Get Healthy, Blog Hop, 2013

Staying Healthy -- it seems more important as we get (ahem) older.  When I was young, I could get away with little sleep, eating irregular meals and coping with stress; now, not so much.

I think that the main issue for me is how to increase my energy level which is low, low, low, requiring a nap in the afternoon if I am home.  What I have found out during these past few years of health issues, is that we need to pay attention to how our bodies react to medication.  I am unfortunately one of those people who are super sensitive to everything, so most pain meds are too strong.

How often do your doctors ask you what kind of meds are you taking over the counter?  They just go ahead and prescribe more meds.  Perhaps what you so blithely take and pop in your mouth because "pain hurts" and you are desperate is the underlying problem. 

So, after, ten years of taking Ibuprofen for knee pain and after a knee replacement, and two years of little problems, itching, tiredness, lightheadedness, I decided to stop.  After three weeks of no pain meds, it has been interesting, as I do feel better, of course now I have to figure out what to do about my sore knees.  But I am sleeping better, no itching, no brain fog; well almost no brain fog.  This all sounds so grim; it isn't.  It's just being self-aware.  There is so much I still want to do: projects, ideas in the autism realm (see below), and making sure that I pay attention to my family and friends, keeping good connections.

One more thing, which really made me think.  My grandson, Joshua has autism, but he is high functioning and thoughtful.  A few weeks ago we were at a restaurant and he asked me, "So, Grandma Tasha, how old are you?"  On a paper napkin I wrote the year 2013, and under it the year of my birth (I am not publishing my age as I do not want to scare my blogging friends away).  He did the math and then with tears in his eyes, he said, "You are ------?  !  That means you won't always be here."

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Gifts and the Gift of Giving

Herb Garden from "The Master Gardner"

Some people have the gift of gifts, or the ability to choose just the right thing for someone else.  I think it's genetic.  My adult children are thoughtful and through the years, I have received many special gifts from them.  My oldest son recently just amazed me with a mother's day gift -- a standing garden!  The note that arrived with the box of parts said, "No excuse for not having fresh herbs, Mom."  This is a 3 by 4 foot cedar herb garden which is off the ground which makes it easier to water and weed, and as the description says, easier on the back and the knees.  Also those cute little rabbits cannot reach the plants, but deer can.  We shall see.  I gave up on having roses because the deer would surgically clip the rose buds just before the roses bloomed.

I enjoy choosing just the right gift for others as well.  And I have more pleasure in giving the gift than receiving one.  But these days, the art of receiving gifts is gone.  No more thank you notes, not even an email.  The worst thing is having to ask the person if they received the gift.  Not good.  

I know, I know, how old fashioned; imagine actually writing a note, but even an email is fine with me these days.

Years ago, my eye doctor, who fitted me with contacts, actually wrote thank you notes for referrals.  He has since retired, but I still remember those hand-written notes.

Gifts can be for an event, such as one my husband and I received from my other son and daughter-in-law, tickets to a World War II ball.  We had so much fun.  There were hundreds of people at the ball, many dressed in costume.  The music was great, swing dancing, Frank Sinatra and the Andrew Sisters (impersonators of course), were there.

Looking back, I think the gift thing comes from your family.  My parents made my sister and me feel special by giving us gifts for our birthdays that did not cost very much, sometimes they were hand made, but always given with much love and thought.

One thing my dad would do is to send small gifts with little notes, especially to my son when he was little.  One year, after Christmas, I received a package from him in the mail. It took me a long time to open it, you see he had died two weeks before.  It was the last thing he did before he went into the hospital.

How do you feel about the "gift thing."?

Memorial Day

 My Boy Jack and Memorial Day Weekend, from my archive

Monday, May 27th is Memorial Day here in the United States which celebrates the end of WW I, but now we honor all the fallen of all of our wars.  November 11th is Armistice Day,  which is celebrated (somehow the word celebrated is a misnomer) here as Veterans' Day and in England as Armistice Day.  Originally, November 11 was to commemorate the end of the Civil War in the United States. Other countries also have special days of commemoration. Thank you to Wikipedia for the information.

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Poetry is a special love of mine and years ago when I read Rudyard Kiplings poem/lament for his son Jack who was lost in WW I, I was deeply moved. Masterpiece Theater had a dramatization of this sad part of Kipling's life, with Daniel Radcliff playing Jack.
So hard to put into words the sacrifices all our men and women make, but this poem describes the personal tragedy of any war.

                                         My Boy Jack
 'Have you news of my boy Jack?'
     not this tide.
'When d'you think that he'll come back?'
     not with this wind blowing and this tide.

"Has anyone else had word of him?'
     Not this tide.

For what is sunk will hardly swim,
Not with this wind blowing and this tide.

'Oh dear, what comfort can I find?'
     None this tide,
     Nor any tide,
Except he did not shame his kind--
Not even with that wind blowing, and that tide.

Then hold your head up all the more,
     This tide,
     And every tide;

Because his was the son you bore,
And gave to the wind blowing and that tide!

                                 by Rudyard Kipling

One More Vintage Poster: The London Tube

I need your help!

This is a poster I did not use for the A-Z Challenge, could not figure out a way to fit it in, but I do have a question (which Google could not answer), is the Ozone mentioned in the poster just sea breezes blown in or?

Here is Father Neptune in a poster from October 1911; the Central London Tube is highlighted.  How does the 80 million cubic feet of ozone blown in work?

I am depending on the followers from A-Z to help me, especially those from the UK.  And in trying to research this question, I found a terrific website that has 150 facts about the London Underground which I will add to this blog.  Did you know that there were suicide pits beneath the tracks that were added in 1926, in case you changed your mind?  And if you click on the poster it will enlarge so that you may see the details.

The history of the tube is fascinating, from archaeological  discoveries, to engineering achievements, to animals and other creatures who live there.




http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/uk/london/9789966/London-Underground-150-fascinating-Tube-facts.html