Democrats are besmirching their reputation and history

 What the Left calls divisive, polarizing and hateful is saying that men can't be women and that no one needs to play the victim to be worthwhile. What the Left believes is hateful is proclaiming Jesus is Lord. There is no record of Kirk being a racist, saying racist things or being nasty to people. That's a myth passed along by the media or people who hate free speech they don't like. It's secondhand Trump hate.

https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/09/11/mainstream-liberal-media-covered-themselves-in-shame-after-kirks-assassination/?

It's not easy being the judge of the whole universe or the mind of God

I've just read an article by Brandon Ambrosino who doesn't like President Trump for a number of reasons, and hopes he doesn't get into heaven. Yet, his autobiography sounds like the most pompous, arrogant liberal Christian who has decided he can take on Jesus' job of judgment. He needs to look in the mirror.

"I’m a theological ethicist currently teaching at Villanova University. I am also an award-winning journalist and essayist whose work has appeared in a wide range of publications, including POLITICO, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Globe & Mail, BBC, Playboy, The Economist, Commonweal, and the Boston Globe. I am also a columnist for Christian Century. My first book — Is It God’s Will? Making Sense of Tragedy, Luck and Hope in a World Gone Wrong — will be published in September by Morehouse Academic."

I quickly glanced at a few interviews and learned he was raised Church of God Cleveland TN (Pentecostal), attended Liberty (Baptist) and is now a Catholic but married to a man. The Trump assassination attempt a year ago bothered him--in a sort of childlike way--like why did God save Trump and not the firefighter since he thinks Trump is bad. And this man teaches theology and ethics! I wonder if he's pondered why God allowed 100 million people to die from socialism/Communism in the 20th century and will he ever speak up about it, or will he just bash Trump?

Kirk means church

Charlie Kirk's message was the same words our pastor used in a letter to the congregation, "The way of Jesus is the saving alternative to the cycle of escalating violence in which everyone loses." The word KIRK means church. Charlie offered facts and evidence to answer the lies of his enemies who stalked and threatened him. He told them about Jesus. Unfortunately, there are people in many churches that hate President Trump so much, that they'll not hear the message of Kirk or anyone else who admired or worked for the President. In fact, without the filter of MSNBC or CNN or the liberal MSM they'd probably never heard Kirk speak on campus or at a conservative gathering. We supported his organization "Turning Point" primarily for Kirk's pro-life and pro-family views, including his outspoken facts about sexuality. We didn't listen to his podcast. We missed a lot. Some, including the New York Times are rushing to correct the lies they printed or said.

Words actually are violence, even with the guarantees of our First Amendment. "For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery," Mark 7:21. The week before Kirk was killed, there was the murder of the Ukrainian woman, the murder of a retired veterinary professor at Auburn walking her dog, and the murder of an elderly couple in Queens who were tortured, killed and set on fire. Maniac who killed elderly NYC couple inside their home makes chilling admission  And shortly before that children were murdered in a Catholic church during Mass. Three of the men were black with criminal records, and prior charges, released into the public to commit more crimes by liberal judges. Two of the men were white and had their minds twisted by leftist lies about sexuality, supported by the Democrat party. Christians should be speaking out about why half the nation votes for the people who allow this.

Happy Anniversary--65

 

  

Here we are at an afternoon concert at the Forum, Bill Cohen and his wife, musical story telling

Be Charlie. Make a difference

MSNBC has fired Matthew Dowd for being a hate-filled SOB for what he said about the assassination of Charlie Kirk. I've never watched him, never knew he existed to spew lies to the public. Did he ever listen to Charlie Kirk? Charlie believed in Jesus and preached it without apology. He believed that marriage was between one man and one woman and that one's sex cannot be medicated or surgically mutilated into changing to the other. He believed in American values and cared about the issues that affect young people--like abortion, economy, war. He challenged young people to think critically. When he talked to young adults he treated them with respect and with the truth. He believed in the first amendment--freedom of religion and freedom of speech. That first amendment is an anathema to Democrats and other leftists "serving" in Congress. As a teenager he had a dream that the future of conservatism was with the youth, And he changed the direction of our nation. It's why they hated him. Be Charlie. Make a difference.

Democrats in Congress couldn't even pray!

"When you cover everything in the world through the lens of Donald Trump, and Trump must not only always be wrong but the avatar of ultimate evil, outlets like the Times and CNN are forced forever to find opposing angles to anything he criticizes. A horrific murder can’t just be that, but an “accelerant for conservative arguments about the perceived failings of Democratic policies.” " Matt Taibbi. 

He wrote that about the murder of Iryna Zarutzka. But it applies even more so to the terrorist murder of Charlie Kirk, a man who joyfully preached and demonstrated our first amendment right to freedom of religion and speech. It drives the Left absolutely bonkers and around the bend senseless to have our form of democracy actually lived and demonstrated to others. They want us quiet. Dead quiet. Democrat/socialist/Communist quiet.

Charlie was very dangerous in the demented minds of the Leftist media, the Democrats, the agitators and uglies who won't even allow us to say, "all lives matter." He loved Jesus, his family, his country and American values of political, religious and economic freedom. For that the leftist media called him divisive on the day of his murder. Communists can't tolerate it--we should rejoice in what Charlies did in his short life. The Illinois governor, the California governor, the Squad, the candidate for mayor of New York, the Maxines and Hillarys and Nancys and millions of Americans who are slouching toward socialism are morally bankrupt. 

Mike Johnson said tonight that Democrats in Congress couldn't even agree to have a verbal prayer for Charlie--that how great their hate is for Trump.

My second trombone gone to auction

I knew what was happening, but it was still a shock to see my personal items on an auction site so we could move. I need to remind myself they are just things. It wasn't even my original trombone--that had been sold in 1967 when we moved from Champaign to Columbus. I think Bob surprised me with this one on my 50th birthday, which means I had it a lot longer than the one I played in high school band. Some lucky kid will get to use it for learning and practice before she moves up to a good one. I did try it a few years ago at in a summer class at Lakeside. I couldn't even play Twinkle twinkle little star, as I recall. Collecting My Thoughts: Trombone review I rechecked my blog and see that in January 2019 I made a New Year's resolution to play it and then crossed it off the list.

The yoga bandit

Did you hear about the Yoga Bandit? Just heard this on "Live with Kelly and Mark." A woman comes late to Yoga class, tells the desk clerk she'll come back at a later time, then steals from the belongings of other class members and doesn't return. All caught on video. The victim of the theft found this out when he reported the theft (including his phone) to the police. I recall a number of years ago this was happening at churches with late comers stealing from purses in the choir rooms at churches and a lot of choir members left their purses and coats when they went out to the sanctuary.

Google's loss my gain?

I don't check my blog stats too often because I write for myself, not others, but recently I'd noticed a huge increase in the hits on my blog. The last year or two they had dropped from 200-300 a day to 15-20. Oh well, I thought, blogging is just not a thing these days. Now they are back up around 200-250. Do you suppose the lawsuit that went against having Google be the default search engine had anything to do with it?
"In a ruling aimed at restoring competition in the search engine market, U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta refrained from ordering Google to sell off Chrome, the world's most popular browser, but ordered the tech company to end exclusive deals that make Google the default search engine on phones and other devices." (Sept. 2, NPR)

Communism has never been successful

Communists like Zohran Mamdani of NY believe the basic Marxist lie: wealth is stolen from the poor and his supporters are victims. The Marxist lie of the last 50 years has moved from worker to race: white man bad. The shift allows for more victims, since the ethnic Europeans are vastly outnumbered. Making the victims intersectional, only adds to the millions they've conned. Although if you've noticed, Mamdani is white and wealthy. He had a huge elaborate wedding (don't know the sex) back in his home country of Uganda from which his parents had to flee so he could grow up a rich kid in the U.S. His lies and those of Bernie, Pelosi, AOC and others, only work on the ignorant and those who've forgotten the 100,000,000 killed in the 20th century by his Marxist lies. For all its faults, free market capitalism has liberated more people from poverty than any other system. The middle class in the U.S. isn't disappearing--they've moved up. "Between 1820 and 2015, extreme poverty plummeted from 90% to 10% globally in that span. This statistic is one of the greatest accomplishments of mankind and should be celebrated as such."

Another tenet of Communism in addition to victimhood, is destruction of the family. This is one they work hard on through social media, entertainment industry, school system. Loyalty must be to the government, not God.

Communists like Mamdani and his colleagues called Democrats, Socialists and Progressives lie, cheat, steal the wealth of others, maim and enslave, as seen with our border crises, for their own gain. Those of you old enough to remember Stalin, it's the same lie with some definition changes. Their attraction is to the uneducated and the over educated at our universities.

More changes--we've been transitioned!

Yesterday, all the residents of The Forum were "all shook up" when we discovered that our "corporate" had transitioned to new management. Five Star is the operating division of AlerisLife which is selling its assets, which includes 17 communities

"Diversified Healthcare Trust (Nasdaq: DHC)  [a real estate investment trust (REIT) that specializes in healthcare and life sciences properties] today (Sept. 3) announced that it has entered agreements with AlerisLife Inc. (“AlerisLife”) and seven different operators to transition the management of 116 of DHC’s senior living communities managed by Five Star Senior Living (“Five Star”), the operating division of AlerisLife. The transition of these management agreements will occur in tranches beginning in September and is expected to be completed by year end. AlerisLife is also selling all its assets, including its 17 owned communities, and expects to complete a full wind-down of its business and operations in the first half of 2026. In connection with the sale of AlerisLife’s assets and after repayment of debt and payment of estimated wind-down costs, DHC expects to receive estimated net proceeds of between $25 million to $40 million for its 34% interest in AlerisLife. DHC plans to use these net proceeds to reduce leverage and for other general business purposes, including reinvestment in its SHOP segment."

Even our own staff here didn't see this coming, and just a week ago we had a party for our new director! As new residents Bob and I and 2 other newbies were introduced to the community in a special reception at 4 p.m. yesterday, however it was sort of overshadowed by the news of our management arrangements.  I had seen articles going back to 2023 about AlerisLife and Five Star, but didn't see a final conclusion, We are being told there will be no changes, but the rumor mill is churning.

Cemetery monument at French Broad Church of the Brethren Tennessee

In sorting files, I found this in my genealogy file, source unknown, but the handwriting looks like my father's and I know he visited cemeteries in Tennessee while visiting relatives, but there is no signature on it. We also talked a lot about genealogy and family stories which makes sense of the final sentence.

"There is a monument in the cemetery at French Broad Church of the Brethren which reads (near Oak Grove, Tenn.) "French Broad Church of the Brethren

Charter Members              Side 1

Jacob Wine, Minister

Elizabeth Wine

Geo. W. Hepner

Martha Hepner

William Finck

Americus E. Finck

Thomas Finck

Sabrina Hepner

Maggie Satterfield

William Silvis

Betsy Forder

JNO. A. Collins

Mary A. B. Sloat

Mary Steadman

J. McClure

---------

Ministers Elder                    Side 2

Jacob Wine

Sterling W. Noe

JNO. A. Collins

Emanuel Newcomer Elder

JNO. Satterfield

W. R. Williford [our family name] Rev William R. Williford (1873-1938) - Find a Grave Memorial

Revel B. Pritchett Elder

                                                        Side 3

In memory of Alexander Mack 1679-1735 Founder of the Church of the Brethren (Dunkers) in Schwarzenau Province of Wittgenstein in Hesse-Cassel on River Eder, Holy Roman Empire 1708

"Dunkers were pioneers of religious education and Sunday School on this continent. Printed first religious magazine in North America and the first Bible in a European language in the new world, 1743, 1763, 1776.

Emigrated to America in 1719-1724-1729

Tennessee in 1783

Jefferson County in 1870"

Thought this might be of interest to you after our conversation the other evening."

NB: On Facebook I found the current name of the church, "Established in 1875, French Broad Community Church (formerly French Broad Church of the Brethren) is about continuing the work of Jesus. Peacefully. Simply. Together."

 

Group singing with YouTube

Today at The Forum I did something I hadn't done in a long time--2006--I sang with a group. Yes, apparently there are singalongs on YouTube and our activity director gathers a group and we do singalongs. It was quite a variety like Moon River and Yellow Rose of Texas and Take me home, Country Roads. So, I looked it up, because that's what I do, right? I found a 2025 review article on the cognitive benefits of singing.

"Results: Key benefits of singing include improvements in verbal fluency, executive function, and episodic memory. Structural changes such as increased white matter integrity and enhanced auditory–motor integration highlight the potential of singing to stimulate neuroplasticity. Among individuals with dementia, singing fosters episodic memory, mood enhancement, and social connection, while healthy older adults demonstrate improved verbal flexibility and cognitive resilience. However, methodological limitations, such as small sample sizes and cross-sectional designs, preclude definitive conclusions about long-term benefits. Conclusions: Future research should explore the specific neural mechanisms underlying these effects, with an emphasis on longitudinal studies and diverse populations. Tailored, inclusive singing programs could address individual cognitive and physical abilities while fostering sustained engagement and social connection. As a low-cost, scalable intervention, singing holds promise for addressing cognitive and emotional challenges associated with aging, offering an accessible avenue to support healthy aging and enhance quality of life across diverse populations." Brain Sci. 2025 Feb 21;15(3):227.

There is also a choir here as well as three different church services and a Bible study. So, I'll work on that white matter. Another article I looked at suggested that amateur musicians may benefit even more than professional musicians in lowering the brain age (pros have more stress). Well, I sure qualify in the amateur department.

Jon Martin, class of 1957, obituary

Jon Robert Martin, 86, a Marco Island, Florida resident since 1994, formerly of Roselle, Illinois, passed away Saturday, August 23, 2025, in Cape Coral, Florida. He was born July 27, 1939, in Rockford, Illinois to Vivian and Robert Martin, now deceased.

Jon was a member of the Wesley United Methodist Church, Marco Island, Florida. He was the former owner and president of Martin Funeral Home in Roselle, Illinois for over 29 years.

He is survived by his companion of 13 years Nadine Thornton; two beloved children, Kip Martin and his wife Gwen of Fort Myers, Florida and Mitzi Sanders and her husband Todd Biddison of Cape Coral, Florida; one brother, Roger Martin of Mt. Morris, Illinois; eight grandchildren, Brittani and huband Ben, Sydney, Elysia and husband Stephen, Clarissa and husband Austin, Alexis and husband Jaen, Cassandra, Blake and Samantha; three great grandchildren, Kasen, Briella and Braxton; as well as a niece, Shawn and a nephew, Chad.

In addition to his parents, Jon was preceded in death by his wife Dixie Martin in 2012.

Memorial visitation Saturday, September 13, 2025 from 11:00am until time of service 1:00pm at his former funeral home, now Countryside Funeral Home and Crematory 333 S. Roselle Rd. (1/2 mile south of Irving Park Rd.), Roselle, Illinois.

Sad news for Honey Dip Customers

 My husband and his Romeo (retired old men eating out) friends have been meeting here for years. It's sad to see small businesses chased out for what I presume will be yet another ugly, multistory, prison architecture building. Story was on Facebook.

"It is with heavy hearts that we share difficult news. For over 50 years, we’ve proudly served the Columbus community at 4480 Kenny Road. But now, we—along with our small business neighbors—are at risk of losing our home to redevelopment.

Unfortunately, our landlord’s property went into receivership due to internal disputes, and a court-appointed receiver has quietly arranged to sell these buildings as part of a package deal to developers—without giving us notice or a fair chance to purchase the spaces we’ve occupied for decades. 

We are heartbroken, feel blindsided, and have been left without a voice in this process. If this sale and redevelopment move forward, our businesses—and a piece of Columbus history—face permanent displacement. 

We need your support now more than ever.
* Sign and share our petition. https://chng.it/CVR6hdjdfg
* Post your favorite photos and memories at Honey Dip over the years. (We'd love to see them!) 

Together, we can fight to preserve our legacy and support the small businesses on Kenny Road that have been part of this community for generations. 

With gratitude,

Honey Dip & The Kenny Road Tenants

Ask a Librarian redux

 I was looking for something else, but found this article in my blog about a carpet cleaner I'd written about in 2008. Turns out the moving service we used for our move to The Forum this month used him in 2025. Collecting My Thoughts

Memories from 1957--Grandma's fall

 Repacking my genealogy files today, I found a 1957 letter from Leslie, my mother's brother, describing an incident I'd heard about from Mom--my grandmother's fall after I'd left for college.  The envelop has a 3 cent stamp, no zip code, and no street address for Mrs. Elbert Trent. 

Franklin Grove, Ill   Sept. 14, 1957

Dear Cousin:

Your letter was much appreciated informing us of the passing of Martha Klein, which we received on Tuesday before the funeral.  Mother & Father were planning to drive out to the funeral Wednesday morning. In the excitement of making plans, Mother fell down the porch steps on to the cement sidewalk.  She suffered a broken nose, which necessitated a cast, and various other sprains & bruises.  Of course, she spent a few days in the hospital and could not attend the funeral. She has recovered almost entirely now except for a general overall weakness which the doctor describes as "after effects."

Martha Klein's partner Addie was in sick bed when Mother last visited them some months back.  She wishes to send her sympathy to relatives & friends who cared for illness & final arrangements for Martha & Addie.

Martha seemed to be quite well at that time of their last visit, so it was of considerable shock to hear of her death.

She had hoped to see Marian (Marianne Michael?) while she was in this country but it did not seem to work out.  We are glad to hear of your son Norman, and his being set up in practice so near by in Mason City.  We are sorry to hear of your son Dee, having a painful accident.

As for me, I can remember rather faintly of stopping at your place about 1919 or 1920.  I have spent the last 31 years with the Bell Telephone Co--in, and also near Chicago at present.

Sincerely

Leslie . . . 

Written for Mary & Charles . . . 

----------------------------------------

As for me, Norma Bruce, the Trent name didn't come to mind as a relative, but it is addressed to "Dear Cousin." All my other genealogy resources are not unpacked, so I can't check the relationships. I know that Marianne Michael's mother who was widowed later married a Trent, and my mother called Helen Trent a cousin so possibly that will connect somewhere. Marianne, Norman and Dee were siblings.  Marianne was a missionary in Nigeria which would account for being "in this country."  It was from Helen Trent my mother learned a lot of "lost" family stories.

A new exercise class

Today at the Forum I decided to try the class on chair exercises. After all, I go to the gym, so how hard could it be? Very. We were holding little weights, and doing breathing and bending and stretching for a half an hour. While sitting.  I was pooped. Went back to the apartment and took a nap. Later I saw the woman who'd been in the chair in front of me who knew the routine and complimented her on knowing what to do. She told me she was 97.

It's moving day

 I haven't been wild about my "page a day" table calendar this year. I went from birds to horses. Hmm. Love horses, but birds are certainly a more colorful wake me up greeting for the day. Also, the quotes were sort of boring. But today's horse was back lit with a hazy sky and a showy canter in a corral (or so it seemed). Not a fabulous photo, but the quote for August 14 seemed appropriate. "Simply enjoy life and the great pleasures that come with it." Karolina Kurkovd

It's moving day for the Bruces.

Yesterday was our final day at Kenbook Hills, the prettiest place in Upper Arlington, Ohio, in our opinion. We first saw it during a rain storm in July 2001 with a decor that shocked and energized us--splashy faux everywhere--including the ceilings--brown/gold living room, orange dining room, red family room, some wild fuchsia trim wall paper in one of the bathrooms and black carpet in one bedroom. But it was the landscape that grabbed us. Turkey Run Creek, huge trees of many varieties, wild life (we're not gardeners so that didn't bother us) and a fabulous layout for the 30 condos in 5 styles, unlike other boring developments we'd seen. And windows. Oh my. So many condos have windows front and back and borrow the rest of the light. This unit had windows in every room, a deck in the trees, and as we were to find out later, wonderful, helpful neighbors.

Bob still had his own architectural firm in 2001 and the lower level famiily room became his office, studio and client space with north light and an outside entrance. The former owner had her OSU student living there with private bath and entrance. It was perfect. In the last 15 years it evolved into an art studio for his watercolor hobby with massive storage for bulky frames, mat board and finished paintings.

But time marches on and we're not as frisky as we once were for 3 floor living, so we're moving to a much smaller space in The Forum, just up the road a mile or two in our familiar neighborhood. It feels a bit like moving into my first college dorm, Oakwood, at Manchester College in Indiana. Close to my Illinois home, but not too close. My sister Carol was near-by at Goshen College where they locked up the Coke machine on Sunday (a joke, but true). I could hang out with old friends from childhood like Sylvia and JoElla, my roommate, but could enjoy new adventures and community meals. We'll have three meals a day at The Forum, and I hope I don't gain the weight I did my freshman year in college!

The Forum sits on 14 acres and we'll see the treetops from the 3d floor, just like we do in Kenbrook. Packing and sorting has made me too tired to prepare meals, so we've been stopping by and being served in the lovely dining room. We've met many new people but also some from our past, including the first neighbor we met in 1967 in our first apartment on Farleigh Rd. and one of the engineers Bob worked with.

And so we hope to meet the expectations of the calendar page, "Simply enjoy life and the great pleasures that come with it."

Getting ready for the move

 We are moving to a retirement community, and frankly my dear, I'm pooped.  And so is my husband. On Friday we had a quick trip by ambulance to the ER because he was wrestling a painting off the wall which got tangled in the wire and he became short of breath.  He has 4 stents so rather than self diagnose, I called the squad. I had been at the bank depositing cash I'd found around the house (over $3,000) and had gone downstairs to enter the deposit.  Then I noticed he was on the floor "resting his eyes." We were discussing the seriousness of his symptoms and just decided to call rather than be sorry.  So our daughter, son-in-law and I spent the day in the ER admittance with him, and got home about 4 p.m. Today he feels fine and went to church, but I'm still a bit frazzled so I stayed home.

We had 34 paintings on the first floor and 260 total.  That's a lot of wrapping after deciding the locations for safe keeping (our apartment, our daughter's home, or put up for sale). We have not found 3 floor living a problem until this move prep.  We were always careful and limited our ups and downs to about 3 or 4 trips during the day. But the move has put that at more than 30 trips a day. This is definitely not good for either of us.  Today I was moving our emergency food to the kitchen to be disposed of.  I'd carry up a can of tuna, a can of soup, and a can of vegetables.  Then I'd sit down and do something else, or talk to a neighbor.  Then I'd make another trip. I've been emptying them and running the disposal before getting rid of the cans in the recycle bin.

Our wonderful neighbor Barbie brought us dinner last night--a scrumptious Salmon salad and wedding soup with warm bread.  The salads are so large we'll have two meals from that, and we had the soup for lunch after church. She may even help us with some things to take to Indianapolis because she goes there every week to babysit her grandbabies! I've got some genealogy to share with our niece who has shown some interest in that area.  For years people--Aunt Roberta, Aunt Babe, Cousin Jim--have been sending me stuff, now it's time to pass it along.

Today some of our neighbors have been coming by to see if they want to purchase the paintings we don't have plans to use.  My parents 1947 maple twin bed suite with a chest and a dressing table with all the bedding have been given to friends of ours who have lots of grandchildren who come to visit. They were so kind and helpful when Phil died 5 years ago, we know it is going to a loving family. That set started out in Forreston, IL, then moved to Mt. Morris, IL, then to Franklin Grove, IL, then to Columbus, OH, then to Lakeside, OH, then back to Columbus.  A well-travelled bedroom suite. They were also able to use the quilt rack that held Phil's quilt for 5 years that cousin Jeanette made for him shone in the lower photo on the futon.  

kitchen  

Office/den