DADDY GOT THE LAST LAUGH

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Since I was diagnosed with Diabetes, type 2, a couple of years
ago, I have tried to eat five or six small meals a day as nutrition experts recommend. Son Barry goes to the grocery
store once a week and I make a detailed typed list for him.
I spend a great deal of time on the list and trying to think
of diet foods for my meals. I cook supper most nights and
try to have healthy meals for Barry as well as myself.
Our meals at home are mostly healthy but we occasionally stray
from the health foods.

Son Barry recently had a physical and found out he has
arthritis. He had a complete lab work-up and all was fine
except that his cholesterol is a little high. The doctor
gave him some samples of a cholesterol lowering drug to try.
He goes back to the doctor for another cholesterol test
in a couple of months.

For some time, I have been having a hearing problem. I am
afraid I am missing out on a lot of things because I can't hear
clearly. When I have my physical in August, I plan to talk
to the doctor about hearing. My late Daddy and one of his
sisters were hard of hearing. Actually, Daddy could hear
fine in one ear but the other was completely deaf. My
late mother told me a funny story long ago about Daddy
and his hearing problem.

Mother said that Daddy, a Methodist preacher, was pruning the
parsonage shrubbery one day when a pompous church member came
to see him about a problem she had with his sermons. Mother was
inside the parsonage near an open window and she said
that the woman was giving Daddy an ear full about his sermons
not knowing she was talking near Daddy's deaf ear. He didn't hear her, and didn't realize what was happening. When he saw
the woman, he smiled and greeted her warmly and was bewildered
by her sputtering and her red face as she ran to her car
and sped away. Inside the parsonage, Mother was having a
good laugh, and when daddy came inside she filled him in
on the episode, and having a keen sense of humor, Daddy
saw the humor in it.

See you next time.

REFLECTIONS DURING HEAT WAVE

By OLIVENE GODFREY

I am recuperating from an apparent stomach virus. 
For several days, I felt really bad and still don't
feel chipper. 

The oppressive heat wave, and the bad air quality, is
keeping me confined to my air-conditioned home.  Son
Barry's shop doesn't have AC and he has been suffering
from the heat. He is able to wear shorts to work and
he drinks lots of water. I have a large pitcher of
iced tea waiting for him which hits the spot on a
hot day. We are supposed to have cooler weather this
weekend which will be welcomed here.

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I have written several times about my problems with three
new toasters that Barry bought for me. There isn't anything
wrong with my 30-year-old chrome covered toaster except
for occasionally propelling the toast out of the toaster
onto the counter.  Barry just thought we needed a new toaster
The new ones have wider slots for the bread that seem to be
incapable of turning out a decent piece of toast. 

I was about to think I was the only person on earth who
had a toaster problem. And then Barry read in the Customer
Review section of Amazon on the net that many people share
my problem. In fact, each year, a convention for old-toaster
enthusiasts is held in different places across the country.
At these events about a hundred people gather for a toaster
show of tell and auctions and competitions.  Some of the old
toasters sell for large prices.  I will continue to use
mine as long as possible. 

           ---------------------------------------------

I was thinking recently of my love for Coca Cola which goes
back to my childhood.  I remember how I rejected the Coke
for awhile for Double Cola.  Being a skinny kid with a huge
appetite, I chose the Double Cola because it was twice as
big as Coke.  There's a childhood picture of me in one
of our albums in which I look mad and my Daddy had written
at the bottom of the picture. " I want a Double Cola."

Double Cola is a regionally manufactured U.S. brand of soft
drink, predominantly distributed east of the Mississippi
River and is available in selected international markets.

I grew up in Chattanooga where the Double Cola is
headquartered, which is probably why it was available
to us. I Haven't seen one in a long time. Barry says
he is going to try to find one for me so I can see if it
still taste as good as it did when I was a skinny kid.

See you next time.

SON BARRY HAS OSTEOARTHRITIS

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Barry received bad news when he had his annual physical
exam this week. He found out he has osteoarthritis in
his knees, hands, ankle and hip. We had suspected
that he had arthritis in his hands and knees but were
shocked by the hip diagnosis.

About a year ago, Barry did some heavy lifting here
and was in severe pain for several days. He thought he
had a pulled muscle and that with rest, it would heal.
Barry takes after his late dad, Ralph, who never
complained about any aches and pains until they became
acute. I think he was as surprised by the hip diagnosis
as I was.

I recently read that this kind of arthritis is the
most common and comes with aging and disrupts the normal
functioning of the joints and bones or tissue surrounding
it in a wear-and -tear way. It causes pain that tends to
be made worse by strenuous activity and relieved by
rest. I have this kind of arthritis in my knees and
hands and it breaks my heart that Barry may have
inherited the condition from me.

Barry sees the doctor again soon to review the lab work
results and outline a health plan for him. We are hoping
the lab work doesn't bring any more surprises.
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On a lighter note, my late husband's sister, Agnes,
and I enjoyed a long telephone conversation recently.
She lives in a small town in northeast Georgia, located
on the other side of our mountain from our house in
northwest Georgia. Since Agnes doesn't own a computer,
I send her a copy of my columns each week. and. she
paid me a much appreciated compliment when she said
that she feels like she is reading a personal letter
to her when she reads my columns. I told her that during
the 40 or so years I have had columns published, I
have always written them as if I were writing to only
one person, someone like, YOU.

I have written long letters to friends and relatives
as far back as I can remember. And, when I was nine,
I wrote, directed and produced a play for neighborhood
kids to perform for our parents. Our "theater" was
my father's barn and we charged one penny for admission
to the play. And, when I graduated from high school,
I received a stack of boxes filled with pretty
stationery as gifts. Over the years
. besides my newspaper work. I've written about
a dozen novels. Three were published by a German
publisher and I am too tired now to try to sell my
other manuscripts. I have debated with other writers
if the compulsion to write is a blessing or a curse.
I still don't know the answer but at 78, I still
have the compulsion.

See you next time.

DOG DAYS, LIGHTNING BUGS & WATERMELON

By OLIVENE GODFREY

We are having the hot, sultry days of Dog Days here
in northwest Georgia. Dog Days occur in July and
early August and are so called because during the period,
Sirius, the Dog Star, rises and sets with the sun.

My sister, Jeanette, who lives in nearby Dalton, told
me about her great-grandchild capturing lightning bugs
or fireflies, depending on where you live, and placing
them in a glass jar. And that evoked a childhood memory
for me of the times long ago when I caught lightning
bugs like kids do today, and son Barry did, when he was
a little boy.

One recent night, Barry asked me to look outside and see
the lighting bugs, flashing their lights which is a form
of flirting which leads to mating. The lightning bugs
are any of various night-flying beetles, emitting a
phosphorescent light from an abdominal organ, especially
the north America genres Photinus and Photurrris. whose
female phosphorescent larvae are called glowworms.

I read recently that the ancient Chinese captured fireflies
in transparent containers and used them as short term
lanterns.

Summertime means watermelon time for me. It all started
when I was a small child and all the kin folks knew
of my fondness for watermelon. I spent a couple of weeks
in the summer with my paternal grandparents on their large
farm in Middle Tennessee. And I will never forget the
trip we took when I was about seven or eight to the nearest
town so my grandparents and two aunts that lived on the
farm, too, could do some shopping. When we returned to the farm, we discovered, to my delight,that my grandpa and one of my
aunts had each bought a watermelon for me

Years later, when my late husband, Ralph, and I were courting
and later when we married, we would cut a watermelon into
half, a half for me and one for Ralph. So, how on earth
did we have a kid who doesn't like watermelon? Barry isn't a finicky eater but he can't stand the taste of watermelon

When we bought groceries last week, our supermarket, Ingles,
gave us a free watermelon. It was small,round dark green
on the outside and when it was cut, after a couple of days
of chilling in the fridge, it was a bright red and sweet
and delectable inside and I ate the heart out of one
half and plan to eat the other half later today.

Watermelon is not only good to eat, but is a healthful food.

See you next time.