Birthdays are for the strong. This morning, 7am, I was climbing Black Mountain in North San Diego County. Four hours up and down. Incline varied from 5-19%. Okay so it’s not Everest. High enough for government work as they say. I’m pretty old today…but not as old as I’ll be on my 80^th birthday…or my 90^th.

I’m thinking about calling myself a crone. Just because I really feel like elderly and old-old and elder and super-senior are … boring.

The crone is a stock character in folklore and fairy tale, an old woman. In some stories, she is disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in manner, often with magical or supernatural associations that can make her either helpful or obstructing. The Crone is also an archetypal figure, a Wise Woman. As a character type, the crone shares characteristics with the hag.

 I’ll take that. Some descriptions are less flattering.