Intermission

Dear Gentle Reader,
Thank you for clicking onto my blog site. It was after reading my niece Lori’s blog that I decided to start one of my own last November. It sounded like an interesting project, and I’ve enjoyed it.

But—surprise! Writing a blog is time-consuming! It’s easy enough to type out a page of thoughts, but then I need to proofread and upload the essay (if that isn’t stretching the meaning of that word) to the Internet. The site requires that some reformatting be done and the post needs to be saved and re-opened. Finally, one looks at a preliminary version of the post to make last- minute changes and save again and open again.. What seems like it should take only half an hour often runs into two hours.

I’ll tell this much: the experience has given me considerable respect for bloggers who do it for a living on a daily basis!

But as for me, I’ve decided that my time might be better spent reading a good book. If a person write a blog five or six times a week, and you multiply that by two hours each day, that runs into 10 to 12 hours. You could make quite a dent in a book during that time.

As a bibliophile and former librarian, I’ve decided to opt for reading. Yes, I read a lot on the Internet, but I’m going to return to books. Reading a great book is one of life’s more satisfying activities. I recommend it to you, too. Books have content, something you can "get your teeth into." Some of them, anyway.
And in concluding, I must make a plug for the best book, one that I consult on a daily basis: The Bible. Whether you read it for wisdom or inspiration, for adventure or history, it will surely enrich your life.

Maybe in a few weeks or months, I'll decide to resume the blog. Until then, peace!

Grandma Patty

Power Corrupts, and Absolute Power...etc.

Dear Gentle Reader,
Today Enron’s Ken Delay and Jeff Skilling began their trial in Texas. Enron cheated Californians out of millions of dollars by dishonest practices.

Although Enron has become the poster child of corporate corruption, it’s far from the only company who uses its power and money to evade the law—way too many corporate and governmental leaders seem to have abandoned the honesty as an important virtue.

1. Question: What is the supreme international crime, according to the lead prosecutor at the Nuremberg trials (and then Supreme Court, Justice Robert Jackson)?
Answer: A war of aggression. (That is, a pre-emptive war such as the U.S. has carried on in Iraq.)

2. Question: Why did the prosecutor in lobbyist Jack Abramhoff’s case?
Answer: Because he was just nominated to be a Federal Judge by President Bush. The president also has refused to release any of 12 photos taken with Abramoff, who arranged for thousands of dollars to the president’s campaign.)

3. Question: Who said: This whole thing about not kicking someone when they're down -- you kick him until he passes out, then beat him over the head with a baseball bat, then roll him up in an old rug and throw him off a cliff and pound the surf below"?
Answer: Michael Scanlon, who worked for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay and pled guilty to charges of corruption. His testimony will be used in DeLay’s trial on campaign financing corruption.

4. Question: Thirty large American companies make up the Dow Jones Industrial Index. How many of those companies have been convicted of crimes?
Answer: Nine. (Nearly 1/3 of them).

5. Question: What exception does the law prohibiting domestic spying by the executive department provide for cases of war (such as the war against terrorism)?
Answer: None.

Pro 14:34 Uprightness and right standing with God (moral and spiritual rectitude in every area and relation) elevate a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people. (Amplified Version)

Misinformation

Dear Gentle Reader, Have you ever hear someone on the car radio make an assertion that is so outlandishly inaccurate that you want to pull off to the side of the road and make a call with your cell phone?

Today I was driving along, listening to a call-in program on a local station that is an outlet for Progressive Radio. The host seemed to be knowledgeable about the situation in the Middle East until someone called in and rattled his cage about the recent victory of Hamas in the Palestinian elections.

The host MUST have been shaken because I heard him say, "Well, our invasion of Afghanistan was justified because they attacked us first on 9-11."

WHAT? As far as I have read, there was not one Afghan on any of the airplanes involved in the 9-11 attacks. Furthermore, numerous archived sources show that the U.S. had made plans to invade Afghanistan months before 9-11. Below is the BBC (British Broadcasting Company) headline and link:
BBC - American government told other governments about Afghan invasion IN JULY 2001. http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/south_asia/newsid_1550000/1550366.stmsouth_asia/newsid_1550000/1550366.stm

Story: US 'planned attack on Taleban'
The wider objective was to oust the Taleban By the BBC's George Arney A former Pakistani diplomat has told the BBC that the US was planning military action against Osama Bin Laden and the Taleban even before last week's attacks. Niaz Naik, a former Pakistani Foreign Secretary, was told by senior American officials in mid-July that military action against Afghanistan would go ahead by the middle of October. Mr Naik said US officials told him of the plan at a UN-sponsored international contact group on Afghanistan which took place in Berlin. Mr Naik told the BBC that at the meeting the US representatives told him that unless Bin Laden was handed over swiftly America would take military action to kill or capture both Bin Laden and the Taleban leader, Mullah Omar. The wider objective, according to Mr Naik, would be to topple the Taleban regime and install a transitional government . . .

Another account of this information having been conveyed by the U.S. government to India (one month earlier) is at this link:
India Reacts - American government told other governments about Afghan invasion IN JUNE 2001. http://www.indiareacts.com/archivefeatures/nat2.asp?recno=10∓ctg=policynat2.asp?recno=10∓ctg=policy

I’ve read that many Americans still believe that Iraq had something to do with 9-11, although no Iraqis were involved either. Somehow, the newspapers and television reports have failed to communicate to their audiences that neither Iraq nor Afghanistan was responsible for the 9-11 attacks.

But I would expect a "progressive" talk show host to be better informed.

Encounters

Dear Gentle Reader,
A special pleasure of walking around Sail Bay is the opportunity to meet people of varied ages, nationalities, sizes, and garb. Today I had two such encounters.

After walking toward the library, I was returning home via the bay walk when a city parks vehicle approached me, driving on the sand. I was in a happy mood, having just had a conversation with two neighbors whom I hadn’t seen in a long while. So after the vehicle drew to a stop near me, I said to the driver (his windows were open), "Hello, sir! Is there any way that I can help you today?"

A young man bounced out of the pickup and greeted me. He was in a happy mood, too. (It’s easier to be happy when you’re on the beach, perhaps.) "I’ve been around here for ten years, and now I have the best job in the world!" he announced. I agreed that he was certainly blessed to have such a job on a beautiful day.

"Do you live near here?" he asked me. I pointed across the bay. "One of those condo buildings over there." His expression said, "Wow, so close to the water!"

"It’s from God," I acknowledged. "It was truly a gift to be able to live here."

"That’s my situation, too," he responded enthusiastically, pointing to the sky to indicate his gratitude to God. "That’s the only reason I have this job. Oh, I work hard. I’m responsible for this whole beach over to the Ingraham Bridge, as well as the park. But it’s like taking care of my own back yard," he explained, striding into a plot of iceplant and retrieving a food wrapper someone had tossed there.

"I grew up around here, and my grandparents ran that Subway store over there on Mission Bay Drive."

I nodded, familiar with the location he mentioned. Then I observed, "You’ve found your function, your calling, and that’s why you’re so happy."

"Absolutely. I try to keep all the flowers growing so it will be pretty around here. I need to turn on the sprinkling system and give these plants a little shower. See you again!"

I continued toward home and within a couple blocks, I noticed a beautiful, lilting song floating up toward the boardwalk (which is not really "board" but cement.) A young woman was walking along the sand, close to the edge of the water. Intrigued by her song, which I didn’t recognize, I started angling toward her to see if she was singing to the Lord.

Drawing closer to her, she turned and gave me a smile. Then I saw the headphones and realized that she’d been singing along with recorded music. I complimented her on her beautiful singing. "Oh, I sing with several San Diego choruses," she said. "And that’s my hope, that when I sing outdoors, people passing by will enjoy it."

I wondered aloud if singing was her function, her gift, that brought happiness to herself as well as others. "Oh yes," she agreed, beaming. "When you find your function, it’s bliss!"

"Well, my function is to encourage people to recognize God and worship Him," I told her, wondering what her reaction might be.

She waved her arm to indicate all the beauty of our location. "Who wouldn’t see His creative hand and be grateful for all this?" she asked. We visited a few moments longer and then I headed back up to the sidewalk. "Good-bye, dear," she called as I walked away. We’d connected in a way we both appreciated.

A pencil’s function is to write. A bird’s function is to sing. Doing what we were created to do is such a joy. Have you found your function? Gratitude is a good place to start.

Remembering Grandparents' Days

Dear Gentle Reader,
My husband asked me today, "What do you suppose our grandparents did for entertainment during the evenings when they were in their fifties?"

I speculated, "Probably my grandmother did handwork like crocheting or embroidering and my grandfather smoked his pipe."

He said, "I remember my grandparents listening to the radio a lot when I was a kid, but the radio wasn’t in common use until the 1920s. And what did they do before they had electricity?"

So we talked about different amusements that were available during those years. There were bowling alleys back then, because my grandfather worked at one. And there were secret societies like the Masons and Oddfellows. They probably attended church activities. I told him that women were likely to be happy just to sit down in the evenings after busy days of laundering and hanging clothes out to dry (certainly, no dryers in those days); ironing (with a non-electric iron); beating rugs, making butter by hand (my mother did that, in fact); caring for chickens (my mother would chop off the chicken’s head in our backyard); preparing meals on a cook-stove, and so many other activities for which there were no labor-saving devices.

We compared their options to ours: over 100 channels on the television so one can watch dramas, talk-shows, sports, etc; view movies and educational programs on DVDs, listen music on CDs, on-line computing, books on CD or tape; read newspapers or any of hundreds of magazines; read newspapers on-line from cities across the globe. The list goes on and on. We actually don’t have time to do everything that’s fun/interesting!

Tonight I was burning CDs for him while I was dubbing tapes for me, and also printing out music that I’d written on composer software. I received a phone call while I was on-line, and a close friend who is on a cruise to Hawaii gave me an update on her daughter who will be having back surgery next week. I use "Callwave" that allows me to hear phone messages while being on-line. Aren't there so many technological advances! I also printed out labels for packing books and other media that I will mail tomorrow to friends and relatives. Yes, I’d ordered the books on the computer.

Our lives have changed a lot since I was in high school and first used a dial telephone while visiting my sister at the university in Iowa City. That was the first time I’d used an elevator that didn’t require an elevator operator as they did in department stores in Omaha.

What will another fifty years bring? It boggles the mind!

Taxes and Peanut Butter Cookies

Dear Gentle Reader,
The shadow of the IRS has begun its annual invasion of our home. Tax preparation is truly one of my least favorite responsibilities. How about you?

I don’t mind (too much) going through the slips of paper enumerating deductions and income, or tallying everything up, or plugging in the numbers so the tax accountant can arrive at a figure.

But what drives me up the wall is misplacing one of those crucial slips of paper. "I had it a minute ago. It was right here! What in the world could have become of it?"

Eventually the errant piece of paper turns up—maybe in the wrong file folder, or under another piece of paper… I’m sure you’ve been there and done that, too. So stressful. This year Dick has been really supportive and helpful in starting out on this tax project. For example, this morning we found an inconsistency in a bank’s figures, so he volunteered to go to the bank tomorrow and get to the bottom of it.

Now, on a happier note, I’m going to divulge to you my recipe for scrumptious peanut butter cookies! As a child, I was sometimes taken to the home of an elderly (60s?) cousin when my parents went out of town. This dear woman, named Etta, would serve peanut butter cookies that melted in my mouth. For years and years I tried without success to duplicate them. It’s too bad that my boys are grown and none of our grandchildren live nearby, for I truly think that this recipe produces cookies as good as Etta made!

Ingredients
1 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup flour (on the generous side)
1 teaspoon baking soda

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix peanut butter, sugar, egg and salt together. Measure flour and add the baking soda to the flour. Then combine the flour mixture with the peanut butter mixture. Roll the dough into balls the size of a walnut and place on an ungreased baking sheet. You can use a fork to press down each ball (or make a crisscross pattern if desired.)
Bake cookies for 12-14 minutes.

Peanut butter effectively lowers cholesterol, I understand. A friend of mine had very high cholesterol, which she attributed to the fact that she’d stopped eating peanut butter. When she began eating a teaspoon daily, her cholesterol dropped back to normal levels. Probably plain peanut butter is healthier, but the cookies are more enjoyable.

Let me know if you try the recipe.

Startling Statistics

Dear Gentle Reader,
Today I read some astonishing figures from the February issue of Harper’s Magazine. Here are some of the more provocative statistics. with their references.

(1) Percentage of Americans who say that fighting terrorism should be one of the nation’s top two priorities: 6.

(2) Number of people whom Coalition forces hav eimprisoned in Iraq at some point since March 2003: 48,526

(3) Percentage of those who have been convicted of a crime: 1.5

(4) Percentage change since 1999 in federal prosecutions of white-collar crime: -25

(5) Estimated amount the U.S. would save each year on paperwork if it adopted single-payer health care: $161 billion

(6) Estimated amount spent in the U.S. each year to treat ACL injuries in dogs: $1 billion 320 million.
------------------------
Footnotes

(1) Harris Interactive (Rochester, NY)
(2) Detainee Operations, Multinational Force—Iraq (Baghdad)
(3) Detainee Operations, Multinational Force—Iraq (Baghdad)
(4) Transactional Records Clearinghouse (Syracuse, NY)
(5) Hewitt Associates LLC (Lincolnshire, IL)
(6) Vicki L. Wilke, Iowa State University (Ames)

You can draw your own conclusions about whether our government is responsive to its constituents.

Confession: Good for the Soul

Dear Gentle Reader,
Do you receive e-mails that others have forwarded to you? And do you ever forward them to your other friends/relatives? Well, how do you feel when one of them responds and says something to the effect, "The e-mail you forwarded to me is a hoax. See this link. . ." Don’t you hate it?

That’s what happened to me today. My cousin forwarded a message (supposedly) from Johns Hopkins Medical School. It read as follows:

Subject: Cancer News From John Hopkins
This was received from a nursing supervisor at GreenvilleMemorial Hospital. It was sent to their staff.
Cancer News from Johns Hopkins:
1--No plastic containers in micro.
2--No water bottles in freezer.
3--No plastic wrap in microwave.
Johns Hopkins has recently sent this out in its newsletters.
This information is being circulated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Dioxin chemicals causes cancer, especially breast cancer. Dioxins are highly poisonous to the cells of our bodies. Don't freeze your plastic bottles with water in them as this releasesdioxins from the plastic.
Recently, Dr. Edward Fujimoto, Wellness Program Manager at Castle Hospital, was on a TV program to explain this health hazard. He talked about dioxins and how bad they are for us.
He said that we should not be heating our food in the microwaveusing plastic containers. This applies to foods that contain fat.
He said that the combination of fat, high heat, and plastics releasesdioxin into the food and ultimately into the cells of the body.
Instead, he recommends using glass, Corning Ware or ceramic containers for heating food. You get the same results, only without the dioxin. So such things as TV dinners, instant ramen and soups, etc., should be removed from the container and heated in something else. Paper isn't bad but you don't know what is in the paper. It's just safer to use tempered glass, Corning Ware, etc.
He reminded us that a while ago some of the fast food restaurants moved away from the foam containers to paper. The dioxin problem is one of the reasons.
Also, he pointed out that Saran wrap is just as dangerous when placed over foods to be cooked in the microwave. As the food is nuked, the high heat causes poisonous toxins to actually melt out of the plastic wrap and drip into the food. Cover food with a paper towel instead.
This is an article I believe you should forward to your family and friends -- anyone who is important in your life!

Did you read that last sentence? Forward it to your family and friends! Well, actually, I had forwarded such an e-mail to friends a couple of months ago. (When something looks suspicious, I check it out at http://www.snopes.com/, but this came from a source I thought credible. And certainly, I would want my family to know about it!) So I sent it to my sons today with a note saying that I hoped I hadn’t sent it earlier.

Sigh. Within a few hours my older son replied:
Go to this link and then scroll down to question #43.
http://www.hopkinsbreastcenter.org/services/ask_expert/index.asp?cat=18&pagenum=2
Now go to this link:
http://www.hoax-slayer.com/plastic-cancer-link-hoax.html
You too can expose internet hoaxes and stop the spread of false medical rumours.
Google is your friend. It only takes a minute or two to check these things out. :-)
Ouch. Actually, those are both good web sites. And I regret that I contributed to the spread of false medical rumors. If you received that Johns Hopkins message from me, I apologize. (Even though I don’t totally trust the FDA.)

My son is absolutely right. I should Google all such information before I pass it on. Another New Year's resolution!

Hope you're having a good weekend. Tomorrow is Sunday, my favorite day!

Carpet Cleaners

Dear Gentle Reader,
When was the last time you had your carpet shampooed? Do you remember the stress?

This year the process was more complicated than usual because a ripple had developed that ran the length of the dining/living rooms. So first we had to find someone to stretch out the carpet as well as shampoo it.

The carpet was installed almost four years ago, and we’ve only had it cleaned once before, but that was not altogether successful. A friend had recommended a woman who uses a chemical that is harmless. Yes, I was skeptical too, suspecting that "harmless chemical" must be an oxymoron. But when I looked up the name of the chemical on Google, it was described as a "food-grade chemical." So far, so good. However, the woman used an instrument that had a furry disk on the bottom that swirled around and (supposedly) removed the dirt. My feeling was that she removed the surface soil but didn’t do a deep cleaning. And, of course, the traffic patterns were still noticeable. She said it was because the fibers were crushed and didn’t reflect the light as they do when it’s new.

Although I decided not to hire her again, I did order some of the food-grade chemical to clean the grout between the tiles on my kitchen counter. It works well.

What I wanted was a company like the one recommended to me in Milwaukee some years ago when we lived in a house with gold carpet on the stairs. We had two school-age sons, so with all the traffic, the stairs grew soiled. And when I hired Sears to clean the carpet, the worker didn’t get all the soil removed. He told me that it was "worn" and couldn’t be improved. But the next time I contacted a cleaning company recommended to me by a co-worker, and he did a beautiful job! The stair carpet looked like new!

Therefore, Gentle Reader, that is what I’ve been seeking in San Diego: a carpet cleaner who can make even the traffic areas look like new. Although the most recent carpet cleaner worked very hard, he conceded in leaving that there were parts that were "carpet gray," where the color had been diminished by use.

"But I went over and over it, so it’s clean!"

Okay. God bless him. But may I get a revelation before the next time we need to clean the carpet, so I’ll know what company to hire!

At the Sea, at the Sea. . .

Dear Gentle Reader,
Maybe I’ll never get over it.
I’m talking about that feeling that comes when I’m driving up a hill, reach the crest and suddenly see the vast panorama of the Pacific Ocean spreading forth before me. The expanse stretches as far as eye can see, with layered hues of blue. The highway swoops down the hill and brings me close to the beach where cars can park for an up-close look at the ocean.

The first time I experienced that breath-stopping feeling at the sight of the ocean was back in the sixties after we’d driven cross-country on I-80 and were approaching San Francisco. With a two-year-old in the back seat and another child on the way, Dick and I were filled with excitement to be moving to California. Aside from our decision to get married, that trip represented one of the bigger gambles of our life, although I certainly didn’t perceive it that way at the time. Definitely not! Youth thinks only in terms of opportunity!

We had both left secure teaching positions in eastern Iowa in order that Dick could enter the "big league" of academics at Stanford University. It never occurred to me that our adventure would end in anything but success. My hero had been accepted in a new program funded by the Ford Foundation and the goal was to emerge with a doctorate that would, indeed, change our lives significantly.

People who were more experienced and more objective might have questioned the wisdom of embarking down that road. But praise God, somehow Dick managed to jump over all the hurdles professors set before doctoral students and land on his feet.

Today those memories came to mind as I was driving from Pacific Beach to Del Mar. I forced myself to make a trip to the grocery and then onto the freeway, because we hadn’t driven our new car for nearly six weeks. Actually, we’ve had our 2006 Hyundai Sonata since last September but have driven it fewer than half-a-dozen times. Why? Because we still love our Pontiac Grand Am, now ten years old! The seats are so comfy, and it’s small enough to fit comfortably in narrow parking spaces. I don’t worry about getting "dings" anymore, either, having already taken it to the body shop a couple times.

But you can’t just let a new car set in the garage, so today was the day. And the trip went smoothly, except for a traffic jam on I-8 in La Jolla due to construction. The new car really handles nicely, has good pick-up when it’s needed, and gives a smooth ride. It’s a fine car, as far as I can tell. If I could just get used to the wider body when parking, there’d be no problem. Maybe when we drive it to Iowa this summer and I have no alternative, I’ll learn to deal with the parking issue.

It’s been a spectacular January day, warm enough for sunbathers on the beach. Wish you were here. :-)

Divine Healing

Dear Gentle Reader,
Sunday is my favorite day of the week. I’m blessed to be able to attend a neighborhood church that is flowing with life and spirit. The music is joyful and the people enthusiastically praise God in song. The Bible says, "Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty." So we feel free to dance and shout, and in fact, the pastor encourages us to do so. Sometimes he gets so excited when he preaches that he jumps up and down. It’s fun.

The church takes a bus to the central city and picks up people living in shelters, who are offered breakfast and a good lunch. San Diego seems to have a high number of homeless people and many of them like living in Pacific Beach where the church is located. This morning a man from Nigeria testified that he had attended our church two weeks ago and had recommitted his life to the Lord. The next day he felt prompted to apply for a job at a 7-11 store and was immediately accepted. We felt happy for him.

Preceding the church service, I usually go to Sunday School, where there is more discussion and opportunities to hear people ask questions or expand upon what the teacher has said.

Today I’d made plans to meet some friends for lunch in another part of town. Jill and Don are a "happy-ever-after" couple who met each other at church after they had both "suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune." He is a retired minister whose wife died suddenly. She is a teacher who had gone through some hard times. Now they’ve been married three years and are still in honeymoon mode. There are challenges with re-marriage and acceptance by adult children, but what is life without a challenge or two? They keep us on our knees and dependent on God.

We had a good discussion during lunch about Jesus’ promise in John 14:13-14, and corresponding passages in James 5:15-16, particularly about how the New Testament seems to offer the miracle of healing as a reasonable expectation for believers, and yet how powerless many churches seem to be in that regard today. Don is a member of the International Order of Luke the Physician, an organization whose website says, "OSL is a body of Christians who believe that the healing of the body, mind and spirit is a vital part of the total ministry of Jesus Christ." And yet his first wife died soon after returning from a wonderful trip to Israel. Likewise, I prayed and truly believed that my older sister would recover from a stroke, but it didn’t happen.

Why not? What is missing from our faith? We don’t know.

But we’re asking, seeking, knocking. Jesus promised we would receive, find, and have doors opened to us.

Are you familiar with The Message version of the Bible? Psa 27:14 says, "Stay with GOD! Take heart. Don't quit. I'll say it again: Stay with GOD."

A Day to Remember

Dear Gentle Reader,
Friday the 13th, 1961. That was a wonderful day, and I’ve never had reason to be superstitious about Friday the 13th. We were living in an eight by thirty-five-foot mobile home ("trailer," in those days) in a tiny Iowa village, when our first son decided it was his entry-day.

The maternity ward of the local hospital had just been remodeled, and we arrived about 7 a.m. My husband was a teacher, and after getting me registered and settled in a room, he left to teach his classes. He returned during the noon hour, just in time to watch through the doorway as John Kenneth was ushered into the world. Having been given a saddle block, I was fully conscious and very surprised to have given birth to a baby with blond hair. (All the photos I’d seen of newborn babies must have shown dark hair.) Since I had been blond as a child myself, I should't have been surprised, but I was.

He weighed 7 pounds exactly, and was such a sweet little bundle. The day before had been very balmy for a mid-January day in Iowa, and I had taken a long walk. It’s strange how one remembers so many details about momentous days, but scarcely remembers anything about weeks preceding or following those days. We spent three days together in the hospital, getting acquainted. I feel sorry for today's moms who get sent home with their babies 24 hours after giving birth!

John moved with us around the country a lot during his childhood--to Iowa City, then the Davenport area, to Sunnyvale on the West Coast, and Palo Alto. From California, we moved east to Madison, Wisconsin, and then successively to two suburbs of Milwaukee. Before he was 10 years old, John had lived in eight different communities and attended school in three different school districts. Good thing he was adaptable!

Now he’s a parent and has done significant traveling himself. In his thirties, he walked the entire Appalachian Trail, from Georgia to Maine, in one season. Then he and his wife traveled to China to adopt their daughter, Alice Beth. A few years later they went to Korea and brought back Justin. Both children were just one year old when they were adopted; now they’re 8 and 5 respectively.

After several years of practicing law, John decided to take "the road less traveled." He’s gone into the coffee business, roasting and selling coffee, both retail and wholesale. His wife has her own career as an optometrist, and it’s quite fascinating to watch them juggle their jobs and their family responsibilities. They do it really well.

It’s possible that I’m biased, but I think John's a fine person. I’m very proud of our son.

My "Holy Ghost Crown"

Dear Gentle Reader,
A few weeks ago I wrote about my dentist’s receptionist and her prayers for a co-worker to conceive a baby—answered. Today I returned to the dentist for a follow-up appointment to have a permanent crown inserted. (My original appointment Monday morning had been cancelled because the lab had misplaced the paperwork and didn’t have the crown ready.)

This morning, as Melissa, the receptionist, ushered me into the examination room, she said, laughing, "I have to tell you what happened with your crown. I called the lab yesterday after lunch to make sure your crown would be ready this time. And the girl said, ‘I think that crown has a ghost.’

"What do you mean, a ghost?" Melissa asked.
"Well, we can’t find the crown. I think a ghost has taken it!"

"You mean on Monday you didn’t have it ready because the paperwork was in the wrong pile, and now you still don’t have the crown done yet?"
The lab worker responded, "Oh, it’s done. It was a beautiful crown. But it’s disappeared. We can’t find it. That’s why I said I think it has a ghost."

"The only ghost that crown has is a Holy Ghost because it belongs to a Christian woman! Now, listen. I’m going to hang up and pray, and you go find that crown. It’s one o’clock now. I’ll give you until three o’clock. Go find it!"

The dentist, overhearing their conversation said, "Melissa, you’re so weird."
But Melissa ignored him and prayed. "Lord, don’t fail me now! We need that crown. Lord, don’t fail me!"

At two o’clock the phone rang. "We found it!" the lab worker announced jubilantly. "But how did you know we would?"
"Where was it?"
"We had it all ready for the final polish, and we always put it in disinfectant before that stage. And nobody took it back out again!"

Melissa said happily, "I knew they’d find it! I believe!"
I gave her a hug. People who live by faith just make my day.

Weather: sunny and warm

Dear Gentle Reader,
I was too busy to be outside much but did don a pair of shorts so I could soak up the sun’s rays for 10 minutes and rev up my supply of Vitamin D.

For several days we have been "moving." Moving books, bric-a-brac, plants, sound system, etc. Basically, we have been moving everything in our dining-living areas that is not too heavy for us to lift. Mostly books. As you can imagine, a retired professor and a retired librarian love books and accumulate them profligately. (He likes to order his favorites from half.com, where you can buy used books at reduced prices.)

But to clarify, we aren’t moving out of our comfy condo. Rather, we had to empty our dining-living rooms so that workers could stretch out our carpet. Last summer we returned home from a 3-month vacation to Iowa , and we discovered this ripple running the length of the two rooms. As Yogi Berra would say, it was déjà vu all over again. The same inexplicable ripple had appeared 18 months earlier in a room that we use as an office. The carpet store had sent a workman who stretched it out (for a price) because the installation warranty was for only 1 year.

WHAT I HAVE LEARNED: The company where you buy your carpet should warrant the installation for a least three years. That’s what the carpet-stretchers told me today. They’ve been cleaning/stretching carpets for 25 years in this locality, and they were very surprised that the company would not stand behind its installation longer than a year.

Well, these fellows worked really hard and stretched it all out. Sorry to say, however, there is still a reduced but visible ripple. Maybe after it’s shampooed next week, it will be less noticeable. My husband asked, "Would you do it all over again, knowing that this is the best they could do?" That’s a tough question! It was a lot of work to move everything, and we still need to reshelve all the books. (My spell-checker says that word should be "reshelf," but it doesn’t look right to me. And my dictionary is in one of the stacks of books, inaccessible.)

Okay, changing the subject, here’s a question for you: when was the last time you had a whooping cough vaccination? In today’s paper was an article about adults catching whooping cough and how everyone should get a vaccination for it, according to the American College of Chest Physicians. I didn’t even know there was such an organization, but I phoned Kaiser, my HMO, and arranged to get such a vaccination. The Kaiser scheduler said she’d read that article today also, and her teenage daughter had caught whooping cough last year. Two weeks later, the scheduler came down with it. She said it was a pretty terrible experience, and she thought the medical community had slipped up by letting it spread without encouraging people earlier to get shots for it. The Chest Physicians also said that most over-the-counter cough syrups are a waste of money. You can read the article at http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060110/news_1n10cough.html

Finally, I need to confess that the advice I passed on about disabling one's ActiveX programs for greater computer security can have unintended consequences. I discovered that I couldn’t even open my Hotmail account without the Javascript (Jscript). In fact, I had to enable various ActiveX programs in order to get certain other sites to work as well. Sigh. So if they’re an open door to computer-snooping, so be it. Hope it didn't cause you a problem.

The Bible Tells Me So

Dear Gentle Reader,
For several years U.S. government forces have been fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. There are strong signals that Iran may be our next target. Then maybe Syria. Should Christians enlist in the military? Should Christians support their government and its enforcement arm, no matter what?

What would Jesus do?
Blessed are the peacemakers. (Matthew 5:9)

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who insult you and persecute you, (Matthew 5:44)

But to you that hear I say, Love your enemies; do good to those that hate you; bless those that curse you; pray for those who use you despitefully.
But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return, and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be sons of the Highest; for He is good to the unthankful and wicked. (Luke 6:27-28, 35)

What would Paul do?
Live peaceably with all men. (Romans 12:18)

For walking in flesh, we do not war according to flesh. For the arms of our warfare are not fleshly, but powerful according to God to the overthrow of strongholds;. . . (2Corinthians 10:3-4)

Follow peace with all men. (Hebrews 12:14)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, fidelity, meekness, self-control: against such things there is no law. But they that are of the Christ have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts. (Gal 5:22-24)

And a bondman of the Lord ought not to contend, but be gentle towards all; apt to teach; forbearing; in meekness setting right those who oppose, if God perhaps may sometime give them repentance to acknowledgment of the truth, (2Timothy 2:24-25)

Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, longsuffering; forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any should have a complaint against any; even as the Christ has forgiven you, so also do ye. And to all these add love, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of Christ preside in your hearts, to which also ye have been called in one body, and be thankful. (Colossians 3:12-15)

What would James do?
Whence come wars and whence fightings among you? Is it not thence, from your pleasures, which war in your members? Ye lust and have not: ye kill and are full of envy, and cannot obtain; ye fight and war; ye have not because ye ask not. (Jam 4:1-2)

What would you do?

Sunshine v. Clean Government

Dear Gentle Reader,
My blog title "San Diego Sunshine" may conjure up visions of beaches and surfers, sunbathers and volleyball players. Yes, during the past week you’d be able to find all of the above in my neighborhood.

But, if it makes you feel any better, the picture is not all that rosy, aside from the weather. Our (adopted) fair city is a mess, financially. This week federal prosecutors indicted five current and former members of the city’s pension board for multiple felonies including conspiracy, wire and mail fraud. There may be additional indictments in the weeks ahead.

Last month Congressman "Duke" Cunningham, who represents north San Diego County and parts of the city, tearfully resigned from office after pleading guilty to bribery.

Also, during the past year, three members of the San Diego City Council were charged with taking bribes from a strip-club owner. One was convicted, one died before going to trial, and the third will receive a new trial on reduced charges.

Our new mayor didn’t mince words on Friday: "Our general fund is a disaster." Because of funny business by the pension board and their off-book record keeping, the city doesn’t even know what the current deficit is. Estimates are now running to $2 billion. That’s getting to be real money. (Read: higher taxes.)

Our former acting-mayor acknowledged in a newspaper article today, "Streets don’t get cleaned regularly, trees don’t get trimmed, and potholes don’t get filled as quickly as needed. Even worse, library and park and recreation center hours are cut, public pools are closed, and police community-service officer positions are eliminated."

Sunshine is nice, but I have this old-fashioned expectation that my elected city officials exercise oversight so that we don’t end up paying hefty pensions for people who have manipulated the system.

For someone who grew up in down-to-earth Iowa and lived most of her adult-life in Wisconsin where the government might be described as "squeaky-clean," all of this corruption is disappointing, to say the least. Not that it’s limited to San Diego—Washington, D.C. is also headlining indictments of government officials. However, the "misery loves company" idea just isn’t very comforting.

Government officials in the Midwest may not be as self-assured or articulate or sophisticated as in California. But "honesty" is a family value we’d like to see revived in San Diego.

Life's Seasons

Dear Gentle Reader,
A friend and regular correspondent sent this to me today. Very wise.

LESSONS ON LIFE
There was a man who had four sons. He wanted his sons to learn not to judge things too quickly. So he sent them each on a quest, in turn, to go and look at a pear tree that was a great distance away.

The first son went in the winter, the second in the spring, the third in summer, and the youngest son in the fall.

When they had all gone and come back, he called them together to describe what they had seen.

The first son said that the tree was ugly, bent, and twisted. The second son said no it was covered with green buds and full of promise.

The third son disagreed; he said it was laden with blossoms that smelled so sweet and looked so beautiful, it was the most graceful thing he had ever seen.

The last son disagreed with all of them; he said it was ripe and drooping with fruit, full of life and fulfillment.

The man then explained to his sons that they were all right, because they had each seen but only one season in the tree's life.

He told them that you cannot judge a tree, or a person, by only one season, and that the essence of who they are and the pleasure, joy, and love that come from that life can only be measured at the end,
when all the seasons are up.

If you give up when it's winter, you will miss the promise of your spring, the beauty of your summer, fulfillment of your fall.

Moral:

Don't let the pain of one season destroy the joy of all the rest.
Don't judge life by one difficult season.
Persevere through the difficult patches and better times are sure to come some time or later.

A Cherished Friend

Dear Gentle Reader,
Writing today’s blog will be so fun because I’m going to introduce you to my friend Kathy. Have you ever longed for a special friend? Oh, that everyone might have a friend like Kathy! She is the most warm-hearted, thoughtful, and clear-thinking person you could meet. Ironically, she had been praying for a friend, and then I showed up in their Sunday School class. We think it was a "divine appointment."

I admire her seemingly inexhaustible enthusiasm, as she pursues gardening, crafts, travel, reading, her family, and Christian living interests. She and her husband have been married for well over fifty years, so she has been tempered by life experiences and has a wealth of practical knowledge and wisdom. (She says she learns from me, but it’s really the other way around.)

Kathy is so generous with her time and possessions. Her friends (she seems to "collect" people with financial needs) will show up at her door at dinnertime (or occasionally, even at breakfast time), needing her encouragement or counsel. She barely blinks an eye as she puts on another plate and stretches the meal prepared for her and her husband so it will feed another hungry mouth.

Because of her own painful youth, she went to Christian counseling. It helped her so much in forgiving her father and strengthening her marriage that she wanted to help others and took a course so she could counsel. Now she shares her wisdom with any who will commit to doing the reading and reflection that the counseling requires.

Over the years she’s taken on responsibility for elderly people at her church who need help going to the doctors, figuring out their finances, etc. For at least three years, she has driven across town to pick up 98-year-old Jeanetta at her retirement home, to bring her to our Bible study meeting. Due to Jeanetta’s hearing loss, she has a little trouble following things, but she seems to enjoy the social aspect.

In addition, Kathy buys Jeanetta's underwear, Depends, toiletries, and other necessities. She takes home some of Jeanetta’s clothing to be laundered . She often treats her to lunch and buys warm clothes for her at Christmas. When Jeanetta fell in the nursing home last fall, it was Kathy who waited in E.R. to see whether she had broken any bones. When Jeanetta fell a second time, breaking her hip, ditto.

Today Kathy is leading our "Love Family" group because I didn’t want to contaminate them with my germiness. This morning she picked up all the materials, as well as another member, and she fills in cheerfully whenever needed. What a friend!

I’m reminded of a little boy who nervously asked his mother to leave the light on after she tucked him into bed for the night. "Don’t worry, honey, Jesus is with you."
He thought a minute and then replied, "But I need somebody with skin!"

Kathy has skin, and I know Jesus’ spirit dwells in her!

Reminders to Myself

Dear Gentle Readers,
Here are some articles that a friend said she'd received as a visitor to a church in her community. They serve as good reminders for me, and maybe you'll like them, too.

DAILY SURVIVAL KIT
Items Needed:
* Mint
* Candy Kiss
* Tea Bag
* Eraser
* Rubber Band
* Toothpick
* Chewing Gum
* Band Aid
* Pencil
Why?????
1) TOOTHPICK - to remind you to pick out the good qualities in others. -Matt. 7:1
2) RUBBER BAND - to remind you to be flexible, things might not always go the way you want, but it will work out. - Romans 8:28
3) BAND AID - to remind you to heal hurt feelings, yours or someone else's. - Col. 3:12-14
4) PENCIL - to remind you to list your blessings everyday. - Eph.1:3
5) ERASER - To remind you that everyone makes mistakes, and it's okay. -Gen.50:15-21
6) CHEWING GUM - to remind you to stick with it, and you can accomplish anything. - Phil 4:13
7) MINT - to remind you that you are worth a mint. - John
3:16-17
8) CANDY KISS - to remind you that everyone needs a kiss or a hug everyday. - 1 John 4:7
9) TEA BAG - to remind you to relax daily and go over that list of blessings. - 1 Thess. 5:1

Coleslaw for Health

Dear Gentle Reader,
Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? I’ve made only one this year, and I hope I can remember to keep it: NO EGGNOG next December! Contrary to my usually pretty wholesome diet, I managed to consume two quarts of this combination of fat and honey/sugar between December 24 and December 25. In retrospect, it seems likely that my indulgence--okay, overindulgence--probably contributed to a head cold that began two days later with a sore throat. I’d best write this resolution on the December page of my 2006 calendar, along with the rationale. (Resolve seems to diminish with the passing of time, or women would only bear one child!)

Returning to culinary sanity, this noon we’ll be having homemade coleslaw, half an apple, and a dish of plain yogurt sweetened with honey. Although he’s like many men in that he has never been "into" nutrition, this is now one of my husband’s favorite meals. And healthiest, perhaps. Studies show that people who eat cabbage or other cruciferous vegetables are less likely to get certain kinds of cancer, including colon and bladder.

The first part of the coleslaw recipe provides a high-fiber seed-and-nut mixture as suggested by Dr. Sandra Cabot in her book, The Healthy Liver and Bowel Book. She recommends grinding flaxseed, sunflower seeds, and almonds in a coffee grinder, and adding 2-3 tablespoons per serving. (She suggests other seeds you could add—psyllium, pumpkin, alfalfa.) But it's faster to chop up the almonds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds in a food processor if you have one, and then grind only the flaxseeds in the coffee grinder. If you make a batch using 1 cup per ingredient, you’ll end up with 4 or 5 cups that you can store in the refrigerator or your freezer and the mixture will last through quite a few meals.

Then you just need to chop a carrot and some cabbage.. Until a couple years ago I’d never owned a food processor (aside from a Bamix, a wand device with a small bowl) and thought them too extravagant. Then my neighbor inherited one and passed it on to me. It has made such a time-saving difference in chopping up vegetables and nuts! I really appreciate it, and when it gives out (it’s pretty old), I will definitely replace it.

Also, you’ll probably want a dressing for the coldslaw, right? This is the one that we like. (I avoid "store-bought" dressings because of their hydrogenated fats with trans-fatty acids.)

Dressing for two servings
3-4 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons honey (in preference to sugar)
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon ketchup (or catsup, if you prefer)
pinch of sea salt

The rain is falling. As I write this, I’m watching the Rose Bowl Parade and, despite the brave smiles of the marchers, the festivity looks pretty miserable. I feel so sorry for the band members, who must be drenched—352 band members in one case. Initially, I wondered why they didn’t have the parade on January 1 as in the past but just learned from an interview that their policy has been to postpone the parade if New Years Day falls on a Sunday. Certainly that practice must have sprung from the idea that a secular celebration should not take the participants away from Sunday worship services. In this era of commercialism, it’s amazing and commendable that principle has withstood pragmatism.

Another "Preemptive" War?

Dear Gentle Reader,
According to CBS News, 83% of Americans identify themselves as Christians. But more and more, even the casual observer is faced with an uncomfortable disconnect between the principles of Christianity as espoused by Jesus, and the decision-making by our highest-ranking government officials.

Jesus said, “Love your neighbor. Love your enemies. Pray for people who treat you badly.”

But the United States military has quietly embraced torture as a way of doing business. The information leaking out from Abu Gharaib and Guantanamo indicates that torture is not an aberration but an accepted practice. An article in the December issue of Harpers Magazine gives an account by a West Point graduate, Captain Ian Fishback in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division. “On my very first guard shift…I saw a PUC [person under control] pushed to the brink of a stroke or heart attack. At first I was surprised, like: This is what we’re allowed to do? This is what we’re allowed to get away with?”

Even our country’s motive for going to war with Iraq was wrong. You say that it was justified because we might be attacked? Interestingly, the Germans offered that same rationale during the Nuremberg trials. They contended that Holland and Belgium might have invaded Germany if Germany hadn’t acted first. The court disallowed that argument.

In 1942 during a tense period of WW II, former Vice-President Wallace (an Iowan) made a prescient observation. “We in the United States must remember this: if we are to expect guarantees against military or economic aggression from other nations, we must be willing to give guarantees that we will not be guilty of such aggression ourselves.”

Yet, this week there is discussion about whether the U.S. should start a new “preemptive” war with that Iran, on the basis of suspected nuclear sites in that country. Never mind that the United States has “nuclear sites,” as well as Israel, India, China, Russia, and probably North Korea. Is this any reason to go to war? How many wars can we sustain? Must our foreign policy always rely on war?

Apparently. In a German newspaper the UPI reported, “The Bush administration is preparing its NATO allies for a possible military strike against suspected nuclear sites in Iran in the New Year, according to German media reports, reinforcing similar earlier suggestions in the Turkish media.”

What? Another war of aggression? And whatever became of the part of the Constitution that says the Congress shall have sole power to declare war?

We need to recognize that when the Constitution is reportedly regarded by the President as “just a [expletive] piece of paper,” anything goes, including illegal spying. (Incidentally, Nixon was impeached for illegal wiretaps).

Our country is in critical condition.

Security Addendum

Yesterday I wrote about ways you can protect your computer files from obtrusive spying. But I need to confess that I didn't completely follow my own instructions! The direction about how you can Manage Add-ons says, "Click the Show arrow and then click "Add-ons that have been used by Internet Explorer."
Well, because I couldn't find a "Show arrow," I just skipped that instruction, but now I see how important it is! When I was working on my 2nd computer, I realized that the Show Button is on the box between the list of all your add-ons that you're managing, and the explanation of add-ons. Click on the arrow at the right of that button. Wow, it brought up a whole other list of Active X additions that I'm sure I had never given permission to install! I don't mind Adobe or even Microsoft, but who is "Snapfish Activia" or "xML Document"?
And I also found some more AOL files that had never been deleted. Click on START, go to SEARCH and type in AOL. Then you can delete any that you do not want.
Hope this all works for you!