Now, don't you feel better?

Sometimes, when the Ol' Columnist feels his age -- at least 39 -- and gets depressed from the avalanche of politicians falling from grace and rumours of wars throughout this sad-sack planet, he goes searching for "feel-good" stories and, believe it or not, Bunky, he sometimes finds them.
Yesterday, I phoned "bubbly" 70-year-old Audrey Johnson.
The last time we talked was during the provincial election campaign, and while at the election headquarters, a lady approached me and said: "Do you know who I am?"
Hesistantly, I stuttered, "Of course, you're, you're ...!"
The lively woman, with a wide smile, said, matter-of-factly, "See, I knew you didn't know who I am."
Then, before I could put both feet in my mouth, she said: "I'm Audrey Johnson."
"You're Audrey Johnson?" I said, now trying to remove at least one Size 11 boot.
"What happened?" I muttered.
The last time I had seen her, she looked like death warmed over.
Audrey Johnson had operated the Whispering Pines Restaurant, near the Ol' Homestead, on an intermittent basis. I would often exchange greetings with the frail individual and then, suddenly, she vanished and I heard that she had found a place to live (or die) in Vernon.
That was a couple of years ago.
After a cancer operation, in which her bowel and colon were removed, Audrey had faded to 82 pounds of skin and bones. There seemed to be little hope.
In fact, as she related yesterday, she couldn't even keep water down and "I was literally dying."
Then came the discovery that throughout the years, she had been suffering from Celiac Disease.
In the January 2005 issue of Reader's Digest, the disease's symptoms include abdominal cramping and bloating, gas, diarrhea or constipation, unexplained anemia and mysterious weight loss or gain. Sufferers may also feel joint pain, fatigue or depression and some develop a substantial rash.
The article stated that at least 6,000 Canadians had been diagnosed with it and the disease can be triggered by pregnancy, severe stress, surgery or viral infection.
But what shocked the Ol' Columnist was that something called protein gluten contained in grains such as wheat, oats, barley and rye were the culprits and in medical terminology, when certain people, according to the Reader's Digest, eat the grains, the hairlike projections in the small intestines called villi -- which absorb nutrients from food -- shrink or disappear, leaving them unable to digest properly. The article went on to say, "Celiac disease can lead to osteoporosis, iron-deficiency anemia and serious vitamin deficiencies."
So now Audrey Johnson is on a protein gluten-free diet, meaning no wheat products, and after being 82 pounds in March 2003, she gained 40 pounds on her new "diet" by September of that year and now has leveled off at about 117 pounds.
As for her present-day health, she said, "I feel wonderful."
The "new" Audrey Johnson is a volunteer and also prepares food at the O'Keefe Ranch restaurant.

AUTHOR! AUTHOR!: Another "feel-good" story which caught may attention yesterday involved children's book author Irene Morck, who has moved to the Paxton Valley area, near Falkland, along with her, husband, Mogens Nielsen, as well as a bevy of mules.
The author of such works as Tough Trails, Old Bird, Apples and Angel Ladders: A Collection of Pioneer Christmas Stories, Five Pennies, A Prairie Boy's Story, Tiger's New Cowboy Boots as well as numerous magazine articles and stories, has settled down in her new abode, but she didn't want to talk so much about her books yesterday, but about the mules.
Now that was a subject which didn't tweak my interest, but she went right ahead and told me of their busy schedule, including the Battle of the Breeds in Alberta.
Born in Saint John, New Brunswick, Irene has lived in Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the Caribbean as her profile says, and has a B.Sc. (Honours in Biochemistry) from the University of Alberta, her teaching certificate from the University of Calgary, taught science at boys' schools in Barbados and Jamaica and did two years of biochemisty research at the University of the West Indies.
Before moving to B.C., Irene and Mogens lived on a farm near Spruce View, Alberta, where they raised hay and grain. It was there she was involved in substitute teaching and freelance photography and, of course, trail riding their mules in the mountains.
And I had to ask.