. I don't know why I was so emotionally affected by this film but I was. I laughed and cried as the film followed the lives of a group of chorus members from Northampton, Mass. who are all in their 80's and 90's as they prepared for a big concert. The grit of these people was an inspiration, yet they showed such humor and positive energy to perform in the face of serious health issues. This one was right up there with the Susan Boyle performance of "I Dreamed a Dream" for me. Here are some links with more photos and biographies as well as PBS viewing times for your area:

http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/young-at-heart/

http://www.youngatheartchorus.com/index.php

I went on Amazon and found the DVD of this documentary. I ordered two...one to keep and one to share with family and friends. If you would like to order one, here is the link:
http://www.amazon.com/Young-Heart-Joe-Benoit/dp/B001BBAVKQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1263677042&sr=8-1

The DVD is only $9.99 and I wish I had the money to purchase one for every member of the "Greatest Generation" I know and for every nursing home and senior center in the area. It would make a wonderful gift!
I hope you get to watch "Young at Heart " and share this amazing story with others.

Cheaper by the Dozen

Our grandson, Brian Lawson, auditioned in November for his first "professional" theatre role in Cheaper By the Dozen at the Portland Players and got it! He will be playing Joe Scales, a flamboyently dressed cheerleader, who is one of Anne Gilbreth's "suitors".
Opening night is this Friday, January 15th and the play runs through January 31st. Showtimes are Friday and Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m. and Sunday afternoons at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $20.00 for adults, $18.00 for Seniors and $15.00 for students. The box office phone number is 799-7337 to reserve tickets.
Portland Players is located at 420 Cottage Rd. in South Portland.
Break a leg, Brian!!!

Mom is home!

Mom was discharged from the hospital on Sunday afternoon and is glad to be home with Tabby.

Welcome home, Mom!

Back to MMC

Mom is back in the hospital. She was admitted at about 1 a.m. Wednesday morning with shortness of breath. She is resting comfortably after a couple of difficult nights at home. We are not sure how long the doctor will keep her at MMC but we are glad that she is getting some rest. She was home almost three
weeks after her last hospitalization and maybe her body just wasn't quite ready to resume all the day to day activites being home involved. She is in room 361 and her bedside phone # is 662-7561. Hopefully, this will be a short stay...just until she gets her medications regulated and more of her strength back.

So... I think I have already broken yet another of my New Year's resolutions...the one about spending as much time having fun as visiting hospitals and doctor's offices. By the way, only two of our esteemed blog readers have added their resolutions to my list on the previous blog - Roger and Kathy -
I'm still waiting for yours...

Aunt Ann called tonight to see how Mom is. It was great talking with her. I remember that when I was about 12, I thought Aunt Ann was so cool because she wore red shoes and drove a VW bug! (Don't worry, Aunt Ann...I still think you're cool!)

By the way, Happy Belated Birthday, Maureen...I had forgotten that you and Grampa Smith shared a birthday on January 6th. Hope it was a good one...

Happy Birthday, Grampa Smith!

Happy 110th Birthday, Grampa Smith...if there's vaudeville in heaven, we know you're still doing the old soft shoe... love you forever.

Arthur W. Smith 1900 - 1977

What's your resolution?

Thought we'd have some fun to start off the New Year on the blog...how about sharing a few of our (probably soon-to -be -broken) New Year's resolutions! I'll start with a few of mine:

In the "tried and true" category:

1. Lose weight

2. Grow my hair

3. Quit smoking (already broken)

4. Learn Japanese

5. Be nice

In the "new this year"category:

1. Make my "bucket list" so that I'll have time before I'm too old to do anything on it

2. Stop making so many lists (already broken)

3. Overcome my fear of colonoscopies

4. Make the blog even more exciting (???)

5. Spend at least as many minutes doing fun things as I spend in hospitals and doctor's offices

6. Have another "cousins weekend" in 2010

7. Learn all the words to the "Maine Counties" song

8. Drink more Margaritas

9. Be nice

Now it's YOUR turn...just click the "Comment" button and have at it...I triple dog dare you!!!