Prime April 2015

Celebrating Midlife and Beyond

FREE FOR YOU April 2015

and: When friends & family ask for money...

Prime12 WarBabies

who entertainedAmerica

Robert De Niro • Faye DunawayCarole King • Bob Dylan

& others...

April 2015 | www.primemontgomery.com

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Editor’s Notes

Quick Reads

Yard ‘n GardenRoyalty in the garden

A Gracious PlentyCheesecake!

MoneyWi$eCan I borrow some money?

Our HistoryDo you know these people?

In Every Life Sinus wars

Health at 50, 60 & 70 Where should you be?

Moving Your Parents InWhat you need to know

Social Security Your ex-spouse & taxes

Voices of Change12 War Babies entertain us

Oxford, U.K.Adult study-abroad.

Puzzles

Tinseltown Talks “Keeping up Appearances”

Excuses, Excuses... Overcoming reasons not to exercise

Finding an Auto Repair Shop 7 questions to aid your search

Medicare

Comparing Nursing Homes

April DVD Releases

Calendar

Off the Beaten PathThe lucky ones

4

6

8

9

10

12

13

14

16

18

20

24

27

28

30

32

33

35

37

38

The movies and music of the so-called “War Babies,” (born 1939 to 1945), have entertained us for decades. We offer a quick look at a dozen whose careers continue to have an impact on our lives (page 20).(Cover photo: Petr Novák, via Wikimedia Commons)

Table of Contents

Celebrating Midlife and Beyond

FREE FOR YOU April 2015

and: When friends & family ask for money...

Prime12 WarBabies

who entertainedAmerica

Robert DeNiro • Faye DunawayCarole King • Bob Dylan

& others...

April 2015

Are excuses killing your exercise plan? These eight tips can help counter thosenagging voices (page 30).

April 2015 | www.primemontgomery.com4

EDITOR’S NOTE

If you’re 50+ and on Facebook, become a fan of PRIME Montgomery!

PrimeMONTGOMERY

April 2015 Vol. 6, Issue 1

PUBLISHERBob Corley, [email protected]

EDITORSandra Polizos, [email protected]

ART DIRECTORCallie Corley, [email protected]

WRITERSJackie Dishner, Andrea Gross,

Brian Hayden, Liza Kaufman Hogan,Richard Pells, Lisa M. Petsche

CONTRIBUTORS

Niko Corley, Mark Glass,Kylle’ McKinney, Lynette Morse,

Bob Moos, Arlene Morris,Nick Thomas, Alan Wallace

PHOTOGRAPHERSIrv Green, Wiki Commons (various)

SALESBob Corley • 334-202-0114

[email protected] McFarland, • [email protected]

Prime Montgomery7956 Vaughn Road, #144

Montgomery, AL 36116 • 334-202-0114www.primemontgomery.com

ISSN 2152-9035

Prime Montgomery is a publication of The Polizos/Cor-ley Group, LLC. Original content is copyright 2014 by The Polizos/Corley Group, LLC., all rights reserved, with replication of any portion prohibited without written permission. Opinions expressed are those of contribut-ing writer(s) and not necessarily those of The Polizos/Corley Group, LLC.Prime Montgomery is published monthly except for the combined issue of December/January. Information in articles, departments, columns, and other content areas, as well as advertisements, does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by Prime Montgom-ery magazine. Items relating to health, finances, and legal issues are not offered as substitutes for the advice and consultation of health, financial, and legal professionals. Consult properly degreed and licensed professionals when dealing with financial, medical, emotional, or legal matters. We accept no liability for errors or omissions, and are not responsible for advertiser claims.

Photographs have always been a part of our lives, whether tak-ing them or viewing them. We all

remember our parents snapping away at family reunions and vacations, often to the embarrassment of us children.When George Eastman developed the

“Kodak” — arguably the first consumer film camera — it ushered in an exciting era of documenting the world around us with, at the time, unimaginable ease. Preloaded at the factory, the “Kodak” was returned intact for processing, tak-ing that complicated and laborious task out of the hands of amateurs.My father was the quintessential amateur photographer — going so far as to

process and enlarge his own black and white photos in the late 1940s. We still have a suitcase full of those blowups somewhere, along with boxes of slides and countless photo albums. They not only document the people Dad photo-graphed — they also bear witness to his own life: evidence of the places he went, people he met, and events he wanted to remember. With our parents gone now, my siblings and I are very thankful for the seem-

ing endless moments we were forced to stand still, smile, and pose for Dad’s obligatory picture — before opening Christmas presents, before jumping in the surf, before taking that bite of birthday cake. Frozen moments in time, reluc-tantly offered, they are now precious memories.I love to pull out even older family photos, looking for clues to new truths that

might be revealed. Where is Mookie (Bob’s grandmother) going in that horse-drawn wagon in Dothan? How was business the day my grandad stood behind the counter of his first restaurant in Cordele, Georgia? Could my 15-year-old Pop have possibly imagined the future in store for him, when he solemnly stared into a camera lens 83 years ago on his native island of Skopelos, Greece?It is with great pride that Prime has partnered with the Alabama Department

of Archives and History to bring a series of photographs to our readers in hopes of identifying those who stare out at us from the past. It’s often diffi-cult to realize the faces we see from decades, even centuries, past, were living, breathing individuals whose countenances are forever captured in time.You likely have your own family photos tucked in drawers or neatly arranged

in albums. If you’re lucky enough to have an elderly family member around, have them identify the people in the photos — just as we’re attempting to do with Archives. Too many names and faces are lost to time because someone failed to note who they where, where they were, and what they were doing.Think of a photograph — whether from film or captured as a digital file — as

a window in time. It’s a privilege, gazing into the past at that particular split second when someone’s face was captured. Go a step further and treat the moment with the respect it deserves, by making the effort to identify the face you’re looking into.I hope you all have a happy April. This month is Prime’s sixth birthday — how

quickly it’s gone by!

Sandra PolizosEditor

www.primemontgomery.com | April 2015

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QUICK READS

6

Hurricanes require moisture, the rotation of earth, and warm ocean temperatures to grow from a mere atmospheric disturbance into a tropical storm. But where do these storm cells originate, and exactly what makes an atmospheric disturbance amp up full throttle?

A new study by Tel Aviv University Prof. Colin Price finds most hurricanes over the Atlantic that eventually make landfall in North America actu-ally start as intense thunderstorms in Western Africa.

“Eighty-five percent of the most intense hur-ricanes affecting the U.S. and Canada start off as disturbances in the atmosphere over Western Africa," says Prof. Price.

According to Price, only ten percent of the 60 disturbances originating in Africa every year turn into hurricanes. And while there are around 90 hurricanes globally every year, only ten develop in the Atlantic Ocean.

"We wanted to know what was so special about these 10% of disturbances that develop into hurricanes,” said Price. “Was there some-thing different about these storms at their genesis?”

"If we can predict a hurricane one or two weeks in advance -- the entire lifespan of a hur-ricane -- imagine how much better prepared cit-ies and towns can be to meet these phenomena head on," Prof. Price says. He is currently examin-ing the thunderstorm clusters around the eyes of hurricanes to study the intensification process of those destructive phenomena.

— American Friends of Tel Aviv University, via ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com

Questions to Ask About BP MedsTaking charge of your healthcare can be

as simple as asking questions. Here are some to consider if you’re taking, or are being prescribed, medications to lower your blood pressure.n What’s the name of my blood pres-

sure medication?n It is brand name or generic? (This

can affect the cost.)n Should I be on a diuretic (water

pill)?n What are the possible side

effects of this blood pressure medicine?

n Are there foods, beverages or di-etary supplements to avoid when taking this medicine?

n What should I do if I forget to take my blood pressure medication?

— Scientific American, Health After 50, www.healthafter50.com/alerts/

Easy Reading = Better UnderstandingThe size and type of font used to present health infor-

mation, and the words used to describe it, can engage or discourage readers, indicates new research by the U. of Manchester and Leeds Beckett University, UK. When a program title was easy to pronounce and the informa-tion sheet presented in an easy-to-read font, study par-ticipants perceived the program to be less complex and easier to understand. When the same information was presented in a more awkward style, it was seen as more complex, less understandable, and participants were less likely to follow the recommendations of the program. The study concluded that practitioners should present participant information sheets in a clear manner if they are to maximize the program’s value to its intended recipients.

“In reality, such information is presented in all man-ner of styles, fonts and formats,” said lead researched Dr. Andrew Manley, “and we wanted use this study to explore just how much this impacts on people’s level of understanding and engagement. When it comes to people engaging with written information related to their health and wellbeing, it is vital that it is presented in the most accessible format.”

— Manchester University, via ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com

African Thunderstorms Breeding Atlantic Hurricanes?


Sleep Loss & Blood PressurePeople exposed to prolonged

periods of shortened sleep have significant increases in blood pres-sure during nighttime hours, Mayo Clinic researchers report in a small study of eight participants.

“We know high blood pressure, particularly during the night, is one of the major risk factors for heart disease, and Americans typically do not get enough sleep,” says lead author Naima Covassin, Ph.D. “For the first time, we demonstrated that insufficient sleep causes in-creases in nighttime blood pressure and dampens nocturnal blood pres-sure dipping by using a controlled study that mimics the sleep loss experienced by many people.”

— Mayo Clinic, via ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com

Age Discrimination Bad for Your Health

Being discriminated against by the healthcare profession or system can create or worsen disabilities in older people. A national survey, with results published in the Journal of General Internal Medicine, shows that one in every three older Americans on the receiving end of age-related discrimination in the healthcare setting will likely develop new or worsened functional ailments.

One in every five survey respondents report-ed experiencing healthcare-related discrimina-tion, with age the most common reason cited by both sexes and age groups. Follow-up studies showed almost a third of older adults frequently experiencing such discrimination developed new or worsened disabilities, in contrast to partici-pants who never or seldom experienced such treatment.

The study concludes that reducing experi-ences of discrimination, and the perception of discrimination, should be a priority.

— Journal of General Internal Medicine, via ScienceDaily, www.sciencedaily.com

A new study published in the Journal of the Ameri-can Geriatrics Society shows that increasing diet soda intake is directly linked to greater abdominal obesity in adults 65 years of age and older. Increases in belly fat may contribute to greater risk of cardiovascular diseases. Previous research shows that in the past 30 years, artificial sweet-eners and diet soda intake have increased, yet the prevalence of obesity has also seen a dramatic increase in the same time period.

The study authors recommend that older individuals who drink diet soda daily should try to curb their consumption of artificially sweetened drinks.

— American Geriatrics Society, via ScienceDaily

Diet Soda & Obesity


YARD ‘N GARDEN

American Monarchs

Capital City Master Gardeners Annual Plant Sale

April 25 7:30 a.m. - Noon

Frazer United Methodist Church

6000 Atlanta Highway(corner of Burbank/Atlanta

Highway)

Free Demonstrations!9:00 Growing Tomatoes

11:00 Succulents

Have a question about gardening? Call the Alabama Master Gardeners free help line April-August, 1-877-252-GROW (4769). Leave a message 24 hours a day. A Master Garden-er will contact you.

Back when I began my Backyard Wildlife Habitat, I had a wide variety of creatures I took for granted. The Sulphur butterflies would color the place yellow, and I saw Skip-

pers and huge Swallowtails and Wood Nymphs fairly often. A friend gave me a butterfly book to help identify these denizens.

Slowly I developed the Habitat to encourage butterflies. There’s a butterfly bush (Buddleia) in the front, as well as some beautiful Butterfly Weed (Asclepias), and numerous ordinary milkweeds at the back. By now I have a good variety of native plants such as Trillium, Redbud trees, and so on. But in spite of it all, the butterflies have diminished.

American Monarchs are in trouble (perhaps they heard we are a Republic?) — so much so that a monarch-counting website has been established in California. As we increasingly

take land for our cities and developments, the habitat of our

pollinators declines. As we rid our-selves of pests with insecticides, we kill off our useful

insects too.That’s where gardeners come in. We can plant milkweeds

(there are many interesting varietals) to help monarchs find host plants for their larvae.We can stop using deadly insec-ticides that kill our monarchs. Beware of feeding the birds in summer: they eat butterflies too! (But do help the birds out in the cold weather!)

The National Wildlife Federation has a beautiful account of the lifecycle of the monarch: how they work their way down to Mexico for their summer, and back again for ours. It is surely a remarkable journey, utterly dependent on abundance of certain plants. I suspect my little Wildlife Habitat is suffering because there is little support around it. The monarchs can hardly find their way to my yard if there aren’t enough butterfly gardens along their route.

Fortunately a growing nationwide movement (no pun intended) is helping to reestablish the monarchs, and I hope you will consider join-ing it. The Xerces Society in California is organized to protect pollinators and offers a great deal of information on the subject. They have published a popular book, Attracting Native Pollina-tors, as well as pollinator habitat signs (one of these in your front garden creates a lot of interest and excitement). The group also has numerous articles on butterfly gardening, milk-weeds (http://www.xerces.org/milkweed/) and even a milkweed seed finder (http://www.xerces.org/milkweed-seed-finder/).

The Ladybird Johnson Wildflower Center also has a section on butterflies and moths (www.wildflower.org/collections/collection.php?collection=bamona).

Be sure to check out this site too – you’ll love it! (http://blog.nwf.org/2014/09/a-visual-journey-through-the-monarch-life-cycle).

It’s a good feeling, when you know that you are helping.

Lynette Morse , a Master Gardener in the Capital City Master Gardener Association, lives in Montgomery. For info on becoming a Master Gar-dener, visit www.capcitymga.org or email [email protected].

Important Medicare InformationMedicare is not designed to cover all Medical Expenses.

Medicare Supplement Insurance can help cover deductibles,coinsurance, and other expenses that Medicare does not cover in full.

For more information about:• Medicare deductibles• Medicare coinsurance• Medicare Part A• Medicare Part B• Medicare Supplement Insurance

Please call

334-244-4601 to discusswith a Licensed Insurance Agent

Shane Woodard LUTCF

Medicare Supplement Plans are underwritten by Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company, anaffiliate of Bankers Life and Casualty Company. Colonial Penn Life Insurance Company.

COLONIAL PENNLIFE INSURANCE COMPANYAn affiliate of Bankers Life and Casualty Company


A GRACIOUS PLENTY

From full-course brunches to simple sit-down dinners, Easter celebrations are a time to enjoy family, friends and the delicious tastes of spring.

However elaborate the festivities, a rich and creamy dessert is the perfect finale to any Easter gathering. Made from fresh milk and real cream, cream cheese is an ingredient that makes sweets stand out. These fresh dessert ideas all feature everyone’s favorite indulgence - cheesecake - along with other lively fla-vors, such as coconut, lemon and blueberry (on-line at Prime website). Desserts this delicious will have your guests hopping up for seconds! (Family Features)

1 cup graham cracker crumbs3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided

3 tablespoons butter or marga-rine, melted

3 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla3 eggs1 cup plus 2 tablespoons coconut, toasted

54 speckled malted milk eggs (about 9 ounces)

Heat oven to 325oF.Mix graham crumbs, 2 tablespoons

sugar and butter; press onto bottoms of 18 paper-lined muffin cups.

Beat cream cheese, vanilla and remaining sugar with mixer until blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each just until blended. Spoon over crusts.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until centers are almost set. Cool com-pletely. Refrigerate 2 hours.

Top each cheesecake with 1 tablespoon coconut; shape to resemble bird’s nest. Fill with malted milk eggs.

EastEr Mini ChEEsECakEsServings: 18

Easter Desserts

DoublE lEMon ChEEsECakE bars | Servings: 16

Heat oven to 325oF.Line 13-by-9-inch pan with parchment paper, with ends of paper

extending over sides. Mix wafer crumbs and butter until blended; press onto bottom

of prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes.Separate 1 egg; refrigerate yolk until ready to use. Beat cream

cheese, 1 cup sugar, flour, lemon zest, 2 tablespoons lemon juice and vanilla in large bowl with mixer until blended. Add egg white and remaining 3 whole eggs, 1 at a time, mixing on low speed after each until just blended. Pour over crust.

Bake 40 minutes or until center is almost set. Cool 1 hour. Refrigerate 4 hours.

Mix cornstarch and remaining sugar in medium saucepan; gradually stir in water and remaining lemon juice until blended. Bring just to boil on medium heat, stirring constantly; cook and stir until clear and thickened. Lightly beat reserved egg yolk in small bowl with fork until blended; stir in 2 tablespoons of hot cornstarch mixture.

Return to remaining cornstarch mixture in saucepan; stir until blended. Cook 1 minute or until thickened, stirring constantly. Cool slightly.

Spoon lemon glaze over cheesecake. Refrigerate 1 hour or until firm. Use parchment handles to remove cheesecake from pan before cutting to serve.

Note: This lemon glaze can be prepared ahead of time. Cool, then refrigerate up to 8 hours before spooning over individual slices of cheesecake. Garnish with 1/2 cup blueberries, lemon peel and fresh mint leaves.

52 vanilla wafers, finely crushed (about 2 cups)

3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted

4 eggs, divided

4 packages (8 ounces each) cream cheese, softened

1 3/4 cups sugar, divided3 tablespoons flour1 tablespoon lemon zest

1/3 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons), divided

1/2 teaspoon vanilla2 tablespoons cornstarch1/2 cup water


MONEYWI$E

If you have fam-

ily and friends and live long enough, someone sometime is probably going to approach you for financial assistance. While no rules exist to dictate the right decision in such a case, the an-swers to a few questions can help you choose a course of action.

The 10 questions below may not cover everything that you should consider, but they are a good start.

1. Who is asking for help and what is the nature of your relationship? A request from a new acquaintance is not on par with one from your parent or child.

2. Who else is affected? Situa-tions rarely impact only one individual. If the request is from your son because of his wife’s uncontrolled spending, you may not be inclined to help, but you need to consider the consequences of your action for your grandchildren.

3. How will your decision affect the future of the re-lationship? If you decline to help, might you lose the friend or be-come estranged from members of your family? If you help this time, are you setting a precedent for this person to come back repeatedly?

4. How big is the need? It is easier to say “Yes” if someone needing $500 plans to pay you back than if they want $10,000 that you will never see again.

Pleas for Help

Alan Wallace


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5. Is the need one-time or ongoing? Providing a single infusion of funds is a smaller burden than agreeing to help with a medical situation that is open-ended both from the standpoint of duration and magnitude.

6. How did the need develop? Is the person in need responsible and diligent but faced with a challenge through no fault of their own, or is he perpetually in dif-ficulty because of his own character deficiencies? Is this the first time she has approached you or part of a longstanding pattern?

7. What other resources are available? Are you the first person they have approached? Should they go to other people on whom they have a more reasonable claim? Are charities or governmental benefits available?

8. What is the impact on you if you assist? Can you afford to do what is being asked? Counting the cost before making a commitment may reduce the risk of resentment later.

9. What terms and conditions apply to the as-sistance? Are you making a gift or a loan? If you want to be repaid, including by a family member, treat the transac-tion as a business arrangement and document it properly. I once sold a car to an acquaintance for a series of payments. After two months he filed for bankruptcy and made no

further payments. I was unable to get the car back because the loan agreement did not provide me a security interest in the vehicle.

10. How will this decision affect future behav-ior? Does helping this person this time set a precedent for her or others she might tell?

For instance, if you do something for one child and that child tells your other children, are they all emboldened to ask for help instead of working through situations they can handle on their own? Should you develop limits and bound-aries ahead of time to guide your actions so that you have a method in place for dealing with requests? Exceptional situ-ations might arise that you would handle outside of your normal approach, but you would have a frame of reference for most situations.

Most of us need a little help from time to time. My wife and I received financial help a time or two from our parents and we have assisted our children and various friends on occasion. Generosity and sharing driven by genuine care for others are praiseworthy, but wisdom suggests that we not jeopardize our own security or become enablers of others’ irresponsibility.

Alan Wallace, CFA, ChFC, CLU, is a Senior Private Wealth Advisor for Ronald Blue & Co.’s Montgomery office, www.ronblue.com/location-al. He can be reached at 334-270-5960, or by e-mail at [email protected].


OUR HISTORY

Right: Young boy wearing a cowboy hat, holding a puppy. 1965-1968. (Jim Peppler, photographer)

Below: Cheerleaders, Baldwin Jr. High School, Montgomery, AL, January 10, 1956. (John E. Scott, photographer)

Bottom Right: Students, Goode Street School in Montgomery, AL, gathered around a live chicken. On the blackboard is a poem about chickens. One of the girls holds “The Little Red Hen.” Circa 1940s, 1950s. (Horace Perry, photographer)

Continuing Prime’s partnership with the Alabama Department of Archives and History, here are three addition-

al photos that need your help in identifying the individuals shown. The photos are from the collections of Montgomery-area pho-tographers Horace Perry, John E. Scott, and Jim Peppler. If you know any of the people in these photos contact Meredith McDonough, [email protected], 334-353-5442, or e-mail us at [email protected].

Remembering Our History


IN EVERY LIFE

After a cold and windy winter, spring seems a welcome relief — until the onset of seasonal allergies. Although

many people experience reactions to food, medications, or other substances throughout the year, sensitivity to airborne pollens or molds can cause a seasonal allergic rhinitis (inflammation of the nasal mucosa), increased watering of the eyes, sneezing and possibly coughing. Seasonal pollens vary: early spring brings tree pollen, such as oak, elm, poplar;

early summer brings flower and grass pollen; and early fall brings weed pollen (ragweed, goldenrod). Additionally, air-borne mold spores require a damp and warm environment, and can persist throughout the year in areas that do not experience freezing temperatures.

Allergic rhinitis is among the top 10 reasons for visits to healthcare providers. The proportion of those who expe-rience allergic rhinitis actually increases with age, due to increased exposure and changes in the immune system. Inhal-ing a substance such as mold or pollen begins to sensitize a person. Then, on subsequent exposure, slowed action of cilia

(that sweep out particles in nasal mucosa) causes swelling (edema), dilation of blood vessels, and increased capillary per-meability, resulting in clear, watery nasal discharge and itching of the nose. Nasal drainage results in itching of the soft palate and throat leading to coughing and attempts to clear the throat. Further symptoms can include headache, pain over the sinuses, bleeding of the nose (epistaxis), fatigue, loss of sleep, and difficulty concentrating. In other words, misery!

Accurate diagnosis includes a history of the onset and progression of symptoms, examination, and diagnostic tests such as nasal smears, blood counts, allergy testing, and/or elimination of causative triggers. Avoidance measures can help decrease symptoms. For example, high-efficiency particulate air purifiers [HEPA] in air or vacuum filters reduce allergens. Furthermore, air conditioners, removal of dust-catching furniture, rugs, or drapes, pillow and mattress covers, removal of pets, and smoke-free environments can reduce substances that cause allergic sensitivity. Other methods to reduce pol-len or mold spores include changing clothing when coming in from outside, bathing to wash allergens from hair and skin, and/or using an over-the-counter nasal irrigation device to remove allergens lodged in the nasal passages.

If taken when symptoms begin, over-the-counter antihista-mines can help manage mild allergies by preventing develop-ment of additional symptoms. However, antihistamines have a side effect of sedation that can increase fall risk, and possibly contribute to cognitive decline. Benadryl and Chlorphenira-mine are included in the Beers List of potentially inappropri-ate medications for older adults due to physical changes of aging that may not allow the body to effectively clear the medication. Over-the-counter medications such as Sudafed or Afrin actually constrict the blood vessels in the nasal mucosa, but after a few days can cause rebound congestion.

Nasal decongestants can reduce nasal blood flow, wa-tery discharge, and nasal edema, but can interact with other medications. NasalCrom is a spray that reduces the release of histamine and the immune response, but may take a week or more to achieve benefits. Discuss with your health care provider if over-the-counter medications are safe and ap-propriate for you, and specifically which one is least likely to interact with your physical changes or other medications. Ask specifically about anticipated side effects, and suggestions to maintain safety if you determine the potential benefits out-weigh the risks. See also http://www.guideline.gov/content.aspx?id=37706 and http://www.americangeriatrics.org/files/documents/beers/2012BeersCriteria_JAGS.pdf

Arlene H. Morris, EdD, RN, CNE, is Professor of Nursing, Auburn Montgomery School of Nursing, and Immediate Past President of the AL State Nurses Association. Reach her at [email protected].

Battling Spring Allergies

Arlene Morris


FEATURE

By age 50, it's good to be aware of health problems that may slow you down and to be settling into a fitness routine you can sustain through your 50s.

1. Take preventative tests. Soon after you turn 50, there are a few preventative tests you should take if you haven't already. These include a colonoscopy, a bone density test and, for women, a Pap smear and mammogram. Men should dis-cuss prostate-cancer screening with their doctor, but routine prostate exams are no longer done on symptom-free men. A complete list of recom-mended screenings for men and women ages 40- 65 are on the website of the National Institutes of Health.

2. Know your health risks, including high blood pressure, diabetes and ovarian cancer for women. Know how to prevent and treat these illnesses. If you haven't already, it's time to quit sitting too much, drinking too much and smoking.

3. Step up your fitness. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says all adults age 18 to 64 need 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise a week.

Healthat 50, 60 and 70

This is the second in a series on skills and knowledge valuable at dif-ferent stages of life, focusing on staying healthy through your 50s and beyond. Prime’s online version of this and the previous article provide

extensive links to additional information (www.primemontgomery.com).

50

By Liza Kaufman HoganNext Avenue, www.nextavenue.org


By the time you are 70, the focus is on contin-ued fitness, nutrition and falls prevention. Mental health is also important. And good news — you don't need so many health screenings.

1. Keep exercising. You may need to alter your routine, but maintaining regular aerobic activity and weight training are especially important as you near your 70s. If you have fallen out of the habit, it's not too late to start.

2. Eat well. While there is a tendency to gain weight from your 30s to 50s, weight loss is more

typical after 60. Some of this is due to loss of muscle and some to poor nutrition. Research shows the better you eat, the longer you live.

3. Avoid falls. A fall and broken hip can lead to a precipitous decline in health. Take steps to avoid falls and prevent injury. 4. Care for your mental health. Binge drinking and depression are both risks among those 70 and older. But research also shows this can be a time of renewed happiness compared to the 40s and 50s, a progression called the U-Curve.

At age 60, you'll want to pay special attention to your sexual health, your heart and your mental well-being. Fitness is still es-sential, though you may find you want to adapt your routine to your current fitness level to avoid injuries. 1. Mind your sexual health. Maintaining an active and satisfy-ing sex life is part libido, part mindset and part health. If things are not as you would like in the bedroom, see your doctor. It may be that prostate problems for men or symptoms associ-ated with menopause for women are slowing you down. 2. Maintain your fitness. Try Do-It-Yourself baseline tests (there are several on-line) to see where you stand, and improve your strength, flexibility and endurance based on the results. 3. Recognize and treat depression. Depression is common in older adults. Untreated, it can lead to a loss of quality of life and even suicide. Know the signs of depression and see a men-tal health professional if you need help. Depression is treatable and you don't have to live with it.

60

70

Liza Kaufman Hogan, who grew up in Montgomery, AL, is a Next Avenue senior editor. She is a founding writer and former senior pro-ducer for CNN.com and a former lecturer at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.


FEATURE

If you have a parent who lives alone, you may be concerned about their physical or emotional well being — or both. Especially if they do not live close by or clearly are not

managing well, you may wonder whether you should invite them to move in with you.

Before making an offer, ask yourself the following ques-tions and take time to honestly and thoroughly answer each one.

Interpersonal issuesWhat kind of relationship do

the two of you have? How do others in your household get along with your par-ent? Any personal-ity clashes will be magnified when you

are living under the same roof.Your needsConsider your physical and mental health. Would you be

able to provide hands-on assistance if needed? Could you cope with the ongoing stress involved in primary caregiving?

Your family's needsIf there are others in your household, what do they think

of your parent moving in? It's crucial to have their support in order to make it work. Would you still have enough time

to devote to them?Lifestyle issues

If you are employed, how might the primary caregiver role impact on your

work? How would it affect your social life, vacation plans and

other pursuits? Decide

By Lisa M. Petsche

Moving A parent in:Should you do it?


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what adjustments you're prepared to make.Your parent's needsDetermine what kind of assistance your parent requires and

how much time it involves. Can they be left alone? If they’ve been diagnosed with a progressive disease, how will their needs change?

Available supportsWhat kind of support would family members be willing to

provide to help make this work? Perhaps they could accom-pany your parent to appointments, have them over for dinner, or periodically take them into their home for the weekend. There are many possibilities for sharing care. What kinds of community support services are available to assist you in meet-ing your parent's needs, now or in the future? Find out about accessible transportation services, senior recreation centers, day programs, home healthcare services that offer nursing, homemaking and various types of therapy, and residential re-spite programs. If you live in a different town, how easy would it be to link your parent with needed medical supports, such as a new primary physician?

FinancesGive thought to how household expenses would be shared.

Find out, too, whether your parent has savings or insurance that would cover the cost of medical equipment or healthcare services. If not, are you able to pay for them?

Home setupIs there sufficient space in your home to meet everyone's

needs? Would your parent have separate quarters? Consider, too, your home's accessibility. Would renovations need to be made, and if so, what is the estimated cost and who would pay it?

Your expectationsWhat are your expectations in terms of your parent’s par-

ticipation in the household? Would you want them to help in practical ways, such as preparing meals, if they're well enough?

Your parent's wishes and expectationsWould your parent want to move in? If so, can you anticipate

their expectations in terms of privacy, financial arrangements and practical help if appropriate?

Other optionsBefore making any decisions, explore alternatives: in-home

services; adult day care programs; live-in help; an assisted living facility or a skilled nursing home. Determine whether any of these options are appropriate and affordable. Consider the least disruptive ones first.

The decisionIf you conclude that moving your parent in with you is

not feasible, help them develop a workable plan, whether it’s arranging in-home services or finding another place to live. Provide as much support as possible.

If you decide to move your parent in, allow plenty of time for everyone involved to adjust to the inevitable changes in family dynamics and household routines.

Most challenges can be worked through if all parties are committed to making the arrangement work.

Lisa M. Petsche is a social worker with experience in elder care. She is also a freelance writer specializing in boomer and senior concerns.


SOCIAL SECURITY

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E Y EF A C T S

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April 14 is the eve of tax day.

Did you know that Social Secu-rity pays benefits to eligible former spouses, and you may need to claim this income on your tax forms?

If you are age 62, unmarried, and divorced from some-one entitled to Social Security retire-ment or disability benefits, you may be eligible to receive benefits based on his or her record.

To be eligible, you must have been married to your ex-spouse for 10 years or more. If you have since re-married, you can’t collect benefits on your former spouse’s record unless your later marriage ended by annul-ment, divorce, or death.

Also, if you’re entitled to benefits on your own record, your benefit amount must be less than you would receive based on your ex-spouse's work. In other words, we’ll pay the higher of the two benefits for which you’re eligible, but not both.

You can apply for benefits on your former spouse’s record even if he or she hasn’t retired, as long as you divorced at least two years before applying.

You can also elect to receive only the divorced spouse benefits and delay benefits on your own record after your full retirement age, which may translate to a higher monthly amount for you.

If, however, you decide to wait until full retirement age to apply as a divorced spouse, your benefit will be equal to half of your ex-spouse's full retirement amount or disability benefit. The same rules apply for a deceased former spouse.

The amount of benefits you get has no effect on the benefits of your ex-spouse’s and his or her current

spouse. Visit “Retirement Planner: If You Are Divorced” at www.socialsecu-rity.gov/retire2/divspouse.htm to find all the eligibility requirements you must meet to apply as a divorced spouse.

Our benefits planner gives you an idea of your monthly benefit amount. If your ex-spouse died after you divorced, you can still quality for wid-ow’s benefits. You’ll find information about that in a note at the bottom of

the website.Visit www.socialsecurity.gov/retire2/div-

spouse.htm today to learn if you’re eli-gible for benefits on your ex-spouse’s record. What you learn may bring a smile to your face … even on tax day!

Kylle’ McKinney, SSA Public Affairs Specialist, can be reached in Montgomery at 866-593-0914, ext. 26265, or by e-mail at [email protected].

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FEATURE

Do you find yourself stopping on Taxi Driver every time you run across it while channel flip-ping? Or shedding a tear each time you watch The Godfather? How about singing along to “Mrs. Robinson” when it’s on the radio or add-ing tunes by Bob Dylan, Joni Mitchell, or Joan Baez to new playlists you create?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, you owe a “thank you” to a group you may not have heard of, but who have been nev-ertheless entertaining Americans for decades: the war babies.

Born between 1939 and 1945, the war babies are often over-shadowed by the two generations that bookend them: the “greatest generation” and the baby boomers. And while boomers often take a lot of the credit for reshaping American culture in the second half of the 20th century, the fact is that the war babies had by far the biggest impact on American postwar music and movies.

Prior to the 1960s and ’70s, popular music and filmmaking were generally designed to appeal to entire families and often reinforced the country’s core values and traditions. But as war babies began to compose, write, and perform, that changed.

Music became dissonant, more complex, and less melodious — both in sound and substance — and connected intimately with audiences’ private tensions and pain. Likewise, movies became more personal and idiosyncratic, speaking to their audiences’ social concerns and private predicaments. While songs and films from this era certainly gave meaning to boomers’ lives and influenced their

Voices of Change

12 War Babies Who Entertained America

By Richard Pells (photos via Wikimedia Commons)

D


own development, the boomer generation was the recipient of the new creative movement, not its originator.

This distinctive generation produced individu-als who were instrumental in shaping the coun-try’s culture and politics during the last half of the twentieth century. Elements of American life influenced 12 war baby entertainers as they were growing up in the 1940s and 1950s, and those influences shaped their music and films.

Francis Ford Coppola was born in Detroit in 1939. As a child, Francis contracted polio—the most dreaded disease of the first half of the 20th century. Confined to a bed, he created a puppet

theater, a traditional form of Italian entertainment, one he reproduced in the early 20th century segment of The Godfather: Part II. The experi-ence of polio also taught Coppola how to flourish alone, entertaining himself—an example of the reliance on one’s own personality, instincts, and emotional resources, a trait that characterized so many of the mem-

bers of the war baby generation.

Martin Scorsese was born in 1942 in Queens. As a boy, Scorsese (like Coppola) was ill; he had severe asthma and was unable to play sports or engage in other physically demanding activities. So Scorsese was isolated from other people, a lonesome introvert spending much of his child-

hood staring out the window of his house and later his apartment in Little Italy in Manhattan. As an escape from his cloistered surroundings, his father often took him to the movies, where Scorsese first discovered a passion for an art form that shaped the rest of his life. In fact, as a young child Scors-ese began to draw cartoons and then scenes from the movies he saw, almost as if he were creating story-boards for a film of his own. Like Coppola, Scors-ese learned early on to depend on his own visual fantasies and imagination.

Consequently, Scorsese could not de-cide early in his life whether he wanted

to be a painter, a filmmaker, or a priest. But what he did do, as an adult, was capture in his movies

the vibrancy and violence of the streets in Little Italy.

Al Pacino was born in 1940 in New York to Italian-American parents (like Coppola and Scors-ese). Pacino’s parents divorced when he was two years old, and his mother moved to the South Bronx to live with her parents, who came from—if you can be-lieve it—Corleone, Sicily.

Robert De Niro, whose back-ground is both Italian and Irish, was born in New York in 1943 and grew up in Little Italy. De Niro’s father was a painter and sculp-tor and his mother a painter and poet. De Niro himself displayed an early talent for acting, playing the Cowardly Lion at age 10 in a grade school production of The Wizard of Oz. As a young man, De Niro studied Method acting, which empha-sized the need for an actor to draw on his or her own psychological resources, and on memories and past experienc-es. It’s easy to see how De Niro’s upbringing in Little Italy prepared him for his Oscar-winning role as Vito Corleone in Coppola’s The Godfather: Part II. De Niro’s identity as a New Yorker also enabled him to develop a close affinity with Martin Scorsese. De Niro and Scorsese collaborated on many films that influenced and reflected the experiences of war babies: Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, The King of Comedy, and Goodfellas all come to mind.

Faye Dunaway was born in 1941 in relatively impoverished conditions in Florida. She picked cotton as a child, all the while (at the urging of her mother) dreaming of a better life. From the beginning, she had a difficult, painful relation-ship with her father. He was a career soldier who served in the war and stayed in the army afterwards, while also having affairs with women. The closest Dunaway came to her father during World War II was listening to battle reports on the radio. All of these experiences inspired in Dunaway an early ambition to flee from her feel-

(photo by U.S. Embassy, Bucharest, Romania)

(photo by Siebbi)

(photo by GabboT.)

(photo by David Shankbone)


ings of childhood alienation, to es-cape to the big city and become a star. She decided at the age of five that she wanted to be an actress and began taking dancing and sing-ing classes. It was precisely these incipient influences that prepared her for the movie role of a life-time in 1967, as Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde, another desper-ate, lonely young woman who hungers for fame. Bonnie became Dunaway’s signature role, one that not only made her a movie star but the most idiosyncratic

actress of her generation.

Judy Collins was born in Seattle in 1939. She started piano lessons when she was five years old, practicing Chopin and Debussy in the belief that she might someday become a seri-ous classical pianist. But she also sang along with music on the radio, in her church choir, and for anyone who would listen. She was a child envisioning what it might feel like to be a show business idol — a dream that was reinforced by her fa-ther, a musician who had his own radio program during the early years of the war and was later hired by NBC for a show broad-cast from Hollywood. There he took Collins to meet or watch radio superstars like Bob Hope and Red Skelton. (Collins also had another cultural influence in her milieu, though in this case the stimulus was literary rather than musical. Her godfather, named Holden, met J.D. Salinger in the army during World War II. Salinger eventually named his most famous creation, Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye, after Collins’s godfather.)

Bob Dylan wasn’t always Bob Dylan — he was born Robert Zimmerman in 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota. Like many

war babies who became filmmak-ers or songwriters, Zimmerman came from a musical background; his father played violin. Zimmer-man’s father also had polio and was exempt from the war. Zim-merman’s uncles, however, were soldiers who (like most veterans) were reluctant ever to discuss their often grisly experiences in the war. Zimmerman himself, even as a child, was taciturn, remote, and secretive — quali-ties that would mark his persona

as an adult. He devoted a good part of his youth to listening to blues and country music on the radio. By the late 1950s, as he embarked on his own singing career, Zimmerman renamed himself Bob Dylan in honor of one of his favorite writers, Dylan Thomas.

Joan Baez was born in 1941 on Staten Island to a Mexi-can father and Scottish mother. Baez soon moved with her parents to Menlo Park, California, where her father studied at Stanford for a master’s degree in mathematics and taught military engineers during the war. But despite his background in math and physics, he was a pacifist and refused to work on the atomic bomb at Los Alamos. His pacifism influenced his daughter, who be-came a lifelong pacifist herself. While growing up in California, Baez began experimenting with rhythm and blues on a ukulele. From childhood, she was also blessed with an exqui-site singing voice—one she learned early to develop as a way of fitting in, as half-Mexican, with her white cohorts. Though Baez was born in the New York area, along with many other war babies who became prominent singers and song-writers, her exodus to California meant that she met none of them until she moved to Boston in 1958, where she began by the early 1960s to find fame. Notably, Baez met Bob Dylan, nurtured his early career, and was, episodically, his lover.

Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel were both born in 1941 and grew up in Queens. Simon came from a family of profes-sional musicians and loved to listen to his father perform in bands. He was especially attracted to rumbas and sambas. Simon would later expand on this fascination with exotic rhythms when he started experimenting with Latin American and African music in the 1970s. But Simon had another passion as well—this one for the New York Yankees. So it was not surprising that “Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio?” would become Simon’s most famous lyric in “Mrs. Robinson” in 1968.When Simon was 11 years old, he became friends with a classmate, Art Garfunkel, who lived just three blocks away. Garfunkel’s grandparents had migrated to America from Romania. Both he and Simon came from similar Jewish backgrounds and harbored similar musical ambitions, which Garfunkel’s parents (like Simon’s) encour-aged. Once they discovered that they appreciated each other’s voices in harmony, they started to perform as a teenage duo in the 1950s in school and before audiences, even making a

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recording—all this before they emerged in the 1960s as two of the most poetic singers of the war baby generation.

Joni Mitchell was born Roberta Joan Anderson in Canada in 1943. Her father served in World War II in the Royal Canadian Air Force and was an amateur musician who played trumpet and worshipped the swing bands of the 1930s. At the same time, her mother instilled in Mitchell a sensitivity to poetic language, especially as exemplified in Shake-speare. Later, at the age of eight in 1951, Mitchell caught polio and began singing in the hospital. Her response to the disease, as well as the musical and literary interests of her parents, were the origins of her career as a sophisticated singer and composer who shaped American music like Dylan and Simon and Garfunkel.

Carole King was born in New York in 1942, where the most valued piece of furniture in her home was a piano. King began mak-ing up songs on the piano when she was three years old and started her first piano lessons when she was four. King’s mother took her as a young child to Broadway musicals and col-lected cast recordings of shows like Oklahoma! and Carousel, to which King eagerly and repeatedly listened. All of these childhood experiences were the catalyst for King’s emergence as a

major songwriter and performer in the 1960s and 1970s.

Of course, this is only a small sampling of war baby entertainers and artists who modern-ized music and film in America. Others include George Lucas, Jerry Garcia, and Lily Tomlin—not to mention foreign singers/songwriters, directors, and actors. For instance, all the Beatles as well as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones were born between 1940 and 1943.

Members of this unique generation (which has been unfairly overshadowed by the boomers) were born, grew up, and be-came adults during the most stressful and transformative years of the 20th century—and their responses to the crises they faced were ingenious. Using their own pasts, experiences, and private struggles, they crafted a cultural revolution from which we’re still reaping the benefits today.

Richard Pells is Professor of History Emeritus at The University of Texas at Austin and the author of War Babies: The Generation That Changed America (Cultural History Press).

(photo by Asylum Records)

(photo by Linda D. Kozaryn)


TRAVEL

My tutor hands me a piece of paper. "Con-gratulations," he says. "You're an Oxford graduate."

Well, not really. A "faux grad" is more like it. But I do have a certificate verifying my atten-dance at one of the world's oldest and most prestigious universities, one whose alums include kings and saints, economists and entrepreneurs, Nobel Prize winners and Olympic medal winners.

And now, me. My husband and I have just completed “The

Oxford Experience,” a one-week program at Christ Church, the largest and arguably most beautiful of the university’s 38 constituent col-leges. During that week, we took classes in the

morning, explored the historic campus in the afternoon (including areas that are off-limits to most visitors), and played croquet, danced me-dieval folk dances and went pub-crawling in the evening.

We lived in dorms carved out of buildings that dated back to the 18th century and ate in the Great Hall where King Charles I held his parlia-ment in the 17th century and which was used as inspiration for Harry Potter’s Hogwarts Hall in the 21st century. Our fellow students, who included folks from more than a dozen countries, ranged in age from under twenty to over ninety, although the majority were in their mid to late sixties.

The city of Oxford is often called “The City of Dreaming Spires,” a name that comes from a poem by Victorian poet and Oxford grad Matthew Arnold. All Soul’s College, one of the university’s 38 constituent colleges, is known for its distinctive twin towers.

By Andrea Gross; photos by Irv Green

College and Culture in Oxford, England


In short, we were taught by experts, sur-rounded by history, immersed in culture and members of an international community. It’s a heady combination and undoubtedly explains why the program, which began in 1990, is so popular. There are six one-week sessions between the first of July and the middle of August. During each session, there are at least ten courses, each limited to twelve students, who meet with a tutor for three hours every morning. Courses range from the specific (George Eliot’s Middle-march) to the general (Moral Philosophy), the artistic (Beethoven: His Life and Music) to the historic (The Birth of Europe), the re-ligious (Sacred Landscapes and Holy Places) to the scientific (Human Memory and the Brain).

The courses are so varied, and so well presented, that more than fifty percent of the attendees are repeaters. Indeed, we met one woman who has come for ten summers and, during many of those summers, has stayed for two or more sessions.

Although Christ Church is just a few blocks from the center of Oxford, our days on campus were so full that we weren’t able to thoroughly enjoy the town. So after “graduation” we allow ourselves three days to see the age-old buildings and cobblestone alleys of the city itself.

To get an overview, we climb the 100-plus steps to the top of the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, where we look out over a sea of spires. Steepled churches and turreted buildings are surrounded by hills of green, and narrow alleys are bisected by modern thoroughfares.

Descending from the stratosphere, we stop at the Bodleian Library, which with more than eleven million volumes is the sec-ond largest in Britain; gaze at the Sheldonian Theatre, designed by famed 17th century architect Sir Christopher Wren; and mean-der through the Botanic Garden, the oldest such garden in England.

In the shallow river bordering the Gar-dens, we get our first look at punting, a popular Oxford activity that involves propel-ling a flat-bottomed boat by pushing a pole against the riverbed. It looks easy so we rent a boat, intending to try our skill, but it takes us less than ten minutes mired in mud to realize that we have no skill. We finally hire a “chauffeur,” who punts while we contem-plate the view.

We get our literary fix by having pub-grub at the White Horse, figuring that if it’s good

Above: Christ Church was founded in 1524 on the site of an old monastery.Below: The Christ Church campus is filled with tall towers topped with intricate spires.


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enough for Inspector Morse it’s good enough for us; downing ale at The Eagle and Child, the favorite stomping grounds of J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis; and visiting the shop that was frequented by the real life Alice in Wonderland as well as Lewis Carroll, the man who immortalized her.

Finally, on our last day, we treat ourselves to an all-day tour of the Cotswolds. As Martin Cowell, owner of Absolute Touring, drives his eight-passenger van along windy roads and small villages that are inaccessible to larger vehicles, we enter a world where sheep graze in fields bordered by stacked stone fences and homes are built from bricks the color of burnished gold.

Martin tells us that the Cotswolds has been deemed an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, and it is indeed. But it’s more than that. It’s a poster come to life.

Back in Oxford, we stop at a souvenir shop where I buy a tee-shirt emblazoned with the Oxford University insignia. After all, even a faux-grad deserves some bragging rights.

www.oxfordexperience.info/www.visitoxfordandoxfordshire.com/

Right, top: Punting is a popular Oxford activity that involves using a pole to propel a flat-bottom boat along a shallow river.Right, bottom: The Cotwolds, one of England’s most beautiful districts, is less than an hour from Oxford. It is a rural area of stone cottages and stately homes. Its name is derived from two Old English words: cots, which means “sheep enclosures,” and wolds, which means “gentle hills.”


GAMES

Answers on page 34.

Across1 One-on-one contest5 Pub orders9 Creator14 Sicilian smoker15 Shout to a storeful of

customers16 Elegant headgear17 Line on an envelope20 Noel beginning21 Current to avoid22 Gives the nod23 Pago Pago's land28 Dudley Do-Right's gal29 Green prefix30 Golfer Woosnam33 Down __: Maine region36 "Gotta run!"40 Paul Hogan role44 Side of the 1860s45 __ Lisa Vito: "My Cousin

Vinny" role46 Cold-sounding commer-

cial prefix47 "I'm not impressed"49 '60s White House daugh-

ter52 Classic cartoon shout58 NYSE overseer59 Green roll60 Tropical trees

62 Zero in Morse code, any part of which will finish the title of the Oscar-winning song found at the ends of 17-, 23-, 40- and 52-Across

67 Stopped lying?68 MBA seeker's first hurdle69 Napa prefix70 Array for a Boy Scout71 Comes to a stop72 Quick cut

Down1 Rectilinear art form2 City east of Syracuse3 Sci. of insects4 Nonprofessionals5 Pantry pest6 Green expanse7 Cast-of-thousands member8 Pub order9 High-elev. spot10 A leg up11 Sung-into instrument12 Slezak of "One Life to

Live"13 Shoots the breeze18 Plagued by drought19 Church recess24 "Where Is the Life That

Late __?": Cole Porter song25 Forty-niner's stake26 Rights gp.27 Ghostly sound30 Post-ER area31 Son of Prince Valiant32 "There's __ in ‘team'"34 __-mo35 Potato sack wt., perhaps37 B. Favre's career 50838 Velvet finish?39 Collectible car41 Search everywhere in42 Front row seat43 Apply amateurishly48 It may be slung at a diner50 Matador's cloak51 Oft-baked veggies52 Long (for)53 Blessed outburst?54 Evade55 Butler's last words56 Of yore57 Muscat native58 Where to find Pierre: Abbr.61 Class with tools63 Mar.-Nov. hours64 Two-time loser to DDE65 Owned66 Boozer's syndrome

(c)2015 TRIBUNE CONTENT AGENCY, LLC.


TINSELTOWN TALKS

Still

By Nick Thomas

Keeping UpAppearances


Produced from 1990-1995, the British sitcom “Keeping Up Appearances” quickly crossed the Atlantic, bringing smiles to viewers of American Public Television where

the show was widely broadcast.The success of the series, still seen on limited PBS stations

today, was mainly due to the formidable acting skills of Patricia Routledge who created the ludicrously snobbish and comical character Hyacinth Bucket (pronounced ‘bouquet,’ of course).

“The basic premise of Hyacinth is pretension and that’s the source of so much comedy,” said Ms. Routledge from London. “While attempting to be a social climber, she also had to deal with members from the other side of her family like Onslow, who sat around in his string vest drinking beer. In a way, the show was a microcosm for society.”

Still busy, Rout-ledge (who turned 86 in February) has been traveling the U.K., Europe, and Australia star-ring in “Admission: One Shilling,” a stage presentation recounting the life of early twentieth century British pianist Myra Hess.

Regarded as one of Britain’s most eminent theater actresses, Routledge graduated from the University of Liverpool as an English and Literature major. “I didn’t have any intention of becoming an actor, although look-ing back now I can see it was really inevitable.”

Though best known in the U.S. for her TV roles (including “Hetty Wainthropp Investigates”), Routledge is also a profes-sionally trained singer with many years experience in musical theater.

In 1968, she even visited the U.S. to star in the Broadway musical “Darling of the Day.”

The production only ran for some 30 performances, but yielded Routledge a Tony Award working alongside an actor

known more for his malevolent rather than melodic perfor-mances – Vincent Price.

“The play was about an artist,” explained Routledge. “Vincent was very knowledgeable about art and a big collec-tor, so I suppose that’s why the management brought him in. But he had not been on stage for many years and basically wasn’t musical, so he did not have a good time. However, he was wonderful to work with and all the company loved him. We shared his pain in the not very positive reviews he had to endure.”

The extent of Routledge’s musical background was revealed in Edward Seckerson’s British stage production “Facing the

Music,” in which the actress ap-peared for several years.

“Edward dug up my history and a lot of my old musical record-ings that I had forgotten about. We have a con-versation on stage about that aspect of my career,” she said.

In sharp con-trast to Rout-ledge’s actual singing voice, her Hyacinth char-acter in “Keeping

Up Appearances” demonstrated frightful and failed attempts to impress others with her vocal prowess, leading to many comedic situations. Combining classic British innuendo, clever slapstick, and memorable supporting characters, the show has become a treasured comedy import around the world.

"I remember reading the pilot script and feeling confident I could knit this character together," says Routledge. "Hyacinth absolutely leapt from the page.”

Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery, Ala., and has written features, columns, and interviews for over 550 maga-zines and newspapers. Follow him on Twitter @TinseltownTalks.

Routledge (L) and above with “Keeping Up Appearances” co-star and on-screen husband Clive Swift. (BBC Productions)

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FEATURE

Let’s face it: We all want to look good and be healthy, but none of us wants to exercise. And we all have a dozen reasons, like “It’s too much work” or “It’s hard”

or “I don’t have time.” The list goes on and on.But here’s the bottom line: “The secret to slowing the

aging process is to move,” says celebrity trainer Sean Foy, author of The Burst! Workout: The Power of 10-Minute Interval Training. To get yourself to move, you need to figure out and address what’s keeping you from starting.

Inspire yourselfFoy works with his clients to write out what he

calls a “Fit Card”. On one side of an index card, he instructs them to list the benefits to be gained from being healthy and fit (walk farther, breathe easier,

improved circulation, and so on). On the other side, they list the barriers that keep them from exercis-ing (no time, too expensive) and the effects of not exercising (no energy, depression, etc.). Doing this helps his clients change behavior because

they are then able to see for themselves the ben-efits versus the cost. “You’re wrestling with apathy and

motivation,” Foy says. “How do I get rid of one to gain the other?”

Once clients have the card, he instructs them to read it daily. “Don’t worry about anything else. Just read the card. You don’t even have to attempt any exercise. In time, you’ll see your attitude shift and those barriers begin to lift.”

If you’re not sure which barriers might be holding you back, here is a list of the most common ones, and how you can address them — most in under 10 minutes.

8 Excuses for Not ExercisingBy Jackie Dishner

(and How to Resist Them)


1. "I don't have time"Everyone has time. Break yours into one-minute incre-

ments. Warm up for 30 seconds with some light stretching or running in place. Then jog in place for four minutes. You don’t even have to stand up. Use a chair. Jog while sitting in your chair for four minutes.

If four minutes sounds like too much time, give yourself 30 seconds to warm-up, and then do one fast minute of jogging in your chair. Go as fast as you can for one minute. You can work your way up to 10 minutes of high aerobic exercise just sitting in your chair.

2. "I don't feel like it"To overcome a lack of motivation, you have to know your

“why.” What is your deeper reason for exercising? To get fit? To be around for your grandchildren’s weddings? To see the birth of your great grandchildren?

Play the dream game and ask, “What if?” Imagine yourself as healthy and as fit as you can be. What do you look like, feel like, think like? What could you do? Think about your own barriers. What’s keeping you from being as healthy and fit as you can be? Write this out on your Fit Card. Then take baby

steps to access your motivation—a minute at a time.

3. "I can't"People are more apt to tackle things they

think they can achieve, so Foy suggests starting off with one minute of exercise and revisiting that same exercise every hour or every other hour. Set a clock so you’ll remem-ber to stand up and move for 1-2 minutes. Try chair squats. Stand up from your chair and then sit back down. By the end of the day, you could have done 50 squats. This will prove to yourself that you can do it.

4. "I'm tired"If you are too tired at the end of the day,

that’s probably because you haven’t been moving. “Get moving,” says Foy. Easy, light movements throughout the day will make a dif-ference in how you feel. Your best bet, says Foy, is to begin the day with a little exercise, even if just a walk around the block. If you don’t want to walk alone, get a dog. Dogs need to go for walks outside.

5. "I'm too old"No, you’re not. Foy says to read the books Bio-

markers or Strong Women Stay Young to learn other-wise. “You can’t dispel research that shows exercise keeps you young by helping to increase muscle mass, improve heart health, and more. Plus, our bodies are able to gain strength quickly. You’re never too old.”

Just focus on light resistance if you’re worried about that. Foy says you’d be amazed at what people can do in just 10 minutes over time. A 65-year-old client of his became a power lifter, and he says his 85-year-old mother can do all of the Burst! exercises.

6. "It's too expensive"Again, no. It doesn’t cost anything to take

a walk. And some equipment that you can use at home costs under $10. You can get resistance bands for $6, says the Orange County, Cali-fornia, trainer. Start stretching your hamstrings with those.

7. "I don't like it"You don’t have to like exercise to do it. But to help you

overcome this hurdle, it’s best to exercise with others. “Get a buddy to do it with you.” Then the two of you can argue about how much you hate exercising while you’re lean-ing against the wall to squat or sitting on chairs doing side bends.

To make exercise more fun, try it with your grandkids and watch them giggle as you engage in a friendly competi-

tion of Jumping Jacks. Count how many you can do in 30 seconds.

8. "I can't get back on track"It’s not uncommon to feel like giving up

when setbacks occur and you find yourself not able to do as much as you were doing before. “You don’t have to be perfect to be fit,” Foy says. “Give yourself that grace, that

forgiveness” because this is the time when having a buddy helps the most.

For check-ins, goal-planning or competitive events, your workout buddy is someone

you can use to help hold you account-able, especially when you experience a setback of some sort.

No matter if your buddy is a human or a pet, it’s harder to skip out on a friend than it is yourself.

If none of this works, Foy says to begin with deep breathing and stretch-ing. “Work your way up to something else. Over time, pay attention to how your body feels. You should notice that you feel better. Focus on that.”

Grandparents.com is a lifestyle site that celebrates the grandparent community by

providing trusted information about family & relationships, health & well-being, travel & retire-ment, and more. Follow the site on Twitter (@

grandparentscom) and on Facebook (facebook.com/grandparentscom).


2014-15 Season

Classical Season Concert V • Monday, April 27 • 7:30pmDavis Theatre

Fellowship Series Violin, April 16 • 7:30pmMontgomery Museum of Fine Arts

Montgomery Symphony Orchestra

montgomerysymphony.org / 240-4004

Work, school, errands and the other demands of family life put your vehicle at the center of it all. When something goes wrong with it you may find

yourself overwhelmed. Finding a repair shop you can rely on can ease your frustration and get you back on the road.

“For most people, a vehicle is their second biggest invest-ment next to a home,” says Rich White, executive director of the Car Care Council. “It makes sense to take the time to select an auto repair facility that will take the best care of that investment.”

Asking a few questions can help identify an auto repair shop to properly care for one of your most valuable assets:

1) Does the business employ certified techni-cians? Credentials and affiliations are indicators of profes-sionalism and the management’s commitment to training and education.

2) Is the shop and customer waiting area clean and organized? Cleanliness and organization are signs of a well-run business.

3) Are customers greeted and treated in a friendly and respectful manner? A simple phone call to the shop to inquire about their services can give you a glimpse into how they treat customers.

4) Does the business provide a written esti-mate? The business should complete a written estimate and request your signature prior to starting any repairs on your car.

5) What type of warranty does the shop offer? Most auto repair businesses offer a warranty on parts and labor, and the warranty is usually in writing or posted in the waiting area.

6) Does the business have a list of satisfied cus-tomers or references that it is willing to give you? Satisfied customers and recommendations from family, friends and neighbors are helpful in finding a good shop.

7) Is there a website you can visit? Many auto re-pair facilities have company websites that are worth checking out as they often include testimonials and additional informa-tion about the business.

For more advice on selecting an auto repair shop, plus in-formation on the benefits of regular vehicle care, maintenance and repair, visit www.carcare.org. (Courtesy: Family Features)

7 Auto Repair Shop Tips


MEDICARE

You can now be more confident when looking for a nursing home for yourself or a loved one.

Medicare has just improved its Nursing Home Compare website so that the public can get a more pre-cise and meaningful picture of the quality of care at 15,800 nursing homes nationwide.

Families must often search for a nursing home for a spouse or parent at a moment’s notice, after some crisis or emergency. With no time to spare, many turn to Nurs-ing Home Compare to begin their research. The website – at medicare.gov/nursinghomecompare -- receives 1.4 million visits annually.

Nursing Home Compare provides details on recent health and safety inspections, nursing homes’ staffing levels and such quality measures as whether residents are in pain or losing weight.

The website uses a five-star rating system to help fami-lies understand the differences between nursing homes. Each facility receives a star rating for its overall perfor-mance and separate ratings for its recent inspections, staff-ing levels and quality measures. One star means “poor.” Five stars mean “excellent.”

Nursing Home Compare already enjoys a solid reputa-tion among consumers – 85 percent find what they’re looking for. The latest revisions will make it even more trustworthy and user-friendly:

1) Medicare will rate nursing homes according to two new quality measures, both involving the use of antipsy-chotic medication. This is an outgrowth of an ongoing campaign to discourage nursing homes from using such powerful drugs simply to calm dementia patients who become unruly.

2) Medicare will do more to verify the quality data and the staffing levels that nursing homes now report them-selves. The government will inspect a sampling of nursing facilities and rely on payroll data to make sure operators aren’t overstating the quality of their care and the number of their caregivers.

3) Medicare will raise the standards for nursing homes to achieve a high star rating. This will encourage nursing home operators to step up their quality improvement

efforts, as well as make it easier for consumers to distin-guish the best performing facilities from the lesser ones.

Just three years ago, only 16 percent of nursing homes had scored five stars on quality measures. By this past January, 46 percent had reached that coveted rating. In fact, as many as 80 percent of nursing homes had scored four or five stars. One-star homes accounted for just 8 percent.

Though the higher scores may be partially the result of the nursing homes’ self-reporting, they’re also an indica-tion of real improvements in patient care. As just one example, more attentive care of bed-ridden nursing home patients has reduced the prevalence of pressure ulcers in recent years.

As welcome as those caregiving reforms are, Medicare thinks more progress can and should be made. Quality improvement needs to be a continuous process. The new, more demanding thresholds for star ratings on the quality of care will challenge nursing homes to redouble their efforts.

A higher bar will lead to even better patient care.The improved Nursing Home Compare website and the

increased public scrutiny will help nursing home leaders pinpoint problems in their facilities and promptly correct them. Owners who don’t make these improvement efforts will be left to explain to a prospective resident why their nursing home compares so poorly against other facilities.

Still, the star ratings aren’t meant to be the final word on a nursing home’s quality of care. They’re simply a screening tool that lets families focus on a few facilities that interest them. The families can then have an informed conversation with a nursing home’s staff when they visit.

Even under the best circumstances, choosing a nursing home can be trying. There are always many emotions at work. But if you do both your homework and your leg-work and take it one step at a time, you’ll be able to make an informed decision.

Bob Moos is the Southwest public affairs officer for the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

Compare Nursing HomesBy Bob Moos


You found the Jester Hat and it’s no April Fools!E-mail [email protected] and write“Jester” & this page number in the subject line.

You’ll be entered into a drawing to win a $25 Gift Certificate from Mr. Gus’ Ristorante. Drawing to

be held May 4. Good luck!


Rosewater (R) As an ardent fan of The Daily Show, when Jon Stewart left for

the summer of 2013 to direct this movie, I was sorry to see him go, even though his decision was not only understandable, but laudable. The film dramatizes the true story of Iranian journalist Maziar Bahari who was imprisoned for 118 days on bogus charges of espionage, largely due to his appearing in a satirical skit for Stewart’s show. After the ordeal, Bahari wrote a compelling memoir, which formed

the basis for Stewart’s debut as director and co-writer of the screenplay for a feature film. One need not be Jewish to be motivated by guilt...but it certainly helps.

Gael Garcia Bernal plays Bahari, a Tehran native living in London and working for Newsweek. He returned home to cover their hotly-contested 2009 elections. While there, he met members of the opposition during his reporting, fearing more for their safety than they seemed to. He also sat down with Daily Show “cor-respondent” Jason Jones for an amusing interview that wound up causing more unanticipated backlash than laughs. At first, Bahari couldn’t believe his captors didn’t know the bit was in jest. But months of isolation and interrogation took a severe toll on him, as would be true for anyone.

The film efficiently covers the period from just before his return to Iran until the end of his incarceration, powerfully depicting the ordeal not only from his perspective, but including plenty of context for how and why it occurred, and how much diversity exists among the Iranian populace, despite the staunch theocratic facade presented by their political leaders. The viewing experience is far from pleasant, though the government’s meth-ods of trying to force a public confession to a crime he never even dreamed of committing were far more psychological than physical. Mideast locations added a sense of authenticity to all the scenes outside his prison. This is a compelling tale not only because it’s true, but for how it is emblematic of many big-picture issues underlying our dealings with Iran and throughout the entire region.

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 (PG-13) As a mild disclaimer to this high rating, consider that some

sequels work well as stand-alone products; others fill in enough backstory for newcomers to catch up without much effort. This third installment of a four-part dystopian future epic absolutely exemplifies neither. If you haven’t seen the first two, and aren’t

already salivating over the finale (now in post-production), skip to the next review. Dilettantes have no chance of en-joying this one without recalling the others, or having read

the popular novels that spawned them. Young, heroic Katniss (Jennifer Lawrence) is be-

ing urged to serve as the face of revolution for the oppressed Districts of Panem to rise up against their corrupt, vicious overlords in The Capital. This film

covers the movement’s early struggles against these tyrants with challenges more daunting than those facing the Jedi against The Empire, the current St. Louis Rams vs. The Greatest Show on Turf, or this U. S. Congress doing anything useful. These rebels get their move-ment started with a few successes, but they suffer much along the way, and are still in deep doo-doo when the credits start to roll. The Las Vegas odds against our heroes would likely be worse than those of Luke, Leia and the captured Han Solo against Lord Vader at the end of The Empire Strikes Back. But for intrepid fans committed to the whole journey, the acting and f/x are all you’ve been hoping for.

Interstellar (PG-13) One of last year’s most-anticipated movies also

ranks among the longest (close to three hours) and most confusing. This space opera is set in a dystopian near future, in which Earth has become another Dust Bowl, with food becoming harder to grow for what’s left of the populace. One surviving family of farmers includes Matthew Mc-Conaughey, his two kids and father-in-law (John Lithgow). Matthew was just beginning his career as an astronaut when disaster struck, ending the program and much of modern communication and technology. His daughter shares his love of science, but that’s not considered much of an asset when brutal climatic conditions threaten global starvation...or worse.

But Matthew stumbles upon arcane clues from some mysteri-ous source that lead him to a secret surviving NASA facility. He’s recruited to fly through a wormhole that could be a shortcut to another galaxy for colonization, since Earth’s habitability can’t be restored. It’s a race against time while bending time, hoping to find a new world before everyone on ours dies out. Leaving his family is agonizing, but essential. Anne Hathaway is one of the scientists on the mission to find which of the previous dozen explorers, if any, found potential new homes for our species.

This one raises the bar over last year’s Gravity in terms of compelling space-flight simulations. The scientific components might be more coherent than my kind of book-learnin’ prepared me to appreciate, but seemed to careen between cogent prin-ciples with plausible applications and over-the-top speculations about space, time, gravity, etc. A scattering of insights and perspec-tives of arguable social and political relevance elevate the product beyond the thrill ride of boldly going where few have gone before. But the last 30-45 minutes lower the IQ of all the preceding activ-ity in a vain quest for satisfying conclusions on each subplot. Many viewers might scratch their heads from ambivalence about what it all meant, and how much they enjoyed the experience, ala viewers of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey.

Mark Glass is an officer and director of the St. Louis Film Critics Association.

35

PRIME DIVERSIONS

Rosewater • The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1 • InterstellarRecent dvd releases

Mark Glass


Things to Do in April

Faster, easier ways to save. Welcome to the modern world.

Call 1-800-519-0891 to see how much you could save on car insurance.

Not available in all states. Savings may vary.


Apr 10 — FREE document shedding (private residential only; five bags or boxes), 7 a.m.-1 p.m. 1555 Federal Drive (South

parking lot, Garrett Coliseum, Mont-gomery). Confidential documents dis-posed of properly. Public encouraged to donate non-perishable food to benefit the Montgomery Area Food Bank. For more info 334-625-2175.

Things to Do in April

April 18 — 6th Annual St. James UMC Benefit Auction, 4-6 p.m., 9045 Vaughn Rd., Montgomery. Preview is Friday, April 17, 5-7 p.m. No cost for ei-ther event. Items featured include antique furniture and rugs, original artwork, jewelry, salon and boutique certificates, gift cards from local businesses, vacation home rentals. Visit www.sjlifeauction.com to preview of items. For info contact Jennifer Aughtman, 334-481-0735, [email protected]. Auction benefits local and international mission projects.

May 2 — F. Scott & Zelda Fitzgerald Museum Gala Fundraiser, 7-11 p.m, 919 Felder Ave. Live music. Come in period costume or formal/semi-formal attire for an evening of wine, music, dancing. Tick-ets $50/ea. purchased at www.fitzgerald-museum.net/ or by mail, Fitzger-ald Museum, P.O. Box 64, Mont-gomery, 36101. For info contact Willie Thompson, 334-264-4222.

May 6 — Lunch & Learn: Beneficial Pollinators and Native Bees. FREE. Noon-1 p.m. Armory Learning Arts Center, 1018 Madison Ave., Mont-gomery. Sponsored by the Capital City Master Gardener Associa-tion. Bring a sack lunch; drinks provided. For more informa-tion contact the Montgomery County Extension Office, 334-270-4133.

May 7 — Taste of the Gardens, American Red Cross Fundraiser, 5-8 p.m., Southern Homes & Gardens, Vaughn Rd., Montgomery. Silent auction featuring local artists, restaurant and caterer tastings, wine, live music. Tickets $20. Purchase online, http://american.redcross.org/tasteofthegardens or at SH&G and Caffco Outlet. For more information contact Kari Hennagin, 334-260-4016, kari.

Apr 16 — Coping with Loss & Grief Seminar. FREE. 1 pm. CaraVita Vil-lage, 4000 Fieldcrest Drive, Mont-gomery. Conducted by Hospice of Montgomery. For information call (334) 284-0370.

April 19 — Montgomery Chorale presents Johannes Brahms German Requiem for chorus, orchestra, baritone and soprano soloists, 2:30 p.m., Eastwood Presbyterian

Church, Montgomery. Tick-ets are $25 standard, $50 pre-mium, $20 senior and student and are available online at www.montgomerychorale.org or from Chorale members.

Faster, easier ways to save. Welcome to the modern world.

Call 1-800-519-0891 to see how much you could save on car insurance.

Not available in all states. Savings may vary.


OFF THE BEATEN PATH

Niko Corley

The odd set of tracks in the damp earth alongside the road were unmistakable; four long, well-scaled toes on the left, none on the right. He smirked, recognizing

them instantly, and muttered under his breath.“Seems you survived another year Ol’ Peg,” he said.He’d first come across the turkey and his tracks three

springs prior in a well-worked chufa patch not far from the house. They’d intrigued him, so he hung a camera on a nearby tree. A week later, he retrieved the memory card, quickly scanned through videos of coon, deer, and coyote, but stopped cold on a clip of a long-bearded tom with a funny gait.

Opening day found him on a wood line bordering the chufa patch, daydreaming of Ol’ Peg, the nick-name he’d given the unique gobbler. But three days’ persistence at the patch turned up no sign of Ol’ Peg, and he began to wonder whether the trophy bird had crossed another hunter’s gun barrel. For a month he checked the chufa patch periodically, working other areas of the property and finding plenty of birds but no Peg. The season of 2001 ended without a single sighting.

The next two seasons he missed, one in ser-vice to his country, the next in a VA facility strug-gling to hold his life together. Like many young men of draft age, he’d been caught in the fervor that swept the nation as tens of thousands of young patriots enlisted to take the war on terror to the terrorists’ front doors.

On an otherwise routine patrol one afternoon, his Humvee hit an IED, sending thousands of fragments of steel through the vehicle’s floor, killing three of the soldiers inside. He was the lucky one, the doctor had said, suffer-ing only a knee-down amputation of his left leg, permanent nerve damage in the other and a deep gash across his cheek that stopped short of his right eye. Eight months into his rehab, titanium prosthetic on one side and a normal look-ing yet nearly unresponsive leg on the other, he’d survived but wondered how lucky he’d really been. As he struggled to learn to walk again he thought of Ol’ Peg with his jerky shuffle. His own movements were not all that different.

With an honorable discharge, a Purple Heart and the well wishes of the U.S. government, he limped home, a hero to all but himself. In the sandbox, he’d often thought of tur-keys, of home and the creek that crossed the pasture just this side of the hill behind his folks’ place. He thought he might even do a little guiding when he returned home, show those rich out-of-staters around the woods, until life’s path became clear.

Given his new reality and limited mobility, hunting was the last thing on his mind. Just getting around was tough enough, let alone his need and desire to reenter society, and so he’d moved back in with his parents. When he’d returned stateside – even through rehab – he dreamt of home and kept thinking the worst was behind him. No more sand, no

more patrols, no more death hanging over your head. Just get stronger, just get through it. Survive.

But being home wasn’t so easy. Nightmares, cold sweats, panic attacks; these were all common. With spring ap-proaching, his mother asked if he’d thought about hunting a bit, that it might lift his spirits. After a few weeks of her encouragement, he acquiesced, more to stop the nagging than anything else.

He struck out before daybreak, the same worn vest and shotgun over his shoulder. He managed to hobble to the chufa patch by first light and stopped, out of breath and with sweat dripping down his face, to hit the owl call and see if he could roust a tom. Instantly, a thunderous reply not

a hundred yards away broke the morning air.He eased his back against a large pine and

slid as quietly as he could down the trunk. With little feeling in his right leg and his half-leg tingling from all the walking, he popped in a mouth call, propped the gun on his good leg

and settled in to wait.A few minutes later he could see the

gobbler and let out a soft purr with the call. The gobbler answered immediately and made straight for what he thought was a lonesome hen. As the bird ap-

proached, he could feel his right leg beginning to cramp and knew if he didn’t shift his weight the walk home would be misery. He twisted as stealthily as he could, but the gobbler caught the movement and hightailed it in the other direc-tion.

He sighed, exasperated, and dropped his head. When he finally looked up some moments later, a large tom stood 30 yards away through some brush looking in the direction the other gobbler had fled. He carefully shifted his shotgun to the other knee and let out a cluck with the mouth call.

The tom spun around awkwardly, and he could see clearly the bird’s long, thick beard. His pulse quickened and his palms began to sweat. The bird began to step forward, but shuffled his feet instead, then did so again. His eyes widened as the tom shuffle-stepped several feet closer before turn-ing broadside toward the wood line.

Barrel propped atop his metal prosthesis, he watched the peg leg gobbler, beard nearly dragging the ground, limp across the field scratching for chufas with his good foot. He lowered his gun and Ol’ Peg disappeared into the brush. They were survivors, and survivors learn to make do.

He reached up and traced the scar on his right cheek. Maybe it was time he grew a beard, too.

Niko Corley, a licensed charter boat captain, spends as much of his free time as possible on the water or in the woods. He can be contacted at [email protected].

Survivors


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CALL about hearing loss and:• Be evaluated by a Board-certified ENT MD.• Determine the cause of your heaing loss.• Develop a treatment plan to improve your hearing.

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• Asking the speaker to talk louder and face you directly.• Asking the speaker not to cover their mouth or chew gum.

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