We’re Packed!!!
It’s R & R time — relatives and reminiscing — again. And it’s our favorite month for travel. October weather usually is more amiable and amenable than the rest of the years, especially when you head where we’re going — Back East. We’re going to visit Bev’s folks in Pennsylvania for a bit and then freeload off my family in Toronto for a bit more.
We also plan to pick up some travel-story material by visiting a handful of factories in Pennsylvania, which is the factory-tour capital of the galaxy. And we might take a jaunt to Ottawa — Canada’s capital — when we’re Up North.
Not even worried about bills because house sitter will alert us when they slip over the transom.
Stay tuned
Kentucky Cradles Appalachian Art
By Marlene Fanta Shyer
Mature Life Features
MOREHEAD, Ky. —- If Kentucky’s bluegrass soul races through its thoroughbreds, its heart is held in the hands of its artisans. An arts council established to preserve the heritage of the 49 counties in the eastern part of the state pays homage to its folk art in an array of galleries and museums and you can find Appallachian Mountain artifacts ranging from potholders to painted gourds in gifts shops peppered throughout the region.
There is much to see but a car is a necessity. For example, Lexington’s Blue Grass airport is a two-hour drive away. But the roads are fine and trundle alongside mountains, rivers and pretty white churches, mostly Baptist.
The Folk Art Museum in Morehead has the most comprehensive collection in the area. The artists, many of whom live in isolation, usually are self-taught and much of their work is childlike. Minnie Adkins’ folksy wood figures represent local life and the colorful and glossy walking sticks that seem to be everywhere can bear intricate designs or be whimsical, as is one with twin croquet-ball protrusions inspired by Dolly Parton.
In Hindman, a one-traffic-light town, is the modern Artisan Center with its bright workshop, a former grocery store that is now a museum/shop. Everything is crafted locally. Among with the carved dulcimers, bird houses, and wooden toys we found some beautifully made and reasonably priced fabric pocketbooks.
Outstanding examples of ceramic art are lanterns that hold candles or electric light bulbs. Their sides are pierced and cut to peek-a-boo the light and project interesting shadows.
Next came Whitesburg, where The Cozy Corner Craft Shop offered more “true mountain handicrafts” and an extensive collection of books about Appalachian culture and history. This is one of many places in which to see the ubiquitous quilts (see photograph) that are wildly popular in this area. A hand-stitched and hand-painted prize-winner can be priced as high as $1,600 but prices are generally lower there is a variety of
Next door is the Courthouse Cafe, which is a reminder that this region’s “country cooking” is generally inexpensive and the payoff comes at dessert. Most places serve up spectacular pies, usually home-made.
Pack your own liquid fire if you want to be assured of a drink because some counties are dry. It’s a local joke: Bourbon County is dry; Christian County is wet. The state parks are all dry, but they’re the best bet for lodging.
You can try the Jenny Wiley resort that offers much more than a standard-issue motel. Named for a heroic pioneer woman who endured the slaying of her children by the Cherokees, the lodge is on Dewey Lake, surrounded by wooded trails, and offers resort activities like hiking, birding, and pontoon-boat rides. Children’s activities also are available.
For visitors who need more than a fix of folk art, other attractions in the area include a visit to Loretta Lynn’s birthplace in Butcher’s “Holler,” which is interesting not only because it’s the home of “The Coal Miner’s Daughter” but because it is typical of the poverty of its time and place. It’s also fun to read messages left by fans that cover every inch of her home’s wallpaper: “We are a coal miner’s family also,” ” From a coal miner’s granddaughter: You touched my life in a way no other human being ever has” and “I’ll be back when I’m a country star.”
Also worth a visit is the original “Moonlight school” in Morehead. It was founded in 1911 by Cora Wilson Stewart to teach the three Rs to farmers and their wives but only on nights bright enough “so the mules wouldn’t go into the creek.” The first night, 150 people were expected, but 1,200 showed up. The idea caught on. This school movement is considered the genesis of adult education.
An earlier time is on view at the Mountain Home Place, a “living history museum” in Paintsville. It is a reconstructed 1800s farmstead with costumed interpreters and includes an excellent video, featuring Richard Thomas of the television Waltons.
In Magoffin, a collection of log buildings also of the same era has been relocated from various places in surrounding counties.
To wrap up our trip, we took a winding road to Breaks Interstate Park on the Virginia border and checked the view across the Russell Fork River and the Cumberland Mountains. Called the “Grand Canyon of the South,” it’s not folk art, but ranks among nature’s best landscape work.
Mature Life Features, Copyright 2004
Words may not speak as loudly as actions …
… but they don’t make you nearly as tired.
— Cecil Scaglione
Mature Life Features
Urban Sprawl May be Harmful to Your Health
By Cecil Scaglione
Mature Life Features
Walking, which has been called the best exercise investment, can be helped or hampered by where you live. While it costs nothing, can be done anywhere at anytime, and requires no special equipment — except, perhaps, for a good pair of sturdy shoes — your environs could be less than walking friendly.
If you live in a sprawling suburban community, you’re more likely to weigh more, have higher blood pressure, and walk less than residents of more compact counties, according to the American Journal of Health Promotion. A research team headed by Dr. Reid Ewing of the National Center for Smart Growth, University of Maryland, cites a strong association between your health and urban environment, which is of serious concern to older residents.
After accounting for such personal variables as age and education, the researchers found residents of the most compact — you might consider the word “congested” here — counties weighed more than five pounds less and walked almost 1 1/2 hours more a month than people living in counties that are more sprawling — you might consider the word “open” here. The team gathered information from more than 200,000 people living in almost 450 counties in more than 80 metropolitan regions. The areas were graded on their levels of sprawl based on factors such as the density of its residential neighborhoods, connections between roads, and the physical separation of homes, shops and workplaces.
“Poor accessibility is the common denominator of urban sprawl,” Ewing said. “Nothing is within easy walking distance of anything else.” Among the most-compact counties were the New York City boroughs, San Francisco County, and Hudson County in New Jersey. Those with the highest level of sprawl included Geauga County in the Cleveland area, and Goochland County in the Richmond, Va., region.
Those who said they had safe, convenient places to walk or to get other forms or exercise were most likely to be physically active, according to a team of Georgia Department of Human Resources researchers. Access to indoor and outdoor exercise areas was also an important factor for residents of North Carolina communities to attain daily guidelines for physical activity.
Increasing the number of desirable location destinations within a 20-minute-walk radius might encourage older women — the least active Americans — to exercise, according to a University of Pittsburgh study. Older women in the Pittsburgh region who lived within walking distance of a biking or walking trail, park, or department, discount or hardware store logged significantly more walking time than those who did not have similar facilities nearby, said researcher Wendy King. “Adding businesses or recreational facilities to residential areas may be effective (to boost exercise levels among older women),” she said.
Mature Life Features, Copyright 2004
Chattahoochee Trimaran Follows Different Beat
By Sandy Katz
Mature Life Features
COLUMBUS, Ga. — A stroll along the Chattahoochee Riverwalk, a 12-mile linear park along the river, is a good way to get acquainted with this city and its history.
The Chattahoochee River slips along Georgia’s southwestern edge, separating it from Alabama. Hundreds of stern- and side-wheelers plied these waters between 1828 and 1939 servicing 240 landings between Columbus and Apalachicola, Fla.
The city’s 30-block Historic District houses everything from Civil War artifacts to one-of-a-kind Victorian structures. Heritage Corner, where walking tours begin, includes a cottage occupied by Dr. John Stith Pemberton, the originator of the Coca-Cola formula, and his family in the mid-19th century. Among the exhibits at the Coca-Cola Space Science Center is a Challenger Learning Center, one of several established after the 1986 shuttle disaster.
A more down-to-earth learning experience awaited us at Oxbow Meadows Environmental Learning Center. A self-guided trail on the former land-fill site led us through an area where animal and plant species that had disappeared have been reintroduced.
The Chattahoochee Indian Heritage Center in nearby Fort Mitchell celebrates the culture of tribes in this river valley from prehistoric times to the 1830s. From, there we headed to the National Infantry Museum at Fort Benning, a few miles south here that displays a collection of hardware used by Army infantrymen over the past three centuries. The Port Columbus Civil War Naval Center opened in early 2001 offers a comprehensive look at navies of that conflict.
On a trip down the Chattahoochee aboard the 42-foot trimaran, Dragonfly, we learned the lore of the region from historian/story-teller William “Billy” Winn. We were told about the Trail of Tears that followed an 1838 government edict to move more than 15,000 Cherokee and other Native Americans from their ancestral home the eastern states to areas in the West. After being collected in concentration camps, they were forced to trek nearly 1,000 miles to the Oklahoma Territory during a harsh winter. Thousands died of hunger, dysentery and exposure. The Native American description of the journey, “Nunahi-Duna-Dlo-Hili-I,” translates to “The Trail Where They Died.”
We disembarked at Florence Marine State Park and rode a motorcoach to Westville, near Lumkin, Ga., that’s a living museum. The village bustled with circa 1850s activities, from gingerbread-making to cooking sausage biscuits over a wood stove along with blacksmithing, quilting. and woodworking in the authentically restored buildings.
Then it was on to Georgia’s Little Grand Canyon, a series of defiles officially called Providence Canyon with miles of trails amid a kaleidoscope of earth colors and wildflowers, before returning to the Dragonfly and heading to a 600-year-old Indian village the following day. Called the Rood Creek Indian Mounds, it’s a large ceremonial center with nine temple mounds fortified by a pair of moats where its chief/priest lived in a temple atop the highest mound overlooking a ceremonial plaza.
Our downriver ride ended at the Eufaula National Wildlife Refuge, an 11,160-acre reserve that is a favorite place for waterfowl and other species of migratory and resident birds. One can take a self-guided drive, stroll an interpretive trail, and climb an observation tower to bring you up close and personal with nature in this area.
Columbus Riverwalk photo courtesy of Columbus Convention and Visitors Bureau
Obesity Fattens Medical-Care Costs
By James Gaffney
Mature Life Features
Getting obese gets expensive.
Overweight and obese individuals incur up to $1,500 more in annual medical costs than healthy-weight individuals, according to a two-year study of nearly 200,000 employees of General Motors.
Average annual medical costs for normal-weight workers in the study were $2,225, while costs for overweight and obese individuals rose steadily, from $2,388 for overweight individuals to $3,753 for the most-severely obese persons.
The study headed by Dee W. Edington of the University of Michigan was the first to examine the relationship between medical costs and the six weight groups defined by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute’s weight guidelines.
The guidelines separate individuals into under weight, healthy weight, overweight, and three obesity designations based on average body-mass index. The findings highlight the economic burden that obesity places on society, Edington and colleagues note. Back in 1994, researchers conservatively estimated the direct medical costs of obesity in the United States at $52 billion dollars. Controlling weight and obesity-related health conditions “is especially important to corporations, where the percentage of revenue spent on medical benefits continues to increase,” said the study authors.
Edington and colleagues analyzed weight, height, gender, age, and annual medical costs charged per person. They found that 40 percent of the GM employees in the study were overweight and 21.3 percent were obese. Healthy-weight employees made up 37 percent of those in the study, while 1.5 percent were considered under weight. In general, annual median medical costs were lowest for the healthy-weight group, compared with both underweight, overweight, and obese groups. Medical costs steadily increased as body mass index increased, regardless of gender or age for the most part.
The relationship between body mass and medical costs was unclear for the oldest males in the group, aged 75 and older. Although the study did not consider any specific links between obesity and medical costs, the authors noted that “it has already been established that overweight and obese conditions can lead to many chronic diseases and excess health-care utilization.”
Mature Life Features, Copyright 2004
Slowing Down is Part of Mature Motorists’ Manual
By Cecil Scaglione
Mature Life Features
The “get ’em off the road” gang is after aging drivers again.
This happens every time anyone behind the wheel 75 or older gets into an accident. The more major the mishap, the more media coverage, and the louder the argument about yanking all silver-haired vehicle operators off the road.
Take away their licenses. Test them every year. Give ‘em a walker and let ‘em go.
They point to statistics that confirm their claim that senior drivers are the second-most accident-prone segment of American’s motoring public. That may be, but the single-most road-risky group are teen-aged drivers and no one suggests taking away their licenses when a group of teens are killed or maimed when their overloaded vehicle rolls over or smashes into another.
Detractors of senior drivers suggest taking driving licenses away at a certain age. How about holding back drivers’ licenses to young people until they reach a certain age? Neither of these suggestions make sense. Just as there is a majority of older drivers who pose no hazard on the road, the same is true of teen drivers.
So age is not the problem.
The problem is common sense and competence behind the wheel.
It’s been estimated that more than 20 percent – that’s one out of five – of the nation’s drivers will be older than 65 by 2030. Results of a Massachusetts Institute of Technology study indicate that most — not all, most — older drivers limit or stop driving as they perceive their capabilities diminishing.
About 70 percent of more than 3,800 50-years-and-older drivers queried said they restricted their driving in a variety of ways. These included bad weather, heavy traffic, rush hour, at night, long distances, and freeways. Older drivers apparently develop strategies to compensate for failing vision, slower reflexes, stiffer joints, and medication, according to researchers. One thing they discovered was that older drivers are more at risk for injury to themselves as they grow fragile with age.
The transportation needs of some 70 percent of the people in this country who live in the suburbs or rural areas are a major hurdle to such simple solutions as yanking seniors out of their cars and forcing them into buses, subways, trolleys, and trains.
It’s also been proclaimed that the cost of car payments, auto insurance, fuel, upkeep, and maintenance can buy a lot of taxi-cab rides. But that alternative is not always available.
Pundits, politicians, and protestors are finding some common ground on mandating regular testing for drivers past a certain age. Older drivers can help their cause by supporting physical improvements such as signs that are larger and less complex, improved lighting and enhanced visibility at intersections, and remedial-driving programs.
Mature Life Features, Copyright 2004
When people treat me like a piece of crap …
… I just treat them like a piece of used toilet paper.
Cecil Scaglione, Mature Life Features
Pill Power Trumps Will Power Against Migraines
By James Gaffney
Mature Life Features
Migraine sufferers take note: don’t try to stave off that encroaching headache through sheer will power. Most people who treat their migraines with triptans, among the most popular and effective medications, will find they work best if taken early in the attack, before skin sensitivity develops, according to Harvard Medical School research.
As their headaches progress, nearly four out of five migraine sufferers develop skin hypersensitivity. Merely touching their hair, scalp, or skin around the eyes causes pain. A Harvard study shows that, once this hypersensitivity takes root, it’s too late to abort the painful attack. However, if a triptan is taken before sensitivity develops, it is likely to completely relieve the pain.
Other research from Florida’s Palm Beach Headache Center suggests two-thirds of the people with migraines are pain-free within four hours if they take sumatriptan early enough in the attack.
If the triptans are taken before the skin becomes hypersensitive, they can completely alleviate the pain, Harvard researchers reported. They point out that it is vital that patients learn to recognize the first signs of skin hypersensitivity and to take their triptans before a migraine goes too far.
More than 28 million Americans get migraine headaches. Many are reluctant, for a variety of reasons, to take medication at the first sign of the attack for various reasons. Among them is the feeling that they should be abort their own headaches without medication. The irony, however, is that if a migraine sufferer waits until the headache is bad, the or she may need more medication to try to get rid of it.
People who are having more than two or three migraines a week need to see their doctors so they can be prescribed preventive medication, according to the Palm Beach researchers, who studied 691 migraine sufferers. They all were required to take medication within two hours of the start of the migraine — 236 were given a placebo, 233 were given 50 milligrams of sumatriptan, and 222 were given 100 mgs. of sumatriptan.
After four hours, 71 (30 percent) of the placebo group were pain-free, compared with 142 (61 percent) of the 50 mg. group and 151 (68 percent) of the 100 mg. group. The study also revealed that side effects,such as dizziness and nausea, were less if the medication was taken earlier than later.
A similar study by the American Academy of Neurology focusing on a different medication supports those findings. Of 250 patients studied, 60 percent of those who took the medication within 15 minutes of the onset of symptoms were pain-free two hours later.
Mature Life Features, Copyright 2004
A politician is someone who proclaims ..
… he serves his constituents responsibly
because they told him
he’s responsible for all their problems.
Cecil Scaglione
Mature Life Features
Mature Life Features 
