Another year down and another year begins. Actually, a new decade begins…or does it? Does the new decade begin in 2020 or does the old decade end in 2020? There are two schools of thought on that conundrum, but I’ll focus on different things, like greeting the new year with Blogging Boomers!

At a time when “fake news” has entered the American lexicon, it’s more important than ever to focus on what’s really going on, not on what comes out of the spin rooms or gets pasted up on social media. So this week Tom at Sightings Over Sixty presents his annual beginning-of-the-year quiz, called Do You Know Your Facts? First, take the quiz, then move on to see the Answers — which involve some good news, some bad news, and some surprising results.

Rebecca Olkowski with BabyBoomster.com visited the Museum of Illusions on the Hollywood Blvd Walk of Fame. It’s a tourist attraction where you can take Instagram-able photos with optical illusion murals. See how Rebecca hammed it up in the gallery and Upside-Down House.

Birthdays are usually joyous occasions, especially for young folks. Some of us, however, as the years pass prefer to forget the momentous day. This year Meryl Baer of Six Decades and Counting’s Mom celebrated a landmark birthday – she turned 95. Friends and family gathered to celebrate the woman and her landmark day. Baer briefly reviews the day and adds some anecdotes about her Mom in this week’s post, Mom at 95.

It seemed a good idea at the time. Laurie Stone of Musings, Rants & Scribbles ordered Blue Apron — one of those home-delivered “fresh ingredients” subscription services. She even wrote a blog post about it, bragging how she was cooking constantly (okay, twice a week) and being so erudite and adult and kitchen-literate. But truth be told, Blue Apron turned into a horror show for one huge, inescapable reason. 

On The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide, Rita R. Robison, consumer and personal finance journalist, writes about the top consumer stories of 2019. Among them are: consumer programs are under attack by the Trump administration; President Trump’s tariff strategy has failed; federal regulatory safety for food and airplanes is lacking, and the climate protest movement is getting stronger.

After the passing of Ram Dass, a spiritual guru to millions of Boomers, Carol Cassara relates something a friend sent her and reminds us of the most important message Ram Das brought to the world in How You Can Find the Light, Be the Light & Shine It For Others.