By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

In addition to enjoying the beautiful, wide, sandy beaches that Miami Beach has to offer, here are two additional tourist attractions that may interest you the next time you visit the Miami area.

An ancient Spanish monastery

The Monastery of St. Bernard de Clairvaux was built in Sacramenia, in the Province of Segovia, Spain, during the period 1133-1144. Cistercian monks occupied the monastery for nearly 700 years.

The cloisters were seized, sold, and converted into a granary and stable due to a social revolution in that area in the mid-1830s.

In 1925, William Randolph Hearst purchased the cloisters and the monastery’s out- buildings. The structures were dismantled stone by stone, bound with protective hay, packed in about 11,000 wooden crates, numbered for identification, and shipped to the United States.

About that time, hoof and mouth disease had broken out in Segovia, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, fearing possible spread of the disease, quarantined the shipment on its arrival, broke open the crates, and burned the hay, a possible carrier of the disease.

The workmen failed to replace the stones in the same numbered boxes before moving them to a warehouse. Soon after the shipment arrived, Hearst’s financial problems forced most of his collection to be sold at auction.

The stones remained in a warehouse in Brooklyn, N.Y., for 26 years. One year after Hearst’s death in 1952, the stones were purchased by W. Edgemon and R. Moss for use as a tourist attraction.

It took 19 months and almost $1.5 million dollars to put the monastery back together. Some of the unmatched stones still remain in the back lot; others were used in the construction of the present church’s Parish Hall.

Col. Robert Pentland Jr., a multimillionaire banker, philanthropist, and benefactor of many Episcopal churches, purchased the cloisters and presented them to the St. Bernard de Clairvaux Episcopal Church, which offers services in the chapel of the monastery.

The monastery is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The cost is $5 for adults, $2.50 for seniors and students, and $2 for children under 12.

Miami Beach Botanical Garden

The Miami Beach Botanical Garden is a lush 4.5 tropical garden that is a showcase for orchids, tropical plants and trees, a Japanese Garden, and a “living wall” vertical landscape.

Special programs, such as Teas, Tonics, and Tinctures program from 10 a.m. to noon on Nov. 14, are offered.

The garden is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday. Admission is free.

I suggest getting to these tourist sites early in the day. I visited in September with my daughter, and we were pleased to finish our tours and be back in her cool home by mid-day.

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By Rita R. Robison, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Guest Blogger

Baby boomers like being green. More than half of all baby boomers in the United States, about 40 million, are “green boomers.”

Green boomers say they feel a responsibility to make the world a better place, an AARP survey found. They buy environmentally safe brands and watch less television.

Since I write often in my boomer consumer blogs about green topics, I thought I’d take a trip to the Seattle Green Festival last weekend to see what I could find out that would be of interest to baby boomers.

David Korten inspires with new economy views and call to action

David Korten, author of “Agenda for a New Economy: From Phantom Wealth to Real Wealth,” spoke about changing the economic system in America.

Korten thinks the phantom wealth created by Wall Street needs to be replaced with real wealth. Real wealth, he says, is based on real values such as education, land, love, happy, healthy children, satisfying jobs, a sense of worth, a healthy environment, and peace.

Korten, cofounder of the Positive Futures Network which publishes Yes! Magazine, calls for shutting down Wall Street. He urges people to take to the streets to demonstrate against Wall Street.

Korten believes the focus in the new economy needs to be on Main Street, which can provide green jobs and sound environmental practices.

Reading Korten’s book and subscribing to Yes! Magazine are two ways boomers can learn more about green happenings and action opportunities.

Alice Waters, regional food movement leader, works for healthier school food

World-famous chef Alice Waters, owner of the Berkeley, Calif., restaurant Chez Panisse, took part in a panel discussion at the festival with Chris Taylor, director of the documentary movie “Food Fight: Revolution Never Tasted So Good.”

Waters is one of the leaders of the regional food movement, with an emphasis on organic, locally grown food, which sprang up in Northern California in the early 1970s.

“Food Fight” chronicles the development of movement and the role of Waters and others in launching and sustaining it.

I recommend the documentary. It’s inspiring.

Waters is one of the national leaders in the Edible Education in the schools movement. In the program, children grow food in gardens at school and school cafeterias serve local, nutritious, organic food.

Edible Education addresses the issues of childhood hunger and obesity, she says.

See The Edible Schoolyard for information to help you plan a garden or kitchen program in your school.

Alex Steffen sees a bright, green future

Alex Steffen, executive editor and cofounder of Worldchanging.com, threw out dozens of ideas to a green festival audience during his talk.

Steffen tracks what’s going on in green innovations and writes essays on the possibilities for the future.

Four billion people in poverty have seen the American lifestyle on television, and they want to climb up into the middle class.

While the poor are “getting rich,” our job is to reinvent what “rich” means, Steffen says. Americans need to consume less of the world’s resources, reduce their impact on the earth, and develop a restorative economy.

Steffen is editor of a popular book, “Worldchanging: A User’s Guide for the 21st Century.” Others at the festival referred to the 600-page book of writings from more than 60 leaders around the world as an importance reference. Check it out if you think it may meet your green thinking and action needs.

The Global Exchange and Green America, formerly Co-op America, sponsor the Seattle Green Festival.

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By Rita R. Robison, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Should baby boomers sign up for Twitter?

I’m trying it.

Why?

A fellow blogger, who writes 20-plus posts a day, said it’s a good way to get information out about your posts.

What is Twitter?

A Twitter fact sheet offers this description:

Twitter is a social network and microblogging service that allows you to answer the question, ‘What are you doing?’ by sending short text messages 140 characters in length, called ‘tweets,’ to your friends and ‘followers.’

The short format of the tweet is a defining characteristic of the service, allowing informal collaboration and quick information sharing that provides relief from rising e-mail and IM fatigue. Twittering is also a less gated method of communication: you can share information with people that you wouldn’t normally exchange e-mail or IM messages with, opening up your circle of contacts to-growing community of like-minded people.

I found this great clip, “Twitter in Plain English” on YouTube that does a good job of explaining what it is.

Having just signed up for Facebook about a month ago, I thought I’d give Twitter a try.

The first thing I found out was my family and friends aren’t on Twitter.

Then I found that the boomer blogs that I enjoy, such as the Boomer Café, weren’t on Twitter. However, I did find the Boomer Diva Nation.

I didn’t find the Boomer Project, a research and marketing organization focused on boomers, either.

I e-mailed Matt Thornhill, one of the co-founders of the Boomer Project, and asked him why his organization isn’t on Twitter.

“Don’t have time to tweet,” Thornhill replied. “Plus, not sure I ‘get it.’”

Since my blogger friend said Twitter was a good venue, I tried another angle.

Since I specialize in consumer writing, I began looking for the consumer organizations I rely on for information for my posts. I had good luck here. I signed up to follow Consumer Reports, Public Citizen, and The Consumerist.

My Twitter in box began to fill up with dozens of tweets. They’re mostly headlines from the consumer groups about their articles, but Consumer Reports also gave information about events they sponsor, such as their auto issue tour.

This is a great way to get ideas for blogs. I’ll be blogging about less expensive cleaning products, a recent article in Consumer Reports.

I didn’t know how questions or comments were answered on Twitter. I found out quickly. People reply to you in another tweet.

Consumer Reports read I’m interested in consumer groups. In another tweet, the writer suggested I also follow Food Safety, CDC Emergency, and FDA recalls, which I did.

When the Consumer Reports writer read I appreciated the tweets I was receiving from him and other groups, he acknowledged my comments.

I have six people following me now, including Consumer Reports.

As soon as I’ve posted this article, I’ll let the Twitter world know about it.

And, yes, I won’t write any tweets about going to take a shower. My blogging friend said he doesn’t appreciate those.

Twitter gave me about a dozen people that I could follow when I signed up. I deleted all of them except Dr. Drew Pinsky, a doctor I enjoyed listening to when “Loveline” was on the radio.

Dr. Drew writes tweets all day about the little things he’s doing. He has 108,644 people following him. It’s strange.

Would I recommend Twitter to baby boomers?

If you’re a blogger, if you like techie things, or if you’re interested in following celebrities, I’d suggest signing up. For friends and family communication, I think Facebook is better. But, if you’re overwhelmed with the amount of e-mail you’re getting or find your other social networks too time consuming, I’d skip Twitter.

Paul Briand, a boomer blogger who writes the Baby Boomer Examiner, quoted a study in the post “Boomers Slow to Tweet” that indicated 10 percent of Twitter users are 35 to 44 years old, 5 percent are 45 to 54 years old, and 4 percent are 55 to 64 years old. The median age of a Twitter user is 31.

Briand is following me on Twitter. I was able to find his article easily by going to Twitter, clicking on his site, and locating a link to an article I saw earlier.

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My good friend Raj Setty at LifeBeyondCode posted about this nice video clip today on his blog. This short, 2-minute video explains how you can also learn to fold a T-Shirt within just two seconds.

Why do I mention it here?

First, it is a useful technique to learn to squeeze out a bit more time in our busy lives or just to impress friends or family

Second, Raj takes this example and beautifully explains the hidden lesson to leverage our talent and create good content

Third, A question that we should ask ourselves is, what other opportunities might be there to make our daily, routine activities more effecient and be able to spend more time on doing things that matter most? Are we even looking in that direction?

Enjoy this video and have a fabulous weekend.

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By Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist, Blogging at The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Guest Blogger

We usually have mild winter weather in the Pacific Northwest, but yesterday we had sprinkling of snow when I got out of bed.

I debated about taking my morning walk, bit I decided to try it. The snow was slushy and melting. I was careful and my 20-minute walk went well.

Beth Webber, 51, wasn’t so lucky. She fell in December during a walk with her husband neighborhood, according to an article on Indystar.com. About two blocks from the house, Webber, who was wearing walking shoes, slipped and broke her left arm.

I thought of the harsh winter conditions many people are having throughout the U.S. I also remembered the image I had of injured people in the orthopedic surgeon’s office when I fractured my arm and knee cap because I fell.

I decided to write this post on how to avoid the slips and falls that can occur during the winter months.

Nearly two-thirds of mishaps occur on snow, ice, or wet surfaces near entrances or on parking lots, according to the Utah Safety Council.

The council offers these tips to help you prevent falls this winter season:

• Wear shoes that provide good traction.

• Dress warmly. Being cold might cause you to hurry or tense your muscles – both of which can affect your balance.

• Give yourself plenty of time. Take short steps with your feet pointed slightly outward. This will help keep your center of balance under you and provide a stable base for support.

• Be extremely careful getting out of your vehicle. If possible, swing your legs around and place both feet on the pavement before you attempt to stand. Steady yourself on the door frame until you have gained your balance. Avoid reaching beyond your center of balance to take hold of the door, because this might cause a fall.

• Don’t take shortcuts. Always use sidewalks and the cleared paths in parking lots. Never walk between parked cars. Be especially careful when stepping to different levels — down or up steps or from curbs (don’t step on curbs). And remember, grassy slopes can be as dangerous as snowy steps.

• Pay attention to the walking surface. It might become wetter or slicker ahead of you. Look down, however, only with your eyes. If you bow your head, it could propel you forward.

• When walking after sunset or in shadowed areas, be alert for black ice — particularly in the days after a storm. Once parking lots, sidewalks, and steps have been cleared, a thin layer of water remains and re-freezes when the temperature drops.

• Carry only those items necessary. Carrying weighted or bulky packages is also risky.

Here are additional tips from the Indystar article:

• Stay inside when it’s icy or snowy if you’re prone to falls, waiting until the sidewalks are salted or the ice and snow melts.

• Be prepared by being informed about the weather so you aren’t caught by surprise by freezing rain.

• Keep salt by your front door so you don’t slip on that first step.

• Stay on the porch while you dog goes out in the yard.

• Spread the impact out over a wider area if you fall rather than having one focused spot of impact.

• Change your gait to a slow shuffle and move slowly, walk flat-footed, and take mincing steps if you realize the surface underfoot is slippery.

Good luck in the winter weather. I hope the rest of the season is a safe one for you.

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