Side Note: I hope readers were excited to notice that my brother, Dorn, is now sharing the ThirdAgeThoughts blog. Dorn followed me into the world by 13 months but somehow managed to precede me in retirement by five months! Check out his first post on writing, below. I’m hoping he will find it fun to keep contributing whatever he wants to write about!
One thing sixty-somethings seem to talk about when they get together is what they are doing that is good for the brain. Or if they don’t talk about it, they should! I started trying to play my mandolin after learning that music is the best brain activity! I have a beautiful mandolin made by luthier, Wilber Arce, that has mostly been languishing in the case in the years since I’ve had it. But now I am motivated to play it although attaining some level of musical proficiency has always been a kind of a struggle for me. But…I have great hopes that the amount of aptitude of the musician for music is inversely proportional to the amount of benefit the brain derives by trying to master it!
