Mountain Views News          Saturday, June 18, 2016

THE GOOD LIFE

9

Mountain Views-News Saturday, June 18, 2016 

SENIOR HAPPENINGS

DECIDING WHAT TO DO IN RETIREMENT 


Dear Savvy Senior,

I just turned 62 and am financially prepared for 
retirement, but I’m less certain about how to spend my 
time after leaving work. Can you recommend some 
resources or tools that can help me with this? 

Feeling Lost

Dear Lost,

This is a great question! Many people, when asked what 
they want to do when they retire, will say they want a 
mix of travel, play and meaningful work. Specifics, 
however, tend to be few and far between. But planning 
how to fill your time in retirement is just as important as 
the financial planning aspect. Here are some resources 
that can help. 

Online Tools

A good starting point to figuring out what you want to 
do in retirement is at LifeReimagined.aarp.org. This is 
an AARP website (you don’t have to be a member to 
use it) that can help you rediscover what truly matters 
to you and focus on what you really want to do. It offers 
a variety of online exercises and programs that will 
hopefully spark some ideas and give you inspiration. 

 Encore.org is another good resource that helps 
people who are seeking work that matters in the second 
half of life. Click on “Resources” on the menu bar 
and download their free Encore Guide, and consider 
purchasing a copy of their “Encore Career Handbook” 
(available at Amazon.com or BN.com for $10.50) by 
Marci Alboher, which is excellent. 

 Also check out the free E-book called “The Age for 
Change,” which can help answer the question: “What 
now?” You can download this at ComingOfAge.org. 

 And, if you’ve never taken a personality test before, 
this too can be a good tool to help you figure out what 
type of activities or work you’d like to do. A good option 
for this is the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment, 
which you can take online at MBTIcomplete.com for 
$50.

Personalized Guidance

If you want personalized help, you can also get one-
on-one guidance from a retirement or life planning 
coach. Some resources that can help you here include 
LifePlanningForYou.com, which has a free exercise 
called EVOKE to help identify a path that might 
suit you best in later life, and provides a directory to 
registered life planners to help guide you.

 Also see: RetirementOptions.com, which will 
connect you with a retirement coach who will give 
you an assessment to help reveal your attitudes and 
opinions about work, family life, relationships, leisure 
time and more. And the LifePlanningNetwork.org, 
which is a group of professionals and organizations that 
help people navigate the second half of life. You can also 
find life and retirement coaching at the International 
Coach Federation at CoachFederation.org. 

 Coaching sessions typically range from $75 to $300 
or more, and usually require four to six sessions to get 
the most out of the process.

Other Resources

If you’re primarily interested in volunteering, finding 
a retirement job or even starting a business when you 
retire, there are lots of resources that can help here too. 

 For volunteering, PointsOfLight.org, 
VolunteerMatch.org and SeniorCorps.gov and help 
you search for opportunities, or even create one on your 
own. 

 To look for job ideas, sites like RetirementJobs.
com, Workforce50.com and RetiredBrains.com list 
thousands of jobs nationwide from companies that are 
actively seeking older workers. FlexJobs.com can help 
you find good work-at-home jobs. CoolWorks.com and 
BackDoorJobs.com are great for locating seasonal or 
summer jobs in great places. Or to search for freelance 
opportunities in a wide variety of areas, there’s Elance.
com and Guru.com.

 And if you’re interested in starting a new business, 
the U.S. Small Business Administration offers tips, 
tools and free online courses to entrepreneurs that are 
50 and older at SBA.gov/content/50-entrepreneurs, as 
does the nonprofit association Score at Score.org.

 

 Send your senior questions to: Savvy Senior, P.O. 
Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070, or visit SavvySenior.org. 
Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and 
author of “The Savvy Senior” book.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY! ….June Birthdays

Joanne Thrane, Nellie Haynes, Dorothy McKay, George Enyedi, Theresa Daley, 
Donna Doss, Mary Carney, Carol Handley, Marilyn McKernan, Pat Fujiwara, John 
Shier, Beth Smith-Kellock, Ann Disbrow, Joan Ellison, Anne Montgomery, Trini 
Ornelas, Martha Spriggs, Pat Starkey, Kathleen Coyne, Suzanne Decker, Jacque 
Persing, Jeanne Peterson and Grace Sanders

* To add your name to this distinguished list, please call the paper at 626.355.2737. YEAR of birth 
not required but you must be over 60.

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ACTIVITIES: Unless listed differently, all activities are at the 
Hart Park House (Senior Center) 222 W. Sierra Madre Blvd., Sierra Madre

 

 

 YWCA San Gabriel Valley - Intervale Senior Cafe 

Seniors 60 years of age and up can participate in the YWCA Intervale daily lunch program held 
at the Hart Park House Senior Center. Meals are served Monday through Friday at 12:00 pm 
and participants are encouraged to arrive by 11:45 am. Meals are a suggested donation of $3.00 
for seniors 60 and over or $5.00 for non-senior guests. Daily reservations are necessary, space is 
limited. Please reserve your lunch by calling 626-355-0256.

Hawaiian and Polynesian Dance Class: Every Tuesday morning from 10:00 - 11:00am. Join 
instructor Barbara Dempsey as she instructs you in the art of hula. 

Bingo: Every Tuesday beginning at 1:00pm. Cards are only $0.25 each! Everyone is welcome to 
join. May be cancelled if less than 5 people. 

 

Free Blood Pressure Testing: 2nd Tuesday of the month from 11am to 12pm. No appt. is 
necessary. 

 

Brain Games: Thursday, June 16, 10:30 - 11:30am. Improve your memory and strengthen your 
brain. Activities facilitated by senior volunteers. 

 

Free Legal Consultation: Wednesday, June 15th from 10:30am to Noon. Attorney Lem 
Makupson is available for legal consultation. He specializes in Family Law, Wills, Trusts, Estates, 
and Injury. Appointment are required by calling 626-355-7394. 

Sing-A-Long: Music brings joy to the soul. Come join us Thursday, June 9, 10:30 - 11:30am. No 
music skills needed! This month: “Silly Folk Songs”. 

Balance Class: Monday, June 20, 11:00 - 11:45am with Paul Hagen. A variety of balance exercises 
are practiced; all ability levels are encouraged and welcomed. 

 

Chair Yoga: Mondays and Wednesdays from 11:00 to 11:45 am. A suggested donation of $5 at one 
of the classes is requested, but is not required. 

 

Case Management: Meets the 2nd Thursday of the month. Case Management services are 
provided by the YWCA and provide assistance in a variety of areas. Appointments are required 
and can be scheduled by calling the HPH Office at 626-355-7394. 

 

Birthday Celebrations: Every second Thursday of the month at the Hart Park House. The free 
birthday cake is provided by the Sierra Madre Civic Club. 

 

Game Day: Every Thursday starting at 12:00pm. (Please note the time change.) A regular group of 
seniors play poker. Other games available for use. 

 

Free Strength Training Class: Every Friday from 12:45pm to 1:30pm with Lisa Brandley. The 
class utilizes light weights for low impact resistance training. All materials for the class are 
provided. 

 

Senior Club: Every Saturday at the Hart Park House Senior Center. Brown bag lunch at 11:30am. 
Club meeting at noon. Bingo 12:30-3:30pm. Annual Membership is only $10.00. 

Lunch and Learn - Thursday, June 23 - 12:30 - 1:00pm 

 Did you know 1 out of 5 people 65 or older is eligible for a SilverSneakers membership! This 
active adult wellness program is offered through many Medicare plans. Increase your energy 
and your overall well-being is possible with SilverSneakers. A representative from Healthways 
SilverSneakers will give a brief presentation about this wonderful benefit and find out if your 
health plan offers the SilverSneakers Fitness program. If you are interested in having lunch with 
the Senior Lunch Café before the presentation please call 626-355-0256 to make a reservation.

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KATIE Tse.....................This and That

ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

 
Well, I had two consecutive weeks of turning 
in new articles, so I hope that my recycling of 
an old one this week is forgivable. One rule of 
thumb I’ve developed over the years is that if I 
barely remember an article I wrote, there’s a good 
chance my readers will have forgotten it as well. 
So, I hope this has all the fresh newness that it 
did when I wrote it several years ago. Enjoy! 


 Besides ex-pat Swedes, who go there for the 
meatballs and kipper snacks, IKEA is for people 
going through some life transition. The last time 
I visited the store was when 
I moved into my apartment. 
It was a few years ago, so 
my memories are sketchy. I 
remember the store being a 
multileveled warehouse with 
rooms instead of aisles, and 
no clear signage indicating 
where you’re going. No doubt 
this layout helps customers 
better visualize the furniture in 
context, but I just think IKEA 
wants you to get lost and buy 
more stuff. I recall scribbling 
item numbers, prices, and 
dimensions on a pad of paper 
as I went from room to room, 
trying to remember if the 
“Malm” was a darker brown 
than the “Odda.” 


 Next, we (a willing victim 
such as my dad or husband) descended into 
the bowels of the store to fetch the items from 
aisles of identical flat cardboard boxes (see, aisles 
had to come in eventually). It was like the last 
scene of “Raiders of the Lost Ark,” but crowded. 
And you better hope you copied down the item 
numbers correctly, otherwise you might end up 
with an Odda instead of a Malm. Finally, we 
hauled the boxes on a metal gurney to the car. 
At the apartment, the victim and I unpacked 
the things and put them together at a later date, 
because you can only concentrate so much in 
one day. 


 One of the beauties of IKEA, I never 
appreciated until now, is the simplicity of its 
designs and directions. A picture is preferable to 
a thousand words, and I became keenly aware of 
this while helping my friend assemble a Fisher-
Price bassinet. Our husbands were at work, 
and in an attitude of “girl power,” I assured her 
we’d finish the thing before they got home. She 
warned me it was a two-person job. We started 
by holding metal poles in place while stretching 
very taut fabric over them, and then inserting 
more poles into more tight fabric tubing. I 
mused that this must be what building a tent 
is like (you can tell how often I go camping), 
and considered it might even be a three-person 
job. Subsequent steps had us tightly maneuver 
the ruffled skirt over its frame and fasten it all 
together with a series of tightly stretched pockets 
and snaps. The key word in all of this is “tight,” if 
you haven’t noticed. 


 Feeling successful at having won the battle 
of pockets and snaps, we stood up to admire 
our progress. “Alright, now we need to snap the 
first canopy arm onto the frame aligning with 
the holes on the frame through the slot on the 
side of the skirt with two slots,” she read. That 
sounded fine, except our slots didn’t match the 
slots in the picture. We compared them every 
way we could, but each time, ours turned out 
looking backwards. “Did we put the skirt on 
backwards?” “No, because it says the ‘Warning’ 
sign needs to be at the back like ours is.” “But 
then the slots don’t line up with the holes.” “Okay, 
let’s take it off and put it on the other way.” 


 So we undid all our beautiful snap and pock 
et work and refastened everything “backwards.” 
“Well, now the slots line up, but it doesn’t match 
the picture.” Again, we analyzed all the angles 
and concluded this was the way it had to be, 
despite Fisher-Price’s guidance. “Now,” she read, 
“we stretch the canopy across the skirt frame and 
secure the ends with snaps.” “Ah ha!” I shouted, 
clutching the edges of the canopy. “There are no 
snaps, it’s all Velcro! Now we know we can’t trust 
the instructions!” I felt vindicated. Although 
technically backwards, we finished it before the 
guys got home. 


 My husband and I later helped them assemble 
some more furniture. But, being IKEA, it was 
all comparable smooth sailing. I think my IKEA 
days are over for a while. That is, unless I go back 
to try their meatballs. Hey, 10 pieces are only 
$2.99!


SAN ANTONIO WINERY (Los Angeles) 

 Date: Friday, June 17, 2016 

Time: 10:45AM - .3:00PM 

Meeting Location: Hart Park House 

Cost: $6.00 (Does not include lunch) 

 

Description: The San Antonio Winery is the last remaining winery in Downtown Los Angeles. 
Owned and operated by four generations of the Riboli Family since its founding, the original San 
Antonio Winery still sits on the same plot of land where the winery was first built in 1917. We 
will have a 40 minute tour and there will be wine tasting. Lunch is on your own at Maddalena 
Restaurant, located inside the San Antonio Winery. Last day to register is June 3. Level of walking: 
Medium. Please call the Hart Park House 626-355-7394. 

LAKE ARROWHEAD QUEEN

Date: Wednesday, July 20

Time: 9:00am – 4:00pm

Meeting Location: Hart Park House

Cost: $17.00 (Does not include lunch)

Description: Ride in style in the enclosed Lake 
Arrowhead Queen paddlewheel boat. Experience the beauty and excitement of a narrated tour 
of Lake Arrowhead aboard the elegant Arrowhead Queen. The splendor and serenity of Lake 
Arrowhead’s lush forest, sparkling water and blue skies glide by, as you sit back and enjoy close-up 
of exquisite lakefront homes and learn about the fascinating history of the lake. Lunch is on your 
own around Lake Arrowhead Village. Participants should bring money for lunch and souvenirs. 
Level of walking: Medium. 

Please call the Hart Park House 626-355-7394.

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SENIOR CINEMA • 1st & 3rd Wednesday Shown at the Hart Park House Senior Center 

MR. HOLMES (2015)

An aged, retired Sherlock Holmes deals with early dementia as he tries to remember both his final 
case and a mysterious woman whose memory haunts him. He also befriends a fan, the young son 
of his housekeeper, who wants him to work again. Starring Ian McKellen, Laura Linney, Hiroyuki 
Sanada. Start time: 1:00pm (run time 1h 44m).

UPCOMING EXCURSIONS:


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com