By Shirley Meerson, CHWC, CBT ~ NABBW’s Ageless Wellness Lifestyle Associate Don’t let the holiday season take a toll on your health and wellness.  With the holidays coming up, the next few weeks can bring on unwanted stress.  The pressures and demands can send people into meltdown, and it really isn’t necessary. Don’t buy into the chaos that comes with the holiday season. There are strategies that can help with the stress, grief, and anxiety that many people may feel.  As little as 5 minutes of self-care will go a long way toward your peace and sanity – and can lower your... Read More

By Pamela J. Sams. BFA, MBA, CRPC, Trusted Advisor to Professional Women and NABBW’s Retirement Planning Associate. We’re sorry, but due to circumstances beyond our control, we are having to postpone this podcast until next week. Most likely Tuesday November 22, at the same time and location listed below. If you have immediate questions you’d wanted to ask Pam Sams, here is a link to some alternate 2022 Medicare podcasts we’re aware of. (Just click on the hyperlink.)     It’s November and we’re “smack-dab in the middle” of our Annual Medicare... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Isabella Bird was a Victorian-age explorer whose time has come again! The best-loved travel writer of her day wrote effusively about her travels in Estes Park in A Lady’s Life in the Rocky Mountains. Three books about her were published in 2021, including my historical novel Embrace of the Wild. In April I was honored to be selected as the “Isabella Bird Expert” for the upcoming BBC documentary “Trailblazers,” a series spotlighting heroic women that have fallen through the cracks of time. I joined the film crew at Bird... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Just 34 miles up sweeping I 70 from Denver lies Evergreen, a popular stop for folks wanting to breathe deeply of crisp, pine-scented air.  Forward-thinking Denver elders forged out huge open spaces for hikers and bikers in this area. A myriad of trail networks lace the hills surrounding the rustic mountain town. I hiked in Dedisse Park on an undulating trail through a forest overlooking the Evergreen Lake. Expect to meet mountain bikers and other hikers on the trails. Evergreen is a hub of outdoor fun and connecting highways to the interior... Read More

By Shirley Meerson, CHWC, CBT ~ NABBW’s Ageless Wellness Lifestyle Associate A little sunshine goes a long way.  How would you like a natural mood boost combined with greater alertness? The happiness, the light, the cheerfulness, the joy and sparkles that comes via sunlight are so important for our mind and body. You might call it Self-Care 101! Indeed, the morning light is medicinal and magical. At this time in our lives – self-care is so important.  Shirley personally uses and recommends that a good dose of morning light should be an integral part of everyone’s ageless... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate I love this interview with Brett Wilson at The Rocky Mountain Channel podcast. I felt relaxed and welcome. He wanted to know what prompted me to follow in the hoofprints of the indomitable Isabella Bird from pristine Hawai’i to untamed Colorado in 1873. We talked about how Isabella and Rocky Mountain Jim were two seriously damaged people who found their salvation in nature. Isabella describes their legendary romance and the ethereal beauty of the region in her book A Lady’s Life in the Rockies. Her vivid descriptions of the region drew... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Isabella Lucy Bird was a Victorian Age adventurer who endured tremendous hardships in her explorations of the Rockies in 1873. She became the best-loved travel writer of her time, and was the first woman inducted into the Scottish Royal Geographical Society. In my book Embrace of the Wild, I share Bird’s most transformative journeys. A fierce spirit trapped in a frail body, Isabella rode through raging waters on the Hamakua Coast, up the flank of a volcano, and into the Waipio Valley in Hawai’i. Her exploratory adventures began at the... Read More

By Phyllis Stoller, NABBW’s Group Travel Associate For us Boomers, the time to travel is now. We can leave the United States and travel much of the world without anxiety. The Euro is close to $1 and the UK Pound, Mexican Peso, etc are very low; travel costs are way down to compensate for airfares which are up. Why should we feel safe now? Below I answer with facts and my personal feelings: Most of Europe is more vaccinated than we Americans are. Portugal is the outstanding example with 98% fully vaccinated.  Much of Europe has socialized medicine. What does that mean for Covid safety?... Read More

By Linda Ballou, NABBW’s Adventure Travel Associate Each day, thousands traverse the narrow road that hugs the coast of Southeast Maui to the village of Hana, one of last remnants of old Hawai’i. It is a miracle that the over fifty one-lane bridges, many of which are over a hundred years old, don’t collapse beneath the steady stream of cars. Drivers are rubber necking to see the most beautiful waterfall, and angling to find a pullout near unmarked trailheads to take a closer look. Still, chaos can be avoided and you can enjoy a tranquil, romantic journey into this lush, unspoiled region... Read More

By Carolee Duckworth, NABBW’s Independent Travel Associate OUR JULY ARMCHAIR TRIP: Montréal & Quebec City: A Trip to France without Crossing the Atlantic Are you ready for another Armchair Trip? It’s July, so this time let’s head off to the more moderate temperatures of Northern Canada to visit two historic cities with winding cobbled streets, flanked by seventeenth and eighteenth-century stone houses and churches, graceful parks and squares. Our destinations will be the French speaking cities of Montréal and Quebec City, rich in unsurpassable French cuisine, French culture... Read More