Readers,
Brian and I haven’t taken a summer vacation—we’ve got too much going on, work-wise, and we are also typically very bad at planning ahead for them.
But these past two weeks we’ve been spending time in Long Beach, Long Island with my mom while my sister, who lives nearby, is traveling. We’re calling it a “workcation,” logging regular work hours while we’re here, using my sister’s house as our office—and preparing to shoot an episode of the forthcoming Oldster Radio Hour tomorrow, featuring my mom and her friends at their weekly Friday lunch. Subject: The incalculable value of life-long friendships.
We’re also trying to squeeze in as much summer fun as we can while we’re here before it’s too late—which is easy to do since my mom lives in an apartment house that sits right on the beach. As I’ve mentioned before, summer is my favorite season.
On the weekends, and in the early evenings on week days after we clock out, we’ve been swimming, taking walks on the boardwalk and the beach, and “beauty hunting”—brisk-walking through various neighborhoods while snapping iPhone photos of things we enjoy looking at, like crape myrtle, a kind of flowering tree we both really like.
Each night we also play a couple of rounds of Rummikub with my mom, who usually beats us. Then we tune in to The Durrells in Corfu, our latest comfort-watch on PBS Masterpiece. (Thanks for the recommendation, Marlene Adelstein.)
And we’ve been eating our fill of favorite summery foods, like steamed belly clams, lobster, sweet corn, and ice cream. It’s been a real treat. I might prefer workcation to vacation.
How are you savoring summer before it’s gone? Have you taken a vacation? Staycation? Workcation? Tell us all about it…
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Speaking of the forthcoming Oldster Radio Hour (sponsored by Ruth Ann Harnisch), we’ve been making lots of progress, conducting audio/video interviews for some of the eight episodes that will be part of Season 1.
So, yes, it will be both audio and video. For some episodes that will just mean the YouTube version will feature talking heads (including mine, as the interviewer) Zoom-style. But for others, it will mean little documentaries, with footage of people in interesting places, doing interesting things.
We’ll focus the episodes along aging-related themes—the assorted joys and sorrows of getting older, along with the surprise possibilities later in life that our culture doesn’t tell us about.
It’ll be sort of like a mini TV show or TV news magazine, a) because I think that will be visually and aurally compelling, but b) also, because of a bigger aim of mine: Some day, hopefully in the not too distant future, I’d like to make a television show called “Oldsters of America.” So this will be sort of a 1.0 version of that.
We hope to launch on Friday, October 2nd, my 61st birthday, and for Season 1, we’re going to produce just one episode per month. This first go-round we are giving ourselves plenty of time to experiment, see what works and doesn’t, and to get up to speed on all the new software and gear we’re learning to use.
It’s just the two of us, and this is new for Brian and me—although we both bring related prior experience and skills to make it very doable. We want to take our time getting this right. What’s more, I’m also busy editing Oldster and Memoir Land, and the forthcoming Oldster anthology. Hopefully for Season 2, we’ll be able to produce episodes at a faster pace.
In the meantime, we’re listening to lots of podcasts to get some ideas, and to figure out what are some best practices. We’d love to know what podcasts you listen to…
Got any podcast recommendations for us? Which are your favorites? What do you like best about them?
In other news, we’ve sold out our September 10th evening of piano karaoke at Sid Gold’s Request Room to celebrate Oldster’s 5th birthday. But now there’s a waiting list, in case you’d like to get on it.
Once again there will be a few featured singers-slash-storytellers, after which attendees can take turns at the mic, accompanied by my friend, Sid Gold’s pianist extraordinaire Paul Leschen.
I’ve got another great lineup of featured singers-slash-storytellers: Michael Musto, Darcey Steinke, Rakesh Satyal, Catherine Texier, Kavita Das, and John DeVore. If the first of these events in June—a big hit!—is any indication, this is going to be great fun.
“I love the spirit of Oldster and the fresh perspective it brings to aging with its wide-ranging essays and interviews." - Deborah Batterman, paid subscriber.
That’s all for today. Thanks as always for reading, and for all your support. 🙏💝
-Sari
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