DEAR HELOISE: I just finished reading your hints on "what to get a grandmother for the coming holidays," and you have missed the current activities that we grandmas who belong to recreation centers and YMCAs participate in. We no longer bake homemade bread and stay in slippers all day. Please include an updated list of gifts, such as tennis balls, racket cases, sun visors, bicycling accessories and other related items. We golf, and we travel, too; plus you left out the fastest-growing sport in America -- pickleball. Just drive by a tennis court today and observe all the grandmas out there playing pickleball.
-- The Modern Day Grandma,
Jane Woodford
DEAR HELOISE: I wanted to write in regarding the letter from "A Reader in San Antonio." In the letter, the reader suggested that "the lady from Gardenia, Calif., consider donating any calendars or greeting cards she receives to her local senior center or nursing home."
I suggest that such donations also be extended to the men or women, as well as juveniles, who are incarcerated in the many prisons and similar facilities that exist across our country. This should also include those confined in any of our many psychiatric facilities. Similarly, books can be donated to the Prison Library Project, which exists here in California and, hopefully, other locations in different states.
-- Old Man
in Claremont, Calif.
DEAR HELOISE: I have been reading your column for years. Some things I have found very helpful, and others I was doing already. I have been mildly handicapped for most of my life, but in the last few months, I've progressed greatly. I found that I needed a hip replacement, and my right leg and knee are in much pain. I also lost the range of motion below my knees. I was unable to pick up my pants from the floor, and my dressing stick was in another room. Then, I saw a plastic coat hanger, and it worked perfectly. Now, I have hangers in various spots in the bathroom and my bedroom, and even one in my walker.
-- Edward Loch,
San Antonio
DEAR HELOISE: Your advice about an energy audit for Georgia H. in your recent column was good. However, one very quick "fix" with a modest, but noticeable payback is to replace any incandescent or fluorescent lights with LED lights. Home improvement stores have a great selection of lighting options these days.
-- Carl Silsbee, via email
DEAR HELOISE: Here are some hints for senior citizens:
1. Buy your senior citizen a new address book and sit with him or her as you go through the old one and rewrite the new addresses in large print.
2. Buy high-quality nail polish and commit to doing your loved one's nails every other week. This is especially great for women in nursing homes. I bet they will opt for bright red or bright pink. Just ask.
3. Get them a rechargeable flashlight or a digital picture frame that loved ones can add pictures to remotely. Set up an easy-to-use video chat device or install a bidet. Buy them new flannel sheets, a reacher gadget to get things off the floor, large-print books, a high-powered reading light, automatic lights for their porch, etc. You can even get them a candy dish for you to refill frequently so they can offer visitors or staff candy.
Every senior citizen has different needs and wants. Have a family discussion of what is the best way to celebrate and recognize them.
-- Susan Orr, via email
Send a money- or time-saving hint to Heloise, P.O. Box 795001, San Antonio, Texas 78279-5000; fax to (210) 435-6473; or email
Heloise@Heloise.com