Lakeside 2019, Week 10, and Virtual Reality

Friday is a light day for programming at Lakeside; we had a class on organization (clutter) and cooking tips by Stacy Maple, a chef, on alternate Fridays earlier in the season, but today was the Wellness Fair.

I poked around at a few displays—the Methodists are having an apple dumpling fund raiser (have no idea why this is health related, except it’s fine fellowship and we all need friends and service); Magruder Hospital had a display on the danger of falls, but the ladies didn’t know how to keep my husband off the roof; and there were various “eastern” or meditative or movement programs that I don’t do.

I did, however, discover a new health related business by a woman entrepreneur which can assist hospice patients, shut-ins or nursing home residents reduce their pain, recall pleasant memories, and facilitate conversations with loved ones.  It’s called “Immersive cure; virtual reality solutions.”  Using virtual reality therapy it’s a non-pharmacological way to reduce stress, anxiety, depression and pain with a Gear VR Headset. Originally VR was used primarily for entertainment purposes, but in the last decade medical research has proven it effective for other uses.

As I sat in a chair waiting for the headset to be placed I learned that the CEO, Jessica Benson, of Medina, Ohio, had moved around a bit due to her husband’s career and then through a volunteer position at a hospital came up with this idea to provide personalized virtual experiences for people who are facility bound or too frail to travel.  The option (right now I believe there are 6 one of which is veteran travel to monuments) I used was the “Lakeside experience.” With the gentle sounds of Lake Erie and nature sounds I was transported to the front lawn near the Celtic cross and fountain at Hotel Lakeside looking up, down and around, enjoying lake views and watching people strolling, and some plein air artists (filmed in July).

The kit which Ms. Benson provides includes the headset with controller, a smart phone, headphones, an infection control kit, and case for the equipment. She will educate the staff of the organization that purchases her services. She can also personalize this service for other areas and events that would be familiar for the shut-in.

For more information and comments by users, see Immersivecure.com

"Virtual reality and pain management: current trends and future directions"  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3138477/ 

Sickle cell disease. https://www.healio.com/hematology-oncology/hematology/news/online/%7B5ab0e2a2-6198-4b7e-9420-8dcbff9d958b%7D/virtual-reality-helps-reduce-pain-among-patients-with-sickle-cell-disease

 https://interestingengineering.com/virtual-reality-can-help-relieve-severe-pain-in-patients-study-finds

https://www.gamerevolution.com/tech/417593-vr-labor-pain-study-samsung

Lakeside, 2019 Week 10, RV video

https://youtu.be/H69oPSYABDA

This is a lovely video made by a couple who have an RV channel on YouTube.  They did a great story about Lakeside and were here during the Marilyn McCoo-Billy Davis Show.  Street scenes are less populated since most families have gone home for the school year.  More emphasis on the camp ground than most things I see—it’s not easy to get space there.  About 17 minutes.

The worm has turned. Piers Morgan.

PIERS MORGAN: "Populism is rising because liberals have become unbearable. In my core, I'm probably more liberal than not although fundamentally I see myself as a journalist and I like to see both sides and I can argue both sides of all these things, but what's the point of calling yourself a liberal if you don't allow anyone else to have a different view? This snowflake culture that we now operate in, the victimhood culture, the everyone has to think in a certain way, behave a certain way. Everyone has to have a bleeding heart and tell you 20 things that are wrong with them. I just think it is all completely skewed to an environment where everyone is offended by everything and no one is allowed to say a joke.

If you said a joke ten years ago that offended somebody, you can never host the Oscars. So now there's no host for anything. The Emmy's now just said they're not gonna host either, so hosts have gone, and soon, every award winner will go because everyone's a human being and we're all flawed, so no one can win awards anymore because there will be no platform before they even get on the podium, so then no hosts, no stars. Then no one can make any movies because we're all flawed, so no actors, so suddenly, where are we?

The liberals get what they want, which is a humorless void where nothing happens, no one dares do anything or laugh about anything or behave in any way that doesn't suit their rigid way of leading a life. No thanks. So what's happening around the world? Populism is rising because people are fed up with the PC culture. They're fed up with snowflakery, they're fed up with people being offended by everything and they're gravitating towards forceful personalities who go: "This is all nonsense!"

Which, by the way, it is in most cases. So why are we surprised? I'm not surprised. It doesn't mean to say I agree with all of it, but it means I can understand it, and I understand why the liberals, my side, if you like, are getting it so horribly wrong. They just wanna tell people, not just how to lead their lives, but if you don't lead it the way I tell you to it's a kind of version of fascism. If you don't lead the life the way I'm telling you to then I'm going to ruin your life. I'm gonna scream abuse at you. I'm gonna get you fired from your job. I'm gonna get you hounded by your family and friends. I'm gonna make you the most disgusting human being in the world."

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2019/08/20/piers_morgan_the_left_have_become_unbearable.html

August 20 sunset

Happy Birthday, Stan. 78.

Beth Sibbring photo

    

Lakeside 2019, Week 9, the rest of the story

Before starting on Week 10, first I have to say good-bye to Week 9.  Wonderful closing performance of the Lakeside Symphony Orchestra on Friday, August 16 with Angelin Chang performing Piano Concerto No. 2 in G minor by Camille Saint-Saens.  Then after intermission, the LSO performed Symphony no. 1 in C minor by Brahms. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zhkuad0gLM4

Friday morning we had our last class on clutter (Organization 101).  One of the best stories was told by one in the audience who had collected elephants and needed to “let it go.”  He had 3,000 of them.  So he took a statue of 4—2 adults, an adolescent and a baby, all connected trunk to tail.  It weighed 1,000 pounds.  He decided to have it made into his grave marker and found a company that would do it!  In life the instructor suggested we all need to learn “Let it Go” whether that be material accumulation or personal grievances.

In the afternoon Gretchen Curtis reviewed Marilla of Green Gables which is a prequel to Anne of Green Gables.  I’d never read the Anne series, but Gretchen always does such a nice job, it didn’t really matter.  Sat with my neighbor Dorothy.

There were several friends from UALC at Lakeside during Week 9, and for the Wednesday night picnic we all gathered at Perry park (east end), along with our neighbors Scott and Carol, to share a huge table.  Shout out to Mary, Carol, Kelly and David, plus 2 of their friends from Westerville.  It was a fun evening of hot dogs, chips, potato salad, baked beans, watermelon and cookies.

I found the morning lectures somewhat disappointing for Week 9.  The speaker was Jack Barlow of Juniata College in Huntingdon, Pa.(Church of the Brethren college).  His conservative  vita looked good, Claremont Graduate School and Carleton College, but he definitely leaned left. He didn't call our Constitution "evolving" or "plastic," but that was the sense I had.  After the Tuesday lecture during the Q & A I raised that issue, and asked him if his students would feel free to disagree (virtually all institutions of high learning weed out conservatives so now there are very few among ranks of faculty, even in religious private institutions). He didn't deny being liberal, but assured the audience it didn't affect his students.  That's odd.  I picked up on it immediately, and if I were a student, I think I'd know how to frame my papers or answers to please a professor.  Anyway, after the lecture there were 5 or 6 people who came up to me an whispered they were so happy I spoke up.  The fact they had to whisper is indicative of the anti-Trump and anti-conservative bias we face here. Then as I headed home, a man caught up with me on Walnut and said he admired me for saying something.  He was not a "Lakesider" as we think of it, and was only in town two days, being a regular at Chautauqua, NY.  He and his wife talked to me for about 10 minutes, saying they were from West Virginia and had been on a very interesting trip including Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, etc., and decided to stop in Lakeside since they'd never heard of it before this trip. He too had lost long time friends and family for being a conservative and voting for Trump.

Monday night we thoroughly enjoyed the silent movie selection "The Kid Brother," (1927) with Harold Lloyd.  The organist was Clark Wilson, and he gave an intro and provided a wonderful background  for the movie.  Tuesday night was the program Bob had been looking forward to--a classical guitarist playing with the Symphony Orchestra--Colin Davin.
https://www.youtube.com/user/colindavinguitar

The opening of Week 9 (Saturday August 10) was Brian Regan, a comedian, and we'd never heard of him, but he's apparently popular on late night TV, because the place was packed with an overflow crowd standing in the back of Hoover.  Very clean, no rough language.  Nothing political.  A great show.

Steve Kings remark on rape and incest

Democrat media are trying to portray Steve King's comment on family trees as excusing rape and incest. Not at all. It's just a fact. History, not emotion, and Democrats hate that. He's simply saying those children are a part of the human race, part of us, regardless of the sins of their mothers and fathers. If you chopped off all those branches in your family tree, you'd have a stump. The current craze for DNA family searches has shown that many people do not have the fathers (usually) or family they imagined. Many family genealogies have "aunts" who were actually the mother, or an uncle, grandfather or cousin who were the father. But there it is--in the census and the insert in the Bible record. I used to be part of an e-mail genealogy group, and was amazed at the stories I read of old family secrets before the DNA tests. . . one I recall was a man impregnating his wife's younger sister and her being hidden, then married off and whisked out of state then languishing in a mental institution and the child given away. Democrats see that as immoral, but not aborting a person who might grow up to be a very ordinary citizen, or a very exceptional scientist is OK.

Civilian populations, particularly women, suffered greatly in wars going back centuries, and in Latin class we translated the "Rape of the Sabine Women." You can call it "abduction," but they helped populate Rome. American Indians did the same thing.  Muslims tried and almost succeeded in taking over Christian Europe, but over time turned whole populations Muslim. Africans were exported all over the world mostly to South America (only 6% came to North America) to be slaves. Or more recently in this century, when many of the young Nigerian Christian school girls were freed from Boko Haram--many were pregnant or carrying toddlers.

Just because we have Planned Parenthood clinics down the street or across town in a black or low income neighborhood, doesn't mean we're free of this. Democrats are the ones saying only certain lives matter--the ones in our party, our victims--not your party or your victims. They are the ones pushing eugenics and selling body parts. Democrats for decades have said most children conceived outside and some inside marriage are not worthy if they are inconvenient, a source of shame or disabled.

Look back a few years, decades or centuries, and you'll find this in your own family tree.

Elizabeth Warren and her wealth, as reported in Wall St. Journal

“Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) likes to talk a lot about an affordability crisis in higher education. Fortunately for Ms. Warren and her husband, there’s no crisis at all for the people who work there.

This week Forbes magazine estimates the net worth of various 2020 presidential candidates. While it’s no surprise that a number of former business and finance executives come to the campaign with sizable fortunes, what’s remarkable is how much wealth is now attainable for those in the allegedly non-profit sector of the U.S economy.

Dan Alexander, Chase Peterson-Withorn and Michela Tindera of Forbes estimate that Sen. Warren and her husband enjoy a net worth of $12 million. According to Forbes:

Teachers aren’t paid so poorly after all—at least not Harvard professors. Warren and her husband, Bruce Mann, both longtime instructors at the university, have built up a small fortune through years of teaching, writing and consulting. Their largest holdings include TIAA and CREF accounts—available to educators and nonprofit employees—worth more than $4 million. One of their best investments has been their home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, purchased in 1995 for $447,000. It’s now worth an estimated $3 million.

The couple purchased the home around the time that Ms. Warren stopped listing herself as a “minority” in the Association of American Law Schools directory. By that time she had won a contested tenure vote from the Harvard Law School faculty and as far as this column can tell she never again called herself “American Indian” in registering with a state bar association. In the years that followed Ms. Warren and her husband achieved healthy levels of wealth and income. According to Forbes, it’s possible that the Warren/Mann household is now worth even more than $12 million:

No one, not even the Democrats who spend the most time bashing Trump for his financial dealings, were willing to release full tax returns, file financial disclosures and answer all of Forbes’ questions about their personal finances. Elizabeth Warren, for example... wouldn’t give guidance on the true value of her husband’s investments, listed on her disclosures with a vague value of “over $1 million.” “

Denigrating one’s own race/culture pays well

White liberal academics can earn more in a day lecturing about their own “white privilege” than the median black household makes in three months, public records obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation and U.S. Census data show.

I noticed this "cottage industry" back in the 1990s. Little workshops, discussion groups, "brown bag lunches" and optional classes making the rounds of college campuses and Christian churches (some of those disguised as attacking poverty). Now it's a massive industry with its own non-profits, bureaucracies, tangled associations for local, state and nation, CEOs, college careers, and required classes. Follow the money. It's the logical and financial outcome of the black studies, women studies, and now gender studies curricula. There was no place/jobs for those graduates, so one was created.

https://themichiganstar.com/2019/07/31/lecturers-earn-6000-per-hour-pushing-white-privilege-to-students/

How contraception works

Understanding abortive contraception

From the beginning, hormonal birth control was based on deception. Hormonal birth control (the Pill, the Minipill, IUD, Norplant, the morning-after-pill, Depo-Provera, RU-486) has always had three possible functions.

The first, often most confused as the only function, is to prevent ovulation. If the first function fails, a possible second function is to thicken the mucus of the cervix so that the sperm cannot reach the egg. The third function, a function which all hormone based contraception has, is to thin the lining of the uterus so that the fertilized egg, the baby, is not able to implant in the uterus lining and is thus aborted (Alcorn 323-326, 332).

In early 1960, both Alan Guttmacher and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defined conception as the moment of fertilization, or when the egg meets the sperm. This caused a problem because abortion was illegal then, making their pill and the IUD illegal. So in order to make their birth control, or what they falsely called contraception, legal, they altered the definition of conception.

By 1970, both changed their position and claimed that conception begins with fertilization and ends with implantation in the uterus. In other words, it was not a baby until it was implanted into the uterus (Cavanaugh-O’Keefe, The Roots Chapter Eleven).

To this day, America is aborting millions of babies in the name of contraception.

https://www.bound4life.com/history-of-abortion

The Hunt is disgusting

Universal Studios developed a film showing "elites" killing "deplorables." Hmm. Not surprising that the people who think a 9 month human fetus isn't human enough to have rights might come up with an idea to kill people who support Trump. And the release has only been postponed. Remember, these are the people who "believe in science," but can find 40+ genders but no humanity in a baby. These are the people who go before congress and blather about morality and the 2nd amendment or pesticides on apples.

“We stand by our filmmakers and will continue to distribute films in partnership with bold and visionary creators, like those associated with this satirical social thriller, but we understand that now is not the right time to release this film.”

Bold and visionary to kill Trump supporters as though we don't have enough crazies on social media. When is the right time to kill fellow Americans for political reasons?

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2019/08/universal-studios-cancels-movie-the-hunt-on-killing-trump-supporters-after-president-trump-complains/

Intentions don't bring results

"Conservatives have been saying for years that our inner cities are laboratories where the far-left experiments with policies based on feelings rather than facts. These big-government experiments have ended in failure, harming the very people the far left says it wants to help." Kay Coles James

And I might add, the leftists have been so successful at getting government funding and donations for their "think tanks" and 501-c3 and c4s, they are working their same magic in our upper income suburbs, vacation spots, and churches. Except they don't use the ploy of wanting to help us--but we must help others (as they pass the hat). They fund the marches, the protests and the blocking by Big Tech. Conservatives are doing what they've always done--they go to work, mind their own business, sing in the choir--and then shazam--their town, church and clubs have been taken over by the virtue signalers who say black lives matter and we believe in science (code for climate change).

Lakeside 2019, a great Sunday

A lovely church service on the lakefront, with breakfast at the Patio Restaurant.  Two friends, Mary Shesky and Carol Anderson, from our Church joined us in the afternoon, and Bob was able to participate in the kids sailing program.  Two other friends, the Kullbergs, from church had their grandchildren with them, and they requested "Captain Bob" for their 20 minute ride. In the late afternoon we enjoyed a terrific music group at the Gazebo, a group called "Moment's Notice," who began performing while they were in the Air Force at Wright Patterson (Dayton).  In the evening we enjoyed cake and ice cream with our summer pastor (now retired), Rev. Irwin Jennings and his wife Janet.

I'm feeling a big sluggish this morning--had to sit on a bench and enjoy the sunrise during my morning walk.  Tough, huh?  Too many calories on Sunday.

Taking out the Kullberg grandchildren

Enjoying the concert with Mary and Carol

Concert in the Park, "Moment's Notice"

Bob and Rev. Jennings

The media and the manifesto

The El Paso shooter had many concerns, most aligned with liberal and environmental policies and things promoted by the media, both social and MSM. Pollution, automation, environmental degradation, job losses--and his solution was murder. The manifesto was not inspired by Trump, but by his own demented hate. It was NYT who promoted the lie about Trump. But it's too late--a lie circles the globe before the truth can get its pants on. Or something like that paraphrasing Mark Twain. Progressives are always out of the gate before the sluggish sleepy conservatives in the lie races.

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/has-anyone-actually-read-the-el-paso-manifesto#!

If you are familiar with Byron York, you know he’s not a Trump fan.

Older people and protein needs

Today I attended a program on protein at the wellness center at Lakeside and wasn’t satisfied with what I heard.  Most of her references were 15-20 years old. Her citations for RDA were for the “universe” of adults, rather than the elderly, and most attending were over 70.   Here’s my recommendation when googling health information.  Add the letters NCBI to your search.  Here is “elderly protein ncbi”.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4924200/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30036990

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24814383

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4882708/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30037048

Lakeside 2019, Week 8, Thursday offerings

There are so many virtuous and wholesome offerings today.  I could go to a financial seminar, which I suspect will lead us to leaving part of our estate to Lakeside.  Or I could go to an Arbor Day picnic and learn about Lakeside Environment Stewardship Society.   Then there is the gardening program—how to be productive and healthy with a master gardener from Ottawa County. There is a composting seminar.   Then there is a Wellness Seminar about why is protein important in our diets.  The Rhein Center where Bob teaches is having its 20th anniversary celebration this evening. One thing is for sure: we will attend the evening program at Hoover, Ciaran Sheehan, Irish born actor and singer.

Follow the money

The SECOND most important reason for Democrats to demand "Medicare for All" or "single payer" (government) insurance is that $300 Billion exemption employers get for insuring their workers with a quality product tailored to their needs. Democrats believe that exemption is a "loophole" and really belongs to them to pass around to their friends so they can stay in office. The government actually built this odd system after WWII when it imposed controls on wages, and employers added benefits to get the best employees.

https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/briefing-book/how-does-tax-exclusion-employer-sponsored-health-insurance-work

The first reason and biggest is control over your life choices and third is your health data which can be sold to the highest bidder.

Fourth is the victimhood mentality that has been pounded into minds of mush since the 1970s in public schools and higher education. It's a vote getter. It's more apparent in Gen-X and Millennials than Boomers, and almost unknown in my generation. In that mind set, it isn't fair that Whole Foods shoppers have better insurance than Walmart shoppers, even though the WF shopper is a "virtue signaler," better educated and well paid, and looks down on the schlubs who shop at Walmart, clean their homes and keep their toilets and automobiles running. In a "fair" world, everyone would only shop at Walmart and Whole Foods wouldn't exist. Choice wouldn't exist.

The Ferguson effect by Guest Blogger Jeffrey

“After the media manufactured lies about Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, the murder rate in US cities rose immediately. Within days. And it rose steadily for 2 years and is still above the pre-Ferguson level. It rose 2016 was 16.1% higher than 2012 which equates to 2400 extra murders just for 2016. Over the 5 years since Ferguson the total EXTRA murders is about 7,000-8,000. The cops stopped policing and murder soared. Liberal run urban areas, like Chicago, rose by over 70% while other areas were less affected. The rate has dropped again, but not all the way.

The media caused this. The spree shootings are awful but are absolutely dwarfed by the Ferguson Effect which was completely driven by media lies. Left wing policies in general create cities with high murder rates. The media wants to talk about white supremacists. Walk the halls of America's prisons. The murderers and other inmates are not Republicans.

Does the media ever talk about this huge spike in murder that they caused? Do they hold vigils? Do they hold the lies and liars accountable? Do they talk about their lies as a "first amendment loophole" like they talk about the "gun show loophole" (which is another media lie)? Will Gillette ever run a "Be Better" commercial scolding minorities for their murder rates which are many, many times higher than others?

Believe nothing the MSM says. Overall, the murder rate is half what it was at it's peak in the early 80s. Despite high profile crimes, the murder rate among liberal supported demographics is many, many times higher than other groups. "White Supremacist murder" is barely measurable - less than 0.2% of the murders. Spree shootings in general are less than 1%. It's the daily grind in Chicago, Baltimore, Detroit and other liberal run areas that account for more than 50%.”

Lakeside 2019, a quiet but eventful Monday

Last night's programs in Lakeside were wonderful. The growing popularity of "Porch Stories" shows people want to know their neighbors' stories. It's based on the very organic movement called The Moth. https://themoth.org/stories  Two Lakesiders told fascinating tales of events that changed their lives. In summer 2017 a group decided to try the Moth Story format here and arranged for a few porches.  However, as the interest in the group grew, it moved to the Women’s Club, and when it outgrew that, to the Chautauqua Hall in the Fountain Inn. 

Then we walked across the street to Hoover to hear songwriter/musician Marcus Hummon https://www.marcushummon.net/ tell a few tales and sing some of his songs--he's worked with Wynonna Judd (who was here a week ago), Rascal Flatts, Sara Evans and the Dixie Chicks, and he's seen it all. I really chuckled at his stories of "feeling old" as he tries to relate to some of the younger, rising stars.

This week is multi-faith, peace week (name changes from year to year), but studying peace and world religions has never excited me (except when I was college age), so instead we did a tour of the old 1912 school house on 7th (south end).  Until the late 1950’s Lakeside had its own school system, but like many other small towns Lakeside year round residents have been folded into a larger system and are now included in Danbury (Marblehead).  Lakeside’s property taxes are the golden goose for that system since it has so few children.  Their computers should be gold platted.

I thought the building resembled the old elementary school in Mt. Morris that my siblings and I attended in the 40s and 50s, but it’s actually newer. The Mt. Morris building served for over 100 years, and originally was both high school and elementary.  The Lakeside school apparently served 40+ years.  Architecture is similar. The soaring ceilings and enormous windows it could be wonderful when restored.

Trump, Warren and Gun Control

Maybe politicians should stop blaming opponents for the actions of third parties.  Wall St. Journal, August 5

“2020 Democrats lay blame on Trump’s rhetoric for shootings,” reports the Associated Press. Will some 2020 Democrats also end up blaming themselves as more evidence is collected about the shooters in El Paso and Dayton? Strange as it may seem for people not in the business of politics or punditry, it’s popular in these fields to blame ideological rivals for the violent acts of third parties. In remarks today at the White House, President Donald Trump appropriately responded to the violence with expressions of grief, condolences to the families of victims, and thanks for the brave, rapid and accurate response of police officers. Commenting specifically on the violence in Texas, Mr. Trump said: The shooter in El Paso posted a manifesto online consumed by racist hate. In one voice, our nation must condemn racism, bigotry, and white supremacy. These sinister ideologies must be defeated. Hate has no place in America. Hatred warps the mind, ravages the heart, and devours the soul. We have asked the FBI to identify all further resources they need to investigate and disrupt hate crimes and domestic terrorism — whatever they need. “Trump Condemns White Supremacy but Doesn’t Propose Gun Laws After Shootings,” responded a New York Times headline. The article by Michael Crowley and Maggie Haberman says that “Mr. Trump stopped well short of endorsing the kind of broad gun control measures that activists and Democrats have sought for years, instead falling back on longtime Republican remedies, such as stronger action to address mental illness, violence in the media and violent video games.” To say the very least, it would be premature in the hours after the shooting for anyone to assert that mental illness was a factor in the violence. It should also be noted that Mr. Trump was hardly rejecting other ideas to address gun violence. After describing his own priorities, he said: These are just a few of the areas of cooperation that we can pursue. I am open and ready to listen and discuss all ideas that will actually work and make a very big difference.”

Lakeside 2019, a great August week-end

The weather was fabulous August 3-5.  On Saturday and Sunday there was the sailing regatta, and our neighbor/friend Jack, who is 14, walked (or sailed) away with 3 prizes--Mouse Island, 2nd in lasers, 1st place in sunfish for youth.  Bob went out for doubles with Nancy Brucken, and they came in last, but always the optimist he said, "We were way ahead of those who didn't enter!"

Jack

 

Saturday was the Volunteer Recognition Picnic on the hotel lawn and that night the Symphony with VERB Ballets was stunning.  Bob like the event with flesh colored body suits better than I did.  From where we sat, they appeared to be nude.  The Carmen number was sensuous and flashy, just as you would expect.  How long before the gender police shut these down?

On Sunday morning the weather was perfect for worship on the east side of the pavilion.  After breakfast at the Patio with Nancy and Marilyn, I also went to the worship service in Hoover to hear the pastor of the week, Rev. Becca A. Stevens who manages a ministry in Nashville called Thistle Farms.  It's a refuge and retraining facility for victims of trafficking, violence and addiction.  Her husband provided the special music, and he will be the program on Monday evening.

The Sunday afternoon on the lawn of the hotel and the pavilion has been called the FIRST  Blues, Views and BBQ Festival.  Two different bands, Colin Dussault Blues Project of Cleveland and Sean Carney of Columbus, horse carriage rides, a delicious meal (we didn't do that part, but people said it was fabulous), all with Lake Erie, a wonderful wind and the Regatta.

 

 

 

This morning on my walk along the lakefront I spoke to a number of people, dog walkers, joggers, and workers.  Two men in particular struck me as "not" Lakesiders--they just looked stressed and not friendly.  They seemed to know each other.  I asked one of them about his group (he was wearing a name tag). 

Generosity and Stewardship Conference.