Just returned from the ground breaking of the new Fayette/Lexington Urban County Government Senior Citizen’s Center, which is scheduled to be completed in the winter of 2015. If all goes on schedule, it will be finished just before I turn 60 and am eligible to participate in activities there. Actually, I am already eligible to participate because my husband is 64, and spouses may attend if one is 60 or older. We have not gone to the senior citizen’s center yet because it is too small, is overcrowded, and is not open evenings and weekends. I hope the new center will be open from 8:00 am to 8:00 pm every day of the week. For 13 million dollars, they should be always open to get the most use out of the investment of our tax dollars.

Lawrence came home late last night after five days of visiting our oldest and youngest sons, who share a house in Suffolk, VA. He had a week off from teaching, which is called “Fall Break”. I stayed home to help our middle son and our two years old, and six years old grandsons. And to spend the time that the grandsons are in school and daycare (40 hours a week) working on getting the health club for seniors open.

I am very glad I stayed home, because I toured a very promising piece of real estate last Friday. It is near the site of the new senior center. The owner of the property showed it to me himself, and he is supportive of our goals of improving the lives of seniors. Granted, the property is not perfect, but the owner is willing to work with us and help us to get it to a place where it will meet our needs. He told me what I have already discovered:  it is difficult to find a commercial landlord that is willing to lease to a start-up company like ours. But the landlord I met on Friday is willing, because he said he has been there himself, and he wants to help others as he was helped. I am grateful.

Our monthly garden club meeting was last Thursday night, and as is customary, I brought a horticultural specimen to share with the group, hoping that someone knew about it. I bought it at the King’s Gardens Fall Celebration we attended two weeks prior, but I lost the tag and did not know what kind of herb it was. Sure enough, Liz knew. It was Calendula, and this is what Web MD had to say about it in an overview:

Calendula is a plant. The flower is used to make medicine.

Calendula flower is used to prevent muscle spasms, start menstrual periods, and reduce fever. It is also used for treating sore throat and mouth, menstrual cramps,cancer, and stomach and duodenal ulcers.

Calendula is applied to the skin to reduce pain and swelling (inflammation) and to treat poorly healing wounds and leg ulcers. It is also applied to the skin (used topically) for nosebleeds, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, inflammation of the rectum (proctitis), and inflammation of the lining of the eyelid (conjunctivitis).

Don’t confuse calendula with ornamental marigolds of the Tagets genus, which are commonly grown in vegetable gardens.

How does it work?

It is thought that the chemicals in calendula help new tissue grow in wounds and decrease swelling in the mouth and throat.

When the health club for seniors opens, I want to invite our garden club members and others who are interested to learn more about this plant and many more plants. Plants that we can put to use to improve our health and sense of well being!

Our Bluegrass Aging Consortium meeting was last Tuesday at the Bluegrass Area Development District building. In the coffee break room before the meeting, I ran into a new employee at the District, a social worker who has been hired to improve the lives of seniors in our 16 county area. He told me about his nurse grandmother and how she always used bag balm for every malady. He didn’t think that made sense until he toured our local Hospice campus recently, and was pleased to see a stockpile of bag balm in their storage room. We agreed that bag balm was not the cure, but the ‘vehicle’ for delivering what the patient really needed: Tender, Loving, Care. Our society is in short supply of TLC, I’m afraid. I am on a personal mission to put more TLC back into the world we live in. Please join me.

May you be blessed this week!