Senior Women Web

Author: SeniorWomenWeb

  • Mrs. Delany and her Circle, at the Yale Center for British Art

    “At the age of seventy-two, Mary Delany, née Mary Granville (1700–1788), a botanical artist, woman of fashion, and commentator on life and society in eighteenth-century England and Ireland, embarked on a series of one thousand botanical collages, or ‘paper mosaics’ (Editor’s note: also spelled mosaicks). These were the crowning achievement of a life defined by creative accomplishment. The delicate hand-cut floral designs, made by a method of Mrs. Delany’s own invention, rival the finest botanical works of her time.”

    Mrs. Delany and her Circle, which continues at the Yale Center for British Art, is the first to survey the full range of Mary Delany’s creative endeavors, revealing the complexity of her engagement with natural science, art, and design. Her prolific craft activities served to cement bonds of friendship and allowed her to negotiate the interlinked artistic, aristocratic, and scientific networks that defined her social world.Mrs. Delaney and Her Circle

    A range of approximately 130 objects, including drawings, collages, embroidered textiles, shells, botanical specimens, and manuscripts related to her interest in landscape gardening, reflects the variety of her activities. The exhibition will also feature a floral display inspired by Mrs. Delany’s designs, as well as a site-specific installation by London-based artist Jane Wildgoose.  Mrs. Delany and her Circle has been co-organized by the Yale Center for British Art and Sir John Soane’s Museum.

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  • Current Reading, Screen Memories from The New York Times

    “Devotion to playthings and playmates, a fascination with bodily fluids and a queasy obsession with sex — these were what defined a movie hero not preoccupied with killing bad guys. Traditional romances and sex farces were supplanted by comedies of arrested male development, defensive glorifications of the right of boys to be boys, occasionally informed by the serious question of what it might mean to be a man.”

    “Some of these — The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Step Brothers, Nacho Libre — were among the funniest movies of the decade, but like the geek-revenge dramas and the child-friendly fantasies with which they shared box-office ascendancy, they pushed women to the edge of the frame. Movies seem to be, increasingly, for and about men and (mostly male) kids, with adult women in the marginal roles of wives and mothers, there to be avenged, resented or run to when things get too scary.”

    Read the entire article at The New York Times

  • New Recommendations about Pap Tests and Mammography Screenings

    Following on the heels of the AHRG’s new guidelines for mammography screening, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynocologists recommend that the first cervical cancer screening be delayed until age 21 as well as a recommendation for less frequent Pap tests and dropping the test after 65 under certain circumstances:

    In the rush to criticize and oppose the new AHRG’s guidelines, women over 65 are again relegated to the last paragraph of the release about the new cervical cancer tests:

    ACOG’s recommendations on the upper age limit for discontinuing cervical screening remain the same. It is reasonable to stop cervical cancer screening at age 65 or 70 among women who have three or more negative cytology results in a row and no abnormal test results in the past 10 years. ACOG also recommends that women who have been vaccinated against HPV should follow the same screening guidelines as unvaccinated women.

    Read the entire release about cervical Pap tests at the ACOG’s site. Below are the new breast cancer screening guidelines now vigorously argued on both sides:

    The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, an independent US government agency and part of the Department of Health and Human Services, has released a report and new guidelines about mammographies and breast cancer screenings:

    Screening for Breast Cancer

    Recommendation Statement and Evidence

    * The USPSTF recommends against routine screening mammography in women aged 40 to 49 years. The decision to start regular, biennial screening mammography before the age of 50 years should be an individual one and take patient context into account, including the patient’s values regarding specific benefits and harms.

    Grade: C recommendation.

    * The USPSTF recommends biennial screening mammography for women aged 50 to 74 years.

    Grade: B recommendation.

    * The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the additional benefits and harms of screening mammography in women 75 years or older.

    Grade: I Statement.

    * The USPSTF recommends against teaching breast self-examination (BSE).

    Grade: D recommendation.

    * The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the additional benefits and harms of clinical breast examination (CBE) beyond screening mammography in women 40 years or older.

    Grade: I Statement.

    * The USPSTF concludes that the current evidence is insufficient to assess the additional benefits and harms of either digital mammography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) instead of film mammography as screening modalities for breast cancer.

    Grade: I Statement.

    Go to the Clinical Considerations section for information on risk assessment and suggestions for practice regarding the I statement.

    Select for a Clinical Summary of this recommendation

    .

    Here’s our summary: Women Aged 40-49 Years, “Do not screen routinely. Individualize decision to begin biennial screening according to the patient’s context and values;” Women Aged 50-74 Years, “Screen every 2 years;” Women Aged 75 Years, “No recommendation” (insufficient evidence). And, the USPSTF recommends against teaching breast self-examination (BSE).

    The site goes on to provide their rationale for these newly released guidelines.

     

     

  • The New Brown-Baggers

    Doris O’Brien writes: As America increasingly divides along economic lines, the rich have become targets of disdain and envy. Not that they haven’t always been, but now there are rumblings of an egalitarian movement in America to bring the wealthy down several notches to a level closer to where the rest of us find ourselves.

  • Pursuit of the Perfect Purse

    Julia Sneden writes: It needs to have a voice-activated homing device that emits a loud and long squeal so that I can call to it (“Purse, purse, where are you?”) the next time I absent-mindedly hang it on the back of a chair and then throw my coat over it, rendering it invisible when I start looking for it again. Make that a really loud and really long squeal.

  • Shopping by Culture, Ancient Egypt

    As the King Tut exhibit makes its way through the United States, we’re hearing from our grandchildren that they’re studying a unit on Egypt, which perhaps now exceeds dinosaurs in popularity and interest.

    Spending time at the British Museum site led us to, of course, their shop, prompted by a pair of Shokugan canopic jars of Neshkons. You say, ‘what’? Okay, we perhaps didn’t know what these attractive jars were but …

    “Stone jars made to store the liver, lungs, stomach and intestines of a mummified body. When a body was preserved as a mummy, the internal organs were taken out quickly after death. The heart, the ‘seat of understanding’ was left in place. The liver,lungs, stomach and intestines were placed in four different containers. The wooden lids of these jars represent the Sons of Horus, four minor gods who protected the organs that they contained. The stomach was protected by Duamutef (jackal), the liver by Imsety (human), the lungs by Hapy (baboon), and the intestines by Qebehsenuef (falcon).” Perhaps not the most appealing of all descriptions, but certainly different. And for £3.99, not an outrageous amount of money.

    For a little under £10, a book on the The Cat in Ancient Egypt is available: “Many modern cats are descendants of the cats of Ancient Egypt. These beautiful creatures thus represent a living link between the modern world and the Ancient Egyptian civilization. Cats in Egypt were probably domesticated by around 4,000 BC, from wild ancestors. Over the following centuries, they became popular household pets; they are regularly shown in tomb paintings of family life. They were also seen as manifestations of the goddess Bastet, and Dr Malek draws on a vast range of artistic and written sources to show how they became one of the most widely esteemed and revered animals in Egypt. In the Late Period, enormous numbers of mummified cats were buried with honours, and bronze statuettes of cats were dedicated to temples during religious festivals. Dr Malek ends by describing how cats fared in Egypt in the post-pharaonic period.” You can add to the fascination we have for these tomb cats by a necklet portraying the graceful and iconic Gayer Anderson Cat.

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  • The O’Keeffe show at the Whitney is the first to study, and celebrate, her abstract works

    Val Castronovowrites: The O’Keeffe show at the Whitney is the first to study, and celebrate, her abstract works: Viewing images at close range enhances abstraction, and it also, for her, was used to suggest the sheer enormity of nature. It is this sheer enormity that led O’Keeffe into, and back to, abstraction. Where words would not suffice, color, line and shapes — abstraction — would.

  • Wordsmiths: By a Teen’s Pen

    The New York Public Library hosts a collection of essays and poetry by teens, Wordsmiths; an Anthology of Writing by Teens on the Web. Submissions are invited.

    Makes Me Happy by Hannah,15

    We’ve been friends for so long,

    That we fight like old married couples.

    Now a simple dream,

    Can change the course of my heart.

    I think I’m over you every day,

    But then that simple dream happens.

    Every night dream and every daydream,

    It makes me happy.

    The only reason school makes me happy,

    Is ’cause you’re there to get my hopes up.

    It only happens when your brown meets my blue,

    That I get another glimmer of hope.

    I can’t control this feeling,

    You do.

    Friends can’t believe this,

    I do.

    Someday we’ll become “us?”

    We hope.

    I’M LUCKY by Jamie Different, 17

    IT’S FUNNY HOW MUCH LIFE HAS CHANGED…WE’RE ALL GROWIN’ UP SO FAST…OUR DAYS ARE GETTING SHORTER TOGETHER SO WE’VE GOTTA MAKE THE GOOD TIMES LAST

    I TRY TO STICK BY UR SIDE BUT UR ALWAYS SO BUSY AND YOU’LL SET UR SOCIAL LIFE ASIDE TO MAKE TIME FOR ME.

    I’M HAPPY TO HAVE U AND I FEEL LIKE I’M LUCKY TO HAVE A BOYFRIEND WHO’S RESPECTFUL AND ACTUALLY CARES FOR ME

    U PROBABLY THINK I DON’T APRECIATE YOU AND I’M SO SORRY FOR THE WAY I ACT. I’M THANKFUL FOR EVERYTHING YOU DO FOR ME EVEN THOUGH I DON’T SHOW U THAT.

    ADULTS DON’T UNDERSTAND THE LOVE WE HAVE FOR ONE ANOTHER THEY THINK WHAT WE HAVE IS JUS’ A FAZE BUT I’M SURE WE’LL STAY TOGTHER STRONGER THAN EVER FOR THE REST OF OUR DAYS.

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  • Shop for Yourself and Family: Sublet Clothing

    We’re always looking for clothes for our three daughters and thought the price range of Sublet Eco-Apparel just right for our post-recession reduced budget and their style needs:

    Sublet Eco-Apparel is “built on principles of social and environmental responsibility, new york-based sublet clothing’s mission is to design and manufacture sustainable garments for the creative community that inspires their collections. They design simple, refined silhouettes balanced by thoughtful details.”

    The clothes are shapely, well-styled, very feminine, inexpensive and made in the USA. The Belinda dress is made from a medium weight denim twill or winter wool blend. The Bellamy tee is “slim shape with uneven overlapping strips across the front. The multi-colored shapes accentuate the playful geometric lines. Sleeves hit just above elbow. Curved hem.” The top is made from 30% organic cotton, 67% bamboo and 03% spandex.

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  • Shop at the Museum Stores: Brooklyn’s Museum of Art, Washington’s National Building Museum and Cleveland’s Museum of Art

    We paid another visit to Washington’s National Building Museum and found that the online shop is well stocked.

    There’s a new ‘green’ section with a water clock that it’s possible to add water to and a dash of table salt to the clock’s tank to make it work. Want to conserve a little water? Add a squeeze of lemon juice and you’ll have to refill less often. A Rubik’s Pepper mill is a new twist (sorry about that) on the familiar cube, a Frank Lloyd Wright Fallingwater Lego set and a Q-BA-MAZE that consist of interlocking transluscent structures for rolling balls through. Stack the cubes in many different configurations and watch the balls make their way through the maze. Other items are twirling spaghetti forks and Eiffel Tower and Pyramid erasers.

    Cleveland Museum of Art’s store has some items we haven’t seen before, based on exhibits and works of art: Rousseau’s Fight Between a Tiger and a Buffalo becomes a night light as does Redon’s Vase of Flowers which is also shown in the same pattern as an umbrella or tote.

    There’s a salt and pepper in the shape of a turquoise Faberge shoe and an Art of Africa address book.

    We’ve found that our grandson is intrigued with art cubes and the Museum has one with six images from the exhibition Arms and Armor from Imperial Austria as well as another from Impressionist Landscapes.

    In addition, consider a 500 piece puzzle, The Red Kerchief: Portrait of Madame Monet, to be enjoyed as well another 500 piece, Monet’s The Cliff, Entretat, Sunset.

    At the Brooklyn Museum of Art, living in the borough helps but isn’t necessary to love the Brooklyn-in-a-Box board game: “It includes only authentic landmarks, among them the Brooklyn Museum. Other featured tokens include the Brooklyn Bridge, the Coney Island-Wonder Wheel, an egg cream, and a hot dog.” A whole page is devoted to items Brooklynites would love. Another page devoted to a more distant locale, Egypt, highlights a gold fertility figure, perhaps unneeded by most senior women, but nowadays … We’re personally fond of the William Morris honeysuckle card case.

    A personal aside, your shopping correspondent lived in a mob-protected section of Brooklyn for a couple of years, one of four of the five boroughs we’ve been born, lived and worked in.