Community Garden Update

I'm sure you're all sitting around wondering to yourself "What's up with Carolyn's garden?" Well, last fall, I planted some flowers, and they've bloomed! Plus, we had a meeting earlier this week, and since I had a fall plot, I can start planting whenever I want instead of waiting for tilling. They'll till around my plot. Here is a picture of some of my flowers. (Clearly, I did not think to bring my camera to my plot, as I was unsure what I would find).

March Mail

This is my most exciting non-fiction trip to the post office yet! Yesterday, after over two years of doing nothing with my hair, I got it chopped. Chopped, I tell you. I decided since I hated my way-too-long hair, it was time for a complete change. Clearly, I scheduled my haircut through the mail. Just kidding. But I'm glad that Locks of Love provided me with something worthwhile to do with my hair. So, my mail this month is sending ten inches of my hair to be made into a wig for a child who needs one. For the record, you could make my current haircut with the hair I'm donating. No kidding.

Me and my donation.

Podcast Challenge 5

The End of Illness by David B. Agus, MD (I don't think I've ever read a book before when someone used a suffix in their author name) is not about stopping viruses or bacteria per se, but more about preventing chronic illness that are within the system rather than outside invaders. It's also about living a healthy lifestyle through things like diet and exercise.

Throughout the book, Agus shows steps he takes and steps he recommends to his patients. The biggest takeaway for me is to have a set schedule for just about everything in your life. Bedtime, wake-up time, meal time, work-out time. They should be the same every day of your life, if possible. The body relies on regularity to, well, regulate itself. Our systems are remarkably good at keeping us healthy and fighting diseases if we let it. And the body craves regularity to know when to release certain hormones that let us sleep, digest our food, boost our metabolism. I'm pretty good with my sleep regularity (as most people who know me already know, I'm pretty much in bed before 10 every night and up between 6 and 7, no matter what day of the week it is). However, I do need to work on regularity for eating (including snacking at the same time every day) and working out, both of which I tend to do when I feel like it and when I have time. And skipping lunch isn't a rare occurrence for me if I'm too lazy to pack something, or just don't feel like eating.

I'm vaguely inspired to go to the doctor for a physical, too. I haven't been since I started my current job (and then I only went because you have to have a physical if you're going to work at a school in Pennsylvania) and I've never had blood work done. One of Agus's suggestions is to learn as much about your body and your system as you can, and a good way to start is to get some blood work done. He's also a proponent of genetic testing so that you can start to alter your lifestyle to prevent diseases rather than wait for them to hit you and then have to treat them.

I do hope I take some of this book to heart so I can be healthy until I die. I recommend this book to people who want a good, middle of the road approach to healthcare, using technology, common sense, and hopefully minimizing (though not necessarily omitting) pharmaceuticals.

New Museum

Clearly, I celebrated St. Patrick's Day by touring Laurel Hill Cemetery. Not precisely a museum, but I'm calling it close enough.

Laurel Hill Cemetery is the nations second oldest rural cemetery. All of the church plots in town were getting full, so a group of people came together and purchased land on the outskirts of Philadelphia to provide more space for burials. It's HUGE. It sits on 78 acres. There are still plots available, if you're interested.

We signed up for a St. Patrick's Day tour, tasting, and toasting. So, we had a tour of the cemetery, followed by a meal of ham, cabbage, and potatoes, some cookies, and some beer. The tour alone took two hours, and could definitely have been longer. Our tour guide is also a civil war buff, and General Meade is buried there, so we learned a lot about him. Harry Kalas is buried there, too. His headstone is a broadcaster's microphone and some seats from Veteran's Stadium. I had no idea he was there. The views are spectacular. It's on a ridge above Kelly Drive, so you can look out right over the Schuykill River. I highly recommend taking some time to see it.

March Volunteering - Take Two

One Brick (see side column) had an opportunity to help set up for a fundraiser for Feel The Warmth. Nothing too exciting happened. I helped with tables, chairs, and decorations. Help set up some food towards the end. They were doing a dinner and raffle to raise some money. I did not stick around for the fundraiser itself.

March Volunteering

I can't believe it's March already. Where does the time go?

I had a really great volunteer experience today. One Brick Philly had an opportunity with Books Through Bars. Books Through Bars is an organization that provides books to prisoners. Apparently, a lot of prisons don't have libraries, and prisons that do have libraries have small collections. Books Through Bars doesn't just send prisons books, but gets letters from prisoners requesting by title, author or subject (they prefer subject, because all of their books are donated, so they're not guaranteed to have any one book in inventory).

They started us out wrapping books that had already been selected. We reread the letters and checked to see if the books were appropriate based on what they asked for and what the prison allowed. Then we wrapped the books in brown paper and way too much tape (per their request, not because that's how I wrap packages).

That's me in the front, doing something with the package I just wrapped up.

After about an hour and a half of wrapping packages, I found myself, surprisingly, ready to get away and make my own packages. When I make kid packs at Cradles to Crayons, I generally find it really stressful, because all you know about the kid is gender, age, size, and reading level. From that, you're supposed to pick out clothes, toys and books. Way too much pressure for me, since I know nothing about the kids. But, since the prisoners write their own letters, it was fun, rather than stressful, to try to find books that match their requests. And their requests were so varied. Some wanted fiction to read. Others wanted to learn a trade or improve skills. Books to prepare for GED were popular and still others wanted advanced math and physics text books. It was interesting to see what people wanted and now I know what to do with all of my husband's old text books. There's a prisoner somewhere who wants to read about foreign policy.