AFTER THANKSGIVING RAMBLINGS....

By Olivene Godfrey

This is being written on a cold and rainy Saturday after Thanksgiving Day. Barry and I are recuperating from colds that are going around this part of the country and are causing a lot of misery. So, we are staying at home today after a pretty hectic week.

Even though I was dragging around with the nasty cold I was preparing for our Thanksgiving Day dinner last week. It was our third Thanksgiving Day dinner without my husband and Barry's dad so we felt a bit sad, too. We had a small turkey breast roast and all the trimmings. I only cooked enough this year for our dinner plus leftovers that night for Barry. The Godfrey men are famous for being big eaters and Barry is one of the champion eaters but comes in second to his cousin, Brian Nichols, who we watched devour a pan of biscuits his mother, Agnes, had prepared for his supper. Our dinner was delicious even if I cooked it myself. And, Barry said, after dinner, "That is how a Thanksgiving Day dinner should be,” which made all of my hard work on the dinner worthwhile.

As I looked out my bedroom window one day last week, I was thankful for the spectacular view, which is constantly changing. I saw a wondrous sight as the sky was rosy and deep blue, shot with golden ray of the sun coming up over the mountain and was reflected in the lake that adjoins our property with the mountain range silhouette just beyond.

Most of our autumn colored leaves of the trees blew off last week when we had violent storms that dumped six inches of rain on us and caused some flooding. Since we live atop a hill, we don't have to worry about flooding but we don't need more rain but more is forecast for next week. I have a dental appointment Tuesday and a doctor appointment on Thursday so I am hoping the weather will be nice those days.

Back in the late 1950s, I got a sun burst electric wall clock with grocery store coupons. I have always loved it and over the years it has hung on our walls. It has been on the wall here in our house the 26 years we have lived here and only today did it just die and quit working. Barry took it apart and cleaned up the clock, which is mostly made of metal. He is going to buy
The inner working of a clock and see if it will run again. I had a large, pretty kitchen wall clock that hadn't worked in years and about a year ago he replaced it's inner workings and it is running just fine now.

See you next time.

RHYTHM IN MY BONES....

By Olivene Godfrey

Music has always played an important role in my life. And, often a song takes me back to another time, another place.
A little of every place and every person goes with us in the building of happier times. It's the combination of all we have lived and learned that builds character and teaches us the way of life.

Perhaps because music is important to me I tend to think in musical terms. A beautiful time, a moment of enchantment, I remember as a symphony. Actually, there is an underlying rhythm to all of living. It's been said that if you want to feel alive you have to keep rhythm in your body. I think of rhythm as the gentle, easy flow of life.

We usually think of rhythm as keeping time to music. And, wherever there is life, there is that rhythm that has everything on the move. There is harmony in finding one's own pace. When we hit a sour note, we have one of those days when everything goes wrong.

In my writing, I strive for a certain form of rhythm. I don't know how to explain it. But, when I read a manuscript, I can "hear" a sour note, a jarring sound, if sentences don't have that easy flow I think of as rhythm. When I read a manuscript and find a sentence or a paragraph that seems to be suspended-not in tune with the words that came before and after it-- I hear that sour note.

Now, we are all individuals. And some writers, especially in music, play in the minor key. That is their style. Then some writers use what I call "staccato" sentences--detached, dis-connected, or abrupt. That is their style.

I guess I am corny, as I like to hear a "melody" -- musical sounds in agreeable succession or arrangements. But, aren't some of the sweetest things in life corny? That may be why some of us love those things.

I like this bit of "musical" philosophy by Ella Wheeler Wilcox: "Our lives are songs; God writes the words, and we set them to music at pleasure; and the song grows glad, or sweet or sad,
As we choose to fashion the measure."

See you next time.

"KEEP ME ALIVE, LONG AS I LIVE"

By Olivene Godfrey

Perhaps you've heard the story of an old Scotch clergyman who was accustomed to praying each morning, "Lord, keep me alive as long as I live.” That has always been my philosophy. And, the greatest human tragedy is when something dies inside a person while he still lives.

If a person lives long enough, he will experience despair and perhaps life will not seem worth living for a while. And, often we wonder why we must come in contact with some phases of life that seem so unrelated to how we think and plan.

But, no matter how we question and analyze situations and events continue to present themselves for solving. "Our whole life is like a play," Ben Jonson wrote. And, as in a play or a well-written novel, sometimes the smallest incident hidden among our experiences can play a very big role at a later time. We can't know which parts of the puzzle will fall into place to complete the picture we seek.

The persons with the strongest character (and each of those persons seem to have a great faith in God) that I know take one step at a time. Someone said that eternal alertness is the price of life. And, our own salvation is the open mind. The closed mind is a tomb in which both hope and progress are buried. We must be open to inspiration and be ready to readjust our thinking to any emergency.

If only when we are overwhelmed with despair, we could force ourselves to dwell upon the beauty and wonder of our world.
To think of the little things-- the beauty and faithfulness of flowers, the singing of birds, the peace and strength of trees.

Often because we have failed and become calloused or someone has disappointed us or we have lost someone or something very dear to us, we cry that life is a cheating force and beauty a myth. We forget the feel of grass under our feet, the sound of running streams, the hum of the wind in the treetops and the bright blue-sky overhead.

The individual who has never shed tears, never become angry, never refused to respond to others, but who has lived a day in and day out shallow existence, can never truly appreciate what it is like to come into the center of calmness.

American clergyman Joel Hawes said, "You may be whatever you resolve to be. Determine to be something in the world and you will be something-- "I cannot" never accomplishes anything: " I will try" has wrought wonders."

And like the old Scotch preacher, I continue to pray each day, "Lord, keep me alive as long as I live". And isn't that a good prayer for everyone?

See you next time.

LIZARDS IN MY CHRISTMAS CACTUS AND MORE....

Bu Olivene Godfrey

In the cold weather months, we bring the patio plants inside the house and put the hardier ones in the garage. My Christmas cactus is about 15 years old and it is huge and is a gorgeous sight. Soon after son Barry brought the cactus into the garage, he discovered that two lizards are living in the plant. He said they are harmless and eat insects. But to me they are still reptiles and I don't venture too close to the cactus.

I still remember the morning when we lived in Florida and Barry was about two years old. I went outside to empty his little swimming pool and a long, scary looking snake slithered across my feet. I ran to the house, chanting, "Oh! Oh! Oh!", until I was safely inside the house. And to this day, I am frightened by any kind of reptile.

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Barry spent about a month winterizing our house, and we are finally having some cold weather, and his efforts seem to be paying off for us. Also, the new French doors we had installed in the den last spring seem to be tighter than the sliding glass doors we previously had in that room and is saving energy.
Barry also bought an oil filled radiator electric space heater that is helping to supplement the central heat in the den where I spend most of my time. We had previously used a kerosene heater, which we are planning to use in case of emergencies now.

We have had so much hot weather this fall that most of the trees here in Northwest Georgia are mostly still green. The few that have turned were brown before falling to the ground. We are wondering if we will have our annual colored leaf show this year.

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Yesterday, (Sunday), Barry and I decided that since it was a bright sunny day that we would drive up to Chattanooga and eat an early lunch at the Piccadilly Cafeteria and browse in the Hamilton Place Mall for a while. Since it takes about an hour to drive from our house to Chattanooga, we left here about 10:30 A.M. and when we had nearly reached our destination, we came upon a multiple-car accident that seemed to have happened shortly before we passed it in one lane. We said two prayers, one that the people involved in the crash were okay, and a prayer of thanks that we had escaped the pile-up.

We ate a delicious lunch at the Piccadilly and then browsed in the mall, with Barry pushing me in my wheel chair that we use in malls and large stores. To our surprise, the mall was already decorated beautifully for Christmas. We went in the glass elevator to the ground floor and had a close-up view of the beautiful tree that soars up two floors.

On the way home, Barry and I talked about how much stronger I am now than I was two years ago when Barry took me up to the mall shortly after my husband died. I cared for him several years before I collapsed with pneumonia and had to be hospitalized for a week and those years took a toll on my health in general. I think it has just taken time for me to regain my health and the new diet I started September 4th, and the weight lost since then, seems to be playing a role in my improved health for which I am grateful.

See you next time.

KEEPS HUMOR IN FACE OF CRITICS

By Olivene Godfrey

Because I consider a sense of humor so important in a human being's make-up, I probably sound like a broken record as I continue to praise this trait.

In a study it was found that persons with a good sense of humor were better able to take the frustrations of every day living in stride. And, I honestly believe that having been blessed with the ability to laugh during difficult times has helped me retain my sanity.

It's been said there seems to be two important things to do in time of difficulty. One is to pray and the other is to keep one's sense of humor. The first is essential to make the basic correction and the other is necessary to balance the human spirit while things work out.

Few of us escape some hardships and sad times. We, as human beings, need such experiences before we can truly appreciate the meaning of serenity or victory. No one ever promised that life would be one long gala event. But, if we're durable enough, and can keep our sense of humors, we neither let hardships hinder us nor make us run roughshod to get ahead.

Without a sense of humor, one tends to become too serious about the personal self. It becomes all-important-- too self-righteous and too self-centered. I'm uncomfortable around extremist people -- either liberal or conservative extremist-because they so often lack a sense of humor. Everything is always so serious and they become angry if everybody else doesn't feel just as serious as they do.

Of course, there are times for all things. And there are times when we should be serious, when we are faced with things that cause us great heartache and it takes time before we can laugh again.

Still, there are few situations; of we can detach ourselves from the seriousness of it long enough to look it, that can’t be helped by humor. Lincoln knew the importance of a sense of humor and said. "With the fearful strain that is on me night and day, if I did not laugh I would surely die." I guess sometime we do laugh to keep from crying.

But, in everyday situations, those obstacles that get in our way, causing "one of those days", and worry about politics, the economy, all of these things can be faced better if we can take time out now and then to laugh.


Now, I don't know how persons who are in positions where criticism results from their jobs survive without a sense of humor. Surely they find themselves with ulcers or shattered nerves if they allow themselves to be seriously wounded by criticism.

Sometimes criticism is supposedly softened by calling it, "constructive criticism". But, few people want any kind of criticism. I've found that laughter is the best weapon against those who "nit pick" and continually criticize all of our efforts.

It's unrealistic to expect everybody to love us or to agree with us all the time. And, it's important to remember
That having some people not like us and not agree with us doesn't make us inferior human beings, only different.

See you next time.