Category: Malakoff

Hey I’m sorry, I just can’t seem to crank a column out this week. My brain is in overload thinking about all this stuff that is coming up.

Tomorrow I’ve got to go to a Family Peace Project Board Meeting where we are getting ready for our Annual Waffle Breakfast on May 4.(Want to buy a ticket?) Then I’ll leave there and go to my third acupuncture session. I’ve had two, and they have helped my knee. I’m looking forward to see how much better they’ll get me.

Then tomorrow night, I get to go to the Master Gardener’s Annual Banquet and Plant Sale and play hostess to Jo Ann Surls’ table since she had to do something else. Then Friday, there is the Henderson County Performing Arts Center Annual Fundraiser Gala. My grandson Beau will be performing, and Cedar Lake has a couple of tables. I’m thinking of putting on some makeup for that one.

Then the weekend starts. This is Cornbread Festival weekend. I hope by the time you are reading this you are getting ready to be there for all the fun. We start early: 7 Saturday morning, with the Rotary Club Pancake Breakfast at the Community Center. Just $5 and surely I’ll get there before they close at 9 a.m. Maybe I’ll wave at the 5K runners or walkers or whatever they do, but that’s it for me and the 5K I’ll try to get a quick look at the 14th Annual Texas State Knife & Tomahawk Championship going on over at the park behind the Community Center, but I’ll mostly save that till Sunday, since it will still be going on then.

I’ll be spending most of my time hanging out at Cedar Lake Home Health and Hospice where the Cornbread Cook Off will take place. I hope a bunch of you have entered, and the rest of you will come by and get a sample of the winning cornbread and a cup of good old pinto beans.

After the cook-off excitement, I’ll be checking out all the vendors, and maybe get another feather in my hair from the face painting and hair-feathering lady. I might even get my face painted. The library is going to be having a book sale, so I’ve got to make that for sure. The Favorite Things folks are going to be there with their famous chicken salad and pineapple walnut cakes among other goodies. I’ll have to have some of those goodies, along with good stuff from many other food vendors who will be there. I don’t want to miss any of the games and contests of which there will be plenty: Corn eating, corn chunking, hat contests, dog contests, I don’t know what all. I understand there are going to be some big sales at the antiques stores, and at least one huge garage sale. I don’t think I can get over to the Volunteer Fire Department’s Barbecue for lunch, but maybe I can get some to take home before they close.

I hope I’ll get a little rest for a couple of days after Cornbread is over. Then we have to get in high gear to get ready for the big Sculpture Garden Tour, which in addition to the Surls and Stewart Gardens, this year will feature open house at the Bartlett House property. That is just two weeks away. You really, really don’t want to miss this. (Advance tickets will save you money, and I just happen to have some for sale.)

I hope you’ll come take all this in with me. We can rest in May.

By Loretta Humble/Special to HCN

I was fortunate to be in the midst of two wonderful things this week, both of which are certainly worth telling you about. I just don’t know how to do either of them well — how to use the little space I have here, and my own limited knowledge of either to do them justice. All I can hope to do is to make you want to know more about one or both of them.

The thing they have in common is art, and love, and the human spirit reaching out to do good, and to remember those who have gone.

First, I was fortunate that Jo Ann Surls gave me a little job to do on the day the new sculptures were being set up at the Joe Surls Memorial Sculpture Garden. If anybody still doesn’t know the story, Jo Ann and her husband Joe lived very happily on this beautiful place for many years, where they created magnificent natural-looking gardens, and Joe’s son, the world-famous sculptor James Surls, placed numerous sculptures throughout the house and grounds. Besides being a superb gardener, Jo Ann is also a lover of history, filling every nook and cranny with wonderful old and unique things. After Joe’s death, Jo Ann, with James’s help, came up with the idea of a way to memorialize Joe and preserve and share the exceptional treasure they built there. Jo Ann has created a foundation which will support the Gardens long after she has gone to meet Joe, and James has contributed more of his art, plus helped to create a program that brings excellent new sculptures to the Gardens every year.

The new arrivals are here in time for the Sculpture Garden Tour put on by the Greater Malakoff Area Garden Club, which hopes to make some money to restore the historic Bartlett House grounds in Malakoff.

I got to eat lunch with the artists, who are outstanding people, but I spent most of my day in the house doing my assigned job, so I’ll let somebody else tell you about the fantastic art, or you can come see it yourself on the Garden Tour April 27-28.

The next day I went to take pictures of the Abuse Awareness Event at the Henderson County Courthouse. I am a new board member to the Family Peace Project, which is one of many organizations in Henderson County formed to protect and serve victims of abuse. I knew there were other groups, but I didn’t realize just how many people are quietly going about the job of helping. And I don’t think I really realized how much abuse goes on. The Clothesline Project brought that home to me in a new way. Strung out in rows and rows of clothesline were decorated t-shirts, every one signifying a victim or survivor of some kind of abuse. The white ones were created by loved ones of those who had died through abuse, and the various colors represented different kinds of abuse, created by survivors of that abuse.

Marlena Taylor, who is the exceptional woman who heads Family Peace Project, told me she has three t-shirts hanging there. I didn’t understand at first. She explained she has three t-shirts there to signify the three kinds of abuse she herself has experienced in her own life. Though she has been serving other abuse victims for years, she is just now starting to get past the shame to admitting it happened to her too.

There is a lot of ugliness in this world. I just hate to imagine anybody being bad to the beautiful person Marlena is, but that kind of thing happens all the time. The wonderful thing is, people are out there trying to help, and people can overcome the ugliness and create beauty and good lives.

I saw a lot of beauty and good lives this week. I wish I could do a better job of telling you about it.

In my search to find something to fix my knee’s arthritis, I’ve just discovered something new to try, and I thought some of you might want to try it with me, because they say it fixes lots of stuff besides arthritis.

Lots of people swear it has changed their life, and it is safe, and cheap enough, that I think it is well worth giving it a shot.

This new miracle drug is coconut oil. Months ago my daughter Liz told me I should be using it for cooking and as a replacement for butter, so I got some and set it on my shelf and forgot about it. Then I found this book called “The New Arthritis Cure.” It says coconut oil can fix just about anything. It says that it is, among other things, a natural antibiotic, killing lots of bad bugs in your body, but unlike prescription antibiotics, not killing any good stuff. It says that it has a makeup similar to mother’s milk, the reason breastfed babies are protected from infection for the first few months of their lives. And there are many many other things in its favor. This author says most arthritis comes from, or is aggravated by some kind of infection, and that coconut oil can get rid of many of those infections. I’m going to give it a good try and when you hear all the other things it is supposed to do, maybe you’ll want to, too. To make sure I wouldn’t be leading you astray on this, I went to the nation’s guru of health information, Dr. Mehmut Oz. Dr. Oz doesn’t talk about it fixing arthritis, but he has a long list of other things it is good for.

I couldn’t figure out how to say it in the space I have allotted me, so I’m going to quote Dr. Oz about just some of its benefits:

“Studies have shown that intake of coconut oil can help our bodies mount resistance to both viruses and bacteria that can cause illness. Even more, it also can help to fight off yeast, fungus and candida.

Coconut oil can also positively affect our hormones for thyroid and blood sugar control. People who take coconut oil also tend to have improvements in how they handle blood sugar since coconut can help improve insulin use within the body. According to an Endocrinologist at the Holtorf Medical Group “Coconut oil can boost thyroid function helping to increase metabolism, energy and endurance.” It increases digestion and helps to absorb fat-soluble vitamins.

Coconut oil has a saturated fat called lauric acid, a type of MCT. It has been shown that lauric acid increases the good HDL cholesterol in the blood to help improve cholesterol ratio levels. Coconut oil lowers cholesterol by promoting its conversion to pregnenolone, a molecule that is a precursor to many of the hormones our bodies need. Coconut can help restore normal thyroid function. When the thyroid does not function optimally, it can contribute to higher levels of bad cholesterol.

Coconut fats have special fats called medium chain triglycerides (MCTs). It has been shown that breaking down these types of healthy fats in the liver leads to efficient burning of energy. One 2009 study found that women who consumed 30 milliliters (about 2 tablespoons) of coconut oil daily for 12 weeks not only did not gain more weight, but actually had lowered amounts of abdominal fat, a type of fat that is difficult to lose, and contributes to more heart problems.”

Hear that? It reduces belly fat! If that is true, it really is a miracle drug. And it is good in your coffee!

Another big thing this book recommends is something called “oil pulling,” which consists of swishing a small amount of coconut oil around in your mouth 15 or 20 minutes once or twice a day. It is said to do wonders for your teeth, and the rest of your body as well. Pretty weird, but I’m doing it. I’ll let you know.

If all this interests you, check out http://www.coconutresearchcenter.org/ Also I’ll be posting some more links on www.facebook.com/aroundthetown.