The Senior Scene

The Washington State Senior Games returns this month for its 23rd year as the largest Olympic-style, multi-sport event in Washington.

The 2019 games will be held July 26-28 at various sites throughout the South Sound area, mostly in Thurston and Pierce counties. Last year’s event drew more than 2,000 competitors, and a similar amount is expected again for competition that’s open to Washingtonians state and out-of-staters.

They’ll compete this year in archery, basketball, badminton, bowling, shooting (trap and cowboy action), cycling, dance, golf, disc golf, pickleball, power and race walking, racquetball, 5k and 10k runs, rock climbing, shuffleboard, soccer, softball, swimming, tennis, table tennis, track and field, and volleyball.

July 16 is the entry deadline. Entry forms and information are available at washingtonstateseniorgames.com. Information also is available at 360-413-0148.

The Senior Games is an all-volunteer, non-profit organization dedicated to camaraderie through athletic competition and the Olympic spirit. The event promotes healthy lifestyles and activities for the 50-years-old-and-up participants, their families and the communities where they live, organizers said.

People of all ages can get their “read” on in Pierce County Library System’s Summer Reading program, “A Universe of Stories.”

Inspired by the 50^th anniversary of the July 1969 moon landing, the library system (PCLS) is hosting a series of space-themed adult events and activities such as book clubs, paper crafts, altered art, rocket building and escape rooms.

Participants can sign up online at summerreading.pcls.us or at any of the 20 Pierce County Library locations, and then start reading to earn prizes this summer until Aug.31. A couple recommendations of books from librarians are “Universal: A Guide to the Cosmos” (by Brian Cox; two physicists reveal how we can all understand some of the most fundamental questions about our Earth, sun, solar system and the galaxies beyond) and “A Bend in the Stars” (by Rachel Barenbaum; in World War II-era Russia, an ambitious young doctor and her scientist brother race against Einstein to solve one of the greatest mysteries of the universe).

The program also includes presenters, including the Pierce College Science Dome and Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium for adult audiences to learn about astronomy and wildlife.

For readers looking for their next book selection, My Next Read—the Library’s online readers’ advisory service—provides personalized book recommendations. Library customers can submit an online form at mynextread.pcls.us.

More information is available at piercecountylibrary.org or the PCLS mobile app, an easy way to search for materials in the library catalog and download e-books. Lightweight e-readers or reading from a smartphone makes it easy to adjust font size and screen brightness. E-books and downloadable audiobooks expire and automatically disappear so there’s never a concern about overdue fees.

Another PCLS program, Outreach Services, takes library services to people who are unable to regularly visit a library or use the library’s services. Additional information is available at piercecountylibrary.org and 253-548-3536.

The first-ever national study of Jewish grandparents has shined light on their attitudes and beliefs, behaviors and needs in relation to grandparenting, including their desire to share their legacies in an age of complexity and change.

In the research commissioned by the Jewish Grandparents Network in partnership with 17 national organizations and Jewish federations, nearly 8,000 individuals revealed that:

• Most grandparents are committed to transmitting of Jewish values.
• Nearly half of the grandparents in the national representative sample have a child married to a non-Jewish partner.
• While the vast majority of Jewish grandparents find their role to be a joyful experience, grandparenting can have its difficulties.
• Most frequently, interactions between grandparents and their grandchildren take place in their homes and their grandchildren’s homes around birthdays and national holidays.

Some of the grandparents don’t model Jewish involvement for their grandkids, or have no interest in passing on Jewish practices to the youngsters.

David Raphael co-founder of the Jewish Grandparents Network, said the “challenge” for the Jewish community is “to pivot towards the wonderful opportunity to engage grandparents in ways that ultimately bring the entire family together in meaningful Jewish experiences. Grandparents really can be partners in the Jewish-engagement work that so many communities look to do.”

Olivia Hussey, who was immortalized as Juliet in Franco Zeffirelli’s “Romeo and Juliet,” offers a look at her experiences in the timeless role and her life in “The Girl on the Balcony” (Kensington Books).

The book’s release was timed with the 50th anniversary of the movie, which premiered in the United States on Oct. 8, 1968. Hussey describes her tryout as a teenager for the role (she was late, and Zeffirelli threw paper balls in her face during the balcony scene) and writes candidly of the tensions of her life and her performance of Shakespeare’s century-old words. The “after” of Hussey’s life includes movies, husbands, children, flirty exchanges with David Niven on the set of Agatha Christie’s “Death on the Nile,” her secret crush on Paul McCartney, a friendship with Elizabeth Taylor, and making an impromptu dinner for The Bee Gees.

Also featured in the Books feature of the June print edition of Senior Scene: “Home is Everywhere: The Unbelievably True Story of One Man’s Journey to Map America” (Disruption Books). It chronicles the work of Charles Novak, a former surveyor with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey who documented the last unmapped parts of a nation. His family that accompanied him through 22 states includes the book’s author, son David Novak, the co-founder of Yum! Brands (a fortune 500 corporation with brands such as Kentucky Fried Chicken, Taco Bell, and Pizza Hut).