HIT WITH DOUBLE WHAMMY--A WICKED COLD & IBS ATTACK AT SAME TIME

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Son Barry came down with a cold first, and then it hit me with a double whammy--a wicked cold and IBS attack at same time.
Barry and I had escaped getting colds for several years and it could be that we had forgotten how sick we are with a cold, or else these colds are worse than the others. With the help of over the counter cold medicines, Barry has somehow kept working. I can't take those medicines because of my high blood pressure. I am doing only what has to be done here as I have COPD and have to be very careful that my colds don't turn into pneumonia. I've been resting and drinking lots of liquids and eating light meals. I've also been taking a little Tylenol for pain. I hope and pray that I will be healed and back to normal in a few days.

I had to cancel my appointment for the ICG test as I have heard that if you take it with a cold you won't get an accurate reading. Actually, I didn't feel like going to the doctor's office for the test, anyway.

One bright spot of past few days is that an aluminum quad cane was delivered to me that Barry had ordered as it is lighter and easier for me to use than the heavy steel one I've been using. The new one is also shiny and more attractive than the old cane.

See you next time.

HANDSHAKE SHOWS LOT ABOUT PERSON & STRANGE BEHAVIOR OF CARDINAL SONGBIRD ON OUR PATIO FINALLY ENDS

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Years ago, I read that while Europeans shake hands whenever they greet one another, Americans reserve the practice for persons they haven't seen in a long time or when meeting new people. Amy Vanderbilt, the etiquette authority, says a handshake is as much a part of personality as the way we walk. And although we may modify and improve a poor handshake if someone calls our attention to it, it will still usually be just like us, assured or timid or warm or cool.

Ms Vanderbilt includes the bone crusher in her category of bad handshakes. This is the grip that makes the other person, especially a woman wearing rings, wince. Equally as bad in her book is the limp, damp handshake that seems to say,"I'm not really happy to meet you at all." Then there is the kind of straight-arm shake that seems to hold the other person off, or the octopus grip that draws you inexorably toward the shaker, who never seems to want to let go. There's also the pump-handle country bumpkin shake. or the Continental style -reserved for women- which Ms Vanderbilt says though not a hand kiss is cozy and overlong, ending in a little intimate squeeze. WOW!!!

So what does the etiquette expert consider a good handshake?
The good handshake, she says, is elbow level, firm and brisk.
And a man doesn't offer to shake hands with a woman unless she makes the move first. And whether he is shaking the hand of a man or woman, the shaker must look the person he is greeting firmly in the eye and at least, look pleasant, if he doesn't actually smile.

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Back in March, I told you about the strange behavior of the male Northern Cardinal or Redbird who lives with his mate in our yard year round. And, only this year has the songbird dive bombed against the patio glass wall almost constantly for months. Barry did some research on the Internet and found out the Cardinal fiercely defends his breeding territory from other males. And when a male sees his reflection in glass surfaces, it will frequently spend hours fighting the imaginary intruder. Our bird spent hours every day until a couple of weeks ago, flying hard into the door and wall, trying desperately to get inside the house. Then, he suddenly stopped, and Barry thinks the mating season is over, thank goodness!

See you next time.

UPS & DOWNS IN BODY HEALTH & HEAT WAVE & FLOWERING PLANTS AT PEAK SEASON

By OLIVENE GODFREY

We here in Georgia's high country are suffering from an August heat-wave which is also our peak season for flowering plants. Our patio plants have never been so large and pretty. Yesterday morning before the heat outside became unbearable, son Barry helped me walk out on the patio to inspect the plants. The purple plant's dainty lilac little flowers are in bloom. A delivery woman brought me a package last week and commented on the huge Christmas cactus. She said it is the largest one she's ever seen. She also asked about the asparagus fern and was surprised when I told her I started the fern 30 years ago from seed. It is a thing of beauty . The crape myrtle, the red and white and pink Impatiens are all gorgeous.

Unfortunately, the hated ragweed is also blooming, giving we allergy sufferers hay fever which is bad.

When we hear the word, "health" we generally think of a condition free from disease. But, health involves the state of the mind. If you are satisfied with life, if your mind functions accurately, and if you possess enough force, driving power to give you confidence in yourself and the ability to accomplish your work, you are considered to have good mental health. I suppose that eliminates a whole bunch of us. I've never known anyone who didn't have some kind of "hang up" and if there is such a person he'd probably be pretty dull company.

I guess there are a hundred definitions of happiness, probably everyone has their own definition. But, one definition is that happiness is a balanced flow of energy and the satisfaction of desires. And that is where many people develop "hang -ups". You are happy if you get what you want. But, many people don't know what they want.And,people differ in the things they want.
Then, the nature of any desire is conditioned by experience and knowledge. Some good advice, which few of us are always able to follow, is to cultivate certain standards of living against unexpectedly changes. Then, we won't be incurably depressed when we are disappointed.

See you next time.

NOT EASY TO IMPRESS FAMILY & FRIENDS

By OLIVENE GODFREY

Most people discover it isn't easy to impress the home folks. No matter how high a person may rise in the world, often the people in his hometown,even his family, aren't very impressed with him or her. There are probably many reasons why people are slow to recognize the achievements of their own. Maybe they still remember the famed person as, "that skinny kid" or the "shy child" or that the person was "always sorta eccentric". So, they find it hard to believe the person could be capable of achieving greatness.

I remember when I told a schoolteacher aunt that I was working on a novel she scoffed and asked, "How could YOU write a novel?"
If I hadn't been raised to respect my elders, I would have replied that I was writing about our family which is straight out of a Southern Gothic novel. I've read of how some persons who have achieved fame have found upon returning to their hometown that old friends' treat them a certain aloofness.

The old friends sometimes claim the "celebrity" has a "big head". But, some of these famed individuals claim they are the same people, that its the old friends' attitudes toward them that have changed. I suspect that often the old friends are a bit envious of their hometown celebrity.
Many actors start out in life as very shy people, afraid of others, and what others think of them. They compensate for their initial shyness by taking up a profession in which it is necessary to face people constantly. And often after they become successful, these people remain timid and unsure of themselves. So, they gain a reputation of being snobbish. But, psychologists tell us that snobbery is a kind of wall built around themselves and behind which they often cringe to keep others from finding out what they are really like.

Some people, whether they or famous or not, need someone to help bolster their self-confidence so that they will dare to take down their own wall.

Oscar Wilde said,"Anyone can sympathize with the suffering of a friend, but it requires a very fine nature to sympathize with a friend's success."

See you next time.