Sunny Saturday
By Juliaacv
@Juliaacv (56705)
Canada
July 11, 2026 10:45am CST
Good morning myLotters. 
It is a sunny summer's day here in my neck of the woods. There is a lovely breeze, which makes it very tolerable to spend time outside.
I just replied to an email from my Dad's sister, my Aunt Eleanor. She has long been my favorite aunt. I am not certain of her exact age, but I know that she is pushing 90.
When I stop and think about her education, attending a one room schoolhouse in the country, followed by a high school in a small town and then university in the very city that I reside, I cannot help but to realize that her education and learning days have never ended.
I mean that generation can do long division in their head, plus manage the internet.
I know that the extent of my post secondary education, has provided me with computer skills, but nothing compared to what she has seen or learned during her days. I find that remarkable.
She did tell me that after a string of hot days, followed by a cool down this summer, has caught up to her. She is finding that her body doesn't adjust as well as it used to. I thought that odd, since I have never heard whimper a complaint about aging.
She did say that she is going away on a retreat next week. I suggested that with quiet downtime she may handle the upcoming heatwave a little more graceful.
~Photo is mine taken in BC
It is a sunny summer's day here in my neck of the woods. There is a lovely breeze, which makes it very tolerable to spend time outside.
I just replied to an email from my Dad's sister, my Aunt Eleanor. She has long been my favorite aunt. I am not certain of her exact age, but I know that she is pushing 90.
When I stop and think about her education, attending a one room schoolhouse in the country, followed by a high school in a small town and then university in the very city that I reside, I cannot help but to realize that her education and learning days have never ended.
I mean that generation can do long division in their head, plus manage the internet.
I know that the extent of my post secondary education, has provided me with computer skills, but nothing compared to what she has seen or learned during her days. I find that remarkable.
She did tell me that after a string of hot days, followed by a cool down this summer, has caught up to her. She is finding that her body doesn't adjust as well as it used to. I thought that odd, since I have never heard whimper a complaint about aging.
She did say that she is going away on a retreat next week. I suggested that with quiet downtime she may handle the upcoming heatwave a little more graceful.
~Photo is mine taken in BC9 people like this
10 responses
@FourWalls (87569)
• United States
5h
What a wonderful woman! And it is surprising to people who reach for calculators to add 1+1 when us old folks do the math in our heads.
2 people like this
@Juliaacv (56705)
• Canada
4h
It is that entire generation that amazes me.
They have had to learn to manage, our lives are so technical it seems.
And today, they don't reach for a calculator, they reach for their phone to do the math. My son's BIL actually youtubed how to check the oil in his vehicle. My son learned how to do that before learning to drive. 
1 person likes this
@FourWalls (87569)
• United States
4h
@Juliaacv — wow, I was changing my oil in my car!! My dear mother of blessed memory helped her dad tear down and rebuild an engine!!
1 person likes this
@Juliaacv (56705)
• Canada
4h
@FourWalls Exactly, we taught our son that if he wanted to learn how to use something, he needed to know how it was made/constructed. I happened to miss that lesson, my Dad refused to show me even how to pump my own gasoline. He had an inground tank at home, and told me that all that I needed to do was pull the car up and park it there and that either him or one of my brothers would fill the tank for me, and it would be up to whomever I married to take over from there. I disliked that mentality, but it was the '70's and living under his roof, I had to abide by his rules. My husband looked after his mother and her car after she became a widow, and couldn't imagine me doing my own maintenance. I still do not even know how to open the hood of the car. Not something I am proud of. Just a different way of being brought up is all.
1 person likes this
@RasmaSandra (98933)
• Daytona Beach, Florida
35m
There are those adorable girls. Best for her at her age to get away in this heat.
1 person likes this
@snowy22315 (210445)
• United States
2h
Yeah, it's amazing how some people just keep on going like the Energizer bunny. My mom is a bit like that.
1 person likes this
@Juliaacv (56705)
• Canada
2h
I am biased, but I believe that she is extraordinarily intelligent.
She was a high school math and religion teacher, as well as a guidance counselor.
But she is just one example of many many others of that age group who were brought up kind of doing things the hard way, without some of the modern conveniences that we really do take for granted. She learned to drive on a stick shift, and I know that they still sell them, but there are choices. She taught school and used blackboards and overhead projectors to explain things, today she uses a computer, although she no longer teaches. She learned to sew on a treadle sewing machine and wash clothing in a ringer washing machine.
Just a few examples of the huge changes that generation has adjusted and continued to learn during the life to master. Imagine the very thought of going from a rotary dial phone to face timing with someone, or putting a question into a computer and finding many answers.
I had to learned to type on a manual typewriter while helping my Grandpa do things when I was 12, then in high school, classes for typing, and then in my early 30's I took some computer courses for word processing. Nothing like the hurdles that she has had to overcome. I admire that.
@wolfgirl569 (137213)
• Marion, Ohio
Just now
They have learned a lot. Hope she gets to feeling better.
@Juliaacv (56705)
• Canada
1h
My twin granddaughters are starting to be able to tell time on an analog clock as well they are learning the days of the week.
When they were babies and crawling around on our floors, they would always stop and look up on the hour when our anniversary mantel clock would chime. I think that caught their attention to time pieces. They would take my arm and look at my 'clock' as they would refer to my wrist watch. They have no clocks at home besides the digital one on the stove, and they are encouraged to keep their distance from the stove.
My husband is taking them once a week to a STEM class for 45 minutes, which exposes them to science, and math. They have only been once, but they learned about volcanoes and lava. They made their own 'lava' and the watched as the instructors showed them how the volcano that they had there worked and lava came out and flowed down the sides. I look forward to next week's class and what they will be exposed to.
@LooeyVille (47)
• United States
4h
Yes these young people today can't do math in their heads like we can.
1 person likes this
