AUTUMN ARRIVES, LEAVES SOON WILL TAKE ON GORGEOUS COLORS

By Olivene Godfrey

Autumn, that titian-haired goddess, arrives this month and the season of the year brings thoughts of new clothes, football games, the hunting season and school activities with visits to the Northwest Georgia mountains that will soon be aflame with gold and red leaves.

Due to the warm, rainy weather we have had this past summer, everything outdoors is still green and fresh and pretty. But, with the cooler weather we are having now, the flamboyant show will soon begin when Mother Nature presents her fabulous leaf show. In strips of forests that bound fields like hedgerows, flamboyant reds and yellows brightened any dull evergreen greens blended together, creating treasures of autumn.

Most of us in this region take our colorful foliage for granted, not realizing it is sectionalized. I have read that only in the Eastern United States, Japan, Manchuria and parts pf South America does nature provide the peculiarities of climates. rainfall and temperature changes, that create the brilliant colors that are taken for granted by most of us.

In other parts of the world leaves turn from green to brown and that's it. Even in the western part of the U.S. a few species turn yellow, but the brilliant shades don't occur.

The true colors of deciduous tree leaves are covered in the spring and summer by chlorophyll and it's green. In the fall, of the year the sun doesn't shine as long each day as it does in spring and summer. So, trees can't make chlorophyll because it isn't warm enough. As the remaining chlorophyll breaks up, the true colors of leaves are revealed.

But, the breakdown of chlorophyll doesn't explain all the colors in the fall. It only accounts for the yellow, gold, orange and some reds. Blues, violets, dark reds, are due to chemical changes of a pigment and a sugar in the cells of trees.

I have also read that our mountains here that have beautiful colored leaves is the result of fortunate geography as the mountains run North and South while most of the worlds ranges run East and West.

Strolling through our own Northwest Georgia mountains, you can see the treasures of autumn up close. Somehow autumn has a different look when you walk through the forest and hear it and smell it and feel it.

I have always loved the month of October, with its brilliant blue skies and Indian Summer. It's a time of enchantment and poets have long sung its praises. I like Helen Hunt Jackson's poetic description:

"O Sum and skies and clouds of June:

And flowers of June together;

Ye cannot rival the one hour;

October's bright blue weather"

See you next time.

KEEP HEART NAIVE, LET MIND BE CYNIC

By Olivene Godfrey

Young people have always been idealistic-- envisioning things as they should be or wished to be rather than as they are.
But, a mark of our human maturing means to recognize reality, to tolerate it emotionally, and to build habits and attitudes suitable for dealing with it.

Fifty years ago life seemed so simple, at least to me it did.
I had yet to learn Anatole France's philosophy--"It is well for the heart to be naive and for the mind not to be."

Still, now that I'm older, I find myself now and then in conflict
With my mind and my heart. I still find myself wanting to believe that Real Life is really the way it was depicted in the 1930s and 1940s in the movies. You know, the Good Guys were clearly defined and always won over the "Bad Guys".
But, then you grow up and you realize that people aren't always, as they appear to be. You discover your parents and your friends are only human beings who sometimes make mistakes. Your heart aches at the bitter end of dreams. Then, you discover that nothing is all black or all white-- no person, no professional group (doctors, lawyers, educators, you name it.) is all good or all bad.

You are no longer awed by titles or professions. You aren't likely to be shocked by anything. You learn the difference between a politician and a statesman-- one definition by James Freeman Clarke: "A politician thinks of the next election; a statesman of the next generation". You sometimes wonder where all the statesman are.

As a child you were awed by schoolteachers. As an adult you know they are only human-- some dedicated, some mediocre. You marvel at the patience of educators who take the time to try to find causes of misbehavior rather than simply attempting to stop the actions. And you are appalled by those, despite their training, appear to be unaware of the fact that children want to be loved, to be accepted, to succeed, and that each child is an individual and differs from other children.

So, finally most of us grow up and somehow we survive deep disappointments and shattering griefs. Some react with bitterness, others with courage. Some go through life trying to prove something--searching or reaching for something-- or getting back at someone. But, if you can manage to keep your heart naive, you know that human beings are capable of being magnificent as they often are. And if age beings you wisdom you know better than to judge.

You learn how to love with more understanding. And understanding does have to be acquired-- there's no easy way. Now you can learn and understand your fellowmen, even when he doesn't deserve to be loved. And perhaps that is when he needs your steadying hand, the comforting shoulder, most of all. These words by Stephen Grellet are worthy of being adopted as a credo for living,” I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing therefore that I can do, or any kindness that I can show to any fellow human being let me do it now.

See you next time.

SISTER SAFE AFTER FLORIDA STORM, MY DIABETES THREAT & MORE ON SQUIRREL PROBLEM....

By Olivene Godfrey

HURRICANE FRANCES: My sister, Joan, who is in bad health, has lived in West Palm Beach, FL for many years and has survived other storms. But, we were especially concerned about her before and after Frances hit the coast as Joan is on oxygen and has been very ill. She insisted on staying at her house so her son, Rex, and his wife, Annie, who live with her” battened down the hatches" and kept the house protected. Joan's twin sister, Jeanette, and her family and Barry and me, who all live in northwest Georgia, were in contact with Joan until after the electric power went out. We knew Joan's daughter, Connie, had cooked some foods and they had a Coleman cook stove and they would have food to eat.

On Sunday, Barry and I went up to Chattanooga to eat lunch at the Piccadilly Cafeteria and Barry took along his cell phone.
And while we were eating our delicious lunch, his phone rang and it was Joan calling, telling us the good news, that they all survived the storm and she said the house seemed okay but the yard " is awful". Their power was still out and she said she would send us an e-mail when the power came back on so we felt a lot better about her and family.

Now we here in Northwest Georgia are waiting for Frances's aftermath to bring us heavy rains and stormy weather.

DIABETES SCARE: I don't have a psychic bone in my body. Everything that has ever happened to me-- good or bad- has been a total surprise. Such was the case when I went to see my family doctor to discuss my recent blood work after a physical. It had always been routine and I wasn't expecting to hear that I am a border-line diabetic and would have to change my lifestyle.

Lord only knows how I am able to function in a fairly normal life with all of my ailments. I knew I was overweight and that I needed a more healthy lifestyle. The doctor gave me a blood sugar testing kit and I was stunned for a while after I left her office. As I have always done, and Barry does, too, we did some research on the diabetic died. We went grocery shopping and was surprised by the many food products that are low carb and sugar free and most are delicious. I bought a sugar substitute, "Splenda",and I can't tell it from the real thing. It would be hard for me to give up completely Coca Cola which I have loved since I was a child so I switched to Diet Coke and am getting used to it.

My number one goal is to stay on the diet, and I am determined,
and to keep my blood sugar at the proper level. Then, I hope the diet will enable me to lose weight so hopefully I will feel and look better. Wish me luck!

THOSE PESKY SQUIRRELS: Back in the spring, I wrote in this space about the problem we had with these nasty rodents being in our attic. Barry and I leaned from research and experience, that squirrels are very social animals and settle in your yard or attic as a family unit. The ones here had a good life, with our hickory tree and pear tree and other goodies in the yard with a nice shelter in the attic. They chewed through the wood around a small slit in the overhang of the house and made them a door. I've learned they can climb almost anywhere and if they are determined to get somewhere they will.

I started detesting squirrels when they destroyed our bird feeders to get the seeds before my husband died two years ago. We had enjoyed watching the large variety of birds that came to the feeders.

When we decided to close up the squirrels door to our attic, we decided to wait until a hot day in August when the weather was very hot. Barry and his friend, Larry, on a hot day recently closed up the opening with a sheet of aluminum as we knew they would chew up wood if they were determined. That night we heard noises in the attic and knew there had been some of the pesky critters still in the attic. The next morning, the ones outside were desperately trying to get their family members out. Barry and Larry opened up a vent in the overhang on the roof and let the squirrels out. Barry was afraid they would die and cause an odor in the house.

Using binoculars, Barry discovered their large nest high up a tall pine tree in the yard. He thinks he and Larry "spooked" them for a while. But, we know they will try to get back in the attic when the weather gets cold.

There are professionals who are able to solve this problem, I have heard, but they are very expensive, and I hope we don't have to hire them. I personally think that the only good squirrel is a dead one as they are vicious rodents and I think a lot of people agree with me.

See you next time.