JUNE

7th: Jim Williams, “The Life and Times of Raul Castro, the first Hispanic Governor”

10th: TSB Board Meeting at 10:15 AM

14th: Barbara Macpherson, “Overlooked Resources for Persons with Visual Impairment and the Philosophy of Blindness,” and at 11:30-1:30 PM -Manny’s Basic iPhone class

21st: Representative Morgan Abraham will talk about funding education, and water and environmental issues in Arizona, Pizza Party, stay to 12:15 PM

21st: Lesson with Manny on the iPhone on Zoom 6:30 – 8:30 PM

28th: No meeting at church – Vacation Bible School

 

JULY

5th: No meeting – 11:30 AM luch at Olive Garden 5410 E. Broadway, Pay for your own lunch. Get 1:00-1:30 PM out.

9th: TSB Board Meeting at 10:15 AM

12th: Jeff Babson, biologist – “Desert Animals, attraction and Mating”

19th: Senator Stephanie Stahl Hamilton will talk about Arizona issues such as funding of education and environmental issues

19th: Lesson with Manny on the iPhone on Zoom 6:30 – 8:30 PM

26th: TBA

27th: Gaslight Theater, 5:00 PM, 7010 E. Broadway Blvd , “Ghost Busters” Come join us for a fun night with supper at Little Anthony and then watch the funny and interactive Gaslight play and oleo. We have reserved 25 seats, at $22 each with seats in the first two rows and the fourth row. Deadline to pay your money for reservation is July 19 or send check to: Barbara Macpherson, 9862 E Creek St., Tucson, AZ 85730.

AUGUST

2nd: Christine Vivona, Playing glorious harp music

 

ANNOUNCEMENTS

President’s Message by Barbara Macpherson

Happy Summer! TSB members and friends are going to the Gaslight Theater to see “Ghost Busters” on Wednesday, July 27th at 5:00 PM. Tickets are $22 each. We will have dinner at Little Anthony’s before seeing the play. So, plan on joining us for a fun evening and let me know as soon as possible if you are coming.

You will find an article on “Positive Self Talk”. Here are some things I tell myself with vision loss:
• Any new change or technology has a learning curve. I will get this with patience and practice. How else can I do something, not using vision? Who could I call to brainstorm with?
• If there is a will, there is a way.
• Blindness is a pain in the butt but it is not the end of the world.
• I’m so frustrated, I’ll take a break and read my book I got from the Talking Book Library.
• Keep trying; practice makes perfect.

Have a Happy July 4th!

Eye Talk by Annie Schlesinger – “FALLING”

In May, 2021 I was changing clothes; I bent over and fell on my arm and broke my wrist. I discovered Tucson Orthopedic Institute has a weekday evening walk-in clinic.

Since that time, I have had trouble with my balance as well as some pain and stiffness in that arm and hand. Preparing for blindness and aging has helped me during this time. I have been to neurologist and ear, nose and throat specialist and also gone to physical therapy. Fortunately, I didn’t have a stroke but if I had called 911 the tests and scans could’ve been done in an ER instead of waiting months for appointments. I ended up with a diagnosis of “Vestibular Disorder” which seems to be a catch-all diagnosis for my problems. I have an imbalance problem and often bad pain in my head.

Sessions with a physical therapist has helped me with my balance and feelings of dizziness, but some degree of dizziness is always present. I continue to do home exercises for both balance and dizziness.

I look around my senior living community and have incorporated some new behaviors. I don’t bend over but if I do, I hang onto something and keep my head up. I seem to fall forward but I have a friend who says she has to be careful about falling backwards. I set up a dressing chair; it has arms and faces the bed. I have a shower chair, hand held shower, and grab bars; I need it all.

For a number of months, I have been pushing a personal shopping cart for support and protection. That is not the best solution. I need to get back to using the long white cane to travel safely. I don’t want to use a walker as it requires two hands to hold on and a third hand for the long cane. It’s possible but it’s always one step at a time. It seems my choice is a support cane, a hemi walker or propel myself by my feet in a wheelchair with the long white cane sweeping in front. I am trying a lightweight shopping cart I pull behind with the long white cane in front. I am looking for help on what best to do as a blind person who has very poor balance.

The website http://vestibular.org has an incredible amount of information about diseases and balance. The eyes affect balance; I do gaze stabilization exercises. I have joined two of their online support groups as I try to learn about this impact on my life.

 

NEVER SAY: “I’M TOO OLD FOR THAT!“
How to shush your negative inner voice and think positively.
By Paula Spencer Scott

We all have a voice in our heads. It reminds us what’s on the grocery list, encourages good choices and psyches us up. But sometimes that inner voice does more harm than good. It might say, “I’m too old for that! I’m not good enough.” And when it comes to your inner voice, “bad is stronger than good,” says University of Michigan psychologist Ethan Kross, author of Chatter: The Voice in Our Head, Why It Matters, and How to Harness It.”

We’re wired to notice the negative stuff more. That can undermine reasoning and decision-making skills (older adults who believe stereotypes about aging are more likely to do worse on cognitive tests). And negative self-talk stimulates a stress response that at toxic levels can contribute to cardiovascular disease and cancer,” Kross says.

One study showed that conversely, people with positive age beliefs were less likely to develop Alzheimer’s, even if their risks were high. Read on to shush your negative inner voice.

• Talk to yourself like you would a good friend. Use your own name and the word “you.” “The links in the mind are incredibly tight, so when you refer to yourself the way you refer to others, you’re thrust into adviser mode. You shift perspective and it’s easier to wade through difficulties,” Kross says.
• Think about how you’ll feel tomorrow. Shifting to a future view highlights the impermanence of present woes. “I’ll say to myself, “Ethan, how are you going to feel about it in the morning?”
• Talk to someone who will broaden your perspective. Venting may feel good at the moment, but avoid passive listeners or like-minded friends. It’s more productive to go over things with a confidante who’ll help you broaden your perspective and think through options.
• Reframe your situation as a challenge-not a threat. For example, rather than focusing on losses, focus on how getting older brings wisdom and new opportunities.
• Stop “doomscrolling.” We’ve been living through “the biggest chatter period of the last 100 years,” All of that negative chatter-political polarization, the pandemic, inflation and news of war-have brought feelings that weaken our inner cheerleader, build uncertainty, and lack of control. Is it any wonder that there have been spikes in road rage and general incivility? It’s easier to think more positively if you don’t bombard yourself with repetitive, stressful bad-news stories.
• Take control. Even cleaning or making a to-do list can help you exert order and create a sense of being in control.
• Little rituals (prayer, meditation, lining up your pencils) also can be calming.
• Go outside. Green spaces reset our attention, which negative chatter depletes. Outdoors, we often feel the emotion of awe, being in the presence of something vast or indescribable (the Grand Canyon, a tree, a cathedral). Awe triggers us to think beyond ourselves-and magically shrinks the pesky voice in our head.
• Be your own best friend and encourage that inner voice to be positive

 

You Don’t Look Blind and You Wear Glasses

Perhaps the biggest misconception about people affected by retinal diseases is that they see nothing at all. While some have indeed gone completely blind, most are in the process of losing their vision. And depending on the person, and the disease, this takes years or decades. In some cases, central vision goes first, in others, peripheral vision.

Either way, vision loss is a huge challenge for those going through it, both physically and psychologically. On the physical end, canes, guide dogs, assistive technology can all help. But psychologically, that’s another matter.

It doesn’t help that there are still many sighted people unaware of the vision-loss spectrum. So, when we posted an article on Facebook on March 20th about a bus driver who’d given a woman with RP a hard time for not looking blind, we coupled it with a question: “Have you had to deal with similar situations?” Well, we got 85 responses, some of which I share below:

“An old friend said, ‘Aren’t you sort of faking it?’ I asked for her car keys. ‘If you want to see real faking, let’s go for a joy ride.’”

I was at the airport a while ago, and was sitting waiting for my flight and had my white cane with me. Two teenage girls sat across from me and got into a discussion that they did not think I was blind because I did not have those ‘funny eyes.” This discussion went on for several minutes while I just sat there. I finally leaned forward and explained I was legally blind, which meant I had some vision and also, I was not deaf. They both got up and almost ran, just to get away. The look on their face was priceless. Those of us who are legally blind need to continue to educate everyone we meet.

 

Inspirational Quotes by Helen Keller
Members enjoyed seeing the DVD “Becoming Helen Keller” Here are some of her inspiring quotes:

1. “You can never consent to creep when one feels an impulse to soar.”
2. “People do not like to think. If one thinks, one must reach conclusions. Conclusions are not always pleasant.”
3. “Self-pity is our worst enemy and if we yield to it, we can never do anything good in the world.”
4. “Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived.”
5. “The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched. They must be felt within the heart.”
6. “We could never learn to be brave and patient, if there were only joy in  the world.”
7. “When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us.”
8. “Be the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life, or in the life of another.”
9. “Many people have the wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is  not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.”
10. “Never bend your head. Hold it high. Look the world straight in the eye.”
11. “Literature is my utopia. Here I am not disenfranchised. No barrier of the senses shuts me out from the sweet, gracious discourses of my book friends. They talk to me without embarrassment or awkwardness.”
12. “The highest effect of education is tolerance.

 

Here are some July 4th jokes

1. What’s the difference between a duck and George Washington?
One has a bill on his face, and the other has his face on a bill.

2. What did the colonists wear to the Boston Tea Party?
Tea-shirts.

3. What does the Statue of Liberty stand for?
It can’t sit down.

4. If you crossed a Patriot with a curly-haired dog, what would you get?
Yankee Poodle.

5. What do you get when you cross a dinosaur with fireworks?
Dino-mite!

6. Why did the duck say “bang”?
Because he was a firequacker.

7. Was the Declaration of Independence written in Philadelphia?
No, it was written in ink.

8. What do you call an American revolutionary who draws cartoons?
A Yankee Doodler.

9. Why were the first Americans like ants?
They lived in colonies.

10. Why did Paul Revere ride his horse from Boston to Lexington?
Because the horse was too heavy to carry!

11. What protest by a group of dogs occurred in 1772?
The Boston Flea Party.

12. Did you hear the one about the Liberty Bell?
Yeah, it cracked me up!

13. What did the little firecracker say to the bigger firecracker?
Hi, Pop!

14. What did the firecracker eat at the movies?
Pop-corn.

15. What did one flag say to the other flag?
Nothing. It just waved.

16. What do you call an American drawing?
Yankee doodle!

 

When You Thought I Wasn’t Looking
Mary Rita Schilke Korzan

When you thought I wasn’t looking – You hung my first painting on the refrigerator
And I wanted to paint another.

When you thought I wasn’t looking – You fed a stray cat.
And I thought it was good to be kind to animals.

When you thought I wasn’t looking – You baked a birthday cake just for me.
And I knew that little things were special things.

When you thought I wasn’t looking – You said a prayer.
And I believed there was a God that I could always talk to.

When you thought I wasn’t looking – You kissed me good-night.
And I felt loved.

When you thought I wasn’t looking – I saw tears come from your. eyes
And I learned that sometimes things hurt – But that it’s alright to cry.

When you thought I wasn’t looking – You smiled.
And it made me want to look that pretty too.

When you thought I wasn’t looking – You cared.
And I wanted to be everything I could be.

When you thought I wasn’t looking – I looked.
And I wanted to say thanks for all those things you did