THOUGHTS ON FOURTH ANNIVERSARY OF THIS COLUMN & OTHER STUFF

By OLIVENE GODFREY

July, 2007, marked the fourth anniversary of my writing in this space. I had been a widow for about a year and was at loose ends when Barry suggested I write this column. I thought about it for awhile and felt my interest stir. It is an outlet for my thoughts and I enjoy it very much and hope it interest you.

The following is for plant lovers--female and male. I hope you find this report of interest. We seem to be back in a summer time pattern of afternoon showers and this past Saturday, after a shower, Barry helped me out on the patio to inspect our plant family. The sun glistened on the rain drops on the plants, giving them a fresh appearance. The 30 year old asparagus fern is growing large and pretty after a slow start in the spring when we had a 20 degree cold snap. The pink geranium, after a brief rest from blooming, it is about to burst forth into blossoms again. Sitting close to the red impatient plant, they seem to be a part of each other. The impatient plant blooms from spring to the first frost and looks like a huge ball of flowers.

The purple plant is huge with its dainty, lavender flowers adding to its beauty. The fiscus tree, or the weeping willow, will have to be pruned in the fall before bringing inside. The
Christmas cactus is huge and it is a joy to see when it starts blooming in November. Indoors, the Incredible poinsettia grew and spread like kudzu on the den floor. Recently, Barry pruned it and hopes it will be shaped pretty by its second birthday, Christmas. The two tropical plants in my office are doing fine this year, too. We used to have more plants but after I became unable to care for them, we just kept our favorites. Barry had taken over the plants and does a good job of it.

Our advice for healthy, pretty plants is simple--do not over water and give them plenty of Miracle Grow and watch them grow. He prunes the patio plants before bring them inside for the winter months.

Quote- The difference between the right word and almost the right word is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.--Mark Twain.

See you next time.

REFLECTIONS ON A HECTIC WEEKEND

By OLIVENE GODFREY

As I write this, I am exhausted thinking about the past few days. Last Friday, son Barry took me to my GI doctor's office in Dalton to pick up my instructions for the colonscopy and endoscopy which the doctor will do in a couple of weeks. I also received some samples of a new laxative I will try soon.
Then, we returned to Chatsworth and stopped in at my family doctor's office for an order to take to local hospital to pick up what was needed for a 24-hour urine test.
My doctor ordered the test as she started looking for an underlying cause of my low sodium in the blood. The condition is called hyponatremia. We had some problems at the hospital before returning home

Then, Barry left to go to the supermarket to buy groceries for the week. I took care of some chores and then helped Barry put the groceries up. At this point, we were starving and ate a lunch from the deli. After lunch, Genevelyn, my good neighbor and friend, called to ask if we would like some fresh produce and I said yes, so she brought us a bag of the good veggies over here. We had a nice, little chat and Barry helped me to go out on the patio to look at our pretty plants which he has nurtured.

After supper, I kept falling asleep in front of the television set and finally Barry woke me and told me to go to bed. When I was settled in bed, I became wide wake and spent a restless night. I told Barry the next morning, that I lead such a quiet and often boring life, I guess I had too much excitement on Friday. Saturday was fairly peaceful but too soon Sunday morning arrived and I began the 24-hour urine test. I won't go into all the details but I firmly believe that women's bodies were made to be seated on the toilet seat when voiding instead of standing up to use a female urinal.

Lately, several people have told me that I am "looking great".
While I appreciate the compliments, I am puzzled. I wonder if they mean that I look great considering my age and all my ailments. When I look in my mirror, I see an old lady who has lost her looks. I tell myself I am glad I haven't also lost my mind. But, I have days when I wonder if my mind is working.

FLASH!!!! I just had a call from my family doctor's nurse and she had good news for me. The 24-hour urine test I had over the weekend is fine and she just wants me to come back in a month for a mini check up. I called Barry at work to tell him the news and he was relieved,too.

QUOTE:"There is no passion in the human heart that promises so much and pays so little as that of revenge." Earl Wilson column.

WHEN YOU TRY TO IMPRESS OTHERS,THAT'S THE IMPRESSION YOU MAKE

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Our family has never cared much about acquiring status symbols to impress others. We believe that if you try to impress people, that's the impression you make. That doesn't mean that we don't enjoy nice things but we keep things a long time. I guess we also believe another old adage that goes, "if it ain't broke,
don't fix it." And, if it is broken, try to repair it before replacing it with a new one.

These thoughts came to my mind this past week when Barry's nine year old car's air conditioning and generator began to act up.
He was able to repair the AC and his generator was under a life time warranty he had purchased when he bought the car. So, he was able to get a new one. His car looks like a new one, inside and outside,as he takes good care of it and except for when it is being used, it is kept in an enclosed garage which helps.

This is not to say that we have never made any impulse buys. For instance, my late husband, Ralph, bought a brand new 1957
Chevy on his lunch break. He never dreamed that the car would become a classic and worth a small fortune and he sold it a few years later at a low price. (He did the same thing with a 1968 Chevelle and a 1959 Cadillac.) And there are clothes hanging in my closet that testify to my own impulse buying.

During the past year, we have bought a new refrigerator to replace a 30 year old one and a 43 year old garage one. The new one is energy saving and the savings have been substantial on our electric bill. So,we came out good on that deal as we enjoy the features on the new fridge. Barry carried the 43 year old fridge which still is the coldest one we have ever seen to his shop and he and his co-workers use it every day. We also have replaced a 30 year old dishwasher and an old clothes dryer with new energy saving one the past year and are enjoying the new ones very much.
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Barry had a mini-vacation during the July 4th holiday and did some repair work around the house and worked in the yard. Somewhere in the yard and on the patio while cooking out, he got covered with pesky chigger bites and that isn't a fun thing.

QUOTES.."Do something every day to make people happy-- even
if it's just leaving them alone." Earl Wilson column.

"The man who makes no mistakes does not usually make anything." Phelps.

"To speak kindly does not hurt the tongue." French proverb
See you next time.

1.

WOE IS ME! ANOTHER BAD MEDICAL REPORT

By OLIVENE GODFREY

I've told you about the test which showed that I may have blood in my stool and I am scheduled to have a colonscopy and endoscopy
in a month. I was concerned about that when my family doctor's nurse called with the results of recent lab work I had at the office. The report showed I have a lower than normal concentration of sodium in my blood. The doctor wanted me to have another blood test which I did, and, it too, showed low sodium in my blood. So, I had a urine test and I am waiting for the results of it. Barry did some research on the web and this condition has a name, Hyponatremia. It can be very serious and I am concerned about it, too. I will keep you posted and I hope you will pray for me.

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Son Barry and I ate a recent Sunday lunch at the Village Cafeteria in Chatsworth. Afterward, I reflected that it is a miracle I don't have a phobia about entering and exiting the cafeteria. For instance, a number of years ago, Barry and I had just finished eating there and a thunderstorm was brewing so we rushed to Barry's car which was parked nearby. I had started walking down the big steps of the elevated sidewalk
when a bolt of lightning struck directly in front of me,scaring me half to death. But, I still returned many times to eat at the popular eating place.

Then, two years ago, I fell from the elevated sidewalk to the pavement below, breaking my right arm and shoulder, when we were about to enter the Village. During the healing period, I had physical therapy and started walking with a cane. I learned exercises for balance and think it has helped me. But, I haven't driven since that fall and sold my car last year. But, we have continued eating there but I am extra cautious when entering or leaving the cafeteria.

This recent Sunday, I really didn't feel like going out but had been confined to the house for over a week and felt a need to go out. And, I am glad I did, as I had a serendipity inside the cafeteria. When Barry and I were about to eat our lunch, a man about Barry's age, walked to our table with a big smile on his face. He realized that I didn't recognize him and he told me that when he was a kid I wrote an article about all the books he had read. He told me his name and it came back to me. He lives in Atlanta now and wanted to tell me that he recently came across my blog on his computer and is reading it now. I'm always glad to receive feedback on the words written in this space and seeing him was a real serendipity for me.

QUOTE--"Perseverance is a great element of success. If you knock long enough and loud enough, you are sure to wake up somebody." Longfellow

See you next time.

PLEASE PASS THE TOMATOES!

By OLIVENE GODFREY

For the most part, I like summertime but there are a few things such as the fly, the little two winged insect that I dislike, to put it mildly. One recent day, while I was resting in my recliner in the den, the first fly I'd seen this summer had somehow got in the house, and was bothering me. I finally got up and found my swatter and killed the fly.

When I resumed resting, my mind flew back to a time I had almost forgotten when I was about ten years old. My daddy was a Methodist preacher who also worked at a regular job in Chattanooga while he studied to become a full fledged pastor of a church. Meanwhile, he served as pastor of a charge, which consisted of five small rural churches in east Tennessee.
He preached part time at each of the churches and conducted revival services at each church during the summer.
My sisters and I had an unusually sheltered childhood and I for one was fascinated by the revival services in the little white frame churches. Perhaps it was the writer inside me that
watched and listened intently to the people and their actions.

The revivals were held in the hottest part of the summer and there was no such thing as air-conditioning in these churches.
A local funeral home supplied the churches with card board
fans to stir up a little breeze. There were no screens on the windows and young men, who I thought of as the "sinners"
roamed about the church yard during the services and occasionally one or two would sit on a window sill and look inside the church
sanctuary while a few women would shout with joy and the men would sound off with loud "Amens" during the sermon. My twin sisters were about six and they would stretch out on a pew and sleep through the services.

During the revivals, different church members would invite us to eat supper at their houses before the services started.
We enjoyed some delicious meals at those dinners. But, while my mind wondered back, I was reminded of the church member who invited us to his house for supper one night. He was a good, Christian man and was a humble man who seemed so proud that we had come to their house that night. The house was a modest one with cats, dogs and chickens wandering about the dirt yard.
As we entered the small house, the man and his wife and children seemed so proud that we were there. We entered the small dining room where bowls of food was on the table. Our eyes were on the swarm of flies that hovered over the food and I was a finicky eater and I wondered what on earth I would eat. Being polite children, at least among strangers, we knew we had to eat some of the foods that didn't look appetizing. The man and his wife were beaming and then we all spied the large plater of red fresh tomatoes. All of us piled our plates with the fresh tomatoes and took small helpings of other food which we picked at during the meal. Somehow, we made it though the dinner and after that, over the years, we would remark on the flies and tomatoes of that supper.

QUOTE: "Always remember money isn't everything--and always remember to make a lot of it before talking such nonsense."
Earl Wilson column