When a smoker finally is able to kick the habit and learns how much better he/she feels with that expensive habit no longer binding him, he becomes an ardent reformer! He just can't hold back the good news.
That is how I feel about going to Curves. A few years ago my primary doctor suggested to me that I need to work hard to prevent Osteoporosis and told me to walk thirty minutes each day, take calcium and also use a nasal spray which helps the body absorb the calcium. I started off this regimen in good spirits and resolve. I was up before breakfast walking all around my house and feeling very good about it. On rainy days I walked for thirty minutes indoors (not as much fun but doable). After the summer had passed I found myself getting busy with lots of other things and my resolve began to crumble. Gradually I was doing it less and less.
Along about this time I began using the services of Life Line Screening. The results which came back after my first screening in 2009 were not really bad, but needed improving, especially the bone density. So, my doctor told me she had a patient who had been going to Curves and it had helped her bone density. I had not even heard of Curves! So, wanting to follow my doctor's advise I went looking for one of these places. I found one ten miles from my home. After a few visits I learned of another Curves closer to my house by four miles. I transferred to that place and I was very consistent with my visits for a number of months. Then, I had an accident and broke my ankle. That put me on the side lines for a couple of months.
But before that happened I went for my second Life Line Screening. When the results came back I was very surprised and pleased. The results on every test came back improved. The Carotid test came back "mild" as opposed to a year ago "mild to moderate". The Bone Mineral Density test came back from "mild to moderate"to Low Risk. Two very positive results from using the machines at Curves.
Fortunately my insurance pays for three visits a week, so that is what I have been doing. No men are allowed to join Curves. It is strictly for women. A woman manages the place, and she is a great encourager, with incentives for attendance and other interesting things going on.
Good advise is only good if you take it. Here it is free and if you need to improve your health in any area, this is a good way to go. Yes I am as bad as a reformed smoker. I just can't hold back the good news. So, check out your insurance plan, it may just pay for you to do something that will make you feel better, look better and live better and longer.
Friday, April 20, 2012
Saturday, April 14, 2012
Goodbye to a Beautiful Smile
We have lost a family member, Marcella Freudenberg Matthis. I first met her when I was in high school and she married my older brother. She was working with a Photography Group visiting in our town. My brother was a good friend of the man who owned the Photo Shop where she had come to work.
That is when I came to know my first "real" Yankee. It was like a foreign language for me to hear her clear, clipped speech. I had only heard southern drawls around me up to that time. But she brought to our family a most engaging smile. That is what stands out to me, her smile. When she smiled and laughed you heard a quiet little chuckle. It was 1942 and America had just entered into World War II. She was a new war bride and when my brother went into the Air Force she went with him.
During the war I wrote letters to the service men that I knew. I also wrote to her brother, though I had never met him. He was a very handsome young man and it was a snail mail friendship. After the war ended this girl with the beautiful smile came to live in the mountains with her new husband. That is when I began to know her better. I learned she was a gourmet cook. My brother only cared about having a big pot of pinto beans and cornbread, which was not in her repertoire. So he went to his sister's home to satisfy his taste of the cooking of his childhood.
I enjoyed many of her elegant desserts when I was in their home visiting.
When it was time for her first baby to be born, she went back to her home in Illinois so her own mother could be there to assist her. I can understand that as I wanted my mother to be with me when my children were born.
As the years went by I saw less of her. There were the vacations times when all of my family gathered at Myrtle Beach. That is when I got to know my nieces and nephews better also. Our families grew and changed until we no longer were able to have these family visits. But there were occasions when we did visit, like the time her granddaughter was married. She was there in a beautiful dress to match her smile. That was the last time I saw her. She was living in Pikeville, Ky. in the home that she and my brother had bought years ago.
I am glad that the last time I saw her was for a happy occasion. We had been through sad times and good times, so it is good to remember the good times. She died in her home with two of her daughters by her side. That is something to be treasured, for them and for me. Though we will not see her smile again we do have memories and photographs to remind us of a gentle soul who always had a smile for everyone.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Fragile Trust
About the time that most Americans were just becoming aware of the plight of homelessness, I was teaching first graders along with six other teachers of that same grade level in a school in middle Georgia.
It was early morning and my students were busy starting their morning routine when my door opened and a clerk from the office beckoned to me. I went over to her and she explained that they had a new student in the office and to prepare for him. She said there would be some delay as he was presently hiding under a bench and refused to come out. It seems that his mother had just come to this school district and was going to a job interview. She had been in another area and she had been living in a car but had just come to live with her mother. She was in a hurry and left without establishing which bus he would be taking home.
While the child was trying to cope with being left in a strange place by the one person he trusted most in the world, his mother had left the building. He had retreated to a safe place under the bench. I was notified and offered to come to the office but was told to stay in my room and he would be brought to me.
When he arrived at my door he did not want to come inside. I told him that was all right that I would bring his desk out into the hall. I got his desk and chair and positioned them where he could look in and hear what we were doing. From time to time I would walk near him and explain what we were doing, walk on and so it went. After a while I went over and asked him which bus he would be taking home (something I needed to know). He tearfully said he did not know how he would get back home. Realizing that the office had not yet found out where his grandmother lived I bent down and quietly told him to not worry about it that I would take him home myself.
Hearing this he got up and walked into the room. I took his desk and chair and put it where he would be working. I never asked him to come in but rather allowed him to become comfortable with where he was and when he was ready to trust me he just walked in!
The bus he would be riding was finally decided upon and when his bus was called over the intercom he went out with a new friend from our room who was riding the same bus.
Actually the teachers were not allowed to drive the children home. I was not deceiving the little boy for if no other means for him to get home was available I would certainly see that he was safely taken back to his grandmother and mother.
Why this story came into my mind today, I am not sure. Something triggered it and reminded me of how fragile trust is and once broken it is hard to repair. As adults we have lived long enough to realize that circumstances can arise which may render us helpless in keeping a promise. We know that things happen beyond our control but a child has yet to learn that. Gaining the trust of anyone, and especially a young child is a precious gift not to be squandered.
It was early morning and my students were busy starting their morning routine when my door opened and a clerk from the office beckoned to me. I went over to her and she explained that they had a new student in the office and to prepare for him. She said there would be some delay as he was presently hiding under a bench and refused to come out. It seems that his mother had just come to this school district and was going to a job interview. She had been in another area and she had been living in a car but had just come to live with her mother. She was in a hurry and left without establishing which bus he would be taking home.
While the child was trying to cope with being left in a strange place by the one person he trusted most in the world, his mother had left the building. He had retreated to a safe place under the bench. I was notified and offered to come to the office but was told to stay in my room and he would be brought to me.
When he arrived at my door he did not want to come inside. I told him that was all right that I would bring his desk out into the hall. I got his desk and chair and positioned them where he could look in and hear what we were doing. From time to time I would walk near him and explain what we were doing, walk on and so it went. After a while I went over and asked him which bus he would be taking home (something I needed to know). He tearfully said he did not know how he would get back home. Realizing that the office had not yet found out where his grandmother lived I bent down and quietly told him to not worry about it that I would take him home myself.
Hearing this he got up and walked into the room. I took his desk and chair and put it where he would be working. I never asked him to come in but rather allowed him to become comfortable with where he was and when he was ready to trust me he just walked in!
The bus he would be riding was finally decided upon and when his bus was called over the intercom he went out with a new friend from our room who was riding the same bus.
Actually the teachers were not allowed to drive the children home. I was not deceiving the little boy for if no other means for him to get home was available I would certainly see that he was safely taken back to his grandmother and mother.
Why this story came into my mind today, I am not sure. Something triggered it and reminded me of how fragile trust is and once broken it is hard to repair. As adults we have lived long enough to realize that circumstances can arise which may render us helpless in keeping a promise. We know that things happen beyond our control but a child has yet to learn that. Gaining the trust of anyone, and especially a young child is a precious gift not to be squandered.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Spring 2012
On the other side of the world I hear of bombings, insurrections,and battles with fire arms. Here in American we are having a national battle with words to determine who will be top dog in the governing of us in Washington D.C.
Up on the hill where I live all of those events are dimly in the background as I peacefully water my two tomato plants. In the cool of the morning and the quiet of the day, I take inventory of what the plant world is fighting for. I see that the lilac has given up the lavender blooms (or some passing deer ate them). They were there last week. Wild blackberry is displaying many small, tight, white, buds waiting for blackberry winter. The red and also the pink camellia has done with blooming. My newly planted Mapleleaf viburnum has many prosperous looking leaves starting to dance up its many small branches.
Close to the house the white and pink blooms on the Indian Hawthorn are scattered about on the four bushes in front of the house. There would be more blooms but the deer favor the buds in winter. Nothing deters the pink Oxyllis on the east side near the azaleas in full bloom. Each year it seems larger and wider than the year before. Bugle plant is blooming bravely in and around the clover and periwinkle. You can hardly see the stepping stones being overtaken by the eager rising plants.
The 5 year rose bush is five feet tall and I counted 11 buds up and down its thorny limbs. The wild rose bush that I started from a cutting is struggling to keep up with the tea rose. Many of the oriental lilies have not appeared this year. Perhaps the voles found them. Many fall blooming, tall Stone Mountain daisies are spreading far from the mother plants further up the hill. The competition for water with the Leyland Cypress has caused this plant migration. Plants are smart that way.
All along the back side of the rock wall are paper white Narcissus giving the wall a "Kramer" like hair do as they stick close to each other. The Plumbago is not afraid of being crowded however. It is not a mighty plant but is faithful to return each year to this same spot and display its small blue blooms. On up the mound of earth, Moon Glow Liriope is coming back in all directions. They are a beautiful sight in the dark of night looking like skinny white fingers reaching up in little groups.
At the shadiest part of the back, near the back door, a thirty year old white Shamrock is perky and mounded along side some of its offspring. A lovely little plant as sturdy and reliable as the country it represents. It puts to shame the other perennials in front of the stone wall. As long as I can remember the fall blooming Chrysanthemum pacificum has stood guard at the center and both ends of this garden space, at the foot of the wall. The other old reliables there are Baths Pink Dianthus, Autumn Joy Sedum, Iris, Manarda, and not to be overlooked is Confederate Jasmine. Try as I may I cannot get that plant to move away. It has crept through cracks in the stone wall and made a natural green spot in several outcroppings. I will keep it trimmed and who knows maybe one day it will fool us all and put on blooms.
My wish this spring is that all those discontented people in far off places, have a quiet little place to commune with nature and escape for a while at least, the things that disturb their peace and compel them to make war.
Up on the hill where I live all of those events are dimly in the background as I peacefully water my two tomato plants. In the cool of the morning and the quiet of the day, I take inventory of what the plant world is fighting for. I see that the lilac has given up the lavender blooms (or some passing deer ate them). They were there last week. Wild blackberry is displaying many small, tight, white, buds waiting for blackberry winter. The red and also the pink camellia has done with blooming. My newly planted Mapleleaf viburnum has many prosperous looking leaves starting to dance up its many small branches.
Close to the house the white and pink blooms on the Indian Hawthorn are scattered about on the four bushes in front of the house. There would be more blooms but the deer favor the buds in winter. Nothing deters the pink Oxyllis on the east side near the azaleas in full bloom. Each year it seems larger and wider than the year before. Bugle plant is blooming bravely in and around the clover and periwinkle. You can hardly see the stepping stones being overtaken by the eager rising plants.
The 5 year rose bush is five feet tall and I counted 11 buds up and down its thorny limbs. The wild rose bush that I started from a cutting is struggling to keep up with the tea rose. Many of the oriental lilies have not appeared this year. Perhaps the voles found them. Many fall blooming, tall Stone Mountain daisies are spreading far from the mother plants further up the hill. The competition for water with the Leyland Cypress has caused this plant migration. Plants are smart that way.
All along the back side of the rock wall are paper white Narcissus giving the wall a "Kramer" like hair do as they stick close to each other. The Plumbago is not afraid of being crowded however. It is not a mighty plant but is faithful to return each year to this same spot and display its small blue blooms. On up the mound of earth, Moon Glow Liriope is coming back in all directions. They are a beautiful sight in the dark of night looking like skinny white fingers reaching up in little groups.
At the shadiest part of the back, near the back door, a thirty year old white Shamrock is perky and mounded along side some of its offspring. A lovely little plant as sturdy and reliable as the country it represents. It puts to shame the other perennials in front of the stone wall. As long as I can remember the fall blooming Chrysanthemum pacificum has stood guard at the center and both ends of this garden space, at the foot of the wall. The other old reliables there are Baths Pink Dianthus, Autumn Joy Sedum, Iris, Manarda, and not to be overlooked is Confederate Jasmine. Try as I may I cannot get that plant to move away. It has crept through cracks in the stone wall and made a natural green spot in several outcroppings. I will keep it trimmed and who knows maybe one day it will fool us all and put on blooms.
My wish this spring is that all those discontented people in far off places, have a quiet little place to commune with nature and escape for a while at least, the things that disturb their peace and compel them to make war.
Sunday, April 1, 2012
Christmas, 1984
Looking through an old journal, I read something I had long ago forgotten. I well remember the Christmas of l983, as my daughter and her husband gave me a card announcing that I was to be a grandmother - for the first time! I am sharing with them now the next Christmas as I had written it in my journal for that day.
Dec. 25th 1984 - Christmas day - Bon, Jim, and Jeff arrived around 8:30. We all had a great Christmas with brunch and Jim's champagne. Then Jim helped make the mushroom dressing. We stuffed the turkey then opened gifts - snacked on goodies Bon brought. Then Bruce, Bon, Jim, Rose and Jeff took a walk down to Athens Point (Glenn declined to go). Jeff went in the Snugli Sack tied on Jim's chest. It was sunny, warm, and beautiful - the sun coming down beautifully. Bon and Jim made pictures (movies) with their new Olympus VCR. Also played Jim's game of Upwards. Bruce won game of Upwards, Jim second, Bon third, Rose last!
Dinner around 6:00 - with turkey, dressing, broccoli casserole. Bon's special cranberry salad with whipped cream on top and rolls. Delicious.
Bon and Jim left around 7:30, Bruce around 8:00. Bruce called around 8:20. Jim had car trouble. Bruce saw their car on side of road between exit 3 and 2 on 365 and stopped. Bruce took Bon with him (and presumable Jeff also) Jim had gone for a wrecker. Rose took tools in car to them but wrecker had come. Bruce had Bon and Jeff in his van and was going on to garage - so all ended well. A big Christmas for Jeff's first!
End of entry for Christmas day, 1984 (Jeff was 4 months old)
Dec. 25th 1984 - Christmas day - Bon, Jim, and Jeff arrived around 8:30. We all had a great Christmas with brunch and Jim's champagne. Then Jim helped make the mushroom dressing. We stuffed the turkey then opened gifts - snacked on goodies Bon brought. Then Bruce, Bon, Jim, Rose and Jeff took a walk down to Athens Point (Glenn declined to go). Jeff went in the Snugli Sack tied on Jim's chest. It was sunny, warm, and beautiful - the sun coming down beautifully. Bon and Jim made pictures (movies) with their new Olympus VCR. Also played Jim's game of Upwards. Bruce won game of Upwards, Jim second, Bon third, Rose last!
Dinner around 6:00 - with turkey, dressing, broccoli casserole. Bon's special cranberry salad with whipped cream on top and rolls. Delicious.
Bon and Jim left around 7:30, Bruce around 8:00. Bruce called around 8:20. Jim had car trouble. Bruce saw their car on side of road between exit 3 and 2 on 365 and stopped. Bruce took Bon with him (and presumable Jeff also) Jim had gone for a wrecker. Rose took tools in car to them but wrecker had come. Bruce had Bon and Jeff in his van and was going on to garage - so all ended well. A big Christmas for Jeff's first!
End of entry for Christmas day, 1984 (Jeff was 4 months old)
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