The United States National Women’s Hall of Fame is a delightful place to get virtually lost for an afternoon. I tripped over this site today as I was browsing the Web and I couldn’t tear myself away. You don’t have to leave your comfy chair, or go out in the rain. Just click on the alphabetical links and read about women who have impacted our lives.

• I read about how Lucille Ball was not only a comedian, but a true entrepreneur and the first woman head of a major studio.
• I learned that Mary McLeod Bethune was an African-American teacher who, with only $1.50, began a school to help educate other young African-American women. Maybe she wasn’t as flamboyant as Oprah, but she did her part.
• Leontine Kelly was the first female Methodist bishop. Awesome power for us.
• Ida Tarbell’s expose of the Standard Oil Trust in the 1904 publication, The History of the Standard Oil Company prompted the federal government to prosecute and break up Standard Oil for anti-trust violations. She became an icon of journalism.

The articles are very short - teasers, really, with nuggets of susinct information in them. They are often linked to larger pieces, and can inspire you to browse. Learn about women. Read a few of these to the children you care about, girls or boys.

You might become inspired to write a brief or two in your social media spaces about the women who have inspured your life.

A thistle, symbol of self-protection

Thistle Farm, a manufacturing subsidiary of Magdalene, the awesome residential program for women, is one of my favorite women organizations. Magdalene provides a do-over for women who have encountered serious problems and Thistle Farm provides a unique work environment where women manufacture quality personal care products for women.Terry Mitchell and Caitlin Bradley of Thistle Farm give us insight into working in a hen house - figuratively.

Estrogen on the job - working in an all-women environment

By Terry Mitchell with Caitlin Bradley

Terry sits in a circle of her co-workers, listening to two women discuss the production schedule for the day. She is relocated to a tennis-match-style discussion watching opinions bounce back and forth around her as she turns her head left to right. “Sometimes everybody wants to be the boss instead of the employee,” Terry explains. “Too many captains on the boat!”

Terry is in the unique position of working at a company that is run and staffed by women only. Thistle Farms is a non-profit business operated by the women of Magdalene, a two-year residential community for women with a history of prostitution and drug addiction. By hand, the women create natural bath and body products that are as kind to the environment as they are to the body. All proceeds support the program.

Terry finds that working with women allows for more laughter throughout the workday. “We can all relate to each other and more importantly, for the most part, we all enjoy each other.” With a relaxed boss (often seen entertaining by dancing to hip hop), Terry boasts that Thistle Farms has a comfortable work environment. In rare high stress situations, laughter proves to be helpful.

You might think working with all women means not having to think about what you wear to work. However, Terry puts her best effort into getting ready each day, regardless of who’s there. “I’m not trying to impress anyone, but I want to feel proud of how I look.” This is a central theme as we manufacture our bath and body products at Thistle Farms. We all make each product with the belief that love heals, and it is, therefore, critical to care for yourself.

Of course, there are some downfalls to working around a bunch of estrogen. Stereotypically or not, when a few women are on the same cycle, stress and mood swings can be high. But women working together have the unique opportunity to actually talk about their emotions. Women here can say what they’re feeling, rather than hide it. We try not to rely on the “excuse of PMS.”

Talking about personal feelings is not only accepted, it’s encouraged at Thistle Farms. Terry enjoys putting herself out there as a safe haven for co-workers to express their personal problems, “I’m a shoulder or an ear when they need it.” Terry says this open spirit of conversation can lead to complaining. but that’s something she can accept.

Terry has worked with Thistle Farms for almost five years. Always surrounded by other women, with everyone feeling and processing their own stuff and own emotions, she has learned a valuable life lesson: “People can create their own confusion, but I don’t let anything bother me. I just give it up to God and let it be.”

Actress Joan Barber

Here’s a treat! Well-known Broadway actress, dancer, director and web entrepreneur Joan Barber shares her tribulations of finding a dress for her daughter’s wedding in a delightful guest post, Where are the affordable clothes for real women? Thanks, Joan - I love keeping up with your new website 50toDeath!

Here’s the problem . . . my step-daughter (my only child) is getting married and NO ONE makes affordable clothes that I can wear. Am I being petty? I think not. It’s important to me as a 21st century woman to be perceived NOT as an “aging hipster” or a “Betty White” type or a frump but as the vital, healthy, attractive person I think I still am - a real woman!

Or . . . am I kidding myself? OK. The K-Mart arms are creeping up on me, despite the fact that I wear a size 2. So, that means no sleeveless. The cleavage that I used to display with such elan (and that got me many roles as an actress) is maybe not as firm as it once was. So, that means no low cut gowns.

The legs are definitely still good, thanks to walking on a regular basis in New York City and schlepping up and down subway stairs. But my bunions (from years of dancing) kill me when I wear high heels, and no one makes shoes that work for my high instep without cutting into my hammer toes. In ballet flats I stand a statuesque 5′1″.

And as for my cute little pancake butt . . . let’s not go there.

The event is approaching and I am slowly freaking out as I trek from high end department store to boutique to discount paradise. I give myself what I assume to be a reasonable budget (buying the bride’s wedding dress kind of emptied my piggy bank) and plenty of time to shop, but all I see are teeny tiny prom dresses (where were those hot little strapless numbers when I was in high school?) and mother-of-the-bride frocks in which I look like a cute little dumpling wrapped in a doily.

Oh, for a stylist like the stars have! I’ll never forget the episode of Project Runway where the designers cringed at the prospect that they were going to have to design for (”ugh gross”) MOTHERS of hot young babes. The blue business suit in my closet starts to look better and better. Hopefully I’ll just fade into the hydrangeas.

BUT NO . . . I may be over 50 (well, pushing 60) and I may not be an heiress, or tall and elegant, but one thing I am is a proud and strong child of the sixties, an actress, and a rebel. I will be seen. I’ve never faded from a challenge in my life!

This wedding is just like any show I’ve done in my over thirty years of performing. I can play the role of step-mother-of-the-bride. I may not have a Tony Award Winning costume designer sketching and a wardrobe department building my dress, but I can use my vision and experience, my wisdom and sense of perspective to zero in on THE DRESS.

I just have to become the character and “she” (THE DRESS) will find me.

And, like the blue Grecian goddess she is, she does find me . . . as do the comfortable, multi-colored sandals (found online). I’ll get to show off my cleavage and legs at the same time (without being too outrageous). After all, the bride is supposed to be the star of the show and believe me, she will be.

Jon Freda

Norm Golden

Take a walk over to Joan’s website 50toDeath to see some really funny video slices of life in the boomer lane. Joan and her partners, Norm Golden veteran actor in 15 major films and numerous television projects, and equally prolific actor and writer Jon Freda, have built a delightful web of baby boomer-centric video entertainment.

Women's lives are fragile, with strength

Loss and grief are part of our lives; we can’t escape them. My very good friend Mickey shares her feelings with us as another of her friends travels a painful life passage. Mickey is a briliant woman with unwavering faith. Perhaps she’s the most centered woman I know.

He is a tall drink of water, as my mother used to say. Tall and trim with a soft spoken voice, he doesn

Why is journaling worth your time and effort? Why should you write and illustrate your life story? Here’s a guest post by a very cool woman who’s developing an Internet presence all her own. Faith Rose will tell you why.

Through the gateway of my journal I enter a world of dreams and possibility. The howling winds of creative fire, the tender heartache of yesterday, the billowy wings of awareness and the promised hope of tomorrow: all are available for my rumination.

Every event in our lives is a fertile field where we can plant, or weed, or harvest. Each field represents a personal life story, daily unveiling new challenges and reward. We are the only proprietor of our sacred land; a place where we can run and play, jump and hide. This is a place of pastoral invitation and exploration. We are safe here.

As a writer and illustrator, I have journaled for many years. The art of journaling is available every day, to everyone. Whether I read my current entries, or reflect on past ones, I am able to see a cohesive path braided together by yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Within the pages of a journal, we are daily offered an opportunity for compassionate understanding. This is the beauty of a journal. You can enter “your personal pages” when you choose and leave when you’re ready. There are no to-do lists; no internal critics. There is no “right way” to journal and no “wrong way”. It is” your way” and your way is perfect for you…and my way is perfect for me. There is no watchful teacher, no advisor…..just the gentle tip-toes of a meandering mind.

With a light-hearted laugh, I always remind people, Journals are SELF-adjusting.

Often, I encounter people who think you need to learn how to journal or those who truly believe that only Writers journal. This is simply a misconception. I patiently direct them to begin to write about their current lives, and when they decide to float in the water of words, I encourage them to relax. Their writing will flow freely from the heart. On a fanciful Mary Engelbreit card, Marcel Proust writes, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.”

I share many of my journal entries and illustrations with others, some I reference periodically, but most are private. As a stay-at-home mother of four, I became keenly aware that my life was daily displayed before the watchful and curious eyes of my children. Through the pages of my journals, I interpret my private yearnings and conflicts, my hopes and challenges. I create a timeline of my life journey. I believe my memoirs will be a source of comfort and inspiration for my children. Like a mirror, my journals reflectively display the intertwining images of their life with mine.

“What things there are to write…My mind is full of gleaming thought; gay moods and mysterious, moth-like meditations hover in my imagination, fanning their painted wings.” Logan Pearsall Smith

“Journaling creates a safe, comfortable place where you can vent your feelings, chart your success, recognize patterns, and enter a private world of self-discovery.” (author unknown)

Faith Rose is a deep thinking writer and illustrator. She has been journaling most of her life, beginning with childhood diaries. Faith Rose understands the journaling process and incorporates powerful illustrations within her text.

CSI, or one of those shows, talked about rape kits last week. Their premise was that thousands, even tens of thousands of rape evidence kits languish on dusty shelves throughout the U.S. Those kits have never been processed. I was astonished, and deeply upset.

Kits unprocessed means women who have been assaulted at the most traumatic level are waiting for justice. And justice sits immobilized. If the kit isn’t processed, chances are the perpetrator has been released. No trail took place.

The victim is trying to move on, but has no closure. She went through an incredibly tragic trauma and will have to go through it all over again if the authorities ever get down to processing the evidence of a crime committed against her. Look, put yourself in the position of these victims. How devalued would you feel?

Courtney Martin

But that’s just a TV show. Right? Not. I found a real story in exactly the same vein written by Courtney E. Martin. Martin is a columnist on youth and political culture at The American Prospect Online and a blogger at Feministing. She authored Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters and is part of the Progressive Women

Maryan Pelland, visible at DemystifyingDigital.com and at Suite101.com , has a brand new website just launched. It’s called, of course, DigitalGrandparent and represents a three-year journey to create and enhance a personal brand. Thanks to Jerry Grossman of DemystifyingDigital for coming up with the term “Digital Grandparent.”

Take a look at the site, let me know what you think. Thanks for reading me here and there, and all the other places I blogg and write for.