How far can we fall?

In the 19th century women led the way for the big three--abolition and then civil rights and education for former slaves, temperance with its strong social impact on families, and woman's suffrage which included custody of their own children. And now? In the 21st century women are demanding the right to kill their own children, more rights for criminals who are killing black citizens, and the right to gender transition so they don't have to be such silly, ignorant women.

Abolition, Women's Rights, and Temperance Movements - Women's Rights National Historical Park (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)

Women and Abolitionism | The Abolition Seminar

Abolitionist Movement — History of U.S. Woman's Suffrage (crusadeforthevote.org)

History of the Movement | Westerville Public Library (westervillelibrary.org)

A note from Christmas 2000--on abortion

 Came across a note I'd written to a friend in December 2000. We had been in a small group together through our church and had attended her wedding.  She and her husband had moved on later and we'd lost touch for awhile. (Now it's been 20 years and I have no idea where she is.) Sounds like today's case before the Supreme Court. This is the only part I'll share:

"This week I wrote the year-end checks to cover our tithe--we figured we were about $2500 short because we never know until the end of the year what our income is. So I made contributions to a Library in honor of Mom and Dad, Billy Graham, Lakeside, Cat Welfare (enclosed a photo of Lotza Spotza), Lutheran Bible Translators in support of the Toenjes family, Bible Literature International, and Pregnancy Decision Health Centers (anti-abortion). Keeping children alive and translating the Bible into new languages are the two most important of the group, as far as I'm concerned. Technically, Cat Welfare isn't a church tithe, but I think taking care of stray animals and not killing them is something Jesus would do, just as he wouldn't kill babies who arrive at inconvenient times.

I believe abortion is the defining issue of our time as was slavery 150 years ago. Each era has its problems it needs to solve. The difference is 150 years ago Christians (particularly women) were in the forefront trying to reverse a terrible crime against humanity, now women are the great perpetrators. The church just falls in line and tries to pretend it will go away if no one speaks out. The ethical standards of Christians seem to be no different than the rest of society."

A heart warming story--if it's not real, just don't tell me

I have no idea who wrote this and usually I can track these viral "feel goods," but this one is illusive. It appears on many blogs, bulletin boards, company news sources, and Facebook posts.

“In 1979, I was managing a Wendy's in Port Richey, Florida. Unlike today, staffing was never a real problem, but I was searching for a someone to work three hours a day only at lunch. I went thru all my applications and most were all looking for full time or at least 20 hours per week. I found one however, buried at the bottom of a four-inch stack that was only looking for lunch part-time. His name was Nicky. Hadn't met him but thought I would give him a call and see if he could stop by for an interview. When I called, he wasn't in but his mom said she would make sure he would be there.

At the accorded time, Nicky walked in. One of those moments when my heart went in my throat. Nicky had Downs Syndrome. His physical appearance was a giveaway and his speech only reinforced the obvious. I was young and sheltered. Had never interacted on a professional level with a developmentally disabled person. I had no clue what to do, so I went ahead and interviewed him.
He was a wonderful young man. Great outlook.

Task focused. Excited to be alive. For only reasons God knew at that time, I hired him. 3 hours a day, 3 days a week to run a grill. I let the staff know what to expect. Predictably, the crew made sure I got the message, "no one wants to work with a retard."

To this day I find that word offensive. We had a crew meeting, cleared the air, and prepared for his arrival. Nicky showed up for work right on time.

He was so excited to be working. He stood at the time clock literally shaking with anticipation. He clocked in and started his training. Couldn't multi task, but was a machine on the grill. Now for the fascinating part.....

Back in that day, there were no computer screens to work from. Every order was called by the cashier.
It required a great deal of concentration on the part of all production staff to get the order right.
While Nicky was training during his first shift, the sandwich maker next to him asked the grillman/ trainer what was on the next sandwich. Nicky replied,"single, no pickle no onion." A few minutes later it happened again. It was then that we discovered Nicky had a hidden and valuable skill.

He memorized everything he heard!  Photographic hearing! WHAT A SKILL SET. It took 3 days and every sandwich maker requested to work with Nicky. He immediately was accepted by the entire crew. After his shift he would join the rest of his crew family, drinking Coke like it was water! It was then that they discovered another Rainman-esque trait. Nicky was a walking/talking perpetual calendar! With a perpetual calendar as a reference, they would sit for hours asking him what day of the week was December 22, 1847. He never missed.

This uncanny trait mesmerized the crew.

His mom would come in at 2 to pick him up.

More times than not, the crew would be back there with him hamming it up. As I went to get him from the back, his mom said something I will never forget. "Let him stay there as long as he wants.
He has never been accepted anywhere like he has been here." I excused myself and dried my eyes, humbled and broken-hearted at the lesson I just learned.

Nicky had a profound impact on that store. His presence changed a lot of people. Today I believe with every fiber of my body that Nicky's hiring was no accident. God's Timing and Will is Perfect.

This Christmas, I hope we all understand what we are celebrating. We are all like Nicky. We each have our shortcomings. We each have our strong points. But we are all of value. God made us that way and God doesn't make mistakes. Nicky certainly wasn't a mistake. He was a valuable gift that I am forever grateful for. We are celebrating the birth of the ONE that leveled the playing field for all of us. God doesn't care if you are rich or poor, republican or democrat or black or white. He doesn't care if your chromosome structure is perfect. He doesn't care what level of education you have attained.

He cares about your heart. He wants us all to love and appreciate the gift HE gave us on Christmas, His son, the Savior, our salvation. His Son that was born to die for our sins. To pay our debt. To provide us a path for eternity. So this Christmas, let’s check our hearts. There is a little bit of Nicky in all of us and I suspect there is a Nicky somewhere in your life that is looking for the chance to be embraced.

Thank God for that. Thank God for His perfect gift, Christ Jesus.”

New sources of information on the Internet

When I find a new website for information, I browse a few articles for bias (verbs and adjectives), then if that's acceptable and they haven't insulted my intelligence, race, or religion, I look at the "about us" section. Usually, the highest ranking editorial staff are youngish females, usually white. But if I work my way through ownership to the boards and corporate details, it's about 80% white male. Then trapped in the department of DIE, diversity inclusion and equity, there is a minority staffer, usually black, and usually female.

 
Today I was using Balance.com to read about debt and deficit in government budgets; I'd used it before--good articles. Then scanned a bit and found out it is owned by Dotdash.com. Did my usual personnel search. Yup.

Then I did a Wikipedia search on Dotdash and see it used to be About.com and at one time acquired the Chinese company Abang, with a similar make-up and somewhere in the mix was the New York Times (2005). Then I really got into the weeds with Barry Diller who whose IAC (bought Dotdash 2017) recently acquired Meredith (120 year old media company from Des Moines--aka Better Homes and Gardens) 2 months ago. https://www.iac.com/press-releases/iacs-dotdash-announces-close-of-meredith-transaction? Whew. Diller created Fox Broadcasting and owns 150 media brands. He started his career in the mailroom.

My note to IAC investor comment: "I don’t know if I have any IAC investments, but now that I’ve examined your information, I do see you own something I hate—Daily Beast. It’s evil, Leftist, and angry. Now you’ve acquired Meredith. What a stretch. An icon in the history of American journal publishing dating the devil. Sigh."

Resisting the jab, the mandate, the government

Why half of Americans may be rejecting the Biden mandates--and it's not necessarily just the virus jab.

1. Distrust of government agencies. The FBI and other agencies spied on Trump in 2016. They knew Clinton campaign had created the false documents.
2. Congress colluded. Especially Adam Schiff who kept insisting he had the evidence.
3. The Democrats paid for all that mess.
4. James Comey, a so-called Republican, knew about the scam.
5. Media colluded to flood every news report with Trump's guilt and the lies the Democrats and FBI created. Gaslighting around the clock.
6. Key Republicans fell in line or kept quiet about the collusion and crimes of government agencies working with Democrats.
7. Fake impeachment about Ukraine.
8. Media cover-up of Hunter Biden's influence in Ukraine and China.
9. Big Tech involvement in silencing Trump and his supporters; Big Pharma profits.
10. The imprisonment and gulag treatment of the J6 protestors while ignoring the Antifa and BLM led riots by both Congressional leadership and media.
OK. So now we have mostly the same players. Just substitute CDC for FBI. Then media and Big Tech supporting and covering for Biden instead of back stabbing Trump. Then substitute "passports" and more encroachment on freedoms for the J6 unfortunates. Finally, continue to pay a government bureaucrat who thinks he's the science god, and you've got

                                        MANDATE RESISTANCE. 

No trust in anything this government/ administration recommends, demands or reports as "science" or "safe."

Melissa uses Paris Hilton's recipe for brinning a turkey

This year, I did a dry brine for the first time. Usually, I soak the bird in salt water and some other things. Instead, I pulled a recipe from Paris Hilton's cooking show. Yes, she has one. No, she cannot cook. That's the premise. A rich girl who has always been fed learns to cook. Anyway, I'm sharing the recipe with you here because it turned out so great that it's going to be my new go-to:

Salt 1/2 Cup

Sugar 1/2 Cup

Ground black pepper 1/4 Cup

Garlic Powder 1/4 Cup

Dried Thyme 1/4 Cup

Dried Oregano 1/4 Cup

Dried Sage 2 TBSP

Dried Rosemary 2 TBSP

Paprika 2 TBSP

Rub this all over, in and out, place in fridge uncovered, overnight.

Next day, take a soft stick of butter and grease down the skin, under the skin.

Cut 1 apple, 1 lemon, 1/2 onion and put in the bird.

Pour 1 1/2 cup of white wine (I used red) into the bottom of the pan.

NOTE: The thing that scared me is that it seemed like all the fluid came out of the turkey came out after the brine and that I'd end up with Chevy Chase's turkey from Christmas Vacation. I went with it, though. Turkey turned out fine and flavorful. Loved it and it produced a spicy gravy that was also excellent. Highly recommend!

Critical Race Theory where you don't expect it--the county extension agent

CRT by any other name is still CRT. And it's in places I didn't expect. This blog essay is about County Extension (your tax dollars flowing from Washington DC to Ohio State to Extension). This is Marion County, Ohio, population ca. 65,000. 90% white, 6% black.

"Since 2017, Marion County has redefined what it means to be a Family and Consumer Sciences Educator. Traditionally focused on building healthy people, residents have called on FCS in Marion County to respond to the conditions that underpin health inequity: racism, ableism, sexism and other forms of injustice that presently and historically exist in the community. The most significant part of my job is to redistribute material and financial resources from the university to support community-led initiatives and programs. For example, most recently I mobilized activists, community residents, artists and community-accountable scholars to participate in collaborative and emergent dreaming, writing and drafting of a new program, Marion Dreamkeepers. The program and research study elevated youth of color as leaders for racial justice and exemplified community responsive, collaborative, creative work in Extension. I (Whitney Gherman) offered a critical and reflexive understanding of theory and young people led the way of implementation, providing insight to their lived realities and perceptions as well as new ways of facilitating Extension programs."

 There's more of this DIE--diversity, inclusion and equity at the OSU extension website, but let's look a bit further.

This grant and proposal is based on a program and theory of Gloria Ladson Billings. I looked her up and . . . "Gloria Ladson-Billings is a Jewish-American teacher and pedagogical theorist who is known for her teachings of diversity and critical race theory."

 
There are 15x more poor whites in that county than poor blacks. I wonder just how inclusive Ms. Whitney Gherman is or if she only sees skin color. Before Whitney worked as an anti-racist and intersectionality specialist (she uses the pronouns she/her/hers), she worked for University of Michigan. In her OSU bio she is identified as a critical race theorist.

What concerns me is, "health equity" is the new buzz word. Public health and behavioral health are related. Smoking, drug use, obesity, lack of exercise and sexual behavior are the big issues in health care costs. They are also related to poverty, and most poor US citizens are white. Who is ever reminded of that when told of "racial and ethnic health disparities?" These problems show up as early as age 2 according to CDC. But with government bureaucrats and racialists chasing racism, where is the concern for the economically disadvantaged white rural or city child? Also, due to the epidemic of drugs (aggravated by our border policies), I believe that is now a bigger problem for whites than blacks. If Extension is looking for problems to solve, perhaps they could do better than telling blacks they are victims, and whites they are oppressors. "Mobilizing activists," unless they are snatching alcohol and cigs out of the hands of obese children, really won't do much for Marion, Ohio, or your city.

All universities engage in research and teaching, and our more than 100 land-grant colleges and universities have a third mission — extension. It was created by the USDA in 1914.

There are thousands, maybe millions, of Whitneys in our education system from kindergarten up. What's in your county system?

Saying good-bye to my old address book

I've updated my Christmas address book. The paper one, bought in 2008. I had so many cross outs and referrals and scribbles, it was unreadable. I know I bought a few extra at the time because they were only .99 cents, but I can't find the others. Some of the younger folk are just e-mails--not even a phone number. My first and second degree living relatives are much harder to track than my 6th cousin twice removed in my genealogy--those folks from the 1800s stay put!

First, I ran a copy of my 2021 x-mas labels for our Christmas cards. Then I ran a 2nd copy for 2022 because I'm changing computers in a few days and doubt this very old database program will work on Windows 11. Then I ran a 3rd copy for a new address book. I put those in a new notebook, neon pink so I can see it. However, many of the old scribbles were important, like phone numbers and e-mails, so then I hand wrote those in. At one point, spread out on the dining room table, I had my old address book, our condo address list, our Lakeside directory, and the old UALC directory (which is now on line and very inconvenient).  Then I went through the old one and counted those I've crossed off due to death. 65. Then I was sad.

No one in the Q's or X's on my list, but the S's are bursting their seams. Should have allowed more pages for S--is your address book like that?

Columbus' 180th murder, 2021

 One of the news gathering services when I opened my computer this morning told of a 30 year old black man shot during a fight, taken to Grant hospital where he died.  A woman, Judith Tatum, has been arrested and bond is set at $1 million. From his photo, he's been in trouble before and has a rap sheet (I'm guessing).  According to an earlier TV report on crime in the city (big increase in the last year), 2/3 of the murders are black on black crimes, and many go unsolved because the community doesn't "snitch" and distrusts the police.  According to data demographic sources, 54% of Columbus is white, and 29% black. Yet the media would be exploding at this moment if the young man had been killed by police.  Black on black crime is ignored by media. It just doesn't sell.  And a female killing a male in a fight should get it buried even deeper.   Consequently, in many cases, the perps are still on the street and the crime continues. I don't know if Columbus is plagued by the loosey-goosey white DA's like they have in Wisconsin when a racist career criminal who had posted his hate on social media was left to roam the streets and killed 6 and injured 60 during the Christmas parade.  That seems to be the liberal obsession these days--to turn as many blacks to crime and failure as possible.  What worse form of racism is there?

Uncovering 2020 voter fraud

Meet the Technology That's Uncovering 2020's Voter Fraud | American Thinker

Phantom voters, the definition, is morphing from fake voters hiding in UPS boxes to people who advanced computer models predict will not vote.

Don't get me wrong — there are thousands of phantom voters living in churches, R.V. parks, cemeteries, homeless shelters, hotels, and virtual mailboxes. It's just that there are as many, perhaps more, who live active, healthy, honest lives on voter rolls. They just don't know they voted.

You've heard the stories, denied by the mainstream press and almost every secretary of state: there is no significant voter fraud. Why not say that? There is no way you can check.

Now there is.

After the 2020 election results stopped in the middle of night and vote trajectories magically changed when they fired up again, thousands of people, just like you, didn't buy it. They formed armies of canvassers in 35 or more states. They did something that has not been done at scale in the history of the country: they started checking voter rolls.

They did more. They filed Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests at unprecedented levels. Secretary of state offices, once a murky sinecure, had to answer real questions about what was going on.

 
Here's what popped out.

Leftists are different from you and me. Unlike us, they care that every vote is cast, and if you do not cast your vote, they will do it for you. And they did. At scale.

In one midwestern state, voter rolls costing tens of thousands of dollars were bought by a billionaire leftist every month for over a year. Why would someone buy a list that doesn't change much?
Voter lists show people who move. They show people who never or seldom vote.

 
The white hat canvassing team built a query for one state: "voters who voted in 2020 who never voted before." Guess what! 265,000.

Witness statements are being gathered, lots of them, that in the largest city, election officials were trading cell calls about how many votes were needed, and someone was then providing the phantoms to meet the quota.

They knew the names of the phantoms — they had direct access to who voted, who didn't, and who was likely to never show up.

These canvassing organizations are the Minutemen of this generation. They come from every background, organize with no central leadership. They blindly figured out how phantom voting was happening, and they are forcing states to audit their voter rolls.

They aren't blind anymore. They are organized. They have resources and technology, and things are about to change in a big way for phantoms.

Read more  American Thinker  Meet the Technology That's Uncovering 2020's Voter Fraud - American Thinker

The failures of fighting this virus

The lockdowns failed, the masks failed, the social distancing failed--the mandates have caused ruined careers, open rebellion among unions and trades, a lost 2 years of schooling for the most vulnerable, terrible supply chain problems, and we have more Covid deaths than in 2020 when we had no vaccine. Treatments with inexpensive and safe products have been ridiculed and kept off the market, Big Pharma and Big Tech are acting like departments of government, censoring us. Dr. Fauci is still acting like the mini-god of SCIENCE and Biden walks around mumbling conflicting advice and demands. What a way to ruin a country. Almost like it has central planning like Russia or Venezuela or Cuba.

Home safe after my accident on Black Friday

We had a lovely Thanksgiving.  Beautiful church service and then dinner at the home of our daughter and son-in-law.  We spent some time trying to load our Christmas card, but gave up on that.  On Friday, "Black Friday," I had my hair cut and styled, and Bob and Mark headed for Lakeside for a final leaf raking.  Bob needed more lights for our deck, so on my way home I decided I'd go to Lowe's which is across the river.  As I turned on to the bridge I hit some black ice (it was snowing) and Bob's little SUV began to spin, and I swung around into the oncoming traffic (wasn't hit) and slammed into the concrete wall on the north side. I knew the river was far below and was afraid the car might be thrown over the rail into the cold water. The air bags went off, as did the front bumper.  I could feel pain in both knees, which I first thought might be broken (I was wrong).  A woman pulled her car over, called the squad which had a station about a mile west, and then came to my door to see if I was OK.  I don't carry a cell-phone, so she retrieved my purse and I gave her my daughter's number.  She told her she had called the squad and would stay with me.  The squad at first told me they'd take me to an urgent care, but when they saw my arm (large hematoma) then changed it to Riverside Hospital, very close to our home.  The ER checked me over pretty carefully, I had a nice nurse named Brian who had interesting stories to tell and loved his job as a nurse.  I had a full body scan and nothing was broken.  Visiting in ER is more generous than the regular hospital, so we soon had the whole family there.  My daughter had called Bob and Mark who were about to Bucyrus, and they turned around and drove to the hospital. By 10:30 p.m. there was finally an available room and I was transferred and made as comfortable as my bruises would allow.  I was finally home about 3:30 on Saturday. On Monday Bob and Mark went to the impound lot to retrieve items from the car.  It was sad--Bob loved that car--it was 21 years old and only had 115,000 miles, and never had any mechanical troubles--got good mileage, too.  I'm safe, sore and bruised, but nothing broken. The scans did show some structural problems I didn't know about, which I'll check out with my doctor.

Update with photos:

  

Friday

  

 

Wednesday

Biden says Delta is "broken"

What a joke this man is. More people have died of Covid under Biden than under Trump. And he had the head start with the vaccines and months of research. More people have had Covid in the highest mitigation areas than in the mask free areas. HCQ and IVM have saved many lives despite Fauci's trashing them. Now they are hyping Omicron. The Left wing media are in full swing again, pumping up the sales from Big Pharma.

Catholics off the rails--the Pew Study and USCCB

John 6:66 "From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him."  

 Bishop Robert Barron addresses the problem that 70% of Roman Catholics believe the real presence is symbolic.  This problem was also addressed at the recent gathering (November 15-18) of U.S. Bishops. Many had hoped there would be condemnation or at least mention of Catholic politicians who push abortion, support same sex marriage and gender confusion. That didn't happen. This speech is from 2020, and lays the ground work.

https://youtu.be/UzCPu_lEhe8

One-third of U.S. Catholics believe in transubstantiation | Pew Research Center

"BALTIMORE — The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops voted overwhelmingly to approve a teaching document on the Eucharist Wednesday that caused a great deal of controversy in its June meeting due to concerns that its section on worthiness to receive Communion would be perceived as aimed at prominent pro-abortion Catholic politicians like U.S. President Joe Biden.

The document did include a section on worthiness to receive Communion, reminding the faithful that “if a Catholic in his or her personal or professional life were knowingly and obstinately to reject the defined doctrines of the Church, or knowingly and obstinately to repudiate her definitive teaching on moral issues” they “should refrain” from Communion, but contained no references to specific politicians. Compared to the three hours of heated debate its drafting spurred, there was only about a half-hour of comments from bishops before its passage by a vote of 222-8, with three abstentions."

It seems the document leaves it up to the local bishop, so Biden and Pelosi will continue to thumb their noses at the church and Jesus.

US Bishops Try to Keep Focus on Eucharist, Not Politicians, in New Document| National Catholic Register (ncregister.com)

The document "The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church" was developed by the Committee on Doctrine of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). It was approved by the full body of the USCCB at its November 2021 General Meeting and has been authorized for publication by the undersigned.

The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church | USCCB

The Mystery of the Eucharist in the Life of the Church.pdf (usccb.org)

Should Biden get Communion given his abortion views? Catholics split by party | Pew Research Center

THOMAS AQUINAS - SACRAMENT OF THE EUCHARIST - Quotes (crossroadsinitiative.com)

Spinal Health for Thanksgiving

Dr. Ken Hansraj, spinal surgeon 

1. Maintain good posture the entire time. Proper digestion only occurs when we are sitting up straight. Good posture is defined as ears aligned with the shoulders and the “angel wings,” or the shoulder blades, retracted. In proper alignment, spinal stress is diminished. Recent studies show that gastric emptying is significantly delayed in the supine position when compared to a sitting position.

Furthermore, “If you’re slouched over your plate, food cannot travel to the stomach in time for your body to tell your brain it’s getting full; it can take twice as long; thus, causing you to eat twice as much leaving you full and tired.

2. A brief family meditation for peace and happiness. Coming back together as a family means leaving many personal worlds of happiness, sadness and development behind. Take time out to honor and recognize this transition. Sit quietly together, hold hands and briefly recognize the personal worlds. Then state an intention to have a great family get together.

3. Deep Belly Breathing: Deep belly breathing helps with digestion of food by enhancing motion of the belly and its food contents. Deeper yet though it serves to improve the motion of the spinal segments, spinal cord and nerve roots, and it increases the cerebrospinal fluid motion and distribution. Deep breathing might also decrease the swelling of the deranged spine joints and the nerve roots causing less pain. Deep belly breathing in itself will help you to feel better.

Dr. Ken Says” A deep breath of clean fresh air is as soothing to the body as a large glass of cool water on a hot summer day” so place your hands on your belly and breathe deeply to feel your belly move. Repeat this all day.

4. Small bites and small breaks will allow you to enjoy a steady-paced meal without needing to slow down or stop eating entirely. Take small bites of the highly caloric sides like mashed potatoes, stuffing and cheesy casseroles, but load up your fork with Turkey and string beans. Take a 5-minute break between each helping to allow your stomach to catch up with your eyes.

5. Chat, “Take time out to engage in and enjoy the conversations around the table. When you are actively engaged and fully involved in a fulfilling conversation then you spend less time eating and more time feeling externally better. The craving for food and internal satisfaction diminishes” Ask each person how they are doing. Find out about their little inner workings in life. Your family will manifest happiness, and then you become happier leaving you with less of a desire to binge.

6. Savor your desserts. Use a demitasse spoon to eat. This spoon is diminutive, smaller than a teaspoon. Allow the dessert to sit on your tongue for a minute. Allow the two to 8 thousand taste buds on your tongue to delight in the vanilla or chocolate, cinnamon, and other contents. Feel the texture and temperature of each bite. Train your taste buds to enjoy and delight in the taste and textures. Otherwise you become involved in volume consumption. This is where you eat so much to feel that your belly is full.

Dr. Ken says, “Evening out the trajectory of a meal that can last 3-4 hours takes some purposeful technique. On average, it takes between 12-14 minutes for our bodies to recognize we’re full. Keeping this in mind, begin your dinner with small thoughtful fork-full and pay attention to your body’s signals. It will tell you when to take a break, so you can save room for dessert!

7. Mini Chair Exercises (bends and twists) help you keep your blood pumping and metabolism working. Bending to the right or left (as if you were picking up a fork you dropped) and sideways twists (like you’re greeting a guest behind you) are two small, but effective ways to help your body digest.

Dr. Ken says, “Small range-of-motion exercises help ensure your body’s digestive functions keep up with your food in-take and your blood pressure remains stable. This will help ward off headaches, cramps and gas at the dinner table.

8. After Dinner Walk. Schedule a family walk after dinner. Walking helps digestion of food and builds a togetherness of the tribe. It is a great family routine to build. People start to feel better because the spine joints and the spinal nerves start moving with walking. One of the fastest ways to develop back or neck pain is to remain stagnant. When the spine joints and the spinal nerves do not move, then they can cause pain.

Dr. Ken Hansraj is a New York based spinal surgeon who has dedicated more than 20 years of his life to helping people in every country improve their spinal health. Dr. Ken’s LIFT: Meditations to Boost Back Health releases January 1, 2022 wherever songs are sold.

How far is it to Bethlehem?

Start the day with a poem. "G.K. Chesterton’s beloved wife, Frances, had a special devotion to the Nativity. It was Frances, not Gilbert, who wrote the original poems for the Christmas cards they would send to their friends each year. Her lovely poem, “How Far Is It to Bethlehem?” has been set to music by several different composers."

How far is it to Bethlehem? Not very far.
Shall we find the stable room lit by a star?
Can we see the little child, is he within?
If we lift the wooden latch may we go in?
May we stroke the creatures there, ox, ass, or sheep?
May we peep like them and see Jesus asleep?
Great kings have precious gifts, and we have naught,
Little smiles and tears are all we brought.
For all weary children Mary must weep,
Then here, on his bed of straw, sleep, children, sleep.
God in his mother’s arms, babes in the byre,
They sleep as they sleep who find their heart’s desire.

The cost of Thanksgiving dinner

There's a lot of discussion about inflation and the cost of Thanksgiving dinner. Farm Bureau tracks this and my figures are from that website. The 2020 dinner for 10 was $46.90, a decrease from 2019 which was $48.91.

The 2021 dinner for 10 is $53.31, up 14% over 2020, which was the Covid year, and a decrease from 2019. However, the 2017 cost was $49.12, or 23.1% cheaper that 1986 ($63.87 in 2017 dollars).

I'm math challenged, so will some genius tell me if the 2021 dinner is cheaper than 1986? No matter how you slice it, it's still a good deal.

Greetings from the Lakeside Women's Club President

 Happy Thanksgiving!

We have so much for which to be be thankful, not the least of which is Lakeside! Thank God that 4 Methodist ministers bought a square mile that we now know as Lakeside. We are so blessed to be able to come to "this little piece of heaven on earth" each summer and enjoy all it has to offer. Another blessing is all the wonderful women who make up the Lakeside Women's Club. Sometimes I am asked, "Why join the Lakeside Women's Club?" My answer would be that you can make the most amazing friendships, enjoy the wonderful educational programs, participate in the Bible Studies and Book Discussions, and access the library. You belong to a very special organization that gives to others by knitting blankets for the Salvation Army and sewing doll clothes for the Ronald McDonald Houses. The Lakeside Women's Club created a wonderful "Cottage Cooking" cookbook and held a Quilt Exposition for all to enjoy last summer. Next summer we hope to be able to have our annual Cottage Tour! Your LWC Board is meeting in December to approve our budget for 2022. Having sold almost 900 cookbooks, we are doing well financially now! We will be discussing how the Lakeside Women's Club can celebrate Lakeside's Sesquicentennial. If you have any ideas, please let us know. We want to make 2023 a special year!

In the meantime, we are planning for the 2022 Season. 

 The Afternoon Book Club has chosen:

Hamnet by Maggie O'Ferrell

A Single Thread by Tracey Clevalier

This Tender Land by William Kent Kriueger

The Paris Library by Janet Skelsien Charles

The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

The Breakfast Book Club will be discussing:

The Stars are Fire by Anita Shreve

The Road to Bittersweet by Donna Everhart

Travel Light, Move Fast by Alexandra Fuller

The Sweetness of Water by Nathan Harris

The Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc by Mark Twain

I am reading my way through these lists of books so that I will be able to go to the discussions next summer. Frankly, my summers are so busy at Lakeside, I don't have a lot of time to read, so I try to read the book discussion books during the winter. Then I skim them right before the discussions.

The "Reading the Bible in a Year" group will be discussing: 2 Samuel, 2 Corinthians, 1 and 2 Kinds, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Psalms 42-66. Again, I read these "books" during the winter and take notes, so I will be able to join the discussion next summer. Jeri and Jane do a fabulous job leading those discussions!

Thank you all so much for contributing your various talents to make the Lakeside Women's Club such a wonderful organization. You all are a blessing to me and the Lakeside community!

Kyle Rittenhouse trial

Jurors deliberated for a total of 26 hours and found Rittenhouse not guilty on five counts including first-degree reckless homicide, two counts of first-degree intentional homicide and two counts of first-degree reckless endangerment. Judge Bruce Schroeder had previously dismissed two additional counts related to his weapon.

Kyle Rittenhouse found not guilty on all counts in Kenosha trial | Fox News

My friend Bonnie, a retired police officer, posted this on Facebook:

For those saying justice was served, I strongly disagree.

We have a standard in this country that no one is charged without probable cause: facts or circumstances that would lead a reasonable person to believe a CRIME has been, or is going to be committed, and that the person being charged committed, or was going to commit, that crime.

These prosecutors went forward with charges knowing all evidence supported self defense. Self defense is not a crime. Justifiable homicide is not a crime. You do not take away the liberty of a citizen and make them prove their innocence and ruin them financially when you know from the evidence there was no crime committed. This one wasn’t even close. This was self defense on trial. And this was malicious prosecution.

I have many examples of self defense cases with far less threat to the person using that self defense, and no charges were brought. The law didn’t change in the past couple of years, no matter how many riots!
Justice will be served when prosecutors like these are disbarred!

Reading about the mother of 7 sons

This morning I was reading 2 Mac: 7:20-31 

"Roman Catholics and Eastern Orthodox use the Septuagint(s) as the source of their “Old Testament” … Hebrew Scriptures. –Roman Catholics accept/ include 1, 2 Maccabees –Most Eastern Orthodox accept/ include 1,2,3 Maccabees –Some Non-Chalcedonian churches (e.g., Coptic, Syriac) accept/ include 1,2,3,4 Maccabees Protestants generally use the Palestinian Canon as the source of their “Old Testament” … Hebrew Scriptures. –The 39 books of the Protestant “Old Testament” represent the 24 books of the Hebrew Scriptures."  The Protestant Bible doesn't include this book or story.  It's gruesome, but the mother's heart and courage are wonderful.  (1603-602-OLLIMacc1HO.pdf (gmu.edu)

22 I do not know how you came into being in my womb. It was not I who gave you life and breath, nor I who set in order the elements within each of you. 23 Therefore the Creator of the world, who shaped the beginning of humankind and devised the origin of all things, will in his mercy give life and breath back to you again, since you now forget yourselves for the sake of his laws.” (2 Mac. 7:22–23; NRSV)