Rock of Ages

I recently found myself at an Alanis Morrisette concert in Amsterdam with my son and his wife, surrounded by 20 and 30-somethings. I went all the way to Holland to see a performer from my own town – Isn’t It Ironic? I must admit that while I felt a bit out of place, I really enjoyed her concert.

Why is it that at 50 I can still identify with the painful breakup music of Alanis? Could it be because I spent a good portion of my adult life getting over one breakup or another? Or maybe it’s just because we really are the same people inside at 50 as we were at 20, only we repackage our interests to match what seems to be ’normal’ for people-of-a-certain-age.

I can’t help but notice that while performers like Rod Stewart and the Rolling Stones still rock on into their twilight years, there isn’t a female that I can think of that is still rocking at their age. Men seem to be able to get away with it – their road-mapped faces add to their bad-boy rocker image. I don’t think a woman who looked like the female version of Ron Woods would continue to be popular. Will Alanis Morrisette still be popular in another 20-30 years when her breasts have sagged, her jowl is hanging and her hair is white? Unfortunately, I think she’s going to need more than a Jagged Little Pill to maintain her popularity into her senior years.

We think that as women we’ve made progress, but some things never change…

Vitamin D

Breast cancer patients with low levels of vitamin D were much more likely to die of the disease or have it spread than patients getting enough of the nutrient, a study found — adding to evidence the "sunshine vitamin'' has anti-cancer benefits.

Only 24 percent of women in the study had sufficient blood levels of D at the time they were first diagnosed with breast cancer. Those who were deficient were nearly twice as likely to have their cancer recur or spread over the next 10 years, and 73 percent more likely to die of the disease.

"These are pretty big differences,'' said study leader Dr. Pamela Goodwin of Mount Sinai Hospital in Toronto. "It's the first time that vitamin D has been linked to breast cancer progression.''

To read the complete story, go to: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24654464/

Biking in the Netherlands

Just a quick note to say that I love Holland (despite a tooshie that's recovering from 5 days in the bike saddle!).

My favorite place here has been Texel, an island off the north-west coast of Holland where Jennifer & I spent 3 days. The island is 25 km long and 9 km wide, with sand dunes, beaches that go on forever, fields of sheep, and picturesque villages.

But of course, the highlight of the trip for me has been spending time with my two favorite people - my son Adam and his wife Tara.
After all the biking we did last weekend, I didn't think Adam would be in a hurry for his mom to come back anytime soon. However, he says that next time I visit he'll have a motorized scooter and will be waiting in a pub for us at each town along the way. :-)