616 GOP Elephant Christmas Ornament

Someone has sent me an offer for a patriotic Christmas tree ornament.


No thanks. 

Well, Christmas trees aren't a religious symbol, being a carry-over from a pagan custom for a different holiday, but since we've more or less thrown holy water on it all these years to keep it green, I'd rather not make it even more secular with a Republican elephant bearing gifts.

Update: I checked on the artist. He is Christopher Radko, and his website shows many special issue ornament used as fund raisers. There is also a donkey ornament with gifts and a John Kerry ornament as well as a George Bush ornament. They cost between $40-$50.

615 In My Book®

Do you like to send nice cards? Here's a card that will keep on giving--with a beautiful bookmark. Check out this site called In My Book, for all the different people on your list who will enjoy this simple gift.

614 Oops! ULAC?

Huge Thanksgiving services Wednesday evening and Thursday morning at Upper Arlington Lutheran Church, known around here as UALC. But spell checks won't tell you when the words are spelled right but in the wrong order. So yesterday's bulletin welcomed us to "Upper Lutheran Arlington Church." It got a good laugh when our pastor mentioned it--most of us hadn't even noticed.

This item has been cross posted at my other blog, Church of the Acronym.
ULAC 

613 The table groaned

This check-list shows the menu and organization of my daughter's Thanksgiving. Two items didn't get checked off, but they were on the table. There were 2 pumpkin and 2 apple pies, and a pumpkin rice pudding, a la Martha. I hope that before she's forty she'll discover that the most important gift you give your guests is a rested, happy hostess. At this point, she is still enjoying doing all this work, and she has three guests for the four day holiday, so I'm sure all the food will be eaten by Monday.


The turkey tasks 

Happy Thanksgiving 2004

Have a happy Thanksgiving. We're having dinner with 5 other people (all adults); my daughter has made four pies, two of them "deep dish." I'm guessing that is about l lb. of pie per person. Two 20 lb. turkeys. She was chopping, slicing and dicing all day yesterday. Time to move the safety pin on my slacks. It is also her birthday week; doesn't seem right that she has spent three days getting ready, and then it will all be over in 30 minutes.

Her sister-in-law has flown in from Denver, and apparently, the Columbus airport had everything running smoothly. She called me from there (I was expecting flight delay stories) to ask if I'd bake another two pies for her. She didn't have enough room for everything. We do pies a little differently, and all I had to do was wipe a little milk on the crust and cover the fluting with foil and put them in the oven according to her written instructions. She makes my organizational skills look like a third grader, so everything came to our house with careful instructions and already made.

Here's one of my stories about my daughter preparing for one of her wonderful dinners.

611 New Baby on Board

Amy Welborn, whom I link to at Church of the Acronym has had her baby boy--November 19, I think. Amy holds an MA in Church History from Vanderbilt University, taught theology in Catholic high schools, and served as a parish Director of Religious Education. And she's a mommy again, and can now bend over again, she says. She is the author of "The Words we Pray; discovering the richness of traditional Catholic prayers," and "The DaVinci Code; the facts behind the fiction." She has also authored childrens' books.

De-coding DaVinci

610 Pork Sausage for Ohioans

In a show of equal opportunity porking, Ohio Representatives Stephanie Tubbs Jones, a Democrat, and Steven LaTourette, a Republican, want about $350,000 for music education programs at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in the current federal budget. Republicans have shown that they too can spend money like drunken Democrats. We need Newt.

609 Operation Christmas Child

Our church narthex at Mill Run is a drop off site for Operation Christmas Child and yesterday, the last day, it was really humming. Volunteers and donors were every where, and the room was filling up. About 10 a.m. I remembered. So I got out the four plastic shoe boxes I bought on sale for about 88 cents each and brought out the items I’d been purchasing through out the year. Actually, there wasn’t as much as I remembered, and I only had items in certain suggested categories. But I read the directions and decided I didn’t need everything on the list. Toys are missing from my boxes this year. Inexpensive small toys are so cheaply made I don’t even look for them anymore. Even small puzzles or games seem to be in the $5 neighborhood. I had some nice shirts and pants all for girls ages 2-4 (all purchased at end of season sales), mittens or socks, soap, combs, slippers, school scissors, and hard candy to fill in all the empty spaces. The snap on lids would barely go on, so even if I’d bought more school supplies or a toy, I don’t think they would have fit.

609-a Friends of the Library

Today I returned some books to the public library and discovered it was Friends of the Library Book Sale Week. This sale is the size of many smaller town libraries with huge tables set up in the main circulation area. I leafed through some Pearl Buck and Judith Krantz and Tom Clancy, paused at a 1996 Internal Medicine textbook that weighed about 10 lbs., and momentarily fingered EdTV, the video. Even computers were for sale. I finally settled on a 1981 Southern Living hard cover Annual Recipes. You can't go wrong with a cook book, even if you don't cook much. These go for $6-$12 on the internet used book sites. I paid $2 and it looks like it was never used. Not even a sticky fingerprint.

It is organized month-by-month and includes entertainment ideas for each season. There are microwave recipes, recipes for two, menus, tips, and because of the date, no low-carb or low-fat articles like the recent cookbooks. That alone makes it worth the price!

For November there is:
Sweet-and-sour turnips
Mexicali meat loaf
Fried peach pies
Stir fried cabbage
Cheesy grits casserole (I think my mother made that)
Fluffy eggnog pie
Sweet potato surprise
Raisin butter

608 Campaign Ad Spending in 2004

Today's paper reported that $167 million was spent in Ohio on campaign ads for all federal, state and local races, and that Cleveland alone accounted for $77 million, second only to Los Angeles ($84 million). Five Columbus TV stations pulled in more than $30 million. As an Ohioan, I can testify that our media got wealthy in the months, weeks and days before the November 2, 2004 election. I could have accepted Kerry as President toward the last, just to have the campaign ads over.

So I looked at the summary report by Campaign Media Analysis Group. Based on the hysteria and accusations of a large clutch of homophobic fundamentalist voters, the ad revenue doesn't add up to that conclusion at all. Over $239 million dollars were spent on approximately 365,000 television ads about the ECONOMY (jobs, taxes, Social Security, tort reform). Next most important on the ad front was HEALTHCARE with over 325,000 ads totalling over $230 million spent. The WAR ON TERROR was third, with about $130 million spent on ads in the Presidental campaign. Gay Marriage spending was barely a blip, being outspent by Indian Gaming six times over.

The Democrat 527s outspent the Republican 527s by a huge margin, $66.5 million to $10.9 million. Kerry led in internet ad spending by 50%, and I'm sure campaign gurus will be looking at those dollars carefully--1) could they have made the race close, or 2) would the money have been better spent elsewhere, or 3) did the DNC enter that arena too late (RNC was outspending on the internet until September).

To have access to details, you'll need to be a subscriber, but the main site, has lots of interesting information.

Cook a Goose for Thanksgiving

Rochelle, one of the excellent librarian-writers on my blogroll is hoping to have cooked goose for Thanksgiving. Someone in her library is cutting recipes from the cookbooks! You go girl!

606 Back When We Were Grown-ups

Many books when transitioned to movies get "done" beyond recognition, but I thought the adaptation of Anne Tyler's "Back When We Were Grown-ups" stayed pretty faithful. Our book club read this novel last year. Blythe Danner did a nice job, but she sure isn't a plump 53 year old, which was probably the biggest digression from the novel. Her blended family is a bit confusing, so I was glad I vaguely recalled the story line about a woman who marries into a family business and becomes a step-mother to boot, then is left a young widow. We meet her when all the children are grown and they return home for various occasions. We also meet the man Beck (Danner) deserted to marry Joe (whom we see only in flashbacks), Will (Peter Fonda). Not even the ageist remarks by Boston Herald can darken the luster of this good cast, ". . .the AARP all-star cast of Blythe Danner, Faye Dunaway, Jack Palance, Peter Fonda and Peter Riegert - median age 66 - looks remarkably taut." And the journalist doesn't even mention Nina Foch, who has to be in her 80s and played Danner's mother.

I'm a descendant of Palatine immigrant Michael Danner/Tanner (ca. 1696- bef. 1782) and I believe Blythe Danner is also. That has nothing to do with this movie, but I don't have an opportunity to be a name dropper often. This was also the first movie I watched on my new little 2 seater wicker couch in my redecorated office. Works just great.

605 Happy Birthdays

Tomorrow we celebrate their birthdays. One of the unfortunate things about having a birthday within 3 days of your only sib is you never get your own holiday (after you're out of the birthday party stage). I think once when the children were adults we tried having two family get-togethers in one week plus Thanksgiving, and I believe they quickly decided that was just way too much togetherness.

This year, one birthday falls on Thanksgiving, but there have been years when we've done Thanksgiving dinner and the combined birthday dinner on the same day, and some years when we've gone to Indiana so a big, loving extended family could make a fuss over them and sing "Happy Birthday."

Our son is getting a garage door opener (also from his sister and brother-in-law and it is part of his Christmas present too), and our daughter is getting movies from Best Buy. I'll be setting the table with my good china, given to me by my mother, piece by piece on my birthdays and Christmas, year after year until I had enough to set a nice table. I still buy Christmas china for my daughter. I'm fixing an 18 lb. turkey, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans with bacon, onions and mushrooms, tossed salad with spring greens, cukes, tomatoes, olives and carrots, hot rolls, and applesauce pie.

One year, I don't recall when, Mother decided we didn't need birthday presents anymore--I was probably in my 40s. I was sort of disappointed. Birthdays and Christmas presents aren't about need, but Mother was very practical. And I am too--else why would I be buying a 36 year old man a garage door opener? But I want him to push that button, watch the door go up, sit in his warm car, and think of me, just like I think of my Mother when I get out the china.


1969

604 Prayer Job Jar for this coming week

The actual, physical ceramic jar hasn't come to my attention yet--I'm keeping my eyes open, though. This week, the jar includes:

For Paula, having surgery, a speedy recovery
For Shoe, doctors who have wisdom, kindness and skill, and staff who call back promptly
For Gayle, the perfect home buyer
For Highland School, continued blessings from God
For UALC, Gospel message for all 10 services
For Phil, a church home
For our neighbor Mary, as she prepares to move
For Esther, a man of her mother's dreams
For our family members celebrating birthdays, thankful that it is no longer the 80s
For those suffering loss and abandonment, God's touch through friends, family and neighbors
For those with dementia and Alzheimers, a joyful sense of God's presence that goes beyond a tangled mind
For school teachers, stamina, love, and understanding
For our President, wisdom, strength, faithfulness, love, purpose, sound judgement and right stewardship of his office.

603 Save Your Shoulder Pads and Get a Perm

The sweater I took to the dry cleaners yesterday still had shoulder pads. But hey. The 80s are coming back--I'll just leave them. The perm I got in February won't die. The 80s are coming back--I'll encourage it.

Today's Wall Street article by Noah Oppenheim says the children of the 80s are now arbiters of fashion and culture, and they are panicked and returning to the womb. I think that's a bit dramatic. They aren't that frightened of Bush or the terrorists. I remember well in the 70s everyone was doing the 50s. Remember Grease and Happy Days? We didn't even have Ronald Reagan--just high inflation and Jimmy Carter. They tried a few things to resurrect the 70s in the 90s, but all that awful orange, gold and avocado green was just too imprinted in our memories and no one would go for it.

Here's what's coming back to celebrate the 80s:
Big hair
Shine and glitz
Excess and greed
Glam
Duran, Duran
Loud, hard rock
Crocodile Lacoste shirts
A-Team
Dallas
Dukes of Hazzard
U-2
Whoopie's new one woman show

Christmas 1985

602 Lighthouse Allure

Everyone it seems, loves a lighthouse. There are numerous sites on the internet devoted to this topic. Here's one with an alphabetic arrangement so I've selected Marblehead, Ohio from which you can see Sandusky. I thought the lighthouse was no longer operational, but the information at this site says it is. It is a popular tourist spot and includes the light keepers house. In October Marblehead celebrates its heritage here with a fall festival. Below is one of my paintings of Marblehead done with q-tips and acrylic paints. It's a fun method--especially if you know you won't be able to get it exactly right anyway, so why not just dab on the paint?

Picnic at Marblehead

601 Esther’s Middos Touch

“I’m looking for a girl with good middos,” the yeshiva boys of my youth would say. The teachers beamed, proud that their students were looking for girls with strong values — family, respect, and modesty. Problem is, nine times out of 10, those boys were punning on the Hebrew word middot, which also translates as measurements — as in 36-24-36.”

Esther’s story continues.

Esther is on my blog roll under “writers.” I think she is good--actually very good--and will be famous some day, and then I’ll sniff and say, “Oh her? Yes, I knew her back when she was tossing things over the transom, shopping her novel. I practically discovered her, you know.”

600 Current Events Word Quiz

Have you ever noticed how many words or phrases you know, but don’t know exactly. . . so you sort of skip over them and glean the meaning from something else in the sentence? You know what an OCLC is, but do you know what the original acronym stood for? Or HTTP or JAMA?

Here’s some words and phrases from the November 16 Wall Street Journal (or ads). Try to answer all before you check Google or click on my links.

1. What is the main ingredient in Pease Porridge?

2. To what does Pandora’s Box refer?

3. Who were the Bickersons?

4. What does the acronym FICA actually stand for?

5. Geographically, where is Hibernia?

6. Just what exactly is ozone?

7. Can you name the seven deadly sins?

8. What is Tom Jones (the singer) real name?

9. What is bling bling?

10. Echo boomers are younger than Gen-Xers, but what other name generally applies to this demographic?

I didn't give myself a point unless I could stake my reputation on the answer, so I only got 10% right. I knew #1 because I'd seen it recently on TV; although I sort of knew #5 and #9 because they are used so often, I wasn't positive. For #2 I had the story a little mixed up.

Links to the answers.

1. recipe and story
2. Blame the woman
3. marital mayhem drenched in caustic wit.
4. If you're a wage or salaried employee, you pay only half
5. Ptolemy’s map
6. and a list of what we don’t know about it
7. Among the recent advertising muffs have been a campaign that focuses on the seven deadly sins
8. married at 16
9. The Silvertones "Bling Bling Christmas" earliest use
10. high-tech, big-ticket industries

599 Israel tops in Technology Awards

The November 15 Wall Street Journal had a list of its award winning technology innovations. Among the "Overall Winners," Israel was listed in two of the top five. So for it's size, it is outperforming even the United States. Given Imaging Ltd. developed a pill-shaped video camera which screens the esophagus for disorders, and InSightec Image developed Guided Treatment Ltd. a device that destroys tumors using ultrasound waves together with magnetic resonance imaging.

No Arab countries, most of which have third world conditions with billionaires and donkey transport side by side, were listed.

598 Our wildlife

For several days a doe and fawn frolicked in our back yard in October. They came very close to the house. They are both looking to the west--there are two heads in the photo.


Doe and fawn in our back yard 

Twice (April and November) I've blogged about deer on the interstate west of Columbus. Reports are that 201 humans were killed in 2003 as a result of collisions with deer--up 27% from the previous year. Sixty of those deaths were motorcyclists--and they weren't wearing helmets. Seatbelts weren't worn in many of the vehicle accident deaths. In 14 of the 147 accidents involving cars/trucks, the deer struck by one car flew through the windshield of an oncoming car.

Our backyard deer are beautiful, but dangerous on the highways.