Graham Grizzlies are welcoming many of our 86th Ave. Community children as they transfer from North Star Elementary (and Pioneer Valley Elementary). Stepping off the bus they’ll enter the big double doors, pass by the office door on their right, and then by the health/attendance room window where Mrs. Cooke, (Barbara), has a smile for them. This is a special year for Barbara, because on July 21st, she had a severe heart attack. And in the process of placing a total of four arterial stints, doctors found she also was diabetic.
Almost immediately after the arteries were opened, she felt much better and a month later was able to travel to Los Angeles. She went with her husband and two friends for the August 28th wedding of son, Joel, to Zoe. it was a beautiful wedding in a beautiful Catholic church in Agoura Hills, withing sight of the smoke from the wildfires.
Franciscan Friar Joe Scerbo gave the Sunday sermon. He said that whenever you seek out and connect with the good in others, you bring heaven to Earth. It is this connectivity, this community of the good parts of each and all of us that is so powerful. Is it also a latent power in the 86th Ave. Community, and in Graham?
We discussed this last Wednesday at the Self Reliant Community meeting (first Wed of every month) at the Montessori Academy building. We all bring different ideas and skills to the group, but we feel such a joy in the good we find in each other that we feel like a family. Anyone is invited to join us, 6:30pm, Wednesday, Oct 7th, again at the Rainier View Montessori Academy, 9716 224th St E. next to DBI Fencing. The Graham Community Garden is in their large parking area.
Diabetes, Type 2, affects fully half the 13,000 Tohono O’odham Nation members living in 70 villages on the vast Sonoran desert south of Tucson, Arizona. This is one of the highest rates recorded, and researchers suggest that bodies genetically adapted to frugal, but nutritious, desert food break down under the abundant intake of calories and fats sold today. Tribal members are fighting back with a Community Action group that has started a FARM to produce the natives foods of old, and then started the popular Desert Rain Cafe to prepare and serve those foods. Bite into a Desert Squash Enchilada, and Mesquite-flour muffin, or taste hummus made from tepary beans!
Arizona may be far away, but diabetes counselors tell Barb and me the same story here. We are amazed at the amount of sodium in processed food and restaurant food, even where we don’t expect it. While 2000 mg. of sodium is a normal daily amount, some processed and canned foods have more than that in one serving! we search for whole wheat, sugar-free, HFCS (high fructose corn syrup)-free, and fat-free. A container of pieces of cut-up fruit is always around now, and more time is spent in the veggie section. Yes, we slip up now and then, but we read nutrition labels carefully, and we’ve even picked up nutritional content flyers available for the asking at fast food places and restaurants.
We heard a loud “wake-up call” on July 21st, and we don’t want to hear a second call. You may not find the fruit of the saguaro cactus here, but you can choose your food…as though your life depended on it.
Meet the Montessori Academy! Dr. maria Montessori based a new educational system on her observation of children’s ability to absorb knowledge in a prepared environment. (Note: Strangely, some people imagine some religious connotation in the name, but neither Dr. Montessori nor the school has ever had any connection whatsoever to any church.) The Rainier View Montessori Academy has room in morning and afternoon sessions. You can phone Mrs. Douglass, 262-3292, or pick up a brochure outside their front door, 9716 224th St E., where you will also find the Graham Community Garden.
Morse Wildlife Preserve, 25415 70th Ave. E., is open the 2nd Sunday, Sept. 13th, from noon to 4pm only. Since it is Grandparents Day, perhaps the 45 minute fairly level trail hike would be a nice, no-cost, family outing. You can contact Yumi or Deej Heath, caretakers, at 875-5460 for more details about involvement as a volunteer at Morse Wildlife Preserve.
