Physical and mental wellness and by the way, has life really changed much over the decades?

A perplexing question gripped hub and I this past weekend as we traveled almost 600 miles - 300 miles in each direction - to a wedding in the mountains of Virginia.

Why are AAA and other travel maps so difficult to open in the car? And once opened, why are the maps tricky to refold correctly? Or is it just us? Nowadays most people probably use modern technology-a GPS, either a gadget on or in their car or an app on their smartphone-to reach their destination. Sometimes, however, like this past weekend when we wanted to avoid highways around Baltimore and Washington, a map showing a large area with major highways as well as side roads indicated, comes in handy. We found an alternative route thanks to an old-fashioned paper map.

The driving situation brings up an interesting question discussed by Tom Sightings in his post this week.

Tom revisits an issue that has plagued him for some time, which is ... has technology really improved our lives all that much? See if you can sympathize with his plight by calling up Is There An App for That?l

"Living everyday with passion and purpose," is one of many quotes pondered by Laura Lee over at Adventures of the New Old Farts. Living hectic lives consumed by modern life, including jobs and careers, family and other relationships, there is little time for pondering one’s situation and asking: Is this really what I want? Why am I living this life? Retirement often brings a more flexible, laid-back lifestyle with time to think. Laura Lee reflects on these questions in this week’s post, Purpose is Highly Overrated.

On The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, Rita R. Robison, consumer journalist, writes about a report that shows that drinking one glass of wine or other alcoholic drink a day increases breast cancer risk. However the report, which analyzed 119 studies, including data on 12 million women and 260,000 cases of breast cancer, overlooks the link between exposure to chemicals and breast cancer, Robison said. It gives the impression, wrongly, that women are totally responsible themselves for getting breast cancer through their lifestyle choices. Read Robison’s article to see what steps you can take to reduce the exposure to toxic chemicals in your life.

Carol Cassara discusses the fact that the mind/body connection cannot be ignored if you are healing from any disease, especially cancer. 

Carol closes this week’s boomer blog with some well-chosen words about life from a man of few words, the poet Robert Frost.