SheSue Experience

Tryon Creek State Park is situated just south of Portland city center and encompasses around 600 acres of land. There are several miles of nature trails, as well as an equestrian area and a nature center where they offer a wide variety of educational programs for adults and children.

Each year they hold the Trillium Festival in celebration of the blooming of their famous trilliums, this beautiful white flower. The trilliums are a fragile flower that only bloom every other year. The festival also included crafts for children, a photography contest that the public got to vote on, and a native plant sale.

On exhibit in time for the festival was the “Natural Cycles: Art in the Forest”. The idea was to use natural items to create art in the forest. Each piece in this collection also had a hidden message. The first creature is called “Invader”. It is meant to depict invasive species that can take over your landscape. The “Source Series” was a series showing the kinds of products made from logs. Each piece was half log and half the products. “Nontrivial Pursuit” looks like knitting needles sticking into a ball of yarn. Inside the yarn are various items that have been thrown away. The message is to consider what could be “knit” out of these discarded products. And finally “Fung-US” replicate bracket fungus as it fits on the trunks of trees. This is supposed to depict a civilization making do with what they are provided.

Red wine has also been shown to help build stronger bones, help ward off colds and respiratory problems and protect against Alzheimer disease.

Of course, the most important advice for consuming the red wine is MODERATION. While there are many benefits of a few glasses a week of red wine, there are negative effects if you get carried away. Too many glasses can cause addiction, obesity, liver disease, high blood pressure and looking like a fool.

When the kids got up in the morning, they would get a note from the Easter Bunny. It had a clue leading them to the first hiding place. And at each additional place, there would be another gift/egg and clue. When the kids were younger, I made the clues pictures. I’d find pictures of a toaster, clothes dryer, brush or TV set. As they got older the clues would be written. The last year we had a treasure hunt, the kids did one for me. That had to be the best of all!

I had a great time putting it all together and the kids loved the adventure.

Goose bumps appear when you’re cold or afraid. Believe it or not, there is a tiny muscle at the base of each hair on your body. When they contract, they form a bump. In the age of the cave man, these bumps would warm the body be creating a layer of air between all the hair on your body. When afraid, these raised bumps would make the hair stand up which was a deterrent to enemies. Not so much today. Don’t like the looks of goose bumps? Try adding an extra layer of clothing and stay away from horror flicks.

You say you always feel cold? The hypothalamus, located in the brain, regulates your body temperature. It sends a signal to the brain either to give off heat when it’s too warm or shiver when it’s cold which generates heat in the muscles. Other causes for feeling cold may be lack of iron, poor circulation, certain medications or problems with your thyroid gland. Eat plenty of iron-rich foods like red meat, beans and dark green leafy vegetables and avoid nicotine which causes poor circulation.

If you sit too long, you may begin to feel “pins and needles”. This happens when blood flow is blocked to a pressed nerve. If you press hard enough on a nerve, it can interrupt the signal to the brain. The “pins and needles” is the result of that signal resuming it’s job.

There is quite an extensive map of the Shanghai tunnels, see the map found in the basement of Old Town Pizza. Most of these tunnels are boarded up today. As buildings are renovated, more tunnels around found every day. These tunnels are most famous for kidnapping people to work on the ships at port, but many other illicit activities occurred in these tunnels.

At the end of the tour, we were led down to one of these tunnels. I was a little disappointed in that we were led to a room about 25 by 25 feet with a tunnel leading off to one side, shown here. We were not permitted into any of the actual tunnels.

On to the physical therapist. You enter a large room with several curtained off areas like when to you go emergency at the hospital and a big room full of exercise equipment like treadmills, fitness balls, parallel bars to walk between, fitness benches, weights, etc. You meet with the physical therapist in one of the curtained off rooms. He has a computer or your chart to check your records.

The first day I stood and bent several ways while he felt my muscles and bones. Then I laid on a small bed and did several more movements, all testing for muscle strength and range of mobility. This is all being recorded on the computer. Finally they give you some exercises, show you how to do them and let you do them once. The exercises are printed off and sent home with you.

People with more chronic issues use the equipment in the big room. Then they are evaluated for their progress before being sent home only to come back again and again. I only went twice as I could do all my exercises at home. And my pain wasn’t chronic.

The therapist was incredibly nice and very patient. They don’t make you do anything that causes any pain at all. In fact when they explain the exercises you need to do, they stress the point of stopping when you feel any pain. They work out an exercise program with you and monitor and adjust this plan with each visit.

Ever the inquisitive type, I always need to know the what and why of my ailments. Since I have a slight curve in my spine, it causes the muscles to be unequal on either side of my body. When I increased my fitness routine suddenly, my unequal muscles weren’t happy and reacted. Since I didn’t stop, I actually caused an injury. I was told by the physical therapist to quit doing any fitness that hurt for a minimum of one week. Reluctantly I did as told and, okay, so he was right. All my lower back symptoms were gone by the end of the week. So now I am working on a weight training program to strengthen the muscles on both sides before I get to go back to doing my complete fitness routine.

My upper back is a different story. That’s caused by sitting at a desk all day and leaning forward when I type. So he has me do simple shoulder rolls every so often. Plus for a back support, I use a rolled up towel. The towel can be adjusted for your body type. Some days are better than others for the upper back.