October Red Sneaker Highlights in Brooklyn NY in 2018

The first pair of red sneakers I noticed in Brooklyn NY were worn by none other than famous auther Barbara Kingsolver! She was speaking at St. Joseph's College on Monday, October 15th, and I happened to get to her live interview, compliments of Green Light Bookstore. The podcasts of the talks will be on their website for you to enjoy watching barefoot if you like.

The mature, relaxed Barbara Kingsolver dressed in jeans and a casual long sleeved shirt (not tucked in) was personable and wise. The accomplished author on her first speaking tour for her new release Unsheltered was also lucky!  She Did Not fall off the stage after the first few minutes when her podium took off at a slow pace thankfully as she leaned a bit forward on it. Woops! It stopped as soon as she instinctively jumped out of the drivers seat by standing up.

 When I saw the podium start to roll, I shot up from my seat in the second row on the far left, thinking I could maybe prevent the disaster of her landing on the podium had it moved the last foot off the stage and she lost her balance. Who says Monday Night Football has the only cool plays popping up?

It took all couple hundred of us a few moments to recover from the excitement and she found a way to joke about the possible circus feat that likely would have made the papers had the podium crashed to the floor and she followed with a stunt jump off the 3 foot stage! Ah, nothing like a little calamity amidst a bunch of reverent readers to get the heart rate up and put at us at attention.

Do indulge in seeing the podcast sooner rather than later. I got a copy of the book, signed after about fifty others also did, so I'll dig into it soon and read more..(an early start on my new year's resolution. I did listen to the Mind Valley pitch by Jim Kwik which promoted the idea of reading a book a week since 'readers are leaders' or vice versa. His tip was to read 45 minutes daily at a scheduled time when awake (not before bed.) I am eager to  see if I can do that for One Book..then I'll see if it becomes a habit and let you folks know.

I spotted more red sneakers during my the next few days in Brooklyn as I hoped I would. Everyone wearing them seemed cool and on the go. I happened to be on the move myself so found it rather encouraging to focus on who was wearing them for a few moments when I'd spy them in a crowd or on the subway car.

On one leg of my journey I met a nice woman named Juanita..and said I'd say hello here to her. Such a nice smile when she entered a crowded subway. First she moved to the right side. At the next step after I shuffled my bag and  was looking down at the first stop, I noticed she wasn't there. But lo and behold, she was directly to my right. So we struck up a conversation...something fairly profound but I forget just what right now. I can still remember her kind smile.

I got to see an old friend from a playgroup I went to and learn about her life a bit more. As a Muslim, she married an older man and had four children (and is done she's fairly sure.) She studied law in her country but works as a nanny here. I knew she seemed smart but hadn't had a time to get to know her until we spent and hour walking after meeting on the street "by chance."

So many amazing nannies and Moms and Dads others keeping track of kids in the city. It's a whole different ball game than letting one's kids go out and play freely in the country (mostly the yard, but maybe a quiet road as when we were kids...)

Mostly everyone I know in the city is on a fairly full schedule of working, taking kids to daycare or schools and other programs. Getting kids home by dark is an art..or at least by 6 or 7pm. One nanny says she takes a few kids to pick each one up, and sometimes take one to a program then get them again. She will watch kids for one or more people sometimes until 9 or 10pm.

But the kids, she says, seem to enjoy each other and don't mind going in and out. Plus plenty of folks have dogs, from small to very large. They all need walking and care as well, so dog walkers fill in when owners are not around. I keep waiting for someone to invent 'doggie bathrooms' which could be simple enough to put on most blocks so dogs could do their thing and not have to pee on trees...or even on the grass in parks.

A treat for me was to get to Bridgeport's Sea Side Park and see the ocean. I had just spoken with four people visiting in NYC from Holland who told me there is a growing problem of having the rivers infiltrated by sea water seeping into them. Another time I met a woman who runs See Change Conversations,which had the double meaning about 'sea change'.

Her business speaks with business and leaders about climate change. Staying with a friend, I got to tune into a recent episode of This Is Us. I hope to catch up on this intriguing family story that spans from the 1960s through modern times (with flashbacks of a set of brothers in Viet Nam, one of whom is a Dad to three kids. You could likely fill me in, but it was a good break in my routine of not watching mainstream anything for a long time.)

Today I met a dozen or more fans of the Gilmore Girls Festival in Kent CT which was held for a second and likely final year there (or maybe anywhere someone said.) What great people, mostly women from Far and Wide...England, Oklahoma, Washington State, Florida (hi Tammy and one of your four whose ready to keep exploring the world!) I met women who are going to help churches prevent or become more tuned into difficult issues such as human trafficking, dieticians and a pre-school teacher who 'Loves working with kids'.

She was treating her daughter to the event as part of her birthday present. I also got to meet a sweet couple that got engaged as part of meeting some actors...Congratulations Dylan and Diana from Austin, Texas! I'll send the news to our local paper and see where it goes from there! By the way there are still some tickets left for a chance to win a nice car from the Kent Library at the Pumpkin Run on October 28th, 2018!

I also got to see a family friend whose 93 years young at heart and keeps a tidy home with help from family. Then found some fine foods at David IGA in Kent, including avacadoes that are a great brain food (another tip from Jim Kwik this morning who also said find ways to remember people's names by associating something that reminds you for that name, such as a checkmark on the forehead of someone named Mark or a Mary had a little lamb for Mary (picture her holding a lamb.)

Practicing with a  list of common names can be a quick go-to chart. Also remembering things as connected to a certain places, either a part of your body such as a mouth moving (doing push ups even) as a way to recall exercise as a tip for brain health. My adaptation of his suggestion is also  to have a place in your home with certain cues to do things. One example might be to have a  picture of a little bed and notepad on your nightstand to make your bed in the morning after waking up, after recalling one's dreams and journaling a few things you want to do each day. The free intro program to a course that runs for a month starting in November is worth viewing.

He's got an inspiring life story and their offer includes a trial period which I find tempting...likely I would go for the whole thing if it seems in the cards for me. I did happen to buy a few chances for the Big Lottery on Tuesday. Hope whoever is feeling like a Share Bear..and some say 'it's already been determined..' as in everything is planned. So In Case you might be the 'chosen winner' in terms of destiny... maybe someone will Give You a ticket or part of their winnings or Maybe you're s'posed to get a ticket if you can within reason...Just showing you my line of thought since I hardly heard about this and didn't have a car..but someone giving me a ride stopped to get gas and we each decided to get five tickets (that's ten dollars total and it came with an extra one for Monday.)

Now remember gambling Can be addictive and get out of hand...so don't play if you are prone to going overboard... and just so it's official, I wish the winner all the best... even if it's me or you even though we're clearly having rather awesome lives anyway enjoying blogging and connecting with folks while the waters rise and the podiums or really the Book Tours (of the likes of Barbara Kingsolver) are on a roll! Everybody who bought a lottery tickety could indulge in reading a good book or listening to one on audible.com... in short segments regularly too if large blocks of time are not easy to come by. Ciao for now..and keep an eye out for some happenin' Red Sneakers! There may be a pair of those in my destiny too, since I've been inspired by a concert pianist who had a dozen kids and is still going strong in her 80s who sports a pair!