Senior Women Web

Blog

  • Return of House Flipping Eases Affordable Housing Crunch in Some States

    tiny houses for sale

    Photograph: Bill Dickinson via Flickr Creative Commons

    By Tim Henderson Stateline, Pew Trusts*

    The number of flipped houses is at a six-year high. But while such rapid turnover helped fuel the housing crisis a decade ago, advocates and analysts say the current wave is helping to ease a shortage of affordable housing in some parts of the country. The resurgence of flipping, or selling a house less than a year after buying it, comes as the construction of affordable single-family houses fails to keep up with demand, as builders concentrate on multi-family housing.

    In some states like Florida and Nevada, which have large stocks of cheap, foreclosed houses, flipping is boosting the housing supply for homeowners and for investors who want to rent out the properties. The renovated homes are helping to bring downtrodden neighborhoods back to life, while making homeownership possible for some first-time and low-income buyers.

    “This flipping activity could be seen as a social good if it’s bringing houses up to standards and putting them back on the market,” said Steven Swidler, an Auburn University professor who has studied flipping.

    But he also warned that flipping can help drive up already-rising housing prices. “In other areas,” he said, “it could be putting it beyond the price points for affordable housing for some people. It’s all about location, location, location.”

    A total of 51,434 single-family homes and condos were flipped in the second quarter of 2016, up 14 percent from the previous quarter and the highest number since 2010, according to data from ATTOM Data Solutions. The number of flippers, including individuals, amateur investors and businesses, reached 39,775, the highest level in nine years.

    In Tampa, Florida, Memphis, Tennessee, and Visalia, in California’s San Joaquin Valley, one in 10 homes sold in the quarter was flipped. Florida, Tennessee and Nevada are the states with the highest rates of flipping, with 7 percent or more of homes sold within a year. And in many of those places, the homes being flipped are selling well below the rest of the market, a sign that they are helping to fill a shortage of affordable housing.

    Nationwide, 5.5 percent of single-family homes and condos were flipped, a small increase over the second quarter of 2015, but still well below the peak in 2006, when 9 percent of sales were flips.

    In some high-priced places such as New York City, housing advocates complain that flippers are reducing the supply of affordable housing and driving out low-income residents and sometimes the middle class. 

    But in other areas of the nation — parts of Florida that have been plagued with foreclosures, for instance —flipping can be part of the process of getting affordable housing back on the market, said Hector Sandoval, a University of Florida economist who has studied flipping in the state.  

    “Bringing these houses back to the market is good in general for the neighborhoods where they are located,” said Sandoval. “It increases the supply, which means prices can’t go too high, and they should be affordable, at least for the middle class.” 

    In Nevada, today’s flippers have found a niche fixing up foreclosed or abandoned housing that may need much work and then selling it to investors who are willing to recoup profits slowly by renting, said Swidler, the Auburn University professor who analyzed the way home flipping in Las Vegas contributed to the housing meltdown of the last decade by driving up prices. 

    About 7 percent of sales in the state were flips in the second quarter of 2016, and the rate is about the same in Las Vegas. But today’s flippers are not the same as those who helped drive a speculative frenzy 10 years ago.

    “Conditions are different now. You can’t just buy a house and expect to make a profit,” Swidler said. “In many cases [flippers] have to go in there and replace wiring, put in new refrigerators. Some of these places had holes in the walls. It took extensive work to renovate them.”

    More amateurs and individual investors are flipping houses, drawn by reality television shows and a burgeoning housing market, said Daren Blomquist, senior vice president at ATTOM.

    Nationally, home prices have been rising since 2012, and the increases are even steeper in some areas with high levels of house flipping, like Tampa and Nashville. But with housing prices rising faster than incomes in many parts of the nation, rehabbing foreclosed houses has the potential to return affordable housing at a time that it’s urgently needed.

    In Florida, flipping has been revived by a steady supply of foreclosed housing and a demand for affordable housing that’s making once-marginal neighborhoods near Tampa more appealing to buyers of renovated homes, said Christopher McCarty, director of the state Bureau of Economic and Business Research. Rising rents also are encouraging small investors to buy renovated houses and rent them out, McCarty said, especially along the state’s central I-4 Corridor from Tampa to Orlando. House prices have grown more than 19 percent in the Tampa area since 2015, to $209,000, the largest increase in Florida. The median purchase price for a flipped house was $93,000 and the median selling price was $150,000, according to ATTOM’s report.

    Peter Lee, a real estate agent and investor in Tampa, said unemployed carpenters and other construction workers sidelined by the housing bust and slowdown in new construction have found a new line of work renovating homes in the area. The buyers might be landlords looking for rentals, first time buyers or retirees from the Midwest, he said, all of whom find the prices affordable. “You’re giving them a shiny renovated house for $100,000. They’re in heaven.”

    Tennessee has the second-highest rate of house flipping, at 7.2 percent. House prices have gone up nearly 20 percent in Memphis in the last year, and nearly 7 percent in Nashville. The typical flipped house in Nashville was bought for $114,500 and sold for $175,900, well below the area’s median home price of $258,000.

    *The Pew Charitable Trusts is driven by the power of knowledge to solve today’s most challenging problems. Pew applies a rigorous, analytical approach to improve public policy, inform the public and invigorate civic life.

  • The Seasonal Tsunami of Senior Mail; No Longer a Pandora’s Box

    Pandora's Box

    By Doris O’Brien    

    The art of letter writing’s dead,

    Or sick at any rate,

    Since cyberspace has reared its head,

    And sealed the letter’s fate.

    We ‘visit’ on the internet,

    By its attraction smitten.

    Phone calls we make; e-mails we get,

    While letters go unwritten.

    But some of us are of a mind

    That there are few things better

    Than in our daily mail to find

    From friend or kin, a letter.

    Zeus gave Pandora a storage jar (pithos) as a wedding gift which she opened, releasing the swarm of evil spirits trapped within. These would forever after plague mankind. Only Elpis (Hope) remained behind, a single blessing to ease mankind’s suffering.  The engraving is based on a painting by F. S. Church. Wikimedia Commons

    Senior citizens have earned a reputation for being dependable, which may explain why the product made exclusively for us is called Depends.  Among the things that seniors are expected to do with greater reliability than an other demographic are (1) voting, and  (2) going regularly to  their mailboxes. (I bet you expected me to say something else!)

    Casting a ballot is usually a biannual event.  But the obligatory trek to  pick up our paper-based stash has for many of us become an urgent daily ritual.  For some, the habit may have even morphed into an obsession.   And in extreme cases, it could constitute the only exercise we get. 

    But in this electronic age, the mail cubicle is rarely the Pandora’s box it once was.  For the most part, communication has become computerized, and the ‘off line’ crowd cannot expect subsequent generations to resort to the old fashioned way of sending mail, especially when it is far less efficient. 

    Still, those of us who have survived the vicissitudes of time are often imbued with the sort of optimism  that enables hope — like bygone pogo sticks —  to spring eternal.   At the appropriate time of year, for example, we may happily discover a birthday card or two, sent to us by those who still buy and lick stamps.   And if we’re lucky, the holiday season may bring a comparative bonanza of greetings — though, again, there’s always the chance of ending up as disappointed as Charlie Brown. 

  • Election 2016: What Do the Models Say About Who Will Win in November?

    Editor’s Note: This article was written over a month ago, but we felt it was a more coherent approach to polling and forecasting that we’ve seen, in general. The links will take you to updated, current predictions of the candidates’ positioning in those polls. 
    voters at polling station
     
    By Thomas E. Mann, Institute of Governmental Studies, UC Berkeley, Visiting Scholars
    09/15/2016

    The 2016 presidential election is by all accounts one of the most unusual and anxiety-producing in American history. The Donald Trump candidacy is literally unprecedented. A Trump victory may be unimaginable to many but it is not impossible. Can we forecast the outcome of this extraordinary election based on methods and models developed for past elections?

    For decades economists and political scientists have constructed and tested forecasting models for presidential elections. Their objective was not to explain why all Americans vote as they do but to predict the outcome of the next election based on identifying the forces responsible for changes in the vote won by the two major parties. They have sought to specify and measure the fundamental drivers of electoral change as a basis for making an explicit public prediction well before the election.  They form a sort of baseline from which we can judge whose election it is to win and whose it is to lose.

    The Vote As A Verdict On The Overall Economy

    Some of the initial forecasts, most prominently those of Yale economist Ray Fair, rely on a large set of diverse economic indicators, some of which have to be estimated before the forecast is released. The idea behind the model is familiar one — the incumbent party will be punished for bad economic times and rewarded for especially good economic times. Fair also uses an indicator of the incumbent party’s consecutive time in the White House, based on the historical evidence that incumbent parties face formidable hurdles in extending their consecutive hold on the White House beyond two terms. Those models eschewing any public opinion measures of the current political climate or standing of the candidates have been most susceptible to large errors in predicting both the winner and the incumbent-party share of the two-party national vote for the presidency.

    Adding A Snapshot Of Public Opinion

    Political scientists have been more parsimonious in their use of economic indicators — typically relying on a single indicator tied to conditions in the election year. That’s because voters tend to be myopic when it comes to evaluating economic performance, in effect asking “what have you done for me lately?” Economic growth in the first half or the second quarter of the election year is one such measure, although real disposable income per capita and an index of leading economic indicators have advantages as well. Importantly, most of these forecasting models have added a public opinion measure that captures the political standing of the incumbent party, even if the president is not a candidate in the upcoming election. One good measure has been the presidential approval rating in June or July of election year. Some scholars have instead use trial-heat polling measures of the two major-party candidates taken relatively early in the campaign.

    These latter models of fundamentals incorporating some measure of public opinion have on average had better track records in forecasting the winner and the size of the national vote. For example, Alan Abramowitz’s Time for Change forecasting model, based on the incumbent president’s net approval rating at midyear in the Gallup Poll, the growth rate of real GDP in the second quarter of the election year, and whether the incumbent president’s party has held the White House for more than one term, produced the most accurate prediction of the 2012 presidential election among this set of forecasting models.

  • Our Eyes Turn Towards the North: Senior Women in Canada

    PM,Sophie,Cambridges

    Editor’s Note: The last time we remember the phrase “We’re thinking of moving to Canada” was heard was the 1964 presidential election between Barry Goldwater and Lyndon Johnson. And, yes, the phrase was due to the immense unpopularity of the Senator from Arizona. Now you hear that phrase in connection with the Republican nominee.

    Prime Minister Trudeau and Mrs. Grégoire Trudeau attend the welcoming ceremony for Their Royal Highnesses, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in Victoria, British Columbia.

    We thought we’d look at what Canada looks like for women in this year. We’ve included a portion of the topics you’ll find linked below from the website, Statistics Canada, similar to our US Census Bureau.
     

    Senior Women

    by Anne Milan and Mireille Vézina, Statistics Canada, Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report – Senior Women

    Almost 90% of senior women reported having been employed in their lifetime. Over the last several decades, women have increasingly become labour force participants, resulting in a rising proportion of senior women having been employed in their lifetime.

    In 1976, 58.4% of women aged 65 and older had ever worked for pay in their lifetime. By 2015, this had increased to 89.3%. While this proportion was still lower than that for senior men, the gender gap had narrowed considerably, falling from 40.0 percentage points in 1976 to 8.6 percentage points in 2015.

    The findings are taken from “Senior Women,” a chapter of Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report, released today. This chapter examines many aspects related to senior women in Canada including their socio-demographic characteristics, life expectancy, living arrangements, social participation, Internet use, health, assistance with daily living and leading causes of death, as well as economic characteristics including their labour force participation and income.

    Employment rate of senior women nearly doubles over last decade

    The employment rate among women aged 65 and older nearly doubled in the decade from 2005 to 2015. In 2005, the employment rate among senior women was 4.8%. It had risen to 9.1% by 2015. The employment rate also increased for senior men during this time, from 11.7% in 2005 to 17.2% in 2015.

    Among senior women, increasing employment rates since the 2000s contrast with relatively stable employment levels in the three preceding decades. For senior men, the increase from 2005 to 2015 reversed what had generally been a downward trend since the 1970s.

    Increasing share of senior women’s income is from market sources

    The share of senior women’s total income that came from market sources—such as employment, investment and retirement earnings—increased from 44.6% in 2003 to more than 50% by 2013. During the same period, the share of senior men’s total income that came from market sources rose from 58.6% to 62.6%. This rising share of income from market sources was primarily due to an increase in the proportion of total income from employment earnings, from 4.1% to 9.0% among senior women, and from 7.9% to 16.3% among senior men.

    Among senior women, the proportion of total income from retirement income increased from 26.3% in 2003 to 31.5% in 2013. However, this was not the case among senior men. Their share of total income from retirement income decreased, from 40.7% in 2003 to 36.6% in 2013. This difference is, in part, due to the fact that, unlike senior men, the proportion of senior women who have had paid employment in their lifetime also increased during this time period. This increased their likelihood of having retirement income.

    More than half of senior women are Internet users

    More than half (54%) of senior women in private households used the Internet in the 12 months preceding the 2013 General Social Survey. Younger senior women (aged 65 to 74) were almost twice as likely as older senior women (aged 75 and older) to have done so (69% compared with 35%).

    Among senior women, nearly 40% of Internet users had at least one social media account. Over two-thirds of Internet users (68%) searched for information on goods and services within the last month, while 45% had done electronic banking and 18% had made an online purchase within the same timeframe.

  • Turn Off the Newsfeed or Take a Digital Break! Election Stress in America

    APA Election Stress poll by ages

    Facing one of the most adversarial contests in recent history and daily coverage of the presidential election that dominates every form of mass media, 52 percent of American adults report that the 2016 election is a very or somewhat significant source of stress. The survey was conducted online among adults 18+ living in the US by Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychological Association.

    For the past decade, the Stress in America survey has examined how stress affects the health and well-being of American adults. Prior to the release of this year’s full survey results slated for early 2017, APA highlighted data that points to Americans’ stress levels related to the upcoming presidential election.

    “We’re seeing that it doesn’t matter whether you’re registered as a Democrat or Republican — US adults say they are experiencing significant stress from the current election,” said Lynn Bufka, PhD, APA’s associate executive director for practice research and policy. Across party lines, those registered as Democrats (55 percent) and Republicans (59 percent) are statistically equally likely to say the election is a very or somewhat significant source of stress.

    “Election stress becomes exacerbated by arguments, stories, images and video on social media that can heighten concern and frustration, particularly with thousands of comments that can range from factual to hostile or even inflammatory,” said Bufka.

    In fact, the survey revealed that social media appears to affect Americans’ stress levels when it comes to the election and related topics. Nearly 4 in 10 adults (38 percent) say that political and cultural discussions on social media cause them stress. In addition, adults who use social media are more likely than adults who do not to say the election is a very or somewhat significant source of stress (54 percent vs. 45 percent, respectively).

    While men and women are equally likely (51 percent vs. 52 percent, respectively) to say the 2016 US presidential election is a very or somewhat significant source of stress, election stress differs among generations of Americans. Millennials and ‘matures’ are the most likely to say the election is a very or somewhat significant source of stress (56 percent vs. 59 percent, respectively) — significantly more than Generation Xers (45 percent) but not boomers (50 percent).

  • Masterpiece Theater: Another Television Presentation of Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals: The Durrells in Corfu

    Editor’s Note: This is not the first time that a series, My Family and Other Animals, based on Durrell’s 1956 book of the same name, has been dramatized on television. We viewed the 1987 mini-series, also a Masterpiece production, previously, which led to us reading the 1956 book; there is a link to Find a Library, using your postal code, to locate a copy nearby. And if you can find a copy of the earlier television version, we can attest to it’s excellent cast.

    Here’s an article written by the publicity staff about the new version:

    Author: Gerald Durrell
    Publisher: [New York] : Penguin Books, 1977, ©1956.
    Edition/Format:  Print book : English View all editions and formats

    The new series, The Durrells in Corfu, premiering October 16th at 8/7c, is a six-part adaptation of *Gerald Durrell’s My Family and Other Animals (and its two sequels, Birds, Beasts and Relatives and The Garden of the Gods), and follows one unconventional mother and her four children on their quest to start anew. But before you escape to Corfu, be sure to meet the family. Get to know the colorful characters, and the actors who portray them, with Masterpiece’s introduction to this sun-drenched series with a biting wit.

        

    Louisa Dixie Durrell

    Part mother bear, part circus ringleader, Louisa Durrell makes the fateful decision to bring her family to the other side of the world. Louisa’s deep love for her children is evident by her constant wrangling, bargaining, and finding ways to get them out of trouble. But Corfu has a habit of shaking things up, and by every account Louisa could use a change. Will this new life bring her love, happiness, or something unexpected?   

    Strengths: Courage, Food Foraging, and Faking It ‘Til She Makes It

    Weaknesses: Gin, Financial Woes, and the Promise of Romance

    Cast Secret: According to The Telegraph (UK), actress Keeley Hawes (Upstairs, Downstairs) once listed My Family and Other Animals when asked for “A Book That Changed Me.” She said, “Having never travelled or really been anywhere, it opened up a whole other world of possibility for me.” 

    Larry Durrell

    This wannabe Bohemian can be found furiously pounding away on his typewriter, working hard (or hardly working) on his big break. The eldest Durrell is doing his very best to be an infamous, debauched author, but his erratic work ethic means that his greatest works exist only in his imagination. Will Corfu awaken his muse, or he destined only for stiff drinks and sarcasm?        

    Strengths: Writing, Dramatics, and Brutal Honesty

    Weaknesses: Writing, Kumquats, Narcissism

    Cast Secret: Actor Josh O’Connor took Larry’s antique typewriter back to his hotel so he could practice using it, but the constant tapping earned him complaints from his neighbors. “They were like, ‘Can you please shut up? Use a laptop.” 

    Leslie Durrell

    The family misfit (and that’s saying a lot) is the second-eldest sibling, Leslie: a gun-toting, melancholic teenager who much prefers the independence of the outdoors to his siblings’ company. Because of his strong connection to his mother, Leslie fancies himself the man of the house, and frequently tries to prove himself as alpha male by hunting, gathering, and shooting everything in sight. Let’s hope, for his family’s sake, that Corfu helps this lone wolf develop into something more human. 

    Strengths: Marksmanship, Grit, and Brute Strength

    Weaknesses: Machismo, Moodiness, and Generally Low Intelligence

    Cast Secret: Actor Callum Woodhouse had to learn many new skills for the role of Leslie, including how to skin a rabbit and how to shoot, disassemble, and clean a variety of firearms.

    *Gerald Durrell (1925–1995) was a British naturalist, zookeeper, conservationist, author, and television presenter. He is the author of the memoirs My Family and Other Animals;  Birds, Beasts and Relatives;  A Zoo in My Luggage;  The Whispering Lands and The Garden of the Gods as well as over twenty-five nature books. A student of zoology, he founded the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust on the Channel Island of Jersey.

  • The Upheaval of a Broken Bar Stool and a 70-Gallon Fish Tank

    Sofa, Mahogany, birch, pine, various inlays, and replaced upholstery

    Sofa, New Hampshire, Portsmouth, 1790-1800; Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Wikimedia Commons. Mahogany, birch, pine, various inlays, and replaced upholstery. Gift of Mrs. Murray Braunfeld

    By Roberta McReynolds

    I was chatting on the phone, leisurely catching up on news with a friend while kicking back on my perch atop a kitchen bar stool when I heard the sharp crack, followed by the sound of splintering wood. This immediately preceded the sudden sensation that I was going to topple over backwards. One side of the support to the backrest had just spilt in two and left me flailing my arms to regain my balance.

    Our (previously) matching pair of bar stools was constructed of hardwood with cushioned seats and backrests. They had served us well over the past two and a half decades, with one exception; the fabric wore out long ago. I reupholstered them twice and really needed to do it a third time; my fabric selections were just not durable enough for daily wear and tear.

    Mike and I examined the broken stool and discussed the possibility of repairing it before finally deciding that it was time to go shopping.

    We headed to our favorite furniture store which had been remodeled since the last time we were there. I can’t even begin to guess how long ago that was (perhaps two bar stools ago?). One thing hadn’t changed … we didn’t get three steps into the showroom before being greeting by a salesman. We didn’t mind, because we’ve always appreciated their helpfulness and had a good rapport with the employees. The salesman was probably disappointed that we were only looking for a couple of bar stools rather than something that would promise a bigger commission in his paycheck, but he treated us just as courteously. He walked us across the parking lot to the other showroom. Little did he (or Mike) know, but something had unexpectedly caught my eye in the main showroom as we strolled past.

    After we selected and paid for new barstools we were given directions to the warehouse where we could pick them up. As we walked back across the parking lot I innocently asked Mike, “Can we go back inside the main showroom? I want to look at something.” I had noticed a sectional sofa when we had first walked in the front doors; our salesman’s eyes lit up ($$$).

    We needed a new sofa; it was even older than the bar stools. We had discussed this off and on for years. Every advertisement in the newspaper had been examined, but nothing grabbed our interest and suited our style. Our old sectional had a number of issues, some cosmetic and others structural. Mike purchased it before we got married. Over the years it had endured one dog and five cats (that’s a lot of claws), not to mention human wear and tear. There was a recliner on each end. One recliner had been damaged by a hefty guest; once it reclined, it wouldn’t return to the upright position without climbing over the side and enlisting the assistance of a second person to slam it back hard enough to stay put. As for the cushions, they just weren’t cushy any more.

  • Preventing Vital Health Care Information from Being Lost in Translation: A Third of All US Hospitals Don’t Offer Language Services At All

    By Michael Ollove, Stateline, Pew Trusts*

    Language Resource Center, Wake ForestImage (right) of medical interpreter; Language Resource Center, Wake Forest University 

    A 9-year-old girl, misdiagnosed with the stomach flu, died after a doctor failed to communicate to her Vietnamese-speaking parents that the drug he prescribed for her could have dangerous side effects.

    A 78-year-old stroke victim had to have her leg amputated after doctors and nurses didn’t understand her when she complained, in Russian, of pain and numbness.

    And a 7-year-old boy suffered organ damage because his pediatrician mistakenly diagnosed him with strep throat, having struggled to communicate with his Spanish-speaking father and grandparents during repeated visits over several weeks.

    New federal rules requiring thousands of hospitals, doctors and dentists to provide free interpretation and translation services for people who don’t speak English aim to prevent tragedies like these, which were among those included in a study of interpretation-related malpractice cases in four states.

    The new rules, which apply to providers who receive Medicaid reimbursement or other federal funds, are expected to expand access to preventive care and reduce medical costs, at least in the long run. A language other than English is spoken at home in 21 percent of US households.

    “The language services are going to keep people healthier and that will end up saving health care dollars down the road,” said Cary Sanders of the California Pan-Ethnic Health Network. “It’s a small investment for a big return.”

    But some struggling rural hospitals and smaller medical and dental practices are worried about the cost of following the new rules, which require them to offer interpretation and translation services for the most popular 15 languages in their state.

    In a letter to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the American Medical Association argued that “the financial burden of medical interpretive services and translation should not fall on physician practices.” The AMA suggested that insurance plans should be required to cover those services.

    The American Dental Association described the new rules as “confusing, duplicative and burdensome, as well as unnecessary,” and a coalition of dental groups that includes the ADA warned that dentists may turn away Medicaid patients who don’t speak English to avoid having to comply.

    And the American Osteopathic Association, which represents doctors who practice osteopathic medicine, is worried about how the rules will affect small practices. “If physicians don’t receive additional funding or the rules are enforced in a strict manner then I can see some doctors choosing not to take Medicaid patients,” said Laura Wooster, interim senior vice president of public policy for the group.

    Some states have their own laws related to language services. A number of states, including Kansas, Louisiana and Michigan, require that non-English-speaking women considering abortions receive information about the procedure or have their questions answered in their own languages.

  • Here and Now: A History of Trips That Yield the Most Various Experiences in the Smallest Locales

    Lady fern

    By Joan L. Cannon

    Sometimes it seems that when I was young and being schooled, as everyone must be, out of the past, we were encouraged to feel guilty for being ‘materialistic.’ There was a subtle sin in being too fond of ‘things,’ of sensual pleasures other than those that excited only the eyes and ears, and especially the thinking part of the mind.

    Lady fern, native perennial upright fern that can reach 2-5 feet in height; USDA, Forest Service

    By the happenstance of being sent to a peculiarly progressive summer camp for six years, I was among a band of privileged city children. I doubt if any of us were aware at the time of the imprint an unusual group of post-adolescent counselors would have on us for the rest of the lives of those of us who remember those summers.  

    The camp was in Vermont, and the counselors were nearly all majors in natural sciences from that state’s university. They never took us on a hike without ongoing lectures on the plants we were trampling through, the stones and features where the trails lay, the identities of insects, animals, birds, of everything we saw or heard. I know that at one time I could have named any fern in the northeastern United States, and probably half the wildflowers.

    We went on trips to places that would yield the most various experiences in the smallest locales. For instance, an abandoned talc quarry where, with a jackknife as your only tool, you could return to camp with magnetite crystals, garnets, pyrites, and black tourmaline. We went to marble quarries where we could see fabulous evidence of life from far too far in the past for minds as young as ours even to comprehend.

    Small children (I was first sent at the age of six) form habits of learning without being aware of them. My introduction to identification began then, and was fostered throughout his life by my father. The physical world was so much more with me than it is so often for other children, especially from urban environments, that I suspect it may have something to do with my dismay at how little so many people seem to notice.

    The things that aren’t valued seem at least as important on our ever more challenged planet as any abstract ideals. I’m too far from today’s young, and those I do know are too few for me to guess at how much they are encouraged to become as aware as our little group of campers.

    At a distance of so many decades from that time in my own life, I know certainly that the moral qualities of life are most important. I’m equally certain that life involves not only those, but is made up of the bodies and minds that appreciate them, and that the physical can never be relegated to a secondary position if a human being is to be consciously alive.

    I know that few people are of greater importance than the primary school teachers and young parents who initiate children into the practice of paying attention — not in a classroom or to lectures alone, but to everything that proves to them that they are sentient and alive — in the present.

    ©2016 Joan L. Cannon for SeniorWomen.com

  • Optics, Illusion and Paper Cut-Out Scenes: Paper Peep Shows at the Victoria and Albert Museum

    The world’s largest and most comprehensive collection of paper peepshows has been acquired for the nation and gifted to the V&A.

    A paper peepshow resembles a pocket-sized stage set, complete with backdrop and paper cut-out scenes, which expand to create an illusion of depth. The world’s largest collection, which includes over 360 paper peepshows along with other optical wonders, has been gifted to the Victoria & Albert Museum under the Cultural Gifts Scheme, a major initiative introduced by the Government in 2013 to encourage life-time giving to UK public collections. This is the first gift under the scheme to be allocated to the V&A.

    The peepshow collection was formed over 30 years by Jacqueline and Jonathan Gestetner and is now part of the V&A’s research collection, and will be available in the reading rooms of the National Art Library.

    Peepshow depicting the interior of the Crystal Palace, 1851, Germany. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Photograph: Dennis Crompton 

    Interior of the Crystal PalaceCovering a wide range of subjects, the peepshows allow viewers the chance to join a vibrant masquerade, peek inside the Thames Tunnel or follow Alice down the rabbit hole. Others commemorate historic events, such as the coronation of Queen Victoria or Napoleon’s invasion of Moscow in 1812. They come in many shapes and sizes and are printed or handmade. Some are no larger than a matchbox, while others expand to over two metres in length. First engineered in the 1820s from paper and cloth, peepshows became an inexpensive pastime for adults and children. Most commonly sold as souvenirs, they offered a glimpse into a choice of vistas, celebrating particular events, famous places or engineering feats.

    Peepshow depicting the River Thames and tunnel, about 1843, Britain. © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Photograph: Dennis Crompton 

     

    River Thames and tunnel

     

    crystal palace

    Nearly 200 years since their invention, paper peepshows continue to delight viewers with their ingenuity and visually arresting scenes.

    Peepshow depicting the interior of the Crystal Palace, 1851, Germany, below © Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Photograph: Dennis Crompton

    The collection will be available to search online on the National Art Library Catalogue and on Search the Collections. Anyone wishing to access the peepshows can view them by appointment at the National Art Library.

    An illustrated catalogue of the collection was published in 2015 by the late Ralph Hyde: Paper Peepshows: the Jacqueline & Jonathan Gestetner Collection