WOOF: 50 Women Over 50 - Ellen

The list is endless. Women Only Over Fifty (WOOFers) who lead vibrant, meaningful lives and just seem to get younger every day.

She insisted "The show must go on!" when laid up with a torn back ligament and interviewed guests from a hospital bed on the set.

She followed two former US presidents to the podium at a Tulane University commencement in New Orleans wearing a bathrobe and furry slippers. "They told me everyone would be wearing robes," she said.

She was picked to voice the character Dory, a fish with short-term memory loss, in the animated movie "Finding Nemo" after the film's director said she typically changed the subject five times before finishing a sentence on her show.

She's a TV talk show host, a standup comic, a multiple-time award show host (and Emmy winner), the new American Idol judge, and an advocate for human and animal rights. And funny as hell.

Thank you, Ellen DeGeneres, for making life a whole lot more fun and reminding WOOFers everywhere to stay a puppy at heart!

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March: Women's History Month

March's Woofer Revolution looks at Women's History Month!

The National Women's History Project , founded in 1980, is an educational nonprofit organization. Its mission is to recognize and celebrate the diverse and historic accomplishments of women by providing information and educational materials and programs.

Here's the story behind Women's History Month taken from their website: As recently as the 1970's, women's history was virtually an unknown topic in the K-12 curriculum or in general public consciousness. To address this situation, the Education Task Force of the Sonoma County (California) Commission on the Status of Women initiated a "Women's History Week" celebration for 1978.The week March 8th, International Women's Day, was chosen as the focal point of the observance. The local Women's History Week activities met with enthusiastic response, and dozens of schools planned special programs for Women's History Week. Over one-hundred community women participated by doing special presentations in classrooms throughout the country and an annual "Real Woman" Essay Contest drew hundreds of entries. The finale for the week was a celebratory parade and program held in the center of downtown Santa Rosa, California.

By 1986, 14 states had already declared March as Women's History Month. This momentum and state-by-state action was used as the rational to lobby Congress to declare the entire month of March 1987 as National Women's History Month. In 1987, Congress declared March as National Women's History Month in perpetuity. A special Presidential Proclamation is issued every year which honors the extraordinary achievements of American women.

The organization's overarching theme for 2010 and our 30th Anniversary celebration is Writing Women Back into History. It often seems that the history of women is written in invisible ink. Even when recognized in their own times, women are frequently left out of the history books. To honor our 2010 theme, the NWHP highlight pivotal themes from previous years. Each of these past themes recognizes a different aspect of women’s achievements, from ecology to art, and from sports to politics.

WOOF wishes to recognize those women who brought us to this point, those women who are working daily to advocate for our rights, and those women who will soon carry the torch!

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Walk On

I saw a story on the news the other night that concerned me. It was about a school system that voted to eliminate failing grades. This seems to reflect a growing trend in our society that is an attempt to spare children from experiencing failure and disappointment. For example, in some cases, every child makes the team or gets a ribbon, even for finishing last in a competition.

I believe one of the reasons I became a strong WOOFer is because I experienced failure and disappointment. Whenever I would fall on my face, finish last, not reach a goal or make the team, my father would say "You don't always win and who told you life was fair anyway? Take this experience and grow from it. Get up, brush yourself off and walk on!"

This journey we call life is full of failure and disappointment. I'm glad I learned early that the bumps in the road make us better and stronger human beings. It also prepares us to handle the many roadblocks we will face as adults.

Melinda

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WOOF: 50 Women Over 50: Jane Goodall

The list is endless. Women Only Over Fifty (WOOFers) who lead vibrant, meaningful lives and just seem to get younger every day.

In 1960 Jane Goodall traveled from England to Tanzania, entering the world of wild chimpanzees. She was only 23 and the world she explored was vastly unknown. It is said she was "armed" with little more than "a notebook and pair of binoculars."

Perhaps she was equipped with something more important: optimism.

"Tarzan" and "Dr. Doolittle" her favorite books as a child, and a mother who encouraged her that she could do anything she set her mind to, Goodall chose not to take the easy road. Faith in herself and a hopeful spirit have brought her far and allowed her to make a difference ... the world over.

She carries that optimism with her today.

"It is easy to be overwhelmed by feelings of hopelessness as we look around the world. We are losing species at a terrible rate, the balance of nature is disturbed, and we are destroying our beautiful planet. We have fear about water supplies, where future energy will come from – and most recently the developed world has been mired in an economic crisis. But in spite of all this I do have hope. And my hope is based on four factors."

To read more on Goodall's reasons for hope, click here.

WOOF gives four paws up to Ms Goodall for her tireless, lifetime efforts to promote conservation and species living together in harmony.

Jane Goodall: British primatologist, ethologist, anthropologist, and UN Messengers of Peace. Known for her 45-year study of chimpanzee social and family interactions.

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WOOFer Revolution: The March Women

WOOFer Revolution marches on! Here's our special take on the subject:

Meg, Jo, Beth & Amy March. Many Woofers, when we were young pups, grew up with these characters in Louisa May Alcott's novel "Little Women"! They were like our friends and neighbors.

Do you identify with one or more of the characters? Why?

Today some of us relate more closely to the author herself. She often said she modeled Jo after her own personality. Learning that Alcott was an advocate for women's suffrage and was actually the first woman to register to vote in a school board election in Concord, Massachutes, that's not too hard to believe!

So what would Louisa think of women in this the 21st Century? What would you tell her, or one of the March women, if you could?

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Not So Hot Fans For Smokin' Hot WOOFers!

d.d. dawg & Milkbone use their Not So Hot Fans!

WOOF: Welcome to the WOOFers Club Blog. Please tell us a little about you and Not So Hot Fans! Are you WOOFers (Women Only Over Fifty)?

NSHF: We certainly are. As a matter of fact the reason we developed Not So Hot Fans is because we were both suffering from hot flashes, one of our shared symptoms of menopause. Mine ( Susan) began when I was 51, Linda’s much earlier. Linda and I are sisters, two years apart, and we have been very close all our lives . I am a nursery school teacher and my sister is a sales person in the city.

Linda has a son and we both live here on Long Island. We are very connected to our family. Our brother lives here on LI and our mother still lives in the house where we grew up. We still celebrate every birthday, holiday and life cycle event together.

WOOF: How wonderful that you two have remained so close. Will you tell our readers a little about your product? We're impressed with the little storage pouch!

NSHF: Not So Hot flash fans are incredibly efficient, nylon fans, that fold up, small enough to fit into a back pocket or evening bag. They are embellished with fashionable trims, and fold up to store in a flat, circular 3 inch nylon bag. Our intention was to create a new fashion accessory for women who need to cool off in a flash. Something they could carry discretely, use whenever they needed and have available at all times. Electric fans and other type folding fans take up too much room.

WOOF: So, what made you decide to jump into the business?

NSHF: It was New Year’s Day of 2009, I had my annual New Year’s Day open house party with about 70 guests. As always, my sister Linda and I were working side by side. As we were running around I had a hot flash, pulled my fan out of my back pocket, and began fanning myself. I waved it past Linda once or twice and she said, “wow that is a terrific fan, where did you get it? I want one.”

I said, “Yeah isn’t it great? Everyone who has hot flashes should have one.”

Linda designed trims for us and we made some samples. We customized an attractive convenient bag for it. The name of the company is a play on words from a silly conversation Linda and I had. We said that not so hot was not cool at all , and cool was good. But, that is no longer the case, because although we always want to be “cool” and “hot” now we also want to be “not so hot” too. We laughed so hard. We realized we had a great idea, a great product and a large market with a need for our product.

WOOF: I heard that you're also dog lovers. Please fill us in on your canine friends.

NSHF: Linda and I grew up with two black Labs, Ohmee and Ohmei, who made Marley look like a dream. You couldn’t leave your purse at their nose level because they loved leather so much they would start nibbling it. There was one time they ate my new boots and left only a zipper and the man made soles! They were known to break into the closet and eat canned goods by perforating the cans with their teeth and squeezing out the food. We had to have a lock on the refrigerator because Ohmee knew how to open it. My parents replaced the kitchen cabinets twice and the floor ( which they chewed) three times. The girls lived to a ripe old age of 14! My mother has the patience of a saint.

My first dog, as a married woman was Brandy, a golden retriever I adopted from North Shore Animal League. He was doll. He was so wonderful with people we applied for a pet therapy certificate. We went to Sun Harbor a senior citizen facility, and Long Island Alzheimer center for many years visiting residents. When Brandy got old, my father built a ramp for him to get into the car, because you couldn’t stop him from trying to get into the car to go to work! After he passed away I adopted Houston- the happiest dog in the world with a tongue to match, and Hunter a very sweet but shy boy.

WOOF: I'm sure everyone who reads about these great fans will want to know how they can purchase one. I know Diana and I love ours!

NSHF: Readers can visit us at our website: Not So Hot
or visit us at our Facebook page.

They can purchase fans on our site through pay pal or can print an order form and mail a check to our post office box . Our address is:

Not So Hot,
PO Box 563

Merrick, NY 11566

Linda, Cousin Jane & Susan

We sell both retail and wholesale accounts. Our fans make great gifts and

GREAT party favors!! We can also be reached via email at:

sales at not-so-hot dot com

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50 Women Over 50: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks

Her name was Henrietta Lacks, but scientists know her as HeLa. She was a poor Southern tobacco farmer who worked the same land as her slave ancestors, yet her cells—taken without her knowledge—became one of the most important tools in medicine. The first “immortal” human cells grown in culture, they are still alive today, though she has been dead for more than sixty years.

If you could pile all HeLa cells ever grown onto a scale, they’d weigh more than 50 million metric tons—as much as a hundred Empire State Buildings. HeLa cells were vital for developing the polio vaccine; uncovered secrets of cancer, viruses, and the effects of the atom bomb; helped lead to important advances like in vitro fertilization, cloning, and gene mapping; and have been bought and sold by the billions.

Yet Henrietta Lacks remains virtually unknown, buried in an unmarked grave.

The above is from the website of author, Rebecca Skloot - The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks

I'd never heard of Henrietta Lacks until I saw her story on CBS Sunday Morning, March 14, 2010. What struck me most was that her family had no knowledge that cells had been taken from her during her cervical cancer treatment, and, although her cells launched a multi-million dollar industry, the family can't afford health insurance. In fact, they've gone in debt because of heart surgery.

Work in under way to set a memorial stone on her grave.

Read more about this amazing woman on Wikipedia

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WOOFer Revolution: March - In Like a Lion?

What exactly does that mean? March comes in like a lion. Roaring? Hey, WOOFers know how to GRRR with the best of 'em!

And then there's that next part...If March does in fact come in like a lion, it's supposed to go out like a lamb. Sweet. Cuddly.

But what about all that middle stuff?!? What happens between the lion and the lamb? A leech maybe? A lemur? Oh, maybe a louse! (We've all had one or two of those in our lives!)

Anyhoo, WOOF wants to know. Has winter or life ever treatened to rip you apart only for you to discover everything actually turned out okay in the end? You know, it wasn't really all that baaaaaaaaad?

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WOOF: 50 Women Over 50 - Toni Morrison

The list is endless. Women Only Over Fifty (WOOFers) who lead vibrant, meaningful lives and just seem to get younger every day. This week's Sister on the Frisky Side of Fifty:

Toni Morrison is winner of both the Pulitzer Prize and Nobel Prize in Literature. Her Nobel citation reads: "[Toni Morrison]who in novels characterized by visionary force and poetic import, gives life to an essential aspect of American reality."

Morrison's novels typically concentrate on black women, but she does not identify her works as feminist. She says, "It's off-putting to some readers, who may feel that I'm involved in writing some kind of feminist tract. I don't subscribe to patriarchy, and I don't think it should be substituted with matriarchy. I think it's a question of equitable access, and opening doors to all sorts of things."

Thank you, Ms. Morrison, for using your writing talent to open our minds and hearts to reality...both bitter and beautiful.

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"Hey, Boo" - An Evening With Scout!

How could a Friday evening be any better? Our favorite movie. Our favorite movie character. Our favorite two words uttered in any movie! "Hey, Boo."

The National Endowment for the Arts: The Big Read came to the University of West Georgia, and what better read than "To Kill A Mockingbird?" We attended a reception Friday night that included lemon squares, chocolate brownies, cookies, sweet tea, and a giant-screen showing of "To Kill A Mockingbird." Oh, and we got to meet Mary Badham who played Scout.

We thought that might get your attention. WOOFers, Diana and Mary really got to meet and talk to SCOUT!

It was one of those Bucket List moments.

Since beginning of time...okay, since the first time we both saw the movie, it's been our favorite and Scout, our favorite character. Mary, having grown up a tomboy, and Diana's childhood pictures bearing an uncanny resemblance to Scout, might play a small part in their devotion. But, more of the credit has to go to Harper Lee, for writing this magnificent book, Robert Mulligan for his artful and sensitive direction, and to Horton Foote for writing an amazing screen play that stayed true to the book.

Mary Badham introduced the movie and gave a little insight into her co-stars. After "retiring" at the ripe old age of fourteen, she never lost touch with the actors. When her father died shortly after her marriage, Gregory Peck (Atticus Finch) and Brock Peters (Tom Robinson) took over "dad duties," and were always there when she needed them. She's also remained very close with her movie brother, Philip Alford (Jem). Read more.

After the crowd's reaction to the 50-year old movie and meeting a young mother with her month-old baby girl Scout, we got to thinking. Could it be there are OTHER people who connect to the movie, Scout and/or the book just as deeply as us? On the off chance :>) there might be a WOOFer or two out there who relate, we'd love to hear your comments!

Who is your favorite character? What is your favorite scene?

Which arm would you cut off to meet Harper Lee?!?!?!

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Second Sight - Judith Orloff, MD 2nd Edition

A special WOOF guest post!

Second Sight by Judith Orloff, MD (2nd Edition)

In this moving personal story Dr. Orloff recounts her "journey to become whole" by first accepting and then embracing her intuitive abilities. She tells of her childhood fear of her intuition, of her physician-parents' efforts to ignore and even deny them, and of her slow awakening to the understanding that her intuition is truly a gift. She tells of her struggle to incorporate her abilities into her practice and of the many successes she's experienced with patients ever since. Second Sight is a soulful and friendly bestseller.

As a child, her vivid dreams and intuitions were whispered about behind closed doors. As a medical student, she denied the "shameful secret" by immersing herself in the absolutes of science. Then as a psychiatrist, Dr. Judith Orloff received proof of the value of her gift when an intuition foretold a patient's suicide attempt. In this remarkable self-portrait, she takes you on the journey of a lifetime, one that brought her from ignorance to understanding, from loneliness to peace, from despair to hope...

NOW SHE TEACHES YOU HOW TO UNCOVER YOUR INTUITIVE GIFTS

“There is no elite to which the gift belongs--the seeds have been planted in all of us....each one of us is multifaceted, radiant, teeming with possibilities.”

As she tells you her own story, Dr. Judith Orloff will teach you how to recognize intuitive experiences in everyday life, awaken your own intuition with special mind-empowering exercises, and use meditation, prayer, and dream interpretation to broaden your possibilities. And like Dr. Orloff you'll soon be on a quest to reexamine your life, your beliefs, your future...and your own wonderous potential.

GET your copy of Second Sight with 80+ GIfts from amazing teachers such as Dr. Joan Borysenko, Rev. Michael Beckwith, and Deepak Chopra, and Shirley MacLaine. Click on Link - Dr. Judith Orloff

Judith Orloff, MD, is author of the new book SECOND SIGHT: AN INTUITIVE PSYCHIATRIST TELLS HER STORY AND SHOWS YOU HOW TO TAP YOUR OWN INNER WISDOM (Three Rivers Press, 2010 updated edition). Her other bestsellers are Emotional Freedom, Positive Energy, Intuitive Healing. Dr. Orloff synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge knowledge of intuition, energy, and spirituality. She passionately believes that the future of medicine involves integrating all this wisdom to achieve emotional freedom and total wellness.


GET your copy of Second Sight TODAY and receive 80+ GIfts from amazing teachers such as Dr. Joan Borysenko, Rev. Michael Beckwith, and Deepak Chopra, and Shirley MacLaine at Judith Orloff, MD

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50 Women Over 50: Billie Jean King

The list is endless. Women Only Over Fifty (WOOFers) who lead vibrant, meaningful lives and just seem to get younger every day.

Photo courtesy of Archive Photos, Inc.

I'll bet every WOOFer remembers the 1973 Battle of the Sexes: Billie Jean King against that male chauvinist, Bobby Riggs. What a doofus! Did he really think he could beat her - just because he was a man and she, a weak female??

Guess that question was answered in short order. King easily beat Riggs in a televised match in the Houston Astrodome.

But, on to more relevant information about one of the best tennis players, ever.

Billie Jean (Moffitt) King was born on November 22, 1943, in the southern California city of Long Beach. She developed an interest in tennis at age eleven and saved money to buy her first racket, winning her first championship at age fourteen.

In 1961 Billie Jean competed in her first Wimbledon tournament in England but was defeated in the women's singles. She teamed, however, with Karen Hautze to win the doubles (two-person team) title, and in 1965, won her first Wimbledon singles championship, then repeated in 1967. That same year she also won the U.S. Open singles title at Forest Hills, New York.

In 1968 King won both the women's singles and doubles titles at Wimbledon. In 1971 she became the first woman athlete to win more than one hundred thousand dollars.

The list goes on and on. To read more about this great tennis legend click on the Wikipedia Bio page.

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WOOFer Revolution: Exercise Over 50

March...This month the WOOFer Revolution looks at different ways WOOFers march. To the beat of a different drummer perhaps? Using the last name March for characters as Louisa May Alcott did in her amazing novel "Little Women"?

But first, in order to march successfully in any revolution, one must be physically fit. So let's take a moment to do a little exercise in preparation, to better our cardiovascular health and maintain muscle mass.

If you're over 50, we will begin slowly at first, then increase repetitions as we become more proficient and build stamina. Warning: It may be too strenuous for some. Always consult your doctor before starting any exercise program!

Okay, shall we begin?

SCROLL DOWN.

SCROLL UP.

That's enough for the first day. Great job!
Now, have a glass of wine, and we'll see you next week! Oh, if you still have strength, please leave a comment on how beneficial you found this exercise.

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