Getting older requires reflection and adjustments. A tennis player I know can no longer swing that racket, so after denying the fact, pushing herself and injuring her shoulder, she now walks and goes to Curves, where she works out on half of the machines. I can’t stand still on my feet for more than ten minutes without discomfort and pain in my lower back. If no seating is available and I feel the ache starting, I explain and walk out with or without what I came in for. I wonder why stores, where one customer is being served by one service person and there is no line involved, offer no stools for their customers?

It’s very important, I think, that when we realize we cannot do whatever it was we used to do, hike, play the piano, read, travel, knit, to name just a few examples, that we step back and take a deep breath. It’s easy to deny and to overdo and hurt ourselves like my tennis playing friend did. Another friend, an inveterate traveler was wiser. She’s been to China five times and to Europe four times, and each time she returns ill, is often hospitalized, and must recoup for weeks. She has finally come to terms with this, decided that America is a vast and beautiful land, and now travels in the USA and Canada. I would prefer to go to Maine for photography, but the travel and the fieldtrips are too much for me, so I photograph at the river near my home and haul a folding chair to sit on.

There are so many things we could become interested in if we take time to investigate, keep and open mind. There is more than one hobby or avocation that each of us can enjoy. To all of you in process of making such an adjustment, I wish you great good luck.

In mid February, weather permitting, my granddaughter, Toby, will drive me to Philadelphia, where I will tape a half-hour interview with Suzanne Roberts, the host of the Seeking Solutions with Suzanne show. Suzanne will select a clip to be shown on CNN Headlines News on Comcast Television, at 9:55, and 11:55 and at 3:55 on a selected day. If I have sufficient lead-time, I will let you know in this newsletter when the clip will be shown, and I will post it on my website.

The sixth novel in the Ladies of Covington Series is called Two Days After the Wedding and arrives in bookstores in early June. Max and Hannah get married, and what happens two days after their wedding will surprise you plus the novel is packed with exciting subplots.

In the spring of 2007, a Mother’s Day novella, possibly titled An Unexpected Family and involves Amelia, will be out. In the fall of 2007 The Mountains are Dancing will be published. The Mountains are Dancing tells of a seemingly competent and sophisticated woman in her late 50s, who loses her husband and comes completely apart. She will do nothing without a man and feels that she is incomplete and ineffective and invisible without one. She begins a disastrous and disappointing campaign to find a husband, and her journey toward self-esteem and independence is slow, painful, and complicated by serious family issues.

Did you know that you can join a Ladies of Covington e-mail fan club? Just contact Kathleen Evans at Kathleen- Evans@ameritec.net.

If you wish to start a Fan Club, contact Bev Whitlock of the Sarasota/Bradenton Florida Fan Club for help at bevwhit@tampabay.rr.com.

If you should want to start a Ladies of Covington Book Club contact Maxine Phillippi at Ladymaxxw@aol.com. Maxine has been the QVC representative for the Red Hat Society and is my good friend. Later this year, fan club and Ladies of Covington book club members will be able to participate in a Ladies of Covington photo, and poetry contests.

email: jmedlicott@mindspring.com

web: http://www.joanmedlicott.com