A Utah voter looks at Mitt Romney, Michael Smith guest blogger

My wife and I volunteered for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Winter Games and I got the chance to meet Mitt Romney. I thought he was a genuinely nice guy - but as I look back, I can see his rescue of the Games (and make no mistake, he was a big reason things got back on track) was more about raising his profile for his injection in to politics with his run for the governorship of Massachusetts.

Romney’s impeachment vote wasn’t courageous or virtuous. To do that is casting a vote when something is on the line, either personally or professionally. Neither was the case here. There was no possibility the Democrats were going to get 67 votes to convict and Romney knew he would be lauded for his “courage” by the Democrats and NeverTrumpers, so he took the opportunity to stick it to a political enemy and go down in the history books as the only Senator in history to vote for the conviction of a president from his own party.

Romney became the answer to a Jeopardy question but that’s about all.

Totally expected.

What bothers me more is the type of character one must be possessed by to run into the loving arms of a bunch of character assassins who tried, only eight years ago, to destroy him professionally, politically and personally.

Lest we forget, Romney was attacked for things he allegedly did in high school in 1965, something that the media implied may have led to a guy becoming homosexual and then committing suicide. He was accused by Obama surrogate Stephanie Cutter of literally giving cancer to Joe Soptic’s wife and then cutting off her insurance so she would die. Obama’s first spokesliar, Jay Carney, accused Romney of creating the Benghazi scandal. Romney’s Latter Day Saints religious beliefs were trashed by every major left wing news outlet in the country. The narrative about strapping Bo the family dog to the roof of their station wagon (for the kids out there, this was what we called a SUV back in the day) was the least of what was said.

I get forgiveness – but I don’t get the forgetfulness. Forgiveness does not erase the lengths the people praising Romney in 2020 went in 2012 to erase him as a threat to Obama, and the damage they did in the process.

Something tells me that Mr. Goodhair Nice Guy will say, do or be anything necessary to sit at the lunch table with the cool kids. He just wants to be friends.

Romney isn’t principled, he’s just another Rockefeller Republican who carpetbagged his way back to national politics. Romney is our Frankenstein, my fellow Utahns. We elected him.

Romney and creatures like him are why we got Trump. He creates the stark contrast between the Vichy movement in the GOP and those in the party willing to storm the beaches of Normandy to save Western Civilization.

For that, I owe him my thanks.

Annie’s gone, but we’ll see her again

She was 48 with a husband and children and a large family of parents, brothers and sister, and many nieces and nephews. Her cancer was very advanced when they found it, but she battled far longer than anyone expected.  I’m sad about Annie, I haven't seen a firm confirmation, but I think she died a few hours after her brother arrived yesterday and the whole family gathered in her hospice room. I'm crying, yes, but the sadness is more for us. Our little family. Perhaps that's selfish, but I know her mother would understand.  We’ve wept together. They've had a year more than they thought was possible, and I pray we have that, too. Ann's kids are teens, and sometimes teens need their moms more than babies do who eat sleep and poop as some say. It's such a confusing time in life.

I watched my dad after his mother's funeral (he was 70) and knew then there was never a good time to be an orphan. Not 7 and not 70.  But he was 83 when his sister (my aunt Marion) died and he sobbed and sobbed in the back of the room at the funeral home away from everyone. Big tough Marine. All my high school dates were afraid of him.  He said  because she was the oldest girl, she was the "little mother" of all the other 8. It still makes me cry to think of it; she was always there to welcome me home.

We know we're all in God's care, we're baptized, we've made a personal commitment, but the other side is still scary because we don't know what to expect. Like the baby in the womb--we suspect there's something else, we can hear music, talking, feel movement, we wiggle our toes and touch our nose--but it seems so unrealistic to think there's more than we know floating around with everything taken care of.

There is.

From Here to Eternity

Because it’s been Oscar week, From Here to Eternity movie with Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster was on.  About all I remembered was the memorable beach scene and that it was from the 50s.  I watched a few minutes last night and then turned to something else.

This morning a read a few Amazon book reviews for the 1951 book. Reviewers considered it pretty racy for 1951 but in this era, not so much.  Includes homosexuality and racism and bad language. This reviewer uses the name LEE.

“ I picked up this book knowing very little about James Jones. I'm not sure he'll be one of our enduring writers, and mostly he's known to the current generation, as he was to me, by his film adaptations. I recalled seeing "The Thin Red Line" when it came out. Actually I recalled little more than that, merely that it was a pensive, artsy Malick movie. As for "From Here to Eternity," I recalled the black and white image of the couple rolling in the surf. So I guess I assumed the novel was primarily some sort of love story. It is something much more than that, something unique and important for being a historical document of the peacetime army prior to World War II as much as it is a work of literature. Jones was an expert at creating enduring characters: Prewitt, a private from the Kentucky coal mines; Warden, a staff sergeant; Maggio, a private from New York City; and the women they love, Karen Holmes, the wife of Captain Milt Holmes; and Lorene, a prostitute working in Honolulu. Prewitt ("Prew") is the book's central character. He seems to be the best at whatever he tries, whether it's bugling, boxing, flirting, or soldiering. Despite all these talents, he also has a penchant for self-destruction. He quits the bugle corps and refuses to fight on the boxing squad, which would've made things much easier for him. Eventually he lands in the stockade, where he witnesses the slow disintegration of his friend Maggio (who has also become a prisoner). Jones uses Prew's downward arc, and his eventual love affair with Lorene, as the book's trajectory. Of course, we all know what's about to happen at Pearl Harbor, so the attack looms over everything else in "From Here to Eternity." The manner in which half-drunk, surprised soldiers responded to the attack is certainly worth a read. Apparently Jones' editors cut over a hundred pages from the manuscript due to offensive language, and these pages have since been restored, as they should be. To our contemporary sensibilities, these sections are relatively tame but cumulatively have the effect of showing what these soldiers were truly like. We hear all this stuff about "The Greatest Generation," and the men who fought in WWII are deified. Rightly they should be praised for their bravery and sacrifice, but it was refreshing to find, on reading "From Here to Eternity," that they were humans just like those of any other era. If you put a bunch of men together in a barracks, they are going to fixate on women, alcohol, gambling, etc. So I thought the R-rated material in Jones' book was essential. There was a lot of casual racism, which was hard to stomach, but once again I believe this was authentic to the period. The soldiers were even racist toward the Germans and Jews in their own ranks, and to his credit Jones does try to show the pernicious effects of this. You just have to wade through the racist sections, or through Jones' many attempts at pidgin English, which are of course offensive. My ultimate gripe with "From Here to Eternity" was that the narrative was too loose, the major plot points too few, to support a book of nearly 900 pages. I think the book could have been cut to 400 or 500 pages and been stronger for it. I suppose Jones wanted to turn in a doorstop that would be considered important in the manner of Mailer's "Naked and the Dead," but I think he could've cut a lot of internal monologue and mundane detail. Jones didn't quite know when to end chapters, for example. He also had some stylistic quirks, such as using abbreviations and contractions without punctuation. And so many adverbs! Sometimes the author would use multiple adverbs, and sometimes the same adverb, in a single sentence. That's what his editor should've been cutting. None of the characters emerge from the book unscathed, and they linger with the reader. This book, with its drinking sessions, serial adultery, and weekly trips to the whorehouse, will dispel any wholesome notions of the era of our grandparents. But it is a worthwhile novel for its fascinating, gritty take on the lead-up to combat.”

Monica asked if I wrote it and I responded

I didn't write the Forbes article, but the commentary is all me. My opinion. When it's someone else's opinion, I put it in quotes or link. Like Michael Smith or Michael Rectenwald. It's how I usually write. Get it down, then look up a source that confirms what I think is true. I even wrote that way when publishing was required for promotion and tenure. I'd start with what I knew (or on my office book shelf), then find the sources. Maybe everyone does that, but I did get to Associate Professor. That said, because I read a lot and am a news junky, my opinions are not necessarily original or earth shattering, but a mish-mash of information from multiple sources that has percolated for awhile.

"Data is not information, Information is not knowledge, knowledge is not understanding, and understanding is not wisdom." Clifford Stoll. I had to look it up, but I used to have it posted in my office. Librarians are inundated with data and information and it's good to be reminded that doesn't necessarily mean we understand or are wise.

Presidents who used Saul Alinsky’s style

Saul Alinsky is considered the "Father of Community Organizing;" he was the idol of both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. One of Obama's jobs out of law school was as "community organizer" in Chicago. And yet one of Alinsky’s rules (added to the 1972 edition of Rules for Radicals) is "Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it." has been mastered by Donald Trump who is a businessman and capitalist, not a politician/Marxist and definitely not a community organizer.

• Make America Great Again.
• Fake news.
• Pencil-neck.
• Low IQ.
• Lock her up.
• Build that wall.
• Twitter. Troll.

He doesn't let up. He rarely picks a fight, but he surely doesn't pass up a challenge. And Democrats who have been stealing our country for 40 years using Alinsky, weep and moan and get moralistic. Alinsky was said to help the poor fight against power and privilege, and now Trump is helping the poor and middle class come into the economy and fight against the power and privilege of the Democrats who are increasingly being eaten alive by the Socialist wing of their party Obama helped build.

Irony.

Hillary and Nancy’s talking points

Hillary Clinton (still making the rounds of the sympathetic talk shows), Nancy Pelosi and all the rest of the Democrats trying to save Obama's legacy continue to repeat erroneously that Trump is just continuing Obama's successes. That's wrong. The recession ended in June 2009 about 5 months after Obama took office. He had nothing to do with it. However, because of imposing more regulations, and taking our tax money to float his ARRA for his supporters, he did slow down the recovery, which toddled along for 7 years before gaining momentum. He did have us in war his whole 8 years, more than GW Bush.

People like me and Bill Gates--people who had investments--saw the recovery quickly because of the stock market. I'm not part of the 1%, but they did terrific under Obama. That didn't help the black teen or the former coal miner working at McDonald's or the retail clerk out of work because the consumer confidence didn't recover.

The Trump recovery is reaching down and pulling up the people who had given up, the people Obama gave up on and who were told things would never be any better than the slow gear on the old rattling truck; the people receiving the "dole" who thought they might never work again.

People are saving, investing and starting new businesses. They are hopeful under Trump--even those who don't like him. Obama never preached recovery, or pride, or happiness or joy.  Sharing public bathrooms with the opposite sex, allowing foreigners assistance for college that Americans can’t get, pushing abortions—how is that hope? Hope for Obama was a campaign slogan and nothing else.

And he was just smart enough to allow fracking because that saved his lunch, economically speaking. He never said America was the best, the greatest, because. . . he was honest and didn't believe it. I had to grit my teeth in November 2016 because Trump wasn't my choice, but I'm so glad he proved me wrong. And proved Obama wrong.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2013/02/12/president-obama-gets-it-fracking-is-awesome/#7325032d425d

479 Eldridge, 43203

When things get too crazy I just browse through the rental and sale prices for real estate on Marketplace. It's a super time waster, and mind relaxer since I'm not in the market to rent or buy.

Just looked at a nice little ca. 1920 2 story with 2 baths with 1038 sf for $875/month.. Yard is small, but dogs OK. Backyard storage unit. Don't see a garage, but there's a drive-way slab behind it. That's good for our weather. I see an AC unit outside that looks new. Wiring updated based on the conduit I see. Wonderful front porch, a bit of a climb from the sidewalk, but the steps look like new concrete. My guess is people enter from the ally in the back rather than park on the street. Has a back porch with extra security enclosure. I think I can see security lighting in the back which has a privacy fence.

First floor looks like hardwood floors, bedrooms carpeted. We used to own a house built in this era, and closets are always small. The photo doesn't show a lot of the kitchen, but the black appliances all match, so it's not copper tone or pink.  Arched doorways on first floor.  The neighborhood doesn't look the best based on school district--it's a clue when they don't list the high school district, but Columbus has some great private and Catholic schools. The owner has put some thought and effort into keeping it up--or maybe it's a recent flip. You'd need a car because the public transportation isn't the best (it rarely is in Columbus).

Oh, and there's a basement, but if you've ever lived in a home built in the early 20th c., you probably won't use it for anything except storage, although when I was a kid, they were great to play in. My brother and I used to roller skate in the basement of the home we had in Forreston.

Nancy Pelosi, Gretchen Whitmer and SOTU by guest blogger Michael Smith

“Pelosi thought she was disrespecting the President by ripping up the SOTU speech in a made for TV moment but what rational people saw was a total disrespect for any success in America that can't be claimed by a Democrat. Perhaps more than any SOTU during my lifetime, this one represented a stark choice between the failed policies of the Democrats and the successes of the President in the face of total resistance, character assassination and constant legal jeopardy for him and his family.

Pelosi showed just what a petty and vindictive party the Democrats have become.

Pelosi's theatrics were followed by a response given by the Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer - who seemed more smiling Disney automaton and Prozac infused Stepford wife than the executive of a state.

Whitmer complained about issues that essentially are local and state problems to fix. She gave examples of individuals doing what the state couldn't (or wouldn't) as examples of successes of the state when every one represented a failure of the state in executing its responsibility to its citizens, She lauded Democrat governors for "action" and providing "free" stuff without recognizing that every single one of those governors, especially Pritzker in Illinois, have introduced massive tax increases to pay for all their "free" stuff.

She was touted as a "rising star" of the Democrats but Whitmer revealed that both she and the Democrat agenda is as thin as a sheet of tissue paper.

The Democrats and their slavish media enablers, to a person, asked America to listen to them and not believe their own eyes about the advances America has made in the past three years. Chuck Schumer made a statement so filled with hate and divorced from reality that it puts his sanity in question.

I made the point that this is all out war from this point on and many said that it already was - but when only one side is firing, it's not war, it's just an attack. The last three years have been little more than a siege for the President. Trump has been biding his time, he will be acquitted today in America's first ever political impeachment, firing the last bullet in the Democrat arsenal.

Now we begin a march toward what the Democrats fear the most, Trump's re-election to a second term when he is free from worry of elections and is free to strike back - and he will.”

Bernie or Pete?

So far based on the bungled Iowa vote, the Democrats can choose between an elderly Socialist with a recent heart attack and an inexperienced, small town mayor whose only claim to fame is who he has sex with. I'm going to say they'll go with Mayor Pete given the Democrats tendency to want to be absolved of all the sins of their past so they can feel self-righteous while harassing Christians. The results will be the same: higher taxes, more regulations, less freedom, and less security.

Pelosi gone viral

“My administration is also defending religious liberty, and that includes the constitutional right to pray in public schools. In America, we do not punish prayer. We do not tear down crosses. We do not ban symbols of faith. We do not muzzle preachers and pastors. In America, we celebrate faith. We cherish religion. We lift our voices in prayer, and we raise our sights to the glory of God!” (President Trump, State of the Union, February 4, 2020)

And that made Nancy Pelosi so unhinged and so angry that her head exploded and she tore up the President's speech. Her tantrum and pettiness, representing her party which has been obsessed for 3 years with impeachment, has gone viral.

On PBS I heard lifelong Democrats say they were leaving the party over her behavior.

Immigration judges—we’re in good shape

We received 28 new immigration judges on Dec. 20, 2019, the highest level in our history--we now have 465 on the bench. I looked through the bios and see 12 of the 28 are female, and based on surnames the ethnicities are 5 Asian, 6 Hispanic and 2 Muslim. Although you never know who has changed a name because of marriage. Because of the lies from the left intended to divide and conquer, there is more diversity here than you would ever see reported in MSM. That said, their biographies are very impressive. Incredibly qualified people. It doesn't look like they were selected by color or sex. I particularly liked the variety their bachelor's degree college--I think we're in good shape.

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/executive-office-immigration-review-swear-28-immigration-judges-bringing-judge-corps-highest

Violent Crime statistics—no agreement, but not difficult to find

Violent crime. All the data show violent crime went down after the early 90s--by about half. (Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, 1994) There isn't any agreement on why. Was it Clinton's Crime Bill or the aging of baby boomer males, or the incarceration of so many young black men? In any case, Democrats own it--they controlled all 3 branches in 1994. https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/race/news/2019/05/10/469642/3-ways-1994-crime-bill-continues-hurt-communities-color/

The data also show it bumped up again during the last 2 years of the Obama administration. Again, no answer, but nowhere near the rate of the 80s and 90s. And it is going down again the last 3 years in all categories--murder, rape, aggravated assault, burglary, motor vehicle theft, larceny and arson. https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/preliminary-report/tables/table-3/table-3.xls

Read if for yourselves.

https://www.justice.gov/resources

Rush Limbaugh has advanced lung cancer

I missed the announcement, but heard it later on 98.9 FM. I went back and read his website, and it was quite moving.  He’ll have substitutes but hopes to continue.  Our recent experience with our son and his stage 4 glioblastoma tells us he’ll need all his strength and determination to work on the cancer, the treatment and the side effects, rather than his career.  Rush used to be a cigarette smoker, but quit a number of years ago. He often used the phrase, “My formerly nicotine stained fingers,” when ruffling though his papers.  I pray for a complete recovery. He faces a very rough time.

I did hear an amazing story yesterday on the Rush show while in the car when a child called in and told of a 7 week trip her family took to see all the locations mentioned in the history books he's written for children. Rush was deeply touched by her account, and I’m assuming it was before the announcement since it was shortly after 12 noon when he comes on in Columbus.

https://610wtvn.iheart.com/content/2020-02-03-rush-limbaugh-announces-he-has-advanced-lung-cancer2/

I’m just average—but that’s a lot

"The average internet user now spends 6 hours and 43 minutes online each day. That’s 3 minutes less than this time last year, but still equates to more than 100 days of connected time per internet user, per year. If we allow roughly 8 hours a day for sleep, that means we currently spend more than 40 percent of our waking lives using the internet. "

I'm average.

https://thenextweb.com/podium/2020/01/30/digital-trends-2020-every-single-stat-you-need-to-know-about-the-internet/

Stop treating women like it’s 1975

"You're Invited: Women in Technology Networking Night. Tech Hub’s fourth annual Women in Technology networking night is Feb. 27 at 6 p.m. at the TDAI Ideation Zone (300 Pomerene Hall). "

When I receive messages like this from Ohio State University I do wonder why after almost 50 years of pushing, nudging, cajoling and nagging, we still have to have "women only" events. Don't these people read the statistics about women and graduation rates, business start ups, life expectancy, special laws and set asides, etc.

Even President Trump got on the “women only” bandwagon at the urging of his daughter. In 2017 while the pink hat/hate ladies marched, he passed the "Promoting Women in Entrepreneurship Act," which encourages entrepreneurial programs that recruit and support women, and the "Next Space Pioneers and Innovators and Explorers Act," which directs NASA to encourage women and girls to study science, technology, engineering and mathematics and to pursue careers in aerospace.

Women first received more than half of the bachelor’s degrees awarded in the 1981-82 academic year—almost 40 years ago. Today they earn about 57% of bachelor’s degrees. The number of college-educated women in the adult population (ages 25 and older) surpassed the number of college-educated men in 2007--13 years ago.

Or maybe the diversity and inclusion people just have nothing else to do and have to keep building their empires. Or, maybe it's just another way to recruit women to vote for Democrats . . . keep telling them there's a gap, that they are oppressed, that white men especially are their enemy. Democrats hate happy citizens (usually conservatives)--have to find something awful.

How do you meet new people at 80?

I'm finding that the gym is an easier place to meet people than church. Today I met a retired Army General while riding the exercycle. He was reading a magazine I'd never seen, "Veritas : journal of army special operations history," so I asked him about it. He'd entered the service  as a private right out of high school and retired 37 years later as a General. The military paid for his bachelor’s and two masters degrees. He looked like he was about 30, but I did a little math and figured he had to be at least 55, but was probably older.

Last Friday on the cycle I met a lovely young woman who lives in my old neighborhood and school district, and loves the library, park and pool where I used to hang out. She grew up in San Antonio, lived in New Jersey, and then moved to Columbus with her husband to raise their daughter. And it was a magazine that got us talking that time too, "Experience Life" which is a very nice quality monthly serial published by the owner of Lifetime Fitness. She organizes food tours of Columbus. I didn't know such a job existed and I'm not sure yet what it is.

Twenty minutes on the cycle or treadmill can get you a lot more information than 2 minutes at church coffee time, or a few minutes being introduced during Sunday School.

Why does the Squad fight against ICE?

ICE is the biggest fighter against sex slavery and pedophilia in the world. ICE removed enough opioids coming into the country the past year to kill our entire population twice over. But the "Squad" (all Democrats and supporters of Bernie Sanders for President) wants ICE dismantled. Now why would that be? Why would these four women support such evil crimes against women and children and families? We can't allow our elected officials to bad mouth and disrespect law enforcement. They didn't write the laws; they enforce them.

"HSI [Homeland Security Investigations] arrested 5,750 criminals associated with human smuggling in FY19, a 41 percent increase from FY18..

This increase is attributed in part to the Southwest border initiative to combat fraudulent families and the use of Rapid DNA testing. HSI has dedicated more than 400 personnel to combating this issue and protecting children from being smuggled. HSI is also focused on identifying and stopping TCOs from generating false documents and supporting child smuggling through the use of fraudulent family units."

"HSI seized a record high 12,466 pounds of opioids, a 2,538 pounds increase from FY18.

HSI seized a record high 3,688 pounds of fentanyl, a 950 pound increase from FY18.

HSI made more than 1,900 fentanyl-related arrests, an increase of 175 percent from FY18.

HSI seized 145,117 pounds of methamphetamine in FY19."

https://www.ice.gov/features/HSI-2019

There was a time when this was a bipartisan issue. Now due to the hate Democrats have for the President, only Republicans are protecting women and children of 140 different nationalities, including the unborn.

Coronavirus news in my mail today

Defense Secretary Mark Esper on Saturday approved Department of Defense (DoD) housing at four military bases for 1,000 people who may have to be quarantined as a result of the coronavirus, following the appearance of the eighth confirmed case of the disease in the U.S. Assistant to the Secretary of Defense Jonathan Rath Hoffman made the announcement and said the program is designed for those returning from overseas. Military installations in Colorado, California and Texas were selected to house the evacuees and will help to assist the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) with the operation, if needed. They are the 168th Regiment Regional Training Institute in Fort Carson, Colo.; Travis Air Force Base in California; Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3048518/coronavirus-case-load-and-death-toll-china-rise-epicentre-hubei-province

“As many as 75,815 people in Wuhan may have been infected with the new coronavirus , according to a study by University of Hong Kong scientists.

The research, published in The Lancet on Saturday, is based on the assumption that each infected person could have passed the virus on to 2.68 others. The estimated total was as of Tuesday, it said.”

A group of Brazilians stuck in the Chinese city at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak has sent President Jair Bolsonaro a video aired Sunday pleading for help to return home.

Reading from a letter dated January 30 from the sprawling eastern city of Wuhan, they told him they were willing to be quarantined when they get back.

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3048639/coronavirus-brazilians-wuhan-ask-help-fleeing-wuhan-video

Wuhan has 11,000,000 people and most of us had never heard of it before this virus made it famous.  I looked through trip advisor, and it looks like a gorgeous place with interesting sites.  Who will go there now and how many in the tourism business are out of work?

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attractions-g297437-Activities-Wuhan_Hubei.html

Groundhog day, 2020

Buckeye Chuck and Punxsutawney Phil are both predicting an early spring, but it's sunny in Columbus, and if they were here they would see their shadows. According to the tradition, if Phil sees his shadow and returns to his hole, he has predicted six more weeks of winter-like weather. If Phil does not see his shadow, he has predicted an "early spring." The date of Phil's prognostication is known as Groundhog Day in the United States and Canada, and has been celebrated since 1887. I don't know how long Chuck has been doing it.

My library colleague from the 1980s never mentions one of her early library positions which was in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, so maybe it just doesn't seem too glamourous.  But I did check the internet and see she is still researching and writing, and here's a recent story about her mother who was a Code Girl in WWII. https://blogs.loc.gov/folklife/2019/03/herstory-crowded-wartime-washington-and-the-code-girls-reunion/

Twenty years plus

Earlier in January it occurred to me that I should write something on the 20th anniversary of my mother's death, but the 24th came and went and it wasn't until today when I was looking at my bunny coffee cup which was hers, that I recalled it had been twenty years. She died on the 24th of January 2000, her mother on the 25th of 1963 and her father on the 26th of 1968. The bunny cup has a mommy rabbit and eight little brown and white bunnies, and is my favorite cup.  I use it almost every morning.

Today when photos are a dime a dozen and people just whip out a phone to capture the moment, it seems odd that I don't have a photo of the three of them together, except in larger group pictures, like this one from 1949 in Wilmington, Ohio. Grandpa is between his older sister, Alice (b. 1870), and grandma, and then my mom.  My brother Stan and I are squinting in the sun. I'm wearing my most favorite dress of all time--it's yellow, but only I can tell when I look at the photo.  We were on our way to the Church of the Brethren Annual Conference in Ocean Grove, New Jersey, but stopping along the way to visit and spend the night with relatives. As I found out years later from talking with Mother, this was not a happy trip--my grandparents were trying to find out information on the death of their son who died in 1944 in WWII. My mother who was doing the driving was suffering debilitating headaches and my brother got sick from the heat.  But, being only 10, it all went over my head and I remember the highpoints with relatives, the tourist spots and the ocean.

 Uncle Edwin Jay, who apparently took the photo, was president of Wilmington College from 1915-1927.  (I looked through the website for Wilmington College and found this about his 12 years there: "The so-called "period of expansion" occurred under the leadership of President J. Edwin Jay, under whose tenure Lebanon Normal University merged with Wilmington College and teacher training was introduced into the curriculum.")  I think he probably died in 1964 and may have been 95, but I have no idea what he did between 1927 and 1964. He and I corresponded, and we never discussed his life. If his writings and letters are archived where he taught, there will be a group from a teen-ager in Illinois.