FALLING LEAVES & A DREAM TREE & CANNED FRUIT & MORE

By OLIVENE GODFREY

A front came through here in northwest Georgia with a brisk wind and almost blew all the colored and brown leaves off the trees last week. The next morning, our yard and the patio which is surrounded with a rock wall were covered with leaves.
Now with the trees bare of leaves, we are entering what I call our bleak, gray winter months. We live in a mountain wind gap and often have strong winds which is why we had so many leaves fall off the trees and trees in other areas still have most of their leaves. A few days ago, son Barry blew leaves off the patio with the leaf blower and went over the yard with the riding lawnmower and mulched the leaves.

Barry has already brought the houseplants inside and in the garage for the winter. But he left a huge impatient red plant and a red geranium on the patio and they are still blooming despite the frosts we have had recently. He moved the new growth tomato plant inside and it is exploding with growth and has little tomatoes on it. Amazing! And the large Christmas cactus is blooming and is a sight to behold.

We have Thanksgiving and Christmas to look forward to now. But, in January, February and March we can only try to cope with winter weather until the beautiful spring arrives.

I enjoyed a feature on the Today television show last week. The huge Christmas tree has been put up in Rockefeller Plaza
AND THE Today show told the story of the "dream tree" donated to be used in the Rockefeller Plaza this year. A New Jersey couple had nurtured the tree over the years and it grew to be so big it dwarfed their house and that of their neighbors. A neighbor wrote a letter about the tree which led to the donation of it. The New Jersey man's wife died two years ago and he said that she would have been thrilled that so many people would be enjoying their tree this year.

If you are worried about the nutrition of canned fruit compared to fresh or frozen fruit, not to worry, according to an item in the current Prevention magazine. The article says that
canned fruit is packed immediately after harvest, so it retains most of its vitamins and antioxidants. And the spokesperson for the American Dietetic Assoc. says to keep your fruit snack as healthy as possible, choose fruit packed in its own juices instead of in heavy corn syrup.

I read in the paper yesterday that 10 million new flu shot dosages are scheduled to be delivered this month. I am hoping that some of the flu vaccine doses will be delivered to my doctor's office as she still didn't have any as of Friday.
I still haven't had a flu shot and was glad to read in the article that the flu season is off to a gentle start.

1. See you next time.