BOOM! December 2023

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December 2023

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The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

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December 2023

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The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

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December 2023

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

Contents December 2023

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Volume 14 Issue 5

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

Thought Relationships Taste Inspiration

Humor Advice Health Community

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

Carl Bard

7 VON Gift Guide 12 Publisher's Letter 15 A Guide to In-Office Plastic Surgery-Dr. Raggio 16 Miracle at Hilltop

Merry Christmas!

18 Jest a Moment: A Crabby Kitty Christmas

page 18

21 A Christmas Carol

Features 32 GrandparentGrandchild Book Club

36 The Journey from New Father to Great-Grandfather

38 How My Dad's Letters of Gratitude Overcame Death

40 Help Yourself by Helping Others

44 Jeff Barganier: Puttin’ on the Ritz

Departments 46 This and That A variety of TIDBITS

22 Best Chewy Sugar Cookies 25 Christmas Lights Festival at Montgomery Zoo 30 Gogue Center brings “My Fair Lady”

58 Greg Budell ENCORE

page 21

page 44

page 38

34 In Need of a Caregiver 42 “You are doing WHAT?” Lea Ingram

page 11

43 AUM OLLI Looks forward to 2024!

46 Holiday Themed Murder Mystery Play/Dinner page 22

page 52

page 42

page 30

page 40

48 Health Wise Foods Supports Local Artisans 52 BOOM! Cover Profile Tillie Jones

page 25

page 32

page 58

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page 62

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62 Holiday Blends

by Tracy Bhalla 63 Mercy

BOOM! The River Regions 50+ Lifestage Magazine is published monthly by River Region Publications, P.O. Box 6203, Montgomery, AL 36106.

The phone number is 334.324.3472. Copyright 2023 by River Region Publications. No part of this publication can be reproduced without written permission from the publisher. Opinions expressed in BOOM! The River Regions 50+ Lifestage Magazine are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the view of the owners, nor do they constitute an endorsement of products and services herein.

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Publisher’s Letter

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

Publisher/Editor Jim Watson 334.324.3472 cell/text jim@riverregionboom.com

Contributing Writers Jeff Barganier Tracy Bhalla Greg Budell

Amy Aves Challenger Robert W. Goldfarb Lea Ingram Tillie Jones Anne Elizabeth McGowin Susan Moore Dr. Blake Raggio Ellen Ryan Marie Sherlock Nick Thomas

Cover Photography Photography by DiAnna Paulk photographybydiannapaulk.com

Advertising

Jim Watson, 334.324.3472 jim@riverregionboom.com

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Jim Watson, Publisher jim@riverregionboom.com

Thanks for picking up your copy of the December BOOM! This month we officially celebrate the reason for the Holiday Season, the birth of Jesus Christ, Lord, and Savior to the world of believers. As they say, it is the Greatest Story ever told, supernatural, life-changing, and full of Grace. As we age, our expiration date begins to appear closer than we’d like to imagine.

When that happens, I am comforted by the remarkable peace and joy provided through my faith in Jesus. It surpasses all understanding, it is real and as the song says, It’s worth more than all the gold and silver. I hope you’ll examine this remarkable story of redemption yourself.

This month’s cover profile is Tillie Jones, an entrepreneur who owns a retail store called Everything Alabama. The store is filled with a variety of products produced by artists and makers from Alabama.

When you want to share a piece of Alabama with family and friends living in other parts of the country this is a good place to start. The store is located in The Historic District, Downtown Prattville.

Tillie's journey into shop ownership started later in life as she turned her love of Alabama into a store that represents the talents of its many great local brands and makers. I think you’ll enjoy getting to know Tillie as much as I have, she’s worth sharing!

We have plenty more good reads to stimulate your thinking in some way. Our friend Greg Budell shares a love story that broke his heart, a love story that he never really recovered from. It’s worth a read because you may relate. Jeff Barganier is exploring again and this time he offers a little insight into Puttin on the Ritz, in a town he’s very familiar with. Another idea worth reading about is a Grandparent-Grandchild Book Club. What a great idea to help stimulate your grandchildren’s thinking, as well as developing new bonds. Maybe this holiday is a good time to start, check it out.

We all know volunteering is a good thing and this month we share five ways where you can help yourself by helping others…isn’t it time to commit to serving others? When we age, we find ourselves reflecting on our lives. We have a 93-year-old widower do just that as he begins to experience his new great-grandson, good stuff.

We have loaded up this issue with many stories, and a variety of interesting ways to look at the problems of aging and their solutions, I think you’ll enjoy this month’s reading experience with BOOM! and I Hope you’ll share.

As you know, our advertisers are an important part of what we do each month. We consider each of them a Marketing Partner and we encourage you to consider their services when you have a need, they can help fly you somewhere for vacation, entertain you and your family, buy your gold and silver, help you remodel your house, take care of Mama, get you a new passport, enhance your beauty, dress you in the latest fashion and help you with all your holiday needs. BOOM! advertisers would appreciate the opportunity to serve you, please consider their services for your family.

Thanks for taking a few moments of your valuable time and reading the December issue, and maybe share it with friends and family, I appreciate each of you. Merry Christmas!

Age well my friends.

Jim

334.324.3472 cell/text jim@riverregionboom.com

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Dr. Blake Raggio, Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon

A Guide to In-Office Plastic Surgery

12. Mole or Skin Lesion Removal – surgical What Plastic Surgery The Rise of In-Office excision of unwanted skin lesions. Cost: procedures can be performed Cosmetic Procedures $1000 in-office? What do they cost?

As discussed previously, 13. Chemical Peel (medium-deep) – skin Now that we have outlined Plastic Surgery continues resurfacing procedure to improve texture, the multiple benefits of grow in popularity amongst tone, and discoloration of the skin. Cost: in-office procedures, the Baby Boomers. To that $1000 question remains what effect, plastic surgeons procedures can be safely and are also seeing a rise in Note: the above procedures vary in their cost, effectively performed in an cosmetic procedures being risks, downtime, and results. That said, the office setting. In no particular performed in-office, which in-office procedures listed above typically order, here they are with a offers a variety of benefits require 1-2 hours to perform, have a high brief description and their as compared to performing safety profile, and have minimal associated “ballpark” cost: such procedures in a “social” downtime usually no more than hospital or surgery center Dr. Raggio’s signature Upper and lower lid Blepharoplasty 1-2 weeks. More extensive procedures (e.g., 1. Facelift (mini-lift) – skin, setting. Here, we will outline facelift) or combination procedures (e.g., muscle, and fat trimmed and/ some of those advantages Upper and Lower Blepharoplasty) may require or repositioned to create a more youthful and review the latest trend in Plastic Surgery: additional time for healing. Of course, these appearance. Cost: $6500 the rise of in-office cosmetic procedures. are generalities, so please ask your surgeon 2. Upper Blepharoplasty (eyelid lift) – skin for specifics regarding your procedure. and/or fat removed from the upper lid to Why are In-Office Procedures so popular? refresh the eyes. Cost: $3000 (Fig.1) In-office procedures offer several distinct What if I am interested in an in-office 3. Lower Blepharoplasty – skin removed, advantages compared to the hospital or cosmetic procedure? and fat repositioned to surgery center setting: Whether you are considering rejuvenate the undereye a facelift to look your best for region. Cost: $3000 1. First, and perhaps the most significant your daughter’s upcoming 4. Nose Alar Base Reduction advantage, would be that in-office procedures wedding, or whether you are – soft-tissue removed from require no general anesthesia. In other interested in a blepharoplasty the nostril to narrow the words, you will not be put to sleep, and the to rejuvenate your eyes, base of the nose. Cost: procedure can be comfortably performed you should consult with a $2000 entirely with local numbing injections. physician who has specialty 5. Surgical Lip Lift – skin For folks who are either too unhealthy or training in the area you removed from the upper apprehensive to undergo general anesthesia, are looking to improve. “white” lip to improve procedures performed in the office represent Furthermore, ensure your overall lip shape. Cost: a great option. doctor is well versed in $2500 (Fig. 2) 2. Secondly, the price associated with in-office both surgical and non6. Buccal Fat Pad Removal: procedures is often considerably lower than surgical facial rejuvenation mid-face fat pad removed the cost of utilizing the hospital or surgery Dr. Raggio’s Modified Surgical Lip Lift procedures so that you are from the cheeks to slim the center. This means the patient saves money (post-op 1 month) guaranteed a comprehensive face and improve contour. on both facility fees and the cost of general evaluation.

Cost: $2000 anesthesia. You can expect to save several 7. Chin Implant – medical grade implant used hundred dollars, at least, with this method.

Lastly, choose a surgeon whom you trust. to augment the chin and balance the profile.

3. Thirdly, the ease of scheduling a procedure There is nothing more Cost: $2500 in-office grants more flexibility than that of a important than the 8. Submental Liposuction – fat removed from surgery center or hospital setting. This allows relationship you have the neck to improve profile and sharpen the patient more freedom when making with your physician. jawline contour. Cost: $2000 that important decision to schedule their 9. Otoplasty (ear pinning) – skin and/or procedure.

In Good Health, cartilage removed from ear to improve shape.

4. Lastly, the overall experience associated Cost: $2000 with performing a procedure in-office is often 10. Scar Revision – resection of unfavorable more pleasant than that of a hospital or scars plus meticulous suturing used to surgery center. In general, the office setting Dr. Blake Raggio improve appearance. Cost: $1500 affords a more personal and concierge-type Facial Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon 11. Ear Lobe Repair – repair of split or torn service compared to the hospital or surgery www.RaggioMD.com ear lobes. Cost: $1200 center setting. info@raggiomd.com The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

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Miracle at Hilltop

It’s time to get in the Christmas spirits!

Hilltop Public House has been selected as Alabama’s third Miracle Pop-Up bar.

Miracle at Hilltop is a Christmas-themed pop-up cocktail bar that serves holiday cocktails in a festive environment.

With kitschy and extravagant holiday decorations, professionally developed cocktails and the nostalgic energy of the best holiday party, Miracle at Hilltop promises an unforgettable Holiday experience. Santa Claus is Coming to Hilltop Public House...We’ve checked the list twice and Santa has put Hilltop on the nice list! This Sunday, December 3 from 11:30 a.m. – 1:30 p.m., Santa Claus will be at Hilltop Public House for photos, brunch and more. This is a family friendly event for all ages. Photos with Santa will be $10 and proceeds are going to The Grove, a non-profit organization that provides dignified and affordable housing to young women aging out of Foster Care in Alabama. Santa’s favorite food truck, Funky Forte, will be serving delicious brunch starting at 11:30 a.m. Santa will be back for more at Miracle at Hilltop on Wednesday, December 13 at 7:30 p.m. for “Sips and Selfies with Santa.” Come grab a holiday cocktail with Santa and take as many selfies with the Big Guy as you wish! This is a 21+ event and is open to the public, no table reservations are required.

Throughout December, Hilltop Public House will close at 4:00 p.m. and will reopen as Miracle at Hilltop at 5:00 p.m. and reservations are not required. We are located in the historic Cottage Hill neighborhood up the hill from downtown Montgomery, 3 N Goldthwaite St, Montgomery, AL 36104.

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Jest a Moment

By Nick Thomas

A Crabby Kitty Christmas

For most of the year, our cat possessed the sweetest temperament. Come Christmastime, however, his angelic disposition swiftly morphed into a furball of frustration.

room fireplace. Just as the cat devised a plan to scale the furniture and reach the tasty white nectar for a midnight snack, some paunchy, bearded intruder would break into the house ‒ materializing in the hearth, of all places ‒ to gulp it down. And just when kitty thought someone with whiskers named Santa Claws might bring some joy to his world.

To be honest, we probably provoked his holiday grumpiness since decking the halls with human Christmas traditions never made his days merry or bright. The holly jolly holiday irritated him faster than a battery-operated rubber mouse that refuses to die, so it was hard to blame him for getting his tinsel in a tangle.

The origin of his Grinch-like (c)attitude can be traced back to the time he chewed through the Christmas tree light cord as an adventurous young kitten.

Sure, that was the year he broke the neighborhood tree climbing record ‒ reaching the top in a mere 3 milliseconds ‒ but at what cost? He remained forever cynical of nature’s greatest seasonal scratching post.

Then there was the time he pounced on a large low-hanging round glass ornament that he snatched from the tree. Relentlessly pursuing it through the house, it eventually shattered explosively on the tiled floor. By his startled expression, one could tell the experience failed to boost his holiday cheer.

At some point, he also took a fancy to chewing tinsel. I once extracted a 10inch piece dangling from his jaws, not

Particularly unsettling was our family’s postdinner tradition of pulling The author's cat 'celebrating' Christmas - photo Nick Thomas Christmas crackers – a tradition in the UK and Commonwealth knowing how far down his gut it had countries where two dinner guests yank worked its merry way. Talk about feline apart decorated paper tubes to release indignation – you’d think we’d force-fed a small toy inside and accompanied by a him fruitcake. Thereafter, a decorationthunderous “crack.” With each deafening free zone was declared on the lower onemini-explosion, the poor cat relinquished third of the tree each year, which made one of his nine lives. for a pretty picture indeed.

Nor did it help that he would usually find himself decorated, too – adorned with a brightly colored, cheerful holiday hat, vest, and matching multicolored collar studded with numerous festive brass bells, by a family member who threatened to do the same with me if I identified her. No self-respecting cat could be expected to maintain its dignity so attired, let alone a good disposition.

It was enough to unhinge the most congenial feline temperament.

Christmas Eve brought more frustration in the form of a delicious glass of creamy milk that appeared mysteriously, but out of reach high on a shelf above the living

Needless to say, by Christmas evening our not so festive feline sported a pouting puss. If you think your sweet little grandkids can turn nasty when they don’t receive that much soughtafter gift on their wish list, wait until you experience a crabby kitty Christmas.

By the following day, however, all was forgotten and forgiven – at least for the next 364 days.

Nick Thomas teaches at Auburn University at Montgomery in Alabama, and has written features, columns, and interviews for many newspapers and magazines. See www.getnickt.org.

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A Christmas Carol A Holiday Family Tradition, now Music Filled

ASF returns to a full production of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol on the Festival Stage. When miserly Ebenezer Scrooge receives an unwanted visit from the ghost of his former business partner on Christmas Eve, an overnight voyage of epic proportions begins. Journey with Scrooge as he learns from his ghosts (and Bob, Tiny Tim, and the Cratchits) a heartwarming lesson in forgiveness and the change we can make around us. This play is a joyful Christmas tradition for the entire family! For tickets and show times visit www.asf.net

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Southern Bite

Best Chewy Sugar Cookies

Holiday Treats!

Enjoy these delicious, easy, and super chewy sugar cookies that are the best copy-cat recipe for Great American Cookie Company sugar cookies!

Ingredients:

3/4 cups unsalted butter, room temperature 3/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1/4 cup light corn syrup 1 large egg 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 1 teaspoon lemon extract 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda large decorating sugar

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment or a nonstick silicone baking mat.

Using a mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Add the corn syrup, egg, vanilla and lemon extracts, and mix well.

2. In another large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.

3. Gradually add the flour mixture into the butter mixture, mixing well after each addition.

4. Use a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop to scoop out the dough and roll it into balls. Place the decorating sugar in a small bowl and roll the dough ball in the sugar to coat. Place them on the prepared cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. (If you find the dough too soft, refrigerate it for about 20 minutes and it should firm up enough to work with.)

5. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges are just starting to turn golden brown, being cautious not to overcook. Cool on the baking pan for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.

6. Work in batches until all the dough has been used.

Store cooled cookies in an airtight container.

Source: https://southernbite.com/best-chewy-sugar-cookies

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Christmas Lights Festival at Montgomery Zoo

See the Montgomery Zoo transformed into a Winter Wonderland displaying thousands of sparkling and twinkling lights and festive decorations at Christmas Lights Festival. Take a leisurely stroll or enjoy a brisk train ride. Safely visit Santa and the Christmas Tree Village at the Mann Museum, enjoy the live entertainment at the Overlook Cafe, and no winter's night would be complete without some warming hot chocolate and fresh baked cookies from the Overlook Cafe. Make plans to swing by the Zoo and Museum Gift Shops for last minute gift purchases, souvenirs, and to participate in the Zoo Animal Angel Tree, helping conservation efforts at the Zoo and around the world.

Christmas Lights Festival has been a River Region, holiday tradition and mainstay for generations. Enjoy strolling about the Zoo enjoying the lights and sounds of the holiday season. Swing by to visit Santa and get in those last minute Christmas wishes. Purchase a membership, legacy brick paver, or animal adoption for that hard to buy for person on your gift list.

Or take advantage of the awesome sales in the Gift Shop for that animal lover at home. Friday - Monday, December 1 - 25 Time: 5:30 PM - 9:00 PM For more info visit www.montgomeryzoo.com ATTENTION BUSINESS OWNERS

We Love People Over 50!

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Montgomery Regional Airport-MGM

As the Montgomery Regional Airport (MGM) makes way to close out 2023, MGM is pleased to announce that it has seen significant passenger traffic in recent months. At the end of September, the number of enplaned passengers was nearly 12% over this same time last year. The summer months are known to be a season of high passenger traffic at MGM – and this year is no different.

We always want to communicate to the local community the ongoing need for your support to keep this momentum going, and flying local means more routes, airlines, and options for our passengers and community.

Suppose you’re thinking about flying to your next destination – whether business or pleasure – we ask that you consider MGM. Look to MGM first before taking dollars out of the state to another airport.

Supporting local has a significant impact on our region. If you eat and shop local, you should fly local too!

Upcoming News: In the coming month, MGM will be opening Dunkin’ Donuts – something our early-morning passengers will surely enjoy.

Holiday Travel: Also, ahead of the holiday hustle, we encourage you to book your flights early, arrive two hours ahead of your flight, and always remember to pack your patience. Thank you for supporting your hometown airport and flying local.

For booking information, flight schedules, and more details about the non-stop air service, please visit Montgomery Regional Airport's website at flymgm.com.

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Gogue Center brings Lerner & Lowe’s “My Fair Lady” to the Plains Award-winning Broadway musical slated for two performances, February 6–7

music by Frederick Loewe, premiered on Broadway on March 15, 1956. The legendary original production won six Tony Awards® including Best Musical and ran for 2,717 performances making it, at the time, the longest-running musical in Broadway history.

Boasting a score that contains such nowclassic songs as “I Could Have Danced All Night,” “Get Me to the Church on Time,” “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly,” “On the Sami Murphy, Michael Hegarty as Alfred P. Doolittle and Ashley Agrusa in The National Tour of MY FAIR LADY. Street Where You Photo by Jeremy Daniel (7275) Live,” “The Rain in The Jay and Susie Gogue Performing as Professor Henry Higgins, John Adkison Spain,” and “I’ve Grown Accustomed Arts Center at Auburn University as Colonel Pickering, Nathan Haltiwanger to Her Face,” Lincoln Center Theater’s presents Lincoln Center Theater’s as Freddy Eynsford-Hill, Michael Hegarty production of “My Fair Lady” was hailed critically acclaimed production of Lerner as Alfred P. Doolittle, Becky Saunders

by The New York Times as “Thrilling, & Loewe’s “My Fair Lady,” Tuesday, as Mrs. Higgins, Maeghin Mueller glorious and better than it ever was. A February 6 and Wednesday, February takes over the role of Mrs. Pearce, and marvelous and transformative revival.”

7 at the Woltosz Theatre in Auburn, Christopher Isolano joins the company as New York Magazine described it as Alabama.

Zoltan Karpathy.

“Enthralling,” adding that “Bartlett Sher’s glowing revival proves that a beloved Presented as part of the Gogue Center’s The production’s ensemble features musical from another era can keep on 2023–24 Broadway Series, Lincoln Center Lauren Emily Alagna, Nick Berke, Evan kicking,” and Entertainment Weekly Theater’s production of Lerner & Loewe’s Bertram, Nicholas Carroll, Shannon raved “A sumptuous new revival of “My Fair Lady” is the winner of five Conboy, Ryaan Farhadi, Andrew the most perfect musical of all time. A Outer Critics Circle Awards including Best Fehrenbacher, Kelly Gleason, Jackson masterful piece of entertainment.”

Revival of a Musical and was nominated Hurt, Michelle Lemon, Derek Luscutoff, for 10 Tony Awards® including Best Ashton Norris, Jessica Ordaz, Rafa For additional information on “My Musical Revival, five Drama Desk Awards Pepén, Kumari Small, Charlie Tingen, Fair Lady” and to purchase tickets, including Best Musical Revival and three Gill Vaughn-Spencer, John Viso, Gerri contact the Gogue Center box office by Drama League Awards including Best Weagraff and Mary Beth Webber. telephone at 334.844.TIXS (8497) or Musical Revival. via email at gpactickets@auburn.edu.

Adapted from George Bernard Shaw’s Tickets are also available online at This touring production welcomes play and Gabriel Pascal’s motion picture www.goguecentertickets.auburn.edu.

Anette Barrios-Torres as Eliza Doolittle, “Pygmalion,” “My Fair Lady,” with a returning cast includes Jonathan Grunert book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and

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By Marie Sherlock

Grandparent-Grandchild Book Club A safe place for kids to express themselves. This benefit is paramount, according to Shafer.

"The most important outcome of these programs is about getting children to talk about what they think and feel with a trusted adult," she says.

It's time for my book club to gather at my house. The living room is picked up and pillows are plumped. My fellow members' favorite snacks (and beverages!) are laid out. All is ready for a convivial literary discussion.

I've even finished the book this time!

But this book club isn't your typical wine-and-briewith-the-ladies bibliophile gathering. The refreshments range from blueberries to Marie Sherlock and her granddaughter Izzy | Credit: Marie Sherlock M&Ms to chocolate milk and the only participants are me, my husband librarian. Why? Because there is so much — and our 8-year-old granddaughter. upside — and so little downside — to these efforts.

We three are the happy members of a Grandparent-Grandchild Book Club. Laura Benefits for Kids Koenig, head of central child services A love of books. "Grandchildren get a at Boston Public Library, describes reading role model," says Koenig, and "are these literary gatherings as "spaces for much more likely to be motivated to read grandparents and grandchildren to come on their own." I can attest to this one: together to enjoy and discuss good books Our granddaughter Izzy now proclaims, … and to get to know each other in a new spontaneously and proudly, "I love way." reading!"

Improved reading skills. For kids who are Grandparent-Grandchild Book Clubs range just getting their literary sea legs, book from very informal — as with our threeclubs with grandparents can ignite their member squad — to more structured, nascent reading skills. like those sponsored by libraries and Kids become "literary savvy." It isn't bookstores. They have many similarities just that the kids are reading (which is to book clubs generally but the benefits awesome!); they're also discussing the differ somewhat. And the reading lists can books. This is the essence of becoming a be poles apart — "Ivy and Bean" is our life-long reader—and learner. Participating choice this month. in these gatherings, "allows the children to see how to talk about books, in a Ruth Shafer, a librarian with Fort meaningful way, beyond 'I liked it,'" Vancouver Regional Library in Vancouver, explains Shafer.

Washington, facilitated a family book Reaching outside "comfort zones." group called Discussion Junction for many Grandkids can spread their bookish years. Parents — or grandparents — and wings a bit — with the guidance of kids would read the "book of the month," their grandparents, says Shafer. True for says Shafer, "and be ready to discuss the grandparents too — who may never have plot, theme and emotional reactions to considered reading YA (Young Adult) the book." science fiction or a graphic novel (like "Anne of West Philly," a retelling of "Anne Discussion Junction was Shafer's favorite of Green Gables"). Or "Ivy and Bean." program during her 27 years as a youth

Michelle McCann, co-author of the book "Reading Together: Share in the Wonder of Books with a Parent-Child Book Club," agrees. McCann and her son were family book club members from the time the kids were first graders until they went off to college. She underscores the value of this benefit: "We were able to talk about issues and emotions I don't think we would ever have touched on without books opening the door for us," she explains.

The Bottom Line Is Bonding As for the grandparents involved, they'll gain "a better understanding of their grandchild as they learn about what they love and don't love," says Koenig. And they'll learn about books—and beyond, says Shafer, "glimpsing at current trends in literature as well as society, since many books for children mirror our world."

In the end, it's all about the bonding.

"Being in a book club with your child or grandchild is a wonderful way to spend time together, get to know each other better, bond over great stories, and make new memories," says McCann.

Tips for Getting Started Ready to launch your own GrandparentGrandchild Book Club? A few pointers: Remember that these groups are book clubs, first and foremost. So the usual book club rules apply — with a few twists.

Pick a book. (more on that below).

Set a (hopefully) regular date. A monthly gathering often works best—e.g the second Tuesday of each month.

Keep it to an hour max. While your adult

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book club (that just sounds WRONG!) may linger over drinks and canapes, book groups involving kids should be shorter— or attention spans and the fun factor may fade.

Bring discussion questions. Everyone — even the youngest members — should try to come up with a few good discussion questions. This is, IMHO, essential to reaping the full benefits of these groups.

Your grandchild is not only deepening her reading comprehension, she's also improving her writing skills. Yet another win-win. Insider tip: Make those questions open-ended — e.g. "why" or "tell me about" inquiries versus those that can be answered "yes" or "no."

Keep a book club notebook. McCann recommends that all book club members have a spiral "book club" notebook where they can write down questions, thoughts, and even make sketches—and record their rating of the book (on a scale of 1 to 10) each month.

Extras There's no end to the extras you can add on. "If the book talks about a special kind of food, consider trying to cook it

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together," says Koenig. McCann's book suggests costumes, games—or trips to see movies and plays based on that month's selection. Remember that these are extras — no pressure to do them!

Have Fun This can't be overstated: "Most of all, make it fun!" urges Koenig.

Selecting Books The selection process will vary depending upon the ages and interests of the kids, with younger children needing more guidance. Experts recommend that, as much as possible, let the kids be the "deciders." "But don't shy away from occasionally recommending a book from your own childhood or books you read to your children," adds McCann. As long as there is that crucial "buy in," you're good to go.

"Talk to a librarian or bookseller about other book recommendations," says Koenig. And there are endless book ideas online. Shafer likes the annual lists of America's Battle of the Books. Awardwinners like Newbery are also good options.

And no worries if you choose a book that doesn't quite cut it. "Even books nobody liked made for interesting conversation," says Shafer of the groups she facilitated.

See? There really is no downside to Grandparent-Grandchild book clubs. As McCann wistfully observes, "Of all the things I did with my son growing up, being in a book club with him, reading and discussing books together, was one of the most profound."

My husband and I hope that — down the road a bit — we're able to look back and say the same thing about our little literary gatherings with granddaughter Izzy.

Marie Sherlock practiced law for a decade before turning to writing and editing in her 30s — and never looked back. She's worked as the editor of several publications and is the author of a parenting book (Living Simply with Children; Three Rivers Press). She spends her empty-nest days writing about travel trends and destinations, simplicity, spirituality and social justice issues.

Source www.nextavenue.org

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BOOM! 33

SOME THINGS TO CONSIDER IF YOU ARE IN NEED OF A CAREGIVER

As we think about how to ensure the safety and care of a loved one who needs additional support in order to thrive in life (parents, differently abled individuals and other scenarios) hiring an in-home caregiver is often a viable option. Finding and securing adequate and appropriate caregivers, however, can be a daunting task.

How Do You Begin to Find a Caregiver?

Before embarking on a search for a caregiver it is important to recognize the needs of your loved one and assure that the loved one’s home is set up to accommodate a caregiver.

To determine what and how much care is needed for your loved one start by making a schedule of your loved one’s routine each day of an entire week. It will take some time to develop a complete schedule but completing a rough draft that you can fill in over time will document most everything you would want a caregiver to know. For example: • What time your loved one wakes up, naps, and goes to bed for the night?

• What are medications he/she takes and at what times?

• When does your loved one bathe; wash his/her hair; eat meals or take walks or other exercise? Include any outside activities that would require a caregiver to be licensed to drive and accompany them.

• Is it difficult for your loved one to eat meals and drink properly (hydrate)?

• What are your loved one’s favorite foods and drinks?

• Does he/she have dietary issues such as diabetes, require a low sodium diet or other limitation or food allergy?

Once the schedule is defined you can determine the degree of assistance/care that is needed for your loved one to be safe.

What Degree of Assistance/Care Is Needed? Consider, for example, the following: • Does your loved one need assistance with bathing hair care or dressing?

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• Does your loved one need help preparing meals or require them to be prepared?

• Does your loved one have memory issues or need medication reminders or assistance with blood pressure or blood sugar readings?

• Does he/she have a have a hobby in which the caregiver can assist? Does he/ she have a favorite TV show or time of day he/she likes to watch TV, listen to radio or music?

• What other assistance would you like a caregiver to do? If meal preparation is required, are there certain recipes that need to be followed?

• Will the caregiver be helping with laundry, bed making and light housework?

• Does your loved one need skilled nursing care or medical care?

• Does your loved one have animals in which help is needed?

situation and what fits with your needs.

Licensed home health agencies can provide both “skilled” (ie, medical services, physical, occupational and speech therapies) and personal caregivers “nonmedical,” for a limited period of time consistent with a doctor’s order. If only assistance with activities of daily life as described above is needed, then a “nonmedical” caregiver may be appropriate.

Non-medical caregivers can staff for 24hour care or certain times of the day or only certain days of the week. Caregiver schedules can be individualized to the needs of each family.

If possible, allow your loved one to participate in the interview process of the caregiver as your loved one is the person who will need to feel comfortable with the caregiver when you are away from home.

Allowing your loved one to participate will cut down anxiety when you are away.

Once the degree of assistance and the number of days/hours a week needed is determined, a search for a caregiver can begin.

How Do You Find a Reliable Caregiver?

There are various ways to identify help.

One is through an in-home care agency that specializes in caring for the elderly, differently abled or other individuals who need non-skilled care. You can hire from a larger agency that is bonded, trains their caregivers and has more caregivers available when one of yours is unavailable.

Or you may choose a private caregiver or a smaller agency/group depending on your

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One may advertise for caregivers or solicit recommendations from friends or health care providers. Friends and family members may also be available to hire as caregivers.

One important consideration when evaluating a caregiver is the opportunity for companionship that a well-matched caregiver will provide your loved one. Is your loved one reserved and prefers a calm environment? Does he/she like to talk? Is your loved one difficult to please or easy going? When seeking in-home caregivers finding one with a compatible personality with your loved one and the required energy level may provide your loved one with a companion as well as safe caretaking.

Alternatively, if you need skilled care, you can select from licensed home health agencies, who will have personnel who have been screened and cleared with background checks, have a valid driver’s license and insurance as well as hiring references. Your health care providers will be able to share recommendations on home health agencies they prefer.

Senior Law Solutions, LLC offers a variety of opportunities to assist individuals and their families with aspects of Elder Law Care, Estate Planning, and Life Care Planning with individualized plans. If you have questions or want to learn more visit www.seniorls. com or call 334.758.9400 Alabama State Bar Requires the Following: “No representation is made that the quality of the legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other lawyers.” Responsible Attorney: Anne Elizabeth McGowin.

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December 2023

BOOM! 35

By Robert W. Goldfarb

The Journey from

New Father to Great-Grandfather When my granddaughter handed me her son, Amari, she was writing pages in a family history. And I am a 93-year-old widower holding the future in my arms.

have lain dormant in me over the decades.

When our training days ended, I stood with tough, irreverent soldiers who snapped to attention when the trumpeter sounded "Retreat" My granddaughter as the flag handed me her we loved was month-old son, lowered. It's as my first greatthough at 93 I grandchild, smiling was hearing that as she did so. I trumpet's call had seen a smile to stand tall as like that 70 years I hold my greatearlier when my grandson. Instead wife held out to of slumping to me our first child. the dirge of an Robert Goldfarb with his great-grandson, Amari | Credit: Courtesy of Robert Goldfarb It struck me that old man's music, I neither mother spoke as they placed straightened to the blaze of a trumpet I Thinking of Beginnings, Not Endings the babies into my arms. heard on long-ago fields.

I've suddenly begun behaving in ways that should embarrass me. I find myself As young as they were, both seemed My love for Muriel tightens my grip hurrying over to young couples holding to know they were not only entrusting around our great-grandson. I want him babies, first in a local supermarket and new life to me; they were writing to know he's being held by both of us. days later in a restaurant. I called out pages in a family history. Muriel was "I've just become a great-grandfather 19 and I was 23 when I held our first I wonder if that call helped make it and held the baby the way you're child. Now I am a 93-year-old widower possible for me to survive the death holding yours!" Instead of recoiling holding that history in my arms. of my wife. While no longer physically and shielding their children, both alongside me, Muriel's presence is in couples smiled and congratulated me.

Most of my grandchildren are in their my being, my soul. She knew the boy The young mother in the restaurant thirties and I've held, fed and diapered I was and the man she helped him said, "Here, hold her. You'll need the them, carried them along streets become. She saw that in uncertain practice." where we now meet for lunch. They times I seemed to reach within myself were probably too young when we to find the will and resources to go I've also begun to see something in began training together to run the forward. the young father I was that endures three-mile races we still enter. We've in the great-grandfather I am now. I had time together I will not have with She would want me to hear that became a father eighteen months after Amari. But his birth has me thinking of trumpet's call as I hold Amari and for returning from the Korean War. Most beginnings rather than endings. Just him to hear a call of his own. of what you bring back — especially holding him creates memories that the memories — you discard, or hope might one day tell him we touched.

When holding Amari, I can't help but to. But something I returned with must wonder about the America in which he

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is likely to live into the next century.

I came of age in post-war America, a benevolent place rich with possibilities.

The country was surging with jobs that could lift an ambitious white man from poverty into the middle class. Builders were dropping foundations like seeds into ground that grew lush with affordable housing.

The America in which I became a man was for me a kind place where caring people were eager to help each other fulfill their dreams.

An act of kindness from someone who saw promise in me helped lift me from poverty. I was on a troop ship returning from Korea when my company commander asked what I planned to do after I was discharged.

When I told him I would have to quickly find a job, he suggested instead that I go to college. He wrote about me to Columbia University from which he graduated after serving in World War II. Still in uniform, I was invited to an

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interview with admissions' officers and then to take the SAT. Eight weeks off a troop ship, I was in a Columbia classroom thanks to my captain and the G.I. Bill.

nurtured my dreams is out there waiting to reemerge. I'm certain it will bestow on him the acts of kindness that brightened my path from the boy I was to the great-grandfather I am now.

My Great-Grandson's World I wonder if Amari will be touched by acts of kindness in a country that seems quicker to criticize than to offer compassion. He will live in a world armed with platforms that give bullies the power to launch electronic barbs at their victims. There's an eagerness to find flaws in those we most admire.

Amari and his parents live in San Francisco and I live in Florida. Travel has become more stressful for everyone, even more for a 93-yearold. But, I bought a baby carrier and will continue flying across the country knowing someone young and promising awaits me there. The blaze of a trumpet will stand me tall as I board a plane taking me to my family's future.

If there was social media 70 years ago, would it have insisted our bugler had somehow avoided going into combat?

But my intuition would have reassured me the man whose sound touched our souls had to be one of us.

The world, and our country, have changed during the four generations that encompass Amari and me. As I hold him the sound of that trumpet reassures me that the America that

Robert W. Goldfarb served as founder and president of Urban Directions, Inc. (UDI), a management consulting firm that mentored managers and management teams to achieve their fullest potential. He closed UDI in 2021 to concentrate on writing and serving as a volunteer mentor to aspiring entrepreneurs. His articles have appeared in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle and elsewhere. His book, "What's Stopping Me From Getting Ahead" was published by McGrawHill.

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December 2023

BOOM! 37

By Amy Aves Challenger

How My Dad's Letters of Gratitude

Overcame Death

Research shows, and his letters proved, that writing letters of gratitude builds stronger positive emotions and elation.

During my dad's 12-year battle with Alzheimer's, I witnessed his mind roam away, slowly, until his body gave way, shutting down too. His departure was torture.

Yet he left me with more than the devastation of a disease that steals words, memories and years of life.

Behind him remained sentiments of gratitude in letters, emails and poems that encapsulated the best of his spirit over decades.

He left joyous descriptions of his dad, his fox terrier Harry, my mom, his ceramic sculpture making, his sailing and his beloved views on nature. Some of my dad's letters are written in ink via one of his many antique fountain pens that now sit on my desk. Other messages from Dad are digitized.

One he sent me in 2013 a couple of years after his Alzheimer's diagnosis says, "My new fascination with cloud formations is refreshing. They are right over my head, and yet I have hardly noticed them.

Sometimes they are dull, but often they are very dramatic. It's a free show!"

When I read his words, an ethereal voice wakens, flickering on my screen or in the semi-permanent loops and flows still breathing on the pours of paper. These words stay with me when I swim in the lake near my home in Switzerland, heart up, tracking cloud shapes I want to store in my mind. My dad's messages grip gratitude that clings to me, replacing less happy memories I let disintegrate.

I used to pull away from hugging him. I stopped wanting to swim with him as a

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child. I didn't often hold his smooth fingers, because, as I grew up I became afraid of his moods, intensity, and irritability. He wasn't an easy person to grasp, yet those same hands of his left crumbs of a soul beyond depression, work stress, and the misuse of alcohol.

He Wanted to Encourage Me "Dear Amy … I want to visit you at Syracuse," he wrote when I was still getting my bachelor's degree. He was concerned I'd be disappointed by his business trip to North Carolina that would interfere with Parents Weekend in New York.

As an advertising exec, his letters to me didn't highlight his back-stabbing clients and the weight of his role working as the CEO for a business built on making objects and services appear worthy of love. Instead, he shared what he loved about his work, details he scribbled down because I was studying for a career in his industry. His note on an LA hotel stationary described a live TV commercial he knew I'd find cool. He wanted to encourage me.

When my oldest sister was born in 1967, my dad, an American naval officer, was stuck overseas. He sent my mom a letter that captured his young voice. It reads, " ... it's such an important thing (referring to his new baby girl) that it doesn't seem like anyone in the world, let alone on this ship, is worthy of being the first to know."

Further on he wrote, "I've decided I

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won't tell anyone! I'll keep it all to myself (referring to the birth of my sister) and hoard the pictures, letters, tapes and everything, especially thoughts, up in my bunk."

Years later, in a long letter written to my oldest sister's newborn son, he began with, "You were born today!" His tone was Seussical, infused with joy. His letterforms rippled like Lake Michigan, Newport Harbor and the Intercoastal Waterways where he sailed with my sisters, my mom and his grandchildren.

He wrote my nephew about every trivial yet wonderful thing that was happening the day he was born, just so one day my nephew would know his significance.

What His Letters Proved My dad struggled to connect off the page. He fought a sense, I observed, of never achieving enough, at least according to his own impossible standards. But his letters proved the existence of a guy who, if given the time to reflect, could find treasures even while suffering the isolation of a neurological disease.

It seems he instinctively knew that the act, not just the feeling, of being grateful alters the brain, impacting mental health, The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

especially if that gratitude is recorded and gifted to others. Research shows that writing letters of gratitude builds stronger positive emotions and elation than writing gratitude lists, journaling, or reflecting on positive things. Research on holocaust survivors showed that neural correlates to gratitude, in the brains of those living in concentration camps, could be linked to the survival of the victims.

If it's so simple to write a short letter with a handful of grateful phrases, then why don't we write more letters? Why do many of us never find the time?

According to a paper by Amit Kumar, assistant professor of psychology at University of Texas, Austin, we miscalibrate.

We underestimate the impact of "prosociality" and how a letter of gratitude will impact a recipient. We may become overly concerned with word choice and the quality of writing. Yet Kumar explains, " ... what may matter most to recipients is that gratitude is expressed at all." Kumar goes on to quote George Saunders, a professor from my alma mater who said at a Syracuse University convocation speech, "What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness."

There's still time for all of us to leave letters with thankful details embedded in them like my dad did. My new writing practice involves deploying the fountain pen my mom and dad engraved with my name when I was a teen or the one my husband gifted me, depending on the day.

I can record a detail of that sunrise. I can share the name of the novel I started or that gladiola that bloomed this morning. I can place a stamp on a letter or postcard before I forget. I can shuffle to the post box, and slip my words inside the hollow space where words, or the minds they come from, move on connecting to others, maybe forever.

One of the last stanzas of my dad's poem "My Head Held Back" in his chapbook The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

"Rhyme and Reason" reads: The balance and rhythm of flying comes naturally, like riding a bicycle.

But the details that keep you alive come slowly from study and practice.

I see many of the best details of him still there on the page or sometimes in the clouds. I can only hope to follow him, leaving behind the most fascinating traces of what I've been given.

My dad was right. His study and practice of using words survived decades. They traveled oceans. His words sent to others outlasted alcoholism, depression, Alzheimer's and even death.

Amy Aves Challenger lives writes, paints, and parents from her home in Switzerland. She recently completed her debut novel FLY, LARK, a dystopian story about a mom, an atypical child, and two refugees trying to grow in a world where even birds struggle to fly.

Source: www.nextavenue.org

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December 2023

BOOM! 39

By Ellen Ryan

Help Yourself by Helping Others When Irene Glowinski packs grocery bags for critically ill patients and Cheryl White brings her trained service dog to visit hospitals and "read" to children at an elementary school, they recognize the good they're doing for others. But these volunteers don't generally think of the good they're doing for themselves.

service to others, volunteers report feeling a sense of meaning and appreciation, both given and received, stress-reducing effect."

Meeting people and talking to them engages the brain, White notes, while "interacting with children and having fun — mental health goes with that.

No depression there." Her therapy dog, whether meeting a patient or a staff member, "is the gateway for others to feel better. Of course, I've got him all the time."

Volunteering can benefit your health, says Angela Thoreson, a psychotherapist with Mayo Clinic Health System in Albert Lea and Austin, Minnesota. As she has written, "Research has shown that volunteering offers significant health benefits, especially for older adults."

"It makes me feel good to be doing this," says Glowinski, who directs the groceries she compiles at Food & Friends into bags labeled for people suffering from diabetes, cancer, renal disease, and other maladies. "As clichéd as the term is, I can tell I'm making a difference. The clients are thoroughly vetted, and you know these people are truly, truly in need."

These benefits can be divided into five broad categories. Let's look at them in sections with some examples from real life.

1. Volunteering Can Improve Physical Health "Volunteers report better physical health than non-volunteers," says Thoreson. She mentions the release of dopamine, a brain chemical that leads to positive, relaxed feelings and reduced stress. Studies show this can lower the risk of heart disease, stroke, depression, and other illnesses.

"People who volunteer have lower mortality rates than those who do not, even when controlling for age, gender and physical health," she writes.

Since 2021, Glowinski has volunteered for three hours a week — or more — at Food & Friends in Washington, D.C., a nonprofit that delivers medically vetted meals and groceries to critically ill neighbors over 5,000+ square miles. Packing grocery bags, the volunteer teams are on their feet and moving constantly, lifting and shifting containers of beans, fruit, pasta, tomato sauce and so on. Glowinski has trained and done aerobics for decades, which helps.

Lifting weights and strengthening muscles "can help prevent or control conditions as varied as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and osteoporosis," according to a Harvard Medical School publication for older adults.

Dog lovers can improve their own health by using well-trained canines to improve

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Cheryl White and her therapy dog, Boudreaux

people's lives. Volunteers at The Dog Alliance, based in Cedar Park, Texas, provide service dogs for disabled veterans and first responders; certify therapy dogs and handlers to help children read and reduce stress for hospital patients and employees.

Cheryl White has volunteered since 2011.

She's a Hounds for Heroes puppy raiser.

In addition, she and Boudreaux — a Great Pyrenees/Catahoula mix — take part in a "read to a dog" program at an Austin elementary school and visit staff and patients at a hospital. Hospital work involves a lot of walking. Having retired from teaching six years ago, White is glad that volunteering gets her out of the house and moving. Boudreaux is in demand, so there's a lot of ground to cover — six floors in 60 to 90 minutes.

2. Volunteering Can Improve Mental Health "Research also has shown that volunteering leads to lower rates of depression and anxiety, especially for people 65 and older," Thoreson writes. "By spending time in

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3. Volunteering Provides a Sense of Purpose Helping others gives volunteers a sense of purpose and accomplishment, says Thoreson. "The work volunteers provide is essential to everyday activities," she adds. "Older volunteers experience greater increases in life satisfaction and selfesteem."

White's parents "did for others," so she had role models. Teaching special education classes also showed her the importance of helping those who have difficulty in life. "I owe it to people that I can share this," she says. "I feel like it's an obligation: If I can help, I should help."

When clients' lives are literally on the line, as is the case at Food & Friends, volunteers also feel an obligation to meet the need.

"A whole group of us talk about this," Glowinski says (echoing White): "If we miss a shift, we feel we have to make up the time. We all have the same sense of mission.

4. Volunteering Teaches Valuable Skills - and Draws on Them Many volunteers learn skills "on the job"; others bring or hone abilities they've learned elsewhere. Part of volunteering The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

may be mentoring others. All of this, Thoreson suggests, keeps both mind and social skills active.

White has put in years of training and practice with her dogs, from basic obedience to "canine citizen" classes to specific therapy work. The Dog Alliance has booked about 2,000 volunteer hours from her since 2011. While a dog is "reading" with a child, for example, her role is to monitor the dog for stress or discomfort.

At the hospital, employees under stress and patients in physical or emotional pain all find release in nuzzling and confiding in the dog. Years of teaching special-needs children certainly add to White's skill set.

At the National Institutes of Health, Glowinski spent two decades helping to oversee 200 people and a division that dispersed $1.5 billion a year in grants and contracts for research on a range of infectious diseases. So "the military precision really appealed to me" at Food & Friends, a nonprofit with a 100% rating from nonprofit watchdog Charity Navigator.

"I see what needs to be done at the end of three hours. Everyone works together, and we get there."

Plus, she gets to do some informal mentoring of younger volunteers who are in the public health field or planning to attend medical school. "They ask about my career trajectory," she says. Once the morning's work settles into a pattern, there's time to feel some satisfaction in providing guidance to others.

5. Volunteering Nurtures New and Existing Relationships "One of the best ways to make new friends and strengthen existing relationships is to participate in a shared activity," writes Thoreson. "In many cases, volunteers have diverse backgrounds, which helps expand their social network and allows them to practice social skills with others."

While hospital patients are petting Boudreaux, White talks with them. "It's good socialization time, good to make connections," she says. "When you see the same doctors and nurses all the time, you get to know them too. I enjoy that."

In fact, one nurse asked whether White made rounds at the elementary school, then exclaimed, "My daughter knows your dog!"

"Just through the dog, I got to know the mom more, and then I got to know the daughter," White says.

After nearly two years of chatty weekly shifts with fellow volunteers, "we're developing friendships," Glowinski says.

Texts, phone calls, lunch after shift — these are all building blocks. "Yes, you develop new relationships with these people. Not a bad thing, right?" she laughs.

In fact, regular connection — including steady volunteer work together — helps people make and keep friendships, and studies show that friendships are important to healthy aging.

Any healthy practices are helpful, of course. A combination is even better. "I think it is partly that sense of purpose and satisfaction and self-esteem that all lend themselves to good mental health," Glowinski says. "Get a mission, pitch in together as a team — that's hard to beat."

Ellen Ryan is an award-winning writer and editor. She is the former managing editor of The Washingtonian.

Source www.nextavenue.org

M essiah

SING-A-LONG Tuesday, December 19th at 7:00 PM EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF THE ASCENSION

EXCELLENCE IN CHORAL MUSIC SINCE 1974

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BOOM! 41

Master Gardener's Perspective

“You are doing WHAT?”

“You are gardening?” was the reaction of my family and friends when my husband & I started a garden. Now, in my defense, I do like being outside and have always done yard work but I do have to admit, I never thought my love of being outside would lead to gardening.

canned and put up the veggies to enjoy throughout the year.

I learned how to can as well as make preserves. I also have learned to dehydrate herbs. But what we really enjoy is picking veggies & herbs and immediately cooking a dinner…

By Lea Ingram

first, I found it to be interesting and fun!

We do have to study and take tests; we also get to work out in the community getting our ‘hands dirty’ and applying what we have learned.

As a result, I have developed an interest in composting. I find it fascinating that you can repurpose leaves, twigs/sticks, home garden refuse and kitchen waste to make compost. I can use kitchen waste (egg shells, coffee grinds, tea bags, veggie waste) and paper (shredded newspaper, cardboard, toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls). All these items turn into a rich material that can do so much for your gardening.

My husband and I started a garden during the pandemic; what was supposed to be a small garden turned into a half acre (that Yes, it is a process but Lea and husband J year) garden! once the compost is My only exposure to gardening was wow! What a ready, it can be used to enjoying eating the corn, cucumbers and difference it is improve soil aeration okra (my faves) from my grandfather’s to eat fresh food and structure, add garden. Which brings up another like that! If you nutrients to garden reaction from my family, ’but you do are wondering, soil and hold water not even eat most vegetables’ that you my family was and nutrients in sandy are growing! True, I only eat certain surprised about soils. Compost can also vegetables, but I have acquired a taste that too…me? be used as mulch to for one or two more since I took up Canning and conserve soil moisture, gardening. cooking? At this suppress weeds, Some of Lea and J's harvest point, I think they prevent crusting of So why am I gardening and eating only were wondering if they every really knew the soil surface, and buffer soil temps. some of the vegetables? First and me at all.

Composting is an inexpensive and foremost, I enjoy spending time with ecologically sound way to recycle yard my husband. He has more of the natural We had fun our first-year gardening but and garden wastes, improve your soil, ability to gardening and he also does a also learned a lot: planning our garden; cut down on waste disposal costs and lot of the research. Second, though it is what to plant next to each other and save considerable space in our bulging hard work, it is rewarding and satisfying what not to plant next to each other; landfills. What are my family and friends when you start to see the crops grow how to protect them against deer, etc. thinking now? They ask, “have you and produce beautiful veggies, fruits, & Going into our 4th year, we have made started planting yet?” herbs. I was blown away that you can go adjustments for a better garden.

Lea Ingram, an intern in the 2023 Master out one day and pick squash; then go out Gardener Class, lives in Lowndesboro, AL. the next day and there was more to pick!

I signed up for the Master Gardener For more information on becoming a master Course through the county extension gardener, visit www.capcitymag.org or email With all the beautiful harvest, we have office. Though I was a bit intimidated at capcitymag@gmail.com.

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AUM OLLI Looks forward to 2024!

The catalog for the 2024 winter term has arrived in the mailboxes of the AUM OLLI members, and they are developing their schedules and calendars for the new term. Open House for the winter term is December 5, 2023, the day that registration fully opens for everyone.

There will also be a Holiday Sale at the same time as the Open House at the Center for Lifelong Learning (75 TechnaCenter Drive).

There are some exciting new courses, field trips, and bonus opportunities coming in the winter. We are also experimenting with a new scheduling option: one-day workshops. We are offering two in the winter and are in the process of discussing more for the spring. The winter schedule has a one-day painting workshop taught by Muffin Hand and a one-day photography workshop taught by Warren Simons.

The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

Course offerings continue to include options in all three categories – study/ discussion, hands-on, and active.

New courses include a study of the current Hamas-Israeli War, World War Two, computer classes to introduce Microsoft Word and email basics, visiting Parisienne art and food, an introduction to modern bridge, and an introduction to historical novelist Richard Marius. A number of popular courses from past terms also appear on the schedule: Tai Chi, quilting, Zentangle, writing, theatre appreciation, hiking, pickleball, line dancing, watercolor painting, and jewelry making, just to name a few.

Lunch presentations include a wide variety of subjects: ASF, photography, U. S. Geological Survey, science fiction, World War II posters, and an introduction to Montgomery Whitewater. There is

a similar variety in field trips: Hyundai tour, a trip to the Gogue Performing Arts Center to see the national touring company production of To Kill a Mockingbird, starring Richard Thomas (registration is already open for this field trip), a basketball afternoon, a wine and food tasting, and a tour of several facilities on the AUM campus.

There is something for every interest available in the 2024 OLLI Winter Term.

Come to the Open House and meet the instructors for a full introduction to the program.

Something for Everyone!

JOIN TODAY! Tell your friends! www.aum.edu/OLLI

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Travel Experiences with Jeff Barganier Photography by Jeff Barganier

Puttin’ on the Ritz

It’s probably not a coincidence that Greenville’s historic theatre was named the Ritz. Irving Berlin’s 1929 song “Puttin’ on the Ritz,” made famous by dancer Fred Astaire, served as the title track for the 1930 musical starring popular actors of the day, Harry Richman and Joan Bennett. Puttin’ on the Ritz was a pejorative slang reference to the opulent Ritz Hotel in London known for its patron’s lavish dress and ostentatious behavior.

Built by prominent Greenville attorney Calvin Poole in 1935 as a state-of-the-art movie theatre, Ritz Theatre’s debut followed the “Roaring Twenties” that ushered in a raucous era of mass consumerism, and renaissance in art, values and entertainment. As a child growing up in Greenville, Alabama, I didn’t realize that that era of American history was melding into my own experience every time I visited the Ritz.

my mother, who earned about thirty bucks per six-day workweek as an assistant for a local dentist, would also sometimes sell tickets at the Ritz on Sunday evening. I’d sit beside her in the little jewel box of a ticket booth and tear tickets from a large roll to dispense to movie buyers. I still remember their faces.

Scenes from the Ritz Theater in Greenville, Alabama

If you visit the Ritz today, you’ll find signs over the restrooms that reflect the 30’s culture. And present still are those Art Deco theatre wall sconces, colorful ceiling lights, and carpet that reproduces the original. The concession stand is missing but not memories of buttery popcorn,

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Cokes, pickles, Milk Duds, and the like, for mere nickels and dimes. First dates took place at the Ritz where young people watched mostly wholesome movies with stars like Jimmy Stewart, John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, Debbie Reynolds, Elvis, and Doris Day. I must have been about four or five when

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But by the mid 70's, the Ritz was closed for business, left abandoned and in disrepair.

According to its website, www.seeyouattheritz. com: During the 50's and 60's, Martin Theaters modernized the Ritz by changing the decor in keeping with interior design popular at the time. Burlap canvas was glued to the walls to make it more suitable for movie presentations.

The stage was left intact, but a new movie screen consumed most of it with only a narrow strip left in front of the screen. Live performances were forgotten. Over time, the beautiful carpet (originally made in Belgium) became soiled; and the art deco moldings and accents were painted over. Before long, there was very little left of what the Ritz was designed to be.

I’m on my way to the Ritz now to meet with Nancy Idland, Director of the Greenville

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Area Arts Council. But first, I stop at my favorite Greenville coffee shop, Rise and Grind, for coffee. I call Nancy, who’s waiting at the theatre in historic downtown Greenville, and ask if I may bring her a cup.

The Ritz is only a few minutes away.

As true of most “boomers” in Greenville, Nancy and I have known each other for many decades. So, we waste little time commencing the conversation I’ve come here for. Nancy begins, “It’s just kind of unbelievable that, in 1935, Greenville had something like this. Folks would come by train to the theatre back in the days when the train stopped in Greenville. Many people of our generation remember going to the movies here. Films like Old Yeller, Night of the Living Dead, all the Disney Shows that were popular—Bambi. It was a wonderful feeling of theatre, with the ticket booth out front—that’s still here.

And you walked into the lobby where the huge concession stand was beaming with fluorescent lit candy displays and, you know, popcorn was popping, its fragrance wafting through the air. I can just remember as a child being transformed when I walked in here. I was lucky enough that we lived close by

and our mama would let us many of the small walk to the movies Saturday features, like the lights, afternoon. So, it was like a are original. Seating big-time treat. We got to was replaced. The walk to town, then go to City of Greenville now the movies. And they had owns the theatre. And those gargantuan dill pickles anyone may rent it. The sitting up on the counter— stage was extended. which I’m sure are outlawed And that made it more now because they’re useable for theatrical unsanitary for them to put productions.” a tong in there. You could sit at the movie and eat Rise and Grind Coffee Upcoming live shows your wonderful dill pickle include, The Heart for the entire movie. Over the years, the Behind the Music, January 18, featuring theatre has been used for entertainment Marty Raybon, John Ford Coley and Lenny purposes. It has been said that Hank LeBlanc. February 22 is music by Chi-Town Williams performed here. There are four Transit Authority. hundred and fifty seats within the theatre.

So, creation of the Greenville Area Arts Single show tickets are $25 and season Council in 1982, and revival of the Ritz, was tickets are $80 for four productions. Shows the wonderful vision of Roberta B. Gamble. often sell out. It’s best to buy advance (Ms. Gamble is a former Greenville High tickets online at www.gaac-ritz.com/buySchool drama teacher.) She had a vision tickets. Sounds like a deal to me! But don’t that the people of our small town needed dress too formal, y’all. It’s Greenville 2023. a taste of the arts. She began bringing in Not London 1930. See you at the Ritz.

Shakespearean productions, orchestras and ballets to give people who have never seen such things a taste here in Greenville. www.RiverRegionBoom.com Over the years, it’s kind of evolved. So

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Jeff S. Barganier is a novelist, travel writer and manager of Cindy Barganier Interiors LLC. He travels far and wide upon the slightest excuse for something interesting to write about. Contact: Jeffbarganier@knology.net.

Instagram: @jeffbarganier. You may print out Jeff ’s features at www.jeffbarganier.com.

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MPAC Presents Bonnie Raitt Just Like That State Tour 2024, Ho Ho Ho, Cotton SantasMay 2, 2024 7:30pm The Farmer's Market Cafe was site of a jolly With Just Like That…, her twenty-first album and her first new gathering as over 70 Santas and Mrs. Clauses visited release in more than six years, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Montgomery for the bi-monthly meeting of "Cotton Bonnie Raitt continues to draw on the range of influences States Santas", an Alabama chapter of IBRBS - The that have shaped her legendary career, while creating International Brotherhood of Real Bearded Santas. something that speaks to the circumstances and challenges Montgomery's River Region Santa along with a team of these unprecedented times. The title comes from a line of local Santa in one of her new original songs (“Just like that your life can performers the guestsfitting with “because an excellent meal and program featuring "Santa Slate", change”), whichwelcomed seemed especially there’s a Montgomery-based African-American Santa who never been a time that made me look around and say, shared his story. This was the first time the groupsaw chose as a meeting place and as CSS President Steve Rusk of Gardendale ‘Nobody thisMontgomery coming’—where all of a sudden, everything mentioned "The Capital City is a great location!

She opened up and treated us well." The visitors shifted.” Tickets at www.mpaconline.org left with gift bags consisting of a Montgomery guide book, a sample of ALAGA hot sauce, and anticipation of another excellent visit next year. Cotton States Santas are a group of over 200 Corbin Winery Presents, Holiday professional Christmas Entertainers who meetThemed regularly for fellowship and education. Meetings are heldMurder in differentMystery locations across the state.

Play/DinnerThe next meeting will be in May at Guntersville.

You are cordially invited to an unforgettable evening of intrigue, suspense, and delectableAmerica's delights at theBand, Holiday The Beach Boys @ MPAC May 17 Murder Mystery Dinner hosted by Corbin Farms Winery.

As The Beach Boys mark more than a half century of making Picture this: a wintry evening; the elegant halls of our winery music, the group continues to ride the crest of a wave will transform into a scene straight out of a classic whodunit. unequalled in America’s musical history. The Beach Boys – As the snowflakes gently fall outside, you'll find yourself who have become synonymous with the California lifestyle immersed in a thrilling holiday-themed murder mystery. Uncover the truth as you mingle with a cast of colorful characters, each with and an American icon, are bringing their shows to fans their own secrets to hide. Savor the exquisite flavors of our award-winning wines, expertly paired with a sumptuous dinner specially around the world. Since the band’s co-founder, lead-singer crafted for this occasion. Indulge in the rich aromas and tantalizing and chief lyricist Mike Love penned the lyrics to The Beach tastes that only Corbin Farms Winery can provide. But beware, time Boys’ first hit, “Surfin’” (1961), dozens of the bands chart is of the essence! As the evening progresses, the urgency to solve the toppers have become eternal anthems of American youth: mystery intensifies. Will you be the one to crack the case and reveal “Surfin’ USA,” “Surfer Girl,” “Fun, Fun, Fun,” “I Get Around,” the identity of the culprit? Or will you become entangled in a web of “California Girls,” “Help Me Rhonda,” “Barbara Ann,” “Good deception? Tickets at www.eventbrite.

Vibrations,” “Wouldn’t It Be Nice,” “Rock and Roll Music” com/e/holiday-murder-mysteryand “Kokomo.” The Beach Boys have sold over 100 million dinner-tickets Don't miss out on this records worldwide and have received more than 33 RIAA captivating event. Reserve your spot Platinum and Gold record awards. The Rock And Roll Hall of now and prepare for an evening filled Famers where also honored at the 2001 Grammy Awards with suspenseful storytelling, delicious with the Lifetime Achievement Award. With more than wines, and an unforgettable holiday five decades of touring under their belts, The Beach Boys experience. Secure your place at the have performed more concerts than any major rock band in Holiday Murder Mystery Dinner by history. Montgomery performance at MPAC, Wednesday, May 17. For tickets visit www.mpaconline.org ordering your tickets now! Limited spaces are available, so act swiftly!

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David Brewer Singers Present an evening of Gospel Music at Jan's Beach House The David Brewer Singers will present an evening of Gospel Music at Jan's Beach House located at 850 Eastern Blvd in Montgomery.

There will be great food and drinks and great Gospel Music from 6:30 to 8:30 pm. Call your friends and plan for an evening of fun and fellowship! Tuesday, December 19

Free Subscriptions @ w w w. r i ve r re gio n b o o m.co m GIFT HOPE A special way to shop this Christmas

Gift Hope will again offer people in the River Region an opportunity to rethink the traditional Christmas gift, by giving them a better alternative – giving hope to someone in need. Gift Hope supports area ministries and nonprofits through an event where you can purchase a variety of “gifts” in honor of a friend or loved one. By supporting Gift Hope, you help fund specific items from one or more nonprofits working in the Montgomery area to help those in need -- for example, one week of hot meals for an elderly couple in need, or one night’s shelter for a homeless family. (Gifts will be available at a variety of prices, starting at $5.) The gift recipient will receive from the gift purchaser a card announcing the gift(s) made in the recipient’s name and the name(s) of the designated nonprofits.

Gift Hope 2023 is a community event sponsored by the Church & Society Work Area of the First United Methodist Church in Cloverdale Park. Join us this year and support your community.

Online shopping will be available from thru December 11 at www.fumcmontgomery.org/gifthope/

Goldfish Swim Now Open at The Shoppes at EastChase!

Goldfish Swim School, the country’s leading water safety and swim lesson school offering infant and child swim lessons, is pleased to announce the opening of the first Montgomery, Alabama-area location. The newest addition to the Goldfish Swim School family began welcoming swimmers into the pool on November 28, 2023. This new location joins a thriving Birmingham-area Goldfish Swim School location that opened in 2021 and a newer Huntsville-area Goldfish Swim School location that opened in early 2023. Located at 2460 Berryhill Road, Goldfish Swim School Montgomery provides indoor, year-round swim instruction to children ages 4 months to 12 years-old in a safe, fun and family-friendly setting with highly trained instructors, small class sizes (max 4:1 student to teacher ratio), shiver-free 90-degree pools, and a state-of-the-art water purification system. Goldfish offers perpetual lessons and families can enroll at any time. Goldfish offers convenient scheduling options and families can easily book makeup classes when necessary. In addition to swim lessons, Goldfish Swim School offers frequent family swims (for both members and non-members) and party packages. Facility highlights include an air-conditioned viewing gallery for parents to watch lessons, individual/private changing rooms, blow dry station, snack bar, retail shop and warm, tropical décor. “We are so excited to officially welcome Goldfish Swim to The Shoppes,” shared Sidney Carol Barnhardt, Marketing Associate for The Shoppes at EastChase. “This is something that will benefit our community and our families.” Families can register for swim lessons at Goldfish Swim School Montgomery now by visiting the website or calling 334-245-5525.

NEED CUSTOMERS? BOOM! Mini Ads

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334.324.3472 for details.

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"Health Wise Foods Supports Shop Local/Local Artisans" Health Wise supports local farmers and artisans who add tremendous value to our community. We feature fresh greens and lettuce from Black Belt Fresh, a variety of local kinds of honey from throughout the River Region: Southern Sweet Bee, Urban Hives, and Eddie's Bees, who also supplies us with pure bee's wax in a variety of forms, including pure wax candles, both pillars and tapers (perfect for an elegant touch to holiday tables); We have introduced DebirYah's handmade bath and body products, including a variety of luscious, healing soaps scented with subtle blends of exotic essential oils; Most recently we have discovered Silverwood Farms and their absolutely delicious infused local honeys and homemade jams. With flavors like Pecan Pie Honey, Hot Honey, Peach Bourbon Jam, and Strawberry Spice-a-Rita Jam, these treats are perfect condiments and will liven up any holiday charcuterie board. AND, they make fabulous holiday gifts! Health Wise Foods is located at 5147 Atlanta Hwy. in Montgomery. For more information, call 334.277.9925 or visit www.healthwisefoods.com

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% Off Your Purchase

Please present coupon or mention you saw it in the BOOM! Digital Issue.

Offer Expires 12/31/2023

Receive an additional 10% off if you are a Senior Citizen, Military or 1st Responder.

334.277.9925 O 5147 Atlanta Highway, Montgomery

Caregiver of the Month Spotlight: Kimberly Taylor Kimberly Taylor started with HCA in August of this year. Although she's been with us a short time, she has left her mark in the care of others, she not only represents herself but the company in an impactful way.

Kim goes through LIFE following three rules: "Do the Right Thing, Do your Best, and Always Show People You Care." HCA is honored to have Kimberly a part of the team and we hope this showers APPRECIATION as she's demonstrated to the lives of others. Thank you Kim!

We appreciate your hard work and dedication, thank you for a job Well Done!!

For more information visit www.homecareassistancemontgomery.com

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Off Any Item

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Free Subscriptions Now Open in Downtown WETUMPKA, 132 Company St. One Coupon per Customer. Offer Expires 12/31/2023

www.RiverRegionBoom.com Save on your Holiday Gift Giving when you shop at Tucker Pecan

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334.262.4470 350 North McDonough St. Montgomery, AL 36104 Downtown The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

Capital City Master Gardeners Association Lunch & Learn @ Montgomery Cultural Arts Center

Capital City Master Gardener Association presents Lunch & Learn, the 1st Wednesday of Every Month from 12-1 pm. They will meet at Montgomery Cultural Arts Center (Armory Learning Arts Building), 1018 Madison Ave., Montgomery 36104. Mark your calendars, December 6, “Christmas Wreaths & Garlands from Nature” Mallory Kelley, Horticulturist, ACES, will present “Christmas Wreaths & Garlands from Nature”. Are you ready to start decorating for Christmas? Why not head outside and find some natural materials - vines, pine cones, moss, feathers, etc.? Mallory will share ideas for creating your own garlands and wreaths from everyday greenery and foliage in your own back yard. January 3, 2024, ““Poisonous Plants in the Garden” Are the grandkids coming by this weekend? Will plants in your garden be a problem? Do you have pets in the back yard? What plants could be poisonous to them? We know that poison ivy causes a rash for many of us, but what about angel trumpets and oleander bushes? Do we need to be careful around them? Come join us on January 3 and get some answers from Brian Brown, an ACES Horticulturist.

Come join us! BRING A SACK LUNCH, FREE PROGRAM, WATER PROVIDED, For information, please contact the Montgomery County Extension Office 334.270.4133.

Also visit www.capcitymga.org.

The perfect place to shop for

Unique Christmas Giis & More!

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Tillie Jones BOOM! COVER PROFILE

Everything Alabama

Older people have so much to offer, so more than anything else, I think to “age well” is to continue living out your purpose- whatever that is!

This month’s cover profile is Tillie Jones, an entrepreneur who owns a retail store called Everything Alabama. The store is filled with a variety of products produced by artists and makers from Alabama. When you want to share a piece of Alabama with family and friends living in other parts of the country this is a good place to start. The store is located in The Historic District, Downtown Prattville. Tillie's journey into shop ownership started later in life as she turned her love of Alabama into a store that represents the talents of its many great local brands and makers. We recently spent some time getting to know her and it was time well spent. We think you’ll feel the same way after reading her story this month. Please share with friends.

BOOM!: Please give us a brief biography, i.e., where you’re from, education, what brought you to the Montgomery area, did you raise your family here, schools, family, etc.?

Tillie: I’m a military brat and proud 1st generation American. My mother immigrated from Bamberg, Germany with my grandparents in 1958 and they settled near other family in Denver, where I’m originally from. That’s where mom met my late father, WWII Navy Veteran John McQuaid. After losing him to cancer when I was very little, a family friend introduced mom to my late dad, Charles McGinty, a Vietnam era Air Force man from Tallassee, Alabama.

Dad always wanted to settle back home after retiring from the Air Force, so I sometimes say that I feel as though I have always been on my way to Alabama.

and wound up pursuing a career in Public Relations and Advertising. Over my years in that field, I’ve designed and written a little of everything for broadcast, print, and corporate media, from simple ads and commercials to full-blown instruction manuals for educators. I’ve been blessed to work at places like Alabama Public Television, The Montgomery Advertiser, an advertising and PR firm, and a couple of universities. All those professional experiences became a foundation that feeds very nicely into what I do today at Everything Alabama.

I lived in several places as a military kid, I also lived At 60, Tillie continues to enjoy new chapters and challenges in France for a time as a young woman just out of my whole life and was already doing college and later in Germany for four portraits and artwork on commission, so years when my husband had a contract naturally I started out in that direction. there, but Prattville is home. I’ve lived After majoring in Art for about a year, in Alabama for over 40 years now and I had what I would call a gut feeling or in Prattville for nearly 30 of them, since “check in my spirit” that this was not my husband Randy is a deeply rooted After graduating Wetumpka High School quite the way I was supposed to go. I Prattville native. We’ve enjoyed nearly 34 in 1981, I attended Auburn Montgomery. prayerfully considered a change in major years of marriage and have raised three I’d been active in the arts pretty much

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wonderful boys together.

They’re all grown, and we are now also blessed with a couple of beautiful daughtersin-law.

Alabama goods and makers?

How did your previous professional experience prepare you for owning and operating a retail store?

Tillie: The idea for Everything Alabama Tillie and Randy's wedding day came years ago, when my son brought an international student to visit and she wanted a Prattville T-shirt. You can find them in a few places now, including mine, but back then, not so much! That’s when I noticed there didn’t seem to be a place in the River Region which offered a large selection of locally crafted items, and none devoted exclusively to made-in-Alabama products.

BOOM!: You’ve been Tillie and husband Randy in a recent photo quoted as saying you're as Southern as Kudzu, even though you’re not originally from the River Region; please share more about your Southern Experience?

Tillie: I say “Southern as Kudzu” with a wink because, like me, the prolific vine came here from somewhere else, only to become rooted in this landscape. Since my dad was from Alabama, we were always traveling to the area, sometimes for lengthier stays with our grandparents when school was out. So although we were not permanently located here at the time, I still enjoyed many of the quintessential experiences of Southern country life that many other Southern kids have. I spent summers shelling bushels of peas and butterbeans with my Alabama grandparents, who farmed.

I swapped spooky stories with neighbor children about their creaky old house like something out of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and I’ve leaped off the pier into Lake Martin with school friends and their families, just like a proper native.

I’ve actually lived in Alabama for the greater part of my life, and in Prattville specifically for half my life. God has really blessed me with the roots I prayed for as a military kid who wanted somewhere to settle and call home!

BOOM!: You are the owner of a retail store called Everything Alabama, located in Historic Downtown Prattville at 183 W. Main Street. Can you tell us how The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

Tillie's youngest son Ben & wife Emily

Tillie's eldest son Harrison and wife Sarah, who also works at the shop

you became interested in Everything Alabama and your journey to open the River Region’s only store dedicated to

This was still true in 2014 after I left my job of many years at an area university and took a little time to contemplate a new professional chapter. I returned to the idea of a shop devoted entirely to products from our state and opened Everything Alabama at an area antique mall, where I could start small with a core of solid Alabama brands and grow at a gradual pace. Everything Alabama built a following who support our commitment to Alabama brands and makers, so when the right opportunity came available to move into my own Main Street storefront in Prattville, I was ready for that leap. The place and timing were perfect, my location is a quick, 5-minute drive from where I live, and I love being able to bring Everything Alabama home to my own community in our beautiful downtown historic district!

Everything Alabama currently partners with about 100 Alabama small businesses from around the state to offer their items. This kind of relationship

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the quality small batch, handcrafted building was and farm goods made of wholesome among the ingredients that these brands and essential skills makers create. Everything Alabama needed at my aims to offer a variety of items and price last professional points, so anyone cand find something job also, where that they may enjoy and be proud to I managed give when they want to offer items from communications our state! People can connect with us by and visiting our shop at 183 W Main Street in administered downtown Prattville or by following our grant funded Instagram or Facebook pages. programs for my department at BOOM!: Tillie, many local downtowns the university are being revitalized, and Prattville is no where I worked. exception. Please describe your take on My experiences being part of the Downtown Prattville creating content business community and what it means and managing Son Ben with wife Emily, sister Lisa, son Maitland and Tillie sharing a meal to the quality of life for the River Region. multiple social media pages for Prodigal Pottery, Hornsby Farms, Piper & Tillie: I’ve always loved Prattville, but various programs and clients over the Leaf and Alabama Sweet Tea Companies, this is a particularly exciting time to live years remains at the foundation of what Mama’s Secrets Cookies and Zkano here. The long-awaited restoration and I do at Everything Alabama today. As for Socks. I follow, promote and try to conversion of our historic Daniel Pratt merchandising, I suppose my personal cultivate positive relationships with my history in art and designing experiences brand partners, have developed a taste and instilled an so additional eye for talent in the curatorship of art connections and goods and their attractive staging in with brands my store. and makers naturally BOOM!: Would you please describe formed from some of your Everything Alabama within that product selections for our readers? What community are some of the benefits of focusing just of creatives Tillie's sons L-R: Harrison and wife Sarah, Ben and wife Emily, Maitland on Everything Alabama? How do you find and other products from across the state? What’s entrepreneurs.

Cotton Gin Manufactory to beautiful loft the best way for readers to connect with apartments now called “The Mill” has you and Everything For me, the benefit of come to fruition, creating a stunning Alabama? focusing on “Everything focal point within our already charming Alabama” is that of being historic downtown! Ours is a wonderful Tillie: Starting out, my grounded and confident community in which to live, work and core product selections in who we are and what play, and Everything Alabama is really were drawn from we are called to do as a blessed and delighted to reside within both my personal business. Our purpose the heart of our Main Street historic connections and from and commitment are district. What all this revitalization means Alabama “Southern clear, and we have not to the quality of life in the River Region Makers,” which is a veered from it from is that we offer a real destination where curated designation day one. The benefit area residents and visitors alike can enjoy these brands have been of this commitment a meal, visit our quaint shops, stroll our awarded. I wanted to for customers is that walks and find plenty to do at any of our offer products with of knowing they are beautiful and vibrant outdoor spaces! a solid track record supporting small Prattville is one of the Alabama day trips of excellence, which businesses right here at Tillie's store, Everything Alabama, or getaways that folks from the River represent our state home. They are making featured in this book!

Region and beyond should be planning well and also enjoy a a difference in the lives to come enjoy, because we have a LOT to certain amount of brand recognition. of Alabama families, while enjoying offer!

This includes brands like 1818 Farms,

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BOOM!: As a woman of faith. Would you share your Christian Journey and the guidance God has provided?

Tillie: I’ve had a sense of the Lord’s presence with me from childhood, and there isn’t a single important life decision I’ve made without first prayerfully and earnestly consulting Him and His will for my education, marriage, where to live and career path, from the early years to now.

Psalm 37:4 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” That’s what I want- for His desires to be my heart. I’m His to direct, and that goes for Everything Alabama, too. I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t believe it is part of His plan and purpose for my life. It is a labor of love, namely my love of the Lord and following Him wherever or whatever the personal or professional path. “For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10).

BOOM!: What is it about living in the Prattville/River Region area that you like?

What do we need more of?

works to complete his graduate studies. So we really miss him, but are thankful that at least we have fairly easy avenues for keeping in touch virtually these days, even if we are not able to spend time in person.

BOOM!: Do you have time to be involved in the community, church, or civic organizations?

Tillie's Dad's memorial brick at Enlisted Museum, MGM

to wind down before we turn in. I wrap up earlier on days that I’m working from home to join my husband to play with our rescue dog Buddy before dinnertime.

He’s a pretty active pup so we get that activity that he needs in by playing frisbee with him on the large, wooded hillside where we live. Other times, we take him with us to grab a coffee and a pup cup and go for a pleasant drive in the country or to other points of interest around our area.

Tillie: Alabama, and specifically Prattville, is the home I always prayed for, one with roots and family ties. Our family’s history runs deep here, and the Lord has blessed me with that sense of community you find strong in those who love Prattville.

We also love our military and first responders here. We are a community which respects its history, while at the same time embracing a bright and vibrant future.

I say this with a chuckle and an aside- not complaining, but one thing we could use more of here in our historic downtown is parking.

BOOM!: How do you like to relax and wind down from a full day of activity?

Tillie: It’s usually around 7 before I wrap up work in the evening on days that I’m in the store, so we enjoy simply having a nice, quiet dinner together, watching a little television and maybe reading a little The River Region’s 50+ Lifestage Magazine

Tillie: In addition to running Everything Alabama, I also continue to work for a local advertising agency as a sideline, administering social media pages for a client. So although my time is very limited, I do take part in ministry, organizations and works that we support.

BOOM!: What are some of your favorite travel experiences? Favorite getaway spot? Are any travel dreams planned?

Tillie: As I mentioned, I lived abroad right out of college, and again with my family when we had a contract overseas, but any of the experiences that I was able to share with my husband and family stand out as my favorites. We really loved traveling to the many beautiful places we were blessed to visit throughout Western Europe, and times spent with my German family and our friends there were very happy ones! One day, I’d love to get back to Europe in general, but Germany in particular, to unearth certain details of family history.

On this side of the pond, one of our favorite getaways has usually been to the Smokies, but more recently the area of Tennessee where our kids live- simply because they live there.

BOOM!: With a busy life, how do you like to spend time with family and friends?

BOOM!: As you’ve aged, how have your priorities changed? How would you describe what it means to “age well”?

What are your thoughts on retirement?

Tillie: We enjoy gathering for the occasional visit to catch up over coffee when we can. Our youngest son and extended family live in Tennessee, so we really love getting away to spend some time with them there during the holidays or whenever we get the chance. Another of our sons is living in Japan while he

Tillie: Just out of college, naturally my focus was primarily on building my career. I studied and worked hard for so long, but when my baby was born, I took one look at him and I was in love. I couldn’t imagine not caring for him myself full-time, even if it meant

Family dog Buddy

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Tillie's store, Everything Alabama, located in The Historic District, Downtown Prattville

stepping away from my career for a time.

Fortunately, we had planned for this possibility. So while my priorities shifted for some time from professional life to home and family, I don’t regret a minute of that and would not trade a moment of that time with my boys for the wide world. Once they were older, I was able to return to working outside the home again and life came full circle in that way.

I probably work more now than when I was in my twenties. Yet, while I had more physical energy then, maturity and experience have increased my capacity in other ways as I’ve aged. Older people have so much to offer, so more than anything else, I think to “age well” is to continue living out your purposewhatever that is! I think there’s a great deal of satisfaction in that. For one person, living purposefully may mean keeping grandchildren so mommy and daddy can work, for another it may be volunteering somewhere that you always wanted to. For someone else, it could mean embarking on a passion project or a whole new chapter of some other kind. I suppose I see “retirement” as a continuation of “aging well.” Just because you are older doesn’t mean you no longer have something meaningful to contribute.

BOOM!: Do you have any hobbies or other activities that grab your attention?

Tillie: To be honest, underneath it all I’m pretty nerdy. I’m interested in a variety of fairly academic interests- things like art history and cultural anthropology, classic illustration and languages. I actually speak and read French fairly well and I’m

conversational in German, though I did not study it- mostly picked it up on the fly over the years. I also enjoy interior design, or good design in general. I guess my interests tell a bit on my mild autism, lol.

BOOM!: Many people, as they age, experience a renewed sense of purpose, new goals, etc. How would you describe this sense of renewal in your life? Any advice for the rest of us seeking renewal?

Tillie: There is a lovely scripture that is often given to young people as they graduate or embark upon new paths in life, but Jeremiah 29:11 is one which speaks to me more and more as I age as a hopeful and important reminder: “I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Beautifully, it reassures the child of God that He has plans and purpose for you, and there is not an age limit set to this promise. As long as I live, I have a purpose to fulfill through Christ, and He is the faithful author and finisher of my faith. My advice to anyone wanting renewal is to seek the face of the Lord, because He is the one who called you for a purpose- a good purpose meant to give you a hope and a future!

BOOM!: What are some of the future challenges you’re contemplating for Everything Alabama? Yourself?

Tillie: Well, growing pains are a thing!

It’s always challenging, for me at least,

to balance the need for growth and change with the willingness and faith to stretch out beyond one’s comfort zone.

My challenge is to determine which way growth and change in God’s will are going to take us and then do that. I have to say the same thing for myself- That is, to ask the Lord what He would have me to do and to be faithful to that.

BOOM!: Give us three words that describe you.

Tillie: I am purposeful, knowledgeable and kind.

We want to thank Tillie for sharing some of her life's story with us this month.

Tillie has a creative spirit and is applying it to her unique retail store, Everything Alabama. We hope you’ll share Tillie's story with friends and family, they’ll enjoy the reading experience. If you want to reach out to Tillie, grab some friends and visit her store at 183 W Main Street in downtown Prattville or give her a call at 334-301-0191 or email at tillie@everythingalabama.gift You can also follow her on Instagram and Facebook @everythingalabama: IG- https://www.instagram.com/ everythingalabama/?hl=en Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/ everythingalabama/ Thanks to DiAnna Paulk and her creative photography skills. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions about our cover profiles, including nominating someone, please text them to Jim Watson at 334.324.3472 or email jim@riverregionboom.com.

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The Mayor of BOOMTOWN

By Greg Budell

ENCORE

"A true story from the Greg files" She was stunning.

I had to have her and have her I would.

Every amount of effort, every minute required would be worth it. There were doubts. “She’s not what you need” some said. “She’s high maintenance and will require time and attention you don’t have to give!”.

I listened but loved the challenge. My mind, body and soul were committed to making it work. I dismissed the doubters and stayed on my course.

My gut told me we were a match, and I would not be denied. I overcame doubt and inquired about a date.

Arrangements were made to take her out once. That one occasion would be all I needed to know about moving forward.

The compatibility was immediate! The time we spent together was special and seemed to pass in an instant.

My intuition, for once, was laser correct, and the laser hadn’t even been invented yet. This memory was born years ago but feels as fresh as yesterday.

Beautiful as she was, she’d test my insecurities daily.

There was nowhere to take her where she wouldn’t be the center of attention, and the likely object of male fantasies. Somehow, I thrived on it!

It’s not easy being out adjacent to a body to which eyes are drawn, yet she was ever faithful.

By our third time together, having “closed” our deal to one of mutual exclusivity, each day dawned with a new enthusiasm because she was part of it. We did everything together, with no diminishment of anticipation and enthusiasm.

Being with her made every previous experience “new” again.

Experience teaches an unfortunate paradigm. After a certain amount of time, the exquisite newness fades into routine. She taught me otherwise.

Our bond and intimate partnership intensified and thrived with every turn of the calendar page.

We became a thriving twosome, without sacrificing our individual needs. She received attention while I confidently absorbed it for myself. We did everything together, a delightful consummation of need and fulfillment.

“No new evidence” I was told repeatedly. With every passing day my hopes were diminished further. Almost at the point of no return, I got The Call.

“We think we found her”, said the toneless, unanimated voice at the other end. I was asked if I could identify the body.

There was no one else to take the assignment. It had to be me.

The journey to ID her was long. No matter how one steels themselves for this task, there is no painless way around the process. My name was on her person. I was the only one qualified for the grim assignment ahead.

I arrived at the designated address.

After confirming my identity, I was directed to a room with a one-way window.

Somehow though, I realized our unofficial marriage was “too good to be true”. Even after a year together, there was a foreboding reminder that nothing lasts forever.

I could see in, but not vice versa.

The attendant asked if I was ready.

In circumstances such as these, is anyone? Using both hands the individual behind the glass rolled the cover back.

One day, the inevitable came.

I was sickened.

I awoke to find her missing.

She had been terribly abused. Her front had been horribly disfigured. I silently promised it “didn’t matter”.

Love is love, no matter what. I wasn’t about to compromise on that commitment. Still, nothing in life fully prepares you for that moment.

She was gone. No explanation, just gone.

Though we were unmarried, I felt the need to involve law enforcement. A report was filed with little hope of a happy ending.

The curtain was pulled back further.

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There was no doubt. It was her. My heart sank to unfathomable depths. I couldn’t mutter a verbal confirmation.

The choking of tears in a head shaking affirmation required would have to suffice. A few bureaucratic steps and I could claim her. It was too easy.

Only then could I comprehend a body is a body. We are mere vessels that transport life until the journey ends no matter how. I was shocked at how clinical and conclusive the end came.

“Move on”, said friends. I knew what they meant. Not even a total loss as I’d experienced could shut down living.

Sure, I had anger at those who brought her harm!

What good would it do? It wouldn’t bring her back. It was time to accept and move on.

I missed how she made me feel- like a man, a man with a means and purpose.

Yet with her untimely passing, there was no short cut to healing. I would

have to relive it all, reexperiencing the positive to process the pain.

So, move on I did, albeit reluctantly.

Still, realities. I’d never again know her as I did her successors. She was that unique. Every potential replacement suffered the outcome of comparison.

“She” was always number one. Life told me to discard the pretenders and love what’s there.

It was truly the only choice.

She was one of a kind. Impossible slippers to fill, I know. As time passed in the wake of our love, I saw it as the only healer. Time, before the walls would disintegrate. Time, before I could trust again. It would take effort to reestablish a comparable comfort zone.

Her successor would have to meet a higher standard. Perhaps, an impossible one.

In the end, there was but one truth.

Since and forever, I can never own another Corvette.

Share your thoughts on my experiences or other comments via email at gregbudell@aol.com. It's always fun to hear from BOOM! readers.

Greg Budell lives in Montgomery with his wife, Roz, and dog, Brisco. He's been in radio since 1970, and has marked 17 years in the River Region. He hosts the Newstalk 93.1FM Morning Show with Rich Thomas and Jay Scott, 6-9 AM Monday - Friday. He returns weekday afternoons from 3-6 PM for Happy Hour with sidekick, Rosie Brock. Greg can be reached at gregbudell@aol.com

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Susan Clayton Moore, J.D., is a financial advisor and wealth manager with Moore Wealth Management, Inc., which has offices in Montgomery, Alexander City and Auburn. Susan has under advisement over $170 million (as of 1.21.2022) in brokerage and advisory assets through Kestra Financial and has been a financial advisor and wealth manager for over 40 years. Contact Susan at 334.270.1672. contact susan@moorewealthmanagement.com EmailEmail contact is issusan@moorewealthmanagement.com.

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Smart Health - Nature's Way - Tracy Bhalla

Holiday Blends As the holiday season envelops the world in warmth and joy, there's no better way to embrace the spirit of the season than through the inviting scents that fill your home. Unlike the enticing smell of baking bread or cookies, freshly brewed coffee, or whatever your favorite smell is, there are particular aromas that will transport you right back to Christmas at Grandma’s house when you were a kid.

Just close your eyes, breathe in, and there you are! It is truly amazing how a scent can transport you back in time and space.

Perhaps the typical smells of Christmas are cinnamon, peppermint (candy canes), orange, star anise…. but really whatever you grew up with is what will remind you of Christmases past.

I want to discuss 10 of my favorite Christmas scents (in essential oil form); some of them you may be familiar with, some maybe not, but they could be your favorite, too! (Descriptions taken from aromatics.com) 1. Anise Oil (Pimpinella anisum) - Anise Oil, renowned for its sweet licorice scent, summons memories of holiday treats and joyful gatherings, evoking a sense of nostalgic comfort within your space.

2. Black Pepper Oil (Piper nigrum) - With its invigorating and spicy fragrance, Black Pepper Oil infuses vitality into the air, perfect for enlivening those wintery evenings and igniting a sense of festivity.

3. Cardamom Oil (Elettaria cardamomum) - Indulge in the warm, slightly sweet, and spicy aroma of Cardamom Oil, adding a layer of sophistication and richness to your surroundings.

4. Cinnamon Bark (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) - The robust, sweet scent of

comforting holiday ambiance.

(All these oils can be purchased here - https:// www.aromatics.com?sca_ ref=3140382.hsuAvWUmoz)

Cinnamon Bark brings forth memories of holiday baking and cozy comfort, enhancing the festive ambiance.

5. Cinnamon Leaf (Cinnamomum zeylanicum) - A lighter, fresher take on the classic cinnamon scent, Cinnamon Leaf Oil enlivens your space with its lively and festive fragrance.

6. Clove Bud Oil (Eugenia caryophyllata) The rich, spicy fragrance of Clove Bud Oil infuses your space with a cozy, comforting feeling, embodying a quintessential scent of the season.

7. Ginger Oil (Zingiber officinale) - Ginger Oil's lively and spicy aroma brings a zesty warmth, invigorating the senses during the festive period and infusing your space with an air of celebration.

8. Nutmeg Oil (Myristica fragrans) - The sweet and nutty fragrance of Nutmeg Oil encapsulates the very essence of the holidays, evoking images of eggnog and other classic seasonal delights.

9. Tulsi (Holy Basil) Oil (Ocimum sanctum ct eugenol) - Tulsi Oil introduces a herbaceous and slightly floral scent, offering a refreshing, calming ambiance to your holiday haven.

10. Tamala Oil (Cinnamomum tamala ct linalool) - With a warmth reminiscent of cinnamon but gentler, it creates a serene, tranquil atmosphere, melting away tension with its calming properties, ideal for a

A simple way to get your home smelling divine this season (and any season) is by using essential oils in a diffuser. The ultra-sonic kind that you put water into and add essential oils to the water.

Use a maximum of 10 drops total, but you can mix the oils together as you like. For example, 2 drops of Anise, 3 drops of Cinnamon leaf, 2 drops of Ginger, 1 drop of Clove, 2 drops of Nutmeg.

To get a blend that you are really happy with, take a small glass bowl and the oils that you want to use. Put just one drop of your first oil in the bowl; smell it. Add one drop of a second oil; swirl it around, smell it again. How does it smell to you? If you have a third oil you may want to add a drop of that now, or you may want to add more of oils 1 and/ or 2. Continue this process, adding only one drop at a time and giving a good sniff after each addition.

Ask yourself, is one oil overpowering the others? Do I like this combination? What will happen if I add more of “x” or “y”?

This is all very experimental and very personal; what you like may not appeal to the next person, and that’s ok; this is YOUR blend.

It is important to keep track of how many drops of each oil you have added so that you can accurately recreate it once you have a blend you like. Then, you use it in your diffuser, 6-10 drops per use. Enjoy!

Let me know how your experience goes.

I’d love to hear about it.

email: nyrbhalla@gmail.com I web: us.nyrorganic.com/shop/tracybhalla I www. LogHouseAromatics.com Tracy Bhalla, independent consultant with NYR Organics and founder of LogHouseAromatics.com; after 25 years of using homeopathic remedies, it was time to take charge and complete my Aromatherapy Certification, which I achieved April 2020 and since founded LogHouseAromatics.com as a source for useful essential oil and general natural health information and a place to purchase certain products. email: nyrbhalla@gmail.com I am here to answer any questions you may have.

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