Meet a Dynamic Woman Over 60 Making a Difference

Today I am interviewing one of my readers Janette. Janette is leading a vibrant, active engaged life. She is a grandmother, former blogger, and she travels, bikes, and volunteers her time all over the world. Janette is not invisible, she is living her best life over 60. I don’t know Janette but I would love to meet her. I think you will love her story. Meet a dynamic woman over 60 making a difference.

This month my friend Brenda Coffee from 1010 Park Place is back with her interviewee. Brenda had some tech issues with her blog.

Meet a Dynamic Woman Over 60 Making a Difference

Tell us a bit about yourself and your story and what prompted you to begin The 2 Seasons Mother/Daughter lifestyle blog with your daughter Jordan.

Hello Cindy. Thank you so much for this feature. Jordan and I started our blog way back in 2011, and we shut it down during the pandemic in 2020. When we started, Jordan, who was a newlywed, and her husband, had just purchased their first home in upstate New York. At the same time, we were downsizing from the family home to a townhouse near downtown where my husband and I live in Lexington, KY. I was no longer working and really missed using my journalism degree. I offhandedly mentioned that I would like to start a blog, and Jordan immediately said that we should write one together. We chose the name The 2 Seasons because we were in two different seasons of our lives. I had been married a long time, was downsizing, and living in the south. She was young and starting out her married life in the north. 

We published the blog pretty much five days a week and treated each post as a magazine article. We covered all phases of homemaking (decorating, gardening, cooking, and DIY projects). We tried to approach it on a budget-friendly basis. We also covered our extensive travels and bicycling adventures, Jordan’s move to North Carolina, and the adoption of their two children from Thailand.

The blog was so great for our already strong relationship. We talked on the phone daily, and always had exciting things to share. Sadly, when 2020 and all its challenges rolled around, we decided to take a break, and we never went back. We just sort of ran out of things to say. It is still online at www.the2seasons.com

Meanwhile, I have started an Instagram account v_janette_heitz that I post on occasionally.

You are an empty nester with two grown children, and you tried downsizing but realized it wasn’t right for you. Tell us about several items that will remain with you no matter where you go and what size home you have (clothing, décor, etc.)

After building a very large house on ten acres in the country, we moved to town to a smaller but still large house when our son was a senior in high school. Then shortly after Jordan was married, we sold that house and moved to a lovely two-bedroom townhouse near downtown. The place was fine for two people, but when our two children started getting married and having families of their own, it was cramped. We always spend the weeks of July 4^th and Thanksgiving together. We were on top of each other. 

One morning when my husband was reading the paper, he saw that a much larger townhouse a block away had reduced its price. Plus, it had been on the market for over a year. We went to an open house that afternoon and saw why it had not sold. It was a mess, and we bought it! We spent the next nine months having it remodeled. 

The items here that I will always take with me include a map that my grandfather used in World War I. He was a medic in northern France, and we recently discovered a map of that area that he had used in the war. It is now framed and hangs in our dining room. Also, along those lines, my husband and I spent our first New Year’s Eve in Paris (he was playing professional basketball in Switzerland). I framed the metro map that we used, and it, too, hangs on our dining room wall. The other precious items that I would take are six flow blue plates that belonged to my grandmother. She died before I was born, and I am named after her. When my parents recently moved to assisted living, I was given those plates.

Tell us about your grandchildren.

We have four adorable grandchildren ages nine, seven, six, and three. There are three girls and one boy. Two live in North Carolina and two live in Colorado. Like us, they love to travel, and we are making sure they see the world. We have promised each of them that when they turn ten, my husband and I will take them for a trip anywhere they choose. The oldest, who will be ten soon, has selected London.

Luckily, our townhouse has a third floor, and we have made one of the rooms up there the dorm/playroom for them. Thank goodness for FaceTime so that we can all stay close when we are far from each other.

Give us a snapshot of a normal day for you – how do you make time for it all?

We travel a lot, but my days at home start out early with a workout. I didn’t sign up for 8 a.m. classes in college because I didn’t want to get up that early, but now I go to a fitness class at 6 a.m. three days a week

It’s easier to fill my days in the summer with gardening and bicycling. I stay busy because I do most things myself. I do the cleaning, cooking, shopping, window washing, ironing, and lots of yard work myself. I feel that as long as I am able to do these things, I will. Plus, I love doing it.

I also spend time taking a daily French lesson, seeing friends, and spending time with my husband.

How would you describe your personal style – in your wardrobe and in your home?

In a word, my style is classic. I love a collar, so you will usually see me in a button down with a collar along with slacks or jeans. If not that, then I’m in a shirt dress, unless it’s a special occasion. That style just works best for me.

In our home I love a traditional/classic neutral look with pops of color from art, pillows, and other accessories. Nothing matches but everything plays well together. I go by the mantra of “blendy, blendy, not matchy, matchy.”

Tell us about your travels and volunteer projects you do around the world.

My husband and I got the travel bug when we were newlyweds living in Switzerland. Since then, I have been to over 100 countries. I add some new ones each year (this year Brazil and Bhutan) and return to some favorites each year (France and the Netherlands).

In 2000 we started doing a volunteer trip each year to a developing country. Then we decided to form our own group of friends from around the country, and together we do an annual volunteer project somewhere in the world. To date, we have done 22. We have built houses, repaired houses, built school playgrounds, repaired schools, and repaired apartments. Some of the countries where we have volunteered are Mongolia, Myanmar, Cambodia, Zambia, South Africa, Egypt, Mexico, Argentina, Peru, Costa Rica, Cuba, Vietnam, etc. My husband and I select the country and do the organizing. Next year we are volunteering in Rwanda.

Other than spending time with family, home projects, and cooking, what are some additional interests you have?

In a word – bicycling. In 2000, my husband and I took up bicycling as our hobby. What a gift it has been!! We have cycled all over the world and across the United States. We rode from Moscow to St. Petersburg, from the bottom of England to the top of Scotland, from Vientiane, Laos to Hanoi, from Saigon through Cambodia to Bangkok, Thailand and in many European countries. My biggest cycling adventure was when I met Jordan on a bicycle in southern Spain (she had started at the Eiffel Tower), and we cycled through the Sahara Desert to Dakar, Senegal. It took seven weeks, and we slept in tents. 

Do you have a fitness regimen or specific diet that you follow? If so, please tell us about it. Any must-have supplements?

In addition to my fitness class (aerobics and weights) three days a week, I take a morning walk three days a week and try to get at least 10,000 steps daily. In good weather, bicycling is added to that. As far as supplements go, I take a multivitamin along with calcium and vitamin D.

Share five fun facts with us that people might not know about you.

Oh dear….

I love real cowboys. 

I am fascinated by sloths and got to hold one last month in Brazil. 

I would love to be able to sit down at an easel and paint something beautiful.

I love empty drawers in my house.

I want to be fluent in French.

If you could give your younger self any words of advice, what would they be?

“Don’t worry. Everything will turn out better than you think.”

Share your words to live by.

Life is not a dress rehearsal.

Thank you Janette for sharing your story. I think I want to be Janette when I grow up. I hope you too enjoyed reading Meet a Dynamic Woman Over 60 Making a Difference. If you would like to catch up on my other Ageless Style interviews you can do so here.

Now let’s pop over and visit Brenda to see who she is interviewing. She never disappoints.

1010 Park Place