More on week 2

Yesterday I attended a very interesting seminar on "Identifying and Managing Hereditary Breast and Ovarian Cancer Syndrome" by Laura Schmitt and Kathy Parker of North Coast Cancer Care, Inc. I learned a lot, but then when you start from zero you can only improve your score. Only a small percentage of breast and ovarian cancer are hereditary, but the red flags are

1. breast cancer before age 50
2. Ovarian cancer at any age
3. Male breast cancer at any age
4. Multiple primary cancers
5. Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry
6. Relatives of a BRCA mutation carrier

Kathy is a patient advocate, and talks to groups about her personal story which includes three in her sibling group of 8 who have the syndrome, and many of her nieces and cousins. She had prophylactic surgery to improve her chances of survival.

This morning our herb study group painted canvas bags with herb leaves. It was challenging for this non-crafty person, to say the least. I used the "less is more" concept and chose only 3 herbs, using each 3 times. Now I have a pretty bag to take to the Farmers' Market.

My friend Nancy and I (met in 1973 I think) went to the Hotel Lakeside for lunch today to celebrate her birthday. She first told us about Lakeside in 1974 and found a cottage for us to rent.

The program this afternoon is on the Rise of Partisan Politics. I can't recall anyone worrying about this other than Democrats, can you? When they filabuster, it's just because they care and want to stop something unholy and awful the Republicans want; when Republicans do the same thing, they are being partisan and hyper-critical and uncivil. We have two parties, and most of the time they are twiddle dum and twiddle dee. Together they have made Congress almost irrelevant, turning over and playing dead for the President's Czars or the Judiciary's interpretation. The last bi-partisan support for anything that I can remember was in 2003 when Bush got a lot of support from Democrats for the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, using the intelligence on WMD gathered during the Clinton years. But then the Dems tried to run from that and called it Bush's fault. So that's what bipartisanship will get you!

Thanks, Mr. Sunil Ahuja, author of "Congress behaving badly;" I think I'll take a nap.

Week 2 plans at Lakeside

Last night we enjoyed the wonderful Chinese Golden Dragon Acrobats. Nothing like their show to make me feel like a slug.

Today we attended church on the Lakefront with pastor Irwin Jennings and then enjoyed breakfast at the Patio Restaurant. One of my husband's paintings has sold, so he swapped it with another one he had brought along. This afternoon I went to the Heritage Society Lecture on the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol--we have a huge border with Canada, and here on Lake Erie it is patrolled by boats but also on the highways. There was a big bust in May involving many levels of law enforcement. There is a new border patrol office in Sandusky (or reopened--it closed in 1957).

My husband plans to take children sailing today. Then this evening we're hoping to see the movie, "Letters to Juliet." I think $6 is too much to pay for a ticket to anything in Lakeside, but this one has scenes of Tuscany in Italy where we travelled in 2008 about this time of year.

I stopped at the art center to see if I wanted to sign up for drawing class, but it was a pastels class, and I really don't enjoy that. I was really looking for basic drawing skills.

This week's seminars are on Challenges in Mexican-U.S. Relationships, most of which I'll pass, but Joanna Swanger, daughter of our friends Gene and Carolyn is doing a 2-parter, so I may look into that. Another theme is "Provocative Social Movements," and that doesn't interest me. On Friday there will be a focus on Haiti, so we hope to go to that.

Tuesday Wellness at 3:30 is Genetic testing, which sounds interesting, and Wednesday in Herb class we're going to paint a canvas bag. I might do the historical walking tour on Wednesday after herb class, and the tree walk on Friday at 10:30. Friday evening is the Artie Shaw orchestra and Saturday is Capitol Steps which is usually political satire--fair and balanced we hope.

Thunder storms and tornado warnings, so I'll turn off the computer and unplug!