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Taiwan, a small island off the east coast of China, is known for it’s beautiful women, stylish clothes, and computer parts. However, getting around Taiwan can be tricky if you don’t speak Mandarin, or drive. After what I’ve seen of Chinese driving habits, I’d rather leave driving to the experts—like the taxi drivers, bus drivers, or mooter scooter drivers. Too much tension for me.

However, an excellent surfing beach can be found north of Taipei. You can even take the train from Taipei station directly to Fulong. Once in Fulong, get off the train and there’s a surf shop across from the train station, across from the 7-11.

We met the owner, a Mr. Dollar, who rents boards for approximately $30 U.S. Once you have rented your board, you head towards the 7-11 and the down the long beautiful road to the beach. Mr. Dollar just happens to own a small hotel next to the beach where you’ll find a few Australians holed up for the summer. A luxury hotel it isn’t, but if you’re there for the surf, it’s cheap and ample.

The atmosphere is small-town tropical. It reminded me of Encinitas, California in the 1960’s. The afternoon we were there the waves were around 3 feet, short lefts (which everyone rode) towards the breakwater, and long rights that remained un-ridden. The locals were eccentric and very friendly. No sign of localism. Asian politeness reigned. It was good fun.

So if you ever feel stuck in Taipei, take the train to Fulong. Tell “Mr. Dollar” I sent you.

According to a study published by the Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, older adults could cut their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease by more than half by keeping their folate intake at 400 micrograms a day. The study, reported in the inaugural issue of the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, is the largest to date to show that the B vitamin folate could prevent Alzheimer’s.

Investigators also noted that most people in the study who reached the recommended intake level did so by taking folate supplements, in the form of folic acid supplements. The findings, if confirmed by other studies, could lead to a relatively simple way to avoid Alzheimer’s, an incurable brain disease that afflicts 4.5 million Americans. Folate is a B-vitamin nutrient found in foods such as leafy green vegetables, asparagus, broccoli, liver, oranges, and many types of beans and peas. Only 13% of study participants reached the recommended dietary allowance of folate from food alone. Most reached it through folic acid suppliments available at most drug stores. Make sure that your aging parent is taking folic acid supplements as an Alzheimer’s prevention strategy.

For more information on ways to prevent Alzheimer’s please visit:
http://www.boomer-books.com/health_page/healthpage.html

Some months have past now since the first post on the frozen shoulder. I’ve worked my way through a bottle of pain pills and two bottles of anti-inflammatories. I’ve learned a bit also which I’ll pass down to you in the form of Boomer Wizzdom:

1. Always get a second opinion if your orthopedic surgeon wants to roto-root your shoulder. I’ve heard horror stories of botched shoulder surgery. In my case, the second orthopedic surgeon felt that surgery wasn’t necessary. I felt relieved, as if a lawyer had just told me I didn’t need his services. (Think about this for a few minutes—it is a rare event for a lawyer to refuse to offer his service.)

2. Religiously follow the exercise plan that your physical therapist has laid out for you. You may feel dumb at the time, straining and groaning on your bedroom floor in some odd position you wouldn’t want anyone to see you in, but you’ll feel much better a few weeks later. Listening to your favorite music via an MP3 player can really help you enjoy the pain and humility of those exercises.

3. It helps to think of your shoulder having been shrinkwrapped by some mysterious force, and you have to stretch the tendons and muscles to break this spell. I found taking “Collagen+C” helped the stretching process. Or maybe it just helped me believe that improvements were happening faster than I expected.

I’m actually improving. I can do yardwork without constant pain. I’m even getting used to moving the computer mouse with my left hand. And if I can get better, I’m pretty sure that you can get better. Yes, a little pain brings on a lot of gain. And the pain pills and anti-inflammatories certainly help the pain.

Some links to learn more about a frozen shoulder are:

http://orthoinfo.aaos.org/fact/thr_report.cfm?Thread_ID=162&topcategory=Shoulder

It started as a quick tinge of pain when I reached into the back seat of the car for my raquetball raquet. Then, in the heat of the game, on a high overhead shot I felt it again. That excruciating pain in my shoulder.

Then slowly, as the months wore on, so did that pain in my shoulder. Pretty soon it hurt everytime I swung the raquet. A sharp pain that would make me scream. It would hurt like hell for a few minutes then dissapear completely. I became wary of sudden movements for the pain they would cause. Any sudden movement would cause my arm to hurt like hell. Then, like a famous Sinatra song, along came the spasms in the night. I’d wake up with my arm in spasms. At this point I could only sleep on my back or my left side. I was no longer able to stand the pain of sleeping on my stomach.

I went to a physical therapist, who showed me exercises that only seem to make things worse. But I did these exercises religiously as a Bhuddist monk meditates. My shoulder just didn’t get any better. Then I went to accupuncture. Ten sessions later I was in the same shape that I started in, but my wallet was a lot lighter. I went to a chiropractor who pulled my arm and made me scream. I could move my arm over my head for about one week. But, I’ll admit it, I was afraid to go back. It was just too damn painful.

I went to a orthopedic surgeon who gave me a shot of Cortizone. He ordered an MRI and from the results concluded that I had a frozen shoulder.

A frozen shoulder can be caused by many things:

1. A tear in the shoulder muscles can create a frozen shoulder. It will usually require a mini roto-rooter to suture, and root out the scar tissue so that the shoulder can move again.

2. A bone spur can grow into the muscle and cause a frozen shoulder. It also requires heavy-duty surgery to shave the bone away and roto-root the scar tissue and adhesions.

3. Old age. This is a frozen shoulder is really a mystery ailment. It’s one of God’s ways of welcoming you to having made it to 50-something. Or maybe he’s trying to tell you to slow down. Some times no one knows what causes a frozen shoulder. It is just one of those incredible hurting mysteries that life throws at you when you become older. Maybe it’s my payment for all those great waves I caught while surfing. Or being able to paddle over that huge surprise set of waves that washed everyone else in. Maybe it’s Karma. In my case of frozen shoulder, they wanted to roto-root out the adhesions, then, while I was knocked out, they’d move my arm in all the positions that would normally make me scream in pain. Since I’d be knocked out, I’d only feel them later after I woke up.

Uhh, I got a second opinion. The next orthopedic surgeon explained that if I exercized my shoulder, I’d be fine. The frozen shoulder would thaw on its own in another 6 months or so.

Since then I found a great deep-massage Chinese therapist. He feels it can be fixed in two months.

Somehow, I want to believe him.

Please let me know if any of you millions of people out there have ever suffered a frozen shoulder, and what you’ve done to get over it.

There’s a new Website that may be of some help if you’re looking for some help in figuring out how in the world to help your aging parent.

Many of us live busy lives, actively working in our careers while trying to bring up our children. Sometimes it becomes hard for us to recognize the symptoms our aging parent may be displaying. We may be hiding behind our rose-colored glasses of denial. Yet, the symptoms may be right under our noses. Our help may be needed and we may not even realize it. Or once we do realize it, we may not know how to go about offering help.

Hopefully this new website www.aging-parent.net
will help us figure out if our help is needed and where we can begin to find resources to help our aging parents—whether a geriatric evaluation is in order, or whether we need need the services of a geriatric advisor.

It contains links to forms, checklists and plenty of other sites that can help us down this road of caregiving, and help us feel that we are not alone in these travels—that others have been down this road before.

While visiting your aging parents during holidays, you may want to take a sharper notice of how they are getting along. Check for signs that may indicate they are slipping behind in life. While it may be hard to admit that your aging parent may need help, it is something that we all have to face sooner or later. Facing the problem of their need and getting past our own denial of that problem may be harder than forging ahead with actual solutions.

In order to help you play detective, and pssibly face up to your own denial of any problems, here are a few things to check for:

1. Are their bills being paid? Is there a stack of unpaid bills awaiting payment? Do they ask your help in deciphering an unpaid bill that they can’t understand?

2. Check their car. Are the tires full of air? Is the registration current? Has it been kept clean and tidy? Is it showing signs of neglect? Has it been driven?

3. How is their house kept? Are they keeping up the yard? Keeping up the yard is one of the hardest things for an older person to do, and generally the yard is the first to show signs of neglect.

4. Do they appear healthy? Are there recent injuries or visable bruises since your last visit? Are they mentally vital? Do they engage you in conversation, or do they ramble on repeating the same thing over and over?

5. Do they have hobbies that they enjoy such as painting, needlework, or sewing? Are they still active in these hobbies or have they given them up?

6. How does their physical health appear? Do they have shortness of breath? Is their skin a normal tone? Do they have a new cough? Are their ankles swollen?

Older people are less inclined to make a doctor appointment for common ailments that you and I wouldn’t hesitate on. Visiting the doctor becomes more of a hassle as you grow older.

To download a parent health evaluation checklist in Adobe Acrobat click
here.

Other forms you can download for helping your aging parent can be found for FREE at
http://www.Boomer-books

The holidays are usually the time of the year when we see our aging parents once again. Make sure that you’re not seeing your parent’s mental or physical health through glasses of denial. If you notice signs of decline in your parent, inform and rally your siblings to help you. There is action to take, and decisions to be made. An aging parent seldom gets better on their own—they need your help.

Some friends from Escondido, CA, introduced me to their grape vine of concord grapes. The grapes were lucious and sweet so I figured they would make a good wine.

However, when I got home I realized that I only had picked 11 lbs. of concord grapes. Not nearly enough for making 5 gallons of wine. On reading what I could on concord grape wine I noticed that the flavor is so strong that these grapes are not always used without mixing with water and a sweetner. So here’s what I concocted.

11 lbs. of concord grapes
4 lbs. of frozen berry mix (from Costco)
1 frozen tin of concord grape juice (from Supermarket)
1 bottle of passionfruit nectar (from Asian market)
10 lbs. of honey (Costco)
3 lbs. of sugar
6 sticks of cinnamin (whole)
6 star anise (bruised)
Red Star M0ntrachet yeast.
2 teaspoons of pectic emzyne
4 teaspoons acid blend (or 4 limes)

Bring 2 gallons of water to a boil. stir in the honey and sugar and passionfruit concentrate. Let it simmer for a bit to kill all the germs in the the honey. Meanwhile, wash the grapes, de-stem and throw away they cruddy and unripe grapes. Place grapes and frozen berry mix in your fruit bag. Wrap up the cinnamin and star anise in a coffee filter and tie it up with sewing thread. Place in the fruit bag.

After the sweet water mix has simmered for 15 minutes and everything is done with the fruit bag, pour the hot mixture over your fruit. Pour in filtered water to bring up to 6 gallons which you have hopefully marked on the side of your fermentator. Seal the fermentor with a tight-fitting lid that has a whole for a fermentation lock. Let it cool to room temperature and add 2 teaspoons of pectic emzyne, so that the emzynes can eat the pectin and some day the finished wine will appear clear. After the pectic emzynes have feasted for 12 hours add 6 crushed camden tablets to completely kill all traces of life within your fermentator. Replace the lid and think thoughts of scorched earth.

In another 12 hours add your yeast and prepare for the aroma to fill your house. Seal the lid. Stir the mix once a day. Always lick the spoon afterwards.

I just racked into secondary fermenter last night. It tasted fantastic! Lots of grape and fruity berry tastes with alcohol and residual sugars.
—- To be continued.

I recently travelled through Sweden, Finland and Russia with my wife and 14-year-old son on a trip with his junior college orchestra.

Sweden was beautiful, the people thin, and curious of strangers (and travelers) the streets were clean and recycling was evident everywhere. Getting a beer cost approximately 5 U.S. dollars as the tax on alchohol is extremely high. But Sweden was such a nice place, the urge to drink wasn’t that great.

Russia, however, was quite different. Someone really needs to introduce air conditioning to the trains of Russia. On the train into Russia from Finland we boiled while waiting 1 hour through customs. Not only was it hot, but they kept the windows rolled up within 3 inches from the top (so no one could escape) and they locked the bathrooms. With 150 kids on tour, there are always a few who have to use the bathroom. So with sweat sliding down our faces, we boiled in our own pee. But no one escaped into Russia. (whew!)

Once in Russia, none of the hotels had air conditioning (except in the lobbys). So sleepless nights were spent laying on top of a soft mattress in a wet T-shirt. The people of Russia were dour, and grim. No one smiled. No one seemed to care if we returned to Russia ever again. So much for the customer always being right. So much for any sense of marketing.

If Russia could hire Las Vegas’s marketing people to help their image, there might be hope. If they can make people want to go to Las Vegas, they could probably come up with a jingle that would work for Russia.

But for now it is a giant relic, lost in the past, lost with smells that I’ve never smelled before on any of my travels through China, Mexico, or any third-world country. We stayed in a room at the St. Petersburg hotel that had been built during the launch of Sputnik. It had never been remodeled since, nor had the carpet ever been cleaned, the baseboard smelled of toe jam from the Soviet era. If you opened the windows at night, you were quickly eaten by hordes of misquitos. So you kept them closed and sweltered with the tiny 8” fan blowing up the ancient dust and mold from this 1952 era carpet, while you stared at the names carved on the wooden dresser and bed stands, and wondered about their stay in this pit.

However, drink one Russian beer and suddenly you entered another conciousness. A “Russian frame of mind” where you no longer cared that the people treated you like crap, that you were paying a large sum to stay in a crappy hotel where the water ran black from your sink. Suddenly you were transformed to a time when Russia was a great world power, not just “Tiajuana with nukes” like it is now.

I can understand why Russians like to drink.

A few months ago I was falling esleep when I heard a voice in my head tell me that I was going to die soon. I woke up and remember asking “When?” As I fell back to sleep, the reply was “Within three months.” That woke me up completely.

It wasn’t a dream. It was a little voice that came in the realm between dreams and wake up. Yet, it was so far out I didn’t know what to make of it, or whether it was real, a voice from a spirit, or a figment of my imagination.

Then about 25 days ago I heard the same voice. This time it said I was going to die within 30 days. Which means by June 26th. It didn’t sound very friendly.

I have to admit I don’t have any feelings of my demise, no fears, no “undercurrent”. Yet, in the back of my mind I can’t help but wonder where this crazy voice comes from? It’s damn weird. It’s made me pray a lot more, and to offer a few deals of my own to God in promise for longevity. (I really will volunteer to teach that life-story class to the retirement home.)

So this may be my last blog. If I don’t write again on July 12th. It may be because I’ve entered a new dimension where only my soul could pass like a rope through the eye of the needle.

Yet, having heard the voice, I haven’t done anything differently. I still go to work. I still go to the bathroom, I still wonder how I’m going to pay the bills, and I’m still planning on going on vacation. I’ve told a few people about this “dream” and most of them, like me, refuse to believe it has any validity. It’s as if we’re programmed to believe that we’ll live forever, even though we know that we can die at any time.

Death is something we don’t think about. It’s the taboo subject we don’t speak of, lest it might befall upon us like bad luck. Yet it is our enevitable fate. This experience has certainly brought me in touch with that fate.

Has anyone else experienced this?

POST SCRIPT 7/29/06:

Well nothing happened. Nothing physically anyway. I’m still here. I realize a little more than I did a few months ago that life is very precious. Maybe we don’t have a handle on the time of our our own death. Maybe that’s something kept beyond the reach of our comprehension. Maybe that’s a good thing.

Still, if anyone has experienced anything like this, I’d sure like to hear about it. Not to be morbid, but just to find out if it is a common event that we shrug off in our attempt to ignore our mortality.

I have a neighbor with orange trees who lets the fruit drop. So I asked him if I could make wine from his oranges. In return for the oranges, I promised him some of the finished product. He agreed and pointed me to the tree with the oldest oranges. Apparently, some of these oranges had been on the tree for two years. So even though it was February, and Valencia oranges typically ripen in summer. I made this wine from Valencia oranges. These oranges were ugly! Ugly on the outside but sweet on the inside. Probably like people as they grow old. They had aged on the tree, like we age on the tree of life.

The recipe I made up for 5 gallons of spiced orange wine:
52 really ripe oranges
10 guavas (Hawaiian)
1 tin of frozen mango juice (from supermarket)
1 tin of concord grape juice (from supermarket)
9 lbs of honey
2 lbs of maple syrup
2 lbs of sugar
25 cloves
25 allspice seeds
5 gallons of filtered tap water to make six gallons total
5 Campden tablets

Directions:
Wash and cut the 52 oranges in half. Juice them and pour the juice into a primary fermenter. Add the frozen mango and grape juice. Heat up 2 quarts of water to a boil. Add your honey, maple syrup, and sugar while stirring—so nothing sticks to the bottom of your pan. Turn down the flame and let it simmer. While it simmers, bruise your allspice and gloves with a spoon and wrap them up in a coffee filter, wound up with a piece of thread so it looks like a big cocoon. Let the spices simmer for 5 minutes while you keep stirring. Let the water cool down slightly and pour into the primary fermenter. Bring the water level to 5 and 1/2 gallons with filtered tap water. Place the top on the fermenter and add water to the fermentation lock. When the brew cools to 75 degrees add 5 crushed campden tablets and close the lid. Adding the crushed campden tablets assures mass destruction of all bacteria—both good and bad. Mutual destruction of all the bacteria living in your fermentator. After 12 hours add 2-1/2 teaspoons of pectic enzyme. This is the magic stuff that will eliminate the pectic haze from all the orange juice. Eventually, you’ll want your wine to be clear and sparkling so you can convince people to drink it. Pectic enzyme will help you achieve this goal. Let the pectic enzyme sit in this sweet batch of juices for another 12 hours. Start your yeast starter per the instructions on the yeast you have chosen. I used champagne in mine, only because it was the only yeast I had at the time. You may want to use Lalvin D-47 or Montrachet yeast to add more flavor to the wine. What ever yeast you’ve chosen, it is now time to add it. Within 12 – 48 hours you should start to see the start of fermentation.

After 10 days or so when fermentation starts to slow down, rack your wine into a scondary fermenter, leaving behind your spice cocoon. Let it sit in a dark cold place for a month before racking again. Repeat the racking experience in a month. Each time you rack, try to avoid sucking up the yeast at the bottom of your fermenter. Each time you rack, you’ll come up a little short of your fluid level. It’s important to keep the level 3 inches from the top of your secondary fermenter. Add wine to “top up” with if your feel your brew needs more “body”. Or add brandy if you feel it needs more alcohol. After the third racking, let your wine age for 6 months in a dark cold bedroom closet. Then you should be ready to bottle.