A Little Break

We're off to Chicago for two days.

446 The RNC in New York City

I truly hope the main stream media can find something to talk about and focus on other than the protestors, even though I believe in the long run, they will make the Democrats look like a bunch of fringe lunatic losers.

There will be bloggers there who may be a better source of the news. WSJ online has an article about the bloggers credentialed for the Republican convention. Will it be different? Maybe:
"Some Republican convention bloggers also took shots at the Boston bloggers. Asked what they learned from Boston, some of the New York bloggers characterized the Boston coverage as self-absorbed and overly preoccupied with celebrity sightings. The Republican bloggers said they'd stay more focused on the issues and the convention itself -- a chance they'll get next week." Free link here.

Ben Domenech, a blogger I've never read, said in response to this question:"What did you learn from the Boston coverage? Just about everyone blogging from Boston had a completely misguided attitude towards convention coverage. The interesting part isn't talking about Michael Moore or Jon Stewart, but how the Michigan fan and the Ohio State fan get along after four cases of S'more Schnapps at the 25th Annual Gala to Stop Intellectual Piracy (which is just like normal piracy, except without the plunder and wimmins)."

445 The President at Ft. Meigs, Ohio

Only a thick filter of hate can cause one to say President Bush is not an effective speaker. We heard his entire speech Saturday live on a Toledo TV station (as near as I can tell, there is not a word about the speech in the Toledo Blade except to note on Friday that the President would be in Northwest Ohio on Saturday). Fort Meigs on the Maumee River was built in 1813 to protect northwest Ohio and Indiana from British invasion. I'm sure there is symbolism here someplace, lost on the local media. The speech was in front of about 15,000 party faithful who cheered no matter what he said or how. But from our living room, we could be a bit more discerning.

I’ve never worked for a national campaign except for stuffing a few envelopes for the Democrats back in the early 70s, but I plan to call the Franklin County office when I get home and offer my services.

444 School Starts

Last Thursday I had to wait 20 minutes at the coffee bar while the clerk prepared huge vats of coffee for the teacher in-service day at Danbury schools. Then this morning I saw many students waiting at the end of the drive-ways and lanes for the bus. What was interesting and was probably just a phenomenon of first day, were the number of families and parents waiting with the children. I saw only one child standing alone. The Danbury website only has last year's schedule up--for the taxes we pay here in Lakeside (virtually no school age children), the least we should get is a current website I can show you!

443 I know it was a legal product, but. . .

Somehow, this system looks a little odd when tobacco growers get a piece of the settlement pie.

"A year after the nation's tobacco companies reached an agreement with the country's attorneys general to pay billions of dollars for tobacco-related health-care costs, the companies made another agreement with the 14 states that grow tobacco.

Four of the country's largest cigarette manufacturing companies established the National Tobacco Grower Settlement Trust to compensate tobacco farmers for lost sales and encourage them to branch out into other crops.

As a result of the settlement trust, Ohio tobacco farmers will receive more than $70 million over 12 years.

Daily Reporter

442 Last week-end of the season

The end of the 9th week at Lakeside was dynamite! The symphony closed out its 41st season Friday night with Berlioz, Bach, Shostakovich and Dvorak. The pianist, Antonio Pompa-Baldi, knocked our socks off and even kept me awake.

Than Saturday night Hoover auditorium was filled almost to capacity to hear the Fifth Dimension, popular 60s-70s close harmony group. Two of the originals are still in the group, Florence LaRue and Lamont McLemore, and the other three are equally talented, Greg Walker, Willie Williams and Van Jewell. If you ever have the opportunity (the schedule looks like they perform perhaps once or twice a month), they are well worth the price and trip--putting on an outstanding two hour show.

The Annual antique show with about 25 dealers was Saturday afternoon. Patty and I went--we used to see the items from our mothers' and grandmothers' homes--now we're starting to see "antiques" from our homes since we've both been married over 40 years. Sunday morning the four of us attempted to attend church on the lakefront at the pavilion, however, the wind was blowing the rain all over the chairs, so we left for breakfast at The Abigail. Our house guests left about 10 a.m.

The gates went up at 8 a.m. Sunday. They will temporarily come down next week-end for the Barbershop show. We'll be here to see our friends Andy and Mary Frances who keep a sailboat at Port Clinton and come over for that, then we'll return to Columbus to enjoy the Labor Day Art Show.

441 Clean up time

There is a web site (free) to check your web page for bad and outdated links. LinkScan/Quick Check is easy to use. However, when I fed it my URL, it found many things to warn me about in my template--something over which I have no control. Also, I had numerous messages about inserting some code inside others, which made no sense to me at all. But HTML is a foreign language to me, so I suppose I don't know all the nuances of the language. Also, it found mistakes in things I had quoted, and I also have no control over those. In general, it was a pretty clean site.

440 They don't make things like they used to--Thank Goodness!

Our neighbor Jack just stopped by and gave us $20 for our wicker chair we bought in 1989. We had put a price tag of $25 on it and had planned to put it in the yard this morning. He's also a client, so we cut a deal. It was part of a 4 piece set we bought 15 years ago for $200. Last night we bought a very nice resin white rocker for the porch and needed to make some room.

This cottage (actually a house built in 1943 with hvac and plaster walls, but it is customary here to refer to a second home as a "cottage") was my first opportunity to decorate something with a "theme" or unified color scheme. We chose the colors cream, light blue and pink/mauve; blue carpeting, and coordinated wallpaper borders throughout--sandpipers in the kitchen, geese in the master bedroom, light houses in the guest room, and nautical things in the bath. The basics of furniture came with the house--desk, couch, bookcase, kitchen table/4 chairs, 1 bedroom suite, and a nice 1930s cedar chest.

It was fun to go to the hardward store in Marblehead and buy things for the kitchen and bath. I bought blue plastic dishpan and dish drainer and mat, a blue plastic tall wastebasket, a blue plastic laundry basket, some small table lamps in blue and cream ($9 ea.), miscellaneous kitchen utensils like knives, forks, salad tongs, scissors, a canister set in blue, etc. There was no Wal-Mart around (I don't think I'd ever heard of it), so I went to a Kresge's in Sandusky and bought valances and bedspreads, and inexpensive,thin towels (dry faster in damp air). I had the fun part; my husband had the hard stuff like preparing, patching and painting the walls and woodwork, left unattended for 40 years and quite dirty.

This is our 16th summer here. I look around and all the cheapo plastic stuff and bargain basement linens are still being used and have held their color. True, the cottage doesn't get used 365 days of the year, but it all has had heavy use.

One item they truly don't make any more the way they used to is light bulbs. We found some light bulbs in a box when we moved in. One bulb we inserted in a floor lamp in 1988 is still working.

439 The Colors of Summer--Fading Fast

I've had my eye on them all summer--the pepper colors in the produce section of Bassett's. There is a watercolor class this week, so today I bought them and will take them to class to share.

Green bell pepper
Yellow bell pepper
Orange bell pepper
Red bell pepper
Lime green banana pepper
Dark green jalapeno pepper
Lavender Eggplant
White Eggplant

I'm taking along a simple white bowl, a dishcloth from the 1950s (trimmed in primary colors), a knife with a wooden handle, and a large onion.

Unfortunately, I never use peppers in cooking or salads. Still, I'm hoping for a pretty painting.

Update: The painting

Summer's Bounty

Reasons to Celebrate a 50th Wedding Anniversary

While looking for something else, today I came across my file of letters, 1980-1990. I wrote my parents once a week, usually, and then would periodically retrieve my letters which my mother saved. It gave me a good diary in the days before blogs. I've been married 45 years, so finding this letter giving my own parents advice and reasons they should celebrate their 50th made me realize we'll be there soon. Apparently, Dad had decided early that there would be NO 50th celebration. His word was law in our family and he and I knocked heads often. I wrote this letter almost two years before the fact, so it was apparently an item of family discussion. I won--they did have a wonderful celebration in August 1984.

I apparently began this campaign in 1980

January 3, 1983

Dear Folks,

I wanted to ask you again to reconsider about having a 50th wedding anniversary reception. I really do consider it an important milestone, not only in your lives, but in the lives of your children and grandchildren. Maybe it isn't the kind of thing you normally enjoy, but it only happens once.

It is unlikely that your whole family will ever be together again (children and grandchildren) in the same location--our ages and locales are just getting too divergent. Julie, Dave, Karen, Cindy and Greg are all adults now, and by the summer of 1984 even your youngest grandchild will be a teen-ager. This would probably be the last time we would ever all be "Home" at the same time. Even that idea may not be appealing to you, but that's not a very good reason to NOT have a get together.

One of the most significant things I remember about Grandad [my father's grandfather] is that he never wanted anyone to have a family reunion, so the only time I ever saw some of my cousins on that side was at his funeral. I think it was the first time I met Sharon [cousin 3 years older than me]. The logic of his reasoning is beyond me--we did all get together, but he missed it.

You were married during the Depression, survived the war years, struggled through business ups and downs, maintained your cool with four teen-agers, redeemed the empty nest with new careers and interests, suffered the loss of your parents, siblings, grandchildren, and helped mend broken relationships. I don't want you to celebrate the fact that two handsome, smart, naive kids got married in 1934, but the fact that those two young people were able to support and love each other and the many people whose lives depended on them.

How about punch and cake at the church, and about two days when everyone tried to get to Mt. Morris at the same time--lots of pictures and memories for my children and their cousins to tell their grandchildren. And if their recall is only that they talked to their 2nd or 3rd cousin whom they never saw again, well, what's so bad about that?

The two of you have always lived around family--you probably don't even realize the sense of connectedness and security that gives you because you take it for granted. But we don't--so we have to settle for a few intense, hectic days once in awhile to have that same sense of belonging. I hope you will rethink your decision not to have a 50th wedding celebration.

Love,

August 25, 1984

436 Thoughts on color

Librarian in Black who writes about technology for the rest of us sends along this tip about a neat cite for determining color for web pages: 4096 color wheel. I don't insert color changes very often in my blog, but I can if I want to.

Saturday evening on our way to our favorite restaurant, I noticed a man standing on top of the water tower, and a tall crane (very tall). The tower was getting a new coat of sky blue paint. Somewhere I read that central Ohio has only 37% completely sunny days. A pale gray would be more appropriate for hiding a water tower. Leaving the restaurant I saw a sky blue Thunderbird convertible, almost the identical color. Very pretty.

Since I've been at the lake most of the summer I haven't had much opportunity to enjoy the new paint jobs in my office and the guest room (done in mid-July). I'm looking forward to getting some pictures hung--I like the butter cream and khaki combination, but it's pretty dull. It's the same colors as the dining room and living room, but because the room is so much lighter, it looks completely different.

The electric yellow walls and the green and black drapes are now history for the guest room. In theory and the names on the paint chips, the walls and trim are some sort of shade of green, but you'd guess white walking past the door. We've got some furniture to move around, (my parents' bedroom furniture from the 1950s will reside there), and then I'll hang the green South Hannah Avenue street sign, where we lived in the 1950s. I purchased it in 2002 when the town was having a street sign sale.

It's back to the lake today. I'm getting minivan-lag.

435 The Ban on Stem-Cell Research? There is none.

I didn’t know Charles Krauthammer had been in a wheelchair for 32 years. He has a bit more credibility in my eyes about drawing a moral line on complex medical research than political pundits usually have. He’s also right to point out the dishonest flailing of President Bush about “stem-cell research bans.”

“In his Aug. 7 radio address to the nation, John Kerry three times referred to "the ban" on stem-cell research instituted by President George W. Bush. What ban? Stem-cell research is legal in the U.S. and has been so since human embryonic stem cells were first isolated in 1998. There are dozens of groups studying them, including major stem-cell centers recently launched at Stanford and Harvard.

Perhaps Democrats mean a ban on federal funding for stem-cell research. But, in fact, there is no such ban. Through the Clinton years there was a ban. Not a single penny of federal money was allowed for any embryo research. In his first year in office, however, President Bush reviewed the issue and permitted the first federal funding of stem-cell research ever.“ Charles Krauthammer, Why lines must be drawn. Time Magazine.

Here’s what the President said on this issue in August 9, 2001, and if this sounds like a ban from a man who consulted with ethicists, scientists, lawyers, doctors and theologians before committing a word to paper, then you need a new dictionary, Mr. Kerry.

As a result of private research, more than 60 genetically diverse stem cell lines already exist. They were created from embryos that have already been destroyed, and they have the ability to regenerate themselves indefinitely, creating ongoing opportunities for research. I have concluded that we should allow federal funds to be used for research on these existing stem cell lines, where the life and death decision has already been made.

Leading scientists tell me research on these 60 lines has great promise that could lead to breakthrough therapies and cures. This allows us to explore the promise and potential of stem cell research without crossing a fundamental moral line, by providing taxpayer funding that would sanction or encourage further destruction of human embryos that have at least the potential for life.

I also believe that great scientific progress can be made through aggressive federal funding of research on umbilical cord placenta, adult and animal stem cells which do not involve the same moral dilemma. This year, your government will spend $250 million on this important research.

434 Which shill is President Bush?

Jerusalem Post's Bret Stephens asks

Pretty soon, the Anyone But Bush crowd is going to have to decide: Is the American president an Israeli shill or is he a Saudi shill? Does he do the bidding of the insidious pro-Israel neocons or of the insidious pro-Arab oil lobby? Is his foreign policy everything his father's was not – and therefore disastrous – or is it an extension of it – and therefore equally disastrous?

Liberal Christians need to start doing some serious thinking too about Israel. The Presbyterians have sided with the Palestinians. And other Christians are doing the same:

Like other liberal Christian churches (the Lutherans, the Episcopalians, the Unitarians, the United Church of Christ, the Quakers) the hatred and condemnation of Israel has grown so strong that advocates for Israel are not permitted to make presentations to these congregations anymore. If Jews want to speak abut Israel, they have to be from the far-Left, and they must come to trash Israel (and help bury it). On the other hand, any representative of the International Solidarity Movement is sure to draw a full house and be warmly welcomed.

And of course, there is the National Council of Churches statement, always out there to warm the heart of a Palestinian. Calling themselves "leaders" is a bit of a stretch. "Echoes" is more like it.

433 Week 8 ends at Lakeside

It's back to Columbus today. It has been so cold and rainy at Lakeside this week my heart goes out to the young families sitting in unheated cottages with 2 or 3 little ones. Our place smells like a damp gym towel, but it is a real house with walls and hvac. I don't usually run the heat in August, but this week it clicked on a few times.

Wonderful programs this week. Lots of music. Last night was an innovative group from Toronto (who will be playing in San Diego tonight--how's that for jet lag?) called called Pavlo. The guy looked like he was making love to his guitar. It was sort of Greek cum Spanish Flamenco.

Thursday night was a real treat with a 5 woman jazz group from Detroit, Straight Ahead, teaching us about the contribution African American women have made to jazz. Beautiful impersonations included Etta James and Aretha Franklin.

August is symphony at Lakeside, so our own Lakeside Summer Symphony in its 41st season performed on Wednesday with Dick Feagler (Cleveland radio personality?) narrating Peter and the Wolf.

Tuesday an amazing sister group, 12, 14 and 15, The Strings of Gold, played violin, viola and cello. Their music was as beautiful as they. Monday we skipped West Side Story (movie). Sunday night a quartet from Findlay, Ohio known as Messiah performed.

Also this week I took "Perspective Drawing" at the Rhein Center taught by my husband. This was his second week to do this, and I was in Columbus with the painters during the first week. He's really an excellent teacher, but I'm afraid I'm hopeless. I never seem to find the vanishing point or the picture plane. Our friend Bev from Columbus helped again, but also taught her own classes in dried flowers and "fish printing." She lodged at the "artists' house" and had a wonderful week.

432 It wasn't Ladies' Night at the Hardball Game

Michelle Malkin was invited to Chris Matthews' show to talk about her book. Instead, she says, she was ambushed to speak about "Unfit For Command," after some cutesy male chauvanism from Matthews about her looks and age. (The sort of thing that coming from a Rush Limbaugh would have gotten a conservative fired.) I didn't see the interview, but here's her story:

"Matthews frantically stuffed words down my mouth when I raised these allegations made in Unfit for Command that Kerry's wounds might have been self-inflicted. In his ill-informed and ideologically warped mind, this transmogrified into me accusing Kerry of "shooting himself on purpose" to get an award.

I repeated that the allegations involved whether the injuries were "self inflicted wounds." I DID NOT SAY HE SHOT HIMSELF ON PURPOSE and Chris Matthews knows it.

. . . Only someone who had not read Unfit for Command would interpret what I was saying the way Matthews did. The book raises questions by vets, many of whom were with Kerry, about whether there was or wasn't enemy fire during the Dec. 1968 incident that led to his first Purple Heart."

She was tossed from the show during the second half and never got to talk about her book. She concludes:

"What I take away from all this is that the Democrat Party waterboys in the media are in full desperation mode. I have now witnessed firsthand and up close (Matthews' spittle nearly hit me in the face) how the pressure from alternative media sources--the blogosphere, conservative Internet forums, talk radio, Regnery Publishing, FOX News, etc. --is driving these people absolutely batty."

She provides links to the show transcript. Her new book is In Defense of Internment.

Update: As of 9:18 on Aug. 21 Malkin had 99 trackbacks (to other blogs) for her article about the Matthews ambush.

431 Best College Libraries

You'll need to buy it or subscribe to see the whole list, but the Princeton Review does include the top 5 (great library) and the bottom 5 (This is a library?) college libraries at the on-line site, for The Best 357 College Rankings.

I checked my Alma Mater (U. of I. at Champaign-Urbana) and see it is #1 for having too many classes taught by grad assistants. Things haven't changed much, I guess. Actually, because I was a foreign language major, I had mostly regular professors. In Library School, I can only recall an occasional PhD candidate as a teacher, and they were pretty good. Many years later I took entry level math (not required when I was an undergrad) and had an excellent grad student who was a high school teacher of math. He was outstanding because he knew how to teach.

430 What's for dinner?

“A world devoid of tomato soup, tomato sauce, tomato ketchup and tomato paste is hard to visualize. Could the tin and processed food industries have got where they have without the benefit of the tomato compounds which colour, flavour, thicken and conceal so many deficiencies? How did the Italians eat spaghetti before the advent of the tomato? Was there such a thing as tomato-less Neapolitan pizza?” Elizabeth David (1913-1992) An Omelette and a Glass of Wine Food Reference.com

Tonight I'm fixing lasagne out of a box. It's a brand I haven't used before--one skillet dinner. Toss a salad, cut up some fruit, and we're ready for a feast.

429 Reading through a favorite magazine

Except for the issue on exotic homes, I love reading Architectural Digest. It can amuse, amaze and appease me for hours. For instance, in the September issue there is an ad for a 10,000 sq. ft. Tuscan Villa in St. Louis for $1.6 million. It is gorgeous--built in 1912. Built around the same time was a cottage on our street with a fraction of the space and no permanent interior walls or heating system. It is really cute as cottages go and has a view of Lake Erie. Its price is $850,000. Per square foot, the Tuscan Villa is certainly a better deal.

* * *

"We didn't speak a word of English when we came here". . . the first year was rough. . .he got over the language barrier through television. "I had no friends. . .I'd choose certain words and practice them in front of the mirror. My role model was Ricky Ricardo." Samuel Botero, b. 1945 in Colombia, an immigrant who rose to be a top international designer, pp. 136-137. It's fortunate that modern education theorists didn't get ahold of him and cripple his initiative and English. I love inspiring stories about immigrants.

* * *

One other thing gay men have in common with straight men is the "trophy" partner. Looking through AD, I often see gay partners (both in work and life) where one is about 20-25 years older than the other, just like their straight clients. Some of the women designers appear to do it in reverse, and have a wealthy older husband to cuddle up to and to finance their business.

428 Bloggers for Bush

This is not my list; I don’t write a political blog--and some on this list don't either, but they seem to support Bush. It resides over a Captain’s Quarters, and that seems to be about all he does. But I noticed this blogroll and thought it might be a useful list. There are probably triple or quadruple this number of blogs against Bush.

Blogs for Bush Blogroll
Little Tiny LiesPara-Bellum.Net
Captain's Quarters
Knowledge Is Power
Broken Masterpieces
Red Line Rants
Slings and Arrows
KalblogRight On Red
Cry Freedom
Incite
MJG’s Political Blog
Mark A. Kilmer's Political Annotation
DANEgerous Weblog
Ipse Dixit
Pardon My English
Sisu
The Evangelical Outpost
The Doggy Diaries
PoliBlog
Blogs For Bush
OkieMinnie Me
Bush Over Kerry
Patriot Paradox
Slant Point