On Vacation, no blog until Tuesday....

I am enjoying the above, taking a break from blogging for the next few days, will return on Tuesday.

Aquatic Therapy/Exercise/Personal Training

Aquatic Therapy


Aquabilities/Blandon


In certain conditions, utilizing the water enables the individual to have additional options in movement. Aqua therapy focuses on postural alignment, neuromuscular control and function as we progress the individual through decreasing pain, increasing range of motion, strengthening muscles, and increasing cardiovascular and muscular endurance.

Hydro tones

I do exercises using these hydro tones. Hydro-Tone Bells are great for upper body strengthening and abdominal conditioning. Increase speed to increase intensity. Highest drag resistance of any similar device.

Aquaflex Paddles

I also use these paddles with adjustable fan blades to vary resistance. They help build upper body strength.


Aqua Trend Unit

I do tummy tucks on this apparatus. I do not hold onto the upper bar as in this photo, because I have cervical spine and shoulder injuries.

The water temperature is usually around 88 degrees Fahrenheit, and it is soooo soothing, easing pain. I love the hanging in the deep end, it is so relaxing.

While in therapy I met a lovely young lady from Hamburg, PA who has been in a wheel chair her entire life. She has never walked on land, and yet she is able to walk in the water. She exercises several times a week in the water. She once told me that she often jokes that if the Schuylkill River ever floods the town of Hamburg, she will finally be able to walk all around town.

I think it is just wonderful that she is able to walk in the water. I have also seen head injury patients learn to walk again in the water. Aquatic therapy may not be for everyone, if the pool is heated. If a person is on medication that prevents them from going into a heated pool, then they may call ahead and ask the gym if the pool is at the right temperature for them. I was told by other swimmers at Aquabilities, that there are other indoor gym pools in the area that are much cooler.

At Aquabilities there are exercise classes that many seniors take advantage of. Exercising in the water is easier on joints, and the warm water is soothing for those with arthritis.

I actually have lost weight while exercising at Aquabilities. I love it, and hope to continue this type of exercise my whole life long.

How Technology Has Changed Since I Was A Little Girl

The following is another excerpt from a series of letters to my first grandchild...

Dearest Emily,

I am writing this letter so you can see how technology has made a difference in the interaction of our family members. When I was born in 1951 we did not have many of the everyday appliances you have today and the ones we did have worked in a much different way.

In your home today you have a color television, VCR, cordless and cell phone which have buttons to push, video camera, CD player, microwave, automatic clothes dryer, automatic clothes washing machine, dishwasher, blender, food processor, hand held hairdryer, curling irons, electric curlers, video games, air conditioners, overhead ceiling fans, computers, CD players in cars, radios that work without being plugged in, pantyhose, permanent press clothing, cable television, satellite television, the Internet, many more varieties of food, precooked dinners, clothing, toys, fast food restaurants with drive up windows...drive up windows of any kind, and I am sure there are many things I may have missed.

Even the fact that most of your Mommy's shopping is done in a Mall/Shopping Center is different from when I was a little girl. The town that I grew up in was Phillipsburg, NJ. Phillipsburg, is a medium size town that lies on the Northwest border of New Jersey. The Delaware River runs between Phillipsburg and the city of Easton, Pennsylvania. Easton was where we did most of our shopping and I can remember having fun riding the escalator in Laubach's Department Store. We rode the bus to Center Square, and shopped at Orr's, Woolworth's, Green's, John's Bargain Store, and The Surprise Store. Eventually shopping in downtown Easton was replaced by shopping centers. A real sad day for Easton, and me. I loved shopping there especially at Christmas time with the Salvation Army Santa ringing his bell on the corner, and sparkling colored lights hanging across the street from lamp post to lamp post.

My family and I lived in a small half of a double home in Phillipsburg when I was born. At the time of my birth I was my parents third child and second girl. Our home was very old and didn't have the modern conveniences our neighbor's homes had. We had no inside toilet, no hot water heater, and an old coal furnace that couldn't even keep the kitchen warm.

In the kitchen we had a wood burning stove for heat also. There was an outhouse built into the mud porch and it had two wooden seats and it didn't flush like your toilet does and it smelled real bad. We used a galvanized steel tub to bathe in and washed our hair in the kitchen sink. Mom would heat water in a kettle on the wood stove and pour this into the tub and add cold water to make it comfortable to bathe in. She would do the same in an enamel basin in the sink to wash our hair. She even gave us permanent waves in our hair using this same method for rinsing out the solution from our hair.

Dad eventually installed a flush toilet in an upstairs closet. We got our first hot water heater and real bath tub in 1958 when we moved to a nice house in the near by suburb of Alpha.

That good ole galvanized tub came to good use for other things too. It was used on wash day for rinsing the clothes that dropped from the wringer of her "automatic" washing machine. It was run by electricity thus by giving it the name "automatic." But it was a great deal harder to wash clothes then with that "automatic" machine than the washers we use today.

First, my Mom would wheel it over to the sink, attached it's hose to the spigot, put the larger drain hose in the sink to get rid of the pumped out dirty water, and then plug in the electric cord (which most likely was attached to a fire hazard extension cord, as many rooms only had one electric socket ... if any at all). If she wanted to use hot water, it was heated in the kettle and then poured in by hand. If my memory serves me right she usually did this first to dissolve the powdered detergent, and then added the cold from the spigot.

The clothes would swish back and forth for several minutes and then Mom would take each piece of clothing one at a time and put it through the wringer which was loosened and turned to the side where the clothes would then drop into the galvanized steel tub with the rinse water. Once they were all in there she would turn the wringer in another direction over the laundry basket and then put all those rinsed clothes through the wringer again into the basket.

In the back yard was a clothesline and there Mom stood and hung each piece by hand and prayed the weather would be nice enough to dry them. When we were old enough to help, we hung the clothes out for Mom. Well, I believe we got our first real automatic washing machine in approximately 1966 and soon after an automatic clothes dryer. We then began to use liquid detergent, fabric softener, and dryer sheets. Housework was beginning to become easier.

Mom cooked all the food by hand, and had no precooked dinners that can be popped into the micro wave. I can remember Mom's first cake mix, TV dinner, and making milk shakes and all sorts of new things using her new blender. We bought Mom her first microwave in 1984. Wow, were we all impressed with a baked potato in nine minutes. In the old days it took about an hour to bake a potato in a conventional oven. Baked potatoes were a rare thing in the hot summer months.

Hot summer months were made cooler by a pan of ice cubes sitting in front of an oscillating fan. The fan moved from left to right and back again blowing hopefully cooler air towards anything in it's direct path. Wow, were we impressed and delighted when we got our first air conditioner during the summer of 1967.



Wow, the day when my Dad brought home our first TV in 1954 we were thrilled. He held a prism plastic screen up to it so we could see colors...but not the right colors. We got our first color TV around 1964. Our family had only one car until 1956 when Dad bought a 1955 Ford pickup truck. We got a rotary telephone in 1958 and this was our first telephone. I can remember the day Mom had our first push button telephone, and I added our first answering machine in 1992.



We washed and dried dishes by hand until 1978 when I gave Mom my dishwasher that I purchased in 1976. I can remember the first car wash, hula hoop, pet rock, Rubik's cube, paper dresses, plastic curtains, video game, talking doll, transistor radio, boom box, eight track tape player, & CD player. We used to play records on a record player and in my parents luncheonette we had a juke box that played records when you inserted a nickel.

Well, dear Emily, Grammy could go on and on and on, telling you about the many new inventions that have changed our lives, but I want to tell you something that came with these inventions that I feel made life have a darker side.

Families were closer when I was a child, at least my family was. Mom stayed home to do all of those chores for her family. She was there when we came home from school and there to send us off in the morning.

We all played outdoors together. There were only three stations on the TV and they didn't even run 24 hours a day. We didn't watch TV very often. We jumped rope, wiggled inside a hula hoop, played baseball, tag, and a game called pies.

Pies was a real fun big bad wolf game where the baker (a kid) would name the pies (other kids) and then the wolf came to the baker's door (the kid's back) and knock...then the baker turned around and asked the wolf what he wanted and he would say the name of a pie....if it was your pie name, you started to run and the wolf would chase you ...if you made it safely back to the baker and sat down where you were sitting before ...you would be safe and the kid who was the wolf would still be the wolf, but if he caught you ...you became the wolf! Playing "Pies" was a lot of fun and good exercise. Hope you and your friends try it sometime?

We became very close to our neighborhood friends and their families. There was a set dinner time and we ate together as a family. We went to Sunday school on Sunday and said prayers in school. We conversed with God and He looked out for us. And we felt safe in school, at home and playing in the street.

Yes, we have too much in this world today to distract us from being a close knit family that shares day to day experiences. It is my greatest hope that you can learn something from this letter. Perhaps to revive one little simple thing from my childhood, like playing pies!


With all my love,
Grammy Diane

HE Gave Me Jennifer

HE Gave Me Jennifer

It really seems so long ago.
when I would spend
most every night-
engrossed in deep thought
of a meaningful poem that
I could write.

Now I spend each and every
precious hour-
with a dear sweet child who is as
innocent as a Spring flower,
that blooms into life, to make
my heart gay,
after the harsh and cold weariness
of a long winter day.

She has brought me a happiness
that could be brought by none other.
Now I know how to need, feel, and love
like a mother.

Oh, Lord, Thank You, for Jennifer,
my dear sweet child
who is as beautiful
as in the Springtime
the Flocks that grow wild-
that bloom into life to
make my heart gay
after the harsh and cold
weariness of a long winter day.

I wrote this on February 20, 1975

On Sunday, August 25, 1974 at approximately 8:00 PM, I was watching the Disney Daniel Boone television show starring Fess Parker when I began to feel labor pains. Later on the pains were much stronger and closer together, so my now ex-husband Ron and I headed to Easton Hospital in Wilson Borough, PA. At that time we had lived on E. Central Avenue in Alpha, NJ.

Early the next morning Dr. Bisset ordered an X-Ray to see why I had not dilated enough to give birth, as the labor pains had been so strong and close together. At around noon time I was told that I was being wheeled up to the operating room and they were performing an emergency C-Section.

I gave birth at 1:23 PM on August 26, 1974 to a baby girl. Later in the week a cleaning lady told me that my sisters Irene, and Ruth Ann were jumping up and down and screaming when they heard the news. Up until that time we had three nephews and there were no nieces. I named her Jennifer after the actress Jennifer O'Neal, and her middle name Marie was the same as my mother's middle name.

The following few days were the scariest of my life. Immediately after returning to my room, I could not move my body, I felt paralyzed. Once that wore off, and I was helped to the bathroom, I bled profusely. Two days later I had to have a blood transfusion. I developed a fever that escalated to 104.6, and the nurses gave me an ice cold alcohol bath for a total of thirty minutes.

I did not get to hold my new baby girl for six days. I wanted to breast feed so I had to pump my breasts. The IV infiltrated and my left arm blew up like a balloon, and was extremely painful.

On September 1, 1974 I was able to return home with my new baby girl. My sister Ruth Ann spent the next few days with me. I can remember feeling inadequate and scared. I shared my feelings with Ruth Ann, and she agreed. We both were apprehensive about caring for this precious new life. We did it though, with tender loving care. The day her umbilical cord fell off and bled a little , we definitely freaked out. I called the doctor who said it was normal.

One day in February of 1975 when Jennifer was almost six months old I had an epiphany while changing her diaper. It suddenly occurred to that one day she would no longer need me to care for her. I felt like there was a hole in my heart. It was at that moment that I sat down and wrote the above poem for my lovely little daughter.

The harsh winter day that I speak of in the poem, was my marriage to Jennifer's father. I had a horrible marriage to a philandering alcoholic who spent every penny on his obsessions. He verbally abused me whenever he had the chance. It was the most horrible five years of my life, and giving birth to Jennifer was the only event that made this marriage have purpose. Caring for Jennifer, and giving and receiving her love made life bearable.

Throughout the years to come, we have had our ups and downs, the same as most parents and children. She has since given me three beautiful grandchildren who always bring joy to my life. A few years ago she went to school to become a Phlebotomist, and loves this line of work. GOD certainly knew what a joy a child would be in my life when HE gave me Jennifer.













Jennifer with her husband Ariel at Child's Park in the Poconos where they live.


Lyrics to the background song Jennifer Juniper sung by Donovan

JENNIFER JUNIPER
Donovan

Jennifer Juniper lives upon the hill,
Jennifer Juniper, sitting very still.
Is she sleeping ? I don't think so.
Is she breathing ? Yes, very low.
Whatcha doing, Jennifer, my love ?
Jennifer Juniper, rides a dappled mare,
Jennifer Juniper, lilacs in her hair.
Is she dreaming ? Yes, I think so.
Is she pretty ? Yes, ever so.
Whatcha doing, Jennifer, my love ?
I'm thinking of what it would be like if she loved me.
You know just lately this happy song it came along
And I like to somehow try and tell you.
Jennifer Juniper, hair of golden flax.
Jennifer Juniper longs for what she lacks.
Do you like her ? Yes, I do, Sir.
Would you love her ? Yes, I would, Sir.
Whatcha doing Jennifer, my love ?
Jennifer Juniper, Jennifer Juniper, Jennifer Juniper.
Jennifer Juniper vit sur la colline,
Jennifer Juniper assise trs tranquille.
Dort-elle ? Je ne crois pas.
Respire-t-elle ? Oui, mais tout bas.
Qu'est-ce que tu fais, Jenny mon amour ?
Jennifer Juniper, Jennifer Juniper, Jennifer Juniper.

Funny Little Songs That My Mother Sang

When we were little our mother who loved to sing, and she sang many funny little songs to us. One of these was Mairzy Doats. She never explained that she was singing mares eat oats, and does eat oats, and little lambs eat ivy. I always thought it was a just a silly bunch of jumbles up crazy words, but I always loved when she sang it.

At first glance the song's refrain, as written on the sheet music, seems to be meaningless:

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey

A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

Mairzy doats and dozy doats and liddle lamzy divey

A kiddley divey too, wouldn't you?

However, the lyrics of the bridge provide a clue:

If the words sound queer and funny to your ear, a little bit jumbled and jivey,

Sing "Mares eat oats and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy."

With this aid, the refrain is quite easily comprehended, and the ear will detect the hidden message of the final line: "A kid'll eat ivy too, wouldn't you?"

The song was written by Milton Drake, Al Hoffman, and Jerry Livingston in 1943. Milton Drake's daughter came home reciting a English nursery rhyme. According to this story, Drake's four-year-old daughter came home singing "Cowzy tweet and sowzy tweet and liddle sharksy doisters." (Cows eat wheat and sows eat wheat and little sharks eat oysters.)

Another song she would sing was one of fractured lyrics. The song was Chattanooga Choo Choo, and she would sing it this way, "Pardon me Roy is that the cat who chewed your new shoe?"

Another of the fractured lyrics songs was Let Me Call You Sweetheart, and she sang it this way, "Let me call you sweetheart I'm in love with your machine, let me hear you whisper that you'll buy some gasoline, keep your headlights burning, and your hands upon the wheel. Let me call you sweetheart, I'm in love with your automobile"

Some of the other songs she sang were endearing to her children, such as Good Night Irene, and My Buddy. She sang them to my sister Irene and my brother Buddy. She had a pretty voice, and it was truly wonderful growing up in a home with a mother who sang.

Then there were the silly ones she learned from a family friend Donald Ebersol. My Mother Bought A Chicken and it wouldn't lay an egg, so she poured hot water up and down its leg, oh the little Chickie squawked, and the little Chickie begged, and the little Chickie laid a hard boiled egg. The other one Donald taught her was, My Mother Bought A Chicken and she thought it was a duck and she threw it on the table with its feet sticking up, then she slammed it on the floor and kicked it out the door and she never bought a chicken for a duck any more. These were sung to the tune of Turkey In The Straw.

I have carried these songs with me my whole life through, these precious silly little songs our mother sang to us, and I hope to pass them on to the next generation.

God sent his Singers upon earth

With songs of sadness and of mirth,

That they might touch the hearts of men,

And bring them back to heaven again.

~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow