There was a very interesting article in the “Parade” magazine recently by Dr. Henry S. Lodge. If I can’t read the “Parade” every Sunday, it’s all downhill from that point on.
This article was telling people how to stop normal aging by taking control of your life and exercising. You replace about 1% of your cells every day, and you choose whether they grow or decay each day from then on. To quote the article: “Exercise, and your cells get strong; sit down, and they decay.” That was enough for me! I jumped up from my chair, grabbed a jacket and caught a bus downtown. When I got there, I walked several blocks to Nordstrom which was very good exercise for me. I happened to walk by the department where I’ve purchased jeans before – now I’m wearing jeans I found at Goodwill. So I went in and found a pair my size, but too expensive. However, I tried them on and they fit perfectly. I asked the sales clerk if they would shrink as these fit perfectly, and she assured me they would not. I told her the ones I had purchased before were so tight after I washed them that I had to lie down on my back on my bed so my stomach would flatten out just to zip them up. Once that was done, they stretched out enough so I didn’t have to go through that until the next washing. I thought everyone did that, but the sales clerk got a glazed look in her eyes and did not respond, so I let the whole matter drop. I got the jeans, sailed out of the store and walked several blocks back to the bus. Now that’s what I call good exercise.

Earlier this month I mentioned my tomato plants I’m growing right beside me in the window of my computer room. They are now getting long and spindly, so I went to the garden shop and bought two of the wire cones that you put around them. As I was transplanting them and fitting the cones over each one, I think I broke one of the stems. I’ll have to wait and see if it’s dead. I hope it’s not. The woman at the garden store was very surprised to think I was growing them indoors, but I assured her they had plenty of sun from the windows. But then she said they would have to be fertilized like with bees! BEES? I don’t think so! Apparently they won’t have tomatoes if this doesn’t happen which I think is a really stupid idea. No way will I have bees in my house – they scare me to death. I once grabbed a strange man off the street to come into my house to kill a bee. I don’t know if he was actually strange, but he did the deed and then quickly disappeared. Can’t say as I blame him. So the garden clerk and I discussed artificial insemination which can be done. So when and if they have blooms, I will be the Artificial Inseminator. It sounds like some sort of great title, doesn’t it? She said tomato plants have both male and female blooms on the same plant, and she told me how to tell them apart. I hope I can rise to the occasion when it’s time! I actually put a masking tape bandage on the broken stem but I could tell it wasn’t working, so I cut the stem off at the break and put it in water. I’ll see what happens to it. I was born on a farm, and maybe I’m returning to my roots in my own little condo in the city. I wonder if I could get a chicken in here?