Italy, Tuesday, Day 7

Because today is July 4, I'll just skip ahead on our trip a bit to Day 7, when we boarded the bus in Sorrento to travel to Orvieto. It was terribly hot--our guide, Mick, said he thought it was near 100. From the comfort of our air conditioned bus we viewed neat farms and vineyards and ancient towns tucked and carved into the mountains for protection from predators long forgotten, or absorbed.

We stopped around noon at a country estate that had a winery that I believe went back to the middle ages, and the farm house and vineyards had pretty much been destroyed during WWII. It was in the Anzio area where there is a huge American cemetery (Sicily Rome American Cemetery), supposedly, somewhere in the hazy distance (it was terribly hot), our hostess pointed. The brother-in-law of a h.s. classmate of mine was killed there at age 18, Henry (Junior) Wilburn. It was a beautiful, peaceful site--you'd never know the grief, pain and horror of Spring 1944 that was all around. So in the wine tasting under the cool trees overlooking the vineyards, we toasted Junior and all his fallen Allied comrades, and even his enemies, also young boys--most under 20--of many countries and regions and nationalities (Poles particularly revisit this area as they lost many here). This is July 4 and it's important to remember freedom isn't free, it's very costly. The generations that remember this war are passing away, and today's young people can't imagine such a world event. So to all the Juniors of that war and all wars, thank you.

We stopped for a delicious lunch that included tender white beans in a tomato sauce.



The restored farmhouse where the owners greeted us and served champagne

Overlooking the glorious countryside, now peaceful

We're home--blogging will be light!

The Tour was fabulous, the trip a bit rough. I've been released from the hospital, my head feels like it's still on a jet plane, my mouth tastes like yesterday's dirty socks, and I look like something only the cat could love. But my husband has the album full and is running them through the wonderful digital contraption our daughter gave him for Father's Day so I can watch them without exerting any energy. I'll write more when I feel better.

Positano, Day 3

Update July 4: One of the Janets also got sick--those in our group might remember she left dinner early Saturday to go back to the hotel. She thinks that it was the water in Assisi--which wasn't bottled but served in a flask. Anyway, her doctor is recommending homemade chicken soup and says he sees a lot of patients returning from abroad with this. I was more fortunate--she actually had to drive home from O'Hare in the condition that sent me to the ER.

Tuesday, Day 7

Thursday, Day 9, before lunch

Thursday, Day 9, after lunch

Friday, Day 10, before lunch

Friday, Day 10, after lunch

Orvieto Cathedral

Our Italy Itinerary--Buon Viaggio!

Unlike the librarian in a previous entry, I will not be donating any money to a library (since I know from personal experience how it will be used), but I will be enjoying my fine University of Illinois education in Russian, Spanish, secondary education and library science, and 20 years of saving and investing 15% of my magnificient salary at Ohio State University by visiting Italy with other U of I alumni. Here's a site of photos at the AHI webpage. Here's what we'll be doing.

Day One: Leave Chicago for Naples
Day Two: Arrive in Naples, get on a bus for Sorrento, and if my legs are working and I'm not asleep, stroll around town.
Day Three: Motorcoach along the Amalfi Coast. Visit Positano. Back in Sorrento attend lecture and discussion.
Day Four: Pompeii. Meet the folks of Sorrento to hear about their lives.
Day Five: Isle of Capri.
Day Six: Discussion--I hope this doesn't last all day, but that's all I see on the program.
Day Seven: Motorcoach to Orvieto. Wine tasting event
Day Eight: History of Orvieto and Umbria and Italy. Focus: Etruscans, who were there first. Walking tour. Cathedrals. Cobblestone streets. Tired feet. Discussion of Renaissance Art.
Day Nine: Walking tour of Florence. Architectural highlights.
Day Ten: Perugia and Assisi.
Day Eleven: Free day for sightseeing, shopping, etc.
Day Twelve: Motorcoach to Rome (which we won't see except the airport). Fly home. Based on previous tours, the only place we won't hear understandable English is the O'Hare Airport.

I surely do hope the trip is better than my condensed description; I answered a lot of obscure questions about animal innards (what is the fat content of gorilla milk?) and conditions (are cats color blind) to earn this trip.

At my church blog, I have a list of the top 10 Christian sites to see in Italy. We will see some of them.

If Iowans were NOLAns

the flooding would be the President's fault, especially since he was attending a funeral today and not flying over the flooded cities. But being Iowans, even with 83 of their 99 counties declared a disaster area from flooding and 12 tornadoes, they are not accustomed to being made helpless and hopeless by government or Mother Nature. They've pulled together, sandbagged, rescued valuable art, library and museum collections, buried their dead, shared resources, comforted their neighbors, put disaster plans in place and they will rebuild. And yes, insurance and government aid will help--Iowa's our breadbasket (and increasingly our gas tank). But look out down below--New Orleans. That water will soon be in the Mississippi, and I doubt that your Mayor Nagin has done much to prepare, but at least this time you've got Bobby Jindal in the governor's office instead of Kathlyn Blanco.

A new blog to visit

There's a new blog for you to visit--God's One Way written by Dave, a friend of mine from school days. He loves to study the Bible, and has a circulating e-mail study that goes out to friends, and has been thinking for some time he'd like to blog. I can't remember if we ever exchanged more than two words when we were in school--I think we were in the same 6th grade class. He was a friend to all, and as I recall he was a wonderful athlete. He still plays golf and likes to do outdoor stuff. I saw him at the class reunion last summer and somehow we got to talking about our faith, and I was added to his list. Anyway, drop by and visit, and make a new blogger feel welcome.

The Big Chill

Liberals rampaging already and Obama isn't even in the White House yet. "The Associated Press went on blog patrol recently and threatened some bloggers with lawsuits unless they removed quotes from its stories from their sites. . . There is already a body of copyright law that covers this territory, of course, and many irate bloggers contend that AP is overstepping its bounds by attempting to thwart its fair use provisions. AP and the Media Bloggers Association will meet this week to discuss the issues." see story at Keith Regan, e-Commerce Times

I suppose one could paraphrase AP and NOT link to their stories at all--just get the general drift, or twist it to the right (i.e., untwist it), but give them the nod. But that wastes a lot of time on the part of readers who then have to go search for it. No one should copy someone else's entire story or material, but excerpts are allowed by law. The bloggers may be well within their rights, but law suits are expensive, so the purpose of this is to chill freedom of information and speech, and we'll see more of this during the Obomb era.

My new computer

Yes, today I hate computers, speaking of hate. I hated them yesterday, too. I hired a college student to connect my new computer--the one I bought in December. I need the guest room, so I had no choice. It just had to get out of the box, off the bed and on to my desk. But I hate it. I hate Vista. I hate Microsoft, I even hate Bill Gates today. It started to transfer, then would quit, so we'd start over. When I opened My Pictures, I had 4 of everything. His face went white when he saw how many people, mostly dead (nearly 4,000), were in my Family Tree Maker. Vista tries to make data pretty; give me smart any day and save the space. We were just about finished when I logged in to get my McAfee from Ohio State. Seems I've downloaded it too often, and I was given a phone number to call. Of course, I've used it too often. My @#$%^&*( laptop fails about every 2 months, and I have to reload everything. I hate computers. They have turned us all into slaves. Then I got a recording that this had happened to the OSU Communications network. I swear, it wasn't me. Wish I'd thought of it, though.

Why isn't it a hate crime

when a man kills a woman; when a husband kills his wife, mother of his children, or his girlfriend, or a prostitute? Remember the Akron policeman who killed his pregnant girlfriend, mother of his toddler son? When a woman kills her husband I'd say hate had something to do with it, but I've never seen it called a hate crime. Why does someone have to be gay or black or some other ethnicity for it to be hate? Probably 99% of blacks are killed by other blacks. Same with gay men--it's usually a lover's quarrel. Call it whatever, but love, respect or camaraderie wasn't the motivation. Not even more freedom or money, because those things are pretty easy to come by these days. The word games we play! I'm thinking about Carol Evans, a white retired school teacher/principal whose white husband hired three white people to kill her. The paper called it "a crime of greed," because the little weasels took money, but he's the one who did the planning and paying. They'll get time; he'll probably get the death penalty. You can play scrabble with the words, but I'm betting he hated her. I'm guessing he didn't get any Father's Day card today.

First week on the job

How would you like to face this? An historic flood.

NEW YORK In just his first four days on the job, Editor Steve Buttry of The Gazette in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is overseeing what may be the most demanding story he will ever encounter at the paper.

. Story at Editor and Publisher

Since abstinence doesn't seem to work

maybe two weeks of applying a cream will.

June 11, 2008, The Alchemist newsletter: "An application of topical estrogen to the penis over a two-week period could inhibit the spread of HIV by thickening the natural keratin layer on the skin. The epithelium of the human penis is richly supplied with estrogen receptors, explains Andrew Pask of the University of Melbourne, suggesting it could respond to topical estrogen, but unlike the vagina has only a very thin protective keratin layer. Pask suggests that in countries and cultures where circumcision is uncommon thickening this keratin layer could reduce the ability of HIV to penetrate the epidermis of the foreskin. HIV is one of the greatest health crises the world has ever seen, and affects over 40 million people worldwide. "We now have found a new avenue to possibly prevent HIV infection of the penis," says Pask."

If a guy doesn't have the patience or foresight to use a condom, or the morals and good sense to be celibate, I sort of doubt he'll think 2 weeks of cream is a good idea.

A cold drink on a hot day

This is so easy, nutritious and cheap, you'll wonder why you never fixed it before.

Use a 15 oz glass
fill about 1/3 with ice cubes
then about 1/2 with orange juice from the carton (I like lots of pulp and calcium)
then fill the rest with water
sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoon of Splenda
Stir and drink

I don't care for carbonation, and don't particularly like "juice drinks" but this is really refreshing.

Our weather yesterday was in the 90s, and huge storms rolled through in the evening. We hustled out of our Friday night date* at Rusty Bucket last night with an eye on the sky, and big drops began to fall. By the time we were in the car, it was a downpour, with massive lightening. We've had nothing like Iowa and Illinois and Wisconsin, but some areas of Columbus were under water. My husband called from Lakeside (where he's mowing the lawn) and said it is gorgeous up there.

*We've been married 48 years and rarely miss our date night.

South Side Farmers Market, Columbus

If it weren't for the involvement of Children's Hunger Alliance, I'd be all in favor of supporting a farmer's market selling locally produced fruits and vegetables. See my list of red flag words. The big push right now, and the two topics increasingly are merging, are obesity and some version of sustainable (this means environment, which means more government control). There's apparently a lot of obesity in the ZIP code because they don't get enough fruits and vegetables--locally grown and accessible. Hmmm. That's really strange. I see an awful lot of obesity in Upper Arlington, Dublin, Grandview, Worthington, Bexley and north Columbus ZIP codes.

Right now in Ohio you can buy locally grown strawberries, radishes and leaf lettuce. Not to worry poor, fat, and dumb South Siders. That's certainly a diet that will take the pounds off! There will be home made pastries for sale too. No word on whether local wheat flour, shortening, apples, pumpkins, dairy products, etc. went into those products.

I don't understand why these people can drive to a farmers market to buy real food if they can't get to Kroger's or Giant Eagle or Marc's, all of which have organic and natural foods and some great food brands that have Ohio addresses. OSU economists have issued a press release that shoppers are willing to pay MORE for locally grown produce.

Librarian leaves a million to Columbus libraries

Carol Sue Snowden, 57, a Whitehall librarian, died of ovarian cancer. Friends, co-workers and family were stunned to find out she left over half a million dollars to the Whitehall branch of Columbus Metropolitan Library, and $70,000 each to seven local school libraries. How did a woman who is in one of the historically lowest paid professions that requires a college education ever accumulate that amount? Thrift. Investments. Works every time. On her salary, she must have been invested in health care and energy funds. But imagine being that smart about money in a profession that is 223:1 liberal to conservative?

With a master's degree and 3 or 4 years experience, a librarian MIGHT be able to land a job for $30,000 a year, and have to work a few nights and week-ends. But if she's really smart, she'll consistently save and invest, and leave her liberal buddies in the dust to complain that they are unappreciated.

Neil Cavuto, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck and other radio talkers will tell you that there is still great opportunity in a capitalist system, but there is someone coming down the the political pike who will try to stop that message. Get them off the air because they don't buy the line that you are helpless and hopeless without some new piece of pork fat riddled government program. Barry, Harry and Nancy will work hard to get that "fairness" doctrine out there to shut them up.

Incidentally, this is called a "windfall," because the Columbus library system did absolutely nothing to acquire this. Unlike the oil companies, who do the heavy lifting so you can fill up your SUV this week-end and therefore don't have "windfalls." Because I was twice the recipient of a "windfall" from two retired veterinarians when I was at Ohio State (Dr. Segall, Dr. Hodeson), I want to assure the people of Whitehall and those seven schools that they will most likely never see any change in their collection or services, despite the windfall of a million dollars. No, it just wouldn't be fair, and besides the administrative costs will eat up a huge portion of it. Her donation is designated 90% for print, which means some other library will get what would have gone to Whitehall anyway. Also, without money designated for staff in purchasing, processing, preserving and shelving (all of whom must be paid a living wage plus benefits), the major cost of putting a book out there, plus building maintenance and utilities, book funds don't go far. And with scanned e-books, I'm sure there's a clever way to get around that wording.

Obama's new smear site

Why would he need this? He's already got all the main stream media, plus Media Matters and MoveOn in his pocket. He's looking less like a pouty little boy and more like a dictator, and he hasn't even been elected yet! Does George Soros have nothing else to spend his fortune on other than ensconcing Obama in the White House? Will someone please find a shipload of condoms and a steamer full of pesticide soaked bed nets for Mr. Soros? Why create another media source to keep track of his enemies? This reminds me of Nixon's enemies list--or was that Friends of Bill? Actually, the rumors about the tape produced by his church originated with the Clinton camp, not the talk shows or Fox. I saw it first on a Hillary site. If his wife hadn't said such outrageous things on the campaign trail about our country, no one would have even considered such a tape could exist. If the Clintons hadn't had such a reputation for playing dirty, no one would have suspected they had the tape.

“The Obama campaign isn’t going to let dishonest smears spread across the Internet unanswered,” Mr. Vietor said in a statement. “Whenever challenged with these lies, we will aggressively push back with the truth and help our supporters debunk the false rumors floating around the Internet.”

Good. Maybe the truth about him will leak out in the process--this hostile web site being a prime example. If not, it will be talk radio first, then bloggers, then YouTube and its derivatives, then social networking sites. All must bow to the mighty one, and the sooner the better. Lots of people are already under the bus and they were his friends! Remember--rich hip hopsters can say "Baby Daddy," "nappy headed," "Ho" and use the N-word while making fortunes, but no one else. Michelle O used "Baby Daddy," but Michelle M gets in trouble for a crawl she had no control over because some hyper-vigilant leftist doesn't know it's in the main stream language?

Imagine if George Bush went after all the elitists, progressives, Marxists and Democrats who called him names, (insisting someone else was in charge because he was too dumb) and insulted Laura (librarians were boycotting her speech at the ALA). It would have kept him too busy to free the women of Afghanistan and Iraq and save all those unborn Americans.

My contribution

Like the heterosexual AIDS epidemic that didn't happen, the pediatric obesity epidemic has recently been proven to be a full blown media scare (I know, looking around you'd not think so). Recent studies reported in JAMA found no trends in BMI for children, plus the statistics they did have meant little since the BMI of children isn't stable due to age and growth spurts. The only thing that doesn't vary is media hype, causing you parents to rush to modify children's diets, sometimes eliminating important nutrients, or making the kids phobic about food. They probably need to push back from the computer, not the table, and go outside to play.

So based on my blog of June 11, I've created a poster which I'm offering to CDC, NIH, USDA, FDA, etc. etc., and all the churches, foundations, think tanks and social agencies eating large from this trough of government money for a disease that never came to dinner. See Junk Food Science for a much better analysis of what's going on in childhood obesity.

Clintons4McCain

"Recent polls have shown Obama with a small lead over McCain. But numerous polls have shown that one in five Clinton supporters plan to cross over and vote for McCain in November." Now if he could just line up some Republican conservatives, he just might win. Story here. Yesterday's Supreme Court usurpation of power of the Executive Branch is a good reason to vote for McCain, but even then you'd have to assume he'd become a conservative once in office, and that's a big stretch.

Obama on Abortion

"Following a July 17, 2007 speech to the Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Obama was asked what he would do at the federal level, not only to ensure access to abortion but to make sure that the judicial nominees he might pick "are true to the core tenets of Roe v. Wade?"

"Well, the first thing I'd do as president is, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act," Obama said. "That's the first thing I'd do." Story here.

I wonder if he wants abortion for his grandchildren, or just yours?

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb is a reward.

Changing behavior

I was running (driving) a few errands this morning and noticed a few things: 1) absolutely everyone was driving the speed limit--that meant traffic moved more smoothly; 2) I didn't see a single Hummer either in the parking lots or on the roads, and they used to be every where; 3) I saw relatively few light trucks and large SUVs--used to be many; 4) I saw a middle age, bald man in a white shirt and tie on a rather smallish motorcycle--he looked a bit tense like he was just learning the ropes--heading for OSU; and one more thing that had nothing to do with the gas crisis, but I saw a young man at the shopping center delivering flyers wearing a coat and knit hat--it's about 90 degrees today.

Red Flag Words in your Grocery Bag

These words will not help your grocery bill or your health. They are liberally sprinkled by both the USDA and various anti-corporate agriculture groups (these days it's hard to tell where one ends and the other begins). Keep your eyes open for

Food Security
Environment (-alism, -al)
Sustainable
Justice
Organic
Natural
Community
Local
Accountability
Green
Access
Empower
Coalition
Grassroots
Facilitate
Self-reliance

Here's an example so loaded with misinformation and propaganda, I hardly know where to start.

"In many communities it is difficult to exercise healthy food choices due to the lack of affordable, available, and accessible healthy food sources, which may result in higher than average rates of overweight."

No it's not--difficult. We have a huge number of choices available, even if the only place you have to shop is the local 7-Eleven type gasoline store, because I've gone in and looked. I could buy milk, bread, eggs, apples, oranges, bananas, and a limited number of canned vegetables and fruit. Affordable, available, and accessible. Yes m'am, I would have to by-pass many more choices of chips, snacks, cookies, pop, gum, and beer. But that's the choice a consumer makes in a land where people choose to put their time in playing computer games, going to bars, hanging out with friends, watching TV or sleeping rather than going to the store, purchasing real food, and bringing it home to cook it. Even if they wanted to buy prepared food they could still have a very healthy and adequate diet. Today's paper reported that only 47% of homecooked meals contain a fresh item such as a vegetable. Do you really think that's because vegetables are not accessible or affordable? Have you priced a 5 lb bag of onions or potatoes? They are dirt cheap. Considering the level of income and education of most American households, this 47% figure is outrageous, but it has nothing to do with "justice," or "accountability," and it certainly isn't the government's fault, or Hollywood's fault, or the food corporations' problem.

Today I've had an apple, a carrot, a handful of grapes, a 1/2 cup of walnuts, (breakfast) and grilled broccoli with onion in olive oil for lunch, and because I've got a hankering for something crunchy, two chocolate graham crackers. I'm guessing not a single item was local (probably 70% was from California), or sustainable, or community grown, or environmentally friendly. I'm betting all was grown with fertilizers and pesticides at some point. And no one has ever died or been made sick from modern agricultural methods. I live in Ohio, and about 9 months out of the year, all our produce has to be brought here by truck, train or plane. And for the moment, our tomatoes have not been pulled from the market.

Watch out for nannyism and alarmism by the government and the growing power of environmental organizations in the form of "healthier eating." There are only two things that cause obesity, 1) the genes you inherited from your parents, 2) eating more calories than your body needs. You have control over one of these two things. Get busy on it.

Thursday Thirteen--13 recipes to consider or not

Last Saturday morning we were at Lakeside (our second home community on Lake Erie--see link on the left) and my husband had a Design Review Board meeting. While waiting for him to return I pulled a recipe collection, Taste of Home Annual (2002), off the shelf and looked through it. Here are 13 recipes that looked interesting, 7 I'd never fix on a bet, and 6 that I'm betting I'll try this summer.

The probably never, no way seven

Venison stromboli (Bambi?)
Dandy corn dogs (husband hates corn)
Sunday gumbo (too much like left overs)
Black bean tart (rhymes with. . .) actually the ingredients sound similar to home made taco salad--pictured in TT banner
Lamb with apricots (couldn't eat a lamb)
Cheesy veal pie (same with baby bulls)
Pumpkin pancakes with hot cider syrup (too yummy)

The very likely to be served six

Salmon fettuccine
Baked halibut
Cheddar cabbage casserole (high fat content--best to take this to a pitch-in dinner)
Sweet and tangy freezer pickles
Creamy garden spaghetti
Rhubarb muffins
Pineapple chicken

I'm guessing most of these can be googled if you see one that interests you--put the recipe in quotes, then add the magazine name.