SPRING IS HERE & SON BARRY'S FALL & SWEET SOUTHERN ICED TEA WITH MINT

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Springtime in all its green glory has arrived in northwest Georgia. Last week, son Barry carried the plants that had spent the winter in the garage out to the patio. The asparagus fern has never in its 31 years of life been as large and as pretty as it is now. But, if the Good Lord hadn't been with Barry during the moving of the fern, we shudder to think how different we would feel now. Barry stumbled when he was moving the fern to the patio and dropped the large plant onto the concrete garage floor and then he fell, too. He was able to catch himself from serious injury by breaking the fall with his arm. He only had a couple of minor scrapes on his arm. The fern's clay pot was smashed and Barry went to Ace's in Chatsworth and bought a large plastic container and successfully re-potted the root bound fern in it and it is doing great now.

Barry also planted a lot of wild flower seeds in a large container on the patio. He takes good care of the plants since I am unable to do now. He has a green thumb and likes to see the plants thrive with help from Miracle Grow.

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We drink sweet, iced tea year round here in the American South. And, during our hot summers, we drink lots of the delicious brew. Nowadays, I sweeten tea with Splenda and add a dash of lemon to add zest to the flavor. I recalled that when I was a child, my mother would use a fresh mint sprig to introduce the flavor and aroma through the nose. I later learned that the mint was one of the ingredients of the mixed alcohol drink, Mint Julep. Being Methodist tee-to-totalers, we abstained from drinking alcohol drinks and the mint in the tea hit the spot on a humid day.

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Since I rest and take cat naps in my recliner, I need support for the back of my neck. I had literally worn out one that my late mother had made for me. Recently, Barry ordered one from Amazon for me which works great when I stretch out in the recliner.

See you next time.

THINGS ON MY MIND

By Olivene Godfrey

While I sometimes wish I had lived my youth more wisely, I wouldn't want to be that young again. Adults talk with habitual nostalgia of the "the carefree days" of our youth. There were some carefree moments but they were rarely our happiest times. Before our school days there was the shelter and security of home. But, if you honestly recall your childhood years you must admit most of your time was spent in school. Think back to the fatigue of study and the fear of failures. The tremendous compulsion to make teams, to be popular with your classmates and report card day are hardly carefree memories. And, you were happiest when you arrived on the threshold of adulthood. You had learned but there was nothing carefree about it.

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The writer who attempts satire, that which ridicules persons or things that they do, knows that some readers are going to take every word in a literal sense. Personally, I enjoy reading satire. And Jonathan Swift,s "Gulliver's Travels", in prose, is one of the greatest satires.

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One recent day, son Barry, and I drove over to the Hobby Lobby store in Dalton to purchase artificial flowers for another hanging basket in our den. (We have two baskets of flowers hanging from the exposed rafters in the ceiling of the den.) The new basket and floral arrangement is in a different location of the den. I had envisioned the way I wanted the new flowers to be arranged. Barry helped me select the gorgeous flowers, and when we returned home, he arranged the flowers exactly as I wanted the new hanging basket to look, and I m so proud of it, and of Barry and all he does for me.

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A few days ago, Barry and I ate a delicious lunch that consisted of "forbidden foods" for me but was so delectable! Barry and a friend had recently eaten this same dinner and he had enjoyed it and told me about it. So, I had made up my mind to give it a try. And, we both ordered the Country Fried Steak dinner as described in Shoneys menu-- "tender steak breaded in our signified seasoned flour, golden fried, then smothered with our creamy country milk gravy.". This came with mashed potatoes. I recalled when my late mother would cook this dinner which was a childhood favorite of mine. I topped off my dinner with a small serving of strawberry shortcake. I've gone off my diet several times lately but my blood sugar remains normal but this week I am back on the diet as I don't want to push my luck.

See you next time.

LIKES CHANGEABLE GEORGIA CLIMATE

By OLIVENE GODFREY

To me this region's greatest assets are the definite four seasons we can expect each year. Often I hear people express desire to live year-round in a tropical climate. Now, our sister state, Florida, has much to offer. But, after living in coastal towns in that state for some four years, I found myself bored with the monotonous climate and scenery.

I have friends and relatives who live in Florida and who never seem to tire of the sun and sand. And, maybe my attitude is due to having been born and reared in mountain country. But, when it's autumn, I want colored leaves and a crisp snap in the air. And in winter I want at least a little snow. Then, in the spring I enjoy the fresh rebirth of nature. And summers in North Georgia last long enough for me,especially when the temperatures soars into the 90s and higher, they last too long.
Oh, I know I'll be complaining this winter about the winter doldrums and only with the promise of spring time to look forward to.

But, now I'm enjoying spring in all its green glory in spite of the high pollen count that has me sneezing. Yesterday, th pollen count in North Georgia was nearly 2000! I'm taking prescription allergy medicine which gives me some relief.

Another complaint I have about spring is the often severe storms like we had recently when we had a limb blow off a large tree just outside our kitchen windows and land away from the house, thank God! I read in the paper that about 60 trees and limbs were down during that storm which had 40 mile per hour high winds in our county this week. The roaring sound of the strong winds and the swaying of the large trees was scary. We were fortunate that our electric power was not out during the storm.

Son Barry bought us a pretty Impatiens basket for the patio last week. We have good luck with this plant and the large red and white plant will soon look like a big colored ball. Barry has the new plant on the patio now along with the huge pink geranium on the patio. He will take the other plants outside soon. Some of the plants have grown so large, he may need to have a strong friend help him.

Happy Springtime!

See you next time.

SENSE OF HUMOR SHARED BY SON

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Since I often think things are funny that no one else around me does I've decided that I must have a weird sense of humor. And, while I dislike thinking my son has inherited a lot of my weird ways, I do find it delightful that we find most of the same things funny. If you think the following is funny you may be one of our kind of people.

In "Sweet Dreams" by Michael Frayn, two men who've long heard of each other but have never met say:

"I thought you'd look entirely different."

"No...no...I look pretty much like this."

I thought that was so funny I clipped it and put it on my bulletin board and son Barry also shared my fondness for those words. One reason, I may have thought the above funny is that I can relate to it. I often wonder if writers would be better off if their pictures were not used with their columns. For many years I wrote a daily, newspaper column with various pictures of myself. My problem had nothing to do with being too readily recognized. Quite the contrary, I had trouble convincing people I was really me. As in the above quotation people would usually say, "I thought you would look different."
I didn't know if I should apologize, or confess I was an imposter. And, I guess I probably answered as the man in the above at times, that, yes, I look pretty much like this.

People who met me for the first time seemed surprised that I was such a tiny person in those days. Then, I changed my hairstyle frequently. I certainly didn't have to worry about losing my privacy since I had to produce my driver's license or press card to prove that I was I. And, despite the writer's ham in me, I'm basically a private person and am really glad I'm not a big celebrity that lives a gold fish bowl existence.

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I had a choking episode a week or so ago. I was eating a hamburger steak, which I am not supposed to eat, when a small piece of the meat went down my throat the wrong way. I instantly started coughing and jumped up and son Barry tried to help me, but I ran to the kitchen sink and gave a deep cough and the tiny piece of meat popped out into the sink. The good Lord must have been looking over me as he has when I've had similar episodes. I have had my esophagus stretched twice and take a little purple, very expensive, capsule every day which seems to help most of the time. I try to eat slowly, take small bites, and chew well and not talk while my mouth is full, and that is hard to remember sometimes.

See you next time.

REMEMBERING BEING HOMESICK THE FIRST TIME

By OLIVENE GODFREY

I liked visiting my paternal grandparents on their Tennessee farm. And during my ninth summer my parents said I could spend a couple of weeks with my grandparents and two aunts. My mother seemed a bit apprehensive as they drove away, back to our home in Chattanooga on that Sunday afternoon. I couldn't understand as I just knew I would be fine and have a great time.

All went well until Monday afternoon along about dusk when I'd helped the aunts gather eggs and followed them around as they completed the day's chores. I was standing on the back porch, leaning against the wall, when suddenly I began to sob. Not being an emotional child or one who cried easily, my aunts were startled. They took me inside and gave me a soft drink which they never drank but kept on hand when I was there.

Then, all during my stay they did everything they could think to entertain me. They took me to a nearby town and bought me a new dress, which was much longer than the ones my mother sewed for me, but I loved it. Then my grandfather and one of the aunts, knowing my love for watermelon, each purchased a melon for me, not knowing the other one had bought one, too. I was thrilled and thought it was very funny. Still, at times during the day, and always at night, as I snuggled down into the feather bed, and while I wouldn't put it in words, I wished I was home.

I'd written my parents telling them what a great time I was having. So, they called on the weekend when they were supposed to have come for me and said since I was having such a good time, they were going to let me stay another week. My heart sank but with my grandparents and aunts looking on,all I could do was to say something positive like, "Oh, boy!",when inside I was suffering from homesickness.

Somehow, I got through that week and I was so happy when I did get back home. After that year I spent many weeks on the farm and with other relatives without getting homesick. But, I've never forgotten that first trip away from home.

A bit of advice to public speakers from Earl Wilson column, "Biscuits and speeches are improved by shortening."(Sig Sakowicz)

And from Grit,"Money doesn't buy happiness but it pays for the illusion."

See you next time.