high-tech grandma?

I have to laugh at myself -- here I am writing a book about cool modern grandmas, up on the latest technology, patting myself on the back because I'm familiar with computers and cell phones and all that jazz -- and then I hit one technical glitch after another. My tape recorder gives me nothing but static, the photos I want to post on my blog come out looking as if they're reflections in a funhouse mirror, and my email freezes. I call for technical help, I ask my fellow writers, I get a special device from my friendly neighborhood Radio Shack. But everything takes soooo long. Oh, if only my teenage grandchildren were here to solve my tech troubles! In this I imagine I'm typical of many grandmas -- we can do it all, but this is one area where we're less likely to teach our grandkids than to learn from them.

What have you learned from your grandchildren this week?

Running Grandma

I loved the story in The Kansan newspaper about Mary Jane Mann, a 74-year-old grandmother in Topeka, who started to run when she was 46 and is still at it today. Why do I love this story so much? The fact that I'm a 74-year-0ld grandmother on Long Island (New York) who started running when I was 46 and am still at it today might have something to do with it.

The special bonuses from my running have included the experience of running with my grandchildren. It's been wonderful to see that, as I have gotten slower and slower, they have gotten faster and faster. But the best is that we enjoy pounding the paths together. These shared runs have included the ones with Anna at age three, pumping her chubby little arms, running with me on the beach; the three-generation races three or four of us have run every Mother's Day for the past dozen years (before going out to brunch to replace those calories we had expended during those 3.1 miles!); and the New Year's Eve when Stefan and I ran at midnight in Central Park while fireworks flashed overhead.

I would love to hear about the kinds of activities other grandmothers share with their grandchildren -- things you love to do, and love even more doing with them.

To read the September 25 article about Mary Jane, go to http://www.thekansan.com/stories/092507/topstories_092507005.shtml

glamorous grandma

Grandmas are about to get a new boost in the glamour department when Liv Ullman's next film, her first Norwegian film in 38 years, comes out. Ullman, 68, will play the grandmother of a severely ill 13-year-old girl. She has said she did not plan to star in any more movies, but that when she read the manuscript for this one, she wept with happiness. We'll have to be patient, though: the filming will not begin until this November. No word yet as to when it will be released.

Does anyone know whether Ullman herself is a grandmother? I know she has a daughter but don't know whether she has grandchildren.