Yard sales at Lakeside

On Sunday I got some wonderful deals at a yard sale one street over:  a first issue (v. 1, n.1) of National Geographic Traveler (1984), a nice apron that looked like it had never been used, a kitchen towel with the knitted top so you can attach it to a drawer handle, lovely artificial hydrangea blooms in blue, and another magazine.  It was all marked down--to free.

Now I need to find a blender.  I could swear I had one here at the cottage and I have potato chunks, onions, and broccoli perking away on the stove for broccoli soup, and I can't find the blender!  I've looked everywhere--even in the basement.  No blender. Second choice would be a hand potato masher, but it's gone too!

Our wonderful five senses

One of the things that Jill Taylor suggests in her book "My stroke of insight" is that we pause and become more aware of and enjoy our senses. This morning during my 6 a.m. walk along the lakefront in Lakeside, Ohio, I did just that. We're in the middle of a heat wave in July, and had a wonderfully refreshing storm last night. The path is asphalt, close to the water and to the cottages.

1. TOUCH -- Skin is our largest organ. I could feel the wind on my face, arms and hair--and my sweaty clothes.

2. SMELL -- The wet grasses, flowers, rocks with moss, from last night's storm. It's a fresh, but somewhat moldy smell due to the hot weather we've been experiencing.

3. SOUND -- Waves splashing, birds chirping and calling, the chain on the flag clainging against the pole, a jet overhead, a distant motor boat, a teen-ager bouncing a basketball in the park, a car door slamming, a runner's footfall as he runs past, insects humming.

4. SIGHT -- The electric lights in the dimness on Put-in-Bay, Kelley's Island, Marblehead, the oar boat, the lakefront street lights, reflections on Lake Erie, a woman walking the lakefront with a red shirt and white pants, drooping wet flowers, robins, gulls, the tents closed up for the craft show to return.

5. TASTE -- This is a bit harder. But I had brushed my teeth after my morning coffee, so I could taste the toothpaste.

The strange case of Shirley Sherrod and a big government settlement

Nothing's ever simple or as it seems, is it? There's apparently a lot more about Shirley Sherrod and the USDA that we didn't know. She and her husband, a big Civil Rights leader, were involved in a lawsuit against the federal government and received a big payout. Also Breitbart didn't edit the film--showed it as it was given to him. Was someone setting up Breitbart or the Sherrods? Who was the source? Why were Obama and NAACP so quick to throw her under the bus? They certainly haven't acted that way about other charges of black racism in government. What were the circumstances of her hiring that she could be let go so unceremoniously and from all appearances, illegally? Aren't there rules about that? Maybe this isn't going to go away after all.

American Thinker Blog: Forty Acres & a Mule -- Sherrod Style?

And here's the left-handed view of this, although no mention that in the settlement, 4 times more black farmers showed up for the money than the USDA census recorded.

Julie Zickefoose

It has been a delight to have Bill Thompson III (Bird Watcher's Digest) and wife Julie Zickefoose, artist, writer and naturalist, here this week. I went to his lecture on Tuesday and the early morning bird watch with him on Wednesday. Today I went to her slide show and lecture and heard excerpts from her forthcoming book about rescuing injured birds and nestlings. The rescued baby chimney swifts (5) story was just the best. It was wonderful and I think will be a terrific Christmas book for any of you who love a good story, great art, and animals.

Ohio Magazine article on Julie Zickefoose

Some apologies just aren't--Spitz and Vilsack

Sara Spitz's apology about wishing to watch Rush Limbaugh die with his eyes bugging out wasn't an apology at all. She's sorry she was found out, and that's not an apology.

"As a publicist, I realize more than anyone that is no excuse for irresponsible behavior. I apologize to anyone I may have offended and I regret these comments greatly; they do not reflect the values by which I conduct my life."

Vilsack, the head of USDA, however, now that was an apology, even if the White House forced him, one that could be emulated by journalists, NPR hacks, and government officials.

Now then, when will Obama apologize to the Cambridge police for his hasty words last summer?

What Recovery?

Ben Bernanke was a huge fan of FDR who kept us in a Depression for over a decade. The Obama tactics are working out the same way. There is no recovery, and will be none, until he gets his boot off the neck of American business. And I just don't think that will happen, given his political philosophy.

Fed chief open to new steps to keep recovery going - Road Runner

The Jamestown Foundation

Browsing the Jamestown Foundation reports on terrorists groups in Algeria, Yemen, Somalia, Russia, Trinidad, Iran, Sudan, etc., I've got to wonder why the evening news programs wastes our time reporting on Lindsay Lohan and Mel Gibson.

Africa - The Jamestown Foundation

Shirley Sherrod, USDA, says White House forced her resignation

What is this flap about? Whether it is conservative bloggers, or Fox News, or the President of the U.S., it happened in 1984! No one has done more in recent years to enflame race relations than the President himself, whether it was calling cops foolish in the Gates incident last summer because they tried to stop a break-in, or ignoring Muslim terrorists in our midsts, or letting the DoJ decide blacks can't intimidate whites at the polling place. Come on, let's stick to the real problems, and they aren't Shirley's.


Shirley Sherrod: White House Forced My Resignation - Political Hotsheet - CBS News

Stroke of Insight by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor

This week I'm reading "Stroke of Insight," by Dr. Jill Bolte Taylor, a Harvard trained neuroanatomist and advocate for the mentally ill who had a massive stroke in her left hemisphere when she was 37. In her book, she explains how the brain works, and tells of the hours and days immediately following her stroke, and her years of working through to complete recovery.

As a Christian I don't accept her spiritual, "oneness with the universe," insight (right brain) that she discovered during her "wound" to the brain which shut down her left brain, however, there are many helpful insights on brain function and recovery that are worth reading. Like this one, which applies for any illness or grief:

"Recovery was a decision I had to make a million times a day."

And for her, even moreso, because in her right brain she had found a peaceful tranquility and bliss with no cognitive function.

You can see an 18 minute presentation by Dr. Taylor on TED.

Black and female: Tea Party Candidate battles Illinois Democrats to Get on Ballot

Wow! Talk about jumping the fence of the plantation and going after the "massa" with his own whip! Cedra Crenshaw, an African American Republican with Tea Party support is taking on the Illinois Democrat machine. Democrats get real testy, even with their own black members (as Alvin Greene in South Carolina), when they see an African American is on to their tricks.

Tea Party Candidate Cedra Crenshaw Fights Illinois Democrats to Get on Ballot in Will County

Crenshaw, a 37-year old mother of three who studied accounting at North Carolina A&T, submitted hundreds more signatures on her nominating petitions than required. But Will County officials knocked her off the November ballot, saying one of the sentences in her filing should have used slightly different wording. "I am angry," said Crenshaw, an African-American who rejects complaints that the Tea Party movement is racist. "And a lot of the voters are very angry, as well. Right here in the State of Illinois, the vote is being denied to the voters of the 43rd State Senate District by a frivolous challenge." Sen. Wilhelmi told me the rules are the rules.

Wilhelmi is the one who filed the complaint--he is uncontested, also not unusual in heavily Democratic precincts in Illinois. Both Republicans and Democrats are threatened by the Tea Party candidates--because it isn't a party they can influence or control--it's an idea, it's young, it's fresh.

Obama is lying again

Ratcheting up the partisanship, Obama is lying again about Republicans. They aren't "blocking" extending unemployment benefits from 99 weeks to 126 (retroactive), they are asking that the President use one of his private slush funds, like TARP or ARRA, which aren't being used to create "shovel ready" jobs. Or cut some other government wasteful program--put a government employee in the "out of work" line. Wouldn't real jobs be better than government checks? Well, no, not to Democrats who know from the FDR years, this is how you build loyalty across the generations. You buy it. But even FDR used it to put people to work instead of leaving them standing on the street corners or hanging out in bars.

Christian Teacher Wants to Pray on High Court Steps

Let me make a wild guess. If these students had spread yoga mats, or stuck pins in black robed dolls, or danced in Native American attire, or knelt down and faced East, the police wouldn't have bothered them. But quietly standing together and praying after a lesson on civics, they were told it wasn't allowed. This isn't true, of course. I suspect now other groups will try it to see what happens.

Christian Teacher Wants to Pray on High Court Steps | Christianpost.com

Longest hop-scotch

The Lakeside association blacktopped all the streets this spring, creating a wonderful "blackboard" for the kids with boxes of fat, colored chalk. On our street I saw a hop-scotch grid that went for two blocks. I think they were so tired by the time they drew all the boxes, they didn't do the toss and jump part.

Then on Walnut (business district) there are large murals drawn by the children. With parents standing around texting and talking on cell phones. Well, at least the kids "get it" (what Lakeside is about).

I was walking the Lakefront this morning about 30 minutes before sunrise, but it was light enough to see Put-in-Bay, Kelley's Island, all the lakefront cottages, the Hotel, the Pavilion, and an ore boat docked at Marblehead. Think of the generations who lived without electricity. It was gorgeous!

PPACA aka Obamacare

or as I like to call it, Pee-pee and Ca-Ca (Spanish and French for poop). Liberals like to claim it will reduce the deficit by $143 billion the first decade, and $1.2 Trillion the second. Tell me the truth. Have you ever seen a government program, under any president or congress, actually shrink anything? Until Obama, a Democrat, the biggest spender on social programs was George W. Bush, a Republican. Obama has taken us to new heights of government control and new depths of hostility toward the market system which grew this country.

No one really believes these deficit reduction figures, not even the Democrats, Socialists and Obamacons who preach them. We know there won't be more consumer choice and that there will be millions still uninsured (the purpose of all this, we were told when Obama was in campaign mode). We know private practices will close due to increased taxes; that there will be death panels, regardless of whether you call them that. And why not, when we've elected a man who believes in late term abortion--why not early on eternal rest? The only way to cut costs is to cut services. Growing government has never saved a dime. Bailing out unions or insurance companies or automobile companies is not the government's job, and it's a given that eventually the "public option" will be the only option for Pee-Pee and Ca-Ca.

Plein air painters and wooden boat show

The lawn in front of the Hotel Lakeside was a busy place today. The wooden boat show and the Ohio Plein Air show were sharing space and viewers. Each year the show gets better and better. My husband is teaching at the Rhein Center this week, so after registration from 1-3 p.m. he changed clothes and went down to the lake to take kids out for a free sail boat ride. The water was perfect and about 100 kids participated. The temperature was in the upper 80s, but there was a cool breeze. Our friends Duke and Kinga from Indiana are here; we went to church together and had breakfast and dinner together before they returned to their camp at East Harbor State Park.

Sunrise and an unusual dog

I was standing on the dock this morning watching the sun pop over the horizon about 6:12 a.m. and then continued on to the Lakefront watching the sun reflect on the windows and fences like a raging dawn fire.  I passed a man maybe 80 walking with an unusual dog.  It had the head, ears and blue eyes of a Husky, but a Heinz 57 body with bushy gold colored hair, sort of like a Chow.  Although it didn't appear unfriendly, I know enough about dog breeds not to assume this kind of mix would welcome my advances.  I asked the man about his dog, and he said it had been thrown into a culvert as a tiny fuzzy pup and a woman found him who couldn't keep him and brought the pup to his farm. "This is the best watch dog I've ever had; it can see, smell or hear anything."  I suspect there's a bit of gratitude in this pet's loyalty, too.

Congress Overhauls Your Portfolio

I find it stunning that anyone of either party could trust a team like Barney Frank and Chris Dodd, both proven crooks and shysters, to do anything in the financial world. The small investor, the pensioner, and those wanting to build wealth for the future of their children have been scammed big time. This at a time when the boomers will begin drawing on their investments. "All the better to make you government dependent, my dearie," the witches cackled over their cauldron. The Democrats will deny any culpability, and probably blame the three Republicans who caved and voted for it.

Congress Overhauls Your Portfolio - WSJ.com

Dearborn Mayor lies about Christians arrested for proselytizing - Jihad Watch

You can get arrested in Dearborn, Michigan for praying . . . with a Muslim . . . if you are a Christian. Apparently, the first amendment doesn't apply at local Arab festivals, even though many Arabs are Christians.

Dearborn Mayor lies about Christians arrested for proselytizing - Jihad Watch

Calories do count!

This morning at Wal-Mart I stopped in the bakery section and looked at the cookies. We really don't need them, but, my goodness they looked wonderful. So I picked up oatmeal-raisin and oatmeal-raisin sugar free, which was twice as much, and compared the ingredients. Both had palm oil, which I don't think is good for us, but in small quantities, it's probably not a killer. But look at that fat and calories count! The sugar-free cookie was much higher in calories, and it would be my guess that you'd probably eat more of them too, because they don't have the same flavor and texture. The reverse is true with fat-free--usually a lot more sugar.

Americans are getting really picky about chemicals in food, sustainable and organic crops, and natural this and that. But they continue to get fatter. I think we were much better off with sugar and lard and fewer snacks and desserts than with chemically modified foods that don't satisfy, but are always at hand, so we eat more. If you really want low fat or low sugar, either add water or eat less.

Drug cartels in all states now

Senator John Cornyn of Texas says, "The time to act is now. These cartels already have a known presence in 48 states and the District of Columbia. Until Washington restores its credibility on border security more states will be forced to act much like Arizona did. Washington needs a sense of urgency, or many American families will lose their sense of security.

Border security isn’t just a border state problem, it’s a United States problem."

Today at the coffee shop I chatted with a woman from a beautiful ocean/lake/river area of Florida. She's lived there about 30 years, but originally came from this area of Ohio. In the last five years, she said, there's been a huge influx of crime from the Mexican drug cartels. She's very sympathetic with the Arizonans and believes there will be more laws like this if the federal government doesn't step up and do its job. Another customer chimed in about his area--Atlanta. It's not just Arizona's problem, folks, and we should thank Governor Brewer for bringing it to our attention.

Read more at the Washington Examiner.