BIRTHDAY PARTY

   A three day drive, that includes no after dark driving hours brings us up from our southern home located at the confluence of Arizona, California , and Nevada, to Canada's most western province, Vernon, British Columbia.  We arranged for a surprise birthday party for my mother July 22.  She was born on July 22, 1923, so  we tried to tuck in her 90 years of happy living into a birthday party for relatives and friends.  To make that day even more special Great Britain's heir to their throne was born on July 22 also. It seems that July 22 will be a very busy day with all the celebrations going on in the future for July 22.

    Among the birthday cards she received was one  from Tova and  Walter, neighbours during her 12 years at The Regency.  After giving up her car, another close friend Joan, a retired school  administrator was there to share her special moments.  Walter had been a Merchant Seaman during the Second World War, so he was a main stay plying the water of the world seas, and helping win the war in dangerous waters.   The words on their card said:  "Dear Sue, 90 years of living is quite a milestone to have reached.  You are an awesome lady, and we are happy to call you our friend.  Love and may God bless you,  Tova and Walt".  Thanks to everyone who made her day special...Ken.

THE EVENING BEFORE VOTING

   The day before voting in British Columbia's recent election I had a phone call from my sister Esther and her husband Lloyd Howard,  in Kamloops, telling me that my other sister, Helen (who lives in a care home in Kamloops) had fallen when an aid was helping her during a bath (Helen weighs just under 110 pounds) and they had phoned for an ambulance that took her to the Kamloops hospital.  With uncertain results and crowded hospital space she was returned to the care home.  I was trying to telephone Helen to see what I could do for her but another voice that sounded like Christi Clark was on my telephone line making puzzling, negative and disparaging suggestions about the leader of the NDP, her opposing party.  I went downstairs and got the night watchman to help me get my own telephone line back.  I do not know who was speaking on my private telephone line.  Just across the street is a police station.  I went there the following morning and told them about it since someone had taken over my telephone line and how this could happen.  The election held the next day took a surprise turn when this development had strongly suggested otherwise from the media reports.

Hi Everyone. HAPPY FATHER'S DAY.

 

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

The United Church of Canada sent a student minister to small towns in western provinces to help them learn how to conduct a service and carry on other church duties. Our family did not own a car so most families walked the mile plus to attend church at the one-room school heated by a pot bellied stove that also heated our cocoa on winter days. Mother had finished getting the noon meal after we arrived home and she soon realized her new baby wanted to join our family. Telephones were not in use and unexpectedly company might arrive. The day I was born my mother's sister came into our yard with her family driving their horse drawn wagon. There was still no telephone service in Orion in 1923. Our two room home made entertaining company very difficult. Mother got very busy peeling potatoes and making a supper meal while her sister, my aunt, chatted constantly dredging every scrap of neighbourhood news. My mother wished they would hurry home and commented how they had chores to do also. Milking chores needed to be done at regular time or else the cow's milk would drip away on the ground. My aunt finally loaded up her children and left at around 6 o'clock. I asked her one day what time of the day I was born and she said it was around 7 o'clock since the cows needed to get milked by around 6 o'clock. I do not remember being born but when I was nearly two years old my father must have felt like throwing me away. That would have been about a month before my second upcoming birthday in July. Radishes would soon be large enough to eat. I saw our mother often pulling weeds from the garden and apparently decided to do some weeding myself and perhaps she would brag me up as setting an example. I had pulled out the whole row of radishes and my father must have been very angry and was said to have tossed me out of the garden and injured my emerging teeth that then would grow crooked. I do not remember it happening and in my late teens I required dental work.

I decided to go to College but found out that my Alberta high school credits would not be recognized in Canada since I had attended a high school that taught the same subjects but was sponsored by a religious organization - the same text books were used but one book which was called "Ancient History in Bible Light." By the time our elected officials talked and talked that over and they decided deserved to accept these high school credits if all grades were satisfactory. Meanwhile I had applied to a university in the United States. Seattle Pacific College, a church organization. Later our Alberta politicians decided they would recognize these credits but I had applied and had been accepted by this university in Seattle, Washington. It was expensive and I ran out of funds before completion. I thought a baby sitting job might be acceptable and answered an ad in the daily paper. A wonderful lady answered it but I told her my plight and said I might be in trouble accepting any money for it, since I had entered the U.S.on a student's visa. Later I found I was living in the home the family who had started Sternoff Iron and Metal Works. They were very kind to me and I was very grateful to them. One day when I answered the door two policemen in uniform were standing there asking me why I was no longer registered at the university with only a student's visa. They said they would give me ten days to get back to Canada or I would be arrested and never again allowed to cross the U.S. border. I had not taken any money and had enough left for one Greyhound bus ticket. I had been assigned to take care of their second son, 5 year old Ricky. His mother was helping other immigrants get started in the United States. I phoned Ricky several decades later when going through Seattle and asked him if he remembered me. He had become president of the entire metal works company whose huge printed sign towers high from the main highway when driving through Seattle. I asked him if he remembered how the breakfast routine went. If he didn't eat his plateful at supper I was asked to put it in the refrigerator to keep it safe but serve it (cold) for his breakfast. We laughed together about it and I learned the lesson also, and find it very hard to see food wasted. We had a nice telephone visit.

BUILDING HEALTH

  Diet and exercise along with advances in medical care and choices of lifestyle, will determine how to increase the life span.  A fourteen year review of more than 44,000 adults by researchers at the National Centres for Disease Control and Prevention showed that only two percent of people achieved all of the healthy habits like not smoking , staying physically fit, keeping blood pressure healthy, and cholesterol numbers in check, maintaining a healthy weight and eating a healthy diet.  A 76 percent lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and a decrease in death from all cancers when compared with those meeting only one of those health parameters.

   Happily, there is still time for everyone to experience the lifesaving effects of being healthy.  Adopting a good-for-you habit - even past your seventh decade - can add quality years to life.  If you are a diabetic, the sweet stuff we call sugar, as well as carbohydrates in general can raise triglyceride levels while lowering concentrations of healthy HDL cholesterol.  A person should consume at least two to four servings of fruit and three to five servings of vegetables each day.. This reduces the risk of many causes of premature death, such as cancer and diabetes.  The more colourful your selections, the better.  Red, orange, yellow, green, purple and white fruits and vegetables each contain different and important groups of phytonutrients, including antioxidants and other disease-fighting substances.

   Regarding the colour of bread to use, many people wrongly believe this is an indication of whole grains and think darker bread is healthier.  Instead, pay attention to the ingredients and not its hue.  Bread, pasta and  cereals should be "whole grains"  rather than refined.  The refining removes the bran and the important germ, the important parts for complete nourishment.

   The American Journal of Public Health, tells us that alcohol - a known carcinogen -accounts for up to 21,000 cancer deaths annually  (more than melanoma or ovarian cancer), resulting in approximately 18 years of life lost in each case.  Approximately 30 percent of those deaths occurred with a consumption of less than l.5 drinks per day.  Reducing alcohol consumption improves health in addition to reducing cancer risk, according to Consumer Reports on Health, volume 25 Number 6.  Drinking six to eight glasses of water or other healthy juices like some teas and coffee helps lubricate and cushion joints and protect tissue.

    Having fun and developing a social network helps preserve cognition.  If you are a loner keep the mind active by reading, writing, completing puzzles, making art and being kind to all will also help keep dementia at bay.    Most of us already know how important it is to be cautious about maintaining the proper weight, and taking care of any dental work needed.  Purposeful walking, bicycling, or swimming helps prevent the decline of muscular strength and adds years to your life as well as life to your years.  Condensed from Consumer Reports on Health.

A POEM FOR NEW BEGINNINGS

A symphony of caring love,
  Breathes into the soul,
Its gentle cadence from within,
  Through lessons learned of old..
That lingers long  and asks the heart,
  Have you sent neighbours friends and kin,
Kindly words that they may need,
 Amid our earthly din..
Or must intended kindness wait,
   As trees wait for the rain,
So we must wait for future time,
   To make this needed gain..

PROTECTING YOUR VISION

   Lifestyle changes can play a role in reducing the risk of developing cataracts, diabetes, age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and glaucoma, if you already have them..

*  PROPER EATING.  A healthful diet high in green leafy vegetables, fish, fruit and other food high in antioxidants protect from age-related eye diseases.

*  WATCHING YOUR WEIGHT.  Obesity has been linked to the progression of AMD and an increased  risk of cataracts, diabetic retinopathy  and glaucoma.

*  EXERCISE.  Regular physical activity will reduce your risk of developing AMD, lower eye pressure that is linked with glaucoma and reduce diabetic retinopathy's progression.  Exercise also fights night sweats.  Doing 50 minutes of aerobic exercise four days a week for six mornings reduced the incidence of menopause related night sweats, irritability and mood swings according to a Finnish trial of 176 women who were not serious exercisers.  Researchers compared the group that exercised with a control group that attended bimonthly health lectures.

*  CONTROL BLOOD PRESSURE, BLOOD SUGAR AND CHOLESTEROL LEVELS.  Ask your doctor about a program that is best for you.

*  DO NOT SMOKE AND DRINK VERY LITTLE.  Smoking is associated with all four eye disorders.  Too much alcohol is known to increase the risk of cataracts.

A HUNDRED YEARS AGO

     A century ago when telephone lines were not yet established everywhere, it was not unusual to have a salesman drive into your street or yard, tap at the door and ask the home owner if he could come in and display his wares.  The Watkins and Rawleigh salesmen were typical examples.  It was not unusual to have a neighbour tell others about a person known to have been healed when regular doctors were many miles away and roads closed during heavy snows during the winter months.  My own parents lost a four year old son from Scarlet Fever during the mid nineteen thirties.  Even the young mounted policeman (RCMP officer) died of Scarlet Fever during that epidemic.

    There were also men who travelled throughout the U.S., and held meetings during weekday evenings and people would be invited to come up to the stage hoping to be healed.  Edgar Cayce had been prescribed too strong a sedative to treat a migraine headache and could speak only in a whisper.  Today this article will take us to Kentucky to visit with Edgar  Cayce who taught Sunday School on weekends and worked at an art studio during the week.  The leader of the meeting quickly put Mr. Cayce into a trance at Hopkinsville, Kentucky accompanied by the local publisher of the Kentucky news paper.  Edgar began to speak in his normal voice but as soon as the leader of the meeting gave the signal to awake, Cayce's voice was reduced to a whisper.  He then decided to offer to cancel his engagement with his girl friend since he had no way of making a proper living but with the support of both families the door opened.  The leader of the next meeting said, "You are now asleep and will be able to tell us what we want to know.  Describe Edgar's condition and tell us what is wrong."  Cayce's throat cleared..  All the family were there and one of them rushed for paper and pencil as Cayce said "We can see the body."  In the normal physical state, Edgar said, "this body is unable to speak due to partial paralysis of the inferior muscles of the vocal cords, produced by nerve strain.  This is a normal psychological condition producing a physical effect and may be removed by increasing circulation in the affected parts by suggestion that increased the circulation to the affected area while in this unconscious condition.  That is the only thing that will do it..  The circulation through the body forces through it here and as the circulation  passes along it takes that away, puts new life to it, and makes the supply to the nerve force."  The leader was curious that Edgar should be addressing himself in the third person.and supply to the nerve force was given.  Edgar replied, "The circulation is beginning to increase.  It is increasing."  Cayce's father unbuttoned his son's shirt and showed his chest, then the throat slowly turned pink that deepened to rose, then to bright red.  "It's all right now, " Cayce said, still in trance.  "The condition is removed and the body will awaken."  Just a drop of blood came out but enough to soak through the thin cotton cloth, turning it crimson red.  "Hello," Cayce said in a clear voice , "Hey, I can talk," Cayce said with a smile as his father repeated "Good boy," with a joyous smile.  Edgar Cayce married his girl friend and they had two sons who helped carry on Cayce's work..  During the years ahead Cayce gave more than 14,000 readings and many were restored to health as they learned to eat nourishing foods, now often referred to as the Mediterranean diet and one of the main things is to avoid most sweets.