Back on Track (Helen)

It's been a few weeks since I last talked to you guys. I had a lovely time at BlobFest and a nice relaxing vacation, and now I'm ready to get back into my schedule in earnest. The older buds have just as many stories as ever, some of which pop up spontaneously. I'm not able to capture every single story, but I keep track of each one in case somebody gets writers block and needs inspiration. Sometimes you are your best inspiration.

Helen Claybrook 

7.27.2017 

The Happiest Day of My Life to Date 

My kitty is a real kitty. She has the personality of a jaguar. She hissed at the exterminator. So he will come back next month. Zoey will have to be put in a cage like a wild animal. 

She runs around like she is looking for another animal to take down. She finds every piece of paper on the floor. She knocks over everything that isn’t nailed down. She will not go in dirty pots, like eating my foods. She runs up the front of me. Pushed her off. She runs up the back of me. I told my doctor. He said give her a month to get used to home. She has six more days to shape-up or ship out. When I spotted her in the cage, she had her four with paws up in the air. She was in a little tub with her brother and mother. I love my little Zoey. I am very happy I got her from the shelter. She is three months old. I didn’t ask how long she had to live. But she is living up in Uncer Village.

See you next week, and enjoy your summer!

Curated by Caitlin Cieri

On Break

Good evening everyone. I'm on vacation so I'm not posting anything on the blog this week. See you in seven days!

Cooldown (Loretta D.)

Good afternoon everybody. Like I said last week, there was no Best Day session due to the heat and the holiday. Things are finally cooling down, both metaphorically and literally, and we'll be back in the swing of things soon enough. I would like to make a fun little announcement: I will be at the run out in this year's Blobfest! It takes place every year in Phoenixville, PA, one of the cities where The Blob was filmed. The run out reenacts the scene where the blob oozes through the movie projector into the theater, ready to eat some cinema-goers. Naturally, the audience screams and runs out of the theater! I actually found out about this from the Jerry Spinelli book "Love, Stargirl" and I've wanted to do it for years.

This movie is such a cult classic, I'd love to find out if any of the older buds ever went to see it. Or if they ever went to a similar event celebrating cult classics, like a Rocky Horror show. And if you ever went to see the first showings of The Blob, or even the first Blobfest, let us know at In the meantime, I hope you're enjoying this story in a Healthfully Air-Conditioned room!

Loretta Dotson 

1.18.2018 

Family 

I remember when I was growing up, I wasn’t overly happy with most of my immediate family members, my sisters and brothers older than me were bossy. I had to obey them and do what they commanded or dictated or they would rat on me and I would get a tongue lashing or worse, “no dessert.”

I rarely got new clothing, coats and dressers were handed down to me, I didn’t mind because they kept very good care of their clothes and also they were new to me. I had aunts and uncles that needed assistance with care and housework. We were volunteered to help out, no pay. They would say thank you ma’am. I’ll dance at your wedding. I would smile and say, “thank you.” But, I would be uttering, “you’ll never dance.” 

I loved my younger cousins – I could boss them around, kind of, but nicely. They shared their goodies with me. Sundays were church days, all day long. We had a huge picnic basket with plenty of food. We often made visits to other family members homes and functions. We felt save everyone looked out for you. We had each other’s back. Now our family members are widespread. We don’t seem them too often. Even weddings and funerals can’t unite us all. But, Facebook and messenger, Twitter and Gmail and texting makes it easier to keep in touch. 

Curated by Caitlin Cieri

Heat Wave (Elliot)

It’s been very hot in Philadelphia lately. Dangerously so, which is bad news for the older buds. At times like these, I’m ambivalent about whether or not I should hold a Best Day Session in this heat. On one hand, the senior center has air conditioning, which makes it a safe haven on days like this. On the other hand, our older buds come from all over Philadelphia, and they don’t spend all their travel time in the A/C. This week, I’ve decided to give the older buds the week off for the 4th of July. I’m also working on an Independence Day post for this blog too. It might not come up right away, because I want to make it something really special.

Even in the better weather, we’ve had people coming in late or people who just can’t write that day. But no matter where you are or what you’re doing, I hope that Best Day will always give you, as our newest older bud Sadie says, “a spark to write.” That’s what we’re here for. 

Elliot Doomes 

11.16.2017 

One Summer Day 

It was a hot summer early evening and the living room door was open. And in walks this burly insurance man with a cigar hanging from his lips. He said to my sister-in-law, Doris “It sure is a hot day out there, Honey.”

And my brother jumped up from the couch he was sitting on and he was very angry. 

And he said, “What the hell did you just call her? Honey? You walk in my house 

without knocking, smoking your cigar, don’t even take off your hat indoors. Do you do that when you go to people’s houses on the Boulevard?” (And back in the day, the Boulevard was where you had all the semi-wealthy people; upper-middle class). 

“You put out your cigar at the door, and you knock before entering and you take off your hat once you’re inside.” And before the insurance man could respond, my brother had picked him up and threw him out of the door and he gave him a couple whacks too! And my brother was that strong because that was a big guy he threw out. My brother weighed about a hundred seventy-five and the insurance man was about two ten, two twenty. And my brother said, “The next time you come back here, you gonna get the same thing.”

The next month, we had a lady insurance person. No more insurance man. I’ve never seen that guy again. 

Happy 4th of July! Enjoy the Senior Selfie from our older bud Frances!

Curated by Caitlin Cieri

Father's Day (Norman and Joe)

Good afternoon everyone. I hope you all had a Happy Father's Day a few weeks ago. I woke up early to make my dad shaskshuka and beef short ribs, because mom’s aren’t the only ones who deserve a home-cooked breakfast from their kids on their special day. Before I go into our story, I want to tell you about something else that happened at Best Day.




The Thursday before Father’s Day (the day of the fire drill), I happened to catch older bud Joe asking where Walgreens was. We got to talking, and he said that he and Deborah never had kids of their own, but he likes to buy himself a bottle of cologne each Father’s Day. We had a few minutes until Best Day started, so I walked with him to the nearest drug store so he could get his cologne. Joe’s blind, so I had watch out for whatever his cane couldn’t detect. At traffic intersections I’d say “Red light” or “Green light,” depending on whether it was safe to cross. I told Joe this took me back to my elementary school gym class; we both had a good laugh at that.



In honor of this past Father’s Day, I thought it’d be fun to go through the vaults and see what was written during Fathers’ Days past.

Norman Cain
6.29.2017
My Love for Nature


I am fascinated by a colony of industrious bees.
Love to inhale the savory scent of daffodils’
Captivated by the strength of the Shetland pony,
Enthralled by unified worker ants building hills.

I delight in inhaling a shivery spring breeze,
Being mesmerized by resounding oceans roar,
Sighting multi-hued autumn leaves floating from trees,
Strolling across cherry blossom pollen on earthen floor.


The gratifying warmth of a beaming sun upon my face,
The soothing fragrance of a garden of yellow rose,
These are buy a few things concerning nature I embrace:
There is the peacefulness synonymous with a virile grove.

Mother Nature conducting a chorus of chirping birds,
The breath-taking sight of a brilliant full moon night,
Currents of a bubbling creek between pebbles, swerving,
The deep cleansing, soul caressing somberness of twilight.

The vision of autumn’s V formatted migratory fowl
The fascination of witnessing mountain peaked capped snow
The elongated courtship hoot of the Great Horned Owl
The infallibility of untampered ecosystems striving in meadows.


Joe Garrison
The Dead Kennedys
6.15.2017

The Dead Kennedys? That makes me think of all those other weird names for bands.
There was the Dead Milkmen and the Chocolate Watch Band. I still think the weirdest one was The Peanut Butter Conspiracy. And there was a band from England and the Beatles gave them their name. I can remember if it was the Family Dog or Grapefruit! There’s some weird names out there like Hootie and the Blowfish and The Greatful Dead.

You know, the song, "Strangers in the Night" was originally called "Beddie-Bye." It was incidental music in a movie, but somebody liked it so much that they put lyrics to it. I only found out about that recently.
I just heard Cake’s version of "Stranger in the Night." I like the whistle noise they do in the background. I just listed to The Bird and the Bee’s cover of "Tonight You Belong to Me." You know after Patience and Prudence made those two records they never grew up to be singers. I never knew what happened to them.

And I leave you with this selfie taken by our guest and Frances' sister, Sadie.
Curated by Caitlin Cieri

Spotlight on Love (Mike)

This week, I’d like to give a shout-out to Love Now Media. Our fearless leader Benita’s a fan of their work, and older bud Mike went to see one of their shows along with his family. Last Friday, Mike’s daughter Melissa and her kids surprised him by taking him to Love Now Media’s performance The Love Story Exchange. It was set up like a gameshow where random Philadelphians were invited onstage and asked questions about their experiences with love. One of Mike’s favorite moments was when a woman with silver and purple hair was asked about the first time she fell in love. She hinted that if she answered, she’d be embarrassing one of the fellow contestants, a handsome underwear model. When the underwear model was asked to talk about all the times he felt like he’d felt true love, the silver-purple-haired girl immediately told him, “Don’t lie, now!” It was clear from their interactions that the contestant selection was not entirely random. It sounded like an amazing show from an amazing company, and I regret that I won’t be able to see it for myself.

I’d also like to say that our older bud Norman was published in the Philadelphia Inquirer on June 12th, 2018. Like I’ve said before, Norman’s been working with Drexel University’s Writers Room project, and this article’s about how it started and what the Writers’ Room’s plans are for the future. I teared up when reading this, between Norman seeing his old neighborhood turned into an weedy, empty lot, and Natasha and Norman talking about what it means to be an outsider.

I’m so glad that Norman and Mike are spreading the Best Day values of storytelling, inclusiveness, and love all over Philadelphia.

Dr. Michael M. Tsuei

1.25.2018
Celebration Party at SJU

I had a wonderful time on Tuesday night at Saint Joseph’s University campus. The present of the school put out a public party for the year according to my knowledge. They had been doing the party for elderly senior citizens for people passed forty-two years old. The night we all enjoyed the good food, the music, and dancing, especially the musical group performing the old boy band music and quiet bets of frank conversations some and lots of dance and music. 

At our table, we had a lady named Mary, she is 90 years old performing the sound, sing the old jazz. Meanwhile, I had learned a lot of songs they had been experiences. By my own observations, the elder gentlemen at the party like to dang with the young college girls. They all volunteer for the major event, for my experience, the elder ladies also like dancing with the young boy students at the end. I also saw something very interesting at our table – two ladies got lucky, the winning the first basket at the drawing by the tickets. Also the table sitting only full up to half, so lots of food was left over, also that the flowers on the table with the vase had been away and stayed on the table in the table cloth. At our table, the ladies prepared for such an event. They all took out lunch bags, put all the food on the table. Nothing will be wasted. Then I remember the old proverb said, “when you're young, you over indulge, the eating and sleeping than when you get older, you grab everything around you before your life ends. By the way, at our table, one lady 95 years old, another lady is 91. Never the less, I had a great time, lots sprint, it’s a wonderful party. Thank you for Saint Joseph’s University for doing that.

And if you're wondering why we were outside for this picture, it's because there was a fire drill.

 

Curated by Caitlin Cieri