Irwin Lengel

Seniors and Life 
Life, one can only envision how it will be We are born, develop, grow, mature, age, and die Along the way we love, marry, raise children, and make friends …

Out of the Mouths of Babes 
Always looking and thinking of ways to write something that might elicit a smile or laugh or two, I took an article I read some time back and added a little …

Everyone needs a chuckle now and then! 
People ask me, at times, if I still have a full deck? My answer is, a resounding YES - but I just shuffle a lot slower now. We are told as we age, we …

Keep Moving 
We (my wife and I) have been retired now since 1996 and looking back on the last 27 or so years, if there is one thing that resonates me with the whole …

Growing Old 
What can I say about the week I have had – well – for one thing, it has been a rough one. So, let’s start out with some thoughts for today: If two …

Irwin on retirement 
Just a thought I wanted to share with those reading this site. Being retired now for many a year, just wanted to share one of our secrets to starting …

Daily Routine (poem) 
Just had a funny thought. Hadn't planned on posting this little poem but seeing that I was cleaning out some of the paperwork we dragged with us from the …

Retirement and Aging 
At times it is somewhat amazing to me how, being retired, our days can speed by so quickly. For several years now, my morning routine has been to wake …

Daily Routine 
Just had a funny thought. Hadn't planned on posting this little poem but seeing that I was cleaning out some of the paperwork we dragged with us from the …

I'm Just a Wild & Crazy Guy! 
In my quest to write something comical, I've come up with the following post that I hope will make at least one of you smile today. Hope you get a kick …

Why Do We Take Life So Seriously? 
How many of you remember Mel Brooks? One of his favorite sayings was: Life literally abounds in comedy if you just look around you. Some time …

Old Fart 
Did you ever think of what it must be like to turn 80? Join me, won't you, as I do my best to share with you some of the things that definitely put us …

Live Free or Die 
Before I begin this blog post - let me just say it is not my usual jovial rant. However, it is just one man's opinion looking back on 2020 and at the same …

How Good is Your English? 
Look out World – the stick man has arrived! What? I just spent an hour learning that I cannot draw. Not even a half-decent stickman. See what happens …

Life is an Experiment 
I am sure that most of you reading this post are like me, wondering and worrying about what tomorrow might bring. While that seems to be the logical thing …

Thoughts of a Buddy/True Friend 
When I think of the word buddy, I think back to my working years. As long as I can remember, I have been what one might call a loner. Never one to make …

Been There, Done That! 
How many of you remember the movie “Back to the Future” (I know some of you can’t remember back to the mid 1980’s but try anyways)? If you will recall …

Where is Your Happy Place? 
What is a happy place: According to some individuals, a happy place would be described as a memory, a situation, or some activity that makes you feel …

As Good As It Gets 
Let’s face it – each of us only get one life to live and so if there is anything we should have learned – especially those of us now labeled “old geezers” …

What would your 90-year-old-self tell you about living life? 
Such a question does make one stop and think about life and how we are living it. One thing it does is cause one to think a lot about getting older, and …

Blowin’ in the Wind 
Funny how something that was written so long ago (55 years ago) can be so appropriate in today's times. If we look back in time to 1963 when Bob Dylan …

Will We Ever Get It? 
Normally my posts are based on my experiences but every now and then I read something that strikes a chord or something and as such resonates with what …

What's it Like to be Retired? 
I must be different than other retired folks because folks younger than me never seem to ask me that age-old question: “ What it’s like to be retired?” …

Change to Spice Things Up 
Here it is the last day of September in the year 2018. Three months left…where does the time go? It seems like just yesterday I was thinking about …

My Way! 
Did you ever sit and wonder, as many of us retirees tend to do, what constitutes a perfect day? Is it a day without any problems whatsoever? A day …

Drabble Anyone? 
I am going to change my pace this afternoon and instead of writing a long drawn out blog as I am sometimes accustomed to - I decided to try my hand at …

Count to Ten or Breathe 
How many of us remember hearing one or both of our parents use the expression “Count to Ten” whenever they got angry? Back in the day, this was supposedly …

Last Man Standing 
During my walk this morning I did something different yet enjoyable. Usually when I walk, I merely view the surroundings such as watching the bunny …

What to Write - What to Write! 
Every now and then I run into what some of us ‘wannabe’ writers call writer's block. I have come to believe that it is caused by laziness or how shall …

Different Change of Pace: Heart Health CPR 
Did you know that music has been used over the years for medical training? I just learned that certain songs – namely “Stayin' Alive” by the Bee Gees has …

An Aha Moment or The Light Bulb Came On! 
Since the first of the year, life has sort of interrupted my overall scheme of things. You know what I am talking about, those things you don't expect …

Think Funny Thoughts 
As each year passes I think to myself that – hopefully - I’ve gotten yet another year wiser, but then there is always that one thing that keeps coming …

What is a Drabble? 
Seeing that I missed my weekly deadline to post an article here, I decided to share with you yet another writing endeavor I became familiar with while …

Be True To Yourself 
I am impressed by those people who have taken the time early in their lives to find a hobby. Many of us are so set on making a living and seeing to it …

A Child of the 40's 
A child of the 40’s trying his best to smile, laugh, joke or whatever to get through each day in this crazy mixed-up world of ours. Looking online at …

Playing Around With Words 
One of the things I have tried to do with my writings is always find something funny to write about. This can be done in many ways – a funny story, a joke, …

Sleep... 
"A writer has the duty to be good, not lousy; true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend to lift people up, not lower …

Dumb Things to Do When Retiring 
Either before we retire or after we have retired, sometimes we sit back and ask ourselves foolish questions – you know dumb questions about how our retirement …

Lessons About Getting Older 
Spent the day assisting my son and daughter-in-law moving boxes around in their basement and carrying others up to the first floor as the movers placed …

Quiet Time - Good Habit to Follow! 
One of the things I believe we must do daily is to set aside a particular – “Quiet” – time for ourselves. A time when we have anywhere from an hour to …

Why are we always so busy? 
This morning as I sit here pondering on what to write about for my next article, I think of how busy we sometimes are and wonder why that is? After all, …

Retirement - Change? Challenge? - What next? 
Recently, we have been thinking about becoming the reverse of “snow birds.” Snow birds spend the good months (summers) at home in the north and spend their …

Happiness 
Have you ever wondered why some individuals spend their days with a frown on their face? Well I have and I guess if I were to be honest with myself, I …

Rants and Raves of an Old Fart  
One Man’s Opinion What follows are various thoughts that ran through my head as I was sitting here at the computer deciding on what it is I wanted …

Humorous Side of Colonoscopies 
For those of you that do not know it, March has been designated as National Colorectal Cancer Awareness month. While I am not one to jest about the seriousness …

Aging and What We Do as We Age 
As I lie in bed this evening waiting for my wife to put drops in my eyes for Glaucoma, my eyes glance around the room taking in the various things we tend …

Reading is a Good Friend 
Why do we cling to so many bad or maybe bad is too harsh a word – let’s say, unproductive habits. Not too long ago I read an article utilizing the following …

1012 Months 
A recent article I read about comparing our lives in months versus years got me to thinking about my next post and what follows is my take on this interesting …

Twenty Years is a Long Time 
Will Rogers once said, “Half our life is spent trying to find something to do with the time we have rushed through life trying to save.” The average …

Later in Life: Who Has Your Back? 
This Stage of Our Life As I sit here enjoying my first cup of coffee for the day, staring out the window watching a squirrel scavenge the feed from …

If Only! 
As many of you know, I have written a story or two here about retirement and so I decided to share another of my takes on the subject. I have entitled …

What I think about getting old! 
It has been a while since I posted anything here and that is because I am actually on vacation with our son and his family in California. But, being …

More thoughts on the aging process 
Picture if you will that it is a gorgeous sunny day and you are about to embark on your usual morning jaunt in the park, a morning run on the beach, or …

Change of Pace: Good News 
Did you ever wonder if, by chance, one day you would turn on your television set and see nothing but good news? Same holds true with news seen on your …

How do we know we have reached senior status? 
Well, one way is when we realize that our paycheck was once twenty-five bucks a week and Uncle Sam required that we only pay $.25 in Federal Taxes. …

Passions 
Passionate – emotional, ardent, intense, as a passionate desire Other words to describe passionate are: Fervent; ardent; zealous; loving; obsessive; …

What if? 
If asked, what would you change if you could live your life again, how would you answer that question? Think about it – it is an age-old question and …

How to remain happy throughout the time we have left 
Have you found that the older we get, retirement tends to undergo several changes. Whether you have retired five years ago or fifteen years ago, at one …

How to remain happy throughout the time we have left #2 
One of the fun things we truly enjoy about retirement is the fact that we can pretty much pick up and travel to wherever we want to go (within our budget …

Communication 
Lately there is a lot of talk about how our high-tech toys are taking up too much of our daily lives. This is probably true for those individuals that …

Eavesdropping  
How many of you watch the TV series “Person of Interest”? I have this theory that once we see certain things on TV, it is only a matter of time before …

"Retirement and Change" 
“Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.” – Rita Mae Brown One of the things we learn once we retire is …

Happiness  
(Author Unknown) We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then have another. Then we are frustrated that …

Is the glass half-empty or half-full? 
Remember the expression “the glass is half full” or “the glass is half empty”? At this point in your life which expression do you lean towards most? …

Time to make someone smile and perhaps use your brain! 
From my perspective: It has been a few weeks since I last posted something here on my blog-site and while part of the reason for that was that we were …

Change and how we adapt to it! 
"Life is what we make it, always has been, always will be." -Grandma Moses (1860-1961) We have been retired now sixteen plus years and still going …

Letter writing - Is it a lost art? 
I recently received a card with a brief handwritten note inside it from my kid sister who lives about 1200 miles away. She is one of the few relatives …

What is old age? 
What is old age? Here I am almost 73 years of age and to some individuals I am considered old. In today’s world I guess that means I am a “senior citizen”. …

Retirement Fun: Amateur Performers 
Today I will share with you a brief glimpse of the fun we have performing for others in our role as amateur performers be it line dancing or amateur actors …

Start Today 
Recently I came across an expression that I heard when I was much younger but never put two and two together to figure out what it was they were talking …

Another fantastic day in the life of a retiree 
Successful day at the church luncheon. Our performance went off without a hitch. Then it was off to our clubhouse to set up for our third annual talent …

And yet another day begins! 
Good morning everyone: Well, just as we thought things were about to get back to normal (although once a person retires – assuming they keep themselves …

Sleep Habits 
My mind drifts to the remarks my wife makes when she knows that I had only slept a few hours the night before. She worries about me in that she feels that …

Old Age  
Today I feel like discussing the subject of “old age”. Much of what I write about comes to me by reading numerous studies on countless subjects many …

Priorities 
Someone recently asked me where have I been - mainly because I hadn’t posted much lately. It is funny how one may think of one’s self as one who writes …

A Defeatist Attitude 
Conversation with myself on Tuesday January 7, 2014: Actually I woke up this morning in the same mood I have been for the past couple of days (down …

You Can't Take It With You 
Here I am once again, attempting to think of an article to write about that affects us retirees and while the subject I have come up with does in fact …

Life is Short - Live Each Day...  
I am back after galavanting around the NE for the past two months. While we are still enjoying our retirement, our recent escapades found us remembering …

Retirement and Change 
One of the things we learn once we retire is that the way our days used to go, meaning the usual 9-5 routine, is no longer an option. It is up to us to …

Choices 
As retirees we have quite a bit of experience to share with those much younger (some not so much younger) than us. Experience in the form of things …

Life doesn't have to be complicated! 
Yesterday was a great day even though it rained most of the day. I had been putting off getting the car serviced (30,000 mile service) primarily because …

Ladders and me! 
While sitting here this morning alone with my thoughts, I am taken back to just yesterday while on a ladder scrubbing the back of Unit #62 (our venture …

Lavendar and Lace Tea Room 
At times I wonder why I do not get to my writing (you know – writing about all those things one does during these, our golden retirement years) as often …

Make Retirement a Fun Place to Be! 
I got to thinking last night as we were preparing to call it quits for the evening, what piece of information could I share with those of you that have …

Something funny to share with retirees! 
It has been somewhat of a mixed-up week and last night I put the finishing touches on a piece I have been preparing to share with everyone here. But, as …

I am back once again to share a story or two! 
Hopefully many of you that read my blog will have missed reading it as much as I have missed writing it. However, since this is a specific time of year …

Irwin is back! 
Hopefully many of you that read my blog will have missed reading it as much as I have missed writing it. However, since this is a specific time of year …

Fifty-Day trip of a lifetime!  
There are certain times of the year that it seems a person should not catch the flu or a cold or what have you – why? – because it tends to hang on so …

What will a smile, an act of kindness, and a bit of humor get you?  
Post for September 11, 2012 I am constantly thinking about what I am going to write as a blog post now that I sort of committed myself (hmmmmm - now …

Gratitude Journal 
September 3, 2012 Having reached the ripe old age of 71 and soon to be 72, I decided to make a list of the many things I am grateful for. First …

Retirement or Life? 
August 27, 2012 In my efforts to post something to my blog site each and every Monday morning, I am constantly reading quite a few “retirement” newsletters. …

Something Different 
August 3, 2012 One of the things I love most about my quest to share information (aka my writing) with you is the fact that it creates within me the …

Chocolate Ice Cream Sings! 
July 29, 2012 This was sent to me via an email and while I made a few minor changes, it sort of explains, in my humble opinion, the way we should look …

The Pineapple Boat 
July 26, 2012 As many of you know, we are still into line dancing and at the present are attempting to line dance four to five days a week. Two of the …

Is it procrastination or something else? 
Ever ask yourself the question - Why am I putting off that which I say I want to do and probably can do but never really take the initiative to start? …

Yet another interest I intend to follow up on! 
As many of you can tell that have visited this site, I have many interests most of which are varied. Gone are the days that I used to look forward …

Another way to spend time in retirement 
We recently took a break from our busy retired lives to celebrate the anniversary of our granddaughter’s birthday. She turned the magical age of 18 and …

Retirement: Newly found time! 
How are you handling your newly found time? The hardest part about getting old is realizing that we can no longer do the things we used to do or …

I am back!!!!!! 
Where have we been? Time to fess up – as can be seen by the lack of activity, I have been remiss in my duties of keeping up with my blog time. It …

Why I haven't written in weeks - been having too much fun! 
Well, it has been awhile since I added anything to this blog. That is because we tend to keep ourselves so busy. Sometimes I wonder if it isn’t because …

Busy, busy, busy! Where has the time gone? 
Where has the time gone? Hey there fellow bloggers! Where has February gone? We are now into March! The fact that we have been so busy since the …

Cruising - another neat thing to do during retirement. 
Cruising – something everyone should do at least once during retirement! Well, I am back with yet another tidbit of information about life during retirement. …

First day of retirement! 
Your first day of retirement starts out at, let us say, 6:00 a.m. and hopefully, even though you would like to keep them closed and get a few more zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz’s, …

Retirement: Lakeland, Florida! 
And now a little about Lakeland... Welcome to a brief history of Lakeland, Florida, the city where we live and play approximately four to six …

How to Cope! 
Having been a fairly healthy male for sixty three and one-half years (June 2004), learning that, not only are you in need of a three-way heart by-pass …

Life As I See It! 
Life, one can only envision how it will be We are born, develop, grow, mature, age, and die Along the way we love, marry, raise children, and make friends …