Thursday Thirteen July 7, 2011 from Lakeside, Ohio

Can you tell I don't have my editing software on this laptop? That photo actually says Thursday Thirteen from Lakeside, Ohio.

We've been here since Monday June 20, at the chautauqua on Lake Erie, Lakeside, Ohio. It is a gated community with a 10 week season. We own a cottage here, so we're here most of the summer, but started coming here in 1974 when our children were very young. Here are a few things I've done here recently.

1. Used the new (last year) laundromat because my washing machine died the first day we were here. It's about 25 years old, so it will probably not be worth trying to find a repairman.

2. Lots of walks along the lakefront at sunrise, but the weather has been a bit overcast, so they haven't been as beautiful as last year when I had 70 sunrise walks.

3. Visited the local farmers' market three times, but because of a very wet spring the growing season has been delayed, so I've only purchased one head of cabbage and one green pepper, but they have been fabulous--grill lightly with onions in olive oil, toss in a little corn and butter, and it's a fabulous lunch.

4. Won a jar of horseradish at the herb group meeting last week. The topic was horseradish--didn't know there was a horseradish company in Springfield, Ohio. Love it! It may be my first door prize.

5. Walked to the tiny local grocery store about 6 times--since I'm carrying the purcases, I don't buy a lot at a time. Staples are more expensive than a supermarket, but the meat is about the same, and there is wonderful made in the store ham salad, potato salad and cole slaw.

6. Read a book from the local library (inside the Methodist church run by volunteers), "Chosen by a horse." It was an excellent memoir and you don't have to like horses to enjoy this poignant story of a woman's healing through her love for her pet.

7. Slowed down a bit to manage our colds, which we got about a week ago.

8. Had friends Wes and Sue over for dinner of bratwurst and sauerkraut on our deck.

9. Enjoyed the fireworks on the 4th on the lakefront with our friends John and Wilma.

10. Went to friends' cottage to watch the last Glenn Beck Show on June 30. We don't have cable here. Then we all went out to eat.

11. Attended some amazing music programs the first week like Carpe Diem, a string quartet, and Raleigh Ringers, a handbell and chime group from Raleigh, NC. Usually I get sleepy and go home after an hour, but these groups were outstanding.

12. Attended several lectures on Christians and foreign policy and how the military builds cultural bridges. Both speakers were excellent.

13. Had a wonderful boat ride around the area with the "wooden boat society" group followed by a delicious dinner of walleye at the Hotel Lakeside. Enjoyed the company at our table--former clients of my husband.

If you'd like to play Thursday 13, check it out.

Lakeside Wooden Boat Society Summer Evening Cruise

Tonight we have tickets for the wooden boat cruise and dinner. First there will be a cruise on Lake Erie (weather permitting, and right now it looks permissable) from the Lakeside Dock at 6 p.m. Then at 7:30 there is dinner at the Hotel Lakeside (Walleye Primavera is our menu choice, but there was also filet mignon or portabella stuffed chicken breast as choices). Then after dinner there will be a lecture by Neil Allen on "Strangers in our Bay" about the unique boats from the 1940s to the present that have visited Sandusky Bay.

Are Lutherans taller than Methodists?

It's Lutheran Chautauqua Week--and so is next week. It's also the 4th of July week, so Lakeside is bursting at the seams. There were about 700 kids in the parade on Monday. Last night's program at Hoover Auditorium (seats about 3,000) was a group of Kenyan Acrobats. The men performers were athletic, slender and muscled; the women were overweight--extremely. Not like here where many men are overweight.

As I sat in my seat looking up and around waiting for the program to begin it occurred to me I had never seen so many tall people--i.e. well over 6'--in my life. I wondered if they were Lutherans. Descendants of the Scandanavians and Germans who settled around here. It is particularly striking among the women. When I was growing up a 6' woman was relatively unusual, but it is nothing today to see women 6'3 or 6'4. I suppose they marry men their height or taller and pass it on to the next generation. Women my height (5'5") just grow sideways.

Yesterday's afternoon program on Stress and Nutrition by Dr. Wendy Stuhldreher was pretty much what I expected--eat less, move more, and eat all the colors. Eating fish is always recommended, but I was impressed by one chart she showed where mackerel exceeded all others (twice as much as salmon) in what we need in acronyms, EPA and DHA. She recommends drinking milk, something I haven't done in about 50 years. . . either skim (yuk) or 1% (almost yuk). So while I'm blogging this morning I'm sipping a cup of milk.

I left before the Q & A, so maybe she addressed this, but the audience was very lean and healthy looking, even with the average age of about 65. In fact, I've seen so many overweight people here, particularly young people, it's almost like a "not welcome" sign had been posted outside the Green Room. She was definitely preaching to the choir. Doesn't that happen with so many topics that could educate us? People, particularly those on vacation, don't want to hear bad news, whether it's political, religious or dietary.

She recommended we look at the portion control web site, MyPlate.gov

Rush Limbaugh launches Two if by Tea

Glenn Beck is launching a TV channel/network/subscription show, and Rush Limbaugh starts a bottled tea company. He was giving away samples of his "Two if by Tea" in Joplin, MO, where he was a speaker over the 4th, but he and his wife compensated the other vendors for their lost sales due to his give away. Class act.

I guess these conservative talkers want to put their mouth where their money is--in the free market.

Rush Limbaugh launches Two if by Tea | South Florida Business Journal And I wouldn't call this a sympathetic artice--sort of snarky.

Week 3 at Lakeside--Health and Wellness Week

Looking at the brochure, I'm not sure there is much for me.

Tuesday 10:30 Bipolar disorder. I'm not and I don't think I know anyone close to me who has this.

Tuesday 1:30 Nutrition for stressful time. I'm not stressed.

Wednesday 10:30 Exercise for the busy person. I'm not busy, just lazy.

Wednesday 1:30 Health care reform in the era of the Silver Tsunami. I hope he's not going to tell us Obamacare is good for the senior citizen.

Thursday 10:30 Transitional care: How do patients get from one place to another? Not sure what this topic is, but it's by a geriatrician.

Thursday 1:30 The human brain and spirituality. My brain is in the loving care of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's about as spiritual as I get on that topic.

Friday 10:30 Delirium: a serious problem for the hospitalized elder. This is an important topic whether for self, family or if visiting on behalf of the church.

Tom Joyner--Don't you dare touch the first black president!

Black Informant criticizes the critics who criticize: old Buffalo Butt reemerges for a rerun.

"Tom Joyner who some years ago had no problem at all blaming all of ills of society on then President Bush. This is the very same Tom Joyner who had no problem playing a rap song entitled “George Bush Doesn’t Care About Black People” on his nationally-syndicated radio show. No problem at all.

But say a mumbling word about “our first Black President” and all of hell must be unleashed."

(Joyner criticized Halperin of TIME magazine, a huge apologist for Obama, who called his Messiah "a Dick," which then earned him title of "Republican" by those further left than he is.) The left eating its young to stay alive.

What do you know about "Agenda 21" and your local community?

"Seattle, Washington is sort of “ground zero” when it comes to “Sustainable Development” and it has already spread like a cancer to YOUR community like wildfire. Read the Seattle plan and then check your local community “plan” for your future and see how the language matches. That’s because it comes from the SAME globalists who are peddling UN Agenda 21 right under our noses!"

Check out this link for more information.

Why do American liberals say so little about Islamic views of women?

This of course is a rhetorical question: we know the answer. "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." They think they will be able to co-opt the Muslims later, but they'll learn as have centuries of Christians, that you can't co-exist or cooperate with Muslims.

"Islam is a male-made religion, founded on masculinity, patriarchy, and male domination. It is notorious for its repression, subjugation, and discrimination against women. Islamic religion portrays women as inferior to men in every respect-spiritually, physically, mentally, and even intellectually. Islam's holy book, the Koran, divinely sanctions and decrees this negative impression. The Koran has been corroborated by the Hadiths (traditions of Muhammad's sayings and deeds) and perpetuated by the interpretation of the mullahs, the sheiks, and the imams."

Leo Igwe, "Traditional African Practices and Islam"

The Osu Caste System in Nigeria

Americans in general, and particularly educators and school children, have a very warped view of slavery, not only that of the 18th and 19th century type in America, but slavery that existed in Africa during that time, and exists to this day. Slavery, now called "trafficking in persons," is world wide and a bigger problem today involving more slaves and owners than it was during the cross-Atlantic slave trade.

Slavery and/or caste is based on a dehumanizing system that still exists in modern Africa and Asia, and you can look at any Nigerian blog or forum to become informed. But in America's schools, the memory of slavery is used to pummel school children into the belief that it was a result of evil capitalism, European greed and corrupt Christianity. They are lied to about the Founders and their struggle to eliminate it from our government long before the Civil War as they struggled to bring people of many cultures and states into an infant country.

And in order to keep peace with the Muslims, our educators, church pastors and media mavens will probably never tell the role of Arab Muslim slave traders using the interior African tribal leaders to round up and sell not only war bounty, but also religious, agricultural and domestic caste slaves for their own power and wealth. European slavers could have never managed to make it into the interior of Africa to capture and trade humans--physically it just wasn't possible. They were really low man on the totem pole of guilt and crimes against humanity for the 16th and 17th century slave trade. It was the Arabs and the Africans who made the system work.

Yes, teach American school children about the evils of slavery, but at least teach them the truth. That is is bigger today than ever, that only Christians and the U.S. government are making a dent in it, and that many modern governments still support the structures that allow a caste system among their citizens.

The Osu Caste System

The President who isn't there. . . or here. . . or anywhere

"Obama floats above every issue, either tasking subordinates or directing operations from on high, convinced he's above the fray and blameless. Occasionally he'll get frustrated by criticism and peer down from Mt. Olympus to scold the little people for their slacker ways, pointing out the harm their ineptitude may cause, such as allowing poisoned food, unwarned tornadoes and lack of a college education for illegal immigrants. And he never forgets to remind about white men's greed in a world of need." Fore Left!

However, he has worked in 76 games of golf since taking over the White House.

Skulls of mush

You can't pray, read the Bible, or discuss Creationism, but you can promote your union. "If teacher unions want to be strong and well-supported, it's essential that they not only be teacher unionists but teachers of unionism. We need to create a generation of students who support teachers and the movements of teachers for their rights." Howard Zinn

From a web page promoting progressivism, feminism and unionism being required subjects taught in public schools. Therefore, I won't link.

It's a small, small world

Monday morning about 7 a.m. I struck up a conversation with a woman in the coffee shop who was wearing a raincoat--a little unusual for Lakeside. It rains here, but most of us just carry an umbrella or put a newspaper over our head. As it turns out, she was from the San Francisco area and was accustomed to overcast, cool weather because of the bay. It was her first visit to Lakeside, so I showed her the newspaper and how she could sign up for classes and attend programs. She told me her husband was planning to attend the 10:30 lecture, and she described him.

When I got to the lecture I spotted him immediately because he was the tallest man in the room. I introduced myself, and we talked a bit. During the week I'd see the couple and their cousins and we'd wave and say a few words.

Last night he stopped by our seats in Hoover Auditorium (program was Second City Comedy troupe) and asked if we'd attended First Community Church in the late 60s. We'd been members there before we joined Upper Arlington Lutheran, so we said yes. He said that our names sounded familiar to him and he decided we'd known each other from that church, particularly a men's group that met on Wednesday, and we had invited him to our home for dinner when he was going through a divorce. About 40 years ago he moved to California, but had grown up in the Cleveland area and remembered his mother talking about Lakeside, so they decided to visit.

What a small world. We didn't remember him, but I do remember we often invited young batchelors or students for dinner in those days.

Older Americans Fuel Entrepreneurial Boom, Says New Study

According to the nonprofit Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, individuals between the ages of 54 and 64 represented 22.9% of the entrepreneurs who launched businesses in 2010 – up from 14.5% in 1996. Since 2007, the foundation says, this age group has created new businesses at a higher rate than any other.

Baby Boomers Fuel Entrepreneurial Boom, Says New Study From the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation - Encore - SmartMoney

Glenn Beck's final show on Fox and move to GBTV

We don't have cable at Lakeside, so we went to friends' cottage to watch Glenn Beck's final program on Fox last night, and then we all went out to eat at the Patio Restaurant, then back to our home for some wonderful Toft's Blue Berry Waffle Cone Ice Cream.

Glenn is starting his own TV network--I suppose it will be like Oprah's with some programming not from his company, but he'll have a 2 hour news and commentary similar to his current one hour on Fox. It will be by subscription. It was pretty much what we expected--some highlights, chalkboard, and funny stuff, tributes to his staff and audience. One funny clip was showing Jon Stewart's writers (about 15 I think) for his 6 minute monologues, and Glenn's ...two for his 20-40 minute monologues.

I noticed today that Dave Ramsey, a debt counselor, has the same message financially that Glenn has politically: "The government can't fix it. Now is the time for the church to rise up together in faith and lead our nation out of this mess—one family, one church, one community at a time." That's the same message I heard on Glenn Beck's sign off on his final program last night. The power of one.

Lakeside is flag ready for the Fourth of July!

If you click to enlarge you can see 3 or 4 neighborhood cats having breakfast.

The Popcorn Palace always looks dressed in her finest floral best.

Every home on Lynn between 2nd and 3rd was flying a flag this morning.

Miscarriages

In 1963 I had a miscarriage. The doctor told me then, almost 50 years ago, that about one third of all pregnancies end in miscarriage (spontaneous abortion) and had for as long as medical science had tracked it. Incompatible with life, was his explanation. Apparently, that figure hasn't changed much according to this article on thyroid problems and the risk of miscarriage which uses the figure 31%.

What exactly is "affordable" housing?

The city of Falls Church, Virginia, is a toney DC suburb. The median home value is $670,192 and the median income is $111,461. Not to worry. Falls Church has "affordable housing." That means it gets government money to pay builders to design/build or remodel homes for households whose income is at or 80% of the median income level of the DC metro area which in 2010 was $85,198. You'd still have a huge gap if you qualified to move into Falls Church affordable housing, and every good Democrat knows it is the gap that is the problem, not the income.

I can't tell if it's just the VA taxpayer who is paying for this or if it is all taxpayers in the U.S. But I think I qualify if I want to move to Virginia--although I suspect there is a waiting list. I'm certainly living below the media income level of the DC metropolitan area.
Falls Church Affordable Housing Policy
Senior Housing

Snippets from the blog notebook

Yesterday's speaker, Stephen Rock, noted in his talk about Christians and Human Rights that the documents of the main line Protestant churches are almost indistinquishable in language from secular socialist organizations.

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Anthony Weiner is busy reinventing himself according to the news. I don't know why--Democrats loved him just the way he was.

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There are now companies who can do a "social intelligence" background check for employers to see how badly applicants have behaved within their social networks.

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Media Matters, a tax exempt "charity" is a Soros funded Democratic party shill group that you can contribute to if you like left wing stuff. Now some tax payers are going after it because it is trying to destroy Fox News, a private, for-profit company.

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How dumb are academics? They spend time, effort and (our) money to determine that behavior and culture cause 80% of health outcomes, and then wring their hands that the USA is behind other industrialized nations. Doh! Have they ever looked at the borders of Iceland, Finland or Sweden? If people desperate to leave the amenities and squalor of their own homeland will risk life and limb to get here, what sort of healthcare do you think they had before?

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Last week there were no fruits or vegetables at our farmers' market. The planting season in northern Ohio was very wet--things go off to a slow start. But yesterday I was able to buy locally grown cabbage, green pepper, cukes, but I didn't see any corn.

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What are America's (Obama's) interests in bombing Libya? Has Obama ever been able to articulate this or does he just stammer? Where are the outraged war protesters when it's their guy?

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Laura Bush visited Africa 5 times during her husband's presidency. Did she get the drooling media coverage that Michelle Obama's trip did? If Mrs. Obama, while reading Cat in the Hat had been told there was a bomb threat, would she have had nasty criticism from Rosie O'Donnell and other "comedians" for hesitating and thinking what her next move should be the way they reviled President Bush on 9/11 who was reading to children?

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Barney Frank and his girl friend Fannie Mae were big contributors to the housing melt down. Why are they both still protected by the government? Why is there no such thing as failure in Washington unless you're a white Republican cheating on his wife or making passes at gay guys?

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Mitt Romney is Obama-light.

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Bristol Palin is as useful to her mother as Carter's brother Billy, or President Reagan's daughter Patti. You might get to choose voters, but not family.

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I'm surprised that today's teen fashionistas need a website like Tomboy Style to define what their grandmothers of the 50's and 70s knew instinctively.

Jon Stewart mocks Herman Cain's speech

Jon Stewart says he's not partisan nor a propagandist for the Democrats. If he were a Republican shill and mocked the speech of a black presidential candidate using a white man's Amos and Andy dialect, he'd be off the air. And in case you think Rush Limbaugh does this, then you aren't listening. He uses clips of their own speech, like his "Just-us" routine of Jackson and Rangel.

Cain says he is not offended, that he understands Stewart is a comedian. But I'm offended, because Stewart is calling his audience, probably 90% white, stupid, racist and ignorant.

Cain says it's not a race issue, but because he's a black conservative. I'm not so sure it's not racial. If he were light skinned, skinny and had never had a private sector job he might be more acceptable. If he'd never lived among blacks and had learned that "Amos and Andy" dialect from a speech coach, he'd be much more acceptable to the left.

And of course, Obama wasn't involved in this scheme at all

"A federal jury on Monday found former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich guilty of 17 counts of corruption, including trying to sell the U.S. Senate seat vacated by President Barack Obama." WSJ

I wonder when he'll do a tell-all?