YET ANOTHER BENEFIT FOR GARDENERS

That's moi with mother Ruby. Sorry, no color photos when I was born. You can't see it from the black and white but she was a rosy cheeked Irish lassie who never used any kind of cosmetics . She is 37 years old in the photo and has no wrinkles.

The reason I mention wrinkles is that the cosmetics industry hypes anti-wrinkle creams as if they were a magic bullet. I haven't seen many 60 or 70 year olds in their ads which is probably why we don't see really age appropriate women in their commercials.

Unlike my older sister Wilma who is loyal to one expensive skin care brand, I've always been one to buy whatever was on sale at Walgreens or Osco. I'm cheap I guess but I cringe when I see the department store prices for a jar of cream - $100 on up !

I get compliments on my skin ( thanks, Ma ! ) and when asked what brand I use I answer " WOIS , or whatever is on sale. " $20 a jar is the max I'll spend. Told you I was cheap. I also think that a good moisturizer whether $20 or $300 will do the same job .

Which is why I recently let out a big hoot when I read that a test conducted on a $300 jar of French facial cream and Olay's Regenerist moisturizer ( $20 ) showed that the Olay brand had better results. Hee, hee.

Tests have also shown that people who garden a lot have better skin because the exercise and sweat is good for it. That must've been my mother's secret because she worked outdoors a lot. And, oh yes, she wore a bonnet to protect herself from the sun.