How Old is Old

You know you’re getting old when you see this romantic beach scene with a table, chairs, lace cabana, hanging lights, tablecloth, napkins, wine glasses, twelve course meal and all you think is “It would take three mules and a land rover to haul that back and forth.”

I’ve never seen a picture of a dog or cat dressed in a costume that it didn’t look like it wanted to bite the hand that feeds it.

Scott Caravello rocks!  Cares enough to manage his customers’ entire prescription needs when they either don’t know how or are too sick AND cares enough to volunteer and support others.  

I hope I never grow too old to love clouds.

I’m thankful my internal brain to mouth filter works and for the times it doesn’t I apologize.

How old do you have to be before you know sleeping outdoors in a hammock isn’t romantic, its painful and buggy?

Do you ever talk to a perfect flower and ask it to never go away – ever? 

Have you stopped to realize just how many local people volunteer for worthy causes?  We are a society of caring people – at least in our neck of the woods.  Take the test:  Name fifty local people who have volunteered in the past 12 months.  I’m betting you could up it to a hundred.  Telling them “thanks” never hurts.

Here’s a shout out to all those preservationist who keep our beautiful prairie plants from disappearing.  Talking about you, Kathy Huffman!

I’m excited about the new Illinois state vegetable:  Sweet corn.  How obvious.  How perfect.  How corn fed.  How like every little farmer kid roadside stand.  How the best summer vegetable EVER.

You can tell the Midwest is into eating because every festival is centered on the local food of choice:  Hog, rhubarb, bacon, beef, corn boil and more.

The reason old people get discouraged is they see things coming around again – those things they did when young and learned the hard way.

A repeat:  Never enlarge your gardens and flowerbeds when you’re young larger than you can maintain when old.

Taking a Sunday sightseeing drive still appeals to those that love a relaxing interlude at someone else’s backbreaking work.

Talcum powder was used by the Victorians prior to deodorants and air conditioning.  It’s still a wonderful product on days when the humidity and temperature is in the 90s.

It’s about Northerners thinking Southerners are crazy for living in all that heat and humidity and Southerners thinking Northerners are crazy for living in all that snow and cold.  Both are a little bit right.

If you have a good township road commissioner, you are fortunate.  We are fortunate to have Ron Werkheiser.

Trees are not planted for us; they are planted for our grandchildren’s generation.

Just because an old person’s garden is a little ragged doesn’t mean they don’t know gardening.  They have common sense knowledge you can’t have without living it; it’s the body that’s letting us down.

Jason Bates is the kind of example of a good man every child should hear about.  He’s made caring for people, who can do nothing for him, a passion and our area is better for having him.

We may have been in the older crowd at the Back Road Music Festival but we sure did have fun.  Thanks to  Nick Grafelman and Tyler Glazer and their many hard working volunteers.

A parent that instills fear instead of knowledge of nature is robbing their children of a lifetime of wonder and joy.

DNA testing is all the rage for both medical and fun reasons.  I’m sure every died-in-the-wool Midwesterner has DNA indicating a love of four seasons.  It’s the gene that speeds the heart at the first snowfall, first spring tulip, first autumn leaf to fall and first neighborhood wiener roast. 

That Midwestern gene is the same one that makes an old person put up a Christmas wreath every winter, plant tulip bulbs every fall, put annuals in a pot every summer and plant pansies every spring.

I’m good with the new state pie being pumpkin.  I composted my Halloween pumpkins last year and now have a very healthy vine adorning the fence.

If you are “into gardening” and are getting old, consider digging up divisions of some of your beautiful perennials, asking some young gardeners over and letting them pick what they want.  Legacy can mean giving a living plant from your heart to their garden; It’s a special kind of love.