>California Healthy

Every year we head west to visit my son Ira and my husband’s son, Jay and their respective partners. This year we hope to travel part of the way down the west coast to enjoy the view of the Pacific Ocean. (With gas prices so high, we have decided to cut the car travel in half and drive from San Luis Obispo to Los Angeles…. still a spectacular ride.) This year, a 2007 book called California Healthy: Southern California Edition by a fifth generation California resident, Patricia Hamilton, will be our guide.

This is probably the most comprehensive tour/guide book I have yet to see. It has just about everything a visitor (or even resident of S. Calif.) needs for remaining healthy while visiting or traveling throughout Southern California. Not only are all the counties covered in a logical sequence, the photos make this guide similar to the kind of catalog or brochure you would receive from a travel agency.

For example, we hope to visit my niece and nephew in Santa Barbara. So I checked out Santa Barbara County starting on page 51. The next six pages list restaurants (with a crossed fork and knife symbol), places to walk (stick figure symbol), wineries (grape symbol), coffee houses (symbol of a mug), health food stores (grocery bag), and farmers’ markets (produce). Following these listings are annual food and walk events with contact numbers. Since we are going to be in the area in September, I plan to check out the free Organic Festival to see if it coincides with our dates of travel.

Author Hamilton has also engaged the help of Bruce Biron, Executive Chef at Stanford University, Janel Willette, a certified exercise physiologist, and George Edwards, a Pebble Beach sommelier, contributing wine suggestions for Biron’s recipes.

If you plan to stay at places where you prepare your own meals, his recipes will be a tasty, healthy addition to your trip. They are located at the end of the book with the title: “Staying True to the Roots: 25 Specialty Recipes” (sample below) with Edwards’ choice of wine. And throughout the guide are notes called Walk it Off!, in which Janel provides tips for doing a ‘walk-about’ after lunch or dinner. Since we will be in the car a great deal, a ‘walk-about’ sounds perfect!

This book is a traveler’s treasure….the heavy stock with beautiful, full-color photos; the maps and listings in every county; the tips and recipes for walking and eating; and the listing of restaurants, health food stores, festivals, etc. make this a perfect travel companion. The book costs $19.95, and if you cannot find it in your local book store, check out the website: www.CaliforniaHealthy.com.

California, here we come, fully prepared with what Patricia Hamilton’s subtitle states: “ The adventurer’s guide to local delicacies, fine wine, great walks, and the good life.”

Chef Biron’s Grapefruit Vinaigrette (Try it on one of your summer salads, or one of mine!)

Ingredients
6 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp freshly squeezed grapefruit juice
1 Tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2 tsp finely chopped shallots
1 Tbsp dijon mustard
2 Tbsp ginger or orange flavored honey
1 Tbsp. finely choped chives
1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh tarragon

Directions
Combine well all ingredients (except chives and tarragon) in a blender or food processor. Add chopped herbs, taste, and adjust seasoning.

Love Stories of Later Life is about possibilities—the possibility of long-lasting love at a time when our life span has doubled; the possibility of keeping love and romance alive when married for decades; and the possibility of finding love again after divorce or widowhood. According to author and gerontologist Amanda Smith Barusch, exploring romance in the second half of life is a neglected research topic. Instead, most research is delegated heavily to love in our 20s and 30s, not our 50s, 70s, or even 90s.

But can love, romance, and passion flourish in the second half of our lives? Barusch answers with a resounding YES! And through her research she has demonstrated this to be true. That’s good news for all of us over 50, whatever our status. The author, with the help of her research team, has thoroughly research this field of late love. She tackles everything from ageism to sexual zest into your 80s and maybe beyond. After all, there is no limit on love!

What I especially like about the book is that the author has personalized it with her own concerns. At 50, she is beginning to notice changes in her own body and admits her own anxieties, which she shares with the reader. As a researcher invested in the information for personal and professional reasons, the author moves back and forth between being objective and subjective. Her own candor is refreshing.

Also, Barusch has planned the book well, dividing it into four parts: Love and Aging, Love’s Illusions, Lived Love, and Love’s Disillusions. It follows a natural progression, supported with statistics, age-appropriate black and white photos, and many pages of notes at the end to support her research. The author has definitely done her homework.
Equally candid are the comments made by the men and women she interviewed, which are scattered throughout the book. Because the responses are very candid, some are not easy to read, such as those in the chapter on betrayal and rejection.

“Old age is not for sissies” is a quote attributed to the movie star Bette Davis. Likewise, this book is not for sissies. It lays bare both the positive and negative aspects of romance among older men and women, including same sex relationships. The final paragraph in the text of the book bears reprinting, because it reflects the mostly positive tone of the research. So for those of you still seeking romance or seeking to rekindle romance in your marriage, don’t give up hope! Read this book for a realistic look at romance in later life. (And for a personal essay on my finding love later in life, go to This ‘n That and read “Second Time Around.”)

Romance blurs the boundary between fantasy and reality. Experiences structure our romantic imaginations, even as fantasies influence the way we perceive the world. Imagination is especially important in late life, when we are free of the pressures of preparing for the future and honed by decades of maturation. Like the proverbial child in the candy shop, we might bask in the delicious possibilities before us. Or we could meander along paths discovered long ago. Some of us may charge off to conquer new territories. Others might cower, afraid to break the rules or cause pain. Regardless of the experiences that await you, I hope your romantic imagination will be enriched and emboldened by heightened awareness of late life’s romantic possibilities. (p. 18)

Love Stories of Later Life is published by Oxford University Press, 2008. 240 pages. List price is $24.95.