The Gettysburg Times from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania • Page 19

GETTYSBURG TIMES, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2,1996 B5 LIVING Light Reflection on Labor Day Dear Readers: A member of my reading audience sent along this interesting mini-essay. I don't know who wrote it, but I hope vou will enjoy it as much as I did. A Light Reflection on Labor Day We know retirement is the fulfillment of all those years of labor, but it may come as a surprise to you to learn how you spent some of those years of your working life. According to a recent survey, the average person spends: Seven years in the bathroom; six years eating; four years cleaning house; five years waiting in line; two years trying to return phone calls to people who aren't there; three years preparing meals; one year searching for misplaced items; six months sitting at red lights and eight months opening junk mail. By our tally that's close to 30 years.

Do you wonder how you ever found time to work? Happy Labor Day. Dear Ann Landers: Thank you for printing the toll-free numbers for the National Domestic Hotline in a recent column. Within days, we received over 800 calls from victims of domestic violence. They told us that got our number from you. Since opening on Feb.

21, 1996, we have answered more than 20.800 calls for help from residents of all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. We are grateful to you and the many organizations that have publicized the availability of the Hotline, allowing even more women to seek out and find the help they need for themselves and then- children. We also have been gratified to hear from hundreds of people who want to help in the fight to end domestic violence. We wanted you to know appreciate your help.

The Staff of the National Domestic Violence Hotline Dear Friends: I am glad I was helpful. Your gracious letter was intentionally put on hold for several days so it would appear on Labor Day and for a good reason. It is a matter of record that domestic violence increases on holidays because there is more drinking and drug abuse. When people know they don't have to get up the next morning and go to the emergency rooms are busier. For those who missed it, here are the numbers again: 1-800-799-SAFE and TDD, 1-800-787-3224.

Dear Ann Landers: After spending 12 years in New York. I am returning to my husband's native country, Italy. Among the things I will miss most is your column. Before I leave, will you please explain why Americans yawn without covering their mouths? This has always bothered me. I'm not talking about individuals with little education.

I mean people at every level, including elegant ladies who stroll down Madison Avenue in $600 suits. Yesterday, when I was shopping for a computer on Fifth Avenue, the young sales- Ann Landers man, who was standing no more than 2 feet from me, yawned in my face while I was asking him a question. I could not stop myself from saying. "Nice tonsils!" He immediately apologized and covered his mouth. Will you please tell readers that tongues, tonsils, gums, fillings and dentures are private parts and should be show onlv to one's doctor and no one else? I'm moving to Italy next week, so you can sign me -Goodbye, New York Dear New York: I share your lack of enthusiasm for the sight of tonsils, tongues, gums, fillings and dentures.

However, I could never have gotten the message across as well as you did. Bon voyage and mille grazie. Do you have questions about sex, but no one to talk to? Ann Landers' booklet, "Sex and the Teen-Ager." is frank and to the point. Send a self-addressed, long, business- size envelope and a check or money order for (this includes postage and handling) to: Teens, do Ann Landers, P.O. Box 11562, Chicago, III.

60611-0562. Ann 1996 Creators Syndicate, Inc. How to design a bulb garden come to build stately sooner than they learn to garden finely, as if gardening were the greater perfection." Francis Bacon, Of Gardens, 1625 Lots of plants, especially when it comes to bulbs, makes a collection, not a garden. To really make a kind of show of bulbs, you need some real planning. To begin with, an evergreen backdrop of fir or hemlock trees will show your gai off, and especially if you have magnolia planted just in front of the evergreen trees, which is ideally facing south (but can be facing east or west or any variatic- This for a great staging of colorful bulbs.

The magnolia can be one of the realty early blooming ones, such as denudata. but I really prefer to use a Star Magnolia, which flowers a bit later, with a number of drifts of bulbs underneath. "Dr. MerrilF is a tall- growing Star Magnolia: "Centennial" is a much lower, bush one. Regardless of which one you choose, count on also planting a ground cover over the bulbs that will help hide the fading foliage later and provide additional texture and interest.

Ferns are great for this purpose; the Christmas Fern is actually evergreen, even here in the north east, and although the Japanese Painted To garden finely JeanneL Graybeal-Thrane Fern isn't evergreen, it is so phenomenally beautiful, you with love it mixed in with a flowering bulbs. Now you must consider what kind of a color show you I mean, of course, the choice of bulbs. One thing not to do is purchase one of those multiple-bulb offers of five of one thing, three of another, and four each of two other kinds. This only ends up looking like you couldn't make up your mind and so you bought one of the multiple bulb offers--, sorry, it's true. Instead, choose something, a "color run with For example', green, white, yellow and blue, just can't miss.

The green of leaves and evergreen needles, the white of the magnolia, the bright yellow of early daffodils, and the brilliant blue of Scilla (Siberian Squill is another name) repeating the blue of a glorious spring day's sky. Guaranteed gorgeous! Another possibility is a pale pink flowering cherry tree, such as break" instead of the magnolia, and later blooming bulbs that repeat the pink color, but a deeper pink together with drifts of white early tulips, among the emerging ferns. What do I mean by drifts? Well, they are sort of long, diagonal shapes, that are arranged in overlapping fashion with the fern groundcover in between. You use these shapes as guidelines for filling in the areas with the plantings. Just be sure to plant the bulbs closely (4 inches apart) and to plant enough of them to fill the shape of the drift.

One of my clients put in some lovely large white Dutch crocus, and when they came up the next spring, she looked out and said "Who left all those Kleenex in my front She had planted them too far apart Close is good for bulbs. To reiterate, plan an evergreen background, chooses a taller element than blooms (tree) in front, under plant with overlapping drifts of groundcover and bulbs, and choose your colors and bulbs carefully. Starting with two kinds, fifty of each, will be great youll see! Jeanne I. Graybeal-Thrane, ASLA, heads Millennium International an urban design, land planning and landscape architecture firm based in Gettysburg. Cleaning out your closets? Wondering what to do with all the boxes and bags of clothing, shoes and handbags? Back to school means new clothes to replace the ones that are too small or so worn that your mothers would be embarrassed if you were caught in an accident in them.

Now what to do with the old ones? One option for clothing that's in good condition is to hand it down to smaller family mem- hers or family friends. Today's unisex clothing is a real boon to parents. T-shirts and jeans fit boys and girls equally well, as do sweaters, jackets and coats. Another option is any one of the many clothing drives either in process or planned by area churches. Coats and jackets particularly are in demand for local clothing drives as well as refugee collections.

Why not call your own church and ask if they are or will be collecting. If not. watch the local newspaper for information of drives being organized by other churches or private organizations. There's always the yard sale option. Hardly a weekend goes by that I don't see at least five or more signs pointing me down one street or another toward bargains.

Yard sales are also a great way to recycle books, toys, games, pots and pans, and just about anything cluttering your closets. If spending a day in the hot sun, haggling over 50 cent items is not your style, you can always donate used clothing to the Hospital Thrift Shop or the Adams Rescue Mission. They are always looking for clothing, shoes and handbags to expand their inventory. You would be helping local charitable organizations that do a lot of good for the community and providing someone less fortunate with affordable clothing. Clothing that is not in good shape can be recycled as textiles.

The Rescue Mission is the only recycler in this area that I know of that handles textiles. I always remove the buttons, although you don't have to. Shirt buttons particularly are almost all the same and it's nice to have a replacement supply. Just put unusable clothing, towels, sheets, sewing scraps, together in a bag, mark the outside 'textiles only' and send or take them to the mission with your regular recycling. Put handbags, shoes and belts in a separate bag and mark them "usuable." Yes.

they are recyclable as well. If you're cleaning out your desk, you can Happy Birthday Let's Talk Trash Donna Barthle send partially used pens, pencil or notebooks to Mark Yeboah Jones. He's the 1-5- year-old student mentioned in last week's column. His address is Yeboah Jones, Stephen PT Jamesi-Ashanit. Ghana, West Africa.

A new school year, new clothes, a clean closet, a good feeling about conserving resources and helping other people In the worlds of Gershwin, "Who could ask for anything more." Donna Barthle. while in Germany, witnessed the birth and grouth of recycling which is now part of everyday living. She has seen the benefits of recycling in thai country and is working toward tLar end here in the states. Send tips or questions to me, the Gettysburg Times or email 10 Joseph Garis, son of Kelh and Robb Garis of Cambridge Springs, grandson of Mr. ana Mrs.

Patrick Flinn of Gettysburg and Mr. and Mrs. Ron Garis of Cambridge Springs, is one year old today. Brandy Marie Cool, daughter of Wendy and Don Cool of Gettysburg, granddautnier of Mr. and Mrs.

Ronald Pittman of Gettysburg, Mr. and Mrs. Ray Gotten of Hanover and Mr. and Mrs. Donald Cool of Senega, is 4 years old today.

Patricia Motter, daughter of Ann and Greg Motter of Bendersville, granddaughter of Jean Motter of Bendersville, Gene Motter of Gettysburg and Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Groft of New Oxford, is 6 years old today. TV dramas for Fall: The good, the mediocre and the ugly BY JOANNE WONTRAU3 The Irldu. aukee Journal Sentinel I try to steer clear of the whole prognostication thing.

If you want to know what's going to be on TV next week, I'm happy to discuss it. If you want to know what's going to be red- hot by Thanksgiving and what'll be leftover turkey, better ask Dionne Warwick for the number of one of her friends. As much as I'd like to peer into my screen and confidently call the hits and flops. I won't. What I can offer instead is some thoughts on what looks good and what looks god-awful.

Herewith, a sneak peek at the network dramas of Fall "96. A look at comedies will follow next week. And please don't remind me oa Thanksgiving what I said on Labor Day weekend. OK? Must-see: 'Relativity' (Saturdays, 10 p.m., ABC) "is the only new drama that scored high 9 on a scale of 10. say on my personal gut gauge.

I've been writing about TV for two years and hardly a month has gone by that I haven't wondered why so few recent dramas have mined the themes of love and courtship, friendship and family life. Well, Edward Zwick and Marshall Herskovitz have. Again. Let's hope this time the ratings are as good as those of Zwick and Herskovitz' 'thirty something." stars Kimberly Williams of the and David Conrad as a pair of twentysomethmg lovers. Her family is big and noisy, his is small and complicated.

It looks as if it could be wonderful. Might-be: Streets' (Wednesdays, 10 CBS) has a lot going for it: an excellent cast, intelligent writing by creator Paul Haggis and a beautifully moody, almost cinematic look, distinctive even in this season of brooding TV noir. I'm not sure Haggis Co know they're going with this tale a cop with shady connections (Ken Olin. and an ex-con who's more victim than victimizer (Jason Gedrick, as adorable and angst- ridden as he was in ''Murder One''), but I'm willing to give them a while to work it out. Might-be: ''Millennium' (Fridays, 9 p.m.) Fox got mixed reactions in Pasadena.

Some of us thought it was pointlessly grim and violent, while others found it well-plotted and satisfyingly dark. Just about everj- one, however, thought it would be a hit, coming as it does from the clever head of "X-Files" creator Chris Carter and benefiting from its older sib's hand- me-down time slot. will have its season premiere Oct. 4, then move to Sundays later in the month to clear the Friday spot for Lance Henriksen stars as a criminologist who specializes in particularly ghastly serial murders: Vancouver stands in for Seattle, where rain pours from the skies and blood drips down the walls. For my money, it's all more pretentious than provocative but.

as noted, it already has a sizable cheering section Might-be: I said I was going to predictions, but I can't help thinking "Early Edition' (Saturdays, 9 p.m., CBS) looks like an early hit. Kyle Chandler plays a regular guy who finds that, through an extra-special-delivery newspaper, he always knows exactly what's going to happen exactly one day before it does. It's a little whimsical, a little philosophical and quite pleasant, really. At its best, it has the oddball charm of "Quantum though the reluctant- hero story looks like a hard one to sustain. Might-be: "Dark Skies' (Saturdays.

8 p.m.. NBC) is one of those guilty, goofy pleasures that's so full of beans ou can't help liking it a little. A reasonable synopsis v. ould take me the rest of the page: suffice it to say that is set in the "60s and concerns a plucky young Washington couple 'Eric Close and Megan Ward) who become involved with unsavory aliens and even more unsavory feds who either do or don't have something to do with the Kennedy assassination. Anyway, it's pretty ridiculous, but the leads are witty and energetic.

Might-be: To be honest, ''Mr. Mrs. Smith'' (Fridays. 9 p.m., CBS) is a mess, a suspense- romance that tries too hard and delivers too little on both sides of the hyphen. however, is played by Scott Bakula.

whom I find well, oddly, um. compelling. Or not so oddly. So sue me. Too bad he didn't wind up in ''Early Edition" instead.

No way: I was rooting for "Dangerous Minds' (Mondays. 8 p.m.. ABC) because it stars the terrific Annie Potts CBS is rooting for "Promised Land' (Tuesdays, 8 p.m.) because it stars Gerald McRaney and is a spin-off of the network's spun-sugar "Touched bv an Angel." "Both of them fail. ''Minds" for its insistence that a single hour of tough love can transform am- teenager, "Land" for its synthetic sweetness. I won't be shocked, though, if the latter does nicely in the rattngs.

No way: I'll say a few words about "The Pretender' (Saturdays. 9 p.m.. NBC). "Profiler' (Saturdays, 10 p.m., NBC) and "The Burning Zone" (Tuesdajs. 9 p.m..

UPN) when they debut But they won't be very nice words. Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service. Adult Tap Classes Starting Nowrl Grand Performance Studios-Gettysburg 40 E. High Street Wednesday 5PM or Grand Performance Sutdio-Faufield Mondaj 7 Fire Hall Register Now! 677-4662 Jen Myers, daughter of Bev and Tom Myers of Gettysburg, is 15 years old today Recyc Your Money Use local goods and services. Because the more you put into your community, the more you get out of it! GETTYSBURG TIMES Ph.

334-1131.