The other day, I realized that my pile of ironing was still sitting, waiting for me. I used to like ironing. Actually, next to cooking, ironing was my most favorite household task.

Things have changed. Now, when I am faced with a mound of ironing, I am not excited. In the past, I would actually look forward to it. I would get out the ironing board and iron, fill the iron with distilled water, turn it on to heat, and decide which DVD movie I wanted to watch.I used to watch "The African Queen" lots of times. More recently, I watched "The Hunger Games," and "Les Miserables" more often. Even my taste in movies has changed.In the past, I ironed everything underwear, pillow cases, sometimes even socks. Now, I am not that anal. I iron fewer things.I began to think about other things I used to like. For instance:Walking on the beach was fun. Now I have a hard time walking on a straight pavement, much less a wavy sandy beach. Watching for shells was the main purpose for a beach walk, but now I can't really see the little white shells well enough to pick out the good ones.Having Mexican food for dinner was a treat. We especially liked tacos with refried beans. Now, if I eat that, my stomach rebels in the worst way. It takes me days to recover from that meal. And, to add insult to injury, tomato sauce also does a number on my digestion. That's almost like treason to an Italian.When we were younger, long car trips were fun. As a matter of fact, I thought nothing of driving from Pennsylvania to Florida alone. The hours in the car didn't bother me one bit. Now, after two hours behind the wheel, I get as stiff as a board. When we drove to San Antonio, Texas, for our grandson's Air Force graduation, we swore that would be our last long trip. It about killed us.Going to New York City to sightsee and attend Broadway shows was always a favorite pastime. When we moved to South Carolina, those visits to the Big Apple stopped. It wasn't only because of the distance. The cost of attending the theater grew prohibitive. In the 1960s, you could see a popular play for $12. And those were good seats. Now, you have to hock the family silver to watch a Broadway musical.I used to like playing tennis and golf. Now, my favorite sport is shuffleboard. Tennis takes too much running, and golf takes too much swinging.For years, my sewing machine was plugged in at all times. I made quilts, clothing, and did repairs. Now, the machine sits unused in a closet. As much as I enjoyed sewing, the joy of it is gone. Neither do I crochet, cross-stitch or knit anymore.I used to like dresses. As a matter of fact, when I was a beginning teacher, we were not allowed to wear slacks. All I wore to work was skirts and dresses. As the years progressed, dresses were replaced by slacks. Do I still own any dresses? Yes, a few. Do I wear them? No. The last time I wore a dress was on a cruise to the Captain's dinner. It was a long black skirt so I didn't have to worry about wearing panty hose.In Pennsylvania, we had no garden. Our property was built on terraces and didn't lend itself well to planting vegetables. In South Carolina, we built a garden area and surrounded it with wire fencing to keep out the critters. It didn't work. We had more critter visitors than McDonald's gets senior citizens. Everything we planted was eaten before we could pick it. When we moved to Florida, we resigned ourselves to the fact that the critters were here, too. We did plant a lime tree which is flourishing and providing us with scads of limes each year. So, I suppose you could say that I used to like gardening but now I am a lime tree owner.This column started because of the pile of ironing awaiting me. I will get it done today. Tomorrow is laundry day and I'll have a whole new pile of ironing to ignore.If you would like to contact Dr. Smith, she can be reached at her e mail address: jsmith1313@cfl.rr.com or in care of this newspaper.