BOOM! October 2013

The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

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October 2013

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The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

HealthNEWS

October 2013

for Boomers and Beyond

Mammograms: Why Regular Screening Is a Must You probably had your first mammogram in your early 40s. And you probably had a few more over the ensuing years. The question is, have you had one this year?

Mammograms remain the top screening tool for finding breast cancer.

And one of the unfortunate facts of breast cancer is that the risk goes up with age.

So now is not the time to slack off on regular mammograms.

Now is when they are more important than ever.

To Refresh Your Memory Mammograms are low-dose x-rays that can find growths or changes in your breasts before they can be felt during a breast exam.

A screening mammogram looks for problems even though you don’t have symptoms. It’s a key part of preventive health care. A diagnostic mammogram is done when problems are suspected, such as after a lump is found during a physical exam.

Many health experts recommend women begin having screening mammograms at age 40 and repeat them every year.

Although mammograms aren’t perfect, having them regularly raises the likelihood of spotting problems early.

What to Expect You’ll be asked to undress from the waist up. You’ll sit or stand in front of a mammography machine. One at a time, each breast will be placed between two plates.

The plates will press down and flatten your breast. You might feel some pinching and discomfort.

Typically, two pictures will be taken of each breast. A radiologist will interpret the images and send a report to your doctor.

The Office on Women’s Health offers the following tips to prepare for your mammogram: • If you have breast implants, let the doctor’s office know when you make the appointment.

• Wear a blouse and skirt or pants, so you can easily undress from the waist up.

• Don’t apply deodorant, lotion or powder the day of the exam. They interfere with getting a clear image.

Schedule your mammogram at the Jackson Imaging Center, call (334) 834-3671.

For more information about mammograms, go to the American Cancer Society’s website at www.cancer.org.

The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

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The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

BOOM!, The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

Contents

October 2013

“Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start from now and make a brand new ending.”

Volume 4 Issue 3

Carl Bard

Humor Advice Health Community

Thought Relationships Taste Inspiration

“You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” C.S. Lewis

3 Jackson Hospital’s Health News 6 Publisher’s Letter 8 MATCH MADE Adventures in Online Dating 9 Beauty Tips for Cancer Patients 12 BOOM! Cover Profile 16 QuickLift FAQ

page 24

Dr. Michael Bowman

18 River Walk Wine Festival

Features 24 Bicycling Buds Having a fit retirement

Departments 10 This and That Information to share

26 Fall Getaway...

Personal chef icluded

30 A Parent’s Death

There are many surreal moments

19 Straighten Up and Fly Right: 7 fall travel essentials 20 Lifelong Learning Institute @ AUM

28 {12} Things

Solutions for bored Boomers

23 Breast Cancer Awareness

38 Greg Budell “POSTAL GOING”

27 BOOM! Advertising 28 Aging is a Real Pain in the...

BOOM!

33 TIPS AND ‘TRICKS’ for Hearing in Noisy Environments

COVER PROFILE page12

35 Art & Soul

page 26 page 20

page 10

BOOM! The River Regions 50+ Lifestage Magazine is published monthly by River Region Publications, 6398 Eastwood Glen Pl., Montgomery, AL 36117.

The phone number for voice and fax is 334.523.9510. Copyright 2013 by River Region Publications. No part of this publication can be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Opinions expressed in BOOM! The River Regions 50+ Lifestage Magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the owners, nor do they constitute an endorsement of products and services herein.

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publisher’s letter

She’s Bald Recently, I was looking through my digital photos, trying to organize, edit or just delete them from Dropbox. The memories were getting good…the vacations together, milestone moments, holidays with the grandkids, wow, this is fun, I should do this more often. As I continued my trek through memory lane I came upon a photo of my late wife…She’s Bald!

I had forgotten about that rare picture where she allowed me to photograph her in the “Bald.” Seeing Marty bald again reminded me of the presence breast cancer has on every family, forever. I have shared my breast cancer story before and I wanted to share it again this year, especially to those whose breast cancer stories are just beginning.

The mission of BOOM! is to serve the folks of the River Region age 50 plus with information and ideas to inspire new experiences, better quality of life and new beginnings.

Publisher/Editor Jim Watson, 334.523.9510 jim@riverregionboom.com

Breast Cancer’s Blessing Could life be any better? My wife and I were truly enjoying the fruits of our labor. We were Jim Watson, Publisher business partners, she was the boss and I was her advisor. We had been publishing Montgomery Parents for eight years, and serving our community with something we thought was worth doing. We were “empty nesters”, and our schedules allowed for travel and plenty of time to love on the grandkids. Through our effort we had discovered the joy of “made for each other”, because both of us brought something to our marriage and business relationship the other didn’t have. We became a complete work of love. After a 40 year relationship stemming from a 9th grade history class encounter, Marty and I had discovered the “sweet spot” of happiness and we were enjoying the blessing of God’s design. And then we weren’t.

Associate Editor Kelly Watson kelly@riverregionboom.com

Contributing Writers Sandi Aplin Dr. Bettie Borton

In April of 2003, our lives changed. Marty and I were sitting in our living room as our family doctor told Marty she had metastatic breast cancer. We were paralyzed by the thought. It’s as if our brains were frozen. It was a Friday afternoon so we would have to spend the weekend with this intruder; we were being held hostage by breast cancer until Monday’s appointment with the oncologist. We both struggled to understand the why. I researched breast cancer and learned too much while Marty began sharing with family and friends the “news” no one wanted to hear. As an optimist I was going to get to the bottom of this problem and find a solution. Marty, who had a deep faith, knew the solution was with God. Of course, we both would press and probe our doctors for answers and hope and got some of both. But in the end, our journey with breast cancer led to God and the peace that only He can provide. Breast cancer changed our lives, but God was the director.

Dr. Michael Bowman

Samantha Brown Greg Budell

Anita Creamer Dale Gulledge Mia Hunter Peggy Perdue

Leigh Anne Richards Betty Roberts

Paula Sirois Kathy Witt

Cover Photography Lola Fine Art Photography twololas@lolafineartphotography.com

www.lolafineartphotography.com 334.551.2700

Bald was beautiful on my late wife, Marty, and it is beautiful on many other Breast Cancer patients, but vanity rules, so Marty began to wear wigs to try and recapture the “normal” of her life. One of the local stores that sells wigs to breast cancer patients is Focus on Fashion. Betty Roberts and Dale Gulledge are the owners of the store and they have been serving women with wigs and fashions for 38 years! To honor them and their service to the breast cancer community I wanted them to be our BOOM! Cover Profiles this month. Betty and Dale have experienced breast cancer in their families and have a special empathy for the effects of being a breast cancer patient.

Advertising Jim Watson, 334.523.9510 jim@riverregionboom.com

Design & Layout Lake House Graphics

There’s plenty more to this month’s issue and I hope you’ll sit back grab your favorite beverage and enjoy the best reading experience in the River Region. Please share BOOM! wth your friends and your comments with me. I’d love to hear from you. Don’t forget to read BOOM! online at RiverRegionBoom.com

Distribution Network Delivery

Printing Publications Press, Montgomery, AL 334.244.0436

I became a caregiver, and like many men, was pretty unfamiliar with the job description. But when your wife has breast cancer and every day together is truly precious, you ask a lot of dumb questions and you get smart quick. I’m not talking medical stuff, I’m talking laundry and cooking and pill organizing and, most importantly, serving. Marty lived 30 months after her diagnosis and I wouldn’t trade one moment of serving her for anything in this world. The blessing of serving is hard to realize and appreciate because we all want for ourselves. Our nature is to be selfish. But when you serve someone you forget about your needs and value someone else’s. I learned that from Marty. She was a selfless, caring person and when I took on that role in our lives it was an abundant blessing. Marty showed me where to find hope and how to never lose it. Our hope was and is in God. God’s blessings aren’t about being in the best place of your life, they’re about being in the best place with Him.

Finally, we have new advertisers again this month and they want to do business with you. Please consider each of them as you decide where to spend your money and tell them you’re getting to know them through BOOM! They will serve you well. Thanks for being part of BOOM!

Jim

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jim@riverregionboom.com 334.324.3472 cell/text 334.523.9510 office

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What are we really afraid of when it comes to dating?

MATCH MADE

I’ve been talking to other over-50 daters lately and one thing seems to be evident: Mature dating is nothing if not an adventure. And it should be!!! This is not trial by fire, people! It is not a thing to provoke anxiety, like a calculus test or a toenail removal. But plenty of us look at re-entering the dating pool as some kind of karmic punishment. We need to ask ourselves (and answer honestly): Are we really dreading dating, or are we just afraid we have lost our skills?

Dating over 50 is simply an exercise in reteaching yourself something you already know how to do, but thought you would never have to use - like long division. The dread is not about where you’re going but a by-product of where you’ve been. No, you are not the same person in the same place you found yourself in your twenties and thirties. You are BETTER. Smarter. Savvier. More knowledgeable. More aware. And capable of a whole new level of enjoyment.

This time, it really is about the journey, not the destination. This is an adventure - a story you are writing. You have had your family, driven carpool, made a million brownies for class parties, paid for and sat through ballet recitals and pee wee football. You’ve survived a kid and college, you may have even paid for a wedding. It’s your turn. There may be no destination anyway, so you might as well book a window seat in First Class. Those logistical complications and emotional fears that are creeping into your consciousness need to

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adventures in online dating with Mia Hunter

be kicked out like a smelly dog. Simply open yourself up to possibility. Not necessarily Mr. Forever - just Mr. Right For Now. So he lives out of town - that means you can wait til the day before he comes for a visit to wash the dishes in the sink and clean the toilet. Don’t worry that he isn’t marriage material - think of him as a Seasonal Decoration.

But don’t settle. Just because you aren’t necessarily husband-shopping doesn’t mean you have to accept every offer for dinner that comes along. I decided a year or so ago I wasn’t looking for Prince Charming any more.

He’s 95 and in a nursing home. Now I look for Mr. Kind-Smart-EmotionallyAvailable. Whose addictions are more coffee and chocolate than gin and blackjack. I’m savvy enough to know I do have a short list of non-negotiables and stick to them. Boundaries are safe and healthy and you need them because this ride can get to be like Space Mountain in the blink of an eye.

During this process, however, sometimes you experience a “dating desert” when weeks go by and there is not a single match you’d get out of your pajamas for. This is your time to regroup. Tweak your profile. Put up some new photos. Change the zip code and shop outside

your area. You may also find that even though there is not a single dateable man in your database, you may make a long distance friend, like I have with my friend Red out in Oregon who sends me the sweetest message once a week. You never know if someone who messages you may just be reaching out to communicate with someone. We are all rowing in the same type boat here, just on different ponds. Practice kindness. Be open to the gift of goodness wherever you find it.

Maybe you will go out with someone who for whatever reason is a one time date but someone you will stay in touch with, like my handsome Prince of Tides and I have done.

You’ve made an impact on someone. You have a friend you would never have had before. It is all about the journey by which we are given this great gift we call living.

And remember - the end of a marriage is not the end of a life. It can be the beginning of living in a brand new way. If you happen to be one of those who never made it down the aisle - and that is still an unclaimed goal -GO FOR IT!!!!! Make that your focus. The future is pregnant with possibility. We have such a great tool called social media at our fingertips. As my friend Tinkerbell says, that and some great mood lighting can make for a pretty exciting second fifty.

Mia Hunter is a mother, grandmother and equestrienne. Born and raised in the River Region, she stays busy writing, riding her horses and feeding her creativity. She is still looking for Mr. Right. Send all comments to Miahunter58@gmail.com

The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

Beauty Tips for Cancer Patients I believe in manicures. I believe in overdressing. I believe in primping at leisure and wearing lipstick. I believe in pink. I believe happy girls are the prettiest girls. I believe that tomorrow is another day, and....I believe in miracles. Audrey Hepburn What a wonderful quote from a beautiful actress many years ago and very apropos for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Attitude is everything!

as a serum it will supercharge your moisturizer’s performance. Choose a moisturizer infused with vitamin C to brighten your skin and give it radiance.

The right skin care and makeup can give chemotherapy patients a beauty and mood boost by giving a glow to their skin. The beauty issues facing women undergoing chemotherapy may seem trivial in the big picture, but they are still a concern. Hair loss during chemotherapy treatments is expected, as well as other effects including loss of eyebrows and lashes, a grayish pallor, and dry skin.

Professional beauty tips can help correct these concerns.

Beauty tip for grayish pallor - To boost the luster and color of the skin tone, apply a sheer liquid foundation or mineral powder with light reflecting properties that gives a luminous finish in a cool or neutral tone. The color palette for your cheeks and lips should be rose to coral tones (avoid muted tones).

Beauty tip for dry skin - The perfect thirst quencher for dry skin is hyaluronic acid. This key ingredient keeps skin hydrated with its ability to hold up to 1,000 times its weight in water. Apply it first before moisture;

The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

Beauty tip for loss of eyebrows Drawing on eyebrows without any hair can be tricky. This is where you may need some professional help with the placement, shape, and color. A sharp brow pencil for shaping the brow and brow powder to add volume to the pencil strokes are your best tools. A finishing spray will set the brows in place and help them last.

By Peggy Perdue

Beauty tip for loss of lashes - Define the lash line with a waterproof pencil in a dark brown or charcoal to accentuate the shape of the eye. Line the eye along the upper lash line and underneath the upper lash line in the waterline. Dot the eyeliner along the lower lash, then smudge. Use rosy brown eye shadows to accent the eye (avoid gray, grey-brown, and purple eye shadows which give a tired look).

Using these simple tips, you can put on your feel-better face and keep a positive outlook throughout your treatment.

Peggy Perdue, Studio owner, Merle Norman, Shoppes at EastChase

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This & tHAT Jasmine Hill Gardens

Jasmine Hill Gardens is open Saturdays in October so you can spend some of your Autumn strolling through Alabama’s “Little Corner of Greece”. If you haven’t visited the Gardens, treat yourself. The Olympian Centre welcomes visitors with a video presentation of Jasmine Hill’s history and a display of Olympic memorabilia from the Games of past years. A tour of Jasmine Hill, accessible to visitors with disabilities, offers spectacular and ever-changing views, including our full-scale replica of the Temple of Hera ruins as found in Olympia, Greece, the birthplace of the Olympic Flame. Located just off US 231, North of Montgomery, near Wetumpka, Jasmine Hill Gardens and Outdoor Museum offers easy access from Montgomery and all of Central Alabama.

Jasmine Hill’s impressive collection of statuary transports visitors to a different time and awes the viewer with its grace and beauty, striking the perfect blend of man-made beauty with natural beauty. For more information visit jasminehillgardens.org

Riverwalk Wine Festival Saturday, October 12th, 2-5pm, Downtown Montgomery in the Riverfront Park. Come spend an afternoon on the river sampling delicious wines from different regions. Your $25 ticket includes a commemorative etched wine glass, discounts on bottled wine, sampling of new flavors and live music by King Bee. If you want to spend the night at the Renaissance Hotel and continue enjoying downtown Montgomery, call the hotel’s reservation desk at 334-481-5000 and mention the Wine Fest Rate for a great discounted package. Visit riverwalkwinefestival.com for more info.

Pike Road Arts & Crafts Fair Saturday November 2nd, 890 Old Carter Hill Road, Pike Road, AL. The 47th Annual Arts & Crafts Fair is a wonderful holiday shopping opportunity! More than 250 artists and craftsmen will display their wares at the historic Marks House (circa 1825). Enjoy BBQ, fried chicken and other specialties. $5. admission.

For more information and directions, visit pikeroadartsandcraftsfair.com

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Best Boston Butts in the River Region!

St. Michael and All Angels, 5941 Main Street, Millbrook, Alabama will be sponsoring their annual Angel Fest on Saturday, October 19th from 9am - 2 pm. Angel Fest is a combination of bake sales, silent auction, concessions, childrens’ carnival, entertainment, and lots of vendors selling unique wares...and last, but not least is the sale of the Best Boston Butts in the River Region! Proceeds from Angel Fest go to outreach projects for Miillbrook and western Elmore County.

Collegiate Football Topiary Display- Callaway Gardens

Collegiate Football Topiary Display — Don your favorite college colors and head to the John A. Sibley Horticultural Center to see some of the region’s most recognized college football mascots in topiary form. Be sure to take your camera and pose for a photo - then share it with your friends and on our Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest pages to see which team has the most fans! Open through October daily. For more information visit callawaygardens.com The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

BOOMERS, share your stuff with BOOM! We Love to Bring BOOMERS Together, send info and pics to jim@riverregionboom.com

LOL Hunter was 4 years old and was staying with his grandfather for a few days. He’d been playing outside with the other kids, when he came into the house and asked, “Grandpa, what’s that called when two people sleep in the same bedroom and one is on top of the other?”

River Region Contra Dancing Everyone, school-age through senior adult, is invited for a little exercise and a lot of fun. Contra dancing is a kind of partnered folk dancing which originated in England but has become a popular activity for all who like to move their feet! Advanced dancers mix with those who have never been before making for a ton of fun. Singles, couples and families are welcome. All levels of experience – including no experience. Dancing is on 1st & 3rd Fridays at 7 p.m. at Ridgecrest Baptist Church, 5260 Vaughn Road. For more info, visit riverregioncontradance.com or call Katherine Thomas at 334-361-6572.

His Grandpa was a little taken aback, but he decided to tell him the truth.

“Well, Hunter, it’s called sexual intercourse.”

“Oh, okay,” little Hunter said, and went back outside to play with the other kids.

A few minutes later he came back in and said angrily, “Grandpa, it isn’t called sexual intercourse. It’s called Bunk Beds. And Jimmy’s mom wants to talk to you.”

The Capital City Artists will hold their ninth annual art exhibit October 1 -31, 2013 at the Armory Learning Arts Center. Each year, members select a theme for their annual show and one wall is dedicated to the paintings featuring that theme. This year’s theme is “Capital City Artists Paint WHITE”. Each artist will exhibit a painting consisting of various shades of white along with their other works. Some of the past themes have been, “Mona Magination”, Montgomery, Southern Doors, A Wall of Masters and last years theme, The Montgomery Zoo. Opening reception of their “White” paintings and most recent works Sunday, October 6, 2013, 2:00 pm until 4:00 pm, at Armory Learning Arts Center, 1018 Madison Avenue, Dowtown Montgomery.

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BOOM! COVER PROFILE

Betty Roberts & Dale Gulledge Experienced Fashion Consultants

We opened our store in 1975.

This month’s BOOM! profile My mom, Bobbie, worked is Betty Roberts and Dale with us until she retired and Gulledge, owners of one moved back to GA in 1992. of Montgomery’s oldest Then Dale and I were on our women’s fashion retailers, own.

Focus on Fashion. Betty Our vision was to have and Dale have been in the a business that offered fashion business for 38 excellent service, unlike our years, they are survivors in previous company who just an ever changing industry. focused on the bottom line.

They also help women who We have built our business on have had breast cancer and serving our customers. have a need for some stylish wigs. Betty and Dale, both Lessons learned, take trained cosmetologists, small steps and build a will make your new wig a solid foundation with your complement magnet! They customers, be caring of their Dale and Betty visiting Butchart Gardens, Victoria, Canada seek fashion trends from needs and not just about New York to Dallas and then making the sale. Eventually it offer them to the women of good taste will come back to you.

High School for 2 years and my class was here in the River Region. With 38 years the first 9th grade class to move into the of experience, they know what fashions Dale: Betty and I met thru her mom, Bobbie. new Dale County High School. I attended flatter you best. We recently visited Betty They were supervisors of a wig chain out George C Wallace trade school and received and Dale at Focus on Fashion, where they of Atlanta. The chain had several stores a diploma in Cosmetology. My family still shared some of their journey with us. Their in Tennessee, Atlanta, and Alabama. Her resides in the Midland City-Dothan area. I simple business philosophy of service first Mom hired me to work in the Dothan store am blessed with a loving brother and sister has been a solid foundation for their long and before I knew it I was traveling with which together have given me one niece term success. Drop by the store and you’ll Bobbie opening new stores! It was fun BUT and 3 nephews. They in turn have given me see what we mean. Hope you enjoy getting my goodness I had never worked so hard 9 great nieces and nephews. They are the to know them as much as we have. in all my life. My mom and dad had always children I never had AND its always been fun instilled good work ethics in my brother, to spoil them and take them home to mom BOOM!: Please give us a brief biography, i.e. sister and I and I think she saw that. and dad. I don’t get to spend as much time where you’re from, education, what brought with them as I’d like but we remain close you to the Montgomery area, did you raise One day Bobbie, Betty and I had this great thru all the social media avenues. I lost my your family here, schools, married, family, vision of opening our own store and work dad in 2000 and mom in March of this year. etc? hard for ourselves rather than someone else. So “Wigs by Three” became a reality BOOM!: The two of you have owned a Betty: I am from Atlanta, Georgia, born and here in Montgomery in 1975. women’s clothing boutique, Focus on raised. One brother and one sister. I lived in Fashion, for the past 38 years. Would Atlanta till moving to Montgomery, which I I think our vision then was just to get open! you please share how you got started in thought was the end of the world because There have been some very lean times in the business? What was your vision then Shoney’s was the only restaurant open the past 38 yrs but with hard work and compared to today? Any lessons learned in till 9 AND they still had a drive in movie perseverance we are still here today due operating your business you can share with here! I went to Lilburn grammar school and to the loyal customer base we have built. I aspiring entrepreneurs, especially women? transferred to Murphy High School in the think to be successful in business you HAVE 9th grade where I played my favorite sport, to listen to your customer and give them Betty: The company we worked for never basketball. I also went to business school SERVICE they can’t find elsewhere. That’s gave promotions or raises to the females, it and cosmetology school. been true with Focus on Fashion, which was only for the guys. Also, we had no input became our new business name when we on the merchandise selection because they Dale: I am a true blooded Alabama girl! I added clothing in 1977. Small businesses didn’t trust our knowledge. So we decided was raised in Napier Field, Alabama close to are vital and there are more women small to work for ourselves! After six months they Midland City. I attended grammar school at business owners than men...it’s probably wanted us to come back, It didn’t happen.

Grimes Elementary then on to Midland City

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because they aren’t as willing to work as hard as we do :) and it IS work!

BOOM!: How have you adapted to the ever changing world of women’s fashions for 38 years while so many others have come and gone? What’s your secret?

BOOM!: Many Boomers are experiencing a renewed sense of purpose, new goals. How would you describe this sense of renewal in your life? Any advice for the rest of us seeking renewal?

Betty: Always try new things. Something that you’ve always wanted to do just be sure to give 100%.

Betty: We never stop Jack Gallassini, Dale, Virginia Whitfield and Dale: Renewal is learning. We attend Betty on the set of The Time of Your Life always good as we are classes at market to constantly trying to re-invent our store. learn new things. We network with other Individually I think if you have a bee in your store owners like ourselves and trade bonnet and want to do something as long information and help each other. We are in as your healthy…DO IT! We only go around a buying group to give our customers the once. best prices and top quality apparel at a fair price.

BOOM!: What are you most Dale: Women’s fashions are always passionate changing and we travel to markets in New about?

York, Las Vegas and Dallas to ensure we will have different things to offer our customers.

Betty: Making I would say we cater to the 30+ age group our customers but Boomers are our top priority, because look their it’s more difficult for the 50+ woman to find best. clothes with quality, fit and style.

Dale: Relax and unwind?? What’s that?? You will always find one of us in the store except for one week’s vacation and market trips.

BOOM!: Favorite vacation spot? Any travel dreams planned for the future?

Betty: Alaska, but I want to go to Rome for the history of the city.

Dale: We just had a week in Vancouver on a bus tour to the Canadian Rockies. It was beautiful! We hope to get to Italy in the next couple of years.

BOOM!: As busy entrepreneurs, do you have time to be involved in community, civic or other activities?

Betty: Always! Montgomery has been good to us and we feel the need to give back.

Over the years we have been involved in the Montgomery Zoological Society, Jubilee City Fest, Kiwanis Club of Montgomery, American Cancer Society, Women of Hope, and various positions with the Chamber of Commerce One of Betty and Dale’s travel destinations, including Small Dale: I guess BOOM!: What do women want when it Lake Moraine, Canada Business, ambassadors, I am most comes to fashion, clothing and accessories? and board of directors and the Eastbrook passionate about family, my second Does Focus on Fashion offer styles for all Shopping Center. Twice each year at season’s passion is taking care of our chemotherapy ages? end we donate items to the Girls Ranch, patients. Betty and I both lost our moms Mentally Ill, Sunshine Center, Homeless due to cancer so it’s a very important part Betty: Yes, we have styles for 30+ ages . It’s Women’s Shelter and Alabama Shakespeare of our business. We offer the not so much about Theatre. We were also nominated as one best lines of wig fashions, head age but about what the top three finalists for the River Region covers and accessories. We looks good on you Ethics in Business and Public Service Awards always make sure that their for your body type.

– 2013. to be announce, October 17th. We wig fits properly, and the style You can incorporate have also shared our fashion sense on The and color is becoming to them. what’s in style with Time of Your Life with Jack and Virginia on Most customers are pleasantly what looks good WSFA Sunday mornings for the past 5 years. surprised when they come in on you. Its part The show also aires several times during the to shop our wigs because the of our service to week on the Fraser network. industry has changed so much. show you how to The styles and colors follow the do this, including Dale: Betty is our civic one…she is involved hairdressing industry. Many of accessorizing to go in so many different things while I’m minding our customers tell us they have with each outfit. the store. continued to wear their wig because of its convenience, style Dale: Women in Wigs for the beautiful women they serve BOOM!: What is it about living in the and color. They also save money Montgomery are Montgomery/River Region area that you like? and time. a little more conservative in fashion but still want to be stylish. The color trends for Betty: The people and many things BOOM!: How do you like to relax and wind fashion go hand in hand with the trends in Montgomery has to offer including ASF, Art down from a hard day’s work? home decorating each season, which are Museum, Symphony, and of course the Zoo also ever changing. and the new downtown area. It’s still a small Betty: I love reading and spending time with friendly city. family and friends. cont’d on next page

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Dale: Montgomery and the River Region have been good to us over the years and we have developed so many friendships!

It would be hard to think about living anywhere else.

BOOM!: As you’ve aged, how have your ambitions changed?

Betty: Not really a lot. I just want to keep our store modern, up to date with the latest fashions and knowledge about our industry.

BOOM!: Your one of the leading wig retailers in the River Region, why is this an important part of your business?

Dale: Shopping online? you may save a few bucks but you can’t touch it, feel it, fit it and have Betty and me there!

Betty: Because it’s close to our hearts with several members in both our families having cancer as well as myself. I am a 41 yr survivor. These people need extra care and attention.

BOOM!: You have been business partners for 38 years now, how would you describe the strengths of your partner?

Dale: Ambitions...hmmmm!

To make it to our 50th store anniversary!

BOOM!: Give us three words that describe you?

Dale: We have wig customers as far away as Mississippi, Texas, and Atlanta. We have even shipped as far as Germany.

It’s important because we feel every woman should feel as good about herself as possible and we enjoy helping her achieve this.

Betty: Honest, Smart, and Compassionate.

BOOM!: So many people are shopping online now, how have Brighton Jewelry at Focus on Fashion you responded to this trend?

Dale: Caring, Responsible, and Attentive BOOM!: Do you have any hobbies or other Betty: They are not receiving personal activities that grab your attention? service and our tax dollars are being sent Betty: Travel and making new friends. out of state when we need them here to Dale: No hobbies now, I used to make improve our city and schools. jewelry but it became a job and not a hobby.

Betty: We both have different areas that we are good at and lots of areas it takes both of us. We do not take advantage of each other and give our best every day. We hope to be able to do all these things for years to come.

There is no way I would have a business without a partner and I have the very best!

Dale: My partner is SO smart…she handles all the paper work at our store. I could NEVER do that. My mother always asked Betty if she could teach me how to do some of it and her reply “DON’T THINK SO”. I have never been nor will ever be a bookkeeper.

If you have any questions for Betty or Dale, you can reach them at 334.272.1170 or focusonfashion75@ gmail.com. If you need some style and fashion in your life drop by Focus on Fashion at 413 Coliseum Blvd or check out their website at focus-onfashion.com. We want to thank Betty and Dale for participating in this month’s BOOM! Cover Profile. If you have questions, comments or suggestions, please send them to jim@riverregionboom.com

WHEN LIFE

TESTS THEM, T H E Y ’ L L H AV E ANSWERS.

Many schools prep for college. Why stop there? Alabama Christian Academy prepares students for a successful, faithful life. To the “three Rs” we add AP offerings, sciences and Spanish — as well as opportunities for dual enrollment with Faulkner University. At ACA, they’re ready. 334.277.1985 4700 WARES FERRY ROAD MONTGOMERY, AL 36109 ALABAMACHRISTIAN.COM

T HR I V E IN W ISDOM. SERV E IN SPIR I T.

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did you know?

The Baby Boomer generation is one of the most influential demographics in the world today. Boomers represent roughly 28 percent of the total population of the United States, according to “Baby Boomer” magazine, and this means they are the largest generational segment as well as the single largest economic group in the United States. They hold 70 percent of the U.S. wealth and are expected to inherit millions of dollars over the course of the next 20 years.

Baby boomers comprise a population of adults who were born between 1946 and 1964. That makes boomers people who are between 49 and 67 years old. Many of these baby boomers have grown to be household names and influential individuals in all areas of business. Actor Brad Pitt is a baby boomer, as is President of the United States Barack Obama. Director Peter Jackson, singer k.d. lang and business mogul Donald Trump all belong to the baby boomer generation. Here are some additional facts and figures about baby boomers: * Baby boomers have more discretionary income than any other age group. * Baby boomers own 80 percent of the money in savings and loan associations. * Baby boomers spend more money than other groups. * Baby boomers account for nearly half of all consumer demand.

Baby boomers have been known to have an unprecedented impact on American culture, society and the economy, and that influence is bound to continue for several more years.

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QuickLift FAQ Presented by River Region Facial Plastics

Hello, This is Dr. Michael Bowman with River Region Facial Plastics. This month I’d like to address some very common questions Dr. Cawthon and I get about a very common and popular procedure: The QuickLift.

What does the QuickLift do?

As word has gotten out, people have become excited about the QuickLift after seeing before and after photographs at our office, on our website, or on facebook. After you inspect the photos for yourself, you will see that the QuickLift rejuvenates the lower face and neck. It lifts and smooths wrinkles in the neck and under the chin, and it also raises the jowls that appear along the jawline.

The QuickLift will help restore some of the sagging tissues of the mid-face and cheek back to a more youthful position.

Many of our patients have tried the “two finger test” at home...place two fingers on each cheek in front of your ears and push upward and back to simulate the results of a QuickLift. The QuickLift gives a natural looking lift by its specialized design and avoids a pulled or stretched out appearance.

How does the QuickLift work?

The QuickLift is a surgical facelift type procedure. However, it only takes about half the time of a traditional facelift. This is possible because of the special QuickLift suture technique which is what engages the SMAS. The SMAS is the deeper tissue layer of the face under the skin which connects all the facial musculature. The SMAS layer must be lifted in order to get a quality facelift result. The use of suture to lift the SMAS means less surgical dissection which results in less swelling and faster recovery.

What is the downtime associated with a QuickLift?

There is little to no discomfort associated with the QuickLift. Most patients feel they are able to be out in public in about

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7-10 days after their procedure. At that point in time, there is still some swelling and there may be some bruising, but with a little makeup most people can be back at work and in their usual routine.

Are the results of a QuickLift permanent?

The results of a QuickLift are indeed permanent, that is, they don’t “give out” down the road. So the QuickLift generally turns back the clock about 8-10 years, but the aging process does continue.

Before

After

Is this a one size fits all procedure?

Since no two faces are the same, and so there is no cookie-cutter approach to facial rejuvenation. We always customize the procedure to ensure each patient gets the best possible results. The QuickLift is frequently combined with other procedures like the SubTuck (additional under the chin contouring), eyelid rejuvenation (blepharoplasty), facial liposuction, and chemical peels to name a few. This customized holistic approach to rejuvenation ensures a beautiful and natural looking results.

What are the qualifications for performing a QuickLift?

Dr. Cawthon and I are both board certified in Otolaryngology Head & Neck Surgery by the American Board of Otolaryngolgoy.

The qualifications for that board certification include extensive testing on facial plastic and reconstructive surgery.

I am dual board certified in Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery by the ABFPRS, and Dr. Cawthon has been performing reconstructive and aesthetic plastic

surgery for his whole career. Both Dr. Cawthon and I have undergone extensive personal training with Dr. Dominic Brandy, the creator of the QuickLift.

How long has the QuickLift been performed?

Dr. Brandy began using the QuickLift procedure in 2003, and published the technique in the medical literature in 2004. He has performed over 2,000 QuickLifts over the last decade. Dr. Cawthon and I have been performing the QuickLift exclusively for natural looking facial rejuvenation since our training in 2010.

What are the risks associated with the QuickLift?

There are risks associated with any procedure, and the QuickLift is no exception. We do expect some swelling and bruising after the procedure, and other problems can occur, but these are relatively uncommon. Our pre and postoperative care regimen is designed to prevent any complications.

Cigarette smoking increases the risk of complications with any surgery, and so patient usually must stop smoking at least 6 weeks before and 2 weeks after their QuickLift. We will make sure we answer any and all of your concerns during your consultation.

I’m interested in the QuickLift, what should I do now?

Every face is unique, so the QuickLift may or may not be the best option for you.

Please give us a call to set up your free consultation so we can help you look your best.

Yours in good health, Dr. Michael Bowman bowmanmd@ gmail.com 334.270.2003

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The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

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Straighten Up and Fly Right: 7 fall travel essentials

By Samantha Brown

There’s the usual: laptop, smartphone, deodorant, toothbrush, the stuff that goes with me no matter where I go. Most of those familiar things probably are on your packing list as well. But there are a few other items I always include that may not immediately come to mind when taking a trip. As I gear up to travel to Atlanta this October for AARP’s Life@50+ National Event, where I’ll be sharing what life is like on the road, here are my seven must-have travel essentials to get you started on the road this fall.

1. Earplugs I loved my fancy $250 noise-canceling earphones, but after they were stolen, I switched to those foamy plugs that cost about 20 cents and are preferred by construction workers around the world.

They certainly don’t block out all the noise (you still need to hear things), but they do take the edge off when I’m in range of screaming children, barking CFOs and the 37 announcements in the terminal that don’t concern me.

2. Eye Mask Sunlight, the enemy of sleep, can be blocked with a simple eye mask, which also places a relaxing, gentle pressure on your eyelids. An eye mask allows me to catch sleep in some of the most difficult situations: well-lit planes, noisy trains and hotel rooms that don’t have black-out shades. Just be sure to get one that’s not too tight or you’ll wake up with those embarrassing lines across your face.

3. Melatonin An eye mask isn’t the only sleep aid I travel with. A bottle of over-the-counter melatonin has

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always had a place in my luggage, and I honestly don’t know what I’d do without my “Tony.” Melatonin, a hormone that occurs naturally in your body, doesn’t completely knock you out like a sleeping pill. It just relaxes you, as though you’ve just had a nice hot bath.

4. Pinky Balls Want to know how to feel like you’ve had a $100 massage for about 4 bucks? Pinky Balls! You can usually find these toysturned-massage therapy tools in toy stores, but if you can’t find them, tennis balls will suffice. When every muscle in my body aches after spending all day on my feet, I put the balls on the floor, lay my aching back on them, and push up with my knees so my weight is pressed down on the rosy rubber orbs. I then roll them down my back, under my legs and past my calves, slowly working out all the kinks and knots.

5. Comfy Socks As soon as I get on the plane, my shoes and socks come off (discreetly, so as not to send my seatmate running), and then on go the cuddly wuddlies! Your feet really do swell on a flight, so it’s good to give them some breathing room. Of course, never walk into the cabin restroom without your shoes, that bathroom floor is pretty gross.

6. A Jar of Peanut Butter For me this is survival food. I always seem to be arriving at a destination late, when restaurants are closed and there’s no room service. But you can invariably find something that goes with peanut butter, and if you’re really desperate, you can just eat stick your finger into the jar. The world outside the United States generally doesn’t know about peanut butter, although I always seem to be able to find jelly. Funny story: When I was shooting my TV travel series in China and Peru and needed to break the ice with our mainly foreign crew, I made them all peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I told them that every American grows up eating PB&J sandwiches. At first they all thought the combination sounded disgusting, but once they ate it, they really liked it. Pretty soon we were all laughing and sharing stories of our favorite childhood treats. Who knew the lowly PB&J could be such a useful diplomatic tool?

7. A Gift When you travel, you often depend on the kindness of strangers. Sometimes you want to say thank you, but a tip just doesn’t seem like the right gesture. For this purpose, I always bring a few gifts from home. I bring nothing too heavy or that takes up much room in my luggage: maybe a T-shirt or some regional candy. When I travel internationally, my gift of choice is an “I Love NY” T-shirt. It’s a phrase known around the world, and, flying from New York, I can always pick up a few of these shirts at the airport. (c) 2013, AARP. Distributed by MCT Information Services

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Learning is Fun OUR MISSION Our mission is to provide a relaxing environment in which those who are 50 and over or retirees can learn and meet new friends. Courses have no entrance exams, prerequisites, grades, or homework. LLI classes are designed for lifelong learners who love the sheer joy of learning. Help the LLI grow and continue to positively impact the River Region. Invite family, friends, and neighbors who qualify to take classes with you. Most courses meet for 90 minutes weekly over an eight-week period. Courses meet during the day.

There are three terms offered per year ( fall, winter and spring ). Members pay a $42 membership fee per term and may take as many courses as their schedule will permit.

Curriculum LLI members and the LLI Curriculum Committee determine the course offerings each term. Course styles vary from guest lecture series to class discussion to instructor lead. We offer subjects that reflect the diverse interests of our membership, including: • Art • Financial Planning • Computer Skills • History • Religion • Outdoor Adventures • Cooking • Politics • Nature • Health and Wellness ADDITIONAL MEMBER BENEFITS • Seasonal Socials • Lunch with Guest Speakers • Access to AUM • Access to AUM Hiking Library Trails The knowledge gained and friendships forged truly make LLI membership an incredible experience.

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CENTER FOR LIFELONG LEARNING Courses are held in AUM’s newly renovated Center for Lifelong Learning.

This is a spacious building with easy access, excellent parking, classrooms, break rooms and comfortable seating areas.

A Sample of Fall Classes Navigating the Risks of Retirement Today This class is part of a three part series that goes throughout the year. Retirees today face a much more treacherous and difficult environment than in years past. In addition, to the traditionally discussed risks like health care costs, inflation and longevity, the retiree today must contend with low interest rates, excess market volatility, underfunded pensions, etc. In the fall, the first part of the series focuses on the risks involving health care costs, long term care, longevity and government programs like Social Security and Medicare. We learn how to estimate and plan to cover those expenses, maximize benefits, and limit costs. This is a very hands-on course containing worksheets, customized analysis and projections.

Hiking Join us in hiking this Fall to see the foliage and some beautiful views as we hike trails within 45 minutes of Montgomery such as Swayback Bridge Trail north of Wetumpka and the beautiful trails at Lake Martin. The hikes will be 4-5 miles with some moderate hills as the class progresses. Please clear this physical activity with your physician.

Bring water, some trail snacks, and hiking gear (good shoes, socks, backpack or waistpack) and see the beauty of Central Alabama’s woodlands. We will meet in the parking lot of the Center for Lifelong Learning at 10:30 a.m. on Mondays and will

stop for a meal on the way home. We will carpool and share the cost of gas.

Great Decisions A civic education program in which participants learn about U.S. foreign policy and global issues. Class members discuss multiple viewpoints in a group setting. Class starts with a DVD followed by class discussion. A briefing book provides background, policy options, maps, websites, and blogs.

Gardening Learn gardening tips and tricks from a variety of Alabama’s best Master Gardeners! Possible topics to be presented will include: Vegetable Gardening, Growing Fruits, Composting, Pruning Pointers for Southern Gardeners, Growing Herbs, Bee Keeping and others. Many “show and tell” opportunities exist to generate healthy dialogue in the classroom. Some class members have also brought in cuttings etc. from their home gardens to share!

Valuable resources and contact information provided weekly. Sep 23 – Nov 4 : 1:30-3 p.m. : Mon : CLL : Instructor Various Master Gardeners Cooking Participants will enjoy learning about local and sustainable food, discover local food treasures, and acquire new spins on traditional food favorites. All recipes will have an emphasis on full flavor healthy eating. Each class meeting will consist of cooking demonstrations. Participants will get to enjoy the culinary creations for their lunch.

Register Today! call Brittany at 334-244-3804 or visit www.ce.aum.edu

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Trick or Pink, October 26th, The Shoppes at EastChase Fall Harvest Market & Trick or Pink come together for a night of family fun at The Shoppes at EastChase on Saturday, October 26, from 5 – 8 p.m. The Fall Market will feature vendors with seasonal produce, unique gifts and arts and crafts, food samples from vendors and a Fashion Preview of various retailers throughout The Shoppes. Trick or Pink will bring the Pink Pumpkin Patch, Halloween costume contest for the kids and hayrides around The Shoppes, which will all benefit the Joy to Life Foundation. In addition, cancer survivors will have the opportunity to come together to celebrate survival by taking part in forming the pink human ribbon around the fountain. theshoppesateastchase.com

PINK PUMPKIN CONTEST in Wetumpka - October 1-15 Decorate a pink pumpkin and support Joy to Life! Come by Wetumpka Health & Rehabilitation at 1825 Holtville Road in Wetumpka, AL to enter your pink pumpkin creation! Entries are $5 each and can be dropped off during busines hours October 1 - 15. Pumpkin viewing and judging will be on October 17, from 4 pm - 7pm. The general public will be our judges and each vote is $1. Winners will be announced on Friday, October 18 at the Pink Walk. Prizes will be awarded for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place pumpkins! The $5 entries and $1 votes will be donated to Joy to Life!

Special thanks to Scentsy Consultant Michele Memmert, Casa Napoli, Our Place Café, Southeastern Business Printers and White Wings Catering for joining Wetumpka Health & Rehabilitation, LLC in making this event possible!

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, November 2nd, Riverwalk Amphitheater The journey to end breast cancer starts with a single step. Take that step with the Montgomery Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk. Just a few hours of your time will help bring a lifetime of change for people facing breast cancer and their families. Plan your teams now and get ready to make a difference in the lives of friends and family. Passion drives us to walk in and raise money for Making Strides. Passion for those we wish we could have back in our life, for those battling the disease, and for a world without breast cancer. This year’s walk is Saturday, November 2, at Riverwalk Amphitheater, Downtown Montgomery. Registration, 7:30 am, Program and Walk begins at 8:30 am. For more info contact Laura Walter at makingstridesmontgomery@cancer.org or 334.288.3432

BOOM! is proud to Salute Survivors, Encourage Awareness and Remember Loved Ones in the battle against Breast Cancer During National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, we stand together in our support for a cure and our support for the women who are faced with the disease. By encouraging breast cancer research and raising awareness of the importance of early detection, we can all help save lives. It is estimated that nearly 200,000 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and that more than 40,000 of these women will die. Breast cancer is a threat to women of all ages, races and walks of life. Even men are at risk for breast cancer, with approximately 1,700 men diagnosed each year. These numbers remind us why it is so important to know the signs, symptoms and risk factors of breast cancer. Early detection of breast cancer is the best weapon against the disease, which means breast self-exams should be performed regularly, with clinical breast exams every one to three years. By the age of 40, women should begin getting mammograms every one to two years. In addition, healthy lifestyle habits like physical activity, not smoking, minimizing alcohol intake and consuming plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables can help women reduce their risk factors.

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Dan Gorfain and his fellow cyclists Howard Sarasohn, Dave Brubaker and Norm Gold could be considered poster boys for the value of active aging. The retirees, the youngest of whom is 67, are fit and energetic, and they believe in playing through aches and pains, and worse.

Bicycling Buds

After they cycled 800 miles together around New Zealand’s south island early in 2010, Gorfain began experiencing shortness of breath and, when they returned home, chest pain.

“It never occurred to me I could have some kind of cardiac condition,” said Gorfain, now 70 and retired from a long career in California state government.

But he did, and just days after returning from their trip, he underwent quadruple bypass surgery.

And then he got back on his bike.

By that September, he was biking once again with his buddies around Lake Tahoe.

And this fall the friends plan a long cycling trek through the Pacific Northwest.

Are these resilient and vigorous retirees representative of a new American approach to health in older age? Maybe, experts say, but the progress toward active aging is more subtle than that.

In some ways, the old cliche of the sedentary retirement years has been changed by a more modern trend, that of robust aging, with fit retirees such as Gorfain and his friends blessed with vitality into their 70s and beyond.

In part, the trend reflects goal-oriented baby boomers entering their retirement years with a renewed appreciation for fitness.

“People need to remember there’s never

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By Anita Creamer an age or a skill level when you’re too far gone to respond to mobility,” said Dr. Vonda Wright, a University of Pittsburgh Medical Center orthopedic surgeon and director of the school’s Performance Research Initiative for Masters Athletes.

“Our bodies are designed to move, to be walking and running until the day we die.

We’re not designed to sit. You can make profound changes for your health no matter what your age.”

Her research shows that when people do remain vigorous into their 50s, 60s and 70s, what she calls “prime time”, they can expect to have the same muscle mass they did three decades earlier, as well as high bone-density levels. “For all the ‘Rest in Peace’ birthday cards people get for their 40th birthdays, we’ve found that people do not start significantly slowing down until they’re 75 years old,” she said. “I say biology takes over at that age. Their speed starts declining dramatically past 75.”

Older athletes are everywhere: For example, more than 30 percent of participants in this year’s Eppie’s Great Race triathlon on Sacramento, Calif.’s American River Parkway were ages 55 and older, said organizers.

Many senior athletes launch into fitness only in midlife, prodded by doctors telling them they need to shape up, lose

weight and get their cholesterol under control. University of Virginia researchers have found that the number of people 55 and older joining health clubs has increased 562 percent since 1987.

Offsetting the trend toward fit and healthy aging, however, are a host of discouraging statistics, which show that even now a startlingly small percentage of older adults are making the effort.

In 2010, not quite 14 percent of people ages 65 to 74 actually engaged in the weekly amount of basic aerobic exercise that doctors recommend, according to National Center for Health Statistics data.

That’s double the percentage from 1998, but it’s far from what health experts would like to see. And coupled with the fact that almost 38 percent of people 65 and older were obese in 2010, compared with 22 percent in 1994, the numbers don’t hold overwhelming encouragement about seniors’ health.

Also in 2010, fully one-third of Americans past age 65 reported to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that they got no leisure exercise at all during a typical month.

Forget the challenge of cycling around New Zealand or Tahoe; they didn’t even walk a block.

Researchers know that when older adults do even light amounts of exercise, walking, strength training and working on their balance and flexibility, the result is that they take fewer medications and go to the doctor less often.

They’re less likely to fall. They also end up hospitalized less often and recover more quickly from injury and illness.

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It’s a tidy equation: A little exercise equals a lot of benefit for aging adults’ health.

buddies, who thrive on strenuous challenges.

“But it’s something you have to do the rest of your life, even into your 80s and 90s,” said Joan Neide, who heads the California State University, Sacramento, kinesiology department. “It has to be a lifetime commitment to taking care of yourself.”

Gorfain used to cycle in his early 30s. Then he hurt his knee and gave it up, for more than 16 years. In the mid-1990s, with retirement on the horizon, he started going to spin classes at a health club. Four years ago, Howard Sarasohn invited him to train for the trek around New Zealand.

Clearly, some older adults have embraced the message.

Morning aerobics and yoga classes at the Senior Center of Elk Grove are packed to capacity, and organizers have had to add extra tai chi classes to accommodate demand from enthusiastic seniors.

“And with Zumba Gold, the room fills,” said Pat Beal, the center’s executive director.

“They’re out there zip-ah-dee-dooing around.

“Our people are being realistic about what they need to do to age well. They’ve figured out how to live longer and live better.”

And then there are more driven older adults, such as Gorfain and his cycling

He’s been an avid cyclist ever since, and his doctors told him that he recovered from bypass surgery quickly because he was in such good shape.

“Some people do a daily run,” he said. “I go to the gym three times a week and ride one day, or maybe two. I feel good when I do it.”

Sarasohn, now 72 and retired from the state, started exercising at age 40 by commuting to work on his bike, because it helped control his stress.

“To tell you the truth, my brother-inlaw told me that if I didn’t start doing something, I’d become a fat old man and die,” he said.

But high achievers like to set goals for themselves. At 50, Sarasohn cycled across the country. At 65, he did it again. He has cycled through mountain passes in Italy and South America: From his bike, he’s seen the world.

Now he wants to be an inspiration for his grandchildren. So he keeps biking, despite the aches and pains.

“I’m trying to encourage the young ones,” he said.

Gold is convinced the group’s cycling helps keep its members feeling vital.

“Bodies deteriorate, and things can go wrong,” said Gold, 67, a semi-retired educational consultant who lives in Berkeley, Calif. “Everybody’s got something.

But we emphasize what we can do, not what we can’t.

“It’s attitude as well as physical conditioning. I think having an active physical pastime is better than any vitamins you can take.”

Distributed by MCT Information Services

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Fall Getaway...Personal chef icluded

A LABYRINTH OF LOVELY Rock-n-Creek and its onsite artisan studio, Christy’s Buck Island Bay Decoys and Mountain Man Basketry, are near the Nelson 151, a ribbon of scenic byway that connects wineries, breweries and a cidery in Virginia’s Rockfish Valley. In the fall, the reds, russets and umbers of the leaves pair beautifully with the clarets, plums and honeys of the wines, beers and meads.

“Harry Potter” fans will want to sample the Hunter Mead at Hill Top Berry Farm Winery and Meadery, the only farm on the Nelson 151 making what the Greeks called the “nectar of the gods.”

In a mountain cabin cozied up with a wood-burning fireplace, its every window framing sweeping views of mountains dressed for autumn, your own personal chef, whisk and wine in hand, is waiting to greet you.

Rock-n-Creek Cabin is tucked into a crook of the Blue Ridge Mountains, less than two miles off the Blue Ridge Parkway at mile post 27 in Montebello, Va. Owned by certified executive chef and duck decoy woodcarving artist Richard Christy, the cabin sits 3,220 feet above sea level on one of the highest ridges along the parkway system, off the grid in the thick of fall color.

Privacy and camera-worthy photos are guaranteed.

Comfy and casual with a mix-match collection of furnishings and decor, the fully-equipped cabin has an invitingly rumpled ambience; it’s the kind of place where you can drop your bags and put your feet up. And Christy encourages that, even pours the wine for you while you settle at the table to watch and chat with the chef who once cooked for President Gerald Ford.

HE COOKED FOR THE PRESIDENT; NOW HE COOKS FOR YOU Christy has an impressive resume. Raised in the Virginia cities of Virginia Beach and Norfolk, he was “one of the boys who never left.” Nice for his hometown as Christy leapfrogged up the culinary ladder, honing his skills at area eateries, opening his own restaurants and catering companies and, later, consulting with food companies including Smithfield Foods and Good Life Cuisine.

Today, the retired chef puts his magic to work year-round for those who book a stay at Rock-n-Creek, and a seat at his Chef’s Table for a culinary tour de force. “It’s a culinary adventure nestled in a remote mountain location with guests dining in the comfort of their cabin on meals created

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specifically for them,” said Christy.

Families, girlfriends, golfers, wine aficionados, the cabin accommodates gatherings with three bedrooms plus two loft rooms and a double sleeper sofa. A study is stocked with board games, DVDs and books.

Guests can enjoy Satellite TV with 500 channels and a Bose stereo system, not to mention a Jacuzzi whirlpool bathtub and those breathtaking views.

Outside, the grounds are dotted by ponds, campfire rings, bocce ball and horseshoe pit. There are woodland walking trails, a natural stream and wildflower paths.

The main event, of course, is supping on Christy’s gourmet meals. Guests can roost at the kitchen counter and watch the chef in action or gather at the dining room table. Roasted horseradish and herbencrusted pork loin, Beef Tagine, breast of chicken roulade. Christy consults with each guest prior to arrival at the cabin to create a four-course gastronomical experience that concludes with a delicious dessert.

Additionally, Christy can prepare picnics, sack lunches to-go and high and afternoon tea. And he teaches your choice of cooking class.

By Kathy Witt “People liken it to butter beer,” Kimberly Pugh said.

Health fanatics can get their apple a day at Bold Rock Cidery. “Apples have been growing here for 200 years and early presidents had a history of making cider themselves,” said cidermaster Brian Shanks, noting that Bold Rock’s Crimson Ridge cider is snapping up medals. Afton Mountain Vineyards wows with its beautiful tasting house, award-winning wines and picturesque setting. Wild Wolf Brewing Company surprises with not only a traditional German Biergarten, but a restaurant tucked into Nelson County’s 105-year-old schoolhouse, an outdoor all-weather pavilion showcasing mountain vistas and an adjacent shopping village.

Each winery, cidery and brewery on the Nelson 151 offers a unique experience, from the 240-year-old carriage house that is today the tasting room for Wintergreen Winery’s wines, including Raven’s Roost Cabernet Franc, what manager Marion The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

Craig calls “cardiovascular wine”, to the estate-grown wine of Pollak Vineyards.

In between are Flying Fox Vineyard’s limited production wines; Cardinal Point Vineyards and Winery, founded in 1985 as a retirement dream based on owner Paul and Ruth Gorman’s passion for Riesling wines; and the classic wines of Veritas Vineyard and Winery. A comfy lodge-style atmosphere prevails at Devils Backbone Brewing Company, where you can hoist traditional German-style brews. At Blue Mountain Brewery, 2,500 barrels of beer are handcrafted onsite, using spring-fed water from a forest watershed.

Besides wine tastings, many of the wineries have concerts and other events scheduled through the year, like the 8th Annual Halloween-themed Opportunity Ball, Oct. 25, at Veritas Vineyard and Winery, and the 10th Annual Oyster Roast, Nov. 9-10, at Cardinal Point.

That gas shortage proved lucky for us: The Nelson 151 is a glorious getaway pretty much any time of year but especially when fall colors the landscape.

IF YOU GO Monticello Artisan Trail http://bit.ly/19dSsfT Monticello Wine Trail www.MonticelloWineTrail.com Nelson 151 www.nelson151.com Nelson County, VA, www.nelsoncounty-va.gov/departments/ tourism Rock-n-Creek Cabin www.rockncreekcabin.com While in the area: Visit “John-Boy’s” boyhood home. That’s Earl Hamner, Jr., the creator of the Emmy award-winning TV show, “The Waltons” (1971-1981).

Hamner’s home and the shed where he

wrote, which was used as the model for the shed featured on the show, are located in nearby Schuyler, Va. The house sits behind the Walton’s Mountain Country Store (the former shed) and may be toured. Visitors may also book a room at the adjacent bed and breakfast inn. www. waltonsmountaincountrystore.vpweb.com Also located in Schuyler is Walton’s Mountain Museum ( www.waltonmuseum. org ), housing lots of Waltons-related photographs, recreated rooms from the homestead featured in the television show and several original props from the show, including a shaving mug, coffee pot and a dress worn by the character “Erin.”

Kathy Witt is a Kentucky-based author and travel and lifestyle writer whose columns include Bucket List Adventures, Cruise Trends & Trips and Travel Goods, Gadgets & Gear for McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. She can be reached at KathyWitt24@gmail.com or www.KathyWitt.com (c) 2013, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

Rounding out the wineries and breweries along the Nelson 151 are unique shops, local restaurants, community theater, hiking, biking, skiing, golf and those picture postcard views. Some of the wineries are also on the Monticello Wine Trail and, crisscrossing the Nelson 151 for additional things to see and do, is the Monticello Artisan Trail, which highlights the works of juried artisans like Christy.

‘WHERE THE VWs RAN OUT OF GAS’ An entrepreneurial spirit prevails on the Nelson 151. You can feel it everywhere, from Christy’s woodcarving studio and Chef’s Table enterprise, to the wineries, shops and restaurants that dot the corridor from one end of Rockfish Valley to the other.

“This is where the VWs ran out of gas,” said Beverly Lacey in explanation of the proliferation of mom-and-pop art studios and galleries, pottery shops, antique malls, bookstores, farm shops and assorted other independently owned and operated businesses. Lacey, owner of Basic Necessities, a charming gourmet cafe, wine and cheese shop founded by French wine and cheese connoisseur Kay Pfaltz, is a flower farmer who stocks the cafe with fresh bouquets that can be bought right off the linen-draped tables.

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Fitness over Fifty

By Leigh Anne Richards

Aging is a Real Pain in the...

Oh my aching back!!!

How many of us have said those words?

Nearly all of us at some point in our lives will experience back pain. Several possible causes could be poor posture, being overweight, Leigh Anne Richards spinal disease, kidney problems. among a list of others. Then, there is the number one cause of back pain: AGI NG. Just using our back over time causes back pain. The constant driving of a car causes wear and tear on the vehicle just as the constant use of our backs causes wear and tear on our backs. As we age, the ligaments and tendons that hold joints together can become stiff and almost leathery. The loss of muscle strength around the spine can cause the spine to move in ways it is not designed to move. Osteoarthritis sets in and causes more soreness, pain and stiffness.

The spine consists of individual bones called vertebrae which are stacked on top of one another. Between each vertebra are small joints that allow the spine to move. There are jelly like centers in the disks that act as shock absorbers that prevent the bones from rubbing against each other. As we age, the disks between each vertebra wear away and shrink. This condition is known as spinal stenosis also put pressure on the spinal cord and spinal nerves, causing pain.

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Proper conditioning is vital for prevention.

Conditioning is like a 3 legged stool. The first leg is flexibility, the second one is cardio endurance, and the third is strength. As we get older, equal time needs to be given to all three. Back pain can be debilitating.

However, the proper conditioning can help people function with periodic pain. It may also reduce the length or severity of the pain episodes. Physical therapists have specific exercises for back pain.

Flexibility is defined as the ability of a joint to go through a full range of motion. How does flexibility give you an edge over aches and pains? Stretching is vital because it improves the pliability of the ligaments that support the joint. Keeping limber is usually the component that most people neglect, especially men. Dr. Tood Limpicki, a local chiropractor says, “What is the first thing your dog or cat does when they get up ??

They stretch. We can learn a lot from our pets.” Limpicki also says a longer muscle is a stronger muscle!! Yoga is a great way to add stretching to your routine but if that does not work for you, stretch at home while watching TV. You can even stretch at your desk.

Cardio conditioning is needed to lighten the load. It is always easy to use the age card for our aching backs and joints. However, the true cause could be that extra poundage you are carrying, especially around the middle (spare tire). Cardiovascular training, along with a healthy diet can help with that spare

tire. It is recommended at least 150 minutes of exercise a week, but one needs to do more than just a casual stroll. If one has back pain due to disk problems high impact exercise may be painful. You might want to choose lower impact alternatives such as stair machines, ellipticals, or cross country skiers.

Does strength training help or hurt the joint pain? Strength training actually strengthens the muscles that cross our joints and helps them act more effectively as stabilizers. If you are having back pain, strengthening the trunk muscles is very important. The spine supports the upper body weight on the pelvis. The only thing that helps the spine is the trunk muscles, so the stronger they are the less weight that will be carried on the spine.

Dr. Limpicki emphasizes that your back pain needs to be treated by a Doctor. Once it is determined that the pain is truly back pain and not other issues, X-rays need to be taken to give the doctor a clear view of what the problem is. It is his suggestion to try the least invasive method of treatment first and proceed as prescribed by your Doctor.

There is no magic fountain of youth that will make you feel 20 again, however, keep your weight in check, exercise, stretch and modify your activity to levels appropriate for your level of conditioning.

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4 Back- Strengthening Exercises Four easy moves that will strengthen muscles and keep you injury-free.

The Workout These exercises were developed by Roberta Lenard, owner of Lenard Fitness, a personaltraining company in Somerville, Massachusetts, and Anthony Carey, owner of Function First, an exercise studio in San Diego.

1. Hip Bridge How to do it: Lie on your back, feet flat and hip-width apart, arms relaxed, and knees bent.

Squeeze your buttocks as you lift your hips, creating a straight line from the knees to the shoulders. Hold for a slow count of two, then lower slowly. Build up to 10 to 12 repetitions.

What it does: This move counteracts the effects of too much chair time, which puts excessive pressure on the spine. It stretches the hip flexors and strengthens the muscles that stabilize the spine, including those of the lower back, the gluteals, and the large, stabilizing abdominal muscles.

Make it harder: Lift one foot off the floor and hold it straight up toward the ceiling, foot flexed, keeping the hips even. This is much more challenging, so start by holding this pose for just a few seconds. Repeat five to eight times, then switch legs.

2 Bird Dog How to do it: Begin on all fours, knees hipwidth apart and under the hips, hands flat and shoulder-width apart. Squeeze your abs by pulling belly toward spine. Keep the spine neutral, without arching the back or rotating the hips, and extend your right leg back and your left arm straight ahead. Hold for two to three seconds or as long as you can maintain form.

Repeat five to six times on each side.

What it does: This exercise improves muscle

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balance and coordination, making it easier to keep the spine stable for everyday moves, such as walking, running, dancing, and carrying a child. It also tones your glutes, upper back, lower spine, and hamstrings. Tighter abs also keep the spine supported.

Make it harder: Gradually increase the holding time for 10 to 12 counts. For an additional challenge, add movement to the mix by slowly lifting and lowering the extended arm and leg a few inches, maintaining proper form throughout.

3.Side Plank How to do it: Lie on your right side, in a straight line from head to feet, resting on your forearm. Your elbow should be directly under your shoulder. With your abdominals gently contracted, lift your hips off the floor, maintaining the line. Keep your hips square and your neck in line with your spine. Hold 20 to 40 seconds and lower. Repeat two to three times, alternating sides. (If this is too challenging, start with bent knees.)

What it does: Builds strength and endurance in the core. This will help keep your lower back protected and stable during activities that require movement in the hips or back.

Make it harder: While holding the basic position, lift and lower your top leg. Gradually work toward holding the upper leg for 5 to 10 counts. Another option: Instead of resting on your forearm, support your body with your hand, palm on the floor and under the shoulder, elbow straight.

4. Lunge How to do it: With your abs gently contracted and hands on hips, take a big step forward with your right foot. Sink down so your right knee is at a 90-degree angle, then push back to the starting position without pausing. Repeat 8 to 12 times, then switch legs and repeat.

What it does: Improves whole-body control, which is key to protecting the spine during walking, running, or stair-climbing. Recruits both surface and deeper stabilizing muscles along the sides, glutes, hamstrings, quads, and calves.

Make it harder: Set up to do a basic lunge, but this time step your right foot out on a diagonal, not straight ahead, as if the foot is pointing to 2 o’clock on a clock face. (When you lunge with the left foot, step it out to 10 o’clock.) The change in foot placement makes it harder to balance. As you get stronger, try it with your hands interlaced behind your head or hold a dumbbell in each hand to increase resistance.

Information taken from WebMD and Everyday Health. Interview with Dr. Todd Limipicki, local Chiropractor with Harmony Wellness.

Leigh Anne Richards, MEd, Certified Personal Trainer, Group Exercise Instructor, General Manager- MetroFitness. For any questions or comments, contact Leigh Anne at LAMetrofit@ aol.com

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There

are many surreal moments when your parent is dying.

But one of the most profound is when the person comes to turn off their pacemaker.

If you don’t know, pacemakers are labeled, numbered.

They have serial numbers and you’re supposed to keep this information written down on a card in your wallet. They are turned on and off by a smaller machine that is kept inside of an oversized metallic looking briefcase.

Think 007 stuff or people carrying large diamonds in briefcases meant to be secure.

A Parent’s Death

So you’re in the hospice setting at this point, or at least we were. Hospice is where people go to die with dignity.

The idea is that they are given care and painkillers and respect while they die.

They’ve decided, or the decision was made for them, that “any effort possible” is no longer given. They are not shocked by machines or pumped with lifesaving drugs or hooked up to breathing tubes.

The rooms are calmer and friendlier.

With warmer colors and music and most obviously, no loud movements, bells, whistles or alarms. This is the exact opposite environment of an ICU ward.

And the stark difference is profound when you are wheeled from ICU to Hospice halls. It is a night and day feeling.

From emergency and hurry and loud and bright and running, to resignation and slow and quiet and maudlin.

The woman with the briefcase is incongruous to the hospice environment.

I think of that old song from “Sesame Street” maybe ... something here “is not like the others.” The briefcase is steel or metal and oversized. The woman is nondescript and moves quickly. Opening the case, pressing some buttons, taking

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By Paula Sirois

out a machine and placing it over my father’s pacemaker, which is just above his heart. She then turns him off.

She literally turns off his pacemaker.

Which is such a difficult thing to watch and hear. A muted click. It’s all the sounds that will get me later. They say that this is necessary because as the heart starts to fail, the pacemaker will do its job and shock the patient. This is not something anyone wants to see or happen. The goal is to let him die, not shock his body alive over and over again. It makes sense in a logical level.

But emotionally, it’s mechanical and hard to see. I wanted to scream out something along the lines of “Shouldn’t we at least give him a fighting chance here? Shouldn’t we at least allow him his pacemaker? Maybe he will make it out of this mess. Maybe he will come to. Why are we purposely making it impossible for him to even fight to live?” It felt to me like we were pushing lifesaving tools just an inch or two out of his reach.

I was in a different mental place than my family members during our hospice experience. I was against it and am still against it and will always be against it. I respect and understand the concept and respect anyone who opts for hospice.

But my father clearly did not want this.

I know this for a fact because I have him on video stating that he would rather fight to the end versus be sent to hospice. My dad was a fighter in every sense of the word. From being a boxer in his youth to fighting his way through life and work to fighting with friends, family, neighbors, anyone who wandered into his direction.

He fought his heart attacks and illnesses and breathing issues and cancer. He fought all of it and always “won.” He called himself “Mr. Lucky” because every ER visit or surgery would always start with a doctor telling us to prepare for the worst and end with my father, post-surgery, screaming down a hall that he really wanted a tuna sub and a Pepsi right now. He always went in to the hospital seconds from death and always walked out of the hospital with a can of soda in one hand.

Not this time.

A week earlier, he asked me to collect my son’s toy sword. He said if he was going to die he wanted to go ready to fight. So I ran to the closest toy store and got him one. He held it tight and when the nurses

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asked him if he was going to stab them, he didn’t bother to explain.

Now he was unconscious with his mouth open, stuck in that position from a week of being intubated. When they take the tube out of his throat they ask you to leave the room. We’re still in ICU at this point. The decision has been made in a small room about 100 feet from my father. He’s not involved in this major, the most major, decision of his life. He’s unaware that his wife of 54 years and his three daughters are sitting in a small room listening to a women explain to them that this is the end and we need to do this thing.

I was the only family member to ask why.

Everyone else seemed to accept this as a fact of life. In their minds they felt he was suffering and this wasn’t a quality of life and that he shouldn’t be forced to live hooked up to a machine. I disagreed. He had clearly stated to me that he wanted to fight. So let’s let him fight, I argued.

Everyone just patted my back and spoke softly about how this is the right thing to do for him.

It wasn’t my decision in the end. So we huddled around my father in the ICU room, draped in blue paper gowns, because he might contract a germ they explained. Which in itself is surreal, right? He might get sick and die? Aren’t we trying to get him to die? Wouldn’t we have succeeded in our goal? The same bizarre logic hit home when I asked if we couldn’t remove his breathing tube upstairs in the hospice ward where it would be quieter. They said no because rules stated the tube needed to be taken out in ICU because bringing it along for the elevator ride may bump him and cause him to expire. Again, wouldn’t we have succeeded?

After they remove the tube and prepare for morphine and other drugs, my family stands around stone silent. I panic and start thinking that something must be done. If I had known ahead of time, I would have prepared something. But I didn’t know. So I’m left to punt. I search on my phone for Burt Bacharach, his favorite composer. And find a YouTube

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compilation and start to play it for my father. Close, leaning in to his ear so he can hear it.

I’m careful not to touch him for some reason. Almost as if touching him during this intensely private moment would hinder him from whatever it is his body needed to do. It was almost too personal and intimate of a moment to be personal or intimate. It was his secretive moment and I felt this intense catch to make sure not to interfere. The vulnerability of it all required etiquette that I did not know.

I search and find the “Saturday Night Live” skit of Steve Martin doing his “wild and crazy guy” routine. My father loved the skit and the comedian.

Now I’m frantic. Crying and surfing the net and looking around the room to figure out what else I can pull together to make this moment more. Better?

Profound? Worthy?

I see a dead, petrified frog stuck between the panels of the window and feel the abandonment and uselessness of it all.

I feel silly to have tried anything and then angry that I hadn’t had the time to prepare even more. It’s an odd feeling of wanting less and more at the same time.

Should we be celebrating this moment, marking in a particular way? Are there hired planners for this? Am I just out of the loop?

Before taking out the breathing tube they warn us that it will probably be just a few minutes at most. They tell us to prepare ourselves for this. One nurse says that only those patients who can breathe on their own make it to hospice ward.

What an interesting and ironic prize. If you can somehow summon the power to fight death and breathe without any medical assistance, after having all the medical assistance known to mankind... if you can fight like you’ve never had to fight before, while weak and on death’s door, then you, too, can make it all the way upstairs to the hospice ward where we will all stand around and watch you die.

They take out the tube and invite us back into the room where we all, family and nurses, stand and stare at him. Waiting.

Will he stop breathing now? Now? Now? How about now?

After a few moments a nurse says, “Oh good, he can go up.” And that means he can now go to hospice. Everyone breathes a sigh of relief. It’s palpable. You can feel it. Like we’ve won something special. Like he’s special for being able to fight on his own.

I can’t help but feel that they are all missing the point: He is fighting! He wants to live! Shouldn’t we help him?

We’re in a hospital for God’s sake! Isn’t this where one comes for help to live?

Turn the machine back on, damn it!

We enter the elevators to ride up to the hospice ward and everyone is silent again. I mumble, with attitude, “If he wakes up from this he’s going to be pissed.”

In hospice you enter a new world.

Through double doors the silence is immediate, and it’s heavy and oppressive. It is not calming or serene.

It’s almost a cruel silence. It’s cooler, darker and slower. They prepare him for us and we wait in a small area that is equipped with coffee, snacks and CDs, and brochures about death and grief.

My sister says she is hungry. My mother looks for tea. I sit stunned that they are acting like this is a normal situation where one eats or drinks, or even walks or talks or breathes. If he’s being handicapped to live, shouldn’t we at the very least hold our breath or something?

When we’re allowed to see him, it’s hard to understand at first. The room is much larger than any hospital room we’ve ever been in. Between ERs and ICUs and regular hospital rooms and rehab rooms, all are so small, shoving two people in, who are struggling for their lives. Yet here, when he is struggling to die, they give him the Taj Mahal. Seems ironic and wasteful to me. Large spaces should be for living, right? Shouldn’t death be smaller than this? Shouldn’t we give less to death and more to life? cont’d on next page

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He is cleaned up and without tubes and without bells and without any assistance to breathe or live. He’s on his own now.

I want to scream loudly to break the silence. I want to shake him and wake him up and tell him to demand his tubes back. I’m starting to get mad at him now.

How dare he give up like this. How dare he just let them all do this to him. I want to yell at him and my mother and my sisters and the nurses.

But I don’t. I stand around his bed, close in, but not too close, like my other family members. Nobody is moving or talking. We’re told it could be minutes or hours or days even. My mother starts to prepare the couch as a bed. Nurses

bring her sheets and pillows. One sister leaves to go home. The other wants to drive and find food. I’m shocked by all of the normalcy of these actions. Sleeping, going home, eating? I think: How dare they.

When the moment actually comes I’m standing in the hall. It’s hard to just sit vigil and listen to your father dying. The sounds should not be allowed. It should be forbidden. They are unspeakable sounds of grasping for life and breath and gurgling sounds of death and regrets and pain. Your entire world, your experiences, birth, growing up, school years, friends and foes, careers made and broken, money earned and spent.

All the funny movies and belly laughs. All

the heartbreaks and tears and loss and yearnings. The winters and snow fights and beaches and ice cream trucks. The amusement parks and roller-skates and flights overseas. The dinner parties and laundry and student teacher meetings and hot chocolates with marshmallows.

The colds and splinters and dinners at fancy restaurants and mowing of lawns.

All of this. You. Deconstructed and brought down to gasping and gurgling and struggling and trying to breathe and your wife and daughters are watching in horror, frantically looking at one another as if to say, “Please stop this madness,” “This can’t be right, right?”

My sister poked her head out of his room and beckoned me. I ran. On tiptoes, as silently as possible since it was a hospice ward and it was 2 in the morning and it was my father’s last breaths.

We stood side by side very close to his face. He had changed coloring from alive to dead. He was no longer gurgling.

He was no longer struggling. I saw his Adam’s apple moving up, and then pause, pause, pause, pause, down.

Everything that ever was lived existed in that pause. His life, in entirety. Goals, hopes, dreams, fears, successes, failures.

All of MY life. My goals and dreams, fears, successes and failures. That pause held it all. That pause started and stopped universes. That pause.

My sister called for the nurse who came to listen with her stethoscope. She said, “Any minute now,” and left the room.

I leaned in very, very close now to my father’s face and silently whispered, “It’s OK, Daddy.”

And then he died.

Paula Sirois is a writer and holistic health therapist who can be found at www.RockZebraCompany.com (c) 2013, McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

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Healthy Hearing

By Dr. Bettie Borton Au.D.

TIPS AND ‘TRICKS’ for Hearing in Noisy Environments If you ask new hearing aid users to identify their favorite thing about their hearing devices, they will probably answer, “I don’t have to work so hard to hear anymore!” But if you ask them to name the number one thing they don’t like, they will probably say, “I still have some difficulty in background noise!”

Despite the advances in hearing aid technology, and even Dr. Bettie Borton Au. D. with the latest digital noise reduction circuitry, background noise can be a struggle for some hearing aid users.

Background noise can cause a problem when it interferes with your ability to understand and/or pay attention to the signal that you want to hear. Poor signal to noise ratios can be particularly bothersome during the first few weeks of hearing aid use because for those with significant hearing loss, everyday noises such as screeching brakes, clattering dishes, and rustling papers have been inaudible… sometimes for years. The good news? Most experienced hearing instrument users will tell you that their ability to tolerate these noises gets better with time.

Tips for hearing in noisy environments Pick a well-lit area When you are going out with friends and family, make sure that the area has adequate lighting, so that you use your lip-reading skills. Patients often tell me they don’t use lip-reading skills, but everyone lip-reads, particularly those with hearing loss, as an essential resource for communicating.

Lip-reading can help you maintain your participation in social activities and reduce the impact of hearing impairment on your daily life.

Consider the time and place If you make reservations at a popular restaurant on a Friday evening, chances are it is going to be difficult for you to hear. This is likely when the crowd is at its largest and the noise is at its loudest. If you have trouble hearing in loud environments, make sure that you consider the time and place of your meeting.

Two Hearing Aids or One? Wearing two hearing aids allows for improved

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ability to hear sound from either side, increased loudness of sound when two ears are listening, and enhanced ability to locate the source of a sound. Using two hearing aids is ideal for speech understanding in noise for most people, at least during normal, everyday communication. Current research has shown that an individual who wears two hearing aids can have improved speech perception in noisy environments.

Digital Signal Processing Hearing Aids Hearing aids with digital signal processing (DSP) differentiate between speech and noise, and are able to decrease the volume when they identify noise. Many people who wear digital hearing aids report ease in listening because the background noise seems to fade and the quality of speech is improved.

Although helpful, hearing aids with digital noise reduction are not “new ears” and cannot completely remove problems associated with trying to listen in noise. As research in this area continues, we probably will see additional advances in noise reduction technology.

Hearing Aids with Directional Microphones Current hearing aids have a directional microphone option. This option allows the hearing aid user to switch the microphones from an omidirectional setting (one that picks up sound from all directions) to a directional setting that picks up sounds coming from in front of the hearing aid user. High tech devices sometimes perform this function automatically.

Depending on a person’s lifestyle, as much as two-thirds of communication will occur in noise. Thus, having a hearing aid that can focus primarily on sound coming from the front will be beneficial for the listener. Directional technology does not entirely remove noise coming from the sides and/or back, but it does decrease it by as much as 3 to 4 dB, making it easier to hear and understand the primary signal in the front.

If your hearing aid has a directional microphone option that you must control by changing the switch, it is necessary for you to know when to make the change. When you are eating at a restaurant table with three or four diners or talking with friends at a party, you will probably want to use the directional microphone mode.

FM Technology If you are having a great deal of difficulty hearing in noise, one of the best solutions is to use FM technology. FM technology involves an FM transmitter, such as a lapel microphone, that picks up a talker’s voice and sends it to an FM receiver. The FM receiver delivers sounds (such as via loudspeakers) to the listener’s ear.

There are numerous options for using FM technology, with or without hearing aids, so check with your hearing healthcare provider to see what might help you in troublesome situations.

Auditory Training Current research studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of listening training for adults with hearing loss. The Listening and Auditory Communication Enhancement (LACE™) is a popular training program using interactive software used via home computers. This program allows users to proceed at their own pace, with feedback provided for each task.

Activities include listening practice in the presence of background noise, with competing speakers, as well as with rapid speech.

Additional training tasks provide practice in filling in missing words and activities to improve memory skills. Ask your hearing healthcare provider about getting your personal copy of LACE™.

Numerous potential solutions exist to ease the difficulty of listening in a noisy environment.

Try some of the suggestions in this article, and you may once again enjoy dining out, attending parties, and attending religious services. If you are still having difficulty hearing in noisy environments, ask your audiologist for advice.

There is a possibility that the settings on your devices can be adjusted. He or she may also be able to guide you in the right direction to purchase new devices or accessories.

Content adapted from the Healthy Hearing and Better Hearing Institute websites.

Dr. Bettie B. Borton is a licensed audiologist in Alabama, was the first board certified audiologist in Montgomery, served as National Chair of the American Board of Audiology, and has recently assumed her position as President of the American Academy of Audiology. Co-authored by Dr. Brittany Spahr and Casey Gonzalez, Doctoral Extern, LSUHSC. For more information please contact Doctors Hearing Clinic at (334) 396–1635. Content adapted from the Healthy Hearing and Better Hearing Institute websites.

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Fe at u re d A r t i st T h i s Month, Pamela Copeland Fine Art Arts Center in Panama City, selected pursued her true passion of art at “Capturing a fleeting moment is for the poster and merchandise the University the goal of my for the 2009 Downtown Festival of Alabama, work; whether of the Arts in Panama City, Florida Birmingham and it is the nervous and for the April 2009 cover of Lake the Birmingham anticipation of the Martin Living Magazine. Twice won Museum of Art. novice skier waiting the President’s Award at the Sarah Over the years, for the ski rope Townsend Art Colony and the Lake she has continued tug, the flickering, Martin Living Painting dancing color of Contest. Received the water in motion 2010 Merit Award at the or the quiet calm 9th Annual Panama City of the outdoors Cherry Stand, 16x20 oil on canvas Artists Show and Sale.

- vibrantly alive her study at the Sarah with light and form. I like to use Pamela has worked to Carlisle Towery Art Colony color opposites in my paintings to share her joy of painting under Patt Odom and Dot create a subtle tension. The tension through teaching classes Turnipseed Svendson, the represents the fleeting moments of at Big Brothers, Big Sisters Art at the Aspens under our lives that I want to share with of Northwest Florida Michelle Torrez, the other people while I still can.

Halta Got It, 30x22 acrylic on paper and the Boys and Girls Apalachicola Center for Club of LaGrange, Georgia. She is History, Culture and I work with both oil a member of the Montgomery Art Art under Lori Putnam and acrylic paints for Guild and Auburn Arts Association. and Bill Farnsworth, different reasons.

Her work can be seen at Gallery the Cultural Arts When I want my One, Montgomery, Alabama, Main Alliance of Walton painting to convey a Street Gallery of Art, Panama City, County under Kevin sense of energy, I work Florida and the Visual Arts Center of Tobin of Golden with acrylics since Northwest Florida.

Artist Colors and their rapid drying time individually with forces me to make Les Yarbrough, quick decisions. When Carol I want a painting to Oh Snap, 24x24 oil on canvas Hallock, Nan reflect broader and Cunningham and James more subtle feelings, I choose oils.

Richards.

The tactile feeling of the oils flowing from my brush, the smell of the Selected for 2013 Energen 13th paints and the sense of time passing Annual Art Show and 2013 waiting for a layer to dry gives me Montgomery Museum of Fine time to focus. While my art is a mere Arts 40th Museum Exhibition. echo of real life, it is the best voice Wood Chuck, 16x20 oil on canvas Best of Show 2011 Mexico that I have to share.”

Beach Art & Wine Festival, Honorable Visit Gallery One Fine Art Mention at the Jewels of 30A group Pamela began drawing at an early 423 Cloverdale Road, Montgomery, AL Gallery Director Sandi Aplin show at The Hidden Lantern Gallery, age. After graduating from the sandiaplin@aol.com 2011 People’s Choice Award for the University of Alabama’s Culverhouse 334.269.1114 48th Annual Bay Exhibit at the Visual School of Accountancy, she www.galleryonefineart.com

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The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

By Sandi Aplin

Art & Soul

Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts Celebrates 25 Years in the Blount Cultural Park

The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts was founded in 1930 as the first art museum in the State of Alabama under the name “Alabama Society of Fine Arts” and initially served as a general local history and art museum.

From 1930 to 1987, the Museum was located in downtown Montgomery in a publically-owned building that presented several challenges to adequately showing exhibitions.

In 1988, thanks to Winton M. Blount and his Montgomery-based corporation, Blount, Inc., a major construction firm, the Museum was invited to open a newly constructed facility joining the Alabama Shakespeare Festival in the recently created Blount Cultural Park in the eastern suburbs. The Blounts were financial supporters of the building campaign, but the subsequent gift on February 28, 1989 of forty-one American paintings from Blount, Inc. significantly expanded the size and quality of the permanent collection. The collection included paintings by thirtythree artists spanning more than two hundred years of art history and reflecting America’s diverse cultural heritage, instantly elevating the Museum’s holdings and making it one of the finest surveys of American painting in the Southeast.

The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

Since locating to the Blount Cultural Park, the Museum has undergone one renovation and two expansions.

The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday Noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free and donations are welcome. For more information, call the MMFA at 334.240.4333 or visit the website at www.mmfa.org Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts’ Junior Executive Board Hosts Second Annual Art in Concert

The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts’ Junior Executive Board will host the second annual Art in Concert on the lawn of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts on Friday, October 11, 2013 from 7 to 11 PM.

The concert will feature Alabama bands, St. Paul and the Broken Bones and Banditos. Pre-sale tickets, ending October 9, are available at mmfa.org for $10 and tickets at the door are $15. Chairs and blankets are welcome, but no outside food or drink is permitted. The event will feature a cash bar and food will be available for purchase. For more information, call 334.240.4333.

Proceeds of the event will benefit the Museum’s acquisitions, exhibitions, and education funds.

The MMFA, a department of the City of Montgomery, is supported by funds from the City of Montgomery and the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts Association. Programs are made possible, in part, by grants from the Alabama State Council on the Arts and the Hearst Foundations.

Exhibition Programs are supported by the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

Sandi Aplin, Director of Gallery One Fine Art A free lance writer living in Montgomery, Alabama www.galleryonefineart.com

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October 2013

{12 Things} for active boomers and beyond

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA

David Finckel and Wu Han in Concert Goodwyn Hall, AUM Campus Wednesday , October 2, 7:30-9:30 David Finckel, cellist, and Wu Tan, pianist, will perform “Russian Reflections” featuring sonatas by Prokofiev, Rachmaninov and Scriabin.

A feast for the ears and a cultural awakening! Visit www.liberalarts. aum.edu/events. This is a free concert!

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA Old Alabama Tavern Fest North Hull Street, Montgomery Friday October 4, 6-10PM

Celebrate history with live music, food, dancing, and craft beer tasting.

This festival takes over the historic North Hull Street in front of Lucas Tavern, making room for bands, tents, great food

by Jennie Weldon Catering and a silent auction where you can bid on a myriad of goodies.

Musical entertainment will be provided by the Goat Hill String Band. Gates open at 6. For more info call 334-240-45—or visit www.oldalabamatown.com

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA

Alabama National Fair Garrett Coliseum, Montgomery Friday October 4 thru Sunday October 13 Who can resist a trip to the fair? Whether it is the homemade fudge, the candy apples, the rides, the livestock or the live music, you can’t miss a night on the midway. This year’s musical talent includes Josh Turner, Foreigner and Ronnie Milsap. The midway opens at 4PM on Friday. www.alanationalfair.org

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MOBILE, ALABAMA

Bay Fest Downtown Mobile Friday thru Sunday, October 4-6

Alabama’s largest music festival features over 125 live musical acts including Hunter Hayes, Three Days Grace, The Zac Brown Band and Little Big town for three days and nights on the streets of historic downtown Mobile. There is music for every age plus food from local vendors. Head down to Mobile and join the fun! For more information visit www.bayfest.com

HOOVER, ALABAMA

50th Annual Bluff Park Art Show Cloudland Drive and Savoy Street, Hoover, AL Saturday October 5, 9AM-5PM Come up to Hoover and meet local and not-so-local artists while browsing through booths in the wooded park atmosphere.

You might come home with some new treasures. Proceeds from the show support the arts in the greater Birmingham community, For more info visit www. bluffparkartshow.com

GULF SHORES, ALABAMA

NATIONAL SHRIMP FESTIVAL Gulf Shores, Alabama Thursday through Sunday, October 10-13 One of the nation’s premiere outdoor festivals, this fun weekend features more than 250 artists, plenty of crafts and unique gift items plus a huge retail food market with many flavors to sample…and or course, lots and lots of shrimp. For info and details visit www. alagulfcoastchamber.com

The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA

Montgomery Ballet’s World Premiere performance of “Phantom of the Opera” Davis Theater Friday, October 11, 7:30 – 9:30 Choreographed by Darren McIntyre, this world premiere performance features local dancers as well as professionals from Montgomery Ballet’s corps. This is a timeless story and will be a performance to remember. Don’t miss the experience! For ticket information call 334-409-0522 or visit www.montgomeryballet.org

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

Break n Bread Railroad Park, 1600 1st Avenue South Sunday October 14, 1-5PM Since 2005, Break n Bread has been an anticipated local event featuring signature dishes from Birmingham’s best local restaurants. There are also local brews, imported and domestic beers, wines and soft drinks available for the thirsty.

Continuing the tradition of “all things local”, farmers will bring their produce offerings to a market on site where you can buy seasonal, fresh produce and homemade goodies. Live animals from the Birmingham Zoo will be there to fascinate the little ones. Rounding out the experience will be live music to entertain all. General Admission Tickets (Age 19+) $50; Young Adult Tickets (12-18) $20; children Under 12 – FREE! For information visit www.birminghamoriginals.org.

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA

The Beach Boys in Concert Montgomery Performing Arts Center, 201 Tallapoosa St. Wednesday, October 16, 7:30-9:30 For more than 50 years, the Beach Boys have been spreading good vibrations around the world. They have sold over 100 million records and headlined thousands of tours. They’re members of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and you would be hard pressed to find anyone who doesn’t love their nostalgic sound.

For ticket information visit www.mpaconline.org/events The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA

Annual Zoo Boo Montgomery Zoo, 2310 Coliseum Parkway Thursday – Sunday October 17-20 and Thursday – Thursday October 24-31, 6-9PM Bring the kids, grandkids, or borrow some kids for this fun alternative to trick-or-treating. The zoo is transformed into a not-too-scary world of games, treats and costumed characters. There is also a haunted ride sure to make you squeal! For more information call 334-2900 or visit www.montgomeryzoo.com

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA

ArmsChair Concert – Tribute to Eric Clapton Kiwanis Park, 301 Columbus Street Friday, October 18, 7-9:30

Join the Alabama roots Music Society for this great tribute performance featuring music by Eric Clapton performed by the local and fabulous blues band, Spike Graham. Bring lawn chairs, blankets and your own refreshments for a great evening under the stars. Admission is $2 per person with children under 12 admitted free. Visit www.oldalabamatown.com for more information.

MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA

Junior League Holiday Market Multiplex at Cramton Bowl, Madison Avenue Thursday October 19-Saturday October 19, 9AM-9PM It’s here!!!

Four days of shopping fun in a new location this year. You will walk into a gift-buying paradise and be awed by unique items from vendors all over the country. There will be live entertainment from local children, a café, cooking demonstrations and lots of free samples. Make your Christmas and birthday lists and wear some comfortable shoes – you will shop til you drop! For more information visit www.jlmontgomery.org

It ’s a Great Time to Be Booming!

Please submit any events/pictures to jim@riverregionboom.com

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From The Mayor of BOOMTOWN

By Greg Budell

“POSTAL GOING” Is it just me, or are you starting more sentences with “things were better when” too?

I’m just trying to figure out why I look forward to my daily walk to the mail box when most days, there won’t be anything in it worth the walk to pick it up. There might even be something I’ll regret (HELLO IRS!) lurking inside.

I’m usually home around 10 AM after my morning show. I walk the dogs fix a bite to eat, and then enjoy a brief, strand-of-drool nap. At 11:40, I begin my second wake-up of the day, start a pot of coffee and head for the mail box.

We have one of those neighborhood boxes, a central location serving 20 homes. This allows the mailman to stop, quickly insert mail into all the wrong compartments and allow us to sort it out later at our “Whose Mail Is This?” parties.

It brings us together!

Most days, I open the little metal door only to find the 438th offer to refinance my house, an offer (or two) to obtain a credit card from a company where I already have an account and a handful of true junk mail- an unwieldy wad of loosely combined coupons for oil changes and life insurance bundled inside one big flyer from a store where I never shop. Rare is the day where I walk back in the house with something that survived the garbage can I pass on the way back in the house.

I laugh every time the “No More Saturday Mail” stories pop up. There is a hue and cry over dropping the 6th day, but why? When there is good stuff, a favorite magazine, the occasional check or greeting card, it never comes on Saturday anyway. The USPS is losing billions so they’re going to have to cut somewhere. I am mentally prepared for this eventuality.

I recently had a guest on my talk show who predicted the end of home mail delivery.

Only overnight packages or registered mail will be sent to homes. What mail there is will have to be picked up at postal “malls.” The cost of daily delivery will become prohibitive.

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WARNING! MEMORY LANE ALERT! When I was 10, I loved comic books which cost all of 12 CENTS at the news stand. You could subscribe to Superman and Batman and get 12 issues - a year’s worth - delivered to your house for ONE DOLLAR! It was great! At one point I must have had 20 subscriptions going (a new one every time I could lift a buck out of Dad’s wallet). They’d come in a brown wrapper with a white label and some days there would be 3 or 4 on the kitchen table where Mom put the mail. It was heaven!

In my teens, I graduated from comic books to sports publications. A year’s worth of maildelivered Sports Illustrated cost $2.97 cents (one issue costs more than that today...lol… damn I am old). So I had a bunch of those going too.

I still subscribe to those magazines but not because I read them religiously. It just guarantees I’ll get something besides crap in the mailbox a couple times a month! Like most sports geeks, I get my information immediately from that little invention called the Internet.

I don’t know the name of the guy who stops at our neighborhood mailboximinium.

He’s fast. He deals the letters into the slots with a Vegas touch and bolts. He never looks happy although I’ve only seen him at 35MPH in his truck.

Don’t you think you should know the person who is bringing your catalogues, coupons and Cosmopolitans?

Going way back, George was our mailman for over 25 years back on 77th place in Chicago. Our neighborhood loved the guy. When it was hot, there were plenty of folks offering cold drinks, and when he was tramping through snow on a 5 degree morning, 77th place was his personal

Starbucks. Short of having him for dinner on Thanksgiving, George was family. He knew everyone’s name and the names of their kids.

I think it was against USPS policy, but I know he eventually accepted holiday gratuities for his service- and that’s what it was - service.

He’d take your letters to save you a trip to the mailbox, or mail a package for you and collect postage the next day. He was GPS within the USPS. When he retired, the neighborhood collected $500 and bought him a Marshall Fields gift certificate.

Postcards are dying off too. Only 5% of travelers send them anymore. The other 95% are showing off their Key West holiday on their Facebook page or in a picture on your iPhone within seconds. Nobody visiting Florida is sending back a card picturing an alligator playfully pulling down a woman’s bikini bottom. Not anymore.

On a recent Susan and Greg morning show (Newstalk 93.1 FM), we discussed all this and decided that e-cards, iPhones and Facebook posts will never substitute for a handwritten envelope containing a greeting card. The extra effort to buy a card and postage says something to the recipient.

“You’re worth it!” With the end of year holidays coming, I plan to send out more Hallmark moments in 2013 and give the USPS something to deliver beside Kohl’s discount cards.

One question. Am I a hypocrite if I skip the line at the post office and buy my postage at stamps dot com?

Greg Budell lives in Montgomery with his dog Hershey. He’s a 25 year veteran of radio who hosts the Greg & Susan morning show 6-9 am and Happy Hour 3-6 pm on NEWSTALK 93.1, Greg can be reached at gregbudell@aol.com

The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

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October 2013

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The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine