AM I JUST TYPICAL FOGEY - ANGRY AT THE YOUNGER GENERATION?

My wife and I enjoy life in a 1730 square foot apartment in a downtown condo building. We rent. We have better uses for our money than to spend it on real estate. That's another story we can discuss later. It is important enough to be part of my ideas about retirement.

As we sit idly watching one of those "House Hunter" type shows (my wife is addicted) we marvel at the criteria buyers bring to their choice of a new home. It puzzles me.

In our place we do not have crown moulding. We have popcorn ceilings. There is no fireplace.
We do not have a granite counter in the kitchen. We have old-fashioned vertical blinds. And, horror of horrors, the walls are covered with art, the windows are littered with art glass, there are bookshelves everywhere, and we do not own at HD-TV.

Totally out of touch I suppose.

Without dwelling on the kitchen - my favourite place - I simply do not understand why granite has become de rigeur, the toy du jour. If you cook you do a lot of cutting. You can't cut on granite. You'll wreck your knives. Woodblock is the only choice.

I do not understand the fascination with decks.

Many years ago the Toronto Star ran an article on what features attract home buyers. The biggest sellers - what today we call the "wow" factor, were a fireplace and a curving staircase. To me at that time, and I was in my 40s, those seemed to be the least important issues when it came to personal comfort and relaxation.

I was, and today am even more convinced that too many people buy things to impress other people. I really don't understand the new buzz word "curb appeal." How much time do you really spend standing in front of your home and gazing at it? Unless...what you really want is to have other people love your house and compliment you on how it looks from the street.

Mind you, I don't garden. I tried but everything popped up briefly then died.

I hope you have found the website and will contribute to it.
For the present, until we get to know each other, I'll be keeping it light.

When I watch these people inspect a home I am incredulous at some of their criteria.

Don't misunderstand - I enjoy sitting around with some old cronies, especially if I haven,t seen them for a while, and play the game of "remember when..." But one of hazards of aging (and all you 50 and 60 somethings had better learn this now) is that we seem to lose our spirit of adventure. It is so tempting, especially if you are newly retired, to just chill out and think about spending the next ten years lying in the sun under a palm tree or chasing a golf ball for an afternoon.
It starts to pall.
Stay connected. Adventure. Try things. Travel. Learn to play the ukelele.

HOBBIES If you are one of those hard-working types, by the time you finish a day's work you have nothing left in the tank. Pour yourself a drink. Turn on the TV. Or - DO something!

I have always cooked. I even cooked on TV when I was co-host of Juliette and Friends.
My wife and I throw dinNer parties usually for anything from eight to twelve people. The truth is, we have dinner parties, not just because I like people, but because I'll take any excuse to cook.

The family, my daughter, her husband and three teenage boys were up from Texas for my birthday. Before I knew it I had assembled 24 people for a buffet dinner. You know - "if you're inviting this one you can't not invite that one. So it grows.

Summoning all my culinary skills I prepared a menu: appetizers -pate (really Jewish deli style chopped liver) and shrimp.
Salad: old-fashioned Caesar. Mains: barbecue ribs, chicken wings, beef bourguignon, mac and cheese, roast brisket,
Veg: succotash, and cold pea salad. Dessert - I forget.

I cooked everything from scratch - not the shrimp or the dessert.

We had a feast. My back was sore. I probably drank too much. We now have a freezer full of leftovers.

IF YOU WANT ANY OF MY RECIPES OR WANT TO EXCHANGE YOUR OWN - PLEASE DO.
MAYBE LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU COOK FOR DINNER PARTIES.


ODDS AND ENDS.
Is anyone on my friends list more than a little irritated about what the CBC has done to Radio 2?
I am convinced that the brass (and I worked with them enough to know) will not care much because they are sure they have a handle on "what people want."


The site will improve if I can bring my uncertain hands to grasp how to create a proper website.

I'll be back. Keep in touch.

Larry