[NFB-Seniors] {Spam?} Re: {Spam?} Re: {Spam?} RE: {Spam?} Hobbies - Do you have one? Will you share it with the rest of us? READ THIS MESSAGE
Sharon Wolfe
hissharon at icloud.com
Sat Aug 22 21:57:18 UTC 2020
Yes, Barbara! I would be delighted if you can share your 700 antique music box play! What is the size of that music box? I love the tune of the music boxes, I’m from Japan and we had so many different tunes on the small music boxes some of them are mounted in a jewelry box, it has mirror floor and a little ballerina pops up when open the jewelry box and she has a magnetic ballet shoes on andspins With the music that plays! Wow! It brings me back such a wonderful memory from the past!
Sharon Wolfe from Oklahoma
> On Aug 22, 2020, at 1:57 PM, Barbara Shaidnagle via NFB-Seniors <nfb-seniors at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> I have three books on amazon.com, two of the links appear after this
> email. The third is called LOVE AND THE HOLY GHOST. It got a little
> personal for me. The crux of the book is about a girl who dies and does
> not pass over. I was at the point where she was gonna pass over and Joe
> died. After three years I decided to end the book and did.
>
> I was in the Writer's Division and had some stuff published, some poems.
> some articles about my writing.
>
>> On Sat, Aug 22, 2020 at 2:34 PM Judy Jones via NFB-Seniors <
>> nfb-seniors at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> Hello,
>>
>>
>>
>> I like to do a lot of things. For one, I like being on the PC and helping
>> people trouble-shoot.
>>
>>
>>
>> I also like to knit and read, and I enjoy using my sewing machine. I used
>> to make garments, but more lately have only needed to do mending and
>> hemming with it. Quilting is something blind people don’t have to give up,
>> either.
>>
>>
>>
>> I used to love horseback riding, but haven’t been in a place where I can
>> do that now, nothing available here that I know of.
>>
>>
>>
>> Since I retired in 2017, I am beginning to take up things I had discarded.
>>
>>
>>
>> One big hobby is antique music boxes, their mechanics and music. I wrote
>> my thesis on the antique music box, and have one we bought in Germany, and
>> have a digital collection of over 700 tunes in an antique music box play
>> list I would be glad to share with anyone.
>>
>>
>>
>> Judy
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *From: *Robert Leslie Newman via NFB-Seniors <nfb-seniors at nfbnet.org>
>> *Sent: *Saturday, August 22, 2020 10:55 AM
>> *To: *NFB Senior Division list <nfb-seniors at nfbnet.org>
>> *Cc: *Robert Leslie Newman <robertleslienewman at gmail.com>
>> *Subject: *[NFB-Seniors] {Spam?} Hobbies - Do you have one? Will you
>> share it with the rest of us? READ THIS MESSAGE
>>
>>
>>
>> Hi You All
>>
>>
>>
>> RE: Do you have a hobby and want to tell us about it? Or, you gave a hobby
>>
>> up and wonder if anyone else has figured out how to do it?
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Here is one of the best uses of this listserv!
>>
>>
>>
>> We have 305 email addresses/people on this list. Sure, not all of the
>>
>> seniors that are presently members of the NFB are with us on this list, but
>>
>> for sure, it is people that are looking to communicate with other seniors.
>> I
>>
>> think we all are eager for information, and are also willing to give it; to
>>
>> support each other.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Note: The NFB Seniors Division's 2020 Virtual Senior Retreat is coming up
>>
>> October 18th-24th. I will lead the discussion class, entitled Exploring
>>
>> Hobbies. We want to offer meaningful and exciting information by means of:
>>
>> Speakers who are great examples; Written information about resources; Links
>>
>> to audio and/or video presentations.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Consider the following:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> #1 Are you willing to share with us about your hobbies, and how you handle
>>
>> them? The information we gather will be used in our Retreat, be placed on
>>
>> our NFB Seniors Division's website, and in one way or another, with all of
>>
>> us on this list.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> #2 Here are examples of what we mean as a hobby: Collecting things;
>>
>> gardening; Crafts; Woodworking; fishing; Cooking/baking; Sowing, knitting,
>>
>> etc.; Reading/writing; Exercising; Birding; Restoring old cars. You tell
>> us!
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> #3 Here is what we need to have said, described: Title of the hobby; Your
>>
>> name; Contact information: Extent of your blindness; what alternative
>>
>> methods and special equipment do you use; did you do this before you lost
>>
>> vision, or is this a new hobby.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Remember, we are trying to help one another, we blind seniors, but also to
>>
>> enlighten family, blindness services professionals, and the general public.
>>
>> So Keep yourself focused on making your description, shortish, easy to
>>
>> follow, and to the point. I can and will help with needed editing;
>>
>> straightening out with is written, or editing an audio file.
>>
>>
>>
>> #4 Here are methods on how you can share, tell us:
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> #5 You Make a recording and get it to me. Or, we together get on the phone
>>
>> and I record your description. We'd have to make an appointment, to make
>>
>> sure we hook up at a mutually agreed upon convenient time. 402-660-1743
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> *2. Write an email or document with a description and send it to me at-
>>
>> robertleslienewman at gmail.com
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> **One of my hobbies is exercise, swimming in the summer in our back yard
>>
>> pool makes that easy; when the temp is right. Below is an article that
>>
>> appear several years back in the Braille Monitor; I'm still doing this
>> same
>>
>> daily routine.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Braille Monitor June
>> 2008
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Swimming in the Zone
>>
>> A Mile in My Backyard
>>
>>
>>
>> by Robert Leslie Newman
>>
>>
>>
>> From the Editor: Summer is here, and many blind people would be interested
>>
>> in getting exercise in the pool if they had access and know-how. Two
>>
>> articles in this issue should offer encouragement to those who love the
>>
>> water. The first is by Robert Leslie Newman, who is one of our most
>>
>> dedicated advocates for exercise. This is what he says:
>>
>>
>>
>> Swimming has always been one of my favorite physical activities. As a kid I
>>
>> saw it as fun and physically refreshing on a hot day and a time to be with
>>
>> my friends. Now that I am older, less than a year away from completing my
>>
>> sixth decade, though I still love swimming for those early reasons, I
>>
>> realize that swimming fulfills an additional set of personal needs. In this
>>
>> article I intend to explore how a blind person swims independently and how
>>
>> this exercise benefits me physically and mentally and boosts my
>>
>> self-confidence. Finally, I will describe how this exercise can get you
>> into
>>
>> the zone.
>>
>>
>>
>> I am lucky to be at a stage of life and career in which my wife and I have
>>
>> been able to make one of our dreams come true: to have our own backyard
>>
>> swimming pool. It is an aboveground oval pool measuring twelve feet by
>>
>> twenty-four feet and is four feet deep. Its sides are steel, its thick
>>
>> plastic liner is aqua blue, and it has an electric pump and filtering
>>
>> system. We had a deck built that wraps around both ends and one long side
>>
>> and joins an existing deck--house to pool without getting your feet dirty.
>>
>>
>>
>> Swimming as a totally blind person demands the same basic travel skills as
>>
>> traveling on dry land: a combination of hearing, touch, and common sense.
>> As
>>
>> I describe my personal technique, note that, just as not all blind
>> travelers
>>
>> use basic travel skills in the same way, each blind swimmer finds his or
>> her
>>
>> own style of making it work. When swimming on the surface, my preference is
>>
>> always to have my ears out of the water so I can use my hearing to keep
>>
>> oriented; this would also help to avoid collisions with other swimmers. In
>>
>> this ears-up style I am able, not only to keep track of where I am relative
>>
>> to the length and width of the pool, but more important, to detect where
>> the
>>
>> side walls are, helping me avoid running into them and, when swimming laps,
>>
>> to know precisely where they are in order to stay within touching distance
>>
>> of them.
>>
>>
>>
>> This hearing the walls, detecting where they are, is more than just
>>
>> listening for the sound of splashing water as it encounters the pool's
>> sides
>>
>> and hearing background sounds coming over the top of the wall. This ability
>>
>> is more a result of the very real phenomenon that many blind people speak
>> of
>>
>> as "blind sonar" or echolocation (before it was better understood, it was
>>
>> called "facial vision"). When I am asked to explain this "detecting the
>>
>> walls," I usually explain that objects make their presence known both by
>> the
>>
>> quality of their echo feedback, which can be either highly reflective or
>>
>> sound absorbing, and also by the pressure that their mass projects, which
>> we
>>
>> usually feel on the face. Once you detect it, you can use the amount of
>>
>> pressure to judge your distance and angle from the object--in this case the
>>
>> pool wall. (Sailors speak of sailing on a moonless and starless night and
>>
>> feeling the loom of a nearby towering rock or an on-coming island.)
>>
>>
>>
>> Swimming as exercise is one of my new enthusiasms. I love physical
>> exercise.
>>
>> At every stage of my life I have found time for it. I presently do some
>> sort
>>
>> of exercise six days a week: lifting weights, running, and muscle crunches.
>>
>> Now I mix in swimming during the warm months. Not only does swimming tax
>>
>> your respiratory and circulatory systems, it also involves all your muscles
>>
>> and is a low-impact activity. I love the feeling I have after a good
>> workout
>>
>> in the water, overall fatigue yet a sense of accomplishment for having
>> given
>>
>> my body a good workout. Knowing I am better inside and out gives me a glow
>>
>> of virtue. Like most people I pride myself on knowing that I am taking good
>>
>> care of my body, my health, and my general appearance.
>>
>>
>>
>> If I don't watch it, I can get bored when I swim. So, as part of pool
>>
>> maintenance, I make a game of finding leaves and other debris that have
>>
>> fallen in the water. This is not just walking around feeling for stuff with
>>
>> my toes, I'm on a hunt. I make it a test of how quickly I can get to the
>>
>> bottom and conduct a search over a reasonably large area. I really get to
>>
>> work on my ability to hold a breath.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have also made up several great underwater games. I drop and lie prone on
>>
>> the floor of the pool. As I sink, I expel all the air in my lungs,
>>
>> eliminating buoyancy. The object is to sink and not have to fight to stay
>> on
>>
>> the bottom. With some of my body touching the spongy plastic flooring and
>>
>> stretched out with arms extended, I propel myself by finger and toe
>>
>> movements only. The object is to see how far and fast I can go.
>>
>>
>>
>> Another favorite underwater game is to visualize myself as a bird in
>> flight;
>>
>> the medium in which I am propelling myself, a body of water, is not very
>>
>> different from a bird flying through the air. The real thrill that comes
>>
>> with this second exercise is planning and executing course changes,
>>
>> sometimes radical ones; this is as close to soaring as we humans can get.
>> If
>>
>> I am swimming in a straight line, I perform a tilting sharp right or left
>>
>> turn or do a figure eight. The resulting position of my body is much like a
>>
>> bird's motion during a banking turn. You can really surprise yourself by
>>
>> coming up from the bottom on a steep angle as fast as you can and pop out
>> of
>>
>> the water. This is called broaching when a whale does it.
>>
>>
>>
>> My favorite swimming exercise is distance swimming, and I love to watch
>>
>> people's reaction when I say, "I swam a mile in my backyard." This is of
>>
>> course an aerobic activity intended to work on the respiratory,
>> circulatory,
>>
>> and musculature systems. The equation calculating a mile of swimming goes
>>
>> like this--a mile, 5,280 feet, divided by the perimeter of my pool, 56.5
>>
>> feet, equals about ninety-three laps. Because I am swimming just inside the
>>
>> pool's wall, using good old blind sonar to keep within touching distance of
>>
>> the side at all times, I add five laps to bring the distance traveled of
>>
>> about fifty-four feet a lap up to 5,292 feet. On average I make one circuit
>>
>> every thirty-five seconds, so one mile takes about fifty-seven minutes to
>>
>> complete.
>>
>>
>>
>> I have been asked how I track when I have completed a full circuit of the
>>
>> pool. I first thought that I would just keep track of the two turns and the
>>
>> two straight-a ways and raise my count that way. But, when you get into
>>
>> long-distance swimming and hit the zone that I will speak of in the next
>>
>> paragraphs, your mind begins floating free. You focus on thoughts that do
>>
>> not lend themselves to counting turns and straight-a ways or the shifting
>> of
>>
>> the sun or the sound of the neighbor's lawnmower. So I increase my lap
>> count
>>
>> by one each time I come abreast of the sound of the skimmer box, a cut-out
>>
>> hole in the pool's wall at the waterline that serves as an overflow port
>> and
>>
>> allows floating debris to be skimmed off the surface.
>>
>>
>>
>> Swimming a mile is not something I do every day; I don't always have the
>>
>> time to devote to it. Yet on average in the summer I do it two to three
>>
>> times a week. I am going to describe swimming a mile because of what
>>
>> happens, not only the physical glow and healthy fatigue, but, even more
>>
>> intriguing, achieving the zone, the mental state that comes as my body
>>
>> adjusts to the strong and continuous physical strain.
>>
>>
>>
>> Starting a long swim, I am excited to begin but nervous that I may not make
>>
>> it. I plunge in, either pushing off the ladder or diving off the deck, not
>>
>> touching bottom then or when I finish. Until I hoist myself out again onto
>>
>> the hard, dry planks of the deck, water will be my only medium. My swims
>>
>> have pretty much developed a pattern of both physical and mental stages:
>> the
>>
>> warm-up, the struggle, the second wind and the zone, then the hard work,
>> and
>>
>> the final push to the finish.
>>
>>
>>
>> I warm up during the first ten or so laps, stretching muscles and joints,
>>
>> working the breathing, finding the right stroke, slowly building up speed.
>> A
>>
>> modified breast stroke works best for me. Visualize my head up, ears and
>>
>> nose out of the water, my back and shoulders rhythmically bobbing above and
>>
>> below the surface of the water, my body rocking as I first stretch out,
>> legs
>>
>> kicking back while simultaneously my arms reach ahead. Then my body
>>
>> contracts as my arms stroke back and my legs come forward. This quick
>>
>> one-two action is repeated again and again. I call this swimming style my
>>
>> sea gallop.
>>
>>
>>
>> I first feel fatigue somewhere in the twenties. I just push through this
>>
>> feeling and refuse to give in. Sometimes, to boost my willpower, I give
>>
>> myself a fantasy goal, visualizing that I am swimming away from the
>> mainland
>>
>> toward an island a mile offshore.
>>
>>
>>
>> Somewhere in the thirties I reach and pass through a physical barrier and
>>
>> settle into my most economical stroke. I have my second wind and find that
>>
>> pushing my speed up to about two-thirds of my best is a pace that I can
>> hold
>>
>> for the next twenty to thirty laps. It is here that I am no longer giving
>>
>> full attention to what my body is doing. I experience a separation of
>>
>> physical and mental awareness. I have reached the zone. My body is working
>>
>> on something like autopilot, where I am fully aware of all that it is doing
>>
>> and I am in full control, but I suddenly find my thoughts expanding,
>>
>> sometimes cascading. When I focus on one thought, the images come fast and
>>
>> full, and I find that I can take them places that I ordinarily would not be
>>
>> capable of--working out problems in relationships, building story-lines for
>>
>> articles such as this one, examining the secrets of life, and more. During
>>
>> this period I have the hardest time keeping track of laps. When in doubt of
>>
>> the count, I always repeat the lap.
>>
>>
>>
>> The later fifties and early sixties can be a time to slow down and shift
>> the
>>
>> strain from one set of muscles to another, giving parts of my body a rest.
>>
>> Then in the later sixties and lower seventies I can again push on strong,
>> up
>>
>> to about two-thirds power, and I'm again in the zone. By the later
>>
>> mid-eighties and nineties I am again swimming at about one-third speed,
>>
>> working at it to stay steady and concentrating on having a good finish.
>>
>>
>>
>> At this writing my longest distance has been two miles. My goal for this
>>
>> summer is five miles. I have run five miles many times in the past, and
>>
>> swimming them will indeed be a challenge. (The zone in running is called
>>
>> "runner's high.") But challenge in life is what we all need, and as blind
>>
>> people in this day and age, when others often doubt our abilities, we need
>>
>> to be ready to tackle any and all challenges that come our way. Success
>> with
>>
>> a physical challenge can be one way of building belief and confidence in
>>
>> ourselves and can help us to meet and overcome life's challenges.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> NFB-Seniors mailing list
>> NFB-Seniors at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-seniors_nfbnet.org
>> Division website: http://seniors.nfb.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> NFB-Seniors:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfb-seniors_nfbnet.org/bshaid%40gmail.com
>>
>
>
> --
>
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Wisp-Barbara-Shaidnagle/dp/1511630515/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
>
>
>
> http://www.amazon.com/Trashy-White-Girls-Barbara-Shaidnagle/dp/1512159948/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8
>
> DeColores
> Barbara
> _______________________________________________
> NFB-Seniors mailing list
> NFB-Seniors at nfbnet.org
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