Many older people face the downsizing challenge. Could you live in 84 square feet with a total of 305 possessions?
“Ten years ago, Dee Williams, now 51, sold her three-bedroom bungalow in Portland, Ore., built a tiny house on a metal truck trailer and drove it to Olympia, Wash., where it came to rest in the backyard of her friends Hugh O’Neill and Annie McManus. Her ‘great room’ is too small for a couch, her upstairs is just a sleeping loft with a skylight. There’s a kitchen counter with a propane one-burner, but no oven or refrigerator. There are lights, but they run on solar power. There’s a sink and a toilet, but no running water (which means composting and no shower). Visitors to the property may be forgiven for thinking someone had taken up residence in a beautifully built pine-and-cedar tool shed out back.”
Peter Hubbell, CEO of the 
“One of Sudoku’s millions of admirers, 
Johnny Mandel, considered one of the nation’s top composer/arrangers in jazz, pop, and film music, celebrates his 89th birthday today. He’s composed and arranged for Frank Sinatra, Barbra Streisand, Michael Jackson and Natalie Cole, among many others. His famous movie scores include such memorable songs as “Emily,” “The Shadow of Your Smile,” and the theme from “M.A.S.H.” In 2004, the late jazz and recording session pianist Mike Melvoin commented in an interview that, “…on many studio dates, musicianly camaraderie outweighed the music at hand. ‘When I played a Johnny Mandel date,’ Melvoin clarified, ‘I realized: This is why I became a musician. This is why I’ve been eating hamburger for the past six months — so I can dine on Mandel’s filet mignon.” Listen to an interview from January with Johnny Mandel on 
Marion Ross celebrated her 85th birthday on October 25th. She has been acting professionally for more than 60 years and has no intention of retiring. In an interview with her from 2011, when asked if she was surprised to still be working, she replied, “No. I expect myself to work. I am surprised to see that I am an older person. I didn’t know that I was. When did that happen?” Read more 
