Humility

We Christians need to be humble. Not "more humble," but humble. Jesus told them that when his disciples asked about which could be the hot shot in his kingdom. He put in their midst a person who was powerless and "simple." Not a government official or a scholar.  A child. The special vote in Ohio on August 8 is a reminder. Christians lost this one. Not Republicans, but Christians. And it's out there for all to see.  We keep looking for the world's approval.

We've done a really poor job on life issues like the right to life, but euthanasia for the sick and elderly is knocking at the door.  You can't wait for Roe v. Wade to collapse after 50 years before you get your local house in order. That sticky problem with the ease our state constitution gets changed has been a problem long before 2023, and both parties use it to their advantage (in 2011 it was a health insurance amendment). The percent of Christians who accept full legality of abortion even at full term is too high.  Twenty-four percent of white, evangelical Christians say abortion should be legal in all or most cases; 60% of white Protestants believe that; 66% of black Protestants. Catholics at least have a church teaching on abortion, which few Protestants do, and yet that is a whopping fifty six percent believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases.   See the Pew report Views about abortion among Christians - Religion in America: U.S. Religious Data, Demographics and Statistics | Pew Research Center  (although its definition may be a bit loose--that is explained in the report). Also see Public Opinion on Abortion | Pew Research Center

Christians are losing out to the world--the golden sex calf. One hundred years ago, Christians beginning with the Anglicans began to accept contraception because the world was doing it; then it was the hormone pill in the 60's and living together without marriage--movie stars and Phil Donahue recommended it; then it was abortion in the 70s and 80s; then same sex marriage, and now the transagenda movement with mutilation and cross sex hormones for children. We're moving quickly to socially accept pedophilia (renamed of course). 

Walking

"Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Everyday, I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it. But by sitting still, and the more one sits still, the closer one comes to feeling ill. Thus if one just keeps on walking, everything will be all right." ~Søren Kierkegaard

Skin health and resistance training

"The beneficial effects of physical activity on human health are well-known. Making time for 150 minutes of moderate physical activity per week can reduce our risk of heart disease and stroke. Regular movement helps to counteract diabetes and metabolic syndrome risk, encourages stronger bones and can positively affect our mental health. But what about skin health?" Would you believe resistance training? https://www.technologynetworks.com/cell-science/news/resistance-training-promote-helps-to-rejuvenate-aging-skin-377368

Energy drinks--Celsius

https://www.celsius.com/products/ has anyone else tried this "sparkling energy drink?" I bought a few cans some weeks ago which we didn't use and tried one the other day because it was hot. Watermelon. It tasted fine and did fizz a bit. It has a lot of B vitamins. I used NO research energy, but AI tells me . . . 

"B vitamins, especially niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6 and vitamin B12. They are essential for converting food into energy and breaking down and using the energy found in the foods we eat. (This drink has 6 of the 8 B vitamins, 1000% of daily requirement of Biotin)

Sugar, which is a quick source of energy. Some energy drinks are sugar-free and low-carb friendly. (There is none in this drink)

Amino acid derivatives, such as taurine and L-carnitine. They are naturally produced by the body and have roles in several biological processes."

I'm not athletic at all and am sort of a slug when it comes to energy use. Anyone else know about energy drinks?

At Aldi's they are about $2.00 a can.

Thoughts on the upcoming vote in Ohio--Matt. 18:1-9

In Sunday School today we were looking at Matthew 18:1-9 and other verses. Christians in Ohio are divided on what to do about Issue 1 on Tuesday. In fact, Christians are downright hostile towards each other on this issue. A look at these verses could speak to that.

First, Jesus sets a small child in their midst when his disciples (who seem to be slow learners) ask about who is the greatest in his Kingdom. Children in the ancient world had no standing unlike today when entire households and several generations will focus their lives and wellbeing around children and grandchildren, lavishing time and wealth on them. Jesus essentially told them to be needy, powerless and marginalized if they truly wanted status in the Kingdom. Think about it. Who is more needy, powerless and marginalized than an unborn child?

Second, Jesus then goes on to use hyperbole in showing what happens to those who would cause one of the little ones (his followers) to stumble. Really graphic and cruel--being drowned with a heavy weight attached to the neck, having limbs chopped off or eyes poked out. Again, in the ancient world, the disabled and blind would not have much social status.

 
Third, although Jesus is not referencing abortion, the cruel suffering depicted in his hyperbole, is real life and anguish for the unborn in the midst of an abortion. Right here in Ohio. Here in America. Limbs cut off and sometimes scissors jabbed into the skull to make the head small enough so the child is "still born," and not alive at birth. Late term abortion is rare in the U.S.--about 10,000 a year--some say less, some say more. That's a small city of dismembered babies!

 
When Dr. Kermit Gosnell was tried a decade ago for murdering babies in late term abortions who could have survived, only a few minutes (13 minutes and 30 seconds for a 58 day trial) of the grisly testimony ever made it to broadcast news. There will be Christians going to the polls on Tuesday who have no idea what they are voting for, enshrining abortion for any reason at any stage of the pregnancy in our Constitution. But even worse, there will be Christians who do know, yet still cling to the lie it's a "woman's right."

Will you be needing a surgeon any time soon?

What happened to the American College of Surgeons (ACS) in the wake of the George Floyd killing.
"In the chaotic, hyper-racialized, and politicized aftermath of that event, nearly every major organization in the United States rushed to signal its acceptance of the belief that the country, its institutions, and even its legal system were systemically racist and in need of radical transformation. This took the form of embracing critical race theory (CRT) under the guise of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

The ACS joined this pell-mell rush and within weeks of the Floyd killing had assembled a Task Force on Racism to combat structural racism in the organization. The reality of structural racism was never questioned, nor did the task force provide any evidence for its existence. Rather, the task force assumed racism to exist on the basis of disparities in the representation of blacks in the ACS and allegations of racial disparities in surgical outcomes. The task force’s recommendations were to adopt “antiracism,” an activist social movement that claims that one cannot simply not be racist; one must be actively engaged in antiracism, a term coined by Ibram X. Kendi, author of How to Be an Antiracist.

 
The ACS installed a new Department of Diversity to counter racism, with its own executive director and clinical director, the latter a new position on the Board of Regents. The board also instituted DEI initiatives such as training in implicit bias, microaggressions, and ally/active-bystander response, all of which are integral to CRT. (Even so, the board denied that any of these measures constituted CRT.) in June 2021, the ACS hosted a retreat for leaders of all the surgical societies in the U.S. and invited Kendi as keynote speaker. . . "

And anyone who questioned this? You guessed it. A racist. Banned. Hope you don't need a surgeon.

Read more. Isolated from the American College of Surgeons | City Journal (city-journal.org)

Looking back on Covid and all the What-ifs

What if doctors had been allowed to treat the disease that condemned millions to death in 2020-2022 with their own basic knowledge learned through experience and medical school? 

What if they'd started treatment early, instead of waiting to hospitalize until there was no hope? 

What if they hadn't been forced to follow WHO and CDC, which are heavily politicized and Big Pharma which had strong financial interests? 

What if they'd been allowed to follow common sense and years of studies on masking? 

What if the populace had been encouraged to lose weight, exercise, get out in the sun and fresh air, instead of locking them down in despair and harmful environments? 

They wouldn't have paid attention to weak studies about two drugs, very safe but effective, and used them to treat the symptoms. 

They wouldn't have put very sick people on ventilators. 

They would have tapered patients with inflammation off steroids. 

Fewer would have died. 

Our economy wouldn't have tanked. 

Doctors wouldn't have lost their careers and the thousands of years of combined experience which now makes us all weaker.

 It was a coup against medicine, science, common sense, and history.

Please listen to Dark Horse podcast and others in alternative sources (there are many) look back on all the mistakes Big Gov and Big Pharma made (or maybe they weren't mistakes since it put Biden in office). Politicians in all nations, all parties, now know how to completely bring a country to its knees, and that knowledge is the power to do it again. To be used in the U.S. by either party.

Most recent podcast I recommend https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/pharma-not-their-first-rodeo-umberto-meduri-paul-marik/id1471581521?i=1000623539019

Cover of Architectural Digest--John Legend and Chrissy Teigen

The latest issue of AD (Architectural Digest) just dropped through the mail slot with the lovely cover photo of John Legend and Chrissy Teigen with 3 of their 4 beautiful children. I know nothing about him except lately he's been promoting abortion on demand for Ohio (they don't say that but there will be no limits if it is enshrined in our state Constitution, and I believe it includes rights for children thinking they were born in the wrong body). Something like $13 million by outside the state wealth has been poured into this campaign.

Legend and Teigen are certainly wealthy, although I assumed he was paid for grim advertising. The AD photos provide the brand names of the clothing they are wearing, the jewelry designers, the pendant above the dining room table, designer of the custom carpet, the slabs of custom marble in the kitchen (Calacatta Macchia Vecchia) are repeated in the bathrooms, names of the floor lamps, how the music room is wrapped in a de Gournay wallpaper, and the kids' room with full size stuffed giraffes with beds made to look like cars on a safari (a nod to an African heritage?). The sofa costs over $27,000 and who knows what that swimming pool cost them.

 
According to the CDC 39% of all women who had abortions in 2020 were non-Hispanic Black, while 33% were non-Hispanic White, 21% were Hispanic, and 7% were of other races or ethnicities. Yes, John and Chrissy are helping diminish the black race in the U.S. while choosing to raise 4 children in gob-smacking wealth. They are so wealthy, they could be providing for home care and parent training for many single moms, but how progressive would that be? It's not the Democrat way. 

Inside Chrissy Teigen and John Legend’s Loving Family Home | Architectural Digest

Scams via texting

Although my baby is in her 50s, today she warned me about a scam that might come up in a text. It will say it's from UPS and will include a link for me to click for delivery, but it will try to steal information or direct me to another website that is bad. Since I've been waiting for a few online orders, I'd be a good target. I'm new to this "smart" phone stuff. I'd never fall for that in my e-mail, but I'm a novice on the other scams.

The Marxist roots of Critical Race Theory

"CRT has its roots in the early 20th Century thought of neo-Marxist Antonio Gramsci, founder of the Italian Communist Party. His desire was to spur on the stalled communism of 19th Century social revolutionists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels toward an overthrow of the “bourgeoisie” (ruling middle- and upper-class) by the proletariat (working-class). To accomplish this goal, societal norms and institutions, such as family, nation state, capitalism, and God, needed to be torn down, and this is where we begin to see the notion of group-based morality, with the idea that what is moral is what serves the interests of the “oppressed” or “marginalized.”

While European Marxism focused on class, a distinctly American brand of Marxism was brought to America in 1937 by scholars from the Institute for Social Research in Frankfurt, Germany, known commonly as the Frankfurt School, who left Nazi Germany to escape the Third Reich. They eventually landed in New York where they setup shop at the Columbia University Teachers’ College. While most of the Frankfurt scholars returned to Germany after the defeat of the Nazis, Herbert Marcuse stayed behind and became one of the leading spokesmen of Critical Theory (on which CRT is based) during the massive upheavals of the 1960s and early 1970s caused by riots and violence associated with the Civil Rights and anti-Vietnam movements. The focus shifted specifically to oppressed ethnic, racial, and gender groups.

In short, CRT argues that America’s legal, economic, and political systems are inextricably racist. It argues that racism advances only the interests of white elites materially and working-class whites mentally. CRT Chooses race-consciousness over the Enlightenment view of colorblindness as a societal norm. Since all whites benefit from an unearned advantage, race-consciousness remedies rectify this inherent injustice. CRT criticizes the civil-rights movement and the liberal ideology it promotes. The view is civil rights laws are limited to isolated discriminatory acts by individuals or businesses, when in fact discrimination continues to be both pervasive and systemic. CRT rejects the principle of equal opportunity, believing it to be a myth, and rejects conceptions of “merit” since only those in power determine what is equal or what has merit. Finally, CRT promotes equality of results instead of equality of opportunity. (Walter Myers III, Discovery Institute," Critical Race Theory – The Marxist Trojan Horse | American Center for Transforming Education (discovery.org)

Heritage Foundation Backgrounder  BG3567.pdf (heritage.org)

Some examples of critical race theory in schools | Washington Examiner

Is Critical Race Theory Taught in K-12 Schools? The NEA Says Yes, and That It Should Be. (reason.com)

Temecula school district sued over its ban of critical race theory - Los Angeles Times (latimes.com)

Yes, Critical Race Theory Is Being Taught in Schools | City Journal (city-journal.org)

Dissertation on white liberal guilt  "Explaining Shifts in White Racial Liberalism: The Role of Collective M" by Zachary Goldberg (gsu.edu)

'Shocking' video exposes school officials plotting to 'trick' Ohio parents, teach CRT | Fox News

EXECUTIVE ORDER TO PROHIBIT INDOCTRINATION AND CRITICAL RACE THEORY IN SCHOOLS - Arkansas Governor - Sarah Huckabee Sanders

Do Educators Think Critical Race Theory Should Be Taught in Class? We Asked (edweek.org)

Baby Madison Baby Doe now has a headstone on her grave

Plain City, Ohio, police announced on June 15 that the remains of a newborn girl were discovered in the back of a garbage truck. She still had the umbilical cord attached when she was found, according to the police. Because she was discovered in Madison County, community leaders named her Madison Baby Doe. After community donations paid for her funeral, Ferguson Funeral Home and Forest Grove Cemetery provided the services at no charge. (WBNS)

The Plain City Police announced on Facebook: "We are pleased to share with you that the headstone for Madison Baby Doe has been placed at her gravesite. A special thanks again to Longstreth Memorial for the donation of this headstone! We remain deeply saddened by this tragedy, but we are honored to have been able to help ensure that Madison Baby Doe will be forever remembered.

Also note, that this investigation is ongoing and we continue to work closely with our law enforcement partners in an effort to solve this case and provide some closure for our community."

People of Plain City are very proud of their Police Department.

Foods That Hurt or Help Your Brain with Max Lugavere

Very interesting conversation about food and nutrition. This video is part of Prager U--a university I really trust.

00:00 - Welcome to Real Talk

01:43 - Could Diet Contribute to Dementia? (His mother had Lewy Body disease which began his                           search for answers)

05:34 - Alzheimer’s Disease: Is It Preventable?

14:51 - Are There “Good Foods” and “Bad Foods”?

18:25 - Are Butter and Eggs Healthy or Harmful? (Eggs are great; OK to eat every day)

24:34 - Real Milk vs. Plant-Based Milk  (Dairy is good for you; plant milk is just marketing)

27:15 - What Is a Good Vegetable Balance?

30:48 - Are Seed Oils Really Bad for You? (Use olive oil, anti-inflammatory. Seed oils, rbd, eliminate                     if  you can. Damaged by processing.) 

37:51 - The Myth of Granola Bars and Other “Healthy” Meals

44:12 - You Probably Need to Eat More Protein

44:49 - Food and Access in America

47:36 - Do You Need to Buy Organic Food?

50:32 - Eat More Whole Foods

54:31 - The Fight over the Tufts University Food Compass

01:02:26 - The Strange Link between Mouthwash and Blood Pressure

01:08:50 - The Genius Life: How to Read Scientific Papers

01:10:50 - Healthy Lifestyle Advice

01:14:06 - The Verdict on Chocolate and Wine

Foods That Hurt or Help Your Brain with Max Lugavere | PragerU

Don't worry, in the interest of fairness, there is also an interview with a vegan.

Government pressure on Facebook was responsible for censorship of Americans

Mike Huckabee addresses the Facebook problem

"Friend,

Many liberals like to simply deny things that the rest of us can see with our own eyes, from the crisis on the border to Biden family corruption to government censorship of opposing views on the Internet. If it’s inconvenient for them, they simply claim it doesn’t really exist, or to use their popular term, it’s just a “rightwing conspiracy theory.” Well, explain this:

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan just released a trove of internal documents from Facebook and Instagram parent corporation Meta that show how the Biden Administration was aggressively leaning on Meta to censor posts during the pandemic. They used the rationale that those views were “misinformation” that had to be suppressed.

https://www.westernjournal.com/smoking-gun-jim-jordan-releases-facebook-files-revealing-damning-internal-emails/

That article includes details about a senior Biden advisor being “outraged” that a humorous meme about the COVID vaccine hadn’t been removed yet, with more pressure brought to bear until it was. Other posts the White House demanded be censored included a video of Tucker Carlson. Not surprisingly, these officials showed zero concern for Facebook’s arguments that the posts violated no rules and that removing them would be an infringement of Constitutionally-protected free speech.

Jordan said the Committee had to threaten to hold Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in contempt to force him to hand over these documents, which ironically prove that government pressure was directly responsible for the censorship on Facebook. I wonder why Zuckerberg wouldn’t want that to be known? Either he has Stockholm Syndrome or they did a really good job of bullying him."

The left manipulates language

While the government (Biden administration and the regulatory agencies it controls) steals pronouns that used to have meaning, it makes nouns like racism and terrorism so common that they have become meaningless. All these changes are directed at their enemies--Republicans, conservatives, independents and constitutionalists so that they can no longer speak except with great caution and fear. It's really a violation of the first amendment. Destroy the words and the enemies are muzzled.

They've also added phrases where a single word or two used to have meaning. . .

•  "lack of access," 
• "assigned at birth,"
•  "health disparities," 
• "people of color," "Black lives matter" (but no one else does), 
• "trust the science," 
• "people who were formerly incarcerated," or 
• "persons who are not securely housed." 

And they've bungled the use of phrases we thought we knew, but when looking at data, we find out they've been massaged and manipulated--like 

• "hate crime,"
•  "anti-Semitism," 
• "holocaust denial" or 
• "food insecure." 

Then they created words that are incomprehensible for the average person like 

• cisgender,
• transgender, 
• malinformation and 
• misinformation.

We've recently seen that major "conspiracy theories" were used by the government against all sensible, thinking people to the right of the Clintons. 

• The virus DID come from a lab leak; 
• masks didn't stop the SPREAD of the virus; 
• Hunter's lap top was REAL and not Russian misinformation; 
• and UFOs have been renamed, but are now being talked about in the OPEN. 

It's the same motive as changing words. Words are powerful--and unfortunately the government and all its buddies in NGOs, academe, Big Tech, Big Pharma, and MSM are all reading from the same script. Terrorism is only on the rise because it's been renamed and redefined to include concerned parents and traditional Catholics!. Same with racism. Same with hate crime. Same with science. It's all about power.

I don't have a solution, but do have advice. Listen to their words carefully and don't give up your freedom of speech.

The Devil is sowing weeds in Ohio

The "VOTE NO on Issue 1!" signs are popping up like weeds in my neighbors' lawns. These are the people who want to enshrine abortion at any time (even 9 months) for any reason (my boyfriend left me) for any age (no parental rights) in the Ohio Constitution. I'd guess 80% of them are Christians or check that box.

 
The disciples asked Jesus to explain a parable. "Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field." He said in reply, "He who sows good seed is the Son of Man, the field is the world, the good seed the children of the Kingdom. The WEEDS are the children of the Evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels. Just as weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they wil collect out of his Kingdom all who cause others to sin and all evildoers,. They will throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be wailing and grinding of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears ought to hear."  Matthew 13:36-43

One of my favorite photos

 This came up as a reminder for July 31, 2010 on Facebook today.

How to pray for friends and family

Do you get requests for prayer for people you don't know--a friend of a friend? Darlene sent me these suggestions for helping in this situation. She said she got these ten keys in an email from "God Encounters ( James Goll ) ministries". https://godencounters.com/praying-your-family-into-gods-kingdom/ She says they are great suggestions on how to pray for family or anyone. Take the time to read the associated Bible verse and meditate on it.

1. Pray for God to soften their hearts. (Ezekiel 11:19)
2. Pray for the spirit of conviction to fall on their lives. (John 16:8)
3. Pray for the spirit of wisdom and revelation to give them dreams, visions, and angelic visitations. (Ephesians 1:17)
4. Pray the Holy Spirit will bring God’s Word to their remembrance. (John 14:26)
5. Pray prayers of forgiveness over them and their relationships. (Matthew 6:14-15)
6. Pray God will send compassionate, spirit-filled laborers into their path. (Matthew 9:38)
7. Pray for a revelation of the realities of eternity, both heaven and hell.
8. Pray against generational hindrances and their ability to resist the enemy. (Matthew 6:13)
9. Solicit the prayers of others! Don’t carry these prayer burdens alone. (2 Corinthians 1:10-11)
10. Pray for a revelation of God’s great love and kindness! (Romans 2:4)

30 plus years of smut for children

I came across a folder of letters today and found one I'd written to Chrysler in December 2009 praising my new Town and Country. But that wasn't the point.  I was chastising the corporation/group/CEO for being a donor to GLSEN, an organization for LGBTQ+ children--or pushing and promoting the gay lifestyle to children. So, you see, this corruption of our children goes way back. GLSEN was about 20 years old by then (created by teachers). My specific complaint to Chrysler was that GLSEN "produces a list of pornographic recommended books for children. I've read some excerpts on the internet, and it's truly disgusting. Do you really think fisting and fellatio need to be part of elementary school education?" I then included the internet link. Apparently, it flew out of my mind, and my next van was also a Chrysler!

I looked at GLSEN's front page today (carries a warning) and didn't see Chrysler, but I did see Walt Disney, Target (of course--it's been a real leader in attacking all manner of values and traditions), Wells Fargo, Pet Smart, Gucci, YouTube, New Balance, Amazon and many others

Remember please, those children GLSEN was corrupting with the help of major corporations for the last 30+ years are the adults now occupying jobs in academe and the corporate world. Which is why there is such a tsunami of this nonsense.

Time travel with memories

We've both been trying to remember the name of an electrician from Cleveland who was on Bob's Haiti team and was a friend on Facebook (until he blocked me because he was a Democrat).  But so far, we have not come up with a name.  But we will.  Long after we need it.

A few weeks ago, it came to me that I was forgetting a lot of names, faces and events (duh!), and I should write down a list of all the names of the people I remembered. What a dumb idea, I thought, but I couldn't get it out of my mind. I kept seeing a list in categories.  Forreston, Mt. Morris, church, Lakeside, college days, So, I finally started one in word processing, although at first, I was going to hand write it. I decided if I did it in the word processor, I could alphabetize, and use the "find" feature if I didn't remember where a name was. It's now up to about 12-13 pages. 

 I do have some printed church directories, our school annuals, our Lakeside property owners' directory, some club directories, etc. to use as guides. I also have the Mt. Morris Past and Present, and the Mt. Morris War Record. If there are photos, I look at them, and try to remember if or when I've ever really "known" the person. It's been interesting. I can remember many faces of the class of '52, but not '58 or '59. Some people I still know on Facebook like Dick Butler or Jim Isenhart. Then I have a little symbol next to the name if they have died and put in the death date if I know it. I remember a lot of the parents of friends, like Nancy's, and Lynne's, and Sylvia's. So, I'm adding those names too. I remember the people on our block on Hitt St. in Mt. Morris from when I was 4 or 5, because I use to walk into their houses and talk to them! For some I have to find sources for first names because they were, "Mrs. Aufterbeck" or "Mrs. Duncan," since we didn't call adults by first names. I knew so many adults from when I worked at the drug store and at the town library, so I'd better write down the names while I can still remember. There were a lot of farmers who came into the drug store, some all the way from Polo, and most of those names I've forgotten. I used to babysit a lot, so I'm trying to recall those names. There was a Jewish couple who lived on N. Hannah, I think their name was Fishman, but I've forgotten their first names, and their kids' names. Maybe it will come to me--in the middle of the night! :-)

Anyway, it's something to do when it's too hot to go outside. Who knows if I'll ever finish it.

  

  

 

Home again, to power outages and big expenses

Last week-end (July 21-23) we took a trip to Lakeside and stayed at the Idlewyld B & B since we no longer have a home there.  We met some nice people sitting on the porch, saw many of our old summer friends/homeowners who dropped by to chat, and enjoyed all the beauty of Lake Erie.  I had 3 good morning walks along the lake, plus all the usual walking I do when going places.  Like the other tourists, our car had to be parked in the remote parking area, which you get to with shuttles, or catching a ride with someone else. We had our first dinner at the hotel under this current food service (Ward) with Tom and Jill, our former neighbors on Oak, ate lunch there again on Saturday, and on Sunday we had lunch at the Patio Restaurant after church with Dale and Julia who live in Tennessee.  We haven't known them long--maybe 2 years--but enjoy their company.

We visited Phil's memorial at Chautauqua Park to make sure the tree is healthy and the flowers blooming. The fountain was lovely, so we sat for a while on the bench nearby.  We know life moves one for everyone and soon no one will remember but us, yet it still feels strange not to have him call to hear about the trip, catch up on politics, or pop in with a joke to tell. We attended two evening programs, plus church in Hoover Auditorium. On Friday it was a group doing homage to Broadway music during the last 101 years, although the focus was more the last 40 years, to my ear.  Still lovely.  During one of the programs Crowder (Christian music LOUD with lots of bass) we kept saying, Phil would have loved this (he played bass guitar in the Gender Road Christian Church praise band). That one was too loud for us, so Bob left quickly, but I stayed for about half. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xPpEOUVpxrM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yG-Y9bWlCw8 The crowd loved him (Crowder) so much they stood up much of the time, waving their arms, so it was difficult to see.

One of the strangest things that happened to us on this trip was an incident with a dog walker.  We'd decided to go to the Lakefront on Friday afternoon after we ate the lunch I packed for us, so were enjoying the cool breezes on a park bench.  A man about 55-60 came along walking 2 large Irish Wolfhounds, and he stopped to talk.  Bob was petting the dogs and we were asking him about the breed, their ages and where they had come from.  I noticed he was beginning to move very close to us, and suddenly he fell in my lap and partially on Bob's shoulder. He had fainted! He roused himself and apologized.  We asked if we could get the squad or perhaps the shuttle for him, but he refused.  I still had a bottle of water in the little cooler, so we gave him that.  He then said, "Maybe I overdid it today."  It turns out he had already bicycled around the peninsula, had taught an exercise class, and had walked his dogs there from the campground, quite a distance! He assured us all was OK and continued along the way.  I saw him on Sunday--walking the same dogs heading for the campground. So, I guess he's OK.

We were driving back from Lakeside when a big summer storm hit and were probably 5 minutes from home when lightning struck. We didn't know it hit in our back yard, or what happened.  When we got home, we couldn't get in the garage.  When we got inside the WiFi was down, but the TV was working. Then we found out the phones also didn't work. Checked with a neighbor the next day who had the Spectrum truck in their driveway who told us the strike was in our back yard, and they too lost power to garage door and TVs. Yesterday the Spectrum service person corrected the WiFi problem so I could use the computer, brought us a new tower and a box for one of the TVs, but the phone system still has us puzzled.  If it's in the phone lines, we'll need an electrician, but if it's the phone system we'll have to buy a new one. Today when the door company repairman came, it turns out to be $750 per door, because even though under warrantee (installed in February) lightning is an "act of God" and not covered. 

Bob had a tooth filled today from last week's check up, and that was over $180. Not sure what good dental insurance is.   So, it's been an expensive week counting the B & B, the Lakeside tickets, eating out three times in restaurants, the garage doors, and a dentist appointment! And we don't even know what the phone will be!